Don’t Say You Have a Chemical Imbalance

Don’t say you have a chemical imbalance. It’s best to never say you have a chemical imbalance in your brain. People hate to hear it because it sounds like an excuse to be inconsiderate of others. People also hate it because it isn’t true or proven biologically. People say it without ever having their brain chemicals tested in any way whatsoever. They might smile and nod, but most are really thinking “Yeah, whatever…” There’s no established exact “right” balance of brain chemicals. They also might think you are falling for a scam and stupid for believing a theory that evolved to sell pharmaceuticals.

chemicalimbalance

Don’t say you have a chemical imbalance. It’s best not to say you are “clinically depressed” or “chronically depressed”. Clinically doesn’t have any real meaning besides that a clinician determined you to have a non-medical condition. Thomas Insel of the NIMH publicly stated that no mental illnesses have any biomarkers or validity. So using the term clinical to describe your general state of mood makes people who know better think you’ve been duped. Same with “chronically depressed”. It makes people think you will always be a downer forever, but you don’t know that. You are better off saying you are going through loss or grief or a long period of difficulty.

Don’t say you have a chemical imbalance. If you use unscientific psuedo medical terms to describe your moods or states of mind people could either think you are stupid and duped by Pharma, or they could pity you but see you as having no value. They are likely to stigmatize you and see you as having a permanent deficit, and attribute all of your shortcomings to that. They will probably be less likely to want to be your friend, date you, hire you or take you seriously. You are much better off describing your experiences in non-pathologizing, universal ways that more people can relate to. This way they will see you as one of them and not “other”.

not other

Don’t say you have a chemical imbalance. Using medical language to describe non-medical experiences like moods puts you in the category of “other” in people’s minds. Even if your moods are affected by your biology, so what? Everyone’s are. That doesn’t mean telling people you have an (unproven) mental disorder will raise their opinion of you. They might pity you, but is that what you want?

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