L'adaptation

DANCE by Jang Koal

Me posting on tumblr:

I lose followers every time I mention that the chemical imbalance theory of depression (or any mental illness, in fact) is both unsupported by evidence and politically expedient, and at this point it’s actually surprising to me. We’re past this, no? Psychiatric diagnoses are names that powerful institutions give certain behavioral patterns; they are not biologically identifiable disease states. There’s not nothing to the naming of patterns of experience, tho–I use a lot of these names (depression, OCD, eating disorders, DID, etc.) bc it’s how we deal in shared meaning around them. I’m all for self-dx, self un-dx, and clinical dx’s that feel meaningful and helpful to those who receive them. But the fact remains that not even the most advanced neuroscientists can claim to know exactly wtf is going on in there! There is no identifiable biological state that consistently causes or even correlates with what we call mental illness. MIs definitely involve biological processes, bc that’s true of all human life and experience, but they’re complex bio-psycho-social-spiritual conditions that could be named and understood in any number of ways. We’re complex creatures who are perpetually responding to our environments!