Psychiatry long claimed there’s a “chemical imbalance,” in mental illness, but it never answers the obvious questions: if it’s chemical, what threw it off? Why now? Why not at birth? And why does it so often follow trauma, neglect, chronic stress, or loss?

Looking at the facts, the assertion falls apart. The “chemical imbalance” idea was simply an effective marketing slogan, not science. It gave doctors something to say, patients something to believe, and pharmaceutical companies something to sell. But it ignores what Interpersonal Neurobiology shows clearly: that our emotional states emerge from our lived experiences, our relationships, and the safety or danger our nervous system perceives over time.

When someone’s life becomes too unsafe, too demanding, too isolating, the system adapts. The so-called “depression” is not a broken brain, but the body’s way of reducing output to survive unrelenting overwhelm. It’s a survival adaptation to chronic threat or depletion.

So what disturbed the balance? The same thing that disturbs any living system: too much demand, too little support, too much fear, or not enough care. When life becomes something to endure instead of something that feels safe to inhabit, the body protects itself the only way it can. And psychiatry, instead of asking why, numbs the messenger and calls it treatment.

But it makes sense when we understand that 💊💊🟰💲💲‼️