The Myth of Chemical Imbalance

New Comprehensive Review Shows No Causal Link Between Serotonin and Depression

The conversation around mental health is often, well, depressing. Clearly, the confusion and deep emotional pain that so many people face is something we should take seriously, but there is evidence that the way we talk about anxiety and depression–and our beliefs about their causes– can often make things worse.

The Consequences of Causal Beliefs

An Australian research team compared 53 different studies dealing with mental health beliefs and stigma. They found that people who think that mental health problems come from a diseased brain, chemical imbalance, or genetic inheritance are “more pessimistic about recovery, more willing to socially exclude affected people and more likely to see them as dangerous.” Another study found that people who were told that their experience with depression was caused by chemical imbalance were less optimistic about their recovery and felt less capable of personally improving their lives. These results are particularly frightening since, as the authors of that study note, the chemical imbalance idea is “the dominant causal explanation of depression in the United States.”

The (Lack of) Evidence for Chemical Imbalance

These negative consequences would be unpleasant, but unavoidable, if the chemical imbalance theory of depression was accurately founded on solid scientific evidence. But that isn’t the case! In a comprehensive research review published July 20th, 2022, an international team of experts sorted through hundreds of different studies to verify whether the widespread belief that low levels of serotonin cause depression is factually supported. They resoundingly conclude: “it is time to acknowledge that the serotonin theory of depression is not empirically substantiated.” 

This news might land in different ways for different people: some might find it validating, while others find it discouraging or confusing. After all, having an explanation—even a discouraging one—for the painful and increasingly prevalent affliction of depression is better than feeling like there’s no explanation at all. 

But there is another explanation for depression and other mental health challenges, one that is both substantiated by the research and that offers more hope for lasting healing.

A New View

Rather than buying into the disheartening narratives of inescapable, life-long battles that come from losing the genetic lottery, we can embrace a broader view, one that is better supported by scientific study. This perspective is powerfully articulated by Dr. Stephen Illardi, who reframes depression and other mental health challenges as “diseases of civilization” that have as much to do with the way we live in modern society as they do with individual predispositions. In his words, “We were never designed for the sedentary, indoor, socially isolated, sleep-deprived, fast-food-laden, frenzied pace of modern life.”

It rings true, doesn’t it? And it is a message full of hope! Our struggles with mental health don’t mean something is innately wrong with or broken inside of us—our struggles mean there are problems with some ways of living that are common in today’s world. And that means there are many adjustments we can make to experience greater feelings of wholeness, healing, and peace.

Moving Forward

The takeaway from all this isn't that genetic inheritance and chemicals in the brain don’t play any part at all in mental health struggles. Nor is it to deny positive benefits many have found in the professionally supervised use of medication in treatment plans. But our understanding of the full range of influences on our mental health—and the full scope of possible interventions—has expanded. It is increasingly clear that our beliefs about mental health matter; our environments greatly influence our wellbeing; and most importantly, that we can make conscious changes that will help us move from suffering to thriving. And that’s news worth spreading.

Impact Suite has helped thousands of people around the world embrace this liberating perspective and find greater wellness.