[Altered Moment]

Published by Harvard. It does not say the chemical imbalance hypothesis is a myth it says it is inadequate and does not capture how complex the disease it.

What causes depression? - Harvard Health Publications

First section of the article-

It’s often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance, but that figure of speech doesn’t capture how complex the disease is. Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, depression has many possible causes, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. It’s believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression.

To be sure, chemicals are involved in this process, but it is not a simple matter of one chemical being too low and another too high. Rather, many chemicals are involved, working both inside and outside nerve cells. There are millions, even billions, of chemical reactions that make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life.

With this level of complexity, you can see how two people might have similar symptoms of depression, but the problem on the inside, and therefore what treatments will work best, may be entirely different.

Researchers have learned much about the biology of depression. They’ve identified genes that make individuals more vulnerable to low moods and influence how an individual responds to drug therapy. One day, these discoveries should lead to better, more individualized treatment (see “From the lab to your medicine cabinet”), but that is likely to be years away. And while researchers know more now than ever before about how the brain regulates mood, their understanding of the biology of depression is far from complete.

What follows is an overview of the current understanding of the major factors believed to play a role in depression.

[live2ski66]

Great post! I'm always looking for better and more scientific ways to explain what is happening to me both in my brain and in my body. The more professional and scientific way we can explain our disease, the faster we'll loose the stigma of "crazy person".

Great article.....I am sure that depression has many layers.
It's just too bad that there isn't a definitive test for individual cause(s). Imagine the time and frustration it would save.

[Hellion]

I will have to read the rest of that, sounds good so far....At least it acknowledges the various 'factors' that can contribute to Depression instead of trying to point to one single 'cause' or claim things like chemical imbalance is a 'myth' when in reality it is probably a significant factor, just not the only one.

I think most mental illnesses are much more complex then people tend to think, hence the reason why it can be quite hard to treat...everyones brain is different to begin with, Its possible two people with a slightly different set of 'factors' could both develop the same mental illness and it might have something to do with why different treatments work for different people with the same disorders.

[angryworld]

Well, I'm no expert on the study of depression but I've felt it just come over me like a house of cards collapsing. Like a bunch of little things all happened at once and boom down I go. In my own depression I've seen the complex chain of causes that can just 'flip the switch.'

[Nammu]

Totally agree with that. I have always felt that throwing chemicals aimed at the brain is so lacking. causing potentially more harm since they don't really understand what they are doing, they just like the band- aid affect that makes them feeling like they are accomplishing something. Depressed people everywhere can attest that is is not enough. I finally saw on a local news station that they are now acknowledging that males and females process medicine differently and that studies/ research do both genders a disservice by lumping the side effects into one category.
Hip hip hooray for this.

[Altered Moment]

Yeah i saw that. all the clinical studies are done on male because female hormones get in the way. And they just assumed that both sexes metabolized drugs the same. Turn out to not be the case at all. What a diservice to women.
I am a guinea pig with all these drugs though. been on them 20 years and I cant even say they help. Sometimes they have and then the effect wears off.