“Correlation does not Imply Causation”, while Psychotropic Drugs do cause Neurochemical Imbalances and Dysfunction of Neurotransmission

Abstract

Mental health professionals often prescribe psychotropic drugs to patients diagnosed with mental health illnesses under the premise that neurochemical imbalance is a main underlying cause of mental health disorders. In this paper we discuss reasons to believe that there is no scientific research which provides evidence that neurochemical imbalances or problems with neurotransmission in the brain are causative factors in the etiology of mental health illnesses. Behavioral and neurochemical research studies in animals show an ASSOCIATION between mental health states and alteration of neurotransmitter signaling. However, correlation does not imply causation. To the contrary, stress paradigms in rodents show a diminishing of the activity of the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway _as a result of_ long-term stressful stimuli. Furthermore, studies in human cases of mental health disorders show that psychotropic drugs cause disturbances in neurotransmission or neurochemical homeostasis as seen in biochemical research studies, and this is manifest by the behavioral consequences experienced during withdrawal in humans and animals. SIGNIFICANCE: This paper presents reasons to question the safety and efficacy of the common use of psychotropic drugs in the mental health industry.