The notion that mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance is a very outdated theory and holds very little water these days. Psychiatrists do not understand how these drugs even work themselves after all these years of prescribing them, only guesses. And while drugs can help, and are often necessary for highly unstable individuals, they are riddled with horrible side effects. Lithium for example, which is the most popular mood stablizer can cause irreversible damage to the kidneys, and can permanently ruin the functioning of your thyroid and requires routine blood tests to test for lithium toxicity. Valproate, another popular mood stablizer can cause liver damage in long term use. Lamictal caused my body to break out in horrible painful rashes that didn't disappear until months after I stopped taking it.

Long term most medications need to also be regularly increased or rotated as the brain gradually adjusts to them. They are just not reliable enough as permanent solutions. I watched the same thing happen with my mother who had schizophrenia, and in the end medications could no longer help her and she lost herself to psychosis. Having lived with mental illness, seen the lives it has destroyed, and having been surrounded by it for my entire life I have absolutely no faith in psychiatry as a long term solution.

I had tried about 8-9 different medications over several miserable years with very little relief, and out of desperation I was driven to challenge my perspective on my illness and seek another path despite being told this was something I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I was lead to believe that I was just another victim of mental illness. Maybe some people are too far gone to go without psychiatric medicine, but the real danger lies in believing that all mental illnesses are beyond the individual's control and that psychiatry holds all the answers. If I didn't challenge that perception I have no idea where I would be.