Brain, brain, what is brain [Monty Python, I think]
Now you are nearing the point. The point is, we have no idea what specific chemicals, brain parts, or so on are responsible for any idea, delusion, behavior, and so on.
Psychiatry claims they know what is normal, and what is abnormal. Fred Baughman cries bulls#!t on that notion.
I have asked every person, show me a study that can be replicated that when researchers see chemicals at x level, y ratio, this part of the brain, the person always performs behavior z. Schizophrenia studies are instructive. Psychiatrists touted that it has a genetic marker - right up until tests of siblings with the same genetic marker didn’t have schizophrenia.
If there is no such study pinpointing the biology responsible for a behavior, then no one understands the precise cause of behavior, and thus any drug used to affect behavior does not target any known mechanism. And indeed that is the case - psych drugs affect the entire mind and body, which is why they have such severe side effects.
OK. I think I understand your position.
It is your contention that no studies have been carried out and replicated that show specifically the biology behind mental illness. That being the case, all of the medications used are just glorified guess work that target the behavior we want stopped, not the underlying biological condition (since we don’t know what it is), if one exists at all.
http://www.neurotransmitter.net/bipolar.html
I’m not a scientist, discussing that aspect of it is certainly outside of my abilities, but the link above has some intersting stuff contained therein. I do believe, based on what I’ve seen and read, that you are shortchanging the science behind the medications associated with mental illness. JMO.
I have no expectation of psychiatry being an exact science. I, being the broken record that I am, can really only point to my personal and direct experience with a bipolar parent. Yes, it is behavior that is the indicator of a problem. Yes, the meds seem to target the behavior. Yes, the meds work (again my scientific sample contains only 1 subject). No, the side effects are not worse than the disease itself.