Anyone else Interested in Psychiatry?

[antonius89]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm interested in psychiatry. I got interested in it after meeting several psychiatrists while inpatient. I found the whole thing fascinating. I also think I would make a great psychiatrist due to my intellect.

I'm 23 years old and I will graduate when I'm 24.

I'm not sure how I will fund med school so I'm thinking about being a high school math teacher, while I finish the pre-reqs. I'll probably be 25-27 when I apply. I'll research more about it. I hope I don't have to have a co-signor...Perhaps I can build up a decent credit score while being a math teacher.

Is a degree in Applied Math- Statistics frowned upon, compared to, let's say, pure math? Pure math is hard. I'm pretty sure I can get straight A's my senior year as applied since the classes are easier. What about Applied Math-Finance? That's even easier.

I have no medical extracurricular activities. So I know I'm totally screwed if I don't get any soon. What should I be doing, besides shadowing doctors? I can't do any research in medicine unless it's math/stats/economics related because of my background.

PS What books should I be reading?

 

[IslandStyle808]

I would say try to work or volunteer in a hospital setting to get a feel for the health field. Shadowing of physicians is helpful in deciding whether medicine is right for you.

As for research, have you taught of doing some epidemiology research? This is where basic math and statistics are helpful in collecting health data. Try to look in the public health direction and see if there are research positions in that area (with emphasis on epidemiology).

Good luck to you!

 

[amad01]

I'm interested in psychiatry. I got interested in it after meeting several psychiatrists while inpatient. I found the whole thing fascinating. I also think I would make a great psychiatrist due to my intellect.

I'm 23 years old and I will graduate when I'm 24.

I'm not sure how I will fund med school so I'm thinking about being a high school math teacher, while I finish the pre-reqs. I'll probably be 25-27 when I apply. I'll research more about it. I hope I don't have to have a co-signor...Perhaps I can build up a decent credit score while being a math teacher.

Is a degree in Applied Math- Statistics frowned upon, compared to, let's say, pure math? Pure math is hard. I'm pretty sure I can get straight A's my senior year as applied since the classes are easier. What about Applied Math-Finance? That's even easier.

I have no medical extracurricular activities. So I know I'm totally screwed if I don't get any soon. What should I be doing, besides shadowing doctors? I can't do any research in medicine unless it's math/stats/economics related because of my background.

PS What books should I be reading?

degree doesn't matter, just do well in pre-req's and MCAT

along with shadowing doc's you can get a low level job in hospital, volunteer in hospital, volunteer with a hospice, volunteer at free clinic, whatever it is I'd jump in asap. I know hospice loves volunteers and will sign you up tomorrow.

Research doesn't have to be in medicine. Look for something that's hypothesis based and research the hell out of it.

books should be the bible, quran, and the torah

 

[mouthwash4hobo]

If you're interested in medicine - psychiatry, I wouldn't bother going into a different direction for funding medical school. Just focus on finishing the prereqs, study for mcat, do some ec's and apply for federal loans. Unless being a math teacher is your backup plan if you don't get into med school.

 

[image187]

being a psychiatrist is a pretty awesome gig. Good money and a great lifestyle.... i would put as much energy as you can into this whole getting into med school thing

 

[pre med 2014]

I'm interested in psychiatry. I got interested in it after meeting several psychiatrists while inpatient. I found the whole thing fascinating. I also think I would make a great psychiatrist due to my intellect.

What was the inpatient for? It could be an uphill battle applying for medical licensure if it involved bipolar, personality disorder, etc...

That being said, I have heard of a licensed psychiatrist who has schizophrenia.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

What was the inpatient for? It could be an uphill battle applying for medical licensure if it involved bipolar, personality disorder, etc...

That being said, I have heard of a licensed psychiatrist who has schizophrenia.

Bi-Polar disorder is easily treated with anti-convulsives. I won't really comment on personality disorders because other than anti-social/ conduct it probably can probably be dealt with. And generally I don't think they'll prevent you from achieving medical licensure, mostly because I doubt they'll really ask.

Also doing a degree in statistics is fine.

 

[pre med 2014]

books should be the bible, quran, and the torah

Some Scientology stuff too for sure.

 

[HughMyron]

FP and Psych actually would be my ideal specialties if money was no object.

 

[lobo.solo]

I found the study of the mind pretty fascinating. Though psychiatry is more about treatment...

 

[Intraleukin-6]

I'm interested in psychiatry. I got interested in it after meeting several psychiatrists while inpatient. I found the whole thing fascinating. I also think I would make a great psychiatrist due to my intellect.

I'm 23 years old and I will graduate when I'm 24.

I'm not sure how I will fund med school so I'm thinking about being a high school math teacher, while I finish the pre-reqs. I'll probably be 25-27 when I apply. I'll research more about it. I hope I don't have to have a co-signor...Perhaps I can build up a decent credit score while being a math teacher.

Is a degree in Applied Math- Statistics frowned upon, compared to, let's say, pure math? Pure math is hard. I'm pretty sure I can get straight A's my senior year as applied since the classes are easier. What about Applied Math-Finance? That's even easier.

I have no medical extracurricular activities. So I know I'm totally screwed if I don't get any soon. What should I be doing, besides shadowing doctors? I can't do any research in medicine unless it's math/stats/economics related because of my background.

PS What books should I be reading?

Awesome! I've wanted to be one too, since I was like sixteen (twenty now). Honesty, I statistics would be pretty useful for psychiatry, as it's involved in most published literature, and most don't have a strong statistics background.

 

[mimelim]

Bi-Polar disorder is easily treated with anti-convulsives. I won't really comment on personality disorders because other than anti-social/ conduct it probably can probably be dealt with. And generally I don't think they'll prevent you from achieving medical licensure, mostly because I doubt they'll really ask.

Also doing a degree in statistics is fine.

Bipolar is not easily treated with any class of medications. Treated, yes. Easily, not on your life.

Personality disorders are very difficult to treat. Most people inflicted with one would find that medicine was not a good career path because of the limitations that the disorders place on them.

I have no idea about other states, but certainly Texas asked up front about past psych history before my licencing. I don't know why they wouldn't.

 

[NickNaylor]

FP and Psych actually would be my ideal specialties if money was no object.

Salaries for psych are nothing to sneeze at, especially if private practice is something you'd like to do. I've heard that building the practice initially is difficult, but once you get a good base of patients you're golden.

Then again I guess that applies to most specialties...

(sent from my phone)

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Salaries for psych are nothing to sneeze at, especially if private practice is something you'd like to do. I've heard that building the practice initially is difficult, but once you get a good base of patients you're golden.

Then again I guess that applies to most specialties...

(sent from my phone)

Unless hes going into medicine for the money...

 

[pre med 2014]

Salaries for psych are nothing to sneeze at, especially if private practice is something you'd like to do. I've heard that building the practice initially is difficult, but once you get a good base of patients you're golden.

Then again I guess that applies to most specialties...

(sent from my phone)

I'd imagine building a psych practice is easiest of all. You don't need any medical equipment or technicians. Just a secretary.

 

[Bluto385]

I'd imagine building a psych practice is easiest of all. You don't need any medical equipment or technicians. Just a secretary.

Because the minute you hire a secretary, patients with mental problems line up at the door throwing money at you...

 

[NickNaylor]

Because the minute you hire a secretary, patients with mental problems line up at the door throwing money at you...

😉

I think the point was that psych, perhaps more than most specialties, has pretty minimal overhead with respect to expensive equipment, diagnostic stuff, etc.. A surgeon can't walk into a room and perform surgery. By and large, a psychiatrist can do his work pretty much anywhere (with some exceptions of course, and this is changing gradually as psych utilizes more and more objective diagnostic data).

(sent from my phone)

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

😉

I think the point was that psych, perhaps more than most specialties, has pretty minimal overhead with respect to expensive equipment, diagnostic stuff, etc.. A surgeon can't walk into a room and perform surgery. By and large, a psychiatrist can do his work pretty much anywhere (with some exceptions of course, and this is changing gradually as psych utilizes more and more objective diagnostic data).

(sent from my phone)

I wish there was a way to shadow psychiatrists and neurologists around here. If you can do it, shadow some of them. I'm sure it would be particularly interesting.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

I wish there was a way to shadow psychiatrists and neurologists around here. If you can do it, shadow some of them. I'm sure it would be particularly interesting.

Roflol if I went to a psychiatrist and saw a pre-med shadowing and listening in on all the details of my life I'd demand my money back.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Roflol if I went to a psychiatrist and saw a pre-med shadowing and listening in on all the details of my life I'd demand my money back.

They dont just cover depression. Im talking about severe inpatient cases.

 

[pre med 2014]

😉

I think the point was that psych, perhaps more than most specialties, has pretty minimal overhead with respect to expensive equipment, diagnostic stuff, etc.. A surgeon can't walk into a room and perform surgery. By and large, a psychiatrist can do his work pretty much anywhere (with some exceptions of course, and this is changing gradually as psych utilizes more and more objective diagnostic data).

(sent from my phone)

Objective data cannot determine the presence or absence of mental disorder. In fact, neither would any such data change the mind of a psychiatrist after he/she formulates an opinion.

It can only provide confirmation bias.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Objective data cannot determine the presence or absence of mental disorder. In fact, neither would any such data change the mind of a psychiatrist after he/she formulates an opinion.

It can only provide confirmation bias.

And this is coming from?

 

[NickNaylor]

Objective data cannot determine the presence or absence of mental disorder. In fact, neither would any such data change the mind of a psychiatrist after he/she formulates an opinion.

It can only provide confirmation bias.

Lol. OK.

(sent from my phone)

 

[touchpause13]

I wish there was a way to shadow psychiatrists and neurologists around here. If you can do it, shadow some of them. I'm sure it would be particularly interesting.

hmm that's odd. I didn't have any problem finding a psychiatrist to shadow..

 

[pre med 2014]

Lol. OK.

(sent from my phone)

It's an argument for another thread.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

It's an argument for another thread.

Right, your that pilot who thinks psych is bad

 

[deleted357625]

I really like the field considering I'm a neuro major and I enjoy the whole brain function phenomena, but I feel like psychiatry is not a practical field to be in considering the godly amount of unanswered questions and the many theories surrounding psychological or mental conditions and I rather not solely prescribe drugs to treat a patient, whether it works - it's still not a cure rather it acts as a suppressant to the problem you may have. I personally wouldn't feel any gratification working with people drugging them per se. Again, this is a personal perspective, some may see the gratification in slowing down or preventing another relapse of some mental condition.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

They dont just cover depression. Im talking about severe inpatient cases.

Touché

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I really like the field considering I'm a neuro major and I enjoy the whole brain function phenomena, but I feel like psychiatry is not a practical field to be in considering the godly amount of unanswered questions and the many theories surrounding psychological or mental conditions and I rather not solely prescribe drugs to treat a patient, whether it works - it's still not a cure rather it acts as a suppressant to the problem you may have. I personally wouldn't feel any gratification working with people drugging them per se. Again, this is a personal perspective, some may see the gratification in slowing down or preventing another relapse of some mental condition.

Admittedly the fallacy here is that this in someway or form describes almost all medical specialties.

 

[pre med 2014]

Right, your that pilot who thinks psych is bad

No not all psychiatry is bad. Ethical, non-punitive, non-coercive and voluntary I would support. I have stated before that if I supported banning voluntary psych it would be hypocritical.

Though, even some voluntary stuff I would err on the side of caution since psych drugs are mind altering drugs that can be dangerous and should almost never be given to children. I also do not support voluntary brain surgery for mental disorder which is making a comeback. I have even heard one psychiatrist call the new procedure more 'precise' than a lobotomy. Terrifying.

 

[pre med 2014]

Admittedly the fallacy here is that this in someway or form describes almost all medical specialties.

This is not true, in all other medical specialties it is clear when you are treating the source of the problem or just 'masking' the problem. Even when we mask the problem we often still know the source of the problem but not have a way to fix it, example, prescribng hydrocodone for stenosis, we may see that the vessel is calcified but have no way of treating it so we must 'mask' the problem with painkillers.


Psych meds always mask problem, and we never know the cause.

Pain is real, but the perception of pain is a different category of existence. If you know anything about ontology this would make sense to you.

Just admit it, biological psychiatry is irrational, the sooner you can see this, the sooner you can provide better quality of care for the mentally disabled as a psychiatrist.

 

[NickNaylor]

This is not true, in all other medical specialties it is clear when you are treating the source of the problem or just 'masking' the problem. Even when we mask the problem we often still know the source of the problem but not have a way to fix it, example, prescribng hydrocodone for stenosis, we may see that the vessel is calcified but have no way of treating it so we must 'mask' the problem with painkillers.


Psych meds always mask problem, and we never know the cause.

Pain is real, but the perception of pain is a different category of existence. If you know anything about ontology this would make sense to you.

Just admit it, biological psychiatry is irrational, the sooner you can see this, the sooner you can provide better quality of care for the mentally disabled as a psychiatrist.

I'm already convinced that you're a troll, but in the off chance that you aren't, you should probably stop before you make yourself look even more foolish.

(sent from my phone)

 

[pre med 2014]

I'm already convinced that you're a troll, but in the off chance that you aren't, you should probably stop before you make yourself look even more foolish.

(sent from my phone)

Feel free to address my arguments intelligently but please try to refrain from name calling its childish.

 

[image187]

This is not true, in all other medical specialties it is clear when you are treating the source of the problem or just 'masking' the problem. Even when we mask the problem we often still know the source of the problem but not have a way to fix it, example, prescribng hydrocodone for stenosis, we may see that the vessel is calcified but have no way of treating it so we must 'mask' the problem with painkillers.


Psych meds always mask problem, and we never know the cause.

Pain is real, but the perception of pain is a different category of existence. If you know anything about ontology this would make sense to you.

Just admit it, biological psychiatry is irrational, the sooner you can see this, the sooner you can provide better quality of care for the mentally disabled as a psychiatrist.

Give me concrete examples of diseases that are actually fixed in medicine and not just "masked" with symptomatic treatment. When you manage someone with type 1 diabetes you're just masking the source of their problem by giving them insulin, without actually FIXING the problem. Is this not akin to prescribing an SSRI for someone with dysregulation of serotonin? Should we stop practicing medicine because we're not good enough to actually cure the underlying problem all the time? Ironically, a large component of your source of the problem here in coronary artery disease (for which hydrocodone is a not a standard treatment) is human behavior - namely being lazy and abusing substances.

Psychiatry is a relatively new field and every day we get one step closer to understanding the why of mental disorders, a lot of which seem to be biological.

 

[aspiringdoc09]

To stay on topic, I am interested in both psych and neuro. I think you should get a degree in 1) whatever interests you and 2) something that leads to a job that you will be happy with while preparing yourself for the med school app process.

As long as you fulfill the premed prereqs, activities, and MCAT you should be fine.

I would like to complete a dual-residency if I am still interested in both by residency application time; however, I seem to lean more towards neuro due to my research interest in neurodegenerative diseases. I find both to be very interesting. I wish you well!

 

[image187]

To stay on topic, I am interested in both psych and neuro. I think you should get a degree in 1) whatever interests you and 2) something that leads to a job that you will be happy with while preparing yourself for the med school app process.

As long as you fulfill the premed prereqs, activities, and MCAT you should be fine.

I would like to complete a dual-residency if I am still interested in both by residency application time; however, I seem to lean more towards neuro due to my research interest in neurodegenerative diseases. I find both to be very interesting. I wish you well!

huntingtons disease has a huge psychiatric component. So do other neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and others... maybe you'd like psych more than neuro!! who knows...👍

 

[pre med 2014]

Give me concrete examples of diseases that are actually fixed in medicine and not just "masked" with symptomatic treatment. When you manage someone with type 1 diabetes you're just masking the source of their problem by giving them insulin, without actually FIXING the problem. Is this not akin to prescribing an SSRI for someone with dysregulation of serotonin? Should we stop practicing medicine because we're not good enough to actually cure the underlying problem all the time? Ironically, a large component of your source of the problem here in coronary artery disease (for which hydrocodone is a not a standard treatment) is human behavior - namely being lazy and abusing substances.

Psychiatry is a relatively new field and every day we get one step closer to understanding the why of mental disorders, a lot of which seem to be biological.

Yes but we KNOW that diabetes is caused by insulin/glucose disregulation. We know exactly structurally and molecularly the way the cell is failing to accept insulin/produce insulin. (Accept my poor memory of diabetes I have just started bio MCAT review and I forgot the details around diabetes.) But the point remains it is a completely objective cause that we know why the blood sugar is high or low. And we know what normal blood sugar levels look like.

The idea that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance is categorically different from an insulin/glucose imbalance/disregulation. This is the delusion of psychiatry. Firsty, we have no way to measure a chemical imbalance in the brain, secondly, even if we could measure it we don't know what a normal chemical balance would be. Whereas we know what a blood sugar balance should be. See the difference? Psychiatrists simply 'copy' medical doctors. We will never know what a normal chemical balance should be, all you have to do is look at it closely to understand. It will all fall apart soon, and you'll say to yourself 'wow, that pre med on SDN was right, this was all nonsense'

To address your point about obesity, because it is an interesting irony. Now they are claiming that eating too much is a disease. now you have a disease and there is nothing you can do about it. IF you diet and exercise you are hopelessly destined to 'relapse' unless you believe you are 'sick' you will never be 'healthy'. Any attempt at responsible diet and exercise to lose weight is 'poor recovery' or 'denial'. I can't speak for 12 steppers but I could guarantee you that a typical meeting of eaters anonymous consists largely of exercise bashing.

 

[NickNaylor]

Yes but we KNOW that diabetes is caused by insulin/glucose disregulation. We know exactly structurally and molecularly the way the cell is failing to accept insulin/produce insulin. (Accept my poor memory of diabetes I have just started bio MCAT review and I forgot the details around diabetes.) But the point remains it is a completely objective cause that we know why the blood sugar is high or low. And we know what normal levels look like.

The idea that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance is categorically different from an insulin/glucose imbalance/disregulation. This is the delusion of psychiatry. Firsty, we have no way to measure a chemical imbalance in the brain, secondly, even if we could measure it we don't know what a normal chemical balance would be. Whereas we know what a blood sugar balance should be. See the difference? Psychiatrists simply 'copy' medical doctors. We will never know what a normal chemical balance should be, all you have to do is look at it closely to understand. It will all fall apart soon, and you'll say to yourself 'wow, that pre med on SDN was right, this was all nonsense'

To address your point about obesity, because it is an interesting irony. Now they are claiming that eating to much is a disease. now you have a disease and there is nothing you can do about it. IF you diet and exercise you are hopelessly destined to 'relapse' unless you believe you are 'sick' you will never be 'healthy'. Any attempt at responsible diet and exercise to lose weight is 'poor recovery' or 'denial'. I can't speak for 12 steppers but I could guarantee you that a typical meeting of eaters anonymous consists largely of exercise bashing.

That's because diabetes has the good fortunate of about half a century of research behind it. Mental disorders are only now being researched to understand the mechanistic causes of their pathology. Even most psychiatrists admit that there are very, very few known or proposed mechanisms for mental disorders. That little knowledge exists doesn't make it a pseudoscience.

(sent from my phone)

 

[Frazier]

Yes but we KNOW that diabetes is caused by insulin/glucose disregulation. We know exactly structurally and molecularly the way the cell is failing to accept insulin/produce insulin. (Accept my poor memory of diabetes I have just started bio MCAT review and I forgot the details around diabetes.) But the point remains it is a completely objective cause that we know why the blood sugar is high or low. And we know what normal blood sugar levels look like.

The idea that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance is categorically different from an insulin/glucose imbalance/disregulation. This is the delusion of psychiatry. Firsty, we have no way to measure a chemical imbalance in the brain, secondly, even if we could measure it we don't know what a normal chemical balance would be. Whereas we know what a blood sugar balance should be. See the difference? Psychiatrists simply 'copy' medical doctors. We will never know what a normal chemical balance should be, all you have to do is look at it closely to understand. It will all fall apart soon, and you'll say to yourself 'wow, that pre med on SDN was right, this was all nonsense'

To address your point about obesity, because it is an interesting irony. Now they are claiming that eating too much is a disease. now you have a disease and there is nothing you can do about it. IF you diet and exercise you are hopelessly destined to 'relapse' unless you believe you are 'sick' you will never be 'healthy'. Any attempt at responsible diet and exercise to lose weight is 'poor recovery' or 'denial'. I can't speak for 12 steppers but I could guarantee you that a typical meeting of eaters anonymous consists largely of exercise bashing.

This is very interesting. Not so much because of your disdain for the field, but rather how you strive to prove your points. You highlight that diabetes is well-documented from "what went wrong pathologically" to "taking blood samples to test for it" to "treating it with insulin". You feel that nothing analogous to this can ever be established for psychiatric illnesses.

The problem is that your gut feeling has no impact on reality.

In reality, there was a point in history that diabetes was not yet scientifically supported by those tests/treatments you outlined. Same goes for every other illness/malady under the sun. Science proceeded and knowledge advanced. If you were alive back then, you would have undoubtedly been rallying against diabetes as clinically treatable and against those that strove to further advance research on it.

"We know what normal blood sugar levels look like [for diabetes], but we won't ever know what the correct chemical balance should be [for psychiatric illness]…"

Please, let me borrow your time machine sometime!

I won't say that you are going to "be a terrible doctor and I feel sorry for your future patients", but your thought process is rather counterproductive for a physician in today's day and age.

 

[theseeker4]

This is very interesting. Not so much because of your disdain for the field, but rather how you strive to prove your points. You highlight that diabetes is well-documented from "what went wrong pathologically" to "taking blood samples to test for it" to "treating it with insulin". You feel that nothing analogous to this can ever be established for psychiatric illnesses.

The problem is that your gut feeling has no impact on reality.

In reality, there was a point in history that diabetes was not yet scientifically supported by those tests/treatments you outlined. Same goes for every other illness/malady under the sun. Science proceeded and knowledge advanced. If you were alive back then, you would have undoubtedly been rallying against diabetes as clinically treatable and against those that strove to further advance research on it.

"We know what normal blood sugar levels look like [for diabetes], but we won't ever know what the correct chemical balance should be [for psychiatric illness]…"

Please, let me borrow your time machine sometime!

The more interesting point is that Pre Med is using an argument to contrast the rest of medicine with psychiatry, when his argument doesn't apply to much/most of the rest of medicine either. We may know a lot of detail about the mechanisms of diabetes specifically, but there are a ton of conditions, disorders, and diseases we know less about than some psychiatric disorders, ranging from cancers to genetic disorders to neuro-degenerative diseases. The bias Pre Med has against psychiatry is well evident in his post history, and based on that history, not something anyone is going to make an impact on via logical arguments.

 

[pre med 2014]

It will all fall apart soon enough, the great thing about nonsense is that I don't have to prove anything, people will eventually see through the rubbish.

 

[Frazier]

The more interesting point is that Pre Med is using an argument to contrast the rest of medicine with psychiatry, when his argument doesn't apply to much/most of the rest of medicine either. We may know a lot of detail about the mechanisms of diabetes specifically, but there are a ton of conditions, disorders, and diseases we know less about than some psychiatric disorders, ranging from cancers to genetic disorders to neuro-degenerative diseases. The bias Pre Med has against psychiatry is well evident in his post history, and based on that history, not something anyone is going to make an impact on via logical arguments.

I think we agree that he is a very interesting fellow. 😉

 

[NickNaylor]

It will all fall apart soon enough, the great thing about nonsense is that I don't have to prove anything, people will eventually see through the rubbish.

Troll status: confirmed.

(sent from my phone)

 

[xroc]

To get this thread back on track, I actually have had an interest in psychiatry for a very long time now. I was always very interested in human behavior and what drove people towards acting a certain way. I have actually worked in a psychiatry unit and do psychiatry research and it's definitely one of the fields that I am definitely considering 🙂

 

[pre med 2014]

The bias Pre Med has against psychiatry is well evident in his post history, and based on that history, not something anyone is going to make an impact on via logical arguments.

I always err on the side of logic. Not sure how anything I have said is illogical. EDIT: and some of the things you say are logical at face value, but your ideas fall apart in practice and are subject to misuse.

 

[pre med 2014]

OP,

If you must work between college and med school, go into social work at a high school, you'll get more out of it than being a math teacher. It will give you some good insight into social problems.

 

[Intraleukin-6]

The idea that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance is categorically different from an insulin/glucose imbalance/disregulation. This is the delusion of psychiatry. Firsty, we have no way to measure a chemical imbalance in the brain, secondly, even if we could measure it we don't know what a normal chemical balance would be.

This is why no one will argue with you. The only way to win against a straw man argument is to not argue. You're probably too ignorant of the field to understand why your argument is a straw man, and no one has time to educate someone whose going to be intellectually lazy.

Literally heard a identical argument from a Scientology video by the way. It sounds very good to someone who doesn't recognize what is a faulty premise.

 

[pre med 2014]

So why can't I start doing cocaine and just say pardon me judge but my serotonin is imbalanced?

I'm not saying mind altering substances are not real. It's just a different category from insulin, there is no correct chemical balance like there is a correct blood sugar balance.

 

[theseeker4]

So why can't I start doing cocaine and just say pardon me judge but my serotonin is imbalanced?

I'm not saying mind altering substances are not real. It's just a different category from insulin, there is no correct chemical balance like there is a correct blood sugar balance.

And you know there is no correct balance/range/etc. how, exactly?

 

[touchpause13]

So why can't I start doing cocaine and just say pardon me judge but my serotonin is imbalanced?

I'm not saying mind altering substances are not real. It's just a different category from insulin, there is no correct chemical balance like there is a correct blood sugar balance.

is this a serious freakin arguement?
what the hell is wrong with you????
stupid troll