I need to express my unending frustrating with the manner in which educators are bringing up the roles of neurotransmitters in psychiatry.
Quoting neurochemical imbalances as originators, or targets to fix, is mostly false. That narrative is also harmful to people's self knowledge, and to progress in the field.
Engineers: how would you feel if someone described a technical problem, a UX issue, a data handling nuance or a security flaw... all as 'down to electricity'. Whilst pedantically correct it serves little use and may harm us by arresting the first tendrils of thought that were reaching out, hoping to understand this mystery.
The narrative that psychiatric illness relates to 'neurochemical imbalances' is largely a hangover from pharma marketing. Of course, neurochemicals are involved, and there will be patterns to be found. But let's collectively reject those oversimplifications that helped sell semi efficacious drugs for decades whilst doing little for societal progress in coping with psychiatric illness.
These mental health problems are bio psycho social. And the bio component is enormously more complex than "low mood, low serotonin".
Its okay to just say, "It's bio psycho social, and it's complicated".