Psychiatrists use several different types of medications to help people suffering from stress-related disorders. The basic idea is to reverse chemical imbalance back as close to balance as possible. Medications merely control symptoms. They do not shrink the balloon. It is no different than a diabetic medication controlling blood sugar. Whereas medication push brain chemicals to their original state, stress pushes them in the opposite direction (see picture below). If stress wins, medications lose their efficacy. Patients can help medications work better by coping with stress better. Education and counseling are essential for recovery. Because many patients do not learn better coping ways and do not wish to address their buried “issues,” every two or three years they “become immune” to their medications. The poor doctor has to come up with new drugs, or add more drugs, or send the patient for electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) also known as “shock treatment.” Now these patients are branded, “refractory” or “treatment resistant cases.” No wonder doctors routinely tell most patients, “You have a chemical imbalance. You will need to be on these medications the rest of your life!” Far from getting upset about this, most patients wear this dubious title of “chemical imbalance” as a badge of honor, and go around bragging about their so-called chemical imbalance. The truth is that most, if not all, can gradually learn to cope better and gradually go off of their medications under the supervision of enlightened doctors.

Using the balloon and soda bottle model, let us see how they work. Antidepressant medications and mood stabilizers are like a coat of paint or Teflon that strengthens the balloon. They ease the tension in the balloon and make symptoms go away. They keep the balloon from popping, but they do not shrink the balloon. Bipolar patients need a coating of a mood stabilizers over their balloon before they get an antidepressant coating as the latter can cause manic spells in patients thus not protected.