The language of symptoms
The problem with psychiatric diagnoses, an alternative approach to healing, and how to start the dialogue with your soul
A few years ago, when my depression was at its worst, I went to see a psychiatrist in New York. Within 20 minutes of talking, he was ready to put me on Prozac.
I had my hesitations around antidepressants. Something didn’t feel right.
A few days later, a New Yorker edition landed on my doormat that featured a cover story about the difficulties of going off psychiatric drugs.
I wasn’t particularly spiritual back then, but I saw it as a sign.
The universe was affirming a belief I already held, that depression is always there for a reason. It’s not random, it’s not just brain chemistry or genetics. That by medicating it, I’d mute the messenger and pass up a chance to get to the bottom of what my psyche was trying to tell me.
I decided to hold off on getting a prescription and vowed to first try every alternative, natural modality that seemed plausible. To this day, I’m beyond grateful I followed my gut. My life would look very different if I hadn’t.
Today, we’ll explore what we can learn from our symptoms, why they’re key to root cause approaches to mental health, and how to start the dialogue.
Please note, I’m not a doctor or psychologist, this is just my experience combined with extensive research on the topic.
Western Psychiatry Diagnoses and Treats Symptoms Rather Than Root Causes
The modern medical model is built around diagnoses. A patient receives a diagnosis based on their symptoms. The diagnosis determines the treatment.
That model works well when you diagnose root causes, as for example with a broken limb or a virus. It’s much less efficient when the diagnosis itself is based on a collection of symptoms only, which is often the case with mental conditions.
Let’s look at depression, for example.
The American Psychiatric Association cites the following risks factors:
Biochemistry: Differences in certain chemicals in the brain
Genetics: Depression can run in families
Personality: Low self-esteem, easily overwhelmed by stress, pessimistic
Environmental factors: Exposure to violence, neglect, abuse or poverty
Here’s what’s problematic with points 1 - 3 on that list:
Altered brain chemicals don’t contribute to symptoms of depression by causing them, they’re merely a consequence of the depression. You can’t describe the cause of an illness by describing its symptoms.
Depression doesn’t run in families, generational trauma runs in families.
Low self-esteem, pessimism, and overwhelm do contribute, but then again, what’s causing those qualities in someone to begin with?
I learned early on in strategy consulting that your ability to find solutions depends on how accurately you’ve defined the problem.
The recurring theme here is that the mental health care system tends to diagnose symptoms, not root causes. Depression is just an example, the same would be true for anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and so on.
Treating Symptoms Only Can Prevent Healing Root Causes and May Even Cause Harm
To be clear, I’m not against all use of psychiatric medication.
Psychiatric drugs can be an effective short-term intervention.
If someone is suicidal or manic or simply not functional, it can be more critical to treat those acute symptoms than to go on an adventure hunt for the root cause. The hunt requires time, a luxury not everyone has.
That’s not how medication is commonly used, however.
Patients are told that brain chemistry is the problem. Drug companies, and the doctors they educate and persuade, tell us this can be fixed by manipulating our serotonin receptors. This narrative has allowed the $1.3 trillion pharma industry to develop and market billion-dollar products, called SSRIs.
SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are prescribed widely and easily. According to the CDC, a staggering 13% of adults (and 18% of women!) in the US were treated with SSRIs between 2015–2018.
Most patients continue to take medication well beyond the time they’ve found relief in their symptoms. That’s because when they try to wean themselves off, they find that symptoms return (surprise, surprise).
Long-term use of medication that was designed for short-term intervention has consequences, however.
In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker reviews decades of long-term studies on psychiatric drugs and comes to a terrifying conclusion. Not only is the efficacy of many of the most popular drugs poor, but the expansion of psychiatric drugs also correlates directly with the rise of mental illness in the US. Patients receive medication, develop side effects, and receive more medication to mitigate those side effects. This can turn into a downward spiral that may result in additional mental health diagnoses that weren’t present to begin with.
This is precisely the story told in the aforementioned New Yorker story which chronicles Laura Delano, a Harvard student from a well-off household in Connecticut. Laura was diagnosed with depression and bipolar in her teens. Over the span of 14 years and several additional diagnoses, doctors put her on 19 different medications. When Delano decided to wean off all medication and turn her back on her diagnoses, her symptoms eventually faded. She now writes about the “freedom to be with emotional pain” and has since founded a non-profit called Inner Compass Initiative.
If I’d gone on an antidepressant, I might have gotten better.
Yet, I would’ve switched the cage of my mental illness for a different one, that of long-term reliance on psychiatric drugs.
When it comes to our symptoms we have two options: mute the messenger or try to converse with it.
In Root Cause Approaches to Mental Health, Symptoms Are Considered “the Voice of the Soul”
The first premise of the root cause approach is that our bodies and minds want to be healthy. Our minds and bodies are constantly striving for homeostasis.
That means that if there are symptoms, they mean something. None of us have “broken” minds that need drugs for eternity to function. It seems unreasonable to believe that almost 20% of women were born with faulty brain chemistry.
Renowned depth psychologist Carl G. Jung argues that mental illnesses like depression are a symptom of inner imbalances.
Too much or not enough of something inside of us.
He doesn’t suggest they’re chemical imbalances, but inner imbalances.
Jung believes that symptoms are the voice of the soul. He proposes that the way to treat these imbalances and heal our patterns is to explore the subconscious. By developing a relationship with our inner forces, Jung argues we can attempt to understand what our soul is trying to express.
Jung is not the only psychologist to hold these beliefs. There’s an increasing number of voices focused on illuminating the root cause of our most common mental issues.
Swiss psychologist Alice Miller argues that depression, for example, is the result of disconnection from self in childhood:
“In what is described as depression and experienced as emptiness, futility, fear of impoverishment, and loneliness can usually be recognized as the tragic loss of the self in childhood, manifested as the total alienation from the self in the adult.”
She proceeds by saying that the opposite of depression is not the lack of pain but the ability to feel the full range of emotions.
In other words, the opposite of depression is expression.
Psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin believes that it’s often unacknowledged grief that manifests as depression or anxiety. This “sense of meaninglessness” that grows from the absence of vision and departure of our soul is what he believes to frequently cause symptoms of a depressed or agitated mood.
How Psychedelics Can Help You Listen to Symptoms and Heal Underlying Issues
If left untreated, symptoms will persist until we’ve made the necessary changes.
Psychedelics are unique tools to explore what those necessary changes might be.
As Anthony Bossis, one of the researchers driving the NYU psilocybin studies, states:
“Most tools in mental health care quiet down symptoms, these medicines [psychedelics] explore the underpinnings of suffering.”
Researchers working with psilocybin quickly realized that psychedelic medicine isn’t a treatment for depression but rather something resembling a cure.
When I first began listening to my depression symptoms, I noticed something peculiar: they always occurred precisely in correlation with my cycle. Upon further investigation, I learned that my depression was occurring within the broader frame of a mood disorder called Pre-Menstrual Dysmorphic Disorder (PMDD). PMDD is like PMS on steroids. It’s a debilitating yet poorly-understood condition that was only added to the DSM-5 in 2013. PMDD affects 3–8% of women. 15% of those suffering from PMDD attempt suicide.
I had the first clue, but it didn’t take me very far.
PMDD, again, is only understood through its symptoms, root causes are unknown. The two treatment options are SSRIs and the contraception pill. Neither of which seemed to be a compelling option to me.
I vowed to go inward to search for more answers.
Over the course of a painful, year-long process I healed what I now believe to be the root cause of my PMDD, sexual trauma. Repressed memories of the incident first came up during a silent meditation retreat. Through a specific type of therapy called IFS (Internal Family Systems) and psychedelic plant medicine (in this case, Ayahuasca), I managed to process and heal the trauma. My PMDD and the depression symptoms that came along with it have been gone ever since.
I’ve since discovered that there’s some research linking PMDD and trauma (here and here). None of the gynecologists I consulted over the years were aware of it, though.
I offer my story as an illustration that stubborn inquiry into the root causes of our ailments can be rewarded.
Your story and symptoms may look very different, but the takeaway is the same: when we take the path to identify and heal root causes, we might face more discomfort in the short term, but we have a real chance at curing ourselves in the long run.
Your Journey
Think of the most pressing ailment you’re currently facing and ask yourself the following questions:
When did the symptoms first occur? What happened in your emotional world then? Could there be any parallels?
What would it feel like to believe that every symptom is there for a reason?
How could you start the dialogue to learn more about what your soul might be trying to communicate? What practices or avenues could you explore?
Dig deeper
If you feel ready to dive into your subconscious, here are some potential ways to do so:
Find a therapist specialized in in depth psychology or (ideally and) Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, which are both root cause approaches to mental health.
Look into psychedelic medicine — it’s the most effective (and efficient) tool to work with your subconscious. You can find legal options in this article.
If you’re too afraid of psychedelics (read here why you shouldn’t be, though), you could also explore other ways to work with your subconscious, such as breathwork.
Thanks for being here this week, thanks for reading my words. Please share them with anyone who might benefit.
With love,
Julia
There are so many parallels here with the work as I do as an acupuncturist. Acupuncturists are trained to view symptoms as "branches." Symptomatic treatment can provide temporary relief but to unlock true healing potential we have to find and treat the root. Treating the root is a slow, non-linear process. It takes patience. But the results are profound. Great post.
El mejor aprendizaje,es la propia experiencia,que a menudo, resulta bastante dolorosa.
Gracias por compartir tu história y ayudar a las personas .
The best learning is the experience itself, which is often quite painful.
Thank you for sharing your story and helping people.