Antidepressants and the Chaotic Brain: Implications for the Respectful Treatment of Selves

Traditional understanding of how psychotropic drugs work emphasize highly specific actions at subcellular levels. This model appears to have implications that seriously conflict with our usual view of human agency and autonomy, raising not just theoretical quandaries but contributing to patient reluctance to utilize these drugs. Furthermore, it discourages both meaningful treatment integration and appreciation of the uniqueness of patients. Through a consideration of antidepressants in particular, this paper argues for a more comprehensive model based on nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory that can be applied across multiple domains. This model yields important suggestions for reconciling perspectives in neuroscience with traditional views of human agency. It also encourages real integration of clinical and research approaches in psychiatry, and further defines the components of respectful treatment of patients.