Behind Every Twisted Thought, There Lies a Twisted Molecule

If one thing needs to change in psychiatry and some branches of psychology, it is the use of medical metaphors to describe problems of living, psychache, and existential woes. But tragically, some areas of the helping professions have adopted the mechanistic and reductionist model of the world, which suggests that all human problems must be biological in origin and are thus diseases or illnesses.

It is true that humans are natural organisms, but this model---by virtue of its observations---eliminates the relational, the humanistic, the deeply emotional, and poetic. The psychiatric model takes the life out of living. It views people not as humans with problems to solve and pent up anger to unleash, but as robots with broken circuitry and faulty wiring to repair.

This position is summed up like this: "behind every twisted thought, there lies a twisted molecule." And this idea has been devastating. It has caused massive undue harm in the belief that drug cocktails can cure people of their depression and anxiety, and that people's relationships and lifestyles do not factor into their psychological wholeness and happiness.
It is true that neurology and genetics play into the wiring of the human brain, but modern psychiatry has nearly abandoned the idea that nurture and nature dance together in order to fully develop our humanness. These pseudo-doctors totally forget that nurture, thinking, and environment also inform genetic expression, neural wiring, and the transmission of biochemicals---and ultimately they create consciousness, emotionality, and personhood.

Sterlin Luxan is a visionary thinker, cryptocurrency junkie, connoisseur of psychology, an MDMA high priest, and the Mr. Rogers of Anarchism. He writes for bitcoin.com, runs a consultancy business in the crypto space, and public speaker. He created the doctrine of relational anarchism and contributes to many causes in the thriving liberty ecosystem.