ABSTRACT
With the enormous profit potential of marketing drugs to correct neurochemical “imbalances” in the brain, the study of how the timing and organization of the brain was related to the patterns of neuroelectrical currents, measured in waves with specific bandwidths and amplitudes, fell into relative neglect. The chemical messenger model posits that brain function is dependent on proper “levels” of neurochemicals within its circuitry. The profession adopted the “neurochemical paradigm” of functioning of the brain and became the purveyors of the drugs designed to correct the neurochemical imbalances that were said to be at the root of most psychiatric disorders. The neuroelectrical paradigm models the whole brain as a self-organizing system. Big Pharma has profited enormously and therefore has a strong incentive in upholding the neurochemical paradigm, and thus maintaining its influence over the treatment of mental and physical health conditions.
