While some studies have found links between certain chemical imbalances and specific mental health issues, researchers don’t know if the imbalances are causes or symptoms. While it’s true that neurochemicals are a contributing factor in most mental health conditions, it’s much more complicated than adjusting the level of one neurochemical. Although chemical imbalances in the brain do not directly cause mental health disorders, because they do have influence, medications that alter the concentration of neurotransmitters can sometimes provide symptom relief for some people.
As of this writing, current biological testing cannot reliably verify and diagnose a mental health condition by detecting a chemical imbalance. In fact, there are no medical tests to diagnose a chemical imbalance in the brain. Doctors can check the levels of neurochemicals in your blood. However, that’s not an accurate representation of the amount of these chemicals in your brain. Instead, they make subjective diagnoses based on the symptoms combined with findings from a physical exam.
Whether a person feels depressed or happy or sad or angry is the result of the way their brain circuits and neurochemicals interact with and impact each other.
So, depression and other mental health conditions are not simply a chemical imbalance in the brain as much as they are patterns of how the neurochemicals, brainwaves, and circuits in a person’s brain routinely activate to cause depressive symptoms in that person.
Neurofeedback changes brain patterns and teaches a brain to self-regulate, meaning it learns to manage brain patterns and activity, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, to find a healthier state of operation. A regulated brain can effectively stabilize processes and mechanisms to maintain an optimal physiological condition, called homeostasis.¹ The result is a healthier functioning brain that operates in ways that benefit the person both mentally and physically. Neurofeedback training is an “inside out” approach with the changes originating internally as opposed to the “outside in” approach of medication.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Chemical Imbalance
We’ve gathered a list of commonly asked questions about Chemical Imbalance, for your convenience. If you don’t see the information you need, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Simply click on the question that interests you to navigate directly to the relevant section.
The phrase ‘chemical imbalance’ has been used loosely for decades. The more accurate modern understanding is that neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, GABA, and norepinephrine don’t simply run too high or too low — they operate within complex networks, and when those networks fall out of rhythm, symptoms like depression, anxiety, mood swings, and sleep problems show up. Brain activity and brain chemistry are tightly linked. When one changes, the other tends to follow.
Here is something fascinating: because brainwave activity and neurotransmitter function are deeply connected, training the brain’s electrical patterns often influences the chemical environment too. Research has shown measurable changes in neurotransmitter activity after neurofeedback training. Clients commonly report many of the same benefits they would hope to see from medication — better mood, steadier emotions, improved sleep — often without side effects.
No. You can start neurofeedback while on any medication. Over time, as the brain learns to self-regulate, some clients and their prescribing physicians decide together to reduce medication. Others stay on their medication. We never make changes to your prescription — that is a conversation for you and your doctor.
Medications work by chemically altering brain function while you are taking them — stop, and the effect typically stops. Neurofeedback works by helping the brain learn new patterns that stay with it. The trade-off is that medication is faster but temporary, and neurofeedback is slower but often lasting. Neither is universally ‘better’ — they work well alone and often even better together.
Honestly, nobody can tell you with certainty that your symptoms come from a specific neurotransmitter imbalance — the tools to measure that in a living person are limited. What we can do is a qEEG brain map, which shows us how your brain is functioning electrically. Patterns linked to depression, anxiety, focus issues, and sleep problems are often visible on the map, and we train accordingly.
That depends entirely on you, your symptoms, and what you value. Some clients are thrilled to reduce or eliminate medication because of side effects or cost. Others prefer the simplicity of a daily pill. What neurofeedback offers is another option — one that works differently than medication and that, for many people, produces lasting change after a defined number of sessions.
The brain generally holds onto what it has learned, similar to how the benefits of exercise fade if you stop entirely but the body adapts faster when you restart. Many clients enjoy lasting stability. Some come back for occasional tune-ups during life’s harder seasons.
Grey’s Plan — The Most Complete
Brain Training We Offer
If you want the most comprehensive, all-inclusive, guided solution for focus, behavior, and overall brain health—for your child or yourself, Grey’s Plan gives you everything needed to make the next 4 months the turning point.
Neurofeedback alone is powerful.
But when you combine brain training with gut testing, clinical oversight, and unlimited support, results come faster, smoother, and last longer.
Sources: 1. Mirifar, A., Keil, A., & Ehrlenspiel, F. (2022). Neurofeedback and neural self-regulation: A new perspective based on allostasis. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 33(6), 607-629. https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2021-0133