> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gilespcroft.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Mental health and biology - URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/mental-health-and-biology/ - Published: 2026-05-14T06:00:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-08T14:55:16.000Z - Description: Exploring the relationship between brain biology & mental health 🧠 - Author: Giles P Croft - Tags: Neuroscience, Mental Health, Thought realisation, Real stories, Psychology, Medicine, IMPLICATIONS, Comics When I first came across the Innate Health understanding (there's a lengthy, [4-part story about that here](https://www.gilespcroft.com/tag/insight-series/), if you're curious), things changed for me considerably, and I saw pretty much all of life quite differently. Except mental health conditions. See, I'd done a psychology degree, gone to medical school, worked as a doctor (even considering Psychiatry at one point) and basically been indoctrinated into the medical model of mental health *so* comprehensively, that when I heard people like 3Ps [Psychiatrist Dr Bill Pettit](https://gilespcroft.link/bill-pettit/?ref=gilespcroft.com) saying things like, > *“There's only one cause of mental illness, and therefore one cure”* …well, I just dismissed it out of hand. Because I (i.e. the Giles Ego Construct 📦) knew **for a fact** that it was more complicated than that. I'd read textbooks, had training, hell, even got qualifications that supported a much more granular view! I also, very understandably, subscribed to the widely-held view that things like depression were caused by a deficiency in brain serotonin, because—again—that's what I'd been taught, over and over again, and I never thought to question it. ([It's not true](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0?ref=gilespcroft.com).) The first time I listened to Dr Bill Pettit being interviewed on a podcast, I switched it off half way through, somewhat disappointed that 3 Principles teachers I trusted were having conversations with someone who was clearly [deluded](https://www.gilespcroft.com/were-all-deluded/), when it came to mental health. 😂 Ha ha! I can laugh now, having met Bill, been on courses with him and immersed myself more deeply in the Innate health understanding. Because I can see how the simplicity—the ‘one cause’ aspect he talks about—doesn't so much replace, or negate the complexity that we see in human behaviours & symptoms, it just lies [upstream of it all](https://www.gilespcroft.com/looking-upstream/), giving rise to it all. Still, my poor medically-trained Thought System couldn't seem to get past the difficulty of biochemical changes in the brain surely *causing* different thoughts, feelings and behaviours? (I'd drunk enough alcohol in my life to have seen how *that* works! 😆) It couldn't be the other way round, could it? Thought *couldn't* cause changes in our biology… could it? Until one of those 3 Principles teachers I trusted pointed out something as simple as embarrassment, or anger—i.e. thought/feeling constructs—causing profound physiological changes within us. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I recently came across this joyfully cheeky little episode of the [Sufi Comics strip](https://www.suficomics.com/blog/whats-in-a-name?ref=gilespcroft.com), that—in a slightly different context—spells out the same thing: [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/05/2026-05-14-Mental-health-and-biology.jpg)](https://www.suficomics.com/blog/whats-in-a-name?ref=gilespcroft.com) Read the full thing, here → [https://www.suficomics.com/blog/whats-in-a-name](https://www.suficomics.com/blog/whats-in-a-name?ref=gilespcroft.com) When I slowed down and reflected that a room full of people could have a range of reactions to all sorts of situations, all of which could easily be accompanied by physiological changes, it just started to loosen my sense of ‘rightness’; of ‘knowing for a fact’ that things were indeed the way I'd been taught for so many years. Who was I to say that repeated habits of thinking couldn't affect biochemistry over time, or cause long term organic changes in the body and/or brain, or even switch genes off and on? I still don't know, but I'm a lot more comfortable not knowing these days. I certainly don't proclaim to know much of anything ‘for a fact’ any more, and I have to say, life's become a lot less aggro, since! ✌🏻 Giles SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY REMINDERS newsletter [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2025/12/DR_Lockup-Black-1.png)](#/portal/signup) Want to start **your* days with helpful, insightful content like this? The Daily Reminder is a quick, lighthearted email that arrives in your inbox, to help keep you grounded in reality, so that you get to **‘Think less, and live more.’* **“They feel like a moment of stillness in a world of madness.” \~* Neil, UK **“One of those small things with big impact. Honestly, just sign up!”* \~ Paula, UK [GET YOURS NOW ](#/portal/signup) ### Related [Unknown unknownsThe thing that’s going to help you change lies outside of your current frame of reference ✨![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-521.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/2026-18-03-Unknown-Unknowns_Thought-System-Box-1-1.jpg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/unknown-unknowns/) You could fit the sum total of everything I don't know into the infinite void of the universe.