After doing an assessment, what are the ways that an herbalist can assist someone who is struggling with their emotional wellbeing? Before we get to protocols, it is important to examine the larger health issues that can play a role in mental illness symptoms. I have talked about how we have changed how we perceive mental illness. Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, scientists started looking at the role of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA influence mood and wellbeing. Much of the modern psychiatric lens is based on seeing individuals as having a “chemical imbalance”, meaning a deficit or surplus of some neurotransmitters that can be managed and adjusted by various psychiatric drugs. However, that view of mental illness increasingly has come under scrutiny and has been found to be seriously lacking.