Science 10 August 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5839, pp. 757 - 758.
Just as research during the Decade of the Brain (1990-2000) forged the bridge between the mind and the brain, research in the current decade is helping us to understand mental illnesses as brain disorders. As a result, the distinction between disorders of neurology (e.g., Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases) and disorders of psychiatry (e.g., schizophrenia and depression) may turn out to be increasingly subtle. That is, the former may result from focal lesions in the brain, whereas the latter arise from abnormal activity in specific brain circuits in the absence of a detectable lesion. As we become more adept at detecting lesions that lead to abnormal function, it is even possible that the distinction between neurological and psychiatric disorders will vanish, leading to a combined discipline of clinical neuroscience.
It can't happen too soon.
ReplyDeleteAfter countless hours of research, there is still no proof of pathology for any of psychiatry's disorders. They are at best descriptions of behavior lacking medical backup.
ReplyDeleteThe minute physical proof is actually found, it should properly be classified as a neurological condition.
Psychiatry is superfluous and unneeded, unless we are talking about counseling, an activity increasingly rare with the popularity of this intellectually dishonest model of "mental illness."