[notfashion]

A lot of people in the psychiatric field believe that mental illness is due to chemical imbalances in the brain. No tests exist which can detect those imbalances. Your faith in "biology" as the ultimate underlying reality of mental illness is discouragingly close to that medical model of mental illness. This idea that mental distress is essentially biological in character has bad consequences because it ignores the fact that each patient is an agent in continuous interaction with his or her social environment. Mental illnesses, in general, don't develop organically from biological defects. They are often the consequence of trauma and adverse life events, as noted by the authors of this research. Sure, some mental illness is purely biological. Some disorders may be influenced by genetics. But the generic, classic phenomenon of somebody "going crazy" is unlikely ever to be attributable purely to physiological processes. These things come about because of profoundly dysfunctional psychosocial environments.

As a psychiatric professional, you may find it reassuring to predict the future dominance of an objective medical model of mental illness. It would be braver to admit that the complexity of the mind and of the circumstances that lead to mental illness mean that medical research is a very long way from cracking this problem.

[outlace]

You’re absolutely right. But the brain is a biological organ, a biological information processor. Experiences shape it’s physical structure and function. Whether mental illness arises from purely environment causes (eg trauma) or purely nature (eg genetics, physical injury), in both cases the phenomena reside in the physical substrate of the brain.

When someone has psychosis (eg hearing voices), maybe it was caused by a severe trauma or maybe it was mostly genetic. In either case the person is suffering from psychosis and is unable to normally function in society (if severe enough). In both cases, in principle, we should be able to detect the problem at the level of the brain in structure and function, and should be able to intervene at the level of the brain.

The intervention required depends on the nature of the brain change. We can change brain function in many cases by intensive therapy. In some cases sensory inputs alone (via talk therapy) are insufficient to change the brain to rectify an issue. That’s when we have to consider direct intervention on the brain itself either via medications or neuromodulation technology.

I don’t think lay people understand how profoundly mentally ill some people are and that they can really have dramatic improvements with treatment. Lay people think of psychiatrists just peddling drugs to mildly depressed patients or people who are mildly oddly behaved. That’s just not the case. I’m working with people who sometimes literally stop eating because they think their food is poisoned, or attempt to kill themselves with minor frustrations, etc. And many patients, mostly not that sick, come in voluntarily because they feel they can’t handle some problem on their own. You’re right that much I mental illness is caused by psychosocial stressors, but some people have just intractably messed up life situations and they’ve just spiraled downward as a result and wouldn’t be able to get on a better path without treatment.

[dsego]

> No tests exist which can detect those imbalances.

Yes, but the drugs actually work, which validates the prediction.

> Mental illnesses, in general, don't develop organically from biological defects.

In schizophrenic patients there are clear organic changes in the brain, you can see it on brain scans.

> These things come about because of profoundly dysfunctional psychosocial environments.

Then it would surely be possible to "fix" these issues without pharmacology treatment, which is unmistakably not the case.

[soup10]

Most psychiatrists are well aware that their job is to manage and medicate people that have psychotic episodes, extreme emotional and/or behavioral problems(that deviate from the norm far enough to cause concern with the community but aren't necessarily criminal). Their education is in biology, psychology and clinical medicine, very few know much about computer science or AI approaches to the mind except a few of those involved in research, since it has little relevance in a clinical setting.

[DanBC]

> A lot of people in the psychiatric field believe that mental illness is due to chemical imbalances in the brain.

No psychiatrist believes this.