Image: Dwight Eschliman
In Brief
- Because mental disorders such as depression display no conspicuous brain damage, they were long thought to stem from purely psychological processes.
- Neural imaging is revealing that abnormal activity along a circuit of brain structures involved in mental processing underlies many mental disorders, making the physical dysfunction causing the mental symptoms visible for the first time.
- Understanding the biology of mental disorders will clarify the sources of malfunction in a circuit, provide objective methods of diagnosis and lead to targeted treatments.
In most areas of medicine, doctors have historically tried to glean something about the underlying cause of a patient’s illness before figuring out a treatment that addresses the source of the problem. When it came to mental or behavioral disorders in the past, however, no physical cause was detectable so the problem was long assumed by doctors to be solely “mental,” and psychological therapies followed suit.
Today scientific approaches based on modern biology, neuroscience and genomics are replacing nearly a century of purely psychological theories, yielding new approaches to the treatment of mental illnesses.
This article was originally published with the title Faulty Circuits.
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41 Comments
Add CommentSince we now know that how we use our minds can change our brains*, differences in brain structure or metabolism associated with certain disorders such as depression can no longer be cited as proof of a biological origin of such disorders. There is also mounting evidence that brain health can be adversely affected by sub-optimum nutrition, particularly in relation to omega 3 fatty acids and the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. Tony Carey
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this* See for example Norman Doidge's book "The Brain that Changes Itself"
In two relatively short sentences this commenter accomplishes two remarkable things: 1) he marginalizes the argument for material causes of mental disorders, and; 2) he totally misses the point of the article. The fact that brain use is a feedback loop into its structure does not preclude the possibility that preexisting faulty circuits cause certain disorders such physiological conditions would certainly limit the feedback loop itself. The question here is a familiar one: Is the mind simply the manifestation of the underlying brain/body, or is it a synergism? Scientists must defend the former position while philosophers are free to go either way (metaphysicians will certainly find more fodder in the latter view). Brain use most probably will not correct underlying structural problems it is a hasty generalization to claim that we can think our way out of depression, OCD, PTSD, etc. (See A. B. Curtiss Depression Is A Choice: Winning the Battle Without Drugs and its surrounding controversy for an exposition of the issues involved here.) My guess is that this comment will spark as much controversy as the article itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem of Tony Carey is that he misunderstood the article. It is not the origin of the disease what is discussed but the biological substrate associated. The way how the abnormalities are installed may be consequences of different causes. Genetic, chemical, physical and even psychological etiological agents might be involved. The core of the article is that diagnosis and treatment and mainly the classification and identification of psychiatric pathologies would be more accuracy settled, attending the biological changes that new methods allow.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThough this is important, it is more important to not lose sight of the fact that we cause our own problems mostly through our own bad habits. Let's not let the ideas presented in the article be yet another way of disassociating ourselves from the responsibility to take proper care of ourselves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy would anyone assume that mental problems are all caused by outside factors when we know that every other organ in the body has both structural flaws and problems caused by outside factors. Obviously the brain would be no different and would be just as likely to experience the wide range of physical problems that every other organ in the body has.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow...what a complete and total pile of bull. So, you're suggesting that those with schizophrenia, for example, brought it onto themselves?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHaven't they related mental illness to an inability to metabolise omega 3? Isn't omega 3 a constituent of the myelin sheath? If the myelin sheath is not effective as a neural "wire" insulator, doesn't it make sense that the circuits would be faulty?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost people believe, even doctors and scientists who should by now know better, that there is a physical brain and a mind/will/spirit/soul that somehow sits behind or hovers amorphously above the brain. This mind/will/spirit/soul is believed to be capable of directing changes in the brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNews flash: All we are is this physical composition of cells functioning together to produce this "magic" we call a person. But it is no more magical than the metal and silicon computer processor, albeit much more complex.
brucegoose - I haven't followed the research, but I have direct anecdotal evidence that nutritional conditions affect the processing capabilities of the brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBriefly, prolonged illness and Interferon induced severe anemia had left me feeling kinda bad in many ways. Independently, my cardiologist prescribed large doses of pharmaceutical Omega-3 for treatment of high triglyceride levels. Within two weeks my intellectual abilities were restored to levels preceding my illnesses. As physical evidence, I suddenly began keeping a journal of my investigations into several subjects of interest.
Aside from noting Interferon's notorious incidence of induced depression, I can't assess any possible psychological effects, but it certainly restored prior abilities in analytical thought and abstract reasoning (although some may argue, they only have evidence of my current abilities).
Iamorpa, you say we cause our own problems through bad habits. What problems, neurologically speaking, are caused by bad habits. Do you have any proof? Sources would be much appreciated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe author of the article, while specifically addressing depression states, "A dysfunctional area 25 might therefore fail to coordinate the activity of these other centers (fear memory and self esteem) so that information processing is biased, leading to distorted assessments of the internal and external world." Well, where is it written that a non depressed mind does not distort the "internal and external world." Each is its own view of reality, so why is the popular view any less distorted? I've read, I believe it was Louis Cozolino, that the depressed mind actually has a less inflated sense of self.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll recommend David Dobbs's article in The Atlantic, "The Science of Success" where he discusses the variant alles and the "vulnerability hypothesis" that casts thing not as nature nurture issues but as gene environmental interactions, "these bad genes can create dysfunction in unfavorable contexts." A new model is suggesting that its a mistake to understand these risk genes only as liabilities, "they can also enhance function in favorable contexts."
Re: ..Shrinks are delutional
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAt the very least, they are operating in an outdated paradigm.
TE TRANSCRIBO DE UN ART{ICULO PERSONAL:[08] Los «Circuitos Oscilantes». Fuerón sugeridos por Forbes (1922) y Kable (1930) Wiener (1948) y Haggar y Bar (1960). Algunos son reflejos condicionados por efectos traumáticos. Sin llegar a las patologías clínicas; se pueden mantener en reposo; pero algún estimulo suficiente y asociado; reestimula y este se dispara en leves síntomas y producen una reacción neurótica leve; como pueden ser fuertes. De hecho, los sensores de la cibernética son muy similares.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is about one artículo mine:The 'Circuits Bearings'. Was suggested by Forbes (1922) and Kable (1930) Wiener (1948) and Haggar and Bar (1960). Some are reflexes conditioned by traumatic effects. Without reaching the pathologies clinics; can be maintained at rest; but some stimulus enough and associated; reestimula and this is triggered in mild symptoms and produce a reaction neurotic mild; as can be strong. In fact, sensors of cybernetics are very similar.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is about one artícle mine: The 'Circuits Bearings'. Was suggested by Forbes (1922) and Kable (1930) Wiener (1948) and Haggar and Bar (1960). Some are reflexes conditioned by traumatic effects. Without reaching the pathologies clinics; can be maintained at rest; but some stimulus enough and associated; reestimula and this is triggered in mild symptoms and produce a reaction neurotic mild; as can be strong. In fact, sensors of cybernetics are very similar.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a note of my article on my blog on Google. Mental Health: [08] 'Circuits Bearings'. Was suggested by Forbes (1922) and Kable (1930) Wiener (1948) and Haggar and Bar (1960). Some are reflexes conditioned by traumatic effects. Without reaching the pathologies clinics; can be maintained at rest; but some stimulus enough and associated; reestimula and this is triggered in mild symptoms and produce a reaction neurotic mild; as can be strong. In fact, sensors of cybernetics are very similar. For those times the cadaveres were scaneados. There is much material on the brain functioning; that in part led to the cybersecurity. Peninfeld and Jasper have good reasons.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a note of my article on my blog on Google. Mental Health: [08] 'Circuits Bearings'. Was suggested by Forbes (1922) and Kable (1930) Wiener (1948) and Haggar and Bar (1960). Some are reflexes conditioned by traumatic effects. Without reaching the pathologies clinics; can be maintained at rest; but some stimulus enough and associated; reestimula and this is triggered in mild symptoms and produce a reaction neurotic mild; as can be strong. In fact, sensors of cybernetics are very similar. For those times the cadaveres were scaneados. There is much material on the brain functioning; that in part led to the cybersecurity. Peninfeld and Jasper have good reasons.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's a lot more to my computer than metal and glass, Gavin R and Iamorpa, or you couldn't read what I'm writing right now, or the electrical spike that fried my cpu and harddrive last year would have destroyed ten years worth of records and creativity. So it is with the human body.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis metal silicon artifact that you call the computer is a lot more complex than you seem to be able to give it credit for, Gavin R, as any software programmer would tell you. I for one do not entirely support the (dualism) argument that the mind and body are two separate entities. However Occam's razor notwithstanding it IS possible to physically and functionally separate two vastly diffeent aspects of a single entity. I for instance can duplicate (copy) the software, and the firmware as well, of this computer I'm using and take it elsewhere wholesale, or even integrate it into a mainframe. I can also remove (cut) the software and leave the computer virtually useless, so your argument (superveniance) does not trump the argument begun by Descartes of a separate soul.
However, to get back to the analogy we are using the computer for, most of the time I can tweak the software and the firmware, or even the hardware itself, to correct BOTH kinds of problems, regardless of their origin. I refer to problems caused by glitches in the hardware manufacture, (congenital abnormalities in a human) as well as glitches caused by viruses or programming errors. In both cases with the computer, as well as in the case of human dysfunctions the origin of the problem is not as important for curing the problem as is the diagnosis.
The question of blame belongs in a court of law, not in a doctor's office. The real question is can we understand enough of the dynamics of the problem to effect a fix, a permanent cure? All else is irrelevant and a red herring at the level of discussion presented by the writer.
Just because abnormal activity
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust because abnormal activity inside the brain is observed alongside mental disorder does not necessarily indicate that we are observing "the physical dysfunction causing the mental symptoms". It is just as likely that we are observing the mental disorder causing the physical dysfunction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe faulty circuit may not be the direct cause of certain psychological diseases. we are all born with our unique way of connection--the hard ware, and it updates and is being modified all the time as we grow up, even as an adult. just certain wiring ways are prone to malfunction or reined a person easily harassed by mental diseases
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes and no. Buddhists know they can control the mind. Mindfulness is very similar to techniques taught by psychologists etc. You are in control.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKiwi_John - Good observation! Is the problem in hardware or software? Does the electrical activity of the brain associated with faulty processing represent circuit failures or aberrant activation of the circuity?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo those whose favorite tool is a hammer, all problems appear to be nails.
To understand the science of 'faulty circuits', 'abnormal activity' and 'malfunction in a circuit', we must understand the meaning of this sort of malfunction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn this work, we may understand malfunction as the relative difference in function between a selected healthy group and diseased group, where the groups are differentiated first on a phenomenal (symptomatic, old-school psychiatric) basis. In this case, the phenomenal distinction is prior to the biological distinction. A person who displays the phenomenal symptoms, but does not manifest the 'faulty wiring' will still be considered diseased, just as a person who has 'faulty wiring' but is phenomenally healthy will still be considered healthy.
Of course, someone may blindly ignore phenomenal symptoms altogether and diagnose purely on 'faulty wiring.' In this world, behaviors and subjective suffering become meaningless or irrelevant. It would be as if you went to the hospital with all the symptoms of an infection, but since the lab tests came up negative for everything (including non-infectious illness) they sent you home with a clean bill of health.
My point is that, even with scientific progress, it makes no sense to jettison the phenomenal basis of mental illness. Most of us desire a doctor who will listen to our symptoms in addition to running appropriate tests, and who recommends treatments or lifestyle changes that improve our overall health even if the precise cause of the symptom is never identified, as is routinely the case in medicine.
Using terms such as "diseased group" puts you on very thin ice.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn "The Science of Success" Dobbs sites the the work of developmental psychologist's Bruce Ellis and developmental pediatrician W. Thomas Boyce in Current Directions in Psychological Science. Ellis and Boyce noted in an essay titled Biological Sensitivity to Context, have long spoken of dandelion children. These dandelion childrenequivalent to our normal or healthy children, with resilient genesdo pretty well almost anywhere, whether raised in the equivalent of a sidewalk crack or a well-tended garden. Ellis and Boyce offer that there are also orchid children, who will wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care." So the question becomes are these observed circuits really "faulty" or are they functional in an adapted way?
I take issue with this premise that "we are in control". If one accepts that the problem is developmental in nature, that the brain develops in a maladaptive way, it does so in relationship, generally with the care giver.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is readapted in relationship as well.
To use an analogy of a car, one may be behind the wheel and operating the car without exercising control. While it is possible to learn to control the car along, we general receive some instruction. If one receive little or bad instruction we still benefit from new and accurate instruction.
I wanted to make it clear that this was a quote as I tried to indicate: "Ellis and Boyce noted in an essay titled “Biological Sensitivity to Context,” (theSwedes) have long spoken of “dandelion” children. These dandelion children,—equivalent to our “normal” or “healthy” children, with “resilient” genes,—do pretty well almost anywhere, whether raised in the equivalent of a sidewalk crack or a well-tended garden. Ellis and Boyce offer that there are also “orchid” children, who will wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThomas R. Insel ("Faulty Circuits", April 2010), as Director of National Institute of Mental Health (which has strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry), has political and financial biases towards proliferation of biological diagnoses and treatments in psychiatry. Yet if mental illness is mainly inherited, then so many Americans ("16 per cent" supposedly have major depressive illness, alone) would not be labeled or suspected of mental illness, and there would not be a wide disparity in mental-illness prevalence between developed and developing nations. Also, Insel dismisses environmental factors such as parenting and illegal drug use, as though there is no interaction between genes and environment. Certianly, marijuana use is a far better predictor of future schizophrenia than is any biological measurement. The environment definitely affects brain development. Examples: When "learning disabled" children learn to read better, their brains change; Cabbies who have learned London's maze of roadways have distinctive brain physiologies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmerican psychiatry and drug companies have been leading the media, public, medical community, courts, and social workers to believe that the biological basis for MI is established, and that current psychiatric medications are crucial for effective treatment. However, Insel reveals that current antipsychotic and antidepressant meds are not very effective -- the public is beginning to notice the extreme side effect -- and that we must wait another decade for a firm biological foundation in psychiatry. Given the many ifs, maybes, thought-to-bes, and psossiblys in the article, such a foundation will require much longer than a decade. Meanwhile, current psychiatry stigmatizes patients by maintaining that they were born with messed-up brains, without any documentation.
Insel intimates that more shock (ECT) treatment will be used on patients in the future. ECT might be more effective than current antidepressants, but it should be compared to more effective treatments for depression, such as physical exercise, and vounteering to help other humans in need. I also disagree with Insel's contention that the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia is well-understood by psychiatric researchers and practitioners. How many times, over the centuries and decades, has the field of psychiatry told us that even though treatment in the past has been misguided, the current and upcoming treatments are effective and humane? I support ongoing and future research in neuropsychiatry, but the researchers and their cheerleaders must start displaying a far healthier level of scientific skepticism.
American psychiatry has a long history of touting the next big thing, without much documentation. It is the burden of the researchers who want to disprove the null hyothesis that their ideas are beyond disrepute. If you are familiar with the financial & political biases of the APA / Big Pharma / federal agencies, then you will see, reading between the lines, that this article is a political effort more than it is a scientific effort.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmerican psychiatry is more of a sales pitch for Big Pharma and for its own hoped-for status, than it is scientific. This article about brain circuits & mental illness is more of the same old propaganda that tries to increase the status of psychiatry as well as drug sales.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe strongest predictor of becoming schizophrenic is marijuana use. Biological, genetic, and epigenetic markers for schizophrenia are in a very weak hypothesis stage at this point. The cliche about schizophrenia being related to a chemical imbalance, particularly dopamine, has not been scientifically substantiated. The field of psychiatry has been quick to make claims, without much research support. Why American psychiatry claims that it is based on "Evidence-Based Medicine" is beyond me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou make some good points. But it is the duty of science to prove its contentions. American psychiatry is quick to talk, without much research to back it up. The author of the article is suggesting for us to wait 10 more years, but it will take a heckuva lot longer than that for scientists to understand diagnosis & treatment of mental illness as it relates to the physical brain. The author of the article is either naive, or a secret cheerleader for the APA/Big Pharma/FDA establishment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank God, out of the fog into the light.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor those of you who 'bash' American psychiatry, one can only assume that you have never experienced a mental disorder yourselves. Millions of people DO suffer from these
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisailments and I can assure you from personal experience that
they are not self-induced nor can they be self-managed, without psychiatric help. Once properly diagnosed and treated, it is up to the patient to maintain their mental health, but a person in the throes of such pain is no more able to help themselves than a person in the midst of a heart attack or a stroke.
As we learn more about such disorders, we give more credibility and hope to those who experience them and to the people who care about them. Perhaps we are well on our way to a better understanding of the brain and it's functioning and an end to the ignorance and fear that have
stigmatized this debilitating illness.
As someone diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 1 who also writes a blog (www.crazymer1.wordpress.com), I am so excited about the possibilities in this article that I wrote a blog about it called Mental Illness and Faulty Brain Circuits. The most exciting part about the article for me is raising the brain disorder spectrum into the world of solid medical evidence by using neuroimaging tools. This will fundamentally change people's perception of those of us with mental illnesses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a blogger who suffering from bipolar disorder, I was so excited about this article that I wrote a blog about it. My blog entry, called Mental Illness and Faulty Brain Circuits, is at www.crazymer1.wordpress.com. The neuroimaging scan is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the point of this whole thing is just a tangent on the giant circle of mental illness. Pinning down the one point in the cause of any illness even with other organs is very iffy stuff. With the mentioned depression, ALL the factors are at work and turn the giant circle of depression over and over... I think the goal should be to find not necessarily THE cause to it all, but some in order to be able to drive a wedge in that cyclical event, a wedge in it large enough to either slow the cycle or stop it so that other therapies can have a better shot in the treatment process.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also tend to subscribe to the idea that we will always strive for understanding of our brains, but it will be like trying to divide numbers in half, then the answer in half, then that answer in half to get to zero... we may get close, but it will never be right on zero. I can't remember where I read this, but I loved this quote... "If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, then we would be so simple that we could not." Just love it :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find it very interesting reading everyone's responses to the article and each other's comments. Sometimes we need to be reminded that the best view is not always better the closer you get to what one is looking at. Sometimes we need to step back in order to bring things into focus.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEach of you expresses good points. And each of your comments contains a measure of "truth". The fact is that we, humans, are a very complicated carbon machine. I am still taken back by claims made by evolutionist trying to explain how we came to be, given the complexity and evidence of design all around us. They certainly make use of expensive words, but it certainly is not indicative of their level of intelligence or wisdom. Instead it exposes their arrogance. I hope it can go without saying that our entire biological system (human body), including the brain, is constantly working at keeping a state of homeostasis. This mechanism would not be necessary if we existed in a perfect environment. A changing universe gives way to an imperfect universe. Given the law of cause and effect, any change in this universe has some type an effect on everything else within this universe. The effects may not always be immediately observable, but that does not mean that these effects, changes, are not taking place or will be taking place in the next moment, or at some point and time in the future.
These imperfections can be manifested as a defective gene, opening the door to a psychological or mental disorder. Some may claim that the disorder is due to biological factors, and that may be true. But what prompted that biological factor? Some argue is a cultural byproduct. Someone may reply and state that it was an unknown environmental element. Ok, so what triggered that element to stimulate a negative or positive effect? Another would ask, “What’s attracting the one element to the other to bring about such an effect? And a voice would call out and explain, “Well it’s due to the number of protons and electrons in this element, creating an affinity for the collection of atoms that make up the gene with the proper code required to produce the cells required to produce the chemical required by a certain synaptic receptor to facilitate the firing of the nerve in the brain responsible for maintaining a ‘good mood’.” And so on, and so on. My point is that it is due to a chain of events. One cannot be thorough without keeping an open mind and exploring all possibilities, while maintaining a humble posture willing to accept the truth, if you will, no matter what your initial impression may be (bias). Come on, do I need to remind you of General Psychology 101? Are some of you so “spiritually” minded that you’re no “earthy” good?
Before providing a hasty reply, have your ego allow more of the superego to surface, while keeping the id at bay. No, I’m not a Freudian or Neo-Freudian. Just making a point.
I would differ with your sentiment only in that, rather than bad habits being in some big way responsible for causing the existence of neuro-mental disorders... It is most certainly bad thinking habits and general lack of mental self-discipline behind such criticisms, which is responsible for public ignorance of the unenviably frustrating and complex struggles/sufferings which most individuals having a neuro-mental disorder must daily cope with/endure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat I meant to say, in other words, was everybody has bad habits. That includes you, lamorpa. But none of these bad habits are responsible for causing major mental disorders*; only lazy-minded ignorance concerning them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBH
* Substance abuse/addiction being a distinctly obvious exception.