In the PLOS Mind the Brain Blog, James Coyne reacts to an article and editorial in JAMA Psychiatry reporting effects of brain stimulation therapy for depression. “Oh no! Is an unproven treatment once again being promoted by one of the most prestigious psychiatry journals with an editorial commentary reeking of vested interests?”
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Amazing to see this –
“The key concept: if mental disorders are brain circuit disorders, then successful treatments need to tune circuits with precision. Chemicals may be less precise than electrical or cognitive interventions that target specific circuits.”
This idea of depression as (a single) “disorder of brain circuits” is so reductionist and frankly, stupid, that it’s hard not to laugh when one reads about the ideas. Experiences of depression do not primarily originate inside brains, but between people and their environment and in relationships.
These biological reductionist treatments are doomed to failure, the only winners may be the drug companies and the psychiatrists that they pay. Business as usual for the sociopathic businessmen running our country.
