Mental health problems – not all in the brain

In a series of programmes ‘In the Mind’ the BBC portrayed mental health problems as brain disorders.  They completely omitted the debate that the environment has an effect on these disorders.   A group of psychologists and other mental health professionals have written an open letter to the BBC.

The letter says “There are ongoing debates among mental health professionals and others, about whether it is meaningful or useful to think of mental health problems as illnesses. There are also debates about whether their origins are necessarily always in the brain, as opposed to being responses  to life events and circumstances.”

Adverse life experience such as abuse, racism and bullying are common on a psychiatric ward, and understood by patients to have played a significant role in the development of their problems.

The letter goes on to say   “The idea that bipolar affective disorder (manic depression) and schizophrenia are separate, identifiable illnesses with their origins in the brain is highly contested and unsupported by evidence.  Despite 50 years of well-funded and increasingly technologically sophisticated brain research, no ‘biomarkers’ (identifiable biological signs) have been found.  This has led an increasing number of professionals and researchers (including many psychiatrists) to question the simple biomedical theories promoted by your programmes.”

The authors of the letter want the public to be aware of the debate. “The British Psychological Society public information documents ‘Understanding Bipolar Disorder’ and ‘Understanding Psychosis’: lay out both sides of the debate and allow people to make up their own minds. Indeed, the just published Mental Health Taskforce Report also recommends this more balanced approach to mental health care.”

Read More:

http://peterkinderman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/open-letter-about-bbc-coverage-of.html

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/01/mental-health-problems-brain-bbc-equality

Image credit:  Graeme Robertson for the Guardian