Understanding Mental Disorders as Circuit Disorders

A Decade after The Decade of the Brain

Comments

Last Nights Presentation at Northwestern
Elmer Rich III

3/7/2012 4:38:52 PM

 Thank you for the event last night. I found the presentation profound. You had a great crowd. Our Meet Up group stayed around long after hotly discussing the issues raised. We hotly discuss everything – usually less light than heat. Along with the video I sent you yesterday, my experience is that paradigms are shifting -- mainly around the dominance of genomic medicine. Perhaps, the brain illnesses will be the epicenter, although cancer seems high profile as well. I have been studying the MIT World presentations on genomics. As a professional communicator, my sense is that there are quick defensive reactions to the fact of genetic determinism, at whatever level, and treating the brain as another organ of the body. Naive realism is the default mode -- even for professionals. I found Dr. Insel's style the best I have seen presenting complex material. Empathic but not patronizing; engaging with the complexity but tying it back to the real, evidence-based problems faced. It is complicated material. The scaling of the technology is remarkable.