Research
A Precision Medicine Approach to the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders
Due to a lack of clarity about the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, short and long-term treatment outcomes continue to be very inconsistent, and the prescribing of multiple medications that can have unpredictable, conflicting, and sometimes paradoxical effects continues to be more the rule than the exception in modern psychiatric practice. Dosing is also an issue, as standard doses of psychotropic drugs are often too high, thus causing some patients to incur unnecessary side effects, which in turn can lead to poor compliance or even discontinuation of treatment. Worse yet, these negative outcomes can cause disappointed patients to dissuade other would-be patients from seeking treatment. Recognizing these concerns and the fact that most persons with mental illness never seek treatment to begin with, the need for greater precision and fewer side effects in the prescribing of psychotropic drugs cannot be overstated.
Untangling Psychology from Biology in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders
Due to the lack of a clear distinction between mentally-driven psychiatric symptoms and neurologically-driven psychiatric symptoms, determining which patients would best be treated with psychotherapy, which patients would best be treated with pharmacotherapy, and which patients would best be treated with both is a challenge that every behavioral health clinician faces. In an effort to overcome this challenge, this article will discuss the anatomical and functional relationship between the mind and the brain as it relates to the various treatment options that are currently available and introduce a groundbreaking new paradigm that is destined to transform the treatment of mental illness from a symptom-based practice to a pathology-based practice.
Redefining Psychopathology From an Anatomical and Functional Perspective
After more than a century of scientific study and philosophical debate, the distinction between psychological and psychiatric illness remains unclear. The challenge of distinguishing between these seemingly different forms of pathology continues to cause errors in patient referral, delays in therapeutic progress, and, in some cases, an actual worsening of symptoms due to the application of inappropriate treatment techniques. The fundamental cause of the confusion has been a lack of clarity about the anatomy of the cognitive-emotional system and the mechanism by which psychological, emotional, and behavior abnormalities are produced. Also lacking is an understanding of how intrapsychic tension affects neurophysiology and vice-versa, as this too is dependent upon a more comprehensive understanding of the cognitive-emotional system. In this discussion, the anatomical and functional relationship between the mind and the brain will be more clearly elucidated, and the different forms of psychopathology will be more clearly defined.
