Psychiatrists claim that brain scans now show brain changes that prove mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression, are brain-based.
There is no scientific evidence to prove this: it remains what the fine print in the studies tell you: suggests, may and it is hoped.
It is well established that the drugs used to treat a mental disorder, for example, may induce long-lasting biochemical and even structural changes [including in the brain], which in the past were claimed to be the cause of the disorder, but may actually be an effect of the treatment. Dr. Elliot Valenstein, biopsychologist, author, Blaming the Brain
Psychiatrys claim that mental illnesses are brain diseases is a claim supposedly based on recent discoveries in neuroscience, made possible by [brain] imaging techniques for diagnosis and pharmacological agents for treatment. This is not true. Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, New York University Medical School, Syracuse
There are increasing concerns among the clinical community that
neuroscientific developments [do] not reveal anything about the nature of psychiatric disorders
. Dr. David Healy, psychiatrist, director of the
North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine