Why psychiatry can't afford to be neurophobic

Abstract

SummaryThe original vision of psychiatry was as a medicine – or physic – of the mind. If psychiatry aspires to be a progressive modern medicine of the mind, it should be fully engaged with the science of the brain. We summarise and rebut three countervailing or ‘neurophobic’ propositions and aim to show that not one provides a compelling argument for neurophobia. We suggest that there are several ways in which psychiatry could organise itself professionally to better advance and communicate the theoretical and therapeutic potential of a brain-based medicine of the mind.