zlacker

The idea that scientists have figured out the cause of mental health problems and we don't need to treat them palliatively is one I disagree with for two reasons:

a) Much of the brain is not understood. Including why consciousness happens.

b) Even if scientists know the cause of mental health problems, that doesn't mean they can treat those causes. Every human who lives long enough will die of a non-treatable disease. Understanding a problem does not imply treatment is possible.

>>anothe+(OP)
Thanks for commenting. The treatments I dismiss as 'palliative' are poor interventions when the patient's full circumstances are considered. For example, anti-psychotics are harmful for helping someone get their drinking under control. Anti-depressant is a marketing term. If someone's depressed because they've harmed their metabolism with cocaine, they don't need to be put on Prozac for years at a time, they need therapies that restore the mitochondria.

> Understanding a problem does not imply treatment is possible.

correct. But it seems to me like mental health practitioners artificially limit their diagnosis to conditions which can be treated with an FDA-approved pill, when an old-fashioned quaker asylum [0] would be more appropriate.

[0] http://qmh.haverford.edu/