More On The Biological Evidence For "Mental Illness"

Dr Phil Hickey

On January 10, 2017, I put up a post titled The Biological Evidence for “Mental Illness”. It was published simultaneously on Mad in America. The post was a response to an earlier comment from Carolina Partners in Mental Healthcare PLLC, which included the assertion “mental illnesses have a long history of biological evidence.” In my January 10 article, I challenged this assertion and pointed out that no such evidence existed. The article generated some comments, most of which were favorable. There was one comment, however, from Michael, who asserted:

“Your rebuttal that there are no scientific studies to these cases can be dismissed with a quick google search.”

In my response to Michael, I asked him to cite me some references to support this assertion. On January 15, Michael wrote back citing three studies: the first on the neurobiology of depression; the second on the neurobiology of “schizophrenia”; and the third on the neurobiology of “bipolar disorder”.

I examined these studies, and started to draft a response to Michael, but as I was writing, I realized that the subject matter warranted a wider audience and needed to be put up as a post. This is not because the studies cited are particularly compelling. As we shall see below, they are not. But rather, because what has happened here is something that occurs routinely in these debates. Psychiatry proponents claim there is evidence to support their position that “mental illnesses” are caused by biological malfunctions – but when pressed for references, they either don’t respond at all, or they dish up the kind of references cited by Michael.

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Thank You Dr Hickey