ABSTRACT
Perhaps one of the greatest medical controversies of the modern era is how to interpret, diagnose, and treat experiences of madness.1 This debate is far from over. But in a recent bold move by Thomas Insel, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the debate has made a paradigmatic shift. In 2013, Insel posted an unprecedented blog post that sparked spirited debates. In a post on the Director’s Blog, Insel asked that research scientists move away from the “folk psychology” of the consensually defined, imprecise diagnostic categories enshrined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) “dictionary,” and focus instead on a novel “clinical neuroscience” approach (Insel 2013: 1). The new approach would involve “mapping the cognitive, circuit, and genetic aspects of mental disorders” to “yield new and better targets for treatment” (Insel 2013: 1).
