Clinical Brain Profiling: A Neuro-Computational Psychiatry

Abraham Peled

Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Monday, January 26, 2015 at 12:00pm
560 Evans Hall

The DSM5, reveals serious concerns about psychiatric diagnosis. The most serious concern is the failure of DSM to provide a valid ethiopathological psychiatric diagnosis. This is serious because not knowing what causes mental disorders impedes effective cures. The NIMH with its RDoC project declares DSM non-relevant for research; DSM5 is criticized for being biased and non-valid. Recently Steven Hyman the previous head of the NIMH was quoted referring to the DSM as “fictive diagnostic categories.” He also said that “The DSM system has itself impeded progress in the area of neuroscience relevant to psychiatric disorders,” this is because “Selected study population according to a system that is poor mirror of nature. Nick Craddock, from Cardiff UK, is quoted, “What is needed for psychiatry is a game-changer: a truly new approach to diagnostic classification that better reflects the underlying functions and dysfunctions of the brain and that, hence, maps more readily onto the experiences of patients.” Following this suggestion by Nick Craddock, in my talk, I will propose a novel diagnostic classification based on underlying dysfunctions of the brain. This is possible because in recent years we are witnessing the emergence of new sciences such as those of complex-systems-physics and neural computation. At present, these sciences, together with new insights from neuroscience, are in a position to reformulate mental disorders as brain-disorders in a way that was not possible before. If validated they are in a position to revolutionize our field providing the ethiopathological psychiatry necessary for effective treatments. Clinical Brain Profiling is a novel Neuroscientific psychiatric diagnosis; I will show research results indicating reliability, validity and clinical utility for this new diagnostic approach.

For more information visit: http://neuroanalysis.org.il/

Relevant article here.