When I first decided to study neuroscience, I thought I was embarking on a unique career path. To my surprise, neuroscience is growing in popularity within the pre-health field, and with good reason. As advancements in neuroscience reshape mental illness treatment, we are slowly developing into a society based on understanding and respect for our brain’s intricacies.
Rates of mental illness are on the rise, and it’s important that our research on mental health expands to account for this spike. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 1999, for every 100,000 people in the United States, an average of 10.46 people committed suicide. In 2012, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, this number had increased to 12.5. The numbers continue to grow despite the efforts of a vast field of mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists and even neurologists. As the suicide rate increases, our understanding of our neurochemistry remains virtually untouched.
The traditional methods practiced by mental health professionals aid individual patients, but cannot fully inform our understanding of the human brain. As it pertains to psychologists and psychiatrists, these professions are primarily based on alleviating one’s emotions through conversation. While this can be proven helpful for some, the diagnosis of their patients is, at least for psychologists, through what the patient communicates verbally and through body language.
Psychiatrists differ in that their MD allows them to prescribe medication, schedule neurological scans and so forth. Still, their focus is primarily centered on a single individual’s mental health situation. They are not necessarily focused on understanding the physiology of our brain, specifically as it pertains to improving a population’s mental health for the years to come. Enter the neuroscientist.
Neuroscience helps us understand facets of our brain more in depth without becoming too immersed in bedside manner. Neuroscience professionals can identify “brain misfirings,” which can result in temporary to long-term mental ailments. This information allows us to identify the source of a misfiring and treat the area.
For example, if a particular student’s sleep habits become so poor that he develops a deficiency in the neurotransmitter melatonin, neuroscience allows us to identify this deficiency. The next step would be for this student to walk over to the local pharmacy and pick up an over-the-counter melatonin tablet.
Unfortunately, not all mental health issues are so easily identified and solved. Due to the complexity of these issues, neuroscientists and other mental health professionals must work together to develop the best course of treatment.
When it comes to battling the evils of mental illness, we should expect nothing but the best from our league of mental health professionals. With mental illnesses on the rise, our demand for mental health professionals begins to rise simultaneously. Together, let’s begin this paradigm shift toward mental acuity.