As someone who has depression, bipolar and alcoholism, I love to read about research. My problem is that I often cannot understand a word of what I am reading. I cannot even pronounce half of the words, which is why I have to thank The New York Times columnist David Brooks and NARSAD for their recent efforts to make neuroscience intelligible and palatable.

Last Sunday Brooks had a simple column on a recent academic conference of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society.  Normally I would not read a snooze-o-rama like this – especially on a Sunday morning. But the headline sucked me in - The Young and the neuro - and Brooks’ first paragraph held my attention:

“When you go to an academic conference you expect to see some geeks, gravitas and graying professors giving lectures. But the people who showed up at the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society’s conference in Lower Manhattan last weekend were so damned young, hip and attractive.”

Thank you David Brooks and the editor who wrote the headline. You got me. Because of your clever writing I now know that dominant behavior activates the reward center of the brain in Americans,  but in the Japanese that center of the brain was more likely to be activated by subordinate behavior.

A region of the brain in American and Chinese subjects activates when they see members of their own group endure pain, but at lower levels when watching others endure pain. “These effects may form the basis of prejudice.”

Brain scans of Yankee and Red Sox fans showed their “ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens were activated” when they watched highlights of their own team’s games but neither reacted much when watching an Orioles-Blue Jays game. I am not sure what this means. It could be simply be a statement about the quality of play by the Orioles and Blue Jays. Or it could mean “that we are awash in social signals, and any social science that treats individuals as discrete decision-making creatures is nonsense.”

Why is any of this important? There are two reasons:

1. We know how other parts of the body work but the brain is the final frontier. The more we learn about the workings of the brain the closer we are to finding treatments – maybe even cures – for mental illness.

2. I really, really, really need to know that some brilliant scientist in a lab somewhere is doing something to help us. In the lab there is no question that mental illness is real. Out here, there is. Many people believe that mental illnesses such as depression and alcoholism are not `real. We are just lazy, self-absorbed and lacking discipline. Every time a scientist discovers something about the brain we are one step closer to eliminating the stigma  of mental illness.

A second round of kudos goes to NARSAD, the world’s leading charity devoted to mental health research. NARSAD is a wonderful organization. It has spent $256 million on research in the last 22 years. But a year ago its web site was impenetrable to anyone without a Ph.d. After a major overhaul the group’s new web site is up and running. Even I can understand it.

On Tuesday NARSAD issued a press release on a promising procedure for people with severe, treatment resistant depression. It is called bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation (EpCS). (Stick with me. A lot of big words but the release explained the procedure in English.) 

“The procedure is a form of brain surgery. It consists of implanting four paddles that deliver chronic and intermittent electrical stimulation to the surface of the part of the brain governing mood and socialization. The device that’s inserted is similar to a pacemaker and has already been used to stimulate the spine as a means of combating pain.”

Got it.

“The lateral part of brain keeps track of the outside world and regulates information and the emotional responses,” Dr. Ziad Nahas added. “The most anterior and the middle areas are more involved in our social interactions and how we define ourselves. Both play a critical role in how we ultimately feel. That was the innovative part of our approach. We were theoretically targeting these specific regions and saying, Let’s try to change the activity in these two complementary networks. And by focusing on the surface of the brain as a ‘port of entry’ to our therapy, we don’t risk damaging any brain tissue.”

Okay. I understand. Thank you. 

Those of us with mental illness don’t get much public support. Many of us are afraid to even admit out-loud that we are mentally ill. It’s the stigma. So to all you writers, scientists and web designers – thank you for dumbing down your work. I really, really, really appreciate it.

Share: Facebook | del.icio.us | Digg it | reddit | StumbleUpon |

Related Posts

• No related posts

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    Last reviewed: 14 Oct 2009