[Mina De La O via Getty Images]
Duke University professor emeritus Allen Frances, who chaired the DSM-IV task force wrote this for Huffington Post:
I am a great supporter of mental-health research but worry that it has lost its sense of proportion and is chasing the wrong priorities.
The really glamorous stuff consumes almost all of the enormous NIMH budget and now has behind it the huge addition of a $650-million private donation aimed at solving the genetics of mental illness.
Neuroscience is an extremely easy sell to Congress and rich philanthropists because it promises so much -- that we are on the brink of achieving fundamental breakthroughs in understanding how our genes and brains work (and sometimes don't work).
But such overpromising ignores the painful lessons of history. The neuroscience and genetic revolutions have been astounding in their technical virtuosity and fascinating in their findings, but to date, they have not helped a single patient. We have learned a great deal in basic science, but nothing at all that translates to better clinical care.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-frances/will-650-million-in-genet_b_5617681.html
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