Reflection paper on Nancy Andreasen's book, Brave New Brain Essay

Reflection paper on Nancy Andreasen's book, Brave New Brain - Essay Example A similar treatment has been appropriated by many experts with regards Nancy Andreasens book titled, Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Era of the Genome in which the author contends that the mapping of the brain and the human genome, occurring seemingly at the same time, has brought forward a new and effective understanding of the biological origins of mental illness. For many, this only implies that ‘biological understanding’ would refer to evolution, setting aside the teaching of Christianity which states that God intervenes on human affairs. For others, the Christian approach of ministering to individuals with mental illness will be considered inept and ineffective as this does not mesh with the ‘scientific procedure’ of administering to people with mental disabilities. In her book, Nancy Andreasens notes that the convergent research focusing on the genome and mental illness is a fascinating development as it transformed the way we think of mental illnesses and their implications. First, with the utilization of new technology in neurology and psychiatry, experts are able to link the illnesses of the mind to biology and all illnesses have biological basis, even schizophrenia (Andreasen 4). This of course, does not conform to some Christian notions that mental illness is a result of demon possessions or is something related to superstition. Thus, Nancy Andreasen asserts that the best treatment should be one which varies from one patient to another. Clearly, the holistic approach to the treatment of mental illnesses is no longer acceptable. Some of the methods which Andreasen are ones that are based on science such as genomics and neuroimaging as she states that ‘mental illnesses are diseases of the brain that can be understood and treated using established scientific tools’ (Andreasen 7). What is considerable to note here is that Andreasen’s contentions that the brain ‘teaches itself to learn’ pose a