do you think the United States is doing
enough for the treatment of mental
illness we’re doing a good job but we
really should be doing much better there
are methods of treating we know work but
which aren’t reaching those who really
need it I think in the short-term future
we need to do a much better job at
applying what we know to help those who
are suffering but to really transform
psychiatric care we need to understand
more about this complex organ the brain
and in Baltimore an elite team of
genetic scientists are doing just that
the problem is we know nothing about
what mental illness is really are at a
basic biological level dr. Daniel
Weinberger believes the brain holds the
key to unlocking the secrets of mental
illnesses and therefore how they might
more effectively be treated why would
you not study the organ of the of the
that you think is the prime target of
the illnesses you wouldn’t be a
cardiologist and then not study the
heart but this has not been the history
of psychiatric research why not because
the brain was always sort of off limits
and there there are big problems in
studying the brain but now we can ask
much more incisive questions about how
the brain relates to mental illness with
a repository over 2,200 donated brains
these scientists are trying to
understand the genetic mechanisms that
cause disorders like depression anxiety
bipolar and schizophrenia this is the my
cross could be suite we have a big
investment in taking human cells that we
can create into little brain models it
seems to me that the treatment for
mental illness has not changed much in
the past 40 50 even 60 years why is that
I think the real reason we haven’t seen
these breakthroughs is we have on that
breakthrough some understanding
mechanisms so now that we have some of
these clues we will find new ways to
make these people’s lives better
and in the meantime neurosurgeons are
experimenting with new technologies to
hack the brain wheat are you doing all
right okay yeah hi
comfortable yeah good all right this is
dr. Samir chef a top New York
neurosurgeon don’t feel like it’s a
problem or it’s a bad thing if you don’t
feel it or you do feel it or whatever
yeah yeah today is the very first time
he’s performing experimental brain
surgery on a psychiatric patient and
he’s allowing cameras into the operating
room were you nervous a lot of
excitement offs a lot of just anxiety as
to whether this is going to work or not
I do deep brain stimulation surgery
almost every week of course it carries
some risk but wrapping one’s mind around
surgery for a psychiatric illness is
difficult for many people deep brain
stimulation or DBS is a surgical
procedure most commonly performed on
patients with Parkinson’s disease
tiny electrodes are implanted into
targeted areas of the brain and connect
by wires to a pulse generator
which is implanted in the chest much
like a pacemaker using electricity the
device painlessly stimulates the brain
in a way that can relieve symptoms like
in the case of Parkinson’s tremors
scientists don’t understand exactly why
it works but many believe the pulses may
help reset the malfunctioning part of
the brain success rates and side-effects
are highly variable but for many people
the outcomes can be dramatic and in
recent years doctors have started
exploring the use of DBS on a small
group of carefully vetted patients to
treat psychiatric conditions like PTSD
eating disorders and drug resistant
depression
[Music]
you
enough for the treatment of mental
illness we’re doing a good job but we
really should be doing much better there
are methods of treating we know work but
which aren’t reaching those who really
need it I think in the short-term future
we need to do a much better job at
applying what we know to help those who
are suffering but to really transform
psychiatric care we need to understand
more about this complex organ the brain
and in Baltimore an elite team of
genetic scientists are doing just that
the problem is we know nothing about
what mental illness is really are at a
basic biological level dr. Daniel
Weinberger believes the brain holds the
key to unlocking the secrets of mental
illnesses and therefore how they might
more effectively be treated why would
you not study the organ of the of the
that you think is the prime target of
the illnesses you wouldn’t be a
cardiologist and then not study the
heart but this has not been the history
of psychiatric research why not because
the brain was always sort of off limits
and there there are big problems in
studying the brain but now we can ask
much more incisive questions about how
the brain relates to mental illness with
a repository over 2,200 donated brains
these scientists are trying to
understand the genetic mechanisms that
cause disorders like depression anxiety
bipolar and schizophrenia this is the my
cross could be suite we have a big
investment in taking human cells that we
can create into little brain models it
seems to me that the treatment for
mental illness has not changed much in
the past 40 50 even 60 years why is that
I think the real reason we haven’t seen
these breakthroughs is we have on that
breakthrough some understanding
mechanisms so now that we have some of
these clues we will find new ways to
make these people’s lives better
and in the meantime neurosurgeons are
experimenting with new technologies to
hack the brain wheat are you doing all
right okay yeah hi
comfortable yeah good all right this is
dr. Samir chef a top New York
neurosurgeon don’t feel like it’s a
problem or it’s a bad thing if you don’t
feel it or you do feel it or whatever
yeah yeah today is the very first time
he’s performing experimental brain
surgery on a psychiatric patient and
he’s allowing cameras into the operating
room were you nervous a lot of
excitement offs a lot of just anxiety as
to whether this is going to work or not
I do deep brain stimulation surgery
almost every week of course it carries
some risk but wrapping one’s mind around
surgery for a psychiatric illness is
difficult for many people deep brain
stimulation or DBS is a surgical
procedure most commonly performed on
patients with Parkinson’s disease
tiny electrodes are implanted into
targeted areas of the brain and connect
by wires to a pulse generator
which is implanted in the chest much
like a pacemaker using electricity the
device painlessly stimulates the brain
in a way that can relieve symptoms like
in the case of Parkinson’s tremors
scientists don’t understand exactly why
it works but many believe the pulses may
help reset the malfunctioning part of
the brain success rates and side-effects
are highly variable but for many people
the outcomes can be dramatic and in
recent years doctors have started
exploring the use of DBS on a small
group of carefully vetted patients to
treat psychiatric conditions like PTSD
eating disorders and drug resistant
depression
[Music]
you
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