The nature of mental illness has been the subject of passionate discussion throughout history. In ancient Greece Plato, promoting a mentalist definition of mental illness, was the first to coin the term ‘mental health’ which was conceived as a  reason aided by temper and ruling over passion. At around the same time, Hippocrates, taking a more physicalist approach, defined different mental conditions as a variety of imbalances between different kinds of ‘humours’.  Mental illness is brain illness, an expression that has provided a strong impetus to the more recent medical conception of mental illness. The substantial progress accomplished in genomics and brain imaging in the last few decades made biological psychiatry stronger than ever and contributed to the reification of mental disorders as illnesses of the brain.

This view of mental illness is presented for better acceptance of mentally ill by the public and of treatment by those experiencing mental illness and is indeed based on accumulated, albeit limited, knowledge in the neurobiology of mental disorders. However, anything that reaches axiomatic proportions needs a serious examination. In this editorial we examine the reasons underlying this perspective, its consequences and the evidence to support or refute its continued justification. I will present a position that will best fit the current state or knowledge and is closest to clinical realities and public perceptions of mental illnesses.

A Background Knowledge of Mental Illness

What does the Statement ‘Mental Illness’ Actually Imply?

The statement that ‘mental illness’ implies that mental illness has a biological basis just like other medical illnesses and should be treated in the public’s  eye in a similar manner. The purpose of this brief write-up is not to present a philosophical or ideological argument in favour of or against a biological basis explaining mental illness, but rather to examine the clinical and public utility of presenting a dominant neurobiological model of mental illness to patients, their families and the public at large.