Integrating neuroscience in psychiatry: a cultural-ecosocial systemic approach

Ana Gómez-Carrillo; Laurence J Kirmayer; Neil Krishan Aggarwal; Kamaldeep S Bhui; Kenneth Po-Lun Fung; Brandon A Kohrt; Mitchell G Weiss; Roberto Lewis-Fernández; Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Committee on Cultural Psychiatry

doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00006-8

Integrating neuroscience in psychiatry: a cultural-ecosocial systemic approach

Lancet Psychiatry. 2023 Apr;10(4):296-304. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00006-8. Epub 2023 Feb 21.

Authors

Ana Gómez-Carrillo¹, Laurence J Kirmayer², Neil Krishan Aggarwal³, Kamaldeep S Bhui⁴, Kenneth Po-Lun Fung⁵, Brandon A Kohrt⁶, Mitchell G Weiss⁷, Roberto Lewis-Fernández³; Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Committee on Cultural Psychiatry

Affiliations

¹ Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Culture and Mental Health Research Unit, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁷ Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

PMID: 36828009
DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00006-8

Abstract

Psychiatry has increasingly adopted explanations for psychopathology that are based on neurobiological reductionism. With the recognition of health disparities and the realisation that someone's postcode can be a better predictor of health outcomes than their genetic code, there are increasing efforts to ensure cultural and social-structural competence in psychiatric practice. Although neuroscientific and social-cultural approaches in psychiatry remain largely separate, they can be brought together in a multilevel explanatory framework to advance psychiatric theory, research, and practice. In this Personal View, we outline how a cultural-ecosocial systems approach to integrating neuroscience in psychiatry can promote social-contextual and systemic thinking for more clinically useful formulations and person-centred care.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Neurosciences*
Psychiatry*
Psychopathology