Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?

The field of neuroscience has developed vastly over the past decades. The development of fMRI-scanning techniques, allowing in-vivo inspection of the human brain, has led to the speculation that in the near future, it will be possible to define mental disorders as brain disorders, that can be diagnosed based on brain scans. To some, this would be highly preferable because brain scans are more objective and trustworthy than the subjective self-reports psychiatrists and psychologists currently rely on. Others refute the possible implications of neuroscience in the field of psychiatry, stating that it does not add objectivity nor reliability in diagnostics. Can neuroscience make diagnosis of mental disorders objective?

Debaters are:

André Aleman
Johanna Dinkelacker
Valentina Lozano

Markus Eronen
Leo Burger
Xander Waalewijn

Mindwise Debate
Mindwise Debate is a series of public debates organized by Studium Generale Groningen and Mindwise, the blog of the Psychology Department of the University of Groningen. The debates have the aim of creating a university-wide platform for risky and engaging dialogue on topics ranging from the role of standardization in education systems to the nature of consciousness. The event consists of a formal debate between two teams composed of both students and staff members from UG followed by an open discussion between everyone in the audience and the debaters.