At some point in treatment patients often ask their psychiatrists a certain very difficult question: “Do I have a chemical imbalance? Or is it just the events in my life I'm going through that are making me feel this way?” This question actually reflects on a deep divide in our understanding of what it is to be human. It is the mind-body, or mind-brain problem. For clinicians and patients, this is not merely the theoretical issue of which philosophers speak. Rather, in the clinic it presents the very practical dilemma of how to proceed in the task of helping the patient. Is medication to be the primary modality of treatment, or is psychotherapy?

My usual response to patients goes something along the lines that biology and psychology are inseparable, so that both brain and mind must be addressed together. However, I find I almost always weigh