You’re Not Mental: How Overlaps in Psychiatric and Medical Disorders Expose Gaps in Treatment

Anxiety disorders affect 17-19 million adults every year and are the most commonly diagnosed category of mental disorders. Statistics for depressive disorders are similar — about 15 million Americans will be diagnosed sometime in their adulthood. What if we could identify a medical origin to psychiatric illnesses? What if anxiety or depression could be treated in much the same way a bacterial infection or benign tumor would be? How might this change the landscape of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment?