After noting that similar areas of the brain ‘light up’ during contemplative or prayer activity, the researcher goes (as is common with brain scan studies) a bit too far:

“Newberg calls religion the great equalizer and points out that similar areas of the brain are affected during prayer and meditation. Newberg suggests that these brain scans may provide proof that our brains are built to believe in God. He says there may be universal features of the human mind that actually make it easier for us to believe in a higher power.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly not saying that I know how the brain works. But neither does this guy. All he knows is that certain sections of the brain are used for a small set of similar activities. Did he test someone chanting “There is no God!” over and over? I don’t think so. And of course, we know that lots of meditation doesn’t necessarily involve belief in God.

Again, my point is not to cheer for any particular religion, or any lack of religion. My point in this article is to highlight the type and quality of results that are pouring out of the brain scan labs. Not that it isn’t interesting to see what parts of the brain light up when we are engaged in various activities. It is interesting, and has potential for someday evolving into science that helps us understand how the brain works. We’re not there yet.

The trouble is, this is like making conclusions about religious practices of people on earth by looking at the patterns of lights from outerspace. No, it’s worse than that. When looking at lights from outerspaces, we know we are looking at lights, and can make some guesses about population centers, etc. based on the patterns.

With brain studies, we don’t really know what types of thinking correspond with the “lighting up” of certain areas, although we can choose to believe what the people in the studies tell us they think they were thinking about. (Ever tried to think about one thing, and one thing only for an extended period of time?) But what we are really measuring is physical states. Contemplation is great for this, because it is a calm body state. Not a huge surprise that certain parts of the brain are passive and others active when the body is calm. And of course there is some rudimentary learning to be gained from such a study.

But, “our brains are built to believe in God” as a result of this study? Come on. Regardless of your belief system (and I respect those who believe in God, and it certainly makes sense from a faith standpoint that if God made our brains, God would build them for belief in God) but this is supposed to be a scientific study! Faith is called faith, primarily because there isn’t any proof. But if there were a need for proof, and if there was a proof, this study isn’t it.

Next time you see a brain scan study, look deeply to see if, based on the areas of the brain that light up, the conclusions of the scientists are justified. In my opinion, we are at the very, very beginning of this type of research. The results are interesting, but watch out for sweeping conclusions!!

So this article discusses the idea that depression may be over-diagnosed because recent life events that could make someone temporarily sad are not taken into account. The opposing view says that the diagnostic criteria clearly differentiate between short term depression and long term depression. And of course the DSM does have such distinctions.

The key is, however, “What difference does it make?” If those with the appropriate credentials prescribe anti-depressants for either condition (which they do) what difference do the DSM categories make?

I was working with a recovering addict who was withdrawing from Oxycontin, pot, and who knows what else. He was in a long term residential treatment program. He saw a psychiatrist at one point within the first 30 days of recovery, who saw him for 10 minutes and prescribed Effexor. For someone in their first 30 days of withdrawal from drugs, being a bit blue (to put it mildly) is normal. Anti-depressants might be a valid treatment at some point, but don’t you think we should allow some time to find out what life is like without drugs first?

Have we tried an exercise program? A meditation program? A proper diet? Can we charge money for these things? No. Have they been shown to be as effective as medication? Yes. How many people who are prescribed anti-anxiety drugs have been asked by the prescriber how much caffeine they consume on a daily basis? Is it on the check list? No. Does the check list ask about exercise, diet, vitamin supplements, sleep patterns, relationships, major life events, etc.? No.

What is the point of “diagnosing” in these situations? Why are we not doing thorough assessments? Well, maybe some of us are doing these types of assessments. But my impression, based on the drugs being sold, and based on the time constraints of those who have the prescription pads, is that we are getting more 10 minute prescriptions than we are thorough life assessments.

I don’t think the question is whether we are “over-diagnosing” or not. I think the question is “Why are we diagnosing, instead of assessing, talking, and helping?

The Wandering Mind

The researcher says he will study meditation to see if it helps. Of course, a lot of brain research has already been done on meditation, but this would be an interesting twist. So far, research shows that long term meditators use more of the parts of the brain that have to do with contentment, and less of the parts that deal with conflict.

Finding out that we can really do what we think we are doing in meditation practice (increasing our ability to pay attention) would be an interesting result indeed.

Meditation, through the method of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been shown to improve patient outcomes in a wide variety of illnesses and reduce anxiety. Helping people learn to focus on what is really happening right now, instead of the story their brain is telling them, seems to help them put pain, distress, and life changing illnesses in perspective.

“Science is beginning to pay more attention to the chemical storm that romantic love can trigger in our brains. Recent studies of brain scans show that being in love causes changes in the brain that are strikingly similar to serious health problems like drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

Is it Love or Mental Illness? They’re Closer Than You Think

All of which may sound unromantic, but goes pretty far to explain why sex/love addiction really can be an addiction. Also interesting is that the ‘risk taking’ ‘anger’ and ‘pain’ parts of the brain light up as well. All of the areas that would tell us to “go for it” so to speak.

They also note that changes in serotonin levels are noted. Of course we know exactly how serotonin works right? (Not!)

While all of these brain studies are very important, and I believe very interesting, I think it is important to note that we are at the very, very beginning of having any kind of complete understanding about how this stuff works. It’s like aliens looking down at the electric light patterns on earth and trying to figure out what is causing the bright spots, the movement, the on and off patterns. They might guess right about some of it, but mostly, I think it is still a great big mystery.

And as always, just because we see relationships between patterns of brain activity doesn’t mean we know anything about causality. We are always quick to jump to a linear causality explanation for correlations. In reality, every event has multiple causes, and it is folly to consider any one relationship of variables outside of the context in which we find it.

I think we’re a long way from saying that love is ‘just’ chemistry, or ‘just’ addiction. Let’s keep some of the mystery. At least through tomorrow.