We Need Clear Thinking About Biomarkers in Psychiatry to Avoid Bioreductionism
Philosophical psychiatrists caution against simplified views of biomarkers that reify psychiatric diagnoses and promote bioreductionism.
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Amid the push to identify biomarkers in psychiatry, psychiatrists Awais Aftab and Manu Sharma call for the field to pause and reflect on some of the problematic assumptions and contradictions that are often built into biomarker research.
In their new paper, published in the
Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry, they lay out some conceptual considerations that can encourage a more thoughtful understanding of what biomarkers can really tell us about psychological distress. The article, titled “How not to think about biomarkers in psychiatry,” also warns against reductionist assumptions and approaches. Aftab and Sharma write: