abstract

• The recent advancements of social behavioral neuroscience are unprecedented. Through manipulations targeting neural circuits, complex behaviors can be switched on and off, social bonds can be induced, and false memories can be 'incepted.' Psychiatry, however, remains tethered to concepts and techniques developed over half a century ago, including purely behavioral definitions of psychopathology and chronic, brain-wide pharmacological interventions. Drawing on recent animal and human research, we outline a circuit-level approach to the social brain and highlight studies demonstrating the translational potential of this approach. We conclude by suggesting ways both clinical practice and translational research can apply circuit-level neuroscientific knowledge to advance psychiatry, including adopting neuroscience-based nomenclature, stratifying patients into diagnostic subgroups based on neurobiological phenotypes, and pharmacologically enhancing psychotherapy.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

authors

• Cox, Charles
• Young, Mary Ellen

publication date

• December 2021

published in

• Current opinion in neurobiology  Journal

keywords

• Animals
• Brain
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Humans
• Neurosciences
• Psychiatry

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2020.11.007

PubMed ID

• 33260106

start page

• 1

end page

• 8

volume

• 68

number