![\"brain-feature1\"](\"http:\/\/tedconfblog.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/brain-feature1.jpg?w=900\")
In the past 30 years, major advances have been made when it comes to treating several serious diseases. Today, there are 85% fewer deaths from leukemia and 63% fewer fatalities from heart disease than there were then. Meanwhile, while AIDS was once considered a death sentence, people with the disease can now live to old age. Not to mention that a remarkable third of the people who have strokes not only live — but leave the hospital without any disability.<\/p>\n
Sadly though, Insel says, the news isn\u2019t good across the board. The rate of suicide, he says, has not changed at all over the last three decades. About 90% of suicides are related to mental illness. And while 1 in 5 people will be affected by a psychiatric disorder, scientists still understand dangerously little about these diseases. In fact, says Insel, we don\u2019t even know what to call them. The terms preferred at the moment \u2013 \u201cmental disorders\u201d and \u201cbehavioral disorders\u201d — are misleading, because they point to symptoms rather than to the disease itself.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth of those terms which have been in play for a century or more are actually now impediments to progress,\u201d says Insel. \u201cWhat we need conceptually here is to rethink these disorders as \u2018brain disorders.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In this talk<\/a>, Insel reveals why he believes we are about to turn a corner in understanding the brain, which he calls an \u201corgan of surreal complexity.\u201d As scientists get a better understanding of its workings and development, they\u2019ll start to understand the patterns of brain disorders. It\u2019s possible that, as with heart disease, scientists will be able to identify risk factors. To hear how this could lead to early detection of brain disorders — and even interventions before a person so much as experiences or displays symptoms — watch this fascinating talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good news stories in medicine are early detection and early intervention,\u201d explains Insel. \u201cIf we waited until the heart attack, we would be sacrificing 1.1 million lives every year in this country to heart disease. That\u2019s precisely what we do when we decide that everyone with one of these brain disorders has a \u2018behavioral disorder\u2019 \u2013 we wait until the behavior becomes manifest.\u201d<\/p>\n Insel\u2019s talk reminds us of two powerful TED playlists.<\/p>\n![\"Thomas](\"http:\/\/images.ted.com\/images\/ted\/1733fa238431c2ae65c5410920b2413c2c4b8171_240x180.jpg\")
Thomas Insel: Toward a new understanding of mental illness<\/span><\/a> \u201cThese are just remarkable changes,\u201d says Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, in today\u2019s talk<\/a> given at TEDxCaltech<\/a>. \u201cAll of them boil down to understanding something about the disease that has allowed us to detect early and intervene early.\u201d<\/p>\n