The central divide in psychiatry, the split between mind and brain, has been holding the field back and preventing people from getting the help they truly since its inception. Dr. Edward Bullmore, psychiatrist and author of The Inflamed Mind and The Divided Mind, has spent 35 years witnessing psychiatry struggle with this false dichotomy. In this conversation, we trace how the trauma of WWII rewrote the diagnostic manual, how antidepressants were discovered by accident and the science was reverse-engineered to justify them, and why the biggest genetic hits in schizophrenia research point not to neurons but to the immune system. If you've ever felt that the current system offers too little too late or that the answers must lie somewhere between biology and biography, this episode is for you.
In this episode we discuss:
The false brain/mind split that has defined and distorted psychiatry for over a century
Why the DSM is rooted in false science and has not held up to recent findings
Why treatment for schizophrenia hasn't fundamentally changed since the 1980s
Genome-wide association studies: what they reveal about schizophrenia, immunity, and shared genetic risk across diagnoses
Early life stressors and epigenetic risk
The case for integrating psychiatry with the rest of medicine
Public health interventions as mental health interventions; why maternal and child health may be the highest-leverage point
How psychiatry might fundamentally change and what Dr. Bullmore hopes to leave for the next generation
Bio
Ed Bullmore studied medicine at the University of Oxford and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, before training as a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, and completing a PhD in brain MRI analysis at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He moved to Cambridge as Professor of Psychiatry in 1999 and his research on brain networks and development of severe mental health disorders has since been highly cited. He was Head of the Department of Psychiatry, then Deputy Head of the School of Clinical Medicine in the University of Cambridge from 2014 to 2024.From 2005 to 2019, he also worked half-time for GlaxoSmithKline, focusing on the links between inflammation and depression, as described in his first book, The Inflamed Mind. He has recently published another book, The Divided Mind, about the past, present and future of schizophrenia. His scientific work has been recognised by election to the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2025, he returned to King’s College London as the Regius Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the School of Academic Psychiatry.
Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.
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