Recognising that mind and body are not separate opens door for new treatments

As a trial for a radical schizophrenia treatment begins, the link between biological factors and some mental illnesses is becoming clearer than ever

Descartes's notion of dualism - that the mind and body are separate entities - is wrong, but has proved surprisingly persistent, and until recently dominated attempts to understand mental illness. When the brain stopped working properly, a psychological origin was sought.

Undoubtedly, life's experiences and our personalities shape the way our brains function. But there is now a compelling body of evidence that brain disorders can also originate from things going awry in our basic biology.