Are psychiatric disorders visible in the brain?

23 June 2026

Following a recent article in EOS about the visibility of psychiatric disorders in the brain, the discussion about changes in the brain in relation to psychiatric symptoms is in full swing.

The question of whether anything changes in the brain during psychiatric symptoms is widely debated. However, we do know that psychoses can be caused by an immune response against brain cells or by the use of psychoactive substances. In addition, antidepressants, sleeping pills, and antipsychotics act on brain cells and alleviate symptoms.

iCNS conducts molecular brain research on postmortem human brain tissue from well-documented patients. Until ten years ago, such tissue was scarcely available. Only recently have techniques been developed that allow us to measure at the cellular level and study cellular structure in high resolution. It will still take some time before the results lead to improved diagnostics and treatments for psychiatric disorders, but we are fully confident that we are taking important steps in that direction.

Read the full article (in Dutch) here.