[Organic and psychogenic causes of psychopathology: co-construction between the brain and culture]

Rather than attempting to reduce findings to fit a particular standard of explanation, understanding into mental diseases should abandon the dichotomy between organic and psychogenic causes and instead investigate what can be explained at each level from genes, materials, cells and circuits across the spheres of psychology, society and culture, and focus on how findings can be clinically applied. Using this "pluralistic" approach, the author attempts herein to deepen understanding of mental disorders as diseases of mentality. The author depicts the process and significance of mental disorders and introduces the concept of "cultural affordance" while touching on a pathogenic framework comprising both organic and psychogenic causes, namely "culture" and "the brain". This approach has been little considered to date during psychopathological research when attempting to understand disease state and implement clinical application.