A paper on the brain deficits found in affective disorders and possibly schizophrenia (abstract only)

http://www.psy-journal.com/article/S0165-1781(06)00410-0/abstract
Myelin staining of deep white matter in the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar major depression

"
Abstract

Neuroimaging and postmortem studies suggest the involvement of white
matter disease in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar major
depression. To date there is no published, collective study of myelin
staining in these three psychiatric disorders. Deep white matter
lesions, potentially affecting corticolimbic circuits, have been
particularly implicated in late life depression and poor outcome bipolar
disorder. We hypothesized that individuals with these disorders would
manifest reduced deep white matter myelin staining compared to normal
controls. Sixty transverse sections of fixed dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex – 15 from individuals with each psychiatric disorder and 15 from
normal controls – were stained according to the method of Kluver and
Barrera. Myelin staining intensity was quantified by digital image
analysis and expressed as a percent of grey matter staining for a given
section. Mean deep (but not gyral) white matter myelin staining was less
intense in all three psychiatric groups compared to control. This
difference was statistically significant for the bipolar and unipolar
groups, with a strong trend toward attenuated staining in the
schizophrenic group. Our findings are consistent with postmortem and
neuroimaging studies of affective disorders that indicate an increased
prevalence of deep white matter lesions in unipolar and bipolar
affective disorders.
"

Of course I'm still thinking about different brains rather than
deficient ones.

I always thought schizophrenia was the one that was most definitely a
brain illness. Well, they're all considered as such. Any deviation from
what's found as the average in control subjects is considered a brain
deficit. It's often less brain matter in certain areas. This is the
biomedical model. Everything's produced by the brain and to be treated
at a neurochemical level. Talking isn't going to repair brain damage nor
is a change in society.