Are we alive or dead if the brain is functioning organically but we are comatose? If we are depressed on a bright, beautiful day, is it because our body's chemistry is out of kilter, or are we warped in the soul? Is the heartsickness of unrequited love a result of an unsatisfied emotional longing or a temporary chemical imbalance in the endocrine system? Do we contemplate, and perhaps commit, suicide because some devil has possessed us or because a molecular malfunction has occurred in our genes? HERBERT PARDES, M.D.
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