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By Sunidhi Ramesh This post is based on the January edition of the “Neuroethics and Neuroscience in the News” series in which Dr. Elaine Walker from Emory University discussed the ethics of assessing risk and treating brain diseases before they can be diagnosed. This self-portrait is often used to depict the distorted reality that many schizophrenia patients face. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia   Commons .) “This calculator,” a 2016 headline states, “can predict your risk of developing psychotic disorders.” Psychotic disorders , including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychotic features, are characterized by noticeable deficits in “normal” behavior accompanied by hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, an early onset (the average age of onset is in the late teens or early twenties), and a derailed life course. Because of its early age at onset, the DALY (disability adjusted life years) value for psychosis is significantly greater than that of other illnesses (1). It’s no su...