Well... There are researchers who work in a university setting (and who don't have any financial or job interest in therapy or medication) who are trying to figure out what is going on with different kinds of mental disorders.

Christopher Frith springs to mind:

http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Neur.../dp/0863773346

He has a theory of what is going on for people with schizophrenia.

Similarly, there are a great number of researchers working on figuring out what is going on with Autistic people. The researchers aren't involved in treating these people and as such they don't have an investment in any particular variety of treatment. They are just trying to model what is going on with Autism.

Similarly, there are a great number of evolutionary psychologists working on the evolution of genes and behavioural symptoms associated with depression and sociopathy and histrionic personality disorder.

Similarly there are cognitive neuropsychologists working on the nature of psychosis and delusions and the like (who don't have an investment in treatment).

There is an awful lot of work that has been done and that is being done by researchers who don't have a financial investment in treatments. There are a lot of theories. Lots of theories and lots of controversy and not much consensus. But people are really genuinely trying...