That's an interesting comparison, particularly in terms of psychology. I'm thinking about the fact that I have two meds on my desk as I type this whose mechanisms of action are at best partially understood. But they do wonders, target the symptoms we want them to target, and (so far, at least) have not caused any side-effects. Granted, it took a couple tries to get the right ones, but the proof is in the pudding.

As I recall, there have been some pushes to both reform the FDA's approval processes, and IIRC a bill passed recently allowing people at the end of life to try experimental treatment (and why this is controversial is beyond me). I've also been encouraged by some things I've seen about using modified viruses to attack cancer cells and/or edit their genes so they attack each other. Here too there may be some unintended side-effects, but when the alternative is death, I have to imagine it'd be hard for those effects to be worse than the disease.

But more generally, your point about the approach to biology is an interesting one. I know it was always my least favorite subject in school, and looking back, what you describe may be a good deal of why. I am attracted to systems, and biology always felt like a bunch of pieces, especially when compared to chemistry (which was my passion when it came to science). Of course, I do wonder to what extent this is more how it's taught than how it's researched.