Schizophrenia takes on different forms in different people, and many psychiatry researchers feel that this heterogeneity is a major obstacle to better understanding and treatment of the disorder. Scientists have hypothesized that there may be different underlying biological reasons for any one person’s illness.
To try to glean some organizing principles for subgroups of patients, early psychiatrists relied on observable symptoms that the patient reported or signs that the clinician detected, and through the years came up with subtypes such as paranoid, disorganized, or residual schizophrenia. But these have largely fallen by the wayside, and were struck from the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The problem is that they weren’t very useful.
“The only reason to have subtypes is that you would need them for treatment or for predictive or for other clinical reasons,” said Carol Tamminga of the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.
Throughout the 20th century, researchers also looked to biology for direction, but didn’t find anything informative in blood samples or postmortem brains. As methods to examine the human brain and genome have multiplied over the past decade, however, researchers are seizing upon different measures in attempts to make sense of schizophrenia’s heterogeneity. Finding biologically based subtypes may point to different etiologies, predict disease course, help get the right treatments to the right patients, as well as spur the development of new drugs.
I know it’s your birthday Firemonkey so in gonna really try to keep this positive. Oh and before I forget, thank you for bringing us the news. If you look up the University of Vermont (my alma matter) you will see that the schools newspaper is called "the Cynic"
That pretty much sums up my approach to life, cynical. It’s a tough way to be but hey we’re all former pot head liberals in recovery.
I like that they are I interested in the heterogeneity of sz. Especially because they say it would help guide more specific treatments. This to me means no more broad brushed dopamine agents with potent side effects but more specific drugs that target localized brain regions that are dysfunctional. But I have to ask, is this all smoke and mirrors? When do they plan on coming up with these so called new therapies. If we are just now beginning to understand the differences in schizophrenia, then we’re talking 15-20 years down the line before we see new treatments. I urge these scientists to put their money where there mouth is. Stop feeding us these glimmers of hope and leading us on. Maybe they should stop leaking little bits and pieces of their research and come back to us when they have a real solution. Sometimes I think these studies are just researchers trying to make use of grants they’ve been given.
That’s brilliant! I knew it. This has to be why they are still doing studies on stuff that has no importance whatsoever other than to fill the pages of some soon to be defunct psychiatric manual.
My fear is that their is no real incentive to cure mental illness. After all what would all the MI organizations and charities do?
Psychosis/schizophrenia is, I think, more complex than people realise. Solutions will take time. All info whether of negative or positive research gets us further along to better treatment.
Nothing personal Firemonkey but I can’t help but think of studies that are still done in drugs like clozapine. I mean hasn’t it been Established already that it’s bad for you? So why are they still using it?
Chanel that money into research on new meds man no one wants to take clozapine anymore.
As for being manic, I am! I’m bipolar. I oscillate between suicidal lows and moments of inspirational clarity. The only problem is that I have major psychotic episodes, which is why I find this site comforting. I’m also on a mission to help people get better meds. Some people can’t speak for themselves I somehow sometimes am able to be quite articulate. I’m also young and crazy and have dedicated my life to finding relief from my mental illness.
Hopefully with the burden that mental illness places on society someone out there is trying to find cures.
But then I think to myself, that I must be really crazy to stay in my house until they find a cure because no one is really looking for one. If they were really invested in finding a cure, they would’ve done something for depression by now. I don’t think depression is as complex as sz and it affects many more people across the globe. Sz is a smaller demographic. But the amount of suffering that sz causes you would think it would be a global priority to find better treatment. How many diseases out there rob you of your most precious asset, your faculties, and result in homelessness and incarceration?
Psychosis is more disabling than blindness. That is crazy.
So your faulty line of reasoning is that they should stop prescribing Clozapine, which has the best results for tx-resistant patients, until new meds come on the market.
In the meantime patients who were doing better thanks to Clozapine would deteriorate and relapse.
That of course would result in greater costs that would ironically result in worse mental health care for the severe mentally ill as services are further rationed to balance budgets.
I agree with you that schizophrenia should be researched in all of the forms it presents, so lumping all of its sub-types into one condition is counterproductive. I don’t see this approach with cancer.
No but the current trend in psychiatry is to fill this “unmet need” of less side effects and drugs that work on negative symptoms too. Half the members on this site are waiting for these new meds to come out.
Why are they still testing olanzapine vs geodon and stuff like that. It’s confusing when you throw in early intervention and psychosis prevention too. Which one is the priority? If they spread themselves too thin then how are we going to move forward?
Not at all. Your news articles keep me going.
I’m waiting for the next big bombshell to drop. I figure I have a better chance of finding it on here than in the New York Times. At least on here it will be front page news
Hey, Meghilla - I believe that you truly appreciate Firemonkey’s efforts, but I’m concerned (and you should be, too) that the way you respond to them is discouraging him from posting. He’s told you clearly that your responses make him feel attacked and reluctant to continue - please take him seriously and adjust your responses accordingly.
If your comment is solely a variation on, “They should be researching something else,” please either refrain from posting it, or start a thread on what you think researchers should focus on and post it there.
@MeghillaGorilla1, there is something that you can do right away to tackle your symptoms, and that is to start brain training (neurocognitive training). As Dr Sophia Vinogradov, who applies this form of training to people with Sz, says in this video lecture, it doesn’t matter what the genetic or molecular basis of the dysfunction is, the training will work anyway.
Retraining the brain causes such widespread positive effects in the neurons that many of the molecular faults are either corrected themselves or compensated for by the training. We must not just assume that the eventual cure for Sz will be a chemical, it may be something else.
Vinogradov begins her main discussion at time point 16:00 in the video, and at time point 19:30 discusses why she’s less concerned about molecular causes.
With training a patient might go from being very distressed to being mildly distressed. Given the state of the technology at the current time that might be a realistic target. I’ve done a huge amount of training and am now only mildly distressed.
Lots of regular people lead lives where they are mildly distressed a lot of the time e.g. sleep deprived parents with young kids etc. Very few people lead ‘happy’ lives, the target might be to get the distress into the normal range rather than a total elimination of it.
I am also interested in the differences in presentation…like for me for instance, I’ve always been high functioning and able to act like I am normal even when I am actually very ill…I don’t really understand why this is. Certain elements of sz I never had, like disorganized speech or flat affect…
Then there are some who only have negative symptoms, or others who have all symptoms but voices, and so on…it’s odd…
