Another study showing that its the schizoprhenia thats causing the gray matter loss ([not medications as some anti-psychiatry people promote )]1 :
Another good reason to get treatment as quickly as possible, and stay on medications to reduce relapse risk.
Summary:
Steeper gray matter loss seems to be unique to those individuals with higher levels of sub-psychotic pre-delusional symptoms that acutely worsen in the ramp-up to full-blown psychosis, and as such may reflect pathophysiological processes driving emergence of psychosis
Y Chung, A Jacobson, G He, TG van Erp, S McEwen, J Addington, CE Bearden, K Cadenhead, B Cornblatt, DH Mathalon, T McGlashan, D Perkins, LJ Seidman, M Tsuang, E Walker, SW Woods, R Heinssen and TD Cannon,
Molecular neuropsychiatry , May 2015 01
A recent prospective longitudinal neuroimaging study of 274 prodromal risk syndrome subjects revealed that those who later developed full-blown psychotic symptoms exhibited accelerated gray matter loss and third ventricle expansion around the time of onset of psychosis. Previous studies also indicate that higher levels of unusual thought content during prodromal states are a significant predictor of psychosis in clinically high-risk youth (CHR). However, the relationship between clinical symptoms and changes in neuroanatomical structure has not been previously examined in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) sample at the atlas level. In this report, we investigated whether symptom severity as measured by the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) predicted the accelerated gray matter decline in 274 CHR cases, including 35 who converted to psychosis. Higher levels of unusual thought content (pre-delusional) symptoms at baseline were associated with a steeper rate of gray matter loss in the prefrontal cortex bilaterally among converters. In contrast, there was no association found among non-converters. Steeper gray matter loss seems to be unique to those (CHR) individuals with higher levels of sub-psychotic pre-delusional symptoms that acutely worsen in the ramp-up to full-blown psychosis, and as such may reflect pathophysiological processes driving emergence of psychosis.
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Thats old (10 year old) data and was only “associated with” … The new research indicates otherwise:
There is a lot of attention paid to the gray matter loss in the brain of people who have schizophrenia - by the antipsychiatry groups that blame medications on this brain change.
A new study by Yale University and refutes that belief - it occurs even in those people not on medications:
“Thirty-five individuals ultimately converted to psychosis and they showed a steeper rate of thinning in prefrontal cortex compared with those who did not convert and the healthy control group. Importantly, this tissue loss was not explained by exposure to antipsychotic drugs.”
“Because this differential rate of tissue loss was observed among subjects who had never been exposed to psychiatric drugs, we c…
well this proves what I’ve always said that I am “dumber” than when before I fell ill to schizophrenia. I can’t read books anymore and I do dumb things that I didn’t used to do before the illness. I wonder how much brain tissue I actually lost.
Hmmm… I didn’t realise as data got old that it became invalid. All I see is one study saying meds shrink healthy primate brains and another saying schizophrenia accelerates normal shrinkage. All I see is a double cumulative whammy, not mutually exclusive causes.
I’m on meds.
I wonder how much remediation is possible through Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy?
10-96
For what it’s worth, fishoil/omega3 has been shown to be helpful with regards to brain volume. Here’s a random study I just found.
JV Pottala, K Yaffe, JG Robinson, MA Espeland, R Wallace and WS Harris,
Neurology , Feb 2014 04
To test whether red blood cell (RBC) levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids measured in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study were related to MRI brain volumes measured 8 years later.RBC eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and MRI brain volumes were assessed in 1,111 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study. The endpoints were total brain volume and anatomical regions. Linear mixed models included multiple imputations of fatty acids and were adjusted for hormone therapy, time since randomization, demographics, intracranial volume, and cardiovascular disease risk factors.In fully adjusted models, a 1 SD greater RBC EPA + DHA (omega-3 index) level was correlated with 2.1 cm(3) larger brain volume (p = 0.048). DHA was marginally correlated (p = 0.063) with total brain volume while EPA was less so (p = 0.11). There were no correlations between ischemic lesion volumes and EPA, DHA, or EPA + DHA. A 1 SD greater omega-3 index was correlated with greater hippocampal volume (50 mm(3), p = 0.036) in fully adjusted models. Comparing the fourth quartile vs the first quartile of the omega-3 index confirmed greater hippocampal volume (159 mm(3), p = 0.034).A higher omega-3 index was correlated with larger total normal brain volume and hippocampal volume in postmenopausal women measured 8 years later. While normal aging results in overall brain atrophy, lower omega-3 index may signal increased risk of hippocampal atrophy. Future studies should examine whether maintaining higher RBC EPA + DHA levels slows the rate of hippocampal or overall brain atrophy.
Also, exercise builds brain volume in schizophrenia.
I’ve always thought that it was psychosis that fried my brain. I had accelerated brain gray matter reduction, because I was paranoid long before the psychosis. I can tell too.
This is depressing. I should take a break (not have one).
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