Well that is from 2005, it’s been a decade since then, so where are these tests? Does anyone know of anywhere that has started using tests like this, or has anyone had one?
I mean it’s not like these scans are so exceptionally rare, expensive or difficult that they are not performed all the time. Someone taking a bad thump to the head would probably get one to check for concussion and whatnot. Right? Or what about to check for something like stroke/clot?
I’m not a medical professional, so I have very limited understanding, but it seems like using such scans to check for mental illness when symptoms are reported, ought to be standard? Is there are reason why they are not yet?
I would love to know for sure for example if some of what I experience is psychosis such as in schizophrenia or psychotic depression, or if it is just something like PTSD, or something else. A scan that could say, “You have the signs of schizophrenia” would be a huge relief in that I could commit to treatment for it with confidence. A scan that says, “You show no signs” would be a huge relief, because I could explore other possibilities with more confidence.
What is holding up standard testing like this, if discoveries looked promising over a decade ago??? Anyone have any info or experiences?
Were they checking for signs of abnormalities based on that type of research I mentioned? Did the scan change how you felt about what you experience, or change the professionals’ approach to your treatment at all?
I think something like this is a potentially big deal. Symptoms of PTSD can be very similar to schizophrenia, people with PTSD can even experience paranoia, hypervigilance and psychosis via flashbacks. I have also read that trauma shows up on images of the brain.
For someone like me who had a very abusive childhood + a strong history of psychotic illness in the family, tests like this could be groundbreaking.
I have had an MRI and came out fine. They did it to rule out tumours, stroke, damage, etc. It was a plain MRI that didn’t capture colour images of activity which I think is called a functional MRI and I think is used to see signs of schizophrenia or neural pathway issues.
So they took the time and resources to check for tumors, but didn’t bother to check for proof of indicators for mental illness at the same time, even though the entire thing was ultimately about diagnosing mental illness? Why in the world is like that?
Ah so they were not checking for evidence of schizophrenia, just ruling out other possibilities. So it’s not a thing yet, then? I guess. Even though they were working on it over a decade ago.
The doctors gave me an MRI to see if I had a tumor. They never understood why I was the only one in the family who got schizophrenia. I believe mine was caused by my stressed out environment when I fell ill.
Were they looking for the signs of schizophrenia, or just ruling out things like tumors, though?
What I mean is that there has been research done starting over a decade ago into differences in the brains of people with schizophrenia, things that could be used to confirm if a person has it / likely has it, which could be really useful on top of validating for people and so on, whichever way the results go.
I am just really shocked this hasn’t become a thing yet, unless something went wrong with the research, like if they got to a point and realized, “Whoops, we were wrong.”
I did a CT and EEG once. They came out normal, as expected. These are not diagnostic tools for schizophrenia. Functional MRI can detect some abnormalities, but I cannot undergo this procedure because I have 2 metallic dental crowns and it interferes with the magnetic field. That’s a pity.
But then again, even if they detect my schizophrenia with brain scans, what can they do about it? Pills for negative symptoms are not available yet
Well like I mentioned in an earlier post, if they could find a way to detect objective signs of schizophrenia in the brain organ, that could be very useful for people in situations like mine, where it is difficult to tell what is causing symptoms. When I read about the experiences of people with PTSD, and then BPD, or psychotic depression, and schizophrenia, to me it comes across as different ways of saying the same things, when trying to compare my experiences and figure out what the hell is wrong with my mind. When I have seen pdocs in the past, they talk to me for like 20 minutes before being wanting to push a med and don’t even know what is wrong, that makes me very uneasy. It would be nice to have something more objective to hold onto.
My motive for wanting these tests developed is not to try to invalidate anyone else’s experiences. Heck I imagine they would probably wind up finding several different types of schizophrenia in the process, if they haven’t already, considering how many genes and nurture factors can be involved.
Like more than the basic ones listed on wikipedia, or do you mean those ones?
I’m just trying to understand as much as possible before seeing the new pdoc I’m trying to get in with. I’m under some pressure to make sure whatever the diagnosis is, it’s right, and that the treatment works. I rely on my mother for support at this point in my life, and she expects fast results or she starts to get that crazy-vindictive way about her.
I just found some articles about differences in schizophrenic brains and wondered if there was a way to get this tested officially yet or not.
