Early Diagnosis of Mental Disorder Closer Than We Think

A certain John Csernansky, M.D., has found that mapping certain areas of the brain and determining where the peaks and dips are located can aid in the early determination of certain mental disorders. This is very important because, like other diseases, it is in the earliest phases that they are most treatable. However, due to the nature of the disorders, they are sometimes hard to properly diagnose and treat until much later on in life. Treatment usually comes when a person is no longer functioning properly and the disorder disrupts his or her everyday life.

Unlike diabetes, for example, you cannot just do blood work and determine things. Psychiatrists only have what the patient gives as symptoms to determine things. It would be like determining lymphatic cancer by you describing a sore neck. Needless to say, this is a substantial finding for the many of us who suffer from mental illness and know what they entail.

According to the article at ScienceDaily:

Current treatments are evaluated on whether the patients' symptoms improve over several months. Csernansky, however, wants to take a longer and broader view.

"What we want to know is whether a few years later are you more able to work, are you better able to return to school?" he said. "If you take these medicines for years at a time, is your life better than if you had not taken them? We want to understand the effects of the medicines we give on the biological progression of the disease. We think that's what ultimately determines how well someone does."

Psychotic and mood disorders are life-long illnesses and require management throughout a person's life.

The implications that this could possibly allow people to get an early diagnosis and live out successful lives with complete functionality is very important to me. You can read more here.


Photo of brain from National Institutes of Health and is in Public Domain.

On a lighter note, don't forget to vote in my poll. I need all the help I can get.