Recent Schizophrenia Articles
Two recent articles discuss different aspects of schizophrenia. “Why Symptoms of Schizophrenia Emerge in Young Adulthood” reports on recent research from Johns Hopkins University that has identified “anatomical glitches” that explain why symptoms don’t appear until early adulthood. These glitches are linked to a mutation in gene DISC1.
“Living with Schizophrenia,” in the current issue of Scientific American, confronts some common assumptions about schizophrenia. Not only does the article confront the some of the misconceptions, it shows how with appropriate treatment people with schizophrenia can lead “relatively normal lives.”
See “Why Symptoms of Schizophrenia Emerge in Young Adulthood” from Living with Schizophrenia,” Scientific American: Mind (March 2010)
Researchers at the University of Leeds are investigating the effectiveness of particular drug therapies for treating schizophrenia and autism. A genetic similarity allows them to study the effectiveness of a single drug and might enable them to suggest why schizophrenia patients often become addicted to tobacco.
Depression and Anxiety in the DSM-V
A short article in the current issue of Science talks briefly about the close connection between anxiety and depression. The author raises the question: are anxiety and depression so closely linked that they are both better considered part of a broader category of human hopelessness.
See C. Holden, “Experts Map the Terrain of Mood Disorders,” Science 327, no. 5969 (26 February 2010): 1068
Inheritability of Autism Traits
Another study in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry looks as the suggested high heritability of autism traits and cases. The study did not find the high rates of heritability expected, but did find that autism traits show moderate heritability in 2- to 3-year-old twins.
R. Stilp et al., “Genetic Variance for Autism Screening Items in an Unselected Sample of Toddler-Age Twins,” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 49,, no. 3 (2010): 267–76.
Brief History of Autism Research
The latest issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has a nice summary of autism research over the past two decades. Tony Charman, in an editorial, points out one the key developments in autism research has been the shift from retrospective, parental accounts of their children’s behavior to prospective, observational studies. This has led to more fine-grained and detailed recognition and reporting of autism symptoms. Retrospective accounts often under-reported declines in intentional social behavior between 24 and 36 months. New work also studies the heritability of autism traits.
See T. Charman, “Autism Research Comes of (a Youth) Age,” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 49,, no. 3 (2010): 208–09
Symptoms of Autism by Age One
A study by researchers at UC Davis has found that symptoms of autism begin appearing by age one. The five-year study compared the behavior of siblings of children diagnosed with autism to the behavior of babies developing normally. Researchers counted instances of communicative and social behavior, e.g., smiling, babbling, and eye contact.
Their results indicate that by 12 months development between the two groups had diverged significantly. Whereas children who were developing normally showed increasing levels of intentional social and communicative behavior, infants later diagnosed with autism displayed decreasing levels of social behavior.
See the announcement here. The full paper is (behind a paywall):
S. Ozonoff et al., “A Prospective Study of the Emergence of Early Behavioral Signs of Autims,” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 49, no. 3 (2010): 256–66.
Treating Depression, NHS Style
An interesting article in The Guardian faults Britian’s NHS for preferring antidepressant medications and simple cognitive behavioral therapy over longer-term, more sustained therapeutic approaches.
Citing a study by the charity Turning Point, the article claims that one third of British people experience depression, and that only one third of these people seek treatment. Those who do seek treatment are almost universally prescribed a round of antidepressants and perhaps cognitive behavioral therapy, neither of which addresses the more fundamental problems that often underlie depression.
See L. Sauma, “There’s no quick fix for depression,” Guardian (17 February 2010)
What’s New in the DSM-V
The DSM-V is, understandably, receiving considerable media and scholarly attention. The latest is this analysis of what has changed in the newest version of this standard reference work and what is new in it. It offers a nice overview and synopsis, as well as some “food for thought” observations.
“The DSM-V: The New, The Revised, The Opportunities for Pharma”
The Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder at UCLA explored some of the themes that have been cropping up lately, especially around Ethan Watters’s book. If you missed the conference itself, you can read an excellent report on the papers presented here.
In January the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry published two studies comparing different pharmacotherapy treatments for bipolar depression. In these studies, quetiapine was compared to an alternative treatment: first lithium and then paroxetine. Quetiapine was found to be more effective than the other popular forms of treatment. In treating bipolar depression, paroxetine did not seem to perform appreciably better than the placebo. Lithium was better still, though vaguely on par with the placebo. Finally, Quetiapine was consistently found to be more effective than either paroxetine.
See A.H. Youg et al., “A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of quetiapine and paroxetine as monotherapy in adults with bipolar depression,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (26 January 22010)
and
S.L McElroy et al., “A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of quetiapine and paroxetine as monotherapy in adults with bipolar depression,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (26 January 2010)