Psychology: screening for and treating depression with a blood test

[Christophe]

An important step forward in diagnosing depression, the disease of the century!

A blood test to better diagnose and treat depression

Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine have developed a new blood test to objectively assess mood disorders. This could make it possible to limit diagnostic errors and develop more targeted and therefore more effective treatments.

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A blood test for more targeted treatment
Blood tests are sometimes used alongside clinical evaluations, especially to check that symptoms of depression are not due to other factors. But they are never used to diagnose the disease itself.

However, in their study, the researchers identified 26 blood biomarkers linked in a variable way to the incidence of mood disorders, in particular depression, bipolar disorder and manic disorder. A discovery that paves the way for a more reliable diagnostic method according to psychiatrist and neuroscientist Alexander B. Niculescu, who led the study: “Blood biomarkers are emerging as important tools in disorders where self- subjective assessment of an individual or the clinical impression of a healthcare professional are not always reliable, ”he says.

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The results suggest, for example, that pindolol, ciprofibrate, pioglitazone and adiphenin, as well as two natural compounds, asiaticoside and chlorogenic acid, could be effective antidepressants - the last three had already been identified. in the team's previous research on suicide risk.

Finally, among the main biomarkers linked to mood disorders, the researchers identified eight that are involved in the functioning of the circadian cycle, which could potentially provide a molecular-level explanation for the links between conditions such as depression. and sleep disorders observed in parallel. "This explains why some cases worsen with the seasonal changes and alterations in sleep that accompany mood disturbances," says Niculescu.

For the specialist, it is essential to "modernize" psychiatry to improve the quality of life of patients, and even save lives. "The existing methods that physicians have evaluated for diagnosing depression and other mood disorders are insufficient, they lag behind the types of objective testing systems that are common in other medical specialties," he said. 'team. The blood test they have developed is only at the proof of concept stage, but the researchers hope their results will convince the psychiatric community that precision medicine has a place in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. depression.



Source suite: https://trustmyscience.com/test-sanguin ... epression/

ps: would there be candidates here?

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

You?

[Janic]

whatever the analyzes, they only measure the effects of "mainly external" causes. The danger is to tackle the effects with additional drugs which will return the patient to his initial state in the event of cessation of the drugs. diabetes for example!

[Christophe]

You?

Yes my body - and my mind - for Science !!

No kidding, I was mainly thinking about the other 2 symptoms "bipolar disorder and manic disorder" ... Because there are a few cases on this forum !!

[Obamot]

And in any way, would this “new” diagnostic method make it possible to know how to intervene on the causes?

They say so, they offer to treat the effects by offering molecules.

And we can see it in psychiatry, that it often does nothing other than to aggravate the problem! The molecules being offered to the patients - not only for the therapeutic effects which they provide, but by the fact that having molecules, the patients are confronted with the choice "of their desire to take care of themselves ”VS not to do it deliberately”- what can this get them more than pushing them to suicide or making their condition worse? While they especially have a great need for comfort and to develop their confidence! It is therefore better to move away from “idiots”.

Moreover, finding the markers is very nice, but if you have these markers, that does not mean that you are depressed!

Is this means of detecting specific markers of “depressive state” credible ?, It is certain that it is, but we should know what to do with it (if not for tackling the real causes, it's not worth it), and one would have to be really naive to believe that it cannot be detected otherwise: almost all comorbid states give clues to an underlying depressive state or installed, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, There is also a problem linked to the assimilation of sugar (the depressive grants himself rewards by compensating for the food, the yoyo effect of successive repeated sugar shoots, passing from the hyper-excitement brought by the sugar, followed by the insulin shoot to reduce it, followed by a loss of tone and the feeling of lack - with a feeling, again not far from the depressive state - then the new shoot expected to regain energy “to go up the slope” and so on, is one of the physiological explanationsthe mechanism: treating the cause in this case is to drastically lower your consumption of carbohydrates.) The case of diabetes mentioned by Janic, but basically> 80% of pathologies.