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Schizophrenia treatable with antibiotics?

3K views 43 replies 9 participants last post by  DR Hannon 
#1 ·
Wow.

Scientists shocked to find antibiotics alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia



A cheap antibiotic normally prescribed to teenagers for acne is to be tested as a treatment to alleviate the symptoms of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia, in a trial that could advance scientific understanding of the causes of mental illness.

The National Institute for Health Research is funding a £1.9m trial of minocycline, which will begin recruiting patients in the UK next month. The research follows case reports from Japan in which the drug was prescribed to patients with schizophrenia who had infections and led to dramatic improvements in their psychotic symptoms.
(More on this story at the Independent UK)
 
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#2 ·
For a long time the medical community focused on the symptoms and not the cause.

The idea of suppressing the symptoms was the only answer looked for.

I wonder if other conditions besides depression and Alzheimer's disease such as Bipolar (Manic Depression) are physiological based (of a sick body) rather than than psychological (of a sick mind) and could be effectively treated by curing the body rather than suppressing the activity of the mind.

Very interesting and quite surprising.
 
#3 ·
The study is not suggesting that schizophrenia results form an infection but that the antibiotic reduces inflammatory processes in the brain which leads to the psychotic behavior and symptoms. It is still a matter of being a sick mind/brain, and is still about suppressing symptoms as it is only a treatment and not a cure.
 
#7 ·
Is psychosis a psychological problem? Yes or no.

Is psychosis a physiological problem? Yes or no.
 
#28 ·
I have endured mental illness for 60+ years.

I believe mental illness is physiological.

As a patient of "mental health" professionals for nearly 50 years, I've arrived at the unfortunate conclusion that they are all nuts.

I'm not sure where my "mental" is. Can anyone point it out to me? And why should it be treated as though it's not part of my body?

I suspect my mental problems are the result of a brain injury, either from being clobbered for disobedience or from a high fever.

When suicide is considered a side effect of some of the most popular "mental health" drugs, I applaud any effort to find the cause rather than masking the symptoms.
 
#34 ·
I have endured mental illness for 60+ years.

I believe mental illness is physiological.

As a patient of "mental health" professionals for nearly 50 years, I've arrived at the unfortunate conclusion that they are all nuts.

I'm not sure where my "mental" is. Can anyone point it out to me? And why should it be treated as though it's not part of my body?

I suspect my mental problems are the result of a brain injury, either from being clobbered for disobedience or from a high fever.

When suicide is considered a side effect of some of the most popular "mental health" drugs, I applaud any effort to find the cause rather than masking the symptoms.
It is most definitely is and why mental illness is treated by MDs i.e. psychiatrists, not psychologists.

The difficulty of course is in determining whether or not the behavioural/cognitive disorder's source is physiological (an illness) or one of an abnormality of thought processes without a physiological cause.

I completely agree that any treatment that has less side effects and greater efficacy can only be a good thing.
 
#35 ·
You tend to get really wound up over the semantics and miss what's really being talked about.

Yes of course, using drugs to treat a condition is physiological. It seems just about anyone going to see doctors for depression or any other problem ends up on some form of drug, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, anti something or other.

I think bigDL was merely trying to point to what seems to be a bit of a different approach, and he certainly wasn't the only one "argumentative. I tried to point out that I don't think anyone is an expert, we all have some opinions, many of us know well people who are(were) schizophrenic (may my close friend RIP), and plenty of anecdotes to assert we're smart, but now we're stuck in the mud of semantics, again.

Perhaps you can fire up your printer and print off a big gold certificate, that says, I, Screature of the earth, am right about the difference between Psychology, and Psychiatry.

And peace be on earth.
 
#36 ·
It is not a matter of semantics at all it is a matter of understanding facts. The whole thing started when BigDL implied that this treatment was new because it was treating mental illness as being physiological in nature and not psychological... the statement was completely wrong and I merely pointed the fact out and then proceeded to defend it because you and BigDL continued to refuted it.

As for a big gold certificate.... well ... "isn't that special".
 
#41 ·
Macfury, there is far more, than just sentence structure. There's conversation for starters. I know that sentence structure, grammar, etc is pretty much the end of things for you, but don't impose your world on others.

Generally, it's well known that when someone hangs onto spelling mistakes, grammar, semantics, etc., it's a done deal for conversation. As this thread proves. Once again.
 
#42 ·
Even on this, you're completely misunderstanding the difference between a) sentence structure, b) grammar and c) the definitions of the basic word and terms under discussion.

Conversation" isn't simply the happy exchange of random collections of denatured and interchangeable words and terms. Words and terms have specific meanings, and they are not what we happen to be feeling when we enter them into the keypad.
 
#44 ·
screature;1174767) I also applaud any treatments that are less debilitating than anti-psychotics said:
Did not intend to suggest otherwise. Just added the comment to get us back on track. Though that did not happen. Oh well.
 
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