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.
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.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDL
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.
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.
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.
Am I incorrect that the method of treatment outlined under discussion is physiological at its base.
Isn't the correction of a inflammatory situation in the brain as an " organ" by an anti-inflammatory agent not a physiological approach?
Isn't the treatment of the mind by anti-psychotic agents to merely reduce or mask the symptoms but not having an effect on any route cause isn't it a far different treatment regime?
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Am I incorrect that the method of treatment outlined under discussion is physiological at its base.
Sure. And so are all of the chemical treatments currently being used. It isn't the fact that this is a chemical treatment that's interesting, but that the chemical is working in this way. The discovery was the result of treating people for infections in other parts of the body, not the brain.
Likewise, Alzheimer's Disease is considered a physiological problem, as is bi-polar disorder.
Location: Aylmer (Gatineau) across the river from Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDL
Am I incorrect that the method of treatment outlined under discussion is physiological at its base.
Isn't the correction of a inflammatory situation in the brain as an " organ" by an anti-inflammatory agent not a physiological approach?
Isn't the treatment of the mind by anti-psychotic agents to merely reduce or mask the symptoms but not having an effect on any route cause isn't it a far different treatment regime?
It is different in the sense that it is an anti-inflammatory effect that seems to be reducing the symptoms. All anti-psychotic drugs also work physiologically and not psychologically.
Psychology is not psychiatry. Psychiatrists treat schizophrenia not psychologists, psychiatrists prescribe drugs, psychologists don't, you are confusing the two.
Last edited by screature; Mar 2nd, 2012 at 04:34 PM.
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Location: Aylmer (Gatineau) across the river from Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDL
Is psychosis a psychological problem? Yes or no.
Is psychosis a physiological problem? Yes or no.
Psychosis is a physiological problem thus why a psychiatrist treats the condition and not a psychologist... Give it up BigDL you are wrong in your understanding.
Schizophrenia treatable with antibiotics?
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