Diagnosis Weapons -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 57 million Americans suffer from a form of mental illness. About 6 percent of adults in the United States have a severely disabling mental disorder each year. Some of the more well-known mental health disorders include schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's, social phobia, panic disorder, anxiety disorder and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

HOW ARE THEY DIAGNOSED? In the United States, mental disorders are diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV). Basically, doctors diagnose patients by symptom clusters. Daniel Amen, M.D., medical director of the Amen Clinics in Newport Beach, Calif., says it's an outdated method. "We basically diagnose people like we did in 1840 when Lincoln got depressed," he told Ivanhoe. Researchers are still looking for reliable, objective ways to diagnose mental illnesses.

SEEING THE BRAIN: Dr. Amen is using a type of brain imaging known as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to help diagnose and monitor treatment for patients with mental illnesses. The imaging reveals areas of the brain that work well, areas of the brain that are low in activity and areas of the brain that are high in activity. "If your brain works too hard, you can have problems with anxiety and worry and obsession," Dr. Amen said. "The first thing I have to know is how does your individual brain work." He says he can then tailor treatment to patients and check again to see how well those treatments work. "The follow-up scans, I think, is the most exciting thing we do because we can demonstrate we're making a positive difference in the health of someone's brain," he said. According to Dr. Amen, lifestyle changes can contribute to a healthy brain.

A BLOOD TEST? Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are studying a new blood biomarker test that detects if somebody is ill. When the researchers drew blood from bipolar patients and recorded their mood levels, they looked for differences in gene expression. When they compared this to other data, they were able to identify 10 genes that predicted mood state. The test was up to 85 percent accurate at predicting a high mood (mania) and up to 77 percent accurate at predicting a low mood (depression). "We think that the blood test is useful once you've developed a disorder as a way of measuring how sick you are and whether you are responding to treatment or not," Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D., told Ivanhoe.