Monday, November 29, 2004

Schizophrenia Treatment Should Focus On Recovery, Not Just Symptoms
Psychiatric News story - "Psychiatry has overemphasized pharmacotherapy of symptoms and underutilized proven psychosocial treatments, while paying little attention to the substantial medical complications confronting patients with schizophrenia, says one expert. Functional outcome, not merely symptom relief, should be the clinical focus in the treatment of schizophrenia, said Stephen Marder, M.D., in an address titled 'Recovery in Schizophrenia' at last month's Institute on Psychiatric Services in Atlanta. Marder called for a new focus by psychiatrists on the physical health of patients with schizophrenia and incorporation of the broad range of proven psychosocial treatments. He also called for a new research agenda aimed at developing drugs to treat cognitive deficits—the feature of schizophrenia most strongly associated with functional outcome..."  
  

Research suggests scan may detect bipolar disorder
Duluth News Tribune story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness affecting about 2.3 million Americans, yet it can be difficult for doctors to diagnose. That may soon change, thanks to groundbreaking research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Using a high-powered magnetic resonance scanner, researchers have found that patients with bipolar disorder produce significantly different brain scans than patients without the disorder. ... Researchers hope the specialized scanning can help identify 'metabolic markers of the disease'."