Advances in Affective Disorder Research

Previously I have written many articles on schizophrenia. I have touched on some affective disorders as well. Excessive lactate has been reported in the cerebrospinal fluid of both schizophrenics and patients with bipolar disorder. This means that both diseases are likely to be disorders of brain energy metabolism. Excessive lactate is seen when this energy metabolism is not doing well. It suggests a mitochondrial problem.

This finding fits in well with Detroit theories published by Frohman, Gottlieb, and others at the Lafayette Clinic. They only studied schizophrenia and childhood schizophrenia.

It also fits with work done by Pitts & McClure published in the New England Journal of Medicine on panic disorder. It seems that intravenous lactate infusions can provoke panic attacks in patients with panic disorder.

Drugs

"Our review indicates that atypical antipsychotics can cause NMS even when prescribed in monotherapy." Khaldi S, Kornreich C, Choubani Z, Gourevitch R. (2008)

This quote is from a French report (#6). Unfortunately there is a terrible side effect of psychiatric drugs called "neuroleptic malignant syndrome". Unfortunately this side effect is not limited to neuroleptics.

Orthomolecular Treatments Have Good Side Effects

Orthomolecular doctors use vitamins, minerals, and sometimes omega-3-fatty acids as treatments. At one time tryptophan was tried as a treatment, but there were problems with it. People got sick from it, and it was taken off of the market. There have been tryptophan theories of depression and on schizophrenia. These tryptophan theories are discussed in my previous articles, and I will not repeat them here. See the references.

I believe in polyphenols including flavonoids. These same substances are thought to prevent cancer. Gary Stoner of Ohio State University fed black raspberries to rats. Then he injected them with potent carcinogens. The rats that ate the berries developed up to 80% fewer colon tumors than those that didn't. Human trials of berries are under way.

Broccoli, soy, ketchup, bran, and selenium have all been linked to cancer prevention. Linda Chio at the New York University Clinical Cancer Center tells people to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, avoid red meat, and stay slim. This is consistent with orthomolecular theory. Fat is considered a risk factor for cancer. See #22 for more information.

The book "Modern Nutrition in Health & Disease", a huge and expensive medical textbook, has been one of my sources. However, it has little information on mental health. One can find this book in medical libraries as a reference book. They won't let you take it out. The value of this book for our purposes is that it confirms the positive side effects of using nutrients. There are many editions of this text. I used the latest one, particularly the chapter on phytochemicals (plant substances).

Conclusions

A great deal of information on drugs is given in the references. The latest fashion is to use anticonvulsants (epilepsy drugs) for affective disorders. Included are gabapentin, depakote, etc. Affective disordes include hypochondria, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, bipolar disorder, hypochondria, depression, etc. Schizo-affective disorder is a hybrid between schizophrenia and affective disorder.

My view is that all of these disorders and schizophrenia are pretty much the same thing. This is a unifying hypothesis. They are all diabetes of the brain. Much as diabetes can be treated with diet, it should be possible to treat these diseases (call them Olson's disease) with diet. Diets are not a piece of cake. Some people have difficulty following diets. Otherwise the nutritionists would have less business!

More research is needed. Rational treatments are needed. Too many treatments are trial & error. Safe and cheap treatments are needed. The safest and cheapest ones I have seen are orthomolecular.

References

1.Neurochemical Alterations in Adolescent Bipolar Depression: A Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Pilot Study of the Prefrontal Cortex.

Patel NC, Cecil KM, Strakowski SM, Adler CM, Delbello MP.

J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2008 Dec;18(6):623-627.

2.Neuroanatomic Comparison of Bipolar Adolescents With and Without Cannabis Use Disorders.

Jarvis K, Delbello MP, Mills N, Elman I, Strakowski SM, Adler CM.

J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2008 Dec;18(6):557-563.

3.[Understanding the pathogenesis of mood affective disorders through the study of neural stem cell biology]

Hitoshi S.

Nihon Shinkei Seishin Yakurigaku Zasshi. 2008 Nov;28(5-6):189-94. Japanese.

4.Elevated Cerebrospinal Fluid Lactate Concentrations in Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia: Implications for the Mitochondrial Dysfunction Hypothesis.

Regenold WT, Phatak P, Marano CM, Sassan A, Conley RR, Kling MA.

Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Dec 20. [Epub ahead of print]

5.Brain glucose metabolism difference between bipolar and unipolar mood disorders in depressed and euthymic states.

Hosokawa T, Momose T, Kasai K.

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Dec 3.

6.[Neuroleptic malignant syndrome and atypical antipsychotics: A brief review.]

Khaldi S, Kornreich C, Choubani Z, Gourevitch R.

Encephale. 2008 Dec;34(6):618-24. Epub 2008 Apr 2.

7The Syndrome of Irreversible Lithium-Effectuated Neurotoxicity (SILENT): One-year follow-up of a single case.

Porto FH, Leite MA, Fontenelle LF, Marrocos RP, Szczerback NF, de Freitas MR.

J Neurol Sci. 2008 Nov 29.

8. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1292687/healing_schizophrenia.html

9. American Psychiatric Association. 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1825, Arlington, VA 22209-3901. (703) 907-7300. http://www.psych.org.

10. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). 730 N. Franklin Street, Suite 501, Chicago, IL 60610-7224. (800) 826-3632. http://www.ndmda.org.

11. Dr Ivan's Depression Central. Bipolar (Manic-Depressive) Disorder. http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.bipolar.html.

12. National Alliance on Mental Illness. Colonial Place Three, 2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201-3042. (703) 524-7600. http://www.nami.org.

13. "The bipolar bamboozle.(Questionable Medical Treatments)." Skeptical Inquirer, Sept-Oct 2008 v32 i5 p41(5). Science Resource Center. Gale. 26 December 2008 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docNum=A183859095

14. "Mania for treatment: are doctors rushing to judgement over childhood bipolar disorder?(Editorial)." New Scientist, May 19, 2007 v194 i2604 p3(1). Science Resource Center. Gale. 26 December 2008

15. "Young and moody or mentally ill? Doctors can't agree why so many American children are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.(This week: Bipolar disorder)." New Scientist, May 19, 2007 v194 i2604 p6(2). Science Resource Center. Gale. 26 December 2008 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docNum=A163802605

16. "Poles apart: there's a huge gap between the claims made for "mood stabilising" drugs and the evidence for their safety and effectiveness. So why are we now dishing them out even to young children, asks psychiatrist David Healy, who helped uncover the suicide risks associated with modern antidepressants." New Scientist, April 15, 2006 v190 i2547 p38(4). Science Resource Center. Gale. 26 December 2008 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docNum=A145024772

17.Review: paroxetine-induced increase in LDL cholesterol levels.

Le Melledo J, Mailo K, Lara N, Abadia M, Gil L, Van Ameringen M, Baker G, Perez-Parada J.

J Psychopharmacol. 2008 Dec 12.

18.Apparent seizure and atrial fibrillation associated with paliperidone.

Schneider RA, Lizer MH.

Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2008 Nov 15;65(22):2122-5.

19.Clozapine-induced cardiomyopathy presenting as panic attacks.

Sagar R, Berry N, Sadhu R, Mishra S, Kahn DA.

J Psychiatr Pract. 2008 May;14(3):182-5.

20.Emergence of electric shock-like sensations on escitalopram discontinuation.

Prakash O, Dhar V.

J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2008 Jun;28(3):359-60.

21. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1281818/the_biochemistry_of_mental_diseases.htm

22. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1282022/fight_diseases_with_food.html