Science

Schizophrenia as whole-body disorder – the 100-year-old idea only now being proven

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New research suggesting schizophrenia could be a whole-body disorder recalls 100-year old ideas from early German psychiatrists 
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Emil Kraepelin in the year of death, 1926
Public Domain
New research suggesting schizophrenia could be a whole-body disorder recalls 100-year old ideas from early German psychiatrists 
Public Domain

A study from researchers at King's College London is suggesting that schizophrenia is not just a disorder of the mind but is also associated with defined physiological changes across the whole body. The study hypothesizes that these physical symptoms are not secondary effects of the illness but, in fact, indications that schizophrenia is a whole-body disorder.

For some time, scientists have observed strong associations between schizophrenia and poor physical health. Those diagnosed with the condition tend to have significantly reduced life expectancies, dying up to 20 years earlier due to a variety of issues, including heart disease, diabetes and suicide.

It has generally been considered that these secondary health factors were the result of the mental health issues. Poverty, homelessness, smoking, and a variety of social problems, are all common factors often seen in those with schizophrenia, and considered to be primarily what leads to reduced physical health and a shorter life expectancy.

But there is a growing body of evidence that suggests these bodily alterations associated with schizophrenia may not be secondary effects but rather they are fundamental symptoms of the illness.

A new paper, from a team of researchers at King's College London, collected case-study data from 165 different studies to examine the physiological states of subjects at the point they were first diagnosed with the onset of schizophrenia. The hypothesis being that if many of these physiological effects are considered social byproducts of the condition then they shouldn't be significantly apparent at the early stages of the illness.

"We pooled data from multiple studies, examining markers of inflammation, hormone levels and heart disease risk factors, including glucose and cholesterol levels," explains Toby Pillinger, a researcher on the project. "We also pooled data from studies examining brain structure, levels of different chemicals within the brain, and markers of brain activity."

From a sample size of over 13,000 subjects, the analysis concluded that there are robust physiological alterations that can be identified at the point of what the researchers term, "first-episode psychosis." These included alterations in both cardiometabolic and immune parameters compared with a healthy control group.

The "whole body madness" prognosis

The idea that schizophrenia could be a whole-body condition is not a new one. Despite it being labeled an illness of the mind for much of the 20th century, over 100 years ago an influential German psychiatrist named Emil Kraepelin was convinced it was in fact a broader systemic condition, a "whole body madness."

Emil Kraepelin in the year of death, 1926
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In the late 19th century, the condition we currently call schizophrenia was termed "dementia praecox." Across multiple editions of Kraepelin's landmark scientific psychiatric manual Psychiatrie he comprehensively categorized the condition of dementia praecox. In his later years Kraepelin became obsessed with the idea that the condition was not a disease of the brain but actually a broader metabolic disease that affected the entire body, organs and all. Kraepelin also considered the psychological effects of conditions like dementia praecox to be symptoms of this broader disease, suggesting in 1919 that in the future we will find traces of the disease in the blood.

"The careful study of the processes of metabolism and blood chemistry will provide us with important clues to the characterization and delineation of natural disease groups," wrote Kraepelin, almost 100 years ago.

As the field of psychiatry progressed in the 1920s with Freud and Jung's theories taking hold, Kraepelin's work slipped into obscurity. His views on the physiological underpinnings of mental health disorders were overtaken by more modern psychoanalytic interpretations. The term schizophrenia slowly took hold as the dominant descriptor for the condition.

Before Kraepelin died in 1926 a colleague reported he was openly intolerant of Freud and Jung, and obsessed with the growing scientific field of serology, the close diagnostic analysis of blood. A century later, Kraepelin's ideas are now proving compellingly prescient as research is beginning to reveal that schizophrenia does indeed have broader bodily biomarkers that can be identified.

A study published in 2014 found that patients suffering from their first psychotic episode displayed significantly elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in their blood. As well as suggesting schizophrenia can be associated with immune system dysregulation, it noted this could be a potential blood-based biomarker to track the illness.

In fact, several studies are now starting to find connections between mental illness and inflammation, giving weight to hypotheses these conditions previously considered psychological may have strong physiological roots. A 2015 study found a correlation between depression and neuroinflammation, while a more recent study found a fascinating link between inflammation in the brain and suicidal thoughts.

But are these physical symptoms causes or consequences? It is here that more research needs to be done, and Toby Pillinger suggests three potential hypotheses that could account for these growing associations between brain and body effects in schizophrenia.

The condition could begin in the brain, and the physical disorders stem from these fundamental neurological alterations. Pillinger points to the way stress can elevate levels of cortisol in the body which subsequently results in a variety of negative physical effects as an example of this action.

Another possibility follows Kraepelin's ideas – the dysfunction originates in the body and that leads to deficits in the brain. New evidence associating gut bacteria with several psychological conditions such as depression and PTSD could suggest the origins of some mental health disorders may lie outside of the brain.

The final possibility suggested by Pillinger is that these brain and body symptoms are the result of a separate common risk factor. As an example, Pillinger refers to the hypothetical scenario of a pregnant mother suffering through a famine. This malnutrition results in a variety of systemic developmental dysfunctions for her child that both affect the infant's ultimate body and brain.

Despite being floated over a century ago, these ideas suggesting broader metabolic explanations behind mental health disorders are only just now being effectively scientifically investigated. Dramatic progressions in research technology and diagnostic techniques over the past few decades are allowing scientists to unlock new physiological associations between the body and brain. Hopefully this pioneering research will lead to the development of more effective treatments for the conditions that humanity has been struggling to define for centuries.

The new study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Source: The Conversation

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6 comments
highlandboy
For too long the role of diet (and as a result gut biome) has been ignored with mental health. For example we have known that the amino-acid tryptophan was essential for the production of serotonin and melotonin. Yet while increasing tryptophan increases the availability of serotonin, doctors still prescribe Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SRI) without checking the dietary intake of this amino acid. I suppose it is easier to prescribe a drug than to monitor dietary change.
Martin Winlow
Sounds a bit like the work being done by Dr Bessel van der Kolk ( https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/a-revolutionary-approach-to-treating-ptsd.html ).
Nik
Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SRI) are ''bad news''! Nobody has ever been cured of anything with so called ''psychiatric drugs.'' They are not designed for that, they are designed to make a person dependent upon them. (So lots of income for the drug makers.) How they function is to block mono-amine-octase, [mao] [which normally deletes excess serotonin,] this then gives the recipient a boost of serotonin, and a temporary ''feel good'' effect. The body then compensates for that by increasing mao, so when, or if, the drug is stopped, virtually ALL the persons serotonin is wiped out, with catastrophic results on that persons physical and mental health! ''You are what you eat,'' so I'm convinced that a lot of so called psychiatric disorders can be attributed to dietary deficiencies, or excesses, whether caused by the subjects diet, or by digestion deficiencies. They may also be partly due to unusual allergic effects. If the effects of natural drugs are considered, opium, etc. then an unusual reaction to 'normal' substances in a persons diet, is not beyond reason. I speak from personal hard experience. 25 years ago I was given a drug to help me sleep during particularly stressful period of my life. In my ignorance, I took it on trust, but it was amitriptyline, an SRI and the long term effects, long after I had stopped the drug, eventually gave me constant anxiety, panic attacks, vertigo, depression, mental aberrations, and suicidal thoughts, as I'd experienced all the aches and pains of Flu, not for weeks, or months, but YEARS, from serotonin and consequently dopamine deficiency! By that time, the internet was available, and after researching my problems, I cured myself with herbal products, and dietary supplements, which are less brutal than pharmacy chemicals, in order to re-balance my serotonin levels. [St. Johns Wort, and 5HTP mainly.] So, that Emil Kraepelin was correct, with his theories is undeniable. My ex wife had polio attributed to 'mental withdrawal' when she was a child, so suffered significantly more disability than she should have, due to correct treatment being delayed. So much for psychiatry!
neon-yellow
Because doctors are not omniscient, they reserve certain diagnoses for illnesses that they cannot esteem a proper cause for.
Treatment nonetheless follows from clinical research rather than wacky ideas.
So, a most likely explanation for schizophrenia may be in trying to do something that it's not humanly possible to do, something as simple as trying to track tunnels.
For an excellent example for show & tell, I came across this post today:
https://disqus.com/home/discussion/pcmag/elon_musk_to_offer_free_rides_down_his_boring_tunnel/#comment-3896146437
You may absorb the point from my conclusion, that if you are not going to be near a tunnel and one isn't near & dear, then there is not going to be any contact with this concept of such subterranean stability.
"When sources of stability are not valid local or otherwise practically viable references, mind can only be challenged accordingly."
Saigvre
Nice re-take of Toby Pillinger at The Conversation with way superior graphics! It's easy from those to ponder (a DBZ scene where Goku is) asking the universe for its T&Cs on borrowing power and getting great worries as an answer. We want the wonder of il. 3 (by Craig Finn) without the interleukin, digestive and worry freakouts of game sammiches for lunch.
(Nature) Molecular Psychology isn't even by LWW, neat! Let us know about the notorious RNG that draws these things someday, Rich?
Robert Schreib
Dear Sirs, If this horrible disease stem from a brain inflammation, then could a massive injection of a broad spectrum antibiotic drug like Interferon stop the Schizophrenia disease in its tracks?