Misreading of Faces May be Risk Marker

"Youngsters with pediatric bipolar disorder and healthy peers who have first-degree relatives with bipolar disorder share the same difficulty labeling facial emotions, NIMH researchers have discovered. Reporting in the February 2008 online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the scientists suggest that the facial emotion recognition impairment might be part of an inherited predisposition to the illness.

Two related imaging studies traced face emotion labeling deficits in youngsters with pediatric bipolar disorder to weak connections and differences in activity of a brain circuit responsible for interpreting the meaning of social and emotional stimuli. Evidence suggested that the differences were stable traits, unrelated to effects of medications or mood states.

“Since we know more about the circuitry of basic processes like facial emotion processing than we do about the circuitry of complex psychiatric symptoms like mania and depression, it serves as a kind of Rosetta Stone for unearthing new clues,” explained Ellen Leibenluft, M.D., chief of the intramural NIMH Section on Bipolar Spectrum Disorders, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, which is conducting the studies.

Understanding such specific vulnerabilities in emotional processing may someday lead to improved treatment, diagnosis, and ultimately prevention of bipolar disorder in children, say the researchers."

Read the rest of the article here.

Let's Go To The Movies

I have given some thought to how the mentally ill are portrayed in films. Mostly it's awful - another way in which our National Stigma Institute continues to pump out vitriol to support discrimination against a biological disease. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" comes immediately to mind. Or "Psycho."

But a few films stand out in my mind as sympathetic. A few actually manage to shed a little light into the corners - educating as well as entertaining. So I thought I'd like to share some of my favorites:

A Beautiful Mind - Probably the most powerful look at the functioning life of a paranoid schizophrenic that you'll find. Furthermore it addresses the issues of what constitutes recovery. Russell Crowe was brilliant...

Reign Over Me - This look at Post Traumatic Stress is genuine and sympathetic and Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle are wonderful.

Mr. Jones - Richard Gere stars in a very real portrayal of Bipolar Disorder. Points off for romantic involvement with his doctor, but still really good.

As Good As It Gets - Jack Nicholson (who usually just plays himself) portrays a rather crusty case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in this delightful film. It's all about acceptance, folks.

Off the Map - This one is a little out there, but it shows an intimate portrait of clinical depression even if the characters are... shall we say... different. Starring Sam Elliot and Joan Allen as a couple living a minimalist lifestyle with a precocious daughter and a confused IRS agent in the mix. I found this film realistic in it's interpretation of depression and its impact both on the sufferer and those around him. It's a little bit of a fairy tale, but I enjoyed it.

I'll try to think of more.

Famous Faces of Mental Illness

"For many years, Margaret Trudeau thought her up and down moods were just part of her life. After all, her story resembled a movie script. She won the heart of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau while vacationing as a teenager with her family in Tahiti, and at the age of 22, became the youngest First Lady in Canadian history.

She was one of the world's most glamorous and scrutinized women in the '70s, an A List celebrity as capable of attracting headlines as Princess Diana.

"I thought my life was just taking me high and low," she says. "I had been given so many rich opportunities in my life."

In 2001, Trudeau ended years of denial and checked herself into an Ottawa hospital where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Five years later, when she felt her recovery was as complete as it needed to be, Trudeau announced at a hospital fund-raiser she had been struggling with bipolar for years, and had been misdiagnosed for decades.

Consider this the latest chapter of Trudeau's remarkable life: She's an eloquent and compelling advocate for people with a mental illness, in particular those living with bipolar. Instead of running from reality, she flies across North America to discuss that reality with eager audiences. Now she uses her celebrity (celebrity she says once used to be "infamy") to bring attention to world-wide causes.

"Bipolar is an exaggeration of your emotions, so when you do get knocked down by life -- which you will because everyone will be knocked down at some point -- it's very hard to bounce back. Some people can live with sorrow for awhile and get on with their lives. I didn't have that ability. I got very knocked down and it was very hard for me. What learned is that it's awfully hard to do it on your own.

"And that's my message: to reach out and get help."

Read the entire article by Charles Anzalone here.

Blood Tests for Brain Disorders?

According to an article for MSNBC by Steve Mitchell, we could be on the brink of genetic blood testing for mental illness.

"A blood test could be used to diagnose and assess the severity of certain mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, according to a new study. But some experts think this raises ethical concerns about prying into a person's mental status.

Lab tests that can accurately detect mental illnesses have long been considered the “Holy Grail” of psychiatry. Currently, bipolar disorder and other conditions such as depression are diagnosed based on the patient's description of their symptoms and the physician's judgment, sometimes making it difficult to get an accurate diagnosis or determine the severity of a patient's condition. But now researchers have shown that 10 genes that can be detected in the blood could provide a better way to assess a patient.

“Patients aren’t sure how ill they really are, and neither is the clinician — sometimes dismissing their symptoms, sometimes overestimating them,” said Dr. Alexander Niculescu, III, a psychiatrist at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, who led the research published Tuesday by the journal Molecular Psychiatry. “Having an objective test for disease state, disease severity, and especially to measure response to treatment, would be a big step forward.”

Read the rest of the article here.