Childhood-onset schizophrenia remains a mystery

A study at the National Institute of Mental Health that has already spanned 18 years may yield crucial answers to the rare disorder.

So rare is the child form of schizophrenia, it has taken researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health 18 years to diagnosis and collect data on 110 children.

"We are trying to understand schizophrenia in a comprehensive way," says Dr. Nitin Gogtay, a researcher involved with the project in Bethesda, Md. "We see the illness in a very pure form. At that age, there are no confounding factors, like alcohol or drug abuse. We feel a lot of answers will come out of this study."

The study, the largest of its kind worldwide, has already yielded clues about the disease -- the most severe mental illness. Although schizophrenia afflicts about 1% of adults, it occurs in about one of every 30,000 to 50,000 children 13 and under. The causes of the disease are a mystery, although genes are known to play a role. In young children, a brain injury at or near the time of birth may contribute to its onset.

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Imaging Identifies Brain Regions and Chemicals Underlying Mood Disorders; May Lead to Better Treatments

Recently developed imaging techniques allow the mapping of the brain circuits and chemical systems believed responsible for a range of mood abnormalities including depression and bipolar disorder, and hold promise for improved treatments, scientists say.

They spoke today at a press conference involving presenters from symposia sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health ( NIMH ), a part of the National Institutes of Health, during the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting here.

"These studies contribute new information about how the brain malfunctions in depression and bipolar disorder, what goes wrong with brain chemicals, and where in the brain the problems arise," says Ellen Leibenluft, MD, of NIMH. "We find that the brain systems involved and the exact nature of the difficulties, differs among patients, even when those patients have similar symptoms. Eventually, data like these will allow us to develop more individualized and targeted treatments for these illnesses."

Charting Brain Systems for Major Depression
Major depressive disorder ( MDD ) is an illness with high prevalence in the population, yet its underlying biological mechanisms are complex, with genetic and environmental factors influencing each other and leading to varying levels of vulnerability and resiliency.

New studies of two brain chemical systems thought to be involved in the modulation and response to stressful events finds that both are altered in untreated patients with MDD. "Dysregulation of these systems is present in patients diagnosed with MDD and we are studying their relationship with specific characteristics of the illness, such as severity and treatment response," says Jon-Kar Zubieta, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan.

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Brain scans 'may detect OCD risk'

Brain scans may be able to reveal which people are at genetic risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers say.

Individuals with OCD and their close relatives have distinctive patterns in their brain structure, a team at Cambridge University found.

The genes responsible remain unknown, but it appears they change the brain's anatomy, which may aid diagnosis.

The study is published in the latest edition of the journal Brain.

OCD is an anxiety disorder in which the person is compelled by irrational fears and thoughts to repeat seemingly needless actions over and over again.

It can manifest itself in repetitive behaviours, such as excessive hand washing, cleaning or repeated checking, affects 2%-3% of the population and is known to run in families.

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