Monday, February 18, 2008

Chemical Signature of Bipolar Disorder











Genetic research continues to explain mental illness.
Recent news of findings from the University of Cambridge in the UK and the National Institutes of Mental Health in the US found that people with Bipolar Disorder have a distinct chemical signature in their brain.

For those individuals who experience Bipolar Disorder, the origin appears to be in the balance of "excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters", which malfunction in sending signals to the brain. The study also explains why certain medications like Lithium and Depakote work by restoring the balance of these neurotransmitters.

The article is here in the journal of Molecular Psychiatry .

I think in time, mental illness will be renamed something like "Neurobiological Illness".

What do you think?