WEDNESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) British researchers say they
have discovered a means of anticipating how people might behave
during a psychotic episode.
The study, by a team at the University of Cambridge, found that
patterns of normal brain activity may predispose individuals to
different psychosis symptoms.
The researchers compared the brain activity of 15 healthy
volunteers before and after they were given ketamine, a psychosis
drug that mimics schizophrenia symptoms.
Increased brain activity during some tasks in the normal state
predicted behaviors after the participants were given ketamine. For
example, those who showed more frontal and temporal brain activity
while imaging the sounds of voices in their normal state were more
likely to experience strange perceptions after taking ketamine.
In addition, volunteers who showed increased activity in these
brain regions while trying to complete simple sentences were more
likely to have disordered thoughts after they took the drug.
The temporal lobe is involved in speech, hearing and memory. The
frontal lobe is involved in planning, decision-making and
correcting and troubleshooting errors.
The findings show why schizophrenia symptoms vary widely and may
suggest new personalized diagnosis and treatment approaches, the
researchers said.
"Our findings may provide a vulnerability marker to predict
psychotic symptoms induced by drugs or disease. This perhaps raises
the prospect of early intervention strategies targeted toward
schizophrenia patients' individual patterns of symptom
vulnerability," study leader Dr. Paul Fletcher said in a prepared
statement.
The study is published in the June 18 issue of
The Journal of Neuroscience.
More information
Mental Health America has more about
schizophrenia.
