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Chapter 9 - Bioactive and Inflammatory Markers in Emerging Psychotic Disorders

from Section 2 - Progress with Clinical Staging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2019

By
Gregor E. Berger
Edited by
Patrick D. McGorry  and
Ian B. Hickie
Patrick D. McGorry
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Ian B. Hickie
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Summary

Despite over a century of intensive research, no single biological marker has successfully translated into daily clinical practice. A key challenge in psychiatric research is that traditional diagnostic categories represent phenomenological constructs that do not necessarily circumscribe a biological homogenous entity, but encompass a whole range of disorders presenting with similar phenotypes. The clinical staging model shifts our focus to search for markers relevant to particular stages of mental disorders and provides a useful framework to differentiate overlapping and heterogeneous syndromes. The identification of such “stage” dependant markers may be more meaningful and of greater prognostic and therapeutic value than our quest for categorical disease markers. In this chapter, bioactive and inflammatory markers in emerging psychotic disorders are discussed. Their specific role in brain development, psychiatric disorder onset and management are reviewed. Implications for future research are also provided.

Keywords

clinical stagingmental disodersbiological markersbioactive lipidsinflammation

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Chapter
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Clinical Staging in Psychiatry
Making Diagnosis Work for Research and Treatment
 , pp. 191 - 203
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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