Mental illnesses, biochemical cause

Rose SPR (1973). What do you mean The cause of schizophrenia In LL Iversen and SPR Rose (eds), Biochemistry and Mental Illness (pp. 219-220). Biochemical Society, London. 

Disorders of the brain affect a very large number of people. It is estimated that about one in five women and one in seven men in the UK suffer from mental illness. The biochemical causes include the following ... 

The family history was significant for a maternal uncle, who had died at the age of 18 years from sepsis and who was reported to have bronze skin, both of which presumably resulted from unrecognized adrenal insufficiency, and for another maternal uncle, who had been diagnosed with mental illness and was living in an adult residence. In addition, the 70-year-old maternal grandmother had been confined to a wheelchair for almost 15 years due to weakness, the cause of which had not been previously identified. Biochemical studies to detemine VLCFA ratios confirmed the carrier status of the patient s mother and revealed that his only sibling, a 9-year-old brother, had the biochemical defect.Two of his three maternal aunts also were found to be carriers of X-ALD, one of whom was found to have an affected 1-year-old son. 

I want to reemphasize that drug-induced disturbances in mood or in behavior should be viewed as genuine neurological disorders rather than as vague mental illnesses. The capacity of speculative biochemical imbalances or genetic factors to cause or contribute to mania or depression remains unproven. Nor do we know the specific biochemical or neurological mechanisms whereby psychoactive substances cause mental disturbances. But the capacity for psychoactive substances to disrupt brain function and hence mental function is beyond dispute. Furthermore, a great deal of empirical data confirm their capacity to cause disinhibition, mania, depression, and other mental phenomena associated with violence toward oneself and others, as well as other destructive behaviors. 

Neurotransmitters are not only chemical messengers for the nervous system, they may also be partly responsible for our moods. A simplified biochemical theory of mental illness is based on two amines found in the brain. The first is norepinephrine (NE). When an excess of norepinephrine is formed in the brain, the result is a feeUng of elation. Extreme excesses of NE can even induce a maific state, while low NE levels may be a cause of depression. 

The last 20 years have seen severe mental illness treated far better by medication than by psychological treatment many otherwise hopeless cases have been able to return to their homes, and to employment, on maintenance doses of new drugs. More and more, biochemical research on mental illness is suggesting that many cases are caused by purely biochemical changes in the central nervous system (schizophrenia by over-methylation, for example). Hence the hope for more specific drug-based treatments is very bright. 

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