Inflammation in Psychiatry


Book Description

An innovative and integrative avenue toward understanding and treating mental health disorders Psychoimmunology is a rapidly maturing area of scientific endeavor that provides a compelling integrative link between the immune system and its response to stress and psychiatric illness. Stress initiates pathological changes by activating the immune and endocrine systems. Inflammation is at the core of the complex and interactive systems that both contribute to and result from psychopathology. Consequently, inflammation research advances our knowledge of the pathology of depression, schizophrenia, chronic fatigue syndrome, posttraumatic stress disorder and a host of co- morbid conditions, notably diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease. The possible mechanisms underlying the bidirectionality of co-morbid medical and psychiatric disorders can be viewed as a consequence of inflammatory changes. These emerging novel concepts illustrate how the knowledge of inflammation can enable meaningful integration of psychopathology with physical co- morbidity. The innovative articles in this volume highlight the intricate link between psychiatry and psychoimmunology and underscore the central role of inflammation in furthering our understanding of the pathophysiology underlying mental health and illness.




Inflammation-Associated Depression: Evidence, Mechanisms and Implications


Book Description

Inflammation has invaded the field of psychiatry. The finding that cytokines are elevated in various affective and psychotic disorders brings to the forefront the necessity of identifying the precise research domain criteria (RDoCs) that inflammation is responsible for. This task is certainly the most advanced in major depressive disorders. The reason is that a dearth of clinical and preclinical studies has demonstrated that inflammation can cause symptoms of depression and conversely, cytokine antagonists can attenuate symptoms of depression in medical and psychiatric patients with chronic low grade inflammation. Important knowledge has been gained on the symptom dimensions that inflammation is driving and the mechanisms of action of cytokines in the brain, providing new targets for drug research and development. The aim of the book “Inflammation-Associated Depression” is to present this field of research and its implications in a didactic and comprehensive manner to basic and clinical scientists, psychiatrists, physicians, and students at the graduate level.




Neuroinflammation and Schizophrenia


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive summary of the cutting edge scientific evidence regarding the role of immune system in the pathogenesis and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. It illustrates the role of inflammation and immunity in schizophrenia drawing on both basic science and clinical research. The chapters provide up-to-date summaries of immunological risk factors for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, and underlying mechanisms as informed by neuroimaging, genetic, clinical and animal experimental studies. In addition, the book will illuminate the scope for immunological treatment for schizophrenia.




The Inflamed Mind


Book Description

As seen on "CBS This Morning" Worldwide, depression will be the single biggest cause of disability in the next twenty years. But treatment for it has not changed much in the last three decades. In the world of psychiatry, time has apparently stood still...until now with Edward Bullmore's The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression. A Sunday Times (London) Top Ten Bestseller In this game-changing book, University of Cambridge professor of psychiatry Edward Bullmore reveals the breakthrough new science on the link between depression and inflammation of the body and brain. He explains how and why we now know that mental disorders can have their root cause in the immune system, and outlines a future revolution in which treatments could be specifically targeted to break the vicious cycles of stress, inflammation, and depression. The Inflamed Mind goes far beyond the clinic and the lab, representing a whole new way of looking at how mind, brain, and body all work together in a sometimes misguided effort to help us survive in a hostile world. It offers insights into how we could start getting to grips with depression and other mental disorders much more effectively in the future.




Inflammation and Immunity in Depression


Book Description

Inflammation and Immunity in Depression: Basic Science and Clinical Applications is the first book to move beyond the established theory of cytokine-induced depression and explore the broader role the immune system plays in this devastating mood disorder. The book fully explores the most recent lines of research into this rapidly advancing field, including alterations of T-cells, the neurobiological implications of neuroinflammation and immune alterations for brain development and function, and the genetic components of neuroinflammation in depression, including the relationships between stress and inflammation that are revealing gene-environment interactions in the disorder. Combining contributions from researchers worldwide, this book provides the most comprehensive discussion available today on the involvement of the innate immune and adaptive immune systems in depressive disorder. Chapters span neuroscience, psychology, clinical applications and future directions, making this book an invaluable resource for advanced students, researchers and practitioners who need to understand the complex and varied role of inflammation and immune responses in depression. - Synthesizes current knowledge of inflammation and immunity in depression, ranging from basic neuroscience research, to clinical applications in psychiatry - Expands on the long-established theory of cytokine-induced depression to discuss broader involvement of the immune system - Explores translational potential of targeting immune dysfunction for clinical interventions




Neurobiology of Brain Disorders


Book Description

Neurobiology of Brain Disorders is the first book directed primarily at basic scientists to offer a comprehensive overview of neurological and neuropsychiatric disease. This book links basic, translational, and clinical research, covering the genetic, developmental, molecular, and cellular mechanisms underlying all major categories of brain disorders. It offers students, postdoctoral fellows, and researchers in the diverse fields of neuroscience, neurobiology, neurology, and psychiatry the tools they need to obtain a basic background in the major neurological and psychiatric diseases, and to discern connections between basic research and these relevant clinical conditions. This book addresses developmental, autoimmune, central, and peripheral neurodegeneration; infectious diseases; and diseases of higher function. The final chapters deal with broader issues, including some of the ethical concerns raised by neuroscience and a discussion of health disparities. Included in each chapter is coverage of the clinical condition, diagnosis, treatment, underlying mechanisms, relevant basic and translational research, and key unanswered questions. Written and edited by a diverse team of international experts, Neurobiology of Brain Disorders is essential reading for anyone wishing to explore the basic science underlying neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. - Links basic, translational, and clinical research on disorders of the nervous system, creating a format for study that will accelerate disease prevention and treatment - Covers a vast array of neurological disorders, including ADHD, Down syndrome, autism, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, TBI, Parkinson, Huntington, Alzheimer, OCD, PTSD, schizophrenia, depression, and pain - Illustrated in full color - Each chapter provides in-text summary points, special feature boxes, and research questions - Provides an up-to-date synthesis of primary source material




Immuno-Psychiatry


Book Description

This book presents a thorough and critical review of current knowledge on the role of immunology in major psychiatric disorders and its potential applications. The opening chapters offer general information on the immune influence of the brain to provide readers with a better understanding of the end of immune privilege. The book then examines possible underlying mechanisms leading to psychiatric disorders, from early infections to pro-inflammatory markers, stress, and immune genetic background, linking etiology and psychiatry. The third section describes each disorder (ie autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression...) with an overview of underlying immune dysfunctions. Lastly, the authors discuss the innovative immune-therapies that may result from the discovery of immune system biomarkers and their associated mechanisms. A better understanding of the role of the immune system in psychiatric disorders makes it possible to identify stratification biomarkers, to explain underlying mechanisms, and to develop innovative, efficient, targeted treatment strategies and management. As such, the book is of value to clinicians, mental health professionals, mental health researchers, immunologists, industry practitioners, and various stakeholders in the mental health field.




Textbook of Immunopsychiatry


Book Description

The rapidly growing field of immunopsychiatry combines expertise and insights from immunology, psychiatry and neuroscience to understand the role of inflammation and other immune processes in causing and treating mental illness. This represents a major shift in mental health science, traditionally focused on psychological and neuronal mechanisms of depression, psychosis and dementia. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of recent, inter-disciplinary research linking disordered function of the immune system to the brain and mental illness. It offers a broad and deep perspective on the implications of immune system involvement in psychiatric disorders, including a balanced focus on basic science and clinical applications. Chapters cover the scientific evidence linking immune processes to major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and dementia. An invaluable guide for graduate students, doctors in training, scientific researchers and others interested in the link between the immune system and mental health.




Comorbidity of Mental and Physical Disorders


Book Description

This publication presents evidence about the magnitude and severe consequences of comorbidity of mental and physical illnesses from a personal and societal perspective. Leading experts address the huge burden of co-morbidity to the affected individual as well as the public health aspects, the costs to society and interaction with factors stemming from the context of socioeconomic developments. The authors discuss the clinical challenge of managing cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, infectious diseases and other physical illness when they occur with a range of mental and behavioral disorders, including substance abuse, eating disorders and anxiety. Also covered are the organization of health services, the training of different categories of health personnel and the multidisciplinary engagement necessary to prevent and manage comorbidity effectively. The book is essential reading for general practitioners, internists, public health specialists, psychiatrists, cardiologists, oncologists, medical educationalists and other health care professionals.




Pain in Psychiatric Disorders


Book Description

This book offers a series of authoritative reviews on pain in psychiatric disorders written by leading experts. They discuss the complex interplay between pain and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorder, as well as neurosteroids, epigenetic mechanisms and TRPV1, with a strong focus on neurobiological mechanisms and current and future therapeutic targets. Special attention is given to the importance of inflammation and the immune system as a common substrate in both pain and psychiatric disorders. The state-of-the-art reviews present both preclinical and clinical research, providing the reader with sound knowledge that provides a basis for further research and clinical practice. Pain in Psychiatric Disorders is of special interest to psychiatrists, neurologists, neuroscientists, pharmacologists and other healthcare professionals treating pain in psychiatric patients, as well as research students with an interest in this field.