Bipolar And Schizophrenics Have Less Grey Matter
According to a recent study from the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid and the Network of Centres for Biomedical Research in Mental Health Networks (CIBERSAM), adolescents with schizophrenia or Type 1 bipolar disorder have less grey matter in their brains than do people without these mental illnesses.
Grey matter (which is literally grey) is the area of tightly packed varities of nerve cells and recptors cells that are thought to be responsible for a lot of bodily functions, including memory, senosry perceptions and emotions. Considering that people with bipolar disorders are often plauged with short-term memory lapses, this finding may not be much of a surprise.
Study Specs
The study looked at 121 kids aged 7 - 18, but did not specify how many had schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic depression) or were acting as controls. The had MRIs to find any differences in their brains and –wala — something was found.
(Unfortunately, I could not find just how much of a difference in grey matter there is. Sorry.)
So, What Does This Mean?
It is not known why the adolecents with Type 1 bipolar disorder or schizophrenia had less grey matter. It’s also not known if the illness causes the lack of growth in grey matter, or if the lack of grey matter is the cause of the mental illnesses.
It’s hoped that this study can help make diagnosing schizophrenia or Type 1 bipolar disorder easier. For example, the National Insititue of Mental Health reports that 5.7 million Americans are bipolar, but it’s thought that there are many millions more who are misdiagnosed or do not go to a doctor for treatment.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:35 am
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