A new understanding of mental illness
Three key factors might offer 90% accuracy in predicting wide range of psychiatric disorders

Date:
December 8, 2021
Source:
McGill University
Summary:
The causes of psychiatric disorders are poorly understood. Now there
is evidence that a wide range of early onset psychiatric problems
(from depression, anxiety and addictions to dyslexia, bulimia,
and ADHD) may be largely due to the combination of just three
factors. The first is biological --i n the form of individual
variability in the brain's dopamine reward pathway. The second
is social -- and points to the important role of early childhood
neglect or abuse. And the third is psychological--and relates to
temperament, and particularly to tendencies toward impulsivity and
difficulty controlling emotions. These findings have implications
for understanding both the causes of a wide range of psychiatric
disorders and the features worth targeting in early intervention
efforts.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The causes of psychiatric disorders are poorly understood. Now, in
work led by researchers at McGill University, there is evidence that
a wide range of early onset psychiatric problems (from depression,
anxiety and addictions to dyslexia, bulimia, and ADHD) may be largely
due to the combination of just three factors. The first is biological --
in the form of individual variability in the brain's dopamine reward
pathway. The second is social -- and points to the important role of
early childhood neglect or abuse. And the third is psychological -- and
relates to temperament, and particularly to tendencies toward impulsivity
and difficulty controlling emotions. These findings have implications for understanding both the causes of a wide range of psychiatric disorders
and the features worth targeting in early intervention efforts.


========================================================================== "Until recently, it was thought that psychiatric disorders reflected
discrete disease entities, each with their own unique causes,"
says Marco Leyton, the senior author on a recent study published
in Neuropsychopharmacologyand a professor in McGill's Department
of Psychiatry and Senior Scientist at the Research Institute of the
McGill University Health Centre. "The present research upends this
idea, suggesting instead that most early onset disorders largely
reflect differential expressions of a small number of biological,
psychological and social factors." First study to combine three key
factors: temperament, trauma and dopamine Earlier research has suggested
that each of the three factors, in isolation, has at least modest effects
on the development of psychiatric disorders. In comparison, the authors
of this new study had the first ever opportunity to examine all three
factors together. Fifty-two young people, living in the Montreal or Quebec
City areas (30 women and 22 men), who have been followed since birth by
Jean Se'guin (Universite' de Montre'al) and Michel Boivin (Universite'
Laval), had brain imaging scans (PET and MRI) that measured features of
their dopamine reward pathway. These brain features were then combined
with information about their temperamental traits and histories of early
life adversity.

High accuracy & potential predictive value of approach Strikingly,
this combination of just three factors predicted, with over 90%
accuracy, which participants had mental health problems either in
the past or during the study's three-year follow-up period. Indeed,
since the results are so novel and potentially so important, CIHR has
provided an additional two million dollars to double the sample size
and follow the participants through to their mid-20s. "And the results
do need to be replicated, both in larger and ethnically more diverse
groups," emphasizes the paper's first author, Maisha Iqbal, a graduate
student in McGill's Integrated Program in Neuroscience. "If replicated,
our research could transform the way we think about mental illnesses." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by McGill_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Maisha Iqbal, Sylvia Maria Leonarda Cox, Natalia Jaworska,
Maria Tippler,
Natalie Castellanos-Ryan, Sophie Parent, Alain Dagher, Frank Vitaro,
Mara R. Brendgen, Michel Boivin, Robert O. Pihl, Sylvana M. Co^te',
Richard E.

Tremblay, Jean R. Se'guin, Marco Leyton. A three-factor model of
common early onset psychiatric disorders: temperament, adversity,
and dopamine.

Neuropsychopharmacology, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01187-z ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211208161121.htm

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