The scientists found an association between Bipolar Disorder and two genes which help make proteins that control the activity of nerve cells by managing the flow of sodium and calcium ions into and out of cells.
This research appears to walk hand in hand with another study of dead manic brains by the smart folks at The Imperial College London, Cambridge and the National Institutes of Mental Health in the US. They compared postmortem brain tissue samples of manics with normal brains. The samples came from the prefrontal cortex (the place where adult behavior springs from, but they call it higher cognitive functioning). "Surprise. Surprise Surprise..." as Gomer Pile used to say. Manic brains have different chemical concentrations than non manic brains.
Most of this research is aimed at finding new therapies, or explaining why old therapies like Lithium and valproic acid work.
But what you can take to heart from it is that the manic brain, well, it's manic. What studies like this also show up is that the medication does also make changes to the manic brain. We may not know why, but some of the stuff we do, helps.
What I believe you should take from this is an understanding that Manic Depression isn't just what happens the first time your Manic goes off the reservation with a full blown episode (DSM-IV diagnosis criteria for Bipolar I). Your Manic was born a manic and will always be a manic, but how they behave and what symptoms they may exhibit are as impacted by the environment as their genes and the "upset of the balance of different transmitters known as excitatory and inhibitory transmitters."
What it might also be useful to internalize is that there aren't any switches, there are just imbalances. Which might lead a rational person to suppose that Bipolar disorder actually results in a spectrum of behavior and impacts and that the neat little DSM-IV boxes are useful in coding insurance forms for reimbursement, but aren't necessarily guides to day to day navigation of a chronic, maddening and ultimately real disease of the brain.
"the neat little DSM-IV boxes are useful in coding insurance forms for reimbursement, but aren't necessarily guides to day to day navigation of a chronic, maddening and ultimately real disease of the brain."
ReplyDeleteI testify! It is so. Raising and waving both arms. Thank you for saying so.
The DSM is a language based on a small group of professionals' observations who have observed a small group of persons suffering from various (considering there are 6 billlion people in the world, from many cultures and rites.)
The DSM was originally meant to be a compendium of 'agreed upon' language not only to diagnose and confer with, but to be a universal language that codified symptoms into groups so hopefully all helping professionals, no matter where they lived, no matter their differences in training, would be on the same page... as per what used to be called Manic-Depression, both or one axial.
However, the quality of the observations in the DSM matters greatly. And for me personally over the 40 years I[ve practiced, seeing the pathologizing of differences in human beings becomng a part of DSM too over these last many decades, was reason to resist and try to educate others... particually regarding pathologizing, in my opinion, adolescent behavior, abused children and women, war veterans, and gay people... a politicization of 'symptoms' that did not arise from psychological pathology, but rather from genetics or from unliveable family circumstances, or traumatic experiences.
This and more has made many wonder what other politically skewed 'observations' might be present in the DSM too.
The latest involvement of American Psychological Assoc members in torture with the US military, has further damaged the idea that 'those at the top' are always the best presenters of acute and compassionate healing. In the participation of torture cases alone, it strains credulity to think a healer would ever participate in harm to others.... and with no outcry from their professional organizations, or a year too late.
In the area you speak about... In cases of differences in brain that can severely affect relationships, one's children, one's love of their life, one's work, one's ability to succeed at one's dreams... most often the family and loved ones who are in the trenches with whichever helping professionals who are truly knowing and who care about the loved one who suffers...they are the first-order observers, and the real truthtellers.
You are right. The day to day is where the rubber meets the road. And your blog comes into a bold time that did not exist even 20 years ago, wherein you can, today, bypass the 'gatekeepers' who used to say "Only what I say is so, and you have only anecdotal information and can therefor be dismissed."
It's a new day and I am glad you are here with your truthtelling and your writing.
Dr.E
themoderatevoice.com