Mental Health.
A Blood Test For Mental Illness.
Biomarkers and their potential to diagnose mental illnesses.
Alexander Niculescu and his colleagues at Indiana University’s School of Medicine have spent the last 20 years researching biological markers for mental illnesses.
”We have pioneered the area of precision medicine in psychiatry … To help it become like other contemporary fields such as oncology. …[and] to save and improve lives.” — Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD.
Niculescu and his team identified biomarkers that signify suicidal ideation, PTSD, other stress-related disorders, Alzheimer’s, and depression and mania in bipolar.
Biological markers for mental illnesses would improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, identify risks for prevention opportunities, and help tailor suitable treatments.
Blood tests may be taken when diagnosing mental illnesses to rule out diet and lifestyle influences or biological causes such as nutritional deficiencies, low blood sugar, high cholesterol, and dysfunction of the kidney, liver, or thyroid.
