MRI & genetic testing for diagnosis of mental health.

[cpdl4485]

I have a question related to information widely published on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) testing, and its new data to predict and be used as a form of diagnosis for mental health illnesses.

I have wanted to conduct these tests, and consulted with my family doctor, only to be told they take time to accomplish after waiting on a waitlist, and then have been told by other doctors, it does not matter at all, and things are at a microscopic level.

If this is true, and there is no means of diagnosis, can you be misdiagnosed?

My other quetion has todo with Genetic testing for medication suited to a individuals specific person, does this work or is it a waste of money?

Thank you in advance for a professional that can answer any of these questions, or others that have also heard about this topic. (just of the top of my head, the nearest article is from Yale Scientific).

[specialmom]

Well, I think they are working on the sophistication of these types of tests.  My son had them done with regards to medication. People pay big money for this testing and it was part of our inpatient psychiatric hospital stay for my husband. When I got the report, I was like . . . ya.  For us, it revealed nothing.  They tell if meds are metabolized.  My son metabolizes everything. Does NOT mean that he tolerates the medication as he tried one on the list and it was a huge NO go with massive activation, insomnia for 48 straight hours. The report said he'd do as well on it as any other med.  In terms of diagnosing, it seems the answer to if genetic testing can determine your diagnosis? Currently, the answer is no.  Here's a good article about that. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/looking-at-my-genes   I do think an MRI can show your brain and abnormalities and those with mental health issues can have a different looking MRI. But interpreting diagnosis from it is not really done.  Usually, symptoms are taken, questionnaires, observation.  My son as been through a lot of assessments.  Do I feel his diagnosis is accurate, yes.  

[Paxiled]

An MRI can show brain abnormalities, but as Mom says, mental illness isn't a brain abnormality.  Nobody actually knows what causes mental illness so far.  If you get an MRI and it shows a brain abnormality that is significant, that's a physiological problem, not a mental illness, and the treatment would be based on whether it showed cancer or whatever.  There is no evidence that is believed at this point that the brain shows deterioration after 5-10 years from mental illness.  Deterioration where?  For example, anxiety is thought at this point in time to come from the amygdyla, but it's in the primitive brain and is therefore very hard to crack the code of.  An MRI wouldn't show anything about that, and the theory may prove to be as incorrect as all the other ones have so far.  To know deterioration was from mental illness, you'd have to know where to look, what it would look like, what it looked like before you got mental illness, and how long you had mental illness, none of which an MRI knows anything about.  My view of this after decades of suffering is that researchers are very busy trying to figure mental illness out but the brain is way too complicated so far for them to figure out.  The diagnosis is still going to be based on what you tell your psychologist or psychiatrist is going on with you.  Now, there are a lot of disease states that do cause symptoms that look like mental illness, such as blood sugar, thyroid, nutritional deficiencies, etc. but none of those show on an MRI, which shows soft tissue.  When docs look at a portion of the brain, they are usually looking for activity that seems to go up or down when you have certain thoughts or actions.  They don't show whether that's a cause of the problem or an effect of the problem.  In the end, you can get all the tests in the world, but for the most part they are given to make money and do research while treatment ends up where it has always been, here, try this and see if it works and if it doesn't, try this instead and see if that works.  Peace.

[Paxiled]

I think you believe there are professionals on this website, and that's not true, we are all just folks with either an interest or experience with specific problems.  Many years ago there were medical professionals also on here but no longer.  I will say, though, that if you are talking about mental illness, I don't think you're going to get an answer to your question.  Over the many years I have fighting with mental illness there have been a great many claims that diagnostic testing can determine what medication would be best for a particular person or what neurotransmitter receptors are misbehaving, but none of them has proven to be more than a way of making money for a small number of clinicians.  In the end, when it comes to actual treatment, it's still all trial and error.  Diagnosis is still done based on the patient reporting symptoms, which demands the practitioner believe the person is actually reporting what's happening without doing any independent investigation, such as going to the person's home and interviewing friends and family to see if the patient is actually manifesting what he says he is.  That would be much more objective, but it isn't done by anyone.  Nobody knows if mental illness is genetic or not, as no family has everyone in it having the same mental disorder.  So why one person and not his siblings?  Nobody knows.  Again, all trial and error.  Peace.

[cpdl4485]

Yes, but talking about MRI's, there's evidence after 5 -10 years, the brain can show deterioration from mental illness, also. scientists now have evidence that some mental illness is part of the same portion of the brain, that can also be seen in scans.