Does Biology Transcend the Symptom-based Boundaries of Psychosis?

Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2016 Jun;39(2):165-74. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2016.01.001. Epub 2016 Feb 28.

Abstract

Psychotic disorders, as defined by clinical features alone, overlap considerably in terms of symptoms, familial patterns, risk genes, outcome, and treatment response. As a result, numerous neurobiological measurements fail to distinguish patients with the most prevalent classic psychotic syndromes. Statistical methods applied to such biological measurements in large numbers of patients with psychosis yield novel categories that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries. Such new classification approaches within psychosis hopefully represent an opportunity to transcend clinical phenomenologically defined syndromes in psychiatry with neurobiologically defined diseases that can advance drug discovery and support precision medicine approaches in psychiatry.

Keywords: Biotype; Bipolar; Neurobiology; Psychosis; Reclassification; Schizoaffective; Schizophrenia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Endophenotypes*
  • Humans
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • Psychotic Disorders / classification*
  • Psychotic Disorders / diagnosis*