Pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders: moving forward

Excerpt

Psychiatric syndromes are commonly categorised according to their key phenotypic features and clinical course rather than by underlying disease mechanisms. However, there is considerable overlap between schizophrenia (SCZ) and other adult-onset psychiatric disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and bipolar disorder (BIP) which has been postulated to be due to similarities in co-morbidity, epidemiology and treatment response to dopaminergic antagonists and serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The underlying pathophysiological basis of these disorders and the manner in which they are linked remains elusive and an improved understanding of these factors will be a first step in development of any disease modifying treatments. …