Searching biomarkers for mental disorders—lessons from Alzheimer’s disease

Excerpt

A majority of biological psychiatrists are expressing the opinion that the detection, validation and clinical application of biomarkers for mental disorders and/or the underlying disease processes are of utmost importance for our field [5, 8]. The core argument is that biomarkers not only help to establish biologically based diagnoses, but also support the detection and development of drugs with innovative mechanisms of action, the monitoring of drug effects and of their prediction. Given the current emptiness of the therapeutic pipeline in psychiatry, as well as the limited treatment success in routine care for mental disorders, it is evident that biomarker detection holds a major promise for future progress—with the final goal to promote faster and more complete recovery in our patients. …