Schizophrenia —- The name itself increases heartbeat of many individuals. A mental condition that has severe effects on the physical and mental well-being of an individual leading to disconnection from reality, including hallucinations and delusions. Since schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, antipsychotic medications were the only cornerstone of schizophrenia treatment even when its symptoms have subsided for the past few decades but recent advances have raised hopes of progress. One such development by a renowned psychiatrist in Delhi is the introduction of a new app that can track patients’ progress, ensure timely follow-up sessions and contact psychiatrists if necessary.
While the best psychiatrist for schizophrenia are presently prescribing a new combination drug called KarXT, developed by Karuna Therapeutics Inc., a United States-based biotech organisation that combines two different drugs, xanomeline and trospium chloride to treat schizophrenia patients. On the other hand, some psychiatrist in Delhi are prescribing the drug risperidone in form of injection instead of daily pills that has long been used for schizophrenia leading to faster results.
Latest Schizophrenia Research
Research studies on schizophrenia over the past 25 years offer insights into the illness’s causes, diagnosis, and treatment.
Schizophrenia Causes
The primary cause of schizophrenia has not yet been identified but researchers have identified several possible reasons behind this illness.
Genes: One area of research has revealed that genes play a major role in occurrence of schizophrenia in certain individuals. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) study of schizophrenia shows that certain differences in the boundaries of DNA structure raise risk of the disease in certain individuals.
Brain Connections: Another area of research shows that people with schizophrenia have lower levels of a protein found in the connections between neurons (special cells in the nervous system that send information to other cells) involved in planning compared to normal individuals.
Schizophrenia Diagnosis
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have revised their recommendations for how Psychiatrist in Delhi should diagnose schizophrenia. These suggestions include:
- No longer grouping schizophrenia into subtypes like paranoid schizophrenia.
- Putting less focus on certain symptoms and giving more importance to delusions and hallucinations.
- Putting more weightage on the duration (1-6 months) of the symptoms of this illness is noticed and trying to find out the other causes for this disease.
- Introduction of a rating system to measure both the mental and physical symptoms of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia Treatments
New avenues in the treatment of schizophrenia has been reached after years of research on this illness.
New Medications: Researchers have worked on a new generation of drugs that target other neurotransmitters apart from dopamine to ease problems with memory, thinking, and judgment, minimize side-effects of current drugs like heart rhythm problems and uncontrolled movement and negative symptoms of schizophrenia viz. reduced expression of emotion, social activity, and pleasure.
Targeted psychotherapy: Research in targeted psychotherapy shows that apart from treating overall mental health, this treatment focuses on specific schizophrenia symptoms like hearing things that aren’t really there (auditory hallucinations).
Brain Stimulation: Research on brain stimulation for schizophrenia treatment involves transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in which magnetic fields are used to stimulate nerve cells in the brain and deep brain stimulation (DBS) in which electric pulses are used to balance abnormal impulses or certain cells and chemicals without any surgery involved to place electrodes inside the brain.
According to best psychiatrist for schizophrenia, though traditional antipsychotics target dopamine receptors they have side effects. First-generation antipsychotics (FGAs), primarily work by blocking dopamine D2 receptors in the brain resulting in hallucinations and delusions. Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), also block D2 receptors plus serotonin receptors resulting in lack of motivation and reduced emotional expression. Emerging treatment approaches for schizophrenia suggest muscarinic receptor agonists that work by stimulating muscarinic receptors, a type of acetylcholine receptor in the brain reducing the illness. KarXT, an experimental combination of xanomeline and trospium, stimulates muscarinic receptors to help reduce symptoms of psychosis, including those related to dopamine overactivity. On a similar line, trace amine-associated receptor (TAAR) agonists recently prescribed by psychiatrist in Delhi work by modulating neurotransmission and also potentially addressing cognitive impairments, such as attention and memory deficits. Since its development and licensing, aripiprazole is the first third-generation antipsychotic to be approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and is prescribed by Psychiatrist in Delhi. Besides its usual therapeutic dose ranging from 10-15mg a day with a maximum dose of 30mg, aripiprazole is also available as a fast-acting injection for the rapid treatment of agitation with a dose usually given monthly from 300mg-400mg by best psychiatrist for schizophrenia. The side effect profile of aripiprazole is promising as there are no major changes in the function of bodily systems that require extremely close monitoring as with some previous generations drugs. Brexpiprazole, another drug belonging to the same family of aripiprazole and prescribed by best psychiatrist for schizophrenia works at the same line of dopamine and serotonin receptors in the brain and is very well tolerated with a low number of test subjects stopping treatment due to side effects. The most recent development in this emerging class of drugs is cariprazine that is broken down by the body into two very active drugs in their own right, one of which has an unusually long chemical life span, affecting significantly on the length of its helpful activity. Its quality of acting on the same receptors as the other two has an impact on its side impact profile and tolerability. Pharmacogenetics is a comparatively new field in the treatment of schizophrenia, explored by best psychiatrist for schizophrenia, aims to help better prescribe drugs by trying to predict which patients will do well on each type of drugs. This treatment can be broken down into two aspects: a drug’s targets and side effects and how a drug is broken down. Most drugs which act on the brain are broken down within the liver by the same family of proteins but the level of action of these chemicals can vary in individual patients thus affecting the dosage regime necessary to achieve therapeutic levels and here comes to role of pharmacogenetics in selecting a drug and dosage considering the level of its potential effect. Schizophrenia is a psychiatric condition that profoundly affects functioning and quality of life of an individual. Though available antipsychotics prescribed by psychiatrist in Delhi have improved outcomes for schrizophrenia patients, they have a range of troublesome side effects. The potential of emerging therapies with novel mechanisms of action (MOAs) are needed to be explored more for eradicating this disorder.
