RESEARCH WEEKLY: Exciting Advances in the Mental Illness Research Field
By Kelli South
The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation hosted its Virtual International Mental Health Research Symposium last week, highlighting advances in mental health research over the past year. The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation was established in 1987 and has awarded over $430 million to fund unique research in the neuroscience and psychiatry fields. Below are descriptions of just a few of the many fascinating presentations given by researchers at the symposium.
Living with Schizophrenia During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Dr. Ezra Susser, the Lieber Prize winner for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research, presented on his research about the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the lives of people with schizophrenia. All the research presented by Dr. Susser is not yet published and should be considered preliminary findings.
One aspect of his project involves using the mandatory citizen registries from the Chilean government to identify trends in vaccination rates for people with schizophrenia. He used the registry of all people with first episode psychosis and cross referenced it with COVID-19 government data. Chile is one of the few countries that prioritized people with severe mental illness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. When comparing vaccination rates of anyone 65 years or older, Dr. Susser found that vaccination rates were much higher for those who were also on the first episode psychosis registry compared to those who were not.
These findings indicate that vaccine prioritization and outreach to people with severe mental illness was an effective way to increase vaccination rates. This is consistent with the research Treatment Advocacy Center recently released that shows vaccine education and outreach by Clubhouses successfully increased vaccine uptake for those with severe mental illness. While Dr. Susser’s findings are preliminary and thus not conclusive, his research in this field is promising and further indicates that those with severe mental illness should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters.
Cognitive Impairment and Functional Disability in Bipolar Disorder
Dr. Katherine Burdick was the Colvin Prize winner for Outstanding Research on Mood Disorders and presented on her analysis of cognition in people with bipolar disorder. She highlighted that cognition varies within the illness and the importance of recognizing the subtypes of bipolar disorder especially when developing a treatment plan.
Until recently, many scholars assumed that cognitive issues do not arise in people until after they develop bipolar disorder and then their cognition declines steadily over the rest of their lifetime. However, Dr. Burdick has found that this is not true of all people with bipolar disorder. Some with bipolar do experience declines in cognition over the course of their lifetime, but others with the illness actually see improvements in their cognitive capabilities over time. Dr. Burdick emphasizes how important it is to figure out the characteristics of those who are at risk of cognitive decline and intervene early to slow or stop this decline.
She identifies several modifiable risk factors that should be noted and combatted through treatment to improve a patient’s cognition. These factors include the number of manic episodes, sleep quality and inflammation, all of which can be monitored and used to identify those who are at risk for cognitive decline. Not all patients with bipolar disorder are the same and doctors should be keenly aware of a patient’s subtype in order to most effectively treat them.
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