Psychological Disorder Articles

The first article I read is found at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325131600.htm

This article is about the current inaccuracies of diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder as Bipolar disorder by using the most common mood disorder test, the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ). The MDQ is a brief questionnaire used by clinics in order to identify if a person has Bipolar Disorder. However, as a research team discovered, The MDQ is four times more likely to diagnose a person with Bipolar Disorder than is a Psychiatrist using the DSM-IV. Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar share many same characteristics, such as changes in mood and impulsive actions. However, the treatments for these disorders are very different. The risk in diagnosing a patient wrong is that they will receive the wrong treatment. As these researchers found out, the most common mood disorder test is misdiagnosing many Borderline patients following just the guidelines in the DSM-IV (assuming the psychiatrists are making the correct diagnosis, but that's just my opinion).

The second article I read is found at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928141957.htm

This article is about the connection between being creative and being at a higher risk for psychological disorders. The key gene appears to be neuregulin 1. This gene has been found to strengthen communication between neurons. Also, a slight variation of this gene puts a person more at risk for disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar. For this study, the researchers found people who considered themselves to be creative. Then, using a general creativity scale, the researchers rated each person. After taking blood was taken from each person and then analyzed, the researchers found a significant correlation between creativity and neuregulin 1. This correlation implies that perhaps a gene that has been found to cause mental illness also has a useful biological function (creativity).