In a remarkable study posted in Molecular Psychiatry, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers announce progress on developing a simple blood test that would identify disease-associated changes in the brain, including those involved in post-partum depression and potentially other conditions, such as schizophrenia and major depression.
In other words, clinicians could conceivably offer a blood test to confirm a symptom-based diagnosis or, as importantly, screen for those on the cusp of developing one.
All of this has exciting implications for how these neurological conditions could be diagnosed and treated — more accurately, more quickly, and more successfully.
You can read all about the science of it here, but here’s a key passage.
….. the availability of such blood tests could enable detection of early signs of mental health emergencies, such as suicidal behavior. The ability to identify patients who are at risk of having a psychiatric episode would enable the care team to intervene and possibly prevent negative outcomes.
In future studies, they plan to use lab-grown brain samples to identify similar biomarkers to develop tests for autism spectrum disorder.
“This is very exciting, because right now, there isn’t a blood marker for disorders affecting the brain, says Lena Smirnova, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-author of the paper. Essentially, these conditions are diagnosed by clinical interviews between patients and providers.”
Praise the Lord for scientists!
There are some Christians who are skeptical of these conditions, but a blood test is pretty irrefutable ot even the most doubtful (although there’s plenty of irrefutable evidence already out there, including scans of the brain, that no one could call subjective).
The Christian church should embrace research like this, praise God for it, and remember that our faith has always been at the forefront of medical treatment and compassion for diseases.
As the Christian Medical Fellowship notes, “From the fourth-century to present times, Christians have been especially prominent in the planning, siting and building of hospitals, as well as fundraising for them. Cities with significant Christian populations had already begun to change prevailing attitudes, and were already beginning to build hospices (guest houses for the sick and chronically disabled. Stories of Christian caring had enormous impact.”
In fact, Christians were some of the first to involve themselves in treating those with mental health as patients with a disease and not a phantom “mindset.”
It’s been painful to watch distrust of the medical community fester within the church, yet we have to remember that there’s a significant percentage of healthcare workers, researchers, doctors, nurses who are passionate Christians who have followed God’s explicit call for us to care for the sick.
Their work is invaluable! Thank you, and praise God for you.
When you see the Lord face-to-face, he will say, “I was sick and you cared for me.”
If you struggle with any of these conditions (as I do)…
For readers from the United States….
Find a psychiatrist here.
Find a therapist here.
For readers, internationally, seek help from a local resource.
For those without Christ, he’s a prayer away.
[Photo: Pixabay stock photography – not affiliated with the research team or Johns Hopkins].
