As director of the Psychiatric Neuromodulation Program at the Depression Center, Dr. Taylor uses transcranial magnetic stimulation and deep brain stimulation - techniques that actively change neural transmission through magnetic and electrical currents in the brain. These techniques advance our understanding of normal and abnormal brain function, and they can 'modulate' or alter nerve function to effectively treat symptoms of depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.
In his studies, Dr. Stephan Taylor and his colleagues are examining the brain scans of persons receiving treatment for schizophrenia, but who still have persistent symptoms of the illness. According to Dr. Taylor, "At least 50 % of patients with schizophrenia still have significant symptoms, even with treatment. By tracing some of the brain circuits that control emotion, we hope to develop some clues as to why some patients don't completely recover with our medications. Clearly, we know the meds don't work as we would like them to work, and we need to know more about these patients."
One of the areas of investigation concerns stress and emotions in schizophrenia. Stress is a well-known trigger of psychotic breaks, and people with the illness often have a difficult time handling stress, even minor stresses, like going out to the grocery store. They also often have trouble understanding how to 'read' and use emotions in social situations, which may contribute to their social stress. Although clinicians have known for some time about the importance of helping patients manage stress, particularly social stress, they know very little about what happens in the brain that makes these patients so vulnerable.
Dr. Taylor has been using brain imaging, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (known as 'fMRI'), to study the response of patients to mild stresses, such as viewing faces with negative, unpleasant expressions. The picture below shows results from a study, presented at this year's International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (March 28th - April 1). The study shows that schizophrenic patients have to use more activity in one area in the brain involved in regulating emotional responses, when they view negative emotional faces. Dr. Taylor states: "This brain area, called the anterior cingulate cortex, is related to a person's ability to use emotion effectively, and we think that in our patients, it works inefficiently, so that it has to work extra hard to process a negative experience."
Dr. Taylor speculates that with brain scanning information, such as what he and his team are learning, we may be able to use neuromodulation techniques that could boost the activity of people with schizophrenia and help them improve their ability to manage stress and emotion.
With the proceeds from the 2006 M.O.M. Race, Dr. Taylor established the “Boledovich Schizophrenia Research Fund”. This fund has enhanced Dr. Taylor’s research project by providing his team with the additional support of a graduate student who processes the data collected by Dr. Taylor and his colleagues as they study the brain images of schizophrenic patients. The generous donation from M.O.M., and any future gifts to the Boledovich Schizophrenia Research Fund will speed up our understanding of this devastating illness, leading the way to more effective treatments and one day, hopefully, a cure.
Sincerely,
Nancy Davis
Development Coordinator
University of Michigan Depression Center
4250 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
TEL: 734-763-5680
FAX: 734-936-9761
www.depressioncenter.org
nandavis@umich.edu