The University of Michigan Depression Center is
honored and grateful for being chosen as one of the two recipients of the
proceeds from the Mind Over Matter
(M.O.M.) race. The gifts to the
As director of the Psychiatric
Neuromodulation Program at the
In other work, 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 emotion 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. The vulnerability to stress
is a common characteristic of young persons on the verge of a psychotic break,
and steps to better identify what leads to psychosis may help design better strategies
to prevent it.
Dr. Taylor has been using brain imaging, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (known as
'fMRI'), to study understand how the brains of people with schizophrenia differ
from individuals without schizophrenia.
One area of interest concerns the connections between brain regions,
since many of the symptoms of stress sensitivity and psychosis might reflect
impairments in the ability of brain regions to 'talk to' one another.
The figure, from a study recently published
in Schizophrenia Bulletin and partially funded by the M.O.M. Foundation, shows
how healthy subjects show connections between the thalamus and the anterior
cingulate cortex, a circuit thought to be important for regulating emotions and
higher cognitive functions. The people
with schizophrenia did not show this connection. By identifying 'circuits' that do not
function properly, medications may be better targeted, for example, to help restore
the connections between brain regions.
With the proceeds from the first M.O.M. Race, Dr. Taylor established the “Boledovich Schizophrenia Research Fund”.
Subsequent race proceeds donated to this fund have significantly 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 donations from Mind over Matter Foundation 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 Officer
University of Michigan Depression Center
4250
TEL: 734-763-5680
FAX: 734-936-9761
www.depressioncenter.org
nandavis@umich.edu