"Imagine suffering from a mental illness and waiting up to a decade to get a proper diagnosis, all the while taking the wrong medications. This is an unfortunate reality for some patients suffering from bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), said Dr. Elizabeth Osuch, a researcher at Western's Lawson Health Research Institute and a psychiatrist at the London Health Sciences Centre.
"In a recent test group of 30 young patients, 15 diagnosed with MDD and 15 with BD, Osuch found a biomarker in the brain of patients with BD. She imaged the brain with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), looking for a region that corresponded with the bipolarity index, a diagnostic tool that encompasses varying degrees of BD.
"The MRI tests revealed an activation of the putamen, a round structure at the base of the forebrain, which has a positive correlation with BD – and what could be the differentiating factor between BD and MDD...."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-10-imaging-mental-illness-diagnosis-options.html
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