Could There Be a Link Between Parasite and Suicidal Behavior?

In a large prospective study, an association was found between the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and suicidal behavior. The finding appears in the November Archives of General Psychiatry. The senior scientist was Teodor Postolache, M.D., director of the mood and anxiety program at the University of Maryland.

"This study is very interesting," Paul Links, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, and a suicide expert, told Psychiatric News. "But what mechanisms might explain the association? Association does not necessarily mean that there is a causal relationship...."

Postolache agrees. "We obviously hypothesized that T. gondii can affect the brain and lead to suicide attempts," he said in an interview with Psychiatric News. "But it's also possible that people at risk for suicide might have an increased risk of becoming T. gondii-positive." For example, the major source of T. gondii in developed countries is undercooked meat, Postolache noted, "so it could be that people who are more impulsive [and thus more at risk of suicide] may also be more prone to eating a steak that is rare rather than well done."

T. gondii has also beeen implicated in some cases of schizophrenia. Read more about that link in Psychiatric News here and here.

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Schizophrenia Patients Conquering Their Disability

Milt Greek of Athens, Ohio, has managed to build a successful life and career in spite of having schizophrenia, the New York Times reported recently. He manages his illness with medication and by mastering personal routines that steer him around many of the disabling aspects of his illness. "I have anxiety if I'm not organizing or doing some good work," he said. The time is right not just for Greek, but for many other individuals with serious mental illnesses to recover, many psychiatrists now believe.

An American Psychiatric Publishing book, Recovery From Disability: Manual of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, contains a wealth of information about how clinicians can help their patients achieve this end. For more information, click here.

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People With Schizophrenia Can Profit From Individual Employment Help

Middle-aged and older individuals with schizophrenia can benefit from individual placement and supported-employment programs, according to a study published last December in Schizophrenia Research. The researchers recruited 58 individuals with schizophrenia aged 45 years or older to participate in the study. Half were assigned to an individual-placement and support program for 12 months, while the other half were assigned to a conventional vocational rehabilitation program during that period. More than 50 percent of the subjects who took part in the former program attained competitive employment, whereas only 29 percent of those who took part in the latter program did.

More information on how people with schizophrenia can recover from their illness can be found in an American Psychiatric Publishing book Recovery From Disability—Manual of Psychiatric Rehabilitation.

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