What are the advantages of a blood test for mood disorders?
In psychiatry, we currently rely on patients’ self-reported symptoms, as well as the clinician’s impression. Patients are not sure as to the severity of their illness, and neither is the clinician (sometimes dismissing patients’ symptoms, sometimes overestimating them). I am a psychiatrist as well as a researcher, and I often face that dilemma in my own clinical practice, where I see complicated cases. Having an objective test to measure disease state, severity, and (especially) response to treatment would be a big step forward. Such a measure would be similar to your primary care doctor or cardiologist ordering a baseline lipid panel, starting you on a medication, and conducting repeat lab testing to see how well the medication is working. It would place psychiatry on par with other medical specialties. For example – nowadays for depression – a patient gets started on an antidepressant. Weeks or months may pass before the patient and doctor know if the particular medication is working
