Blog#252-7/30/25
IMMUNOPSYCHIATRY
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW
By
Richard Davis
There has been a movement in the psychiatric world to recognize a new medical specialty. The name has evolved from psychoneuroimmunology to immunopsychiatry. What it boils down to is recognizing a link between immune system dysfunction and psychiatric conditions.
This is not a revelation but more of a renewed recognition that there may be strong links between some autoimmune diseases, immune system dysfunction and mental health diseases. In particular, researchers have found links between psychotic disorders and autoimmune diseases. Links have been established between celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, lupus and the development of schizophrenia.
In a paper in Frontiers of Psychiatry by Jeppesen and Benros it is explained that, “The notion of immunological pathways playing a role in the etiology of a subset of psychotic disorders has received increased interest in the last decades. One of the findings that has spiked interest herein, is an apparent link between autoimmune diseases and psychotic disorders. This is supported by genetic findings associating immune-related genetic markers with schizophrenia and clinical studies finding increased levels of inflammatory markers in patients with psychosis. Several large-scale epidemiologic studies have found positive associations between autoimmune diseases and psychosis. Particularly, autoimmune diseases as multiple sclerosis and lupus are known to have higher frequencies of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including psychosis, compared to healthy controls.”
If this field of medicine becomes more established and is given importance in medical education we may be on the brink of entering a new world in the treatment of mental illness. I don’t claim to have any expertise in this area but it seems to be very hopeful when even a small percentage of people who develop psychotic disorders may be able to have their illness cured by treating an underlying immune system disorder. There is a field of research that is now focusing on this area and I suspect new findings may hit the mainstream media.
There is an article in the July 28 New Yorker by Rachel Aviv, “Second Life”, that piqued my curiosity and I did more research. The subtitle of this piece raises important questions stating, “Some kinds of madness may now be suddenly cured. What happens to the newly sane?”
It seems beyond miraculous, even in 2025, that someone who falls victim to psychotic behavior can be cured by having an underlying disease treated. Of course, this kind of scenario is nothing new in medicine and links to diseases are often uncovered. Researchers in this new area are not making claims for miraculous discoveries but simply trying to clarify links that others may have thought about many years ago but never followed up on.
The research article cited earlier also states something I find somewhat amazing.
“It has also been found that infections during pregnancy increases the risk of schizophrenia in the offspring (78). On the basis hereof, it has been considered whether infections during the prenatal phase might prime the immune system, making it more vulnerable and perhaps more likely to produce abnormal responses to later infections, resulting in increased inflammation.
However, a new study has shown that even maternal infections before and after pregnancy increases the risk of mental illness (79), which could also indicate a genetic susceptibility for infections associated with mental illness.”
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for immunopsychiatry.
