Can autoimmune disease potentially impact our neurological wellbeing?

Important new evidence sheds light on the issues.

I wanted to share with you information from a recent piece I read in The Washington Post. Once the valedictorian of her high school class and then thriving college student in Maryland, a young woman in the aftermath of a traumatic event developed severe neuropsychiatric symptoms and became “locked in her own state of psychosis.” ​

Efforts to resolve her condition failed and it wasn’t until more than 20 years later it was determined she actually had lupus as well as schizophrenia. At this point and months of appropriate treatments later, her condition finally began to improve.
 
The article, “A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry,” details the patient’s and her family’s struggles and discusses research that has shown how a subset of patients with some psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia may actually have autoimmune disease that attacks the brain. Scientific teams in other countries are also pursuing investigations and finding that underlying autoimmune and inflammatory processes may be more common in patients with a variety of psychiatric syndromes than previously believed.
 
I have written at length about the link between autoimmune disorders and neuropsychiatric conditions including these and several other related articles:
 
What causes our body to attack the mind?
 
A rising tide of anxiety and depression disorders demand we look first at the causal mechanisms.
 
The dysregulated immune system response – when neural signaling goes awry.
 
Be the change for better education about neuropsychiatric disease.
 
Immune dysregulation requires rapid response to affect better outcomes.
 
Is there more to immune-mediated dysfunction in even more neurological disorders?
 
I encourage you to read the article about this young woman’s health journey to gain a better understanding of just how critical it is to understand the impact of autoimmune disease on our brain and other vital systems. Please visit our website and blog library for additional reading – and as always, let us know if you have questions or concerns!
 
In hope and healing for all,
Dr. Suzanne Gazda
 
Reference:
 
Sima, R. A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry. The Washington Post. (June 1, 2023). https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/06/01/schizophrenia-autoimmune-lupus-psychiatry/