Newsletter
The Myth of Treatment-Resistant Patients2025-01-17
“Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.”
—Ray Bradbury
In medicine in general, and psychiatry in particular, some patients are labeled as treatment-resistant. That is more a reflection of a mismatch between the reality of what they have and the diagnostic label and treatments they are given. This mismatch can lead to chronic, and even tragic outcomes.
For example, with our blood biomarker testing, we are finding that a majority of people labeled as treatment-resistant depression are in fact unrecognized bipolar disorder. The biomarker panels match them to some specific mood stabilizer medication, and then they do great on those, become very treatment responsive. We have seen similar things for “borderline personality disorder”, which in the majority of cases is complex PTSD and responds well when treated as such, in a targeted way. Same thing for chronic suicidality, or chronic pain.
With the advent of precise, personalized, participatory and preventive medicine in general, and psychiatry in particular, fewer and fewer patients will be deemed treatment-resistant. One needs to take a multi-dimensional view of people, and a comprehensive bio-socio-psychological approach to assessment and improvement, but all the pieces of the puzzle are here- biomarker tests, medications, life improvement checklists, apps. We are doing our bit at MindX Sciences. Our mission is to help people get unstuck and move on with their (normal and successful) lives. To that end, we are offering a Fresh Start 2025 Sale. 25% Off Our Tests Until January 25.