From:  An intricate relationship between circadian rhythm dysfunction and psychiatric diseases

Primary symptoms, cause, and fundamental treatment strategies of common psychiatric diseases

Psychiatric disordersSymptomsAffected brain area        CausesTreatment
SchizophreniaHallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, avolition, diminished emotional expression, cognitive impairmentsFrontal and temporal lobes, hippocampus, amygdala, and thalamus

  • Improper secretion of dopamine and serotonin

  • Mutation in DTNBP1, NRG1, COMT, RGS4, GRM3, DISC1, and DAOA genes

  • Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation

  • Use of clozapine

  • Application of nitric oxide synthase 1 adaptor protein

  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Anxiety disordersChest pain, palpitations, respiratory difficulty, headache fear, tachycardia, shortness of breath, sweatingAmygdala, hypothalamus, locus coeruleus

  • Impaired activity of GABAergic neurons

  • Abnormal secretion of cortisol and norepinephrine

  • Use of escitalopram, venlafaxine, benzodiazepines, and buspirone

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy

DepressionPoor mental health, high suicide risk, decreased quality of life, drug addictionPrefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and Brodmann Area 25

  • Insufficient concentration of norepinephrine and serotonin

  • Abnormal secretion of cortisol

  • Focal ischemia and neuroinflammation

  • Use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (clorgyline and deprenyline)

  • Use of monoamine reuptake inhibitors (imipramine and amitryptiline)

  • Application of flavonoids like antioxidants

Major depressive disorderDepressed mood, sadness, poor pleasure feeling, insomnia, excessive guilty feeling, hopelessness, problem to concentrate on work, suicidal thinkingHypothalamus, limbic system, basal ganglia, and cerebellum

  • Neuroinflammation

  • Abnormal activities of serotoninergic, and GABAergic neurons

  • Cognitive-behavioral therapy

  • Use of perazine, clomipramine, and fluoxetine as psychotic drugs

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DTNBP1: dystrobrevin binding protein 1; NRG1: neuregulin 1; COMT: catechol-O-methyl transferase; RGS4: regulator of G-protein signaling 4; GRM3: glutamate metabotropic receptor 3; DISC1: disrupted in schizophrenia 1; DAOA: D-amino acid oxidase activator; GABA: γ-aminobutyric acid