Can schizophrenia and personality disorders show up on a PET scan or CAT scan?

I am not talking about using them to diagnose it (i know psychiatrists don't use them to diagnose),but do changes in the brain show up on the scans to prove these disorders?

When a schizophrenic patient is experiencing psychotic forms some scans will show the abnormal brain activity show up (You can see some videos of this online and shots from the scan) Doctors have currently began to notice in the majority of schizophrenic patients doing things such as an MRI have began to notice physical abnormalities in the brain, some are VERY VERY VERY subtle and it is not know whether this is a cause or whether all patients have them as some are amazingly hard to find but they do seem to be present in a large majority of schizophrenic patients.
So there are things various scans can show us, some will show us abnormal brain activity some possibly related physical damage but that is about all it can show us. We don't how ever have anything that we can "Prove" I guess the abnormal brain activity would be classified as one, but that is a question of whether this abnormal brain thinking shows up in other forms of things, it could be due to something that is in schizophrenia and other mental illness.

BUT a scan is highly recommended, sometimes brain tumors cause schizophrenic like symptoms, so it may not prove schizophrenia but it sure does help knowing whether it is something else thats more deadly.

They don't usually show up on a CT scan but yes they show up on a PET scan. Even something as simple as ADD shows up on a PET scan.

Nope only physical evidence shows on a PET scan not psychological.

yes they do, i learned about it in psychology...it show an abnormal brain wave on the tests

Schizophrenia may, but I doubt that personality disorders will unless they were triggered by TBI (traumatic brain injury). But even in that case, the scan would show the brain injury rather than the personality disorder. As far as I know, personality disorders are really hard to treat with medication since they are not organically caused.

Instruments which measure brain activity have shown in the past that those with mental/personality disorders have different sorts of brain activity than those without said disorders.

Taking pictures of one's brain however will not show any outward sign of personality disorder.

they can locate any damage done to the parts of the brain that control the functions effected by those 2 diagnosis.

Schizophrenia yes. Personality disorders no. Generally these tests are done after the patient is deceased for research and development of treatments. You can probably search and find pics of them.

Different atrophies, anomolies, and injuries that cause psychiatric disorders may show up on these scans. Sometimes, they don't.

schizpphrenia can show up as differences in brain structure in SOME patients (but only those where this is the cause). personality disorders will not as these are the result of learned behaviour which has become ingrained.

They do. You should be able to find PET or CAT scan pictures of schizofrenic subjects on the web.

Schizophrenia shows up on a PET scan.

As "F T" and "Denise B" correctly point out, scans can only show physical derangement -- only where the problem actually has a genuine physical cause, ie. the physical problem came first. (Or where prolonged use of powerful medication has caused physical derangement.)

The clue is in your question: Why wouldn't a psychiatrist use a genuine test if such a test existed? Well, of course, they *would*. Bearing in mind how expensive psych drugs are, they would say "I think you've got something but we better check to be sure".

But they don't -- because there is no test. None of these so-called "disorders" have *any* objective physical diagnosis -- the "chemical imbalance in the brain" theory has no supporting evidence whatsoever.

Don't believe me? Try the horse's mouth:

http://www.cchr.org.uk/noscience.htm...

Watch the video, it's a random sample of psychiatrists at an APA conference admitting the truth. (Plus the fact they've never cured anyone and don't expect to.)

And if you still don't believe, ask a psychiatrist -- but be careful, remember, disagreeing with a psychiatrist is its own mental disorder (it's in the DSM IV).

Sorry, got off the subject a bit, but these trick-cyclists really annoy me.

Share and enjoy.


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No but factors like the brain cavities and structure can show which scientists think it could be a factor in Personality disorders and Schizophrenia.

yes

NO, unless its caused by some think Else.