Abstract
Patients with mental disorders rarely visit psychiatrists from the early stages of illness, which tends to delay the introduction of appropriate medical care. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for these patients to visit non‐psychiatric physicians for their physical symptoms. Therefore, development of biomarkers by blood sampling that can be performed outside of psychiatry will lead to early detection and intervention of mental disorders. With this expectation, we are searching for objective blood biomarkers of mental disorders.
We herein introduce about blood metabolome analysis and present our recent studies focusing on depression and hikikomori (pathological social withdrawal) . We have found significant associations between depressive severity and 3‐hydroxybutyrate, suicidal ideation and kynurenine metabolites, and hikikomori and acylcarnitine/arginine. Establishment of objective biological evaluation systems for mental disorders is expected to lead to the realization of early detection and intervention of mental disorders as well as to the elimination of prejudice and stigma against mental disorders.
