Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. May 19, 2021; 11(5): 169-180
Published online May 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i5.169
Implications from translational cross-validation of clinical assessment tools for diagnosis and treatment in psychiatry
Katrin Aryutova, Rositsa Paunova, Sevdalina Kandilarova, Anna Todeva-Radneva, Drozdstoy Stoyanov
Katrin Aryutova, Rositsa Paunova, Sevdalina Kandilarova, Anna Todeva-Radneva, Drozdstoy Stoyanov, Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Scientific Research Institute, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv 4002, Bulgaria
Author contributions: Stoyanov D contributed conceptualization; Aryutova K and Paunova R wrote the original draft; Kandilarova S and Todeva-Radneva A reviewed and edited the manuscript; Paunova R contributed visualization; Kandilarova S contributed supervision; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None to be declared.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Drozdstoy Stoyanov, DSc, MD, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Scientific Research Institute, Medical University of Plovdiv, Vassil Aprilov 15a, Plovdiv 4002, Bulgaria. drozdstoy.stoyanov@mu-plovdiv.bg
Received: February 19, 2021
Peer-review started: February 19, 2021
First decision: March 16, 2021
Revised: March 17, 2021
Accepted: March 31, 2021
Article in press: March 31, 2021
Published online: May 19, 2021
Processing time: 83 Days and 0.9 Hours
Abstract

Traditional therapeutic methods in psychiatry, such as psychopharmacology and psychotherapy help many people suffering from mental disorders, but in the long-term prove to be effective in a relatively small proportion of those affected. Therapeutically, resistant forms of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder lead to persistent distress and dysfunction in personal, social, and professional aspects. In an effort to address these problems, the translational approach in neuroscience has initiated the inclusion of novel or modified unconventional diagnostic and therapeutic techniques with promising results. For instance, neuroimaging data sets from multiple modalities provide insight into the nature of pathophysiological mechanisms such as disruptions of connectivity, integration, and segregation of neural networks, focusing on the treatment of mental disorders through instrumental biomedical methods such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS). These methodologies have yielded promising results that have yet to be understood and improved to enhance the prognosis of the severe and persistent psychotic and affective disorders. The current review is focused on the translational approach in the management of schizophrenia and mood disorders, as well as the adaptation of new transdisciplinary diagnostic tools such as neuroimaging with concurrently administered psychopathological questionnaires and integration of the results into the therapeutic framework using various advanced instrumental biomedical tools such as ECT, TMS, tDCS and DBS.

Keywords: Translational neuroscience; Evidence-based psychiatry; Schizophrenia; Affective disorders; Psychopharmacology; Electro-convulsive therapy; Transcranial magnetic stimulation; Transcranial direct current stimulation; Deep brain stimulation

Core Tip: The current review is focused on the translational approach in the management of schizophrenia and mood disorders, as well as the adaptation of new transdisciplinary diagnostic tools such as neuroimaging with concurrently administered psychopathological questionnaires and integration of the results into the therapeutic framework using various advanced instrumental biomedical tools such as electro-convulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation and deep brain stimulation.