Can Mental Problems be Diagnosed with a Scanner?

Diagnosing mental disease usually involves lengthy evaluations by a psychiatrist who must determine if a patient’s symptoms are a result of physical, mental or emotional issues, or any combination of the three. These evaluations can be invasive and rely on the honest responses of the patients.

Seeing Inside the Mind

A paper published in the April 2014 issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease claims that mental health problems can be diagnosed using a device similar to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

The authors of the paper, Zhang et al from Xi’an Mental Health Center in Shaanxi China, state: “The aim of this study was to evaluate reliability and psychiatric clinical value of quantum resonance spectrometer (QRS) in detection of affective disorders.” Zhang explains that QRS is similar to the MRI body scanner, but doesn’t produce an image. Cells that make up the human body grow, form new cells and eventually die. When a cell regenerates it gives off a unique electromagnetic charge thanks to an imbalance of electrons. A sick cell will emit a different signal than a healthy cell, leading to the map of patterns associated with mental disease.

According to Zhang, QRS was able to identify and diagnose several psychiatric affective disorders, including symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorders. Zhang and his team claim positive results, sometimes better than 65%, of finding mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, several mood disorders and even irritability, in patients already diagnosed. If accurate, QRS has doctors eager to treat early signs of anxiety, depression and psychosis before they rule an individual’s life.

Editor’s Note:

Zhang’s paper has come under scrutiny because it doesn’t appear to adhere to the author instructions of the JNMD. There are few precise descriptions of subjects, procedures, apparatus and methods of data analysis. This makes it difficult for other researchers to evaluate or replicate the study.