Many mental-health conditions have bodily triggers
Psychiatrists are at long last starting to connect the dots
THE TICS started when Jessica Huitson was only 12 years old. Over time her condition worsened until she was having whole-body fits and being rushed to hospital. But her local hospital, in Durham, England, was dismissive, suggesting she had anxiety, a mental-health condition, and that she was probably spending too much time watching videos on TikTok. Her mother describes the experience as “belittling”. In fact, Jessica had an autoimmune condition brought on by a bacterial infection with Streptococcus. The condition is known as Paediatric Autoimmune-Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS). When the infection was identified and treated, her symptoms finally began to improve.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Psychiatry’s blind spots”
From the April 27th 2024 edition
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