For the first time, researchers reveal that some people presenting with a first episode of psychosis have specific antibodies in their blood. The antibodies are the same ones known to cause encephalitis or brain inflammation. The discovery raises the question of whether the removal of these antibodies could be an effective treatment for psychosis as it is for encephalitis.

Share on Pinterest A person in a psychotic episode may experience anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, lack of motivation, and social withdrawal.

The researchers – led by Belinda R. Lennox, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom – report their findings in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Psychosis is a condition that affects the mind, where there is some loss of contact with reality. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are disturbed to the point where it becomes difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what is not.

Symptoms of psychosis include false beliefs or delusions and hallucinations – seeing and hearing things that others do not. Other symptoms include inappropriate behavior and incoherent speech. Becoming ill in this way is called a psychotic episode.

A person in a psychotic episode may also experience anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, lack of motivation, and social withdrawal. They may struggle to function.

There is no specific cause of psychosis. It can be a symptom of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Other causes include sleep deprivation, some medical conditions, some prescription medications, and abuse of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs.

The new study shows that certain antibodies are present in the blood of a significant minority of people presenting with a first episode of psychosis.

The antibodies are the same ones that cause encephalitis – a life-threatening inflammation of the brain – and include some that act against a neural or nerve cell protein called the NMDA receptor (NMDAR).