Foreword

It is an honor for me to write the foreword for the e-book “Classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in schizoaffective disorder: focus on prophylactic medication” by Dr. Felix-Martin Werner and Dr. Rafael Coveñas. Almost every productive and fantastic work in medicine is the result of expertise in different fields coming together and work towards the best interest of the patients and the scientific/academic community in particular and the mankind in general.

Psychiatric disorders in human make up a large group of mental diseases with a range of sign and symptoms that are caused by genetic problems and biological factors, stress, brain trauma, toxic substances and infections particularly during pregnancy that may affect the embryo, cancers, drug abuse and a history of abuse among many other causes that all may interfere with the normal brain performance by changing the structure and function of the different parts of the nervous system.

Several of these conditions lead to mental disorders due to an imbalance in the metabolism of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators among them, the neuropeptides. More information about mental disorders can be found elsewhere: http://psychcentral.com/disorders/ and https://www.nlm.nih.gov/ medlineplus/mentaldisorders.html.

Schizoaffective disorder is believed to be due to continuous psychotic behaviours accompanied by intermittent mood episodes such as major depressive and/or manic episodes. Several neurotransmitters have been implicated in schizophrenia and mood disorders. These include the dopamine in the case of schizophrenia and serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline among others in mood disorders. The hypothalamic neurohormonal pathway and a number of neuropeptides have also been implicated in schizoaffective disorder. Treatment with antipsychotic drugs, mood stabilizers and antidepressant medications is aimed to normalize the neurotransmitter(s) level while talk and group therapies, social support and work training aim to improve patients’ daily functions and social behaviour through other methods. There are still many unknowns and facts to learn in this field as sign and symptoms and the treatment outcome may differ from patient to patient.

The current book is a very well written and easy to understand comprehensive text of schizoaffective disorder dissecting the brain and other regions involved in the disease and its pathophysiology, describing the various causes of the disease including the genetic and epigenetics and its current and various modes of treatments and future directions.

The current e-book “Classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in schizoaffective disorder: focus on prophylactic medication” by Dr. Werner and Dr. Coveñas is a unique collection of practical details and case reports and is a great asset to education, research, and clinical practice of psychiatry and psychology.