A new test for depression has been uncovered by researchers, who think it’s possible to find physical traces of the signs of mental ill health in the blood. The technique involves complicated medical things to do with the rate of serotonin uptake in blood platelets, with a correlation between serotonin transporter levels in the blood matching that of the brain.
And with happy chemical serotonin usually lacking in the brains of the depressed, it’s though a test could quickly work out if a patient is suffering mental distress. Study author Lukas Pezawas said: "While blood tests for mental illnesses have until recently been regarded as impossible, this study clearly shows that a blood test is possible in principle for diagnosing depression and could become reality in the not too distant future."