This manuscript describes the basics of proteomic and metabolic profiling of blood serum and plasma from patients with psychiatric disorders. It will also explain the rationale behind the use of these bodily fluids, due to the need for user-friendly and rapid tests in clinics with simple sampling procedures. It has become evident over the last 15 years or so that psychiatric disorders are whole-body diseases and the bloodstream is a means of molecular transport that therefore provides a conduit for two-way communication with the brain. Here we also describe some of the basic biomarker findings from studies of serum or plasma from patients with psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder. Finally, we will discuss potential future advancements in this area, which include the development of hand-held devices containing miniature proteomic and metabolic assays which can be used for facilitating diagnoses in a point-of-care setting and yield results in less than 15 minutes from a single drop of blood.

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For psychiatric disorders, repeated failures in converting scientific discoveries into novel drugs has precipitated a crisis and eroded confidence in drug discovery. This review describes how current and future innovations driven by application of biomarkers can help to re-initiate research in this area. This will have positive impact on the field of psychiatry and result in application of sensitive and specific biochemical tests in parallel with the traditional questionnaires for improved diagnosis. Furthermore, application of emerging biosensor tools will facilitate point-of-care testing by fusion of biochemical and clinical data. In this way, patient data will be comprised of past medical histories, biopatterns and prognosis information, resulting in personalized profiles or molecular fingerprints for patients with these conditions.