ALPIM (Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood)

FIGURE 7. The ALPIM Syndrome: A Neuropsychosomatic Spectrum Disorder. Schematic Venn diagram showing the hypothesized spectrum of comorbidity in patients having a core anxiety disorder with laxity, pain, immune, and mood disorders. The overlapping circles demonstrate that comorbidities exist along a spectrum, in which a patient might have anywhere from just one disorder under one domain to multiple disorders under multiple overlapping domains. ALPIM, anxiety, laxity, pain, immune, mood.
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2015 Spring;27(2):93-103. doi: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.14060132

Thank you, Blahpolar Diaries, for informing me about ALPIM in her blog post nudge nudge link link. I tracked down the original SUNY press release, which I quote here.

In the study, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, the researchers proposed the existence of a spectrum syndrome comprising a core anxiety disorder and four related domains, for which they have coined the term ALPIM:

A = Anxiety disorder (mostly panic disorder);

L = Ligamentous laxity (joint hypermobility syndrome, scoliosis, double-jointedness, mitral valve prolapse, easy bruising);

P = Pain (fibromyalgia, migraine and chronic daily headache, irritable bowel syndrome, prostatitis/cystitis);

I = Immune disorders (hypothyroidism, asthma, nasal allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome); and

M = Mood disorders (major depression, Bipolar II and Bipolar III disorder, tachyphylaxis. Two thirds of patients in the study with mood disorder had diagnosable bipolar disorder and most of those patients had lost response to antidepressants).

Bipolar III is cyclothymia, a “milder” form of bipolar than bipolar II.

Should you want to read the journal article, I purchased the pdf version: A Novel Anxiety and Affective Spectrum Disorder of Mind and Body—The ALPIM (Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood) Syndrome: A Preliminary Report (J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2015 Spring;27(2):93-103. doi: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.14060132). No copyright infringement intended.


Comments

13 responses to “ALPIM (Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood)”

  1. Barion Avatar

    2023 July 25 – STRONG CONFIDENTIAL
    Dear Kitt O’Malley : I have seem your blog JUST NOW. This ALPIM syndrome IS awful. A novel genetic mutation was discovered in Switzlerland (2017-2018) and it is carefully “keep in secret” since 2018 because this new biological target contradicts the ALPIM Project for DSM (Funding: Rosenblum Lab). I know the person having this significant mutation in a important gene of brain’s function (synapses with gain-function). Persons who having the same mutation in the same gene could make a revolution in this subject. This person that I know is actually in a very difficult process to access his “biological Data” in Switzerland. It’s not easy to me to write in English but I thing you understand this message. I hope you will see my words in 2023. I will return here tomorrow and next month in order to seeing if you are always active in this important, crucial subject. Barion, from Switzerland, at 2:00 pm

  2. Not as simple as a pill. Future of medicine may be targeting th genome

  3. Well, there won’t be treatment in the near future as in a pill or something . ( well you never know so we can at least hope ) But the interesting thing to me is the implied genetic connections among these seemingly separate issues. I have long noted that mostly everyone I meet with fibromyalgia has a history of at least depression and often headaches as well as anxiety, etc. The laxity of joints is really very very interesting. But it seems to really cement the genetic theme and thus no pill in the near future is likely imo. I will follow this as more info comes out. I mentioned it to my pcp just today.

  4. Me, too. We are only just beginning to understand the complex human body. Medicine has so much to learn.

  5. Very interesting! I had indeed come across some papers speculating on the relationship between joint hypermbolity and depression. Thank you for pointing it out. I hope they carry on researching it.

  6. Unfortunately, you are right. I’m desperate for answers, as my men (my husband and son) are suffering!

  7. It’s always affirming to have what we already know “discovered” by research. The article doesn’t seem to offer any treatment (I only skimmed it). Still…

  8. Thank you for sharing this one, Kitt.

  9. Came from the pdf of the published SUNY research paper.

  10. I like that image

  11. Blahpolar found it first. I just went deeper. Sounds like what my son & husband may have, actually.

  12. This ALPIM syndrome….all I can say is that it sounds awful, but knowledge is power when it comes to these maladies. I’m very glad you researched it and that you’re sharing such cutting -edge information with us!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.