Transcript Mental Illness

Mental Illness
Schizophrenia
Features of Schizophrenia (Positive
Symptoms)
• Positive symptoms
– Psychosis
• Hallucinations
– Auditory
– Visual
– Olfactory, somatic
• Delusions
– Grandeur
– Persecution
Features of Schizophrenia
• Positive symptoms (continued)
– Disorganized thought
• Speech
• Neologism
• Word salad
Features of Schizophrenia
• Positive symptoms (continued)
– Disorganized behavior
• Poor grooming
• Meals
• Inappropriate clothing
Features of Schizophrenia
(Negative Symptoms)
• Negative symptoms
– Withdrawal
– Flat affect (no facial expressions)
– Talk little
– Lack of motivation
Possible associations
•
•
•
•
•
Blame the mother!
Prenatal infection
Genetics
Brain structure
Dopamine theory
1. Of course it’s that crappy
mother’s fault!
• “Refrigerator mother”
• Notes
2. Viral Infection
• Mom caught the flu during second
trimester of pregnancy (months 4-6)
• Also, people with schizophrenia more
likely to be born during winter-spring 
mom was in second trimester during peak
of flu season
3. Genetics
• 1% of general population
• Risk of developing schizophrenia appears
to be associated with how closely you are
related to a person with schizophrenia
• Stress-diathesis model
Figure 15.18 Family relationships and the risk of developing schizophrenia
Klein/Thorne: Biological Psychology
© 2007 by Worth Publishers
4. Brain Structure
Figure 15.15 MRI scans of the brains of twins discordant for schizophrenia
Klein/Thorne: Biological Psychology
© 2007 by Worth Publishers
4. Brain Structure
• Larger ventricles
• Decreased activity in prefrontal cortex
– Hypofrontality (negative symptoms)
5. Dopamine Hypothesis
• Excessive dopamine activity associated
with positive symptoms of schizophrenia
• Drugs that decrease symptoms
– Dopamine antagonists
• Drugs that cause schizophrenia-like
experiences
– Increase activity of dopamine in brain
– Amphetamine and cocaine
5. Dopamine Hypothesis
• One of the first medications for
schizophrenia
– Chlorpromazine
– This is an antagonist of dopamine: prevents
dopamine from binding to receptors
– Tardive dyskinesia
Figure 15.12 The synaptic effect of chlorpromazine
Klein/Thorne: Biological Psychology
© 2007 by Worth Publishers
Mood Disorders
Depression
Depression
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
For 2 weeks or more, almost every day
Feelings of sadness
Things are not interesting or fun anymore
Changes in appetite and weight
Problems with sleep
Lethargic/fidgety
Lack of energy
Problems with thinking and concentration
Thoughts of death and suicide
Associated with …
•
•
•
•
Life events
Genetics
Hormones
Brain abnormalities
1. Life events
• Too much bad stuff or too little good stuff?
• Learned helplessness
2. Genetics
• Concordance rate for monozygotic
(identical) twins: 48%
• Dizygotic twins: 23%
• Adoption studies: account for flaws in
other genetic studies
3. Hormones
• Embedded in broader social context:
– Post-partum depression
– Pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
4. Hypercortisolism
• Cortisol – stress hormone
– Secreted by the adrenal cortex
• Dexamethasone suppression test (DST)
– Synthetic hormone that suppresses cortisol in
non-depressed people
How to treat depression
1) Psychotherapy (won’t have time to
discuss)
2) Medication
3) Electroconvulsive therapy
2. Medications
• Tricyclics (TCA)
– Prevent reuptake of norepinephrine and
serotonin
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI)
– Prevent degradation of norepinephrine and
serotonin
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(SSRI)
Figure 15.5 The synaptic effects of three types of antidepressant drugs
Klein/Thorne: Biological Psychology
© 2007 by Worth Publishers
2. Medications – Safety
• TCA
– Can be dangerous for people with heart
problems
• MAOI
– Dangerous if eat food high in tyramine
(cheese, wine, pickles); causes dangerous
increase in blood pressure
• SSRI
– Fewer and less dangerous side effects
3. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
•
•
•
•
Who is it used for?
How is it done?
How does it work?
What are the side effects?
Figure 15.6 Use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat
major depression
Klein/Thorne: Biological Psychology
© 2007 by Worth Publishers
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
OCD
• Obsession
– Thoughts, ideas, images
• Contamination
• Something bad happening
• Compulsion
– Repetitive behaviors to reduce anxiety caused
by obsession
• Clean
• Check
• Count
OCD
• Time consuming
• Distress, impairment
• Awareness that obsessions and
compulsions are excessive
• Stressful trigger
• Genetic component?
– Runs in families
• Brain injury or infection
– Basal ganglia, frontal lobe, thalamus
– Unable to “shut off”
OCD treatments
• Exposure and response prevention
• SSRI
• Surgery: sever connections between
frontal lobe and caudate nucleus (in basal
ganglia)
Is there such as thing as
mental illness?