Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder where the individual experiences a variety of different symptoms and not all individuals experience the same symptoms. It used to be thought that these individuals were possessed or hysteric. Since these ancient beliefs, there has been much research in hopes to understand the disorder and find treatments for those affected. The treatment most used is antipsychotic medications that help relieve the voices and hallucinations. These medications are not a cure for schizophrenia, but they help manage the symptoms. Along with medication there is also therapy sessions and support groups. There is also some experimental treatments being examined for efficacy. Not much is known as to what causes schizophrenia but it most likely is a combination of genetics and environment. Although the book talks about genetics being examined, no one gene has been found that controls or causes schizophrenia Twin studies do imply there is some genetic factor and more research is be conducted to understand the genetics involved. There is also the influence of prenatal care on schizophrenia. The book describes how if while pregnant the mother is stress, contracts a virus, foods she eats, metals that enter the system or even if the RH factor that  tries to rid the body of the baby; they all influence the developing brain of the fetus. Keep in mind the baby born most likely will not display symptoms of schizophrenia until the later. The idea is the part of the brain affected is not fully utilized until a later age, and at that point the symptoms may begin to emerge. Symptoms of the disorder are disorganized speech, disorganized thought, paranoia, visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, loss of feelings, lack of emotion, lack of interest in daily activities, little ability to experience pleasure or happiness. Can you imagine? I can't. What would it be like to have even just one of these symptoms? I included a clip that is intended to help us understand what a schizophrenic person may be experiencing, but keep in mind it is a simulation. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and ate lots of turkey.

Tardive Dyskinesia?

This week's chapter discussed mood disorders and a brief explanation on the different psychotropic medications. The book and additional readings mentioned that tardive dyskinesia is a side effect to some of the psychotropic drugs. But what is tardive dyskinesia? Tardive dyskinesia is a condition that is characterized by the involuntary movements and tics of the face, fingers, toes, abdominal region and hips. The repetitive tics cannot be controlled, unlike Parkinson's where the individual finds it difficult to move, individuals with TD find it difficult to not move. Some symptoms are grimacing of the face, repetitive facial tics, contracting muscles of the abdomen, finger movements, tongue thrusting and abnormal jaw movements.

The symptoms are similiar in appearance to tourette's in fact TD can sometimes be misdiagnosed as tourette's. The problem with misdiagnosing TD for tourette's is that the patient may be prescribed psychotropic medications that would make TD worse. TD is primarily caused from taking high doses or long time use of antipsychotic medications; for example Chlorpromazine (Thorazine in the U.S.) is one of many antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications (or nueroleptics) have been known to be used for psychotic conditions like schizophrenia, as well as for other conditions like bipolar disorder for mania.

If TD is recognized early, the symptoms may reverse and stop all together when the medications that are causing TD are discontinued; with doctor's advice of course. However, it is not guaranteed that the TD will stop and reverse. TD can be irreversible in some cases and may even worsen after discontinuing medication. In these cases the involuntary movements are permanent. Attached is a video of what TD looks like. In another class we discussed TD and it left an impression on me. I just wanted to share with you all a little more information on this condition. I hope you found this topic interesting.

***Very important note***  Discontinuing medication without doctor's consent is very dangerous. It is important to consult with your doctor before discontinuing any medications, especially Psychotropic medications.

Amygdala and Fear

What if we were fearless? Fear can be a disturbing feeling but it is advantageous for us to have fear. When we experience fear we physiologically experience much of the "fight or flight" autonomic responses. The fear sensation makes us attentive to details and prepare us for quick action for safety. A small structure in the brain, called the amygdala, is important for us be fearful. The amygdala doesn't make us feel fear but instead helps us attend to details and stimuli that is interpreted to fear. Damage to the amygdala stunts fear, the person would be able to know they should be afraid but would not experience the sensation. Without fear we would engage in dangerous activities even if we know we shouldn't. Take for example SM, SM (a woman with damage to her amygdala) continue to grab venomous snakes that she knew she was afraid of and disregarding her better judgement. Furthermore, she (SM) would have difficulty recognizing fearful expressions as well as drawing fear on a paper or as facial expression. What was observed was that SM would concentrate on the nose and mouth versus the eyes on a face. This also made it difficult to recognize people she had already met. I researched a bit further into the subject and came a cross a journal article on this subject. The results were that while damage to the amygdala would affect recognition of fear and the identity of faces they can be independently impaired. I included two video clips: 1) of a rat before having an amygdala lesion and 2) post-amygdala lesion. This is a good visual example of the amygdala and fear relationship.

Sleep Apnea

Imagine driving down the expressway, on your way home from work, after picking up your daughter from daycare, and then waking up in the middle of a ditch? This happened to a relative of mine who didn't know he was suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where an individual is unable to breath normally during sleep. Often these individuals stop breathing and they experience a low quality of sleep. Most people do not even realize they are having this problem until they see a doctor or their partner tells them. As you can imagine, it is very dangerous to stop breathing multiple times while you sleep. The brain isn't being supplied oxygen at these times and one could die.

My relative was falling asleep uncontrollably, especially toward the end of the day. An individual with sleep apnea would experience tiredness through out the day, depression and attention problems. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a lack of oxygen supply to the brain and this impairs memory function.  He had been feeling tired for quite sometime, but attributed it to working overtime. Family members expressed concern and begged him to go to the doctor. He agreed and figured the doctors would tell him to get some real rest, but instead had him schedule an appointment for a sleep study. He was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Now, every night he has to sleep with a mask on. The mask is loud but is less expensive than surgery. The mask makes sure he is getting enough oxygen and he describes feeling rejuvenated and more rested than ever before.

The following site tells you who is at risk and has a link of treatment. Sleep Apnea
The important thing to notice is the real risk of sleep apnea. My relative didn't know how long he had been undiagnosed but he says he is glad he sought medical advice before someone or himself got hurt. He had 3 other accidents before this incident, but he didn't recall sleeping, just spacing or blacking out momentarily. Hope you found this topic interesting, see you next week.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)

The topic of intersexes was interesting to me and reading about congenital adrenal hyperplasia raised questions. This is why I decided to write about CAH this week. The book explains intersexes as individuals in having intermediate anatomies of both male and female. CAH is common cause of intersexes. In short, individuals with CAH have a genetic mutation they have inherited. The body doesn't produce enough cortisol so then the adrenals over produces androgens. When androgens are made in excess in the fetus it can cause the female clitoris to be abnormal in size and cause other masculine features. I had a question of whether or not CAH only affected girls. The book didn't discuss much on the topic and didn't mention boys being affected. As it turns out, yes, boys are also known to have CAH. The difference is that boys do not experience changes in their anatomy like girls do. Their genitals are normal but they tend to go through a growth spurt before puberty. These boys may be shorter because they grew sooner.

In the past, children with intermediate development of the external genitals were sometimes sexually misidentified. Doctors recommended raising the children as girls since it would be easier to surgically make them look more like females. The sad thing is, the surgery effected the ability to enjoy sex as adults. The other important thing to remember is that as these children were being raised as girls their brains were exposed to more testosterone. While this may change their preferences to more boy typical toys or activities it doesn't mean to say they are more manly. Think of it more accurately like they are more tomboyish. These genetic females may have interest in both boy and girl things and as you can imagine, this effects the preference in mates to also be intermediate- both boys and girls.

There is a  family that have taken on this new way of raising their children. The children after they are born are given gender neutral name. They are given a variety of both boy and girl toys and are dressed as neutrally as possible. As the children get older, they are given the choice to dress themselves in girl and/or boy clothes. The thought is that the child will determine its own gender without any influences or expectations. I have included a news clip of the family in Canada who raise their children this way. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with genderless child raising?

No pain?

Imagine you could feel no pain. At first this seems like a great trait but in reality we rely on pain receptors for various functions. Pain lets us know if something is dangerous. We develop strong memories to the pain and learn to avoid it in the future. Pain also lets us know we are hungry. Imagin exercising and pulling a muscle and not feel it, we would probably further hurt ourselves. The book mentioned a boy who could feel no pain but didn't go into much detail. This is condition called Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy a.k.a. Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA). Causes are related to nerve fibers not reaching or branching epidermis. In fact it is far more complicated than that but basicly it is developmental defect. It is new and fairly rare because it is still being researched into. Individuals who have this condition live to about 25 years old. This is a big reason why not much was known about this condition and is difficult to research.  As babies, those with this condition rarely cry. They don't feel hunger pains, teething pains, or simple bumps and falls. So you can imagine a child could seriously hurt themselves and parents wouldn't know they were hurt. Children with this condition have to take extra precautions by wearing a helmet, pads and be monitored.

In one episode of "Mystery Diagnosis" there was a young boy who didn't cry. The parents were at first surprised by this even when he was teething. One day while feeding him they noticed a large amount of blood, got scared and rushed him to the doctors/hospital. As it turns out he had bitten off a huge chunk of his tongue. He didn't cry and didn't appear bothered in the least. The video clip I included this week is of a young girl named Ashlyn Blocker. She is a teenager now but the video is of when she was younger. Hope you enjoyed this week's topic and will leave you with a question. What kinds of treatment would you consider might help these individuals?

Korsakoff's syndrome

What is Korsakoff's syndrome? I hadn't heard of this syndrome before this week and decided to read a little more into the subject than what the book discussed. This week's post may be a bit more matter-of-factly written but it's because I want to relay information I felt was important, my appologies in advance.

In short Korsakoff's is a type of amnesia that is brought on by thiamine deficiency. It is common for those with an alcohol dependency and those who are malnutritioned to develop Korsakoff's. Wernicke encephalopathy, also known as Wernicke's syndrome, is usually associated closely to Korsakoff's and is often called Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. What is important to know is the two are not the same thing but are hard to disentangle. Korsakoff is believed and often referred to as being the more chronic of the two. Korsakoff's is symptoms are usually recognized by the individual themselves. It is described as having a feeling that they are becoming more forgetful. They also experience memory loss and confusion which leads to confabulation. The most recognizable symptom is confabulation. The individual will say things to fill in gaps in their memory. They seem to have acknowledged the memory is incomplete but try to say something to not appear demented. What is interesting is the confabulation isn't completely random. The patient may confabulate a truth about an event but the event didn't occur at the time they are being asked. The attached videos go into better detail of Korsakoff's and Wernicke's. Below is an interview of a man with Korsakoff's who is able to do complicated math but is not able to form new memories, check it out!

The main causesof Korsakoff's syndrome are alcoholism and thiamine deficiency. Treatment for this syndrome is to avoid alcohol, take vitamins to supplement the thiamine, proper nutrition and water to hydrate. Avoiding alcohol is the main preventative measure. One of the risk factors for developing Korsakoff's was extreme dieting. Which leads me question, how prevelant is Korsakoff's amoung the homeless and those dieting? I never considered that extreme dieting could lead to memory problems.  I hope you all found this subject interesting, see you next week.

Unilateral neglect

I had trouble understanding unilateral neglect from this week's chapter. I decided to look up some more information. Damage to the right side of the brain is what is responsible for unilateral neglec, usually from a stroke. It has also been called spatial neglect. The clip I provided this week is an elderly woman who had damage to her parietal cortex and she is unable to attend to the left side of anything. She is asked to draw a flower from her memory and she still neglects the left side. I found it very interesting because it isn't just what she sees but the attention is even taken away from her memory. The implication is memory is also widely affected by this condition.

Imagine you cannot give attention to the left side of your world or any view of object. What will surprise you is you will have trouble seeing your world in three dimensions. These individuals affectd by this condition are often bumping into things on their left side (walls or people). I imagine that can be very disturbing, but are they disturbed? It appears these individuals are not aware of the missing left side until it is pointed out. Sometimes even then, they cannot respond or recognize the left side. Mainly they are not able to shift attention to the left side of things. These individuals need care givers to help them with their daily activities. below are some drawings made by individuals with unilateral visual neglect. Remeber, the individuals believe they have drawn the pictures correctly.

Migraines and strokes

What I found interesting was the section that talked about headaches and strokes. There were many things to choose on today's topic, but this seems different and personal. I have been suffering from migraines for as long as I can remember. Anyone who has ever had a migraine can tell you they would rather have a regular headache over a migraine. They must be genetic because many women in my family suffer from them. They are debilitating and always seem to come at the worst possible time. The book explained how they are caused by the swelling of the meninges. I had an ah-ha moment! When a migraine comes on they can last for days and its hard to function. I have tried everything and what I have learned helps me is a frozen pack on my head and neck. It is not strange to find me with a package of frozen veggies on my head, in bed, in a dark room. It helps! The clip above gives a detailed explanation on migraines, there were many interesting facts.

When reading about strokes and how they currently try to reduce the bad effects through drugs and such, the book also said that cooling the head helped. Curious?! I have an aunt who had a stroke and at first could not walk, talk, and pretty much take care of herself. Overtime, through lots of rehab, she eventually learned to perform these tasks although they will never be performed at the same rate and her speech is slurred. The book talked about how even though people may learn eventually to get these skills back, they are working much harder than you or I. This also made me think of that commercial on tv about texting and driving. It was a young man going through rehab and he was obviously having trouble walking and talking. That commercial was so sad and examplifies how our brain and all the many functions it performs is so important. Isn't it amazing how adaptive our brains are? I can't say I completely understand the inner workings of our neurons and a nervous system in general work but the fact that it so adaptive and plastic is worth talking about.

Drugs and Addiction: Effects on the Brain

I remember all through elementary and up to high school every year we had a drug free week. Every student was to pledge to be drug free and students were educated on drug awareness. But, did you know that roughly 15% of children under 18 years of age have admitted to experimenting with illegal drugs? Also, one fourth of 8th graders have admitted to smoking marijuana? Keep in mind these are students that have reported they used drugs, but how many have not admitted? What is even more surprising to me is that these are developing minds that are sure to have irreversible damage to their brains.

Someone who has become addicted to a drug, whether it be illicit drugs, prescribed drugs or alcohol, what is important to recognize is that they have a real problem that they may not know how to correct. Addiction isn't a moral or shameful flaw of that person but a chemical change in their brain and it's structure. A person takes a certain drug that changes how the brain processes the drug. This change causes the person  to feel a certain way, which is often rewarding so when the drug effect wears off they may seek out that rewarding feeling again and again. The brain is trying to adjust and the brain's structure begins changing. Let me make an example: Cocaine blocks dopamine from being recycled via reuptake, the excess dopamine has a rewarding feeling and the brain changes it's structure to deal with the excess (growth in neurons and dendrites). After so much structural change being with the drug causes very unpleasant withdrawal and its rewarding to use the drug again ... now we have an addiction.

An addiction gets out of control and someone has to intervene. An addict will never be cured of the disease. Instead, the addict has to recognize there is a problem and want to change it. Knowing what triggers the craving for a drug, stresses that make the drug appealing and so on and so forth, are the kind of thing an addict would have to take control of. This topic was interesting to me since I have limited knowledge of addiction but have always felt that addicts can be helped. My curiosity spiked when I was a Loss Prevention Manager. Part of my job was to stop theft and I caught lots of shoplifters, most of which were just trying to be cool, some were homeless, others were part of a theft ring organized crime and there were those who were clearly on drugs. Those on drugs were always easier to catch but when we had them in the office it was truly sad. It didn't happen all the time but every once in awhile they would express how they felt despaired and hopeless. They really didn't know what else to do. Some had family that had disowned them and others had slipped through the system.

I don't know the answer, but awareness cannot stop at the education system. Do not depend on the schools to teach your children about drugs. Addiction and drug abuse requires active parents, friends and family members to teach our children. Below is a clip on Alcohol on your brain, I thought it would be beneficial for college students to be aware of its effects.

Blood-Brain Barrier and psychotropic drugs- very controversial

I see everyone posting on the blood-brain barrier topic, but don't leave my page just yet! I would like to talk about the very controversial topic of psychotropic drugs and how it relates to this very specific topic. We all agree the brain is an amazing organ. The fact that such a barrier exist is so beneficial for our survival it is just amazing. The function of the barrier is primarily to protect our brain and in turn our body. Below is a clip of Frontline's "Medicated Child" on children taken such medications.

What about psychotropic drugs? Psychotropic drugs like antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication and anti-psychotic medication have been questioned of their validity and whether or not they should be prescribed as frequently as they are. These drugs have many side effects that are later believe to unveil other psychological conditions. Here's a great example, in the early 1980's Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rose to be a huge concern and epidemic in children. By the 1990's children diagnosed and prescribed medications for ADHD were later believed to also be bipolar. Coincidence or closely related? Turns out there is much research out there indicating that the ADHD drugs have side effects that look like bipolar symptoms. All the research can be located via the FDA resources and are public but the topic is not published in journals.

Antidepressant studies show they have the best effect the first two weeks of use. After the initial two weeks the same results cannot be obtained. Studies have shown that the brain adjust to keep balance. What is more interesting is the damage done to the brain. Children and adults who have take ADHD drugs over prolonged periods of time will develop tics. These tics are permanent and irreversible.

I could go on and on, but there is not enough time. I encourage everyone to be aware of the side effects of these drugs and make it a last resort. Chantix was being advertised as a stop smoking ad but really it is a psychotropic drug. Below is a clip of the Ad, pay attention to the warnings... wouldn't you rather quit smoking cold turkey than hear voices or have suicidal thoughts? 

The Blood-Brain Barrier is there for a reason and we should respect it. But how do we find a balance to treat those with debilitating psychological disorders? Should behavioral approaches be vamped up or should we conduct more animal research? (nice segue from last week huh?)

Recommended reading: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker

Introduction to Phsyio Psy: genetics, behavior

I find it interesting how genetics plays a role in behavior. Is it to say behavior is predetermined? Am I just like my mom?

When I think of behavior, words and phrases like stimulus-response, environment, shaping etc. come to mind. Behavior is shaped by our environment and experiences. Being Hispanic, living in south Texas and raised in a Catholic home has shaped many of my behaviors, for example. With that said, the important thing to distinguish is that the behaviors that are genetically inherited are those which are the foundation of behaviors. Think of behaviors you have that are similar to your relatives. Behaviors like posture, hand gestures, facial expressions are all examples of behaviors we have inherited genetically. The first video clip helped me see the difference from the behaviors I was at first thinking and those last described.

But what about personality? Does genetics play a role in personality? What I conclude is that behavior is genetic but environment and experiences do play a big role in shaping it beyond genetics. It is the foundation which we inherit but the environment actively plays a role into our behavior. One can be predisposed to obesity and still maintain an active lifestyle to modify the behavior of being overweight. In the second clip (2 min), criminal behavior was discussed on a genetic level which I found intriguing. If genetics shows a predisposition to criminal behavior, should these individuals be held accountable by the law?

Welcome

Welcome to my Physiological Psychology blog. I am new to blogging and hope I have something interesting for my fellow class mates to read. Looking forward to hearing from you all!