...Jennifer Robertson December 10, 2013 Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks (NIMH). The symptoms of this brain disorder are normally severe. It’s pretty obvious if a person has this illness. The effects of this illness not only affect the body, but it affects relationships, job and normal day to day performance. Fortunately, bipolar disorders can be treated with medication in order to leave a normal lifestyle. Which parts of the brain are believed to be involved in this disorder, and how do these areas of the brain influence the development and behavior of the individual? The main brain areas involved in bipolar disorder include the frontal and temporal lobes of the forebrain, the prefrontal cortex, the basal ganglia and parts of the limbic system. The cerebral cortex is involved in thought processes and it is possible that abnormalities in this part of the forebrain are responsible for the negative thoughts that are associated with the depressive episodes of bipolar disorder. Briefly describe at least one method which has been used to study this disorder (EEG, fMRI, etc.), and what this method involves. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) allow researchers to take pictures of the living brain and can detect bipolar disorder. These tools help scientists study the brain's...
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...Disorders of the brain: Mood disorder Tanya Horton Kaplan University PS 124 Mood Disorder The mental disorder that I have chosen to write about is a rather vague area, being mood disorders, that affects “nearly one in ten people aged 18 and older” (MedlinePlus, 2014). Mood disorders “are known to be at least impart genetic, because they are heritable” (Stangor, 2010,. p. 379). “A mood disorder is diagnosed when sadness or elation is overly intense and persistent, is accompanied by a requisite number of other mood disorder symptoms, and significantly impairs the person's capacity to function” (The Merck Manual for health care professionals, 2013). The parts of the brain that are believed to be involved in this certain disorder are the medial prefrontal cortex also known as MPFC, Amygdala, Hippocampus, and ventromedial parts of the basal ganglia. Drevets, Price, and Furey cited that “patients with mood disorders show abnormalities of morphology or morphometry in many visceromotor network structures (Drevets and Price 2005). Depending on the amount of time an individual has had the abnormalalities, they may develop aggressive moods or psychosis. The Hippocampus “is a limbic system brain structure, important in storing information in long term memory” (Stangor, 2010,. p. 73). The limbic system is also associated with a person’s emotions, which affects the mood of the person. The Amygdala, also part of the limbic system, “is responsible for regulating our perception of, and...
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...Chemical addition is worse than a process addiction because it enters the brain and disrupt the hemispheres and its normal process of changing the way the mechanisms within the brain works and known to change behaviors. Drug abuse affects neuronal health, energy, metabolism and maintenance, inflammatory processes, cell membrane turnover, and the neurotransmission. Illegal drugs cause behavioral impairments and intellectual process which relates to drug addiction (NIDA, 2009b). Generally the lure to these chemicals sustain power. Altering various ways of how the drug may be taken. However, long-term abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs affect the brain and most parts of the body leading to an early death. (Licata & Renshaw, 2010). Opposed to a...
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...Biruk Fitru EEG 130 Assignment 1 One of the major brain disorders is Schizophrenia, a very serious mental disorder that is often mistakenly confused with multiple personality disorder. Although, some of the symptoms of multiple personality disorder are very similar to schizophrenia. Unlike, multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that could be characterized by a variety of positive and negative symptoms like: disorganized behavior of thoughts and emotions, hallucination, and delusion. Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental illnesses. Although, the word “schizophrenia” is less than 100 years old the very first time this disorder was recognized as a mental illness was in 1887 by Dr. Emily Kraepelin....
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...When asked what sparked my interest in the brain, I always have an answer: my brain. I have ADHD, a brain disorder that makes it hard for me to focus. ADHD has made me struggle through high school more than I would have otherwise. Reading takes three times longer than it does for someone without ADHD. Not interrupting people takes incredible willpower. Throughout high school, I have attempted to make the most of my disorder, but that doesn’t mean I’ve accepted it. Determined to excel despite this secret setback, I have strived to find solutions to overcome my ADHD. These solutions have shown up in unexpected places like in my school’s science project requirement, and I decided to take my projects a step further by competing in my county...
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...is a devastating and progressive neurological disorder that results primarily from degeneration of nerve cells deep in the center of the brain that waste away (PubMed Health, 2011). According to National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke (2010) more than 15,000 Americans suffer from this debilitating disease. Nearly all people who develop Huntington’s disease will die within 10 to 30 years from onset. This disease does not show bias to any sex, ethnicity or race. The pathophysiology of Huntington’s disease is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with high penetrance (Jarvis, 2008, p.360). The symptoms of Huntington’s disease are abnormal uncontrollable movements and personality changes (Jarvis, 2008, p.360). As the disease progresses so does the severity of the symptoms. It is a genetic disease that is passed on from generation to generation. A person can be genetically tested to determine if you have the gene for this disease. To date there is not a cure for this rare debilitating disease (Medline Plus, 2009). Definition of Disorder Huntington’s disease was named after an American doctor George Huntington in 1872. Before it was named by Doctor Huntington it was called “chorea” which means choreography in Greek. It was named so because people affected by this disease would twist, turn and jerk in uncontrollable movements that others perceived as dancing moves (National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke, 2010). There are two forms of Huntington’s...
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...psychological life ... have as their biological bases the activity of neuronal systems in the brain’ (p.259). Does this mean that psychological life can be reduced to neuronal activity? Illustrate your answer with examples from Chapter 4, ‘Biological psychology’, from Book 1, mapping psychology The case study of Phineas Gage referred as being within the subject of Biological Psychology. As we human beings are a “biological species”, we need to be able to understand our biological make-up, to further study the Physiological field, only once we can fully understand the different part of our bodies, including the brain can we then apply Psychological research methods to study & develop understanding . Science constantly evolves to study and gain understanding, which then can lead to data interpretation methods like Psychological .The Theorist Crick,-: His belief and scientific approach called “Reductionism” (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) Suggests that “Potentially all psychological events and experiences can fully and only explained in terms of the activity within the components of the brain”. Other Scientists do however argue that there should be a much broader view taken, and other views et should be considered.(Bolton and Hill, 1996, Stevens, 1996: Toates, 2001) These other theorists, and studies are suggested (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) as having equally possible explanations of how our brains components affect our actions and how we are. Phineas Gage, the study and interpretation...
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...Schizophrenia Disrupts Brain Development Monica Jones Behavioral Science and Research Method Southern University and A&M College Lionel Jolla, MSW, LMSW – Professor November 18, 2015 Abstract I embarked on this project because I am interested in how schizophrenia affects the brain and what researchers have discovered as far as medicine for this condition. I am looking for a phenomenon that explains why this disorder is destroying brain volume and how this process can be stopped. Schizophrenia is a baffling disorder that reduces brain volume. When and how does schizophrenia begin is one of my concerns. It is hard to figure out when, why and how schizophrenia begins because it can occur as early as the neonate stage of life and as late as the geriatric stage in life. When schizophrenia starts to decrease brain volume, is the brain fully developed is another one of my concerns. Brain volume decreases in schizophrenia patients naturally, but the antipsychotic medication is a contributing factor also. The antipsychotic medication has been known to have adverse side effects on the brain volume. Have researchers found a medication that has a less severe effect on schizophrenia patient’s brain volume, is another question I am interested in finding the answer too. Schizophrenia is an unexplainable disorder that offers no specific answer to how it occurs. In this study I am hoping to find that specific answer to this brain crippling disorder. MRI scans have been the...
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...control the common functioning of the brain. Since the brain controls all other functioning of the body, if the region organ is injured, poor-body function will follow. If the head suffer an injury disorders of brain may follow including but not limited to, accidents, hereditary, or due to other unsafe environmental conditions. According to research, “failure of communication of the nerves and neurons in the brain can result to development of a brain disorder” (Cannon TD, Cornblatt B, McGorry P (May 2007). Many brain disorders have no cure, and if there is treatment, they leave adverse effects to the person the remainder of their life. Schizophrenia is known as a disorder of the brain. This paper will take a microscopic look at the origin, pathology, treatment options, and diagnostic research associated with schizophrenia. The Origin Schizophrenia is an extremely severe disorder of the brain that causes warp thinking, The human body is created with many different organs that work together to control the common functioning of the brain. Since the brain controls all other functioning of the body, if the region organ is injured, poor-body function will follow. If the head suffer an injury disorders of brain may follow including but not limited to, accidents, hereditary, or due to other unsafe environmental conditions. According to research, “failure of communication of the nerves and neurons in the brain can result to development of a brain disorder” (Cannon TD, Cornblatt B, McGorry...
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...Institute of Mental health12,Nov,2006. 2- “The Concept of Progressive Brain Change in Schizophrenia: Implications for Understanding Schizophrenia”, by Linn E. Delisi. 2008 INTRODUCTION Schizophrenia is a brain disorder, which interferes with normal brain functioning. It is mainly characterize by major disturbances in perception, language, thought, emotions and behavior. Furthermore, it can also trigger hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and lack of motivation (Rosenberg and Kosslyn). Experts now agree that schizophrenia develops as the result of the combination of a biological predisposition, and the kind of environment the person is exposed to. However, not until recent days, schizophrenia was thought to have “no “organic” cause and thus related to the psychological environment that one was born into” (Delisi). In “What Causes schizophrenia, by Grohol, even though the author emphasis how genetic, behavioral and other factors, are interrelated in the development of the disorder, he emphasis his article in how the tools of biomedical research are being used to search for genes or critical moments of brain development. At the same time, “The concept of Progressive Brain Chain in Schizophrenia: Implications for Understanding Schizophrenia”, by Delisi focuses in the new “discoveries” regarding brain change in schizophrenia, and how this ones support. Kraepelin perspective. The article states the different brain chances a schizophrenic patient goes through from its earliest stages...
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...Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder. It is a disease that makes it extremely difficult for a person to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses to others, and to behave normally in social situations. People with schizophrenia may also have difficulty in talking, remembering and behaving appropriately. Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental illnesses. Schizophrenia is a neurological disorder that affects the cognitive functions of an individual. The cause of this illness to this day is still unknown, but there are several theories of how an individual may get schizophrenia. Because there are so many symptoms of the disease and because the symptoms can vary quite significantly among several individuals and even within the same individual over time, the diagnosis of schizophrenia can be quite difficult. Schizophrenia is sometimes seen as a functional disorder with professionals often referring to it as a sociological phenomenon, meaning patients with schizophrenia are normal people driven insane by the insane world (Gelder, et al., 1989). However, with many years and numerous advances in genetics/brain imaging, molecular biology and neuroscience over the years, evidence has been found for the biological bases underlying schizophrenia. There have been quite a few theories of possible causes. Firstly, a lot of family studies indicate that a proneness to the disorder schizophrenia might be inherited...
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...Provide Important Clues for OCD Disorder Great strides have taken place in the research area of obsessive-compulsive disorder over the past three years, and there is hope that better treatments for humans suffering from this disorder may soon be in place, and it is mice that are providing important clues to what may cause OCD. The key issue behind OCD research is to find treatment and relief for those humans suffering from this debilitating psychiatric condition which affects about two percent of the world’s population. OCD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in the world. It is marked by persistent intrusive thoughts (the obsession), repetitive actions (the compulsion) and anxiety. Examples include fear of contamination, or that something terrible will happen to a loved one. They also suffer from repetitive rituals (compulsions), which are often designed to neutralise these thoughts. Examples include hand-washing and checking and rechecking things. These symptoms cause distress and can occupy hours during the day, interfering with a person’s quality of life and their ability to work. The severity of OCD varies widely from person to person, and while the neurobiological basis of the disease is unknown, there are indications in past research that genetics plays a role. One of the key studies conducted in the last three years was done by the Duke University Medicine Center who had been conducting basic research on how individual brain cells communicate. While they...
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...Neurological disorders are disorders dealt within the nervous system. There are many neurological disorders, some are rare and others are very common. A very common neurological disorder in today’s society is one known as Parkinson’s disease. In America, about one million people live with this disease. Nearly 60,000 people in America are diagnosed with this disease a year. Worldwide, an estimation of seven to ten million people is living with Parkinson Disease. This disease stems from many different neurological factors that affect bodily movement and also in some case memory and cognition. Parkinsons disease is a central nervous system disorder and is caused by the death of dopamine receptors. Dopamine is extremely important when it comes...
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... . Parts of the Brain; Function Most people believe that it is better to follow the heart than to listen to the brain. Though they refer to the heart as an organ of feelings and the brain as an organ of conscience that helps distinguish right from wrong but the truth is the heart is just a pumping organ and the brain does all the work, the feeling, thinking, and making of decisions. This article will discuss further the different parts of the brain and their function: How does the brain work? The Human Brain: How does the brain work? The brain is the center of the human nervous system. The average size of an adult brain is 5.5 inches in width, 3.6 inches in height, and 6.5 in inches length. The human brain is composed of 78% water, 12% lipids, and the other 10% consists of protein, carbohydrates, insoluble salts, and soluble organics. The human brain performs a number of tasks of coordination, control, and regulation. • The brain controls the body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. • It accepts all sorts of information from each of the different senses • It controls a human body’s physical motion. • It’s responsible for dreaming, thinking, decision making, reasoning, and feeling of emotions. Parts of the Brain and their Function The human brain is a very complex organ. The brain has three main parts: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Forebrain This part of the brain is located at the area...
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...different things about the brain and how people's lives can be very affected by different disorders. We have discussed serious mental disorders that people are unwillingly faced with. From people having a simple anxiety disorder to someone suffering with schizophrenia, the brain has the ability to do incredible, yet devastating things. Throughout my experience in the class, it has influenced the ways that I see many different things. I am very lucky not to have a life changing psychological disorder. This has also influenced my possible career path. I feel as if it would be great to work with people that have these serious disorder on hope to help them. Although...
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