...Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs PSY/240 10/01/2011 Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs There are many different types of psychological disorders, many of them have treatments or can be lessened with medications. Psychological disorders are also commonly called mental disorders, this is when an individual’s behavior can impact their life and can cause distress for the individual that is experiencing problems. Schizophrenia is when an individual would most likely experience what is called insanity. Schizophrenia can impair an individual’s thoughts, speech, emotional, perception, and motor activities, and can often times lead an individual to not know what is reality and non-reality. Dopamine is the theory with schizophrenia, “schizophrenia is caused by too much dopamine and, conversely, that ant schizophrenic drugs exert their effects by decreasing dopamine levels.” (Pearson Education, Inc, 2009) When the body doesn’t make enough or makes too much of a certain chemical this can often times lead to an illness or disease that needs to be treated by a doctor. Treatments that are given to individuals with schizophrenia can be given medications: (Mayo Foundation, 1998-2011) * Aripiprazole (Abilify) * Clozapine (Clozaril) * Olanzapine (Zyprexa) * Paliperidone (Invega) * Quetiapine (Seroquel) * Risperidone (Risperdal) * Ziprasidone (Geodon) These drugs can help an individual be calm and not get agitated, the medication can help...
Words: 1015 - Pages: 5
...Cerebral Lateralization and Functionality Jennifer Long PSY/240 September 21, 2014 Sharemah Payne There are four ways to test for cerebral lateralization. These include sodium amytal test, the dichotic listening test, functional brain imaging, and the effects of unilateral left- and right-hemisphere brain lesions. The sodium amytal test is a test that is given prior to patients who are undergoing neurosurgery for language lateralization. A surgeon uses the test results to plan the surgery. The test involves an injection of sodium amytal in the carotid artery which anesthetizes the hemisphere on the side injected. Once injected the patient is then asked to recite a series of known letters, days of the week and to name objects in a picture. Then the test is repeated on the other side. When the side left side is anesthetized the patient is completely mute for a minute or two, the ability to talk returns but there are errors of serial order and naming. When the right side was anesthetized mutism does not occur at all, and few errors where done. The dichotic listening test is noninvasive in which the patient is given three pairs of spoken digits through earphones. The digits are given simultaneously, one to each ear, and then asked to repeat all of the numbers, six total. Most people report more numbers from the right ear than the left ear. The functional brain imaging involves the subject doing some activity, such as reading the brain is then monitored by positron emission...
Words: 291 - Pages: 2
...|[pic] |Course Syllabus | | |College of Social Sciences | | |PSY/240 Version 6 | | |The Brain, the Body, and the Mind | Copyright © 2011, 2010, 2009, 2006 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides an introduction to the investigation of physiological and neurological basis for human behavior. The student will be able to study and discuss various influences on personality development, such as pre-natal maternal behavior; gender; nature versus nurture; brain development; genetic composition; sensory motor interactions; learning disabilities; drug impacts; and neurological diseases. Facilitator Information Susan Forde svforde@email.phoenix.edu (University of Phoenix) susan.forde@gmail.com (Personal) 646-734-8229 (Central) Facilitator Availability I am available from Sun-Thursday 4pm-8pm (Arizon Time-MST).On Saturdays, I tend not to be online...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...Schizophrenia is a disorder that causes a person to lose contact with reality. The person with the disorder displays signs of detachment from reality, hallucination, paranoia, and delusions. One of the more common ways to tell if a person has schizophrenia is if they have totally ruined any social relationship and hear voices that no one else can hear. A lot of schizophrenics believe the voices are government people talking to them or they are being talked to by aliens and that aliens are everywhere. Schizophrenia is typically inherited through your genes. One of your parents or grandparents most likely had the disorder and passed it on to you. The disorder is usually triggered by some sort of stress and symptoms start to show. In the beginning you may see little signs like trouble sleeping or concentrating. You might see your irritable or have tense feelings. As life goes on you might develop problems thinking or with emotions and behaviors. These might include Isolation, Hallucinations as discussed before. Lack of emotion and problems paying attention are classic symptoms as well. Bizarre behaviors, delusions as mentioned previously and thoughts that don’t really associate with one another brought together in very loose association all can be seen in schizophrenic symptoms. Of course symptoms depend on the type of schizophrenia present. For instance Disorganized schizophrenia symptoms may have showing little emotion, childlike behavior, and problems thinking and explaining...
Words: 1987 - Pages: 8
...Week Six Sleeping and Dreaming PSY/240 Sleeping and Dreaming Sleep is considered a natural state in which there is reduced consciousness, reduced sensory activity, and inactivity of all muscles. Sleep is needed for the body to recharge, grow, and is essential for health and well-being. There are three standard psychophysiological measures of sleep and they define the stages of sleep. They are the electroencephalogram (EEG), the electrooculogram (EOG), and the neck electromyogram (EMG). There are four different stages of EEG sleep. Stage 1 EEG is a low-voltage, high-frequency signal slower than being awake. When going from stage to stage the EEG voltage increases and the EEG frequency decreases. Once a person goes from stage 1 to stage 4, the cycles of sleep go back and forth throughout the stages while a person is sleeping. Each cycle is about 90 minutes long. REM sleep is associated with stage 1 EEG while NREM sleep is a combination of all other stages. Stages 3 and 4 are considered slow-wave sleep or SWS due to the delta waves. During REM sleep people have rapid eye movements. Dreaming occurs during the REM stage of sleep. Some people believe that external stimuli can affect their dreams. Some people believe dreams are quick and only last a few minutes, while research suggests they last as long as the person is dreaming. Some people say they do not have any dreams, but more than likely they just do not remember their dreams. Penile erections...
Words: 416 - Pages: 2
...University of Phoenix Material Appendix B Structures of the Nervous System This activity will increase your understanding of the different structures of the nervous system and brain. During the Web activity, you will view a variety of structures of the brain and nervous system and label each with the appropriate term. You will use this document to write a description for the terms you used in the activity. [pic] As you conduct the Structures of the Nervous System activity, follow along with this Word document and fill in the descriptions of those terms you used to label the structures. All of the terms in the activity are listed here, but you only need to provide descriptions for those you used. |Term |Description | |Central nervous system |(CNS) – the division of the nervous system that is located within the skull and spine | |Cell body |The metabolic center of the neuron. It is also called the soma. | |Peripheral nervous system |(PNS) – The division of the nervous system that is located outside the skull and spine | |Dendrites |The short processes emanating from the cell body, which receive most of the synaptic contacts | | |from other neurons ...
Words: 412 - Pages: 2
...CHARACTER EVALUATION STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE (Robert Lewis Stevenson, 1886) BERTHA THOMAS PSY/230 FEBRUARY 12, 2012 PURVI PATEL CHARACTER EVALUATION: STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE, (Robert Lewis Stevenson, (1886)) “I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man . . . if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Lewis Stevenson (1886). Dr. Jekyll’s self-description of his personality, toward the beginning of his impending and irrevocable metamorphosis, fit comfortably into the category of what is known as psychoticism. Hans Eysenck (1952) proposed that a susceptibility to psychosis represented an important dimension of Personality and might, in fact, be present, in mild form, in the general population. Consequently, Dr. Jekyll seems to be the subject of this mental disorder, coupled with scientific product. Although it is safe to say that most of us would score somewhere at the low or high end of the Big Five characteristic traits, there is usually a plateau upon which we can be scored. Contrarily, Dr. Jekyll fluctuated between these two extremes, enjoying each in its totality, until the pressure of the duality became too much to bear. I believe the concept of humanity’s sense of good and evil (our duality) can be represented by the low and high ends of the Big Five characteristic traits that dwell within...
Words: 1077 - Pages: 5
...Assignment Week 8 Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs Christina Schwartz Schizophrenia disorder is a serious mental disorder that is easily misdiagnosed with other disorders that have similar symptoms. These symptoms usually occur around early adolescent ages and continue into adulthood. The symptoms of this disorder include hallucinations, delusions, goal directed behavior, and emotional expressions. (Andreasen, 1995) The symptoms can also be categorized into positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are those that represent an excess or distortion of normal function, whereas negative symptoms are those that make reduce the ability to function normally. An example of a positive symptom would be not having the ability to react with the proper emotion to positive or negative events. An example of a negative symptom would be the loss of motivation, or being unable to experience pleasure. (Pinel, 2011) Statistics show that although only 1% of American’s are diagnosed with the disorder it is shown that that chances of inheriting the disorder rise in twins (identical) and even in an adopted child who is brought into a healthy family atmosphere shortly after birth. The belief according to (Pinel, 2011) is that some people inherit the potential for schizophrenia however; experiences may or may not activate it. Chlorpromazine is the first medication that was prescribed to those with schizophrenia disorder. The medication was actually found by complete...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...The Brain Week 2 Psy 240 Biopsychology The human brain is ultimately responsible for all thought and movement that the body produces and is one of the largest and most complex organs in the human body composed of trillions of connections that work together called synapses. The brain weighs approximately three pounds and is made up of nerve cells which interact with the rest of the body through the spinal cord and nervous system. It contains about 75 percent water along with 100 billion neurons. Neuroscientists estimate that there are 100 trillion connections among the neurons, and nearly an infinite number of paths that neural signals can travel through parts of the brain called the morass. These nerve cells transfer information back to the center of the brain where information is processed, generated and appropriately reacted upon. The human brain gives us the ability to move, generate information, to speak and understand language, to interact with the environment, to interact with inanimate objects and to communicate with others. The brain can be divided into three basic units: the forebrain, the midbrain and the hindbrain. However, there are also five major structures of the brain. The Myelencephalon, Metencephalon, Mesencephalon, Deincephalon and Telencephalon. These five major structures of the brain shed some light on the complexity of how it is structured and how the human brain works. The Myelencephalon, also called medulla, is the division of the brain...
Words: 874 - Pages: 4
...PSY 240 Genes and Addiction Assignment In the study ‘Associations and Interactions between SNPs in the Alcohol Metabolizing Genes and Alcoholism Phenotypes in European Americans’, Sherva, Rice, Neuman, Rochberg, Saccone, and Bierut search for a correlation (a statistical measurement of the relationship between two or more variables) between two alcohol-related phenotypes and SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphism) in 17 genes involved with alcohol metabolism. Alcohol metabolism is a process through oxidation where alcohol is detoxified and removed from the blood, preventing the alcohol from accumulating and destroying cells and organs. A minute amount of alcohol escapes metabolism and is excreted unchanged in the breath and in urine. Until all the alcohol consumed has been metabolized, it is distributed throughout the body, affecting the brain and other tissues (Byrne, 2014). The two alcohol-related phenotypes were compared to SNPs, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms, where a nucleotide is different from the rest of the chromosome (Byrne, 2014). There have been several studies done previously showcasing chromosomal regions and genes that affect alcohol dependence (alcoholism), most of which play a role in the metabolism of alcohol. Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence)...
Words: 788 - Pages: 4
...Analyzing Psychological Disorders Rebecca Howard PSY 240 December 23, 2012 Rebecca Gazda Analyzing Psychological Disorders Psychological disorders are always being researched and new treatments are being developed. Biopsychology is an important field because understanding the processes that occur in the body can lead to more effective drugs and relief for many people suffering from psychological disorders. Schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, and anxiety are all psychological disorders that psychologists must deal with on a regular basis. Understanding these disorders is important for the health and well-being of patients. Part A: Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that has many complex symptoms, most of which can also be associated with other disorders (Pinel, 2011). Schizophrenia affects many parts of the brain, including the forebrain and hindbrain. The cingulated gyrus, amygdale, and hippocampus are also affected. These areas are all part of the limbic system. It is believed that schizophrenia occurs when functional circuits of the brain are disturbed, which affects the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and thalamus (Lundbeck Institute, 2011). With such a large area of the brain being affected by this psychiatric disorder, it brings a host of symptoms. These symptoms are divided into two different groups, positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are ones that cause an excess of normal function, and negative symptoms cause a decrease of normal function. Separating...
Words: 2126 - Pages: 9
...Sleeping and Dreaming CheckPoint PSY 240 The Brain, The Body, and The Mind January 18, 2012 Windy Baker Kuntz There are two main types of sleep; first you have Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep or NREM (also known as quiet sleep and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep or REM (also known as active sleep or paradoxical sleep. This is broken down into five stages. The first stage is the beginning of the sleep cycle. It is considered to be a light stage of sleep. It is a transition period between wakefulness and sleep. Stage one lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). The second stage is when the brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. This only lasts for about 20 minutes and your body tempiture begins to decrease and the heart rate begins to slow down. The third stage is a transition between light and deep sleep. Your brain develops slow deep brain waves known as delta waves. The fourth stage is a very deep sleep that lasts for about 30 minutes, this is where delta sleep occurs and bed wetting as well as sleep walking is most likely to occur. Stage five is where most of our dreaming occurs. This is where we have our REM sleep. Respiration increases and so does brain activity. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed. Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed. Our text...
Words: 469 - Pages: 2
...The Brain The brain is split up into several different parts or structures in order to better understand how things are laid out and how they work. The simplest way to separate the different parts of the brain is into the forebrain and hindbrain, with the forebrain also being called the cerebrum, and the hindbrain being better known as the brain stem. The brainstem is best known to be in charge of involuntary and gross motor functions, such as breathing, muscle control, and digesting food. The cerebral cortex is in charge of more complex things such as thought and memory. Aside from this general way to split up the brain, it can be broken down further into five major structures, each with it’s own physiology and structures within it. These regions are the telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, metencephalon, and myelencephalon. The telencephalon sits at the top of the brain and is divided into two hemispheres, often referred to as cerebral hemispheres (Pinel, 2011). It is the biggest of the five major structures, and is in charge of the brain’s most complex functions (2011). Along with housing the structures that are in charge of memory and thought, the telencephalon is also the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement, taking in outside sensory stimuli, and facilitates complex thought processes such as retaining new information, processing language, and problem solving (Pinel, pg. 66, 2011). Within the telencephalon is the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex...
Words: 1057 - Pages: 5
...The Nature-Nurture Issue The nature versus nurture is an issue that has been a long and hotly debated topic for over many generations. In defining the difference between nature and nurture, nature is “behaviors that occur in all like members of a species” and are inherited in behavioral development, whereas nurture is behavioral capacities that are acquired through learning (Pinel, 2011). In terms of the flaw with attempting to determine what degree of behavior is attributed to nature and to what degree is attributed to nurture, is that both of these perspectives play a role in how and why a behavior is exhibited. Some of the behaviors that an individual may exhibit can be linked to that of an animal or through primal instinct, which leads the behaviors that are based on nature. However, we should consider that with the primal fears we have as children, like being afraid of the dark, are no longer exhibited in an individual when he or she is an adult. This change in behavior can be contributed to experience over time, the nurture perspective agrees with an experience’s influence in behavior (Pinel, 2011). It is appropriate to separate the contributions of genetics and experience, when measuring the development of difference among individuals, as genetics is something that is inherited and cannot be easily controlled, whereas an experience is something that can be controlled. While both factors affect an individual’s behavior, these factors are comprised of...
Words: 291 - Pages: 2
...Week Three Checkpoint: Interactionism Rebecca J. Castle PSY/ 230 10/14/2011 Julie Ball, MS Ed Week Three Checkpoint: Interactionism A person’s culture is going to have a lot to do with how their personality is shaped. Someone that has grown up in a home with constant fighting and hostility is going to have a guarded personality and may be either hostile or very anxious. On the other hand, someone that has been raised in a home of cooperation and love will have a higher chance of being and extroverted person and more easy going. Growing and observing another’s behaviors has a huge impact on how our personality will turn out. We learn by not only trial and error but also by observing others, which will carry over into how we do and handle things. Personalities begin to develop at a young age and then carry into adulthood. Once someone is labeled with a specific personality trait, it is hard to lose that label. How that label affects their lives depends on the type of label. For instance, a young man that has been labeled as being disagreeable may find it hard to make friends because they have already decided that he will be hard to get along with. On the other end of the spectrum, a young man labeled as conscientious and agreeable may acquire many friendships as well as better opportunities. Labels can be both helpful and harmful. A person is not born knowing how to handle a social experience; therefore I feel that social experiences are what shape a person’s...
Words: 533 - Pages: 3
