Mental illness Flashcards
(133 cards)
What are the two major assumptions underlying Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis? According to Freud, when does mental illness occur, and what causes it?
- Much of mental life is unconscious.
- Past experiences, especially in childhood, shape a person’s feelings and responses throughout life.
-Mental illness occurs when the unconscious and conscious elements of the psyche come into conflict. It is caused by unresolved conflicts related to hidden secrets of the unconscious, often tied to childhood incidents.
What is the key assumption of B. F. Skinner’s theory of personality?
The assumption that many behaviors are learned responses to the environment. –> behaviourism
What does behaviorism focus on in contrast to other theories of personality? According to behaviorism, what factors influence the probability of a type of behavior increasing or decreasing? How does behaviorism view mental disorders?
-Behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors and their control by the environment, rejecting notions of underlying conflicts and the unconscious.
-The probability of behavior increases when it satisfies a craving or produces a pleasurable sensation (positive reinforcement), and it decreases when the consequences are deemed unpleasant or unsatisfactory (negative reinforcement).
-Behaviorism views mental disorders as maladaptive behaviors that are learned
What does treatment for mental disorders in behaviorism involve?
Treatment consists of active attempts to “unlearn” through behavior modification, either by introducing new types of behavioral reinforcement or by providing an opportunity to observe and recognize appropriate behavioral responses.
What is psychotherapy, and how does it relate to treating mental illness? What was one of the shortcomings of psychotherapy, according to Freud?
-Psychotherapy is the use of verbal communication to help the patient, and it plays a role in treating mental illness by addressing variations in behavior and early childhood experiences. However, it is not suitable for all mental disorders.
-Freud recognized the shortcomings of psychotherapy and stated that these deficiencies could be resolved by replacing psychological terms with physiological or chemical ones.
What were the initial symptoms of general paresis of the insane? What was the ultimate cause of general paresis of the insane, and how was it traced? how is general paresis treated? What antibiotic was found to be highly effective in treating brain infections caused by Treponema pallidum?
-Symptoms included mania, excitement, euphoria, and grandiose delusions
-It was caused by brain infection with Treponema pallidum, the microorganism that causes syphilis. Its cause was traced through research.
-the drug arsphenamine could effectively treat general paresis of the insane
-penicillin
Describe the path from gene discovery to treatment development in the context of psychiatric diseases.
Discovering gene mutations in individuals with psychiatric diseases, reproducing these mutations in genetically engineered mice, and studying the differences in brain function can lead to insights into pathophysiology and potential drug targets. If successful, these drugs can be used for treatment.
What are the unique challenges in diagnosing and treating brain diseases?
- Mental disorders are diagnosed based on signs and symptoms, not underlying causes. 2. The same diagnosis may have many causes, complicating treatment approaches. 3. Not all mental illnesses have a clear genetic basis, and some result from multiple small mutations in various genes. 4. Genetic complexity makes it difficult to develop broadly useful animal models.
How does the complexity of genetic causes affect mental illnesses?
Mental illnesses can result from the inheritance of numerous small mutations in many different genes or from gene copy number variants, where duplication or deletion of a gene or gene segment can be the single cause of a diagnosis. This genetic complexity hinders the development of animal models for research.
What is a radical new approach for studying brain diseases in molecular medicine in psychiatry for studying pathophysiology of neurons
A radical approach involves studying the pathophysiology of neurons from individual patients. Skin cells can be transformed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can then be differentiated into neurons for study. However, the complexity of the brain, with its various cell types and rich interconnections, presents a challenge in understanding the pathophysiology of brain diseases.
What is fear, and how is it expressed in the body? Are all fears innate and species-specific? Why is fear considered adaptive, and what is its adaptive value? What happens when fear is expressed inappropriately, and what does this characterize?
-Fear is an adaptive response to threatening situations, and it is expressed in the body through the autonomic fight-or-flight response, which is mediated by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
-No, not all fears are innate and species-specific. While many fears are innate (such as a mouse’s fear of a cat), fear can also be learned through experiences.
-Fear is considered adaptive because it helps individuals respond to threats appropriately. Its adaptive value lies in ensuring survival and safety in dangerous situations.
-When fear is expressed inappropriately, it characterizes anxiety disorders, which are the most common of psychiatric disorders.
What are panic attacks, and how do they manifest? How long do panic attacks typically last?
-Panic attacks are sudden episodes of intense terror that occur without warning. They manifest with symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, tingling sensations, and chills or blushing. People often report an overwhelming fear of dying or going crazy during a panic attack.
-Panic attacks are usually short-lived, lasting less than 30 minutes.
Can panic attacks be triggered by specific stimuli?
Yes, panic attacks can occur in response to specific stimuli, but they can also happen spontaneously.
What is panic disorder, and how is it characterized? What percentage of the population suffers from panic disorder, and is there a gender difference in its prevalence? When is the onset of panic disorder most common? What are some common comorbidities associated with panic disorder?
-Panic disorder is characterized by recurring, seemingly unprovoked panic attacks and persistent worry about having further attacks.
-About 2% of the population suffers from panic disorder, which is twice as common in women as in men.
-The onset of panic disorder is most common after adolescence but before the age of 50 years.
-Half of the individuals with panic disorder will also suffer from major depression, and 25% of them will develop alcoholism or substance-abuse problems. and may lead to agoraphobia
What is agoraphobia, and what are some of its characteristics?
Agoraphobia is characterized by severe anxiety in situations where escape might be difficult or embarrassing, leading to avoidance of situations such as being alone outside the home, in crowds, cars, airplanes, or on bridges or elevators. It often occurs as an adverse outcome of panic disorder and affects about 5% of the population, with a higher incidence among women than men.
What is the long-lasting consequence of trauma, and what are its symptoms? What percentage of the adult population in the United States is affected by PTSD?
-The long-lasting consequence of trauma can be post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which includes symptoms such as increased anxiety, intrusive memories, dreams or flashbacks of traumatic experiences, irritability, and emotional numbness.
-PTSD affects 3.5% of the adult population in the United States.
What are obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and how are they characterized? What are compulsions in OCD, and why are they performed? What percentage of the population is affected by OCD, and when does it usually appear?
-Obsessions in OCD are recurrent, intrusive thoughts, images, ideas, or impulses that the individual perceives as inappropriate, grotesque, or forbidden.
-Compulsions in OCD are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce the anxiety associated with obsessions. Examples include repeated hand-washing, counting, and checking.
-OCD affects over 2% of the population, with an equal incidence among men and women. It typically appears in young adulthood, and symptoms can fluctuate in response to stress levels.
What is the stress response? How does a healthy person regulate the stress response?
-The stress response is the coordinated reaction to threatening stimuli, characterized by avoidance behavior, increased vigilance and arousal, activation of the sympathetic division of the ANS (autonomic nervous system), and the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands.
-A healthy person regulates the stress response through learning, which allows them to appropriately respond to threatening stimuli.
What is the hallmark of anxiety disorders?
The hallmark of anxiety disorders is the occurrence of an inappropriate stress response, either when a stressor is not present or when it is not immediately threatening.
What part of the brain is centrally involved in orchestrating the stress response?
the hypothalamus is centrally involved in orchestrating appropriate humoral, visceromotor, and somatic motor responses related to the stress response.
What is the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the stress response?
The HPA axis plays a significant role in regulating the humoral response of the stress response, involving the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands in releasing cortisol to respond to stress.
What is the hormonal response to stress, specifically involving cortisol (glucocorticoid)?
-Cortisol is released from the adrenal cortex in response to an elevation in the blood level of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which is released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). CRH is released into the blood by parvocellular neurosecretory neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus
-The hippocampus contains numerous glucocorticoid receptors that respond to the cortisol released from the adrenal gland in response to HPA system activation
-Overexpression of CRH in genetically engineered mice leads to increased anxiety-like behaviors, while genetically eliminating CRH receptors in mice results in reduced anxiety-like behavior compared to normal mice.
What brain structures regulate the HPA axis and the stress response? What is the role of the amygdala in the stress response?
-The amygdala and the hippocampus regulate the HPA axis and the stress response.
-The amygdala processes sensory information related to fear and activates the stress response when the central nucleus of the amygdala becomes active.
How does the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis contribute to the stress response?
The bed nucleus neurons activate the HPA axis and the stress response downstream from the amygdala.
