Physiological Psych/Psychopharm Flashcards
(123 cards)
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare, but potentially fatal side effect of the antipsychotic drugs. It involves a rapid onset of motor, mental, and autonomic symptoms including muscle rigidity, tachycardia, hyperthermia, and altered consciousness. To avoid a potentially fatal outcome, the drug must be stopped as soon as symptoms of NMS develop.
Broca’s aphasia
Broca’s aphasia is caused by damage to Broca’s area and involves difficulty producing written or spoken language with little or no comprehension issues; it often includes anomia and impaired repetition.
Aphasia is impaired production and/or comprehension of language.
Conduction aphasia
Conduction aphasia is caused by damage to the arcuate fasciculus and does not significantly affect comprehension but does result in anomia, paraphasia, and impaired repetition.
anomia - patient is unable to recall the names of everyday objects.
paraphasia - words are jumbled and sentences meaningless.
Aphasia is impaired production and/or comprehension of language.
Wernicke’s Aphasia
receptive
Wernicke’s aphasia is caused by damage to Wernicke’s area and involves an inability to comprehend written or spoken language along with the production of rapid, seemingly effortless speech that is lacking in content; it may include anomia, paraphasia, and impaired repetition.
Aphasia is impaired production and/or comprehension of language.
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) is caused by excessive secretion of insulin by the pancreas and is characterized by hunger, dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, palpitations, anxiety, depression, and confusion.
All-or-None Principle
The all-or-none principle predicts that an action potential will always be of the same magnitude regardless of the amount of stimulation received by a neuron as long as the minimal level of stimulation (the threshold) has been reached.
Action Potential
With sufficient stimulation from other cells, a cell becomes depolarized (the interior of the cell becomes less negative), which triggers an action potential - i.e., an electrical impulse that travels quickly through the cell.
Neuron
The neuron is a specialized nerve cell involved in mental processes and behavior. Messages within a neuron are transmitted from a neuron’s dendrites to the end of its axon through an electrical process called conduction.
Weber’s Law
Weber’s Law states that the just noticeable difference in stimulus intensity is a constant proportion of the initial stimulus intensity.
Fechner’s law
Fechner’s law states that physical stimulus changes are logarithmically related to their psychological sensations
Stevens’s Power Law
Stevens’s Power Law proposes that the magnitude of a sensation is equal to the physical magnitude of the stimulus producing the sensation raised to a certain power (exponent) which varies, depending on the specific sensation being measured.
Psychophysical Laws
The psychophysical laws attempt to predict the relationship between perception and sensation.
suprachiasmatic nucleus
The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is located in the hypothalamus, is involved in regulation of the body’s circadian rhythms.
Hypothalamus
The hypothalamus consists of a cluster of nuclei that control the autonomic nervous system and endocrine glands, mediate basic drives, and regulate emotional expression.
Imipramine, Clomipramine
Tricyclics
Imipramine has also been found useful for treating enuresis, (inability to control urination) while clomipramine is an effective treatment for Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Bulimia Nervosa, and OCD.
Tricyclics
The tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are believed to work by blocking the reuptake of norepinephrine, dopamine, and/or serotonin. They are most effective for alleviating somatic, vegetative symptoms. Side effects include anticholinergic effects, confusion, drowsiness, weight gain, and cardiovascular symptoms.
Temporal Lobe And Wernicke’s Area
The temporal lobe contains the primary auditory cortex and Wernicke’s area.
Damage can result in
- auditory agnosia
- cortical deafness
- impairments in long-term memory
- Wernicke’s (receptive) aphasia
General Adaptation Syndrome
According to Selye, the human response to stress is mediated by adrenal-pituitary secretions (e.g., cortisol) and involves three stages:
- alarm reaction
- resistance
- exhaustion
The model predicts that prolonged stress can result in illness or death.
Occipital Lobe And Visual Agnosia/Prosopagnosia
The occipital lobe contains the visual cortex.
Damage to the occipital lobe can result in
- visual agnosia (inability to recognize familiar objects),
- color agnosia,
- word blindness, and/or
- scotomas (blind spots).
Lesions at the junction of the occipital, temporal, and parietal lobes can produce prosopagnosia (inability to recognize familiar faces).
Emotion (Areas Of The Brain)
Areas of the brain that have been implicated in the regulation of emotion include the
- amygdala (which plays a role in the perception and expression of anger, fear, sadness, happiness, and other emotions and attaches emotion to memories)
- hypothalamus (which is involved in the translation of emotions into physical responses)
- cerebral cortex. With regard to the latter, the left hemisphere governs happiness and other positive emotions, while the right hemisphere mediates sadness, fear, and other negative emotions.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive degenerative disease characterized by tremor, muscular rigidity, akathisia, akinesia, and speech difficulties; and it may eventually include dementia. Symptoms are temporarily relieved by L-dopa, a dopamine agonist. Parkinson’s disease is believed to be due to degeneration of dopamine-containing cells, especially in the substantia nigra.
Frontal Lobe (contains, involved in)
The frontal lobe occupies the major portion of the cortex and includes the primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, Broca’s area, and prefrontal cortex.
It is involved in
- initiative
- planning ability
- abstract thinking
- executive functions;
- personality and mood; and
- motor functions.
Damage to: Frontal Lobe, Broca’s Area, Prefrontal Cortex
Damage to Broca’s area produces Broca’s (expressive) aphasia.
Damage to the prefrontal cortex produces personality changes and deficits in higher-level cognitive abilities.
Menopause/Hormone Replacement Therapy
The decreased estrogen levels that accompany menopause produce a variety of emotional and physical symptoms including hot flashes, fatigue, mood swings, nausea, vaginal dryness, and loss of bone mass.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) alters estrogen levels only or both estrogen and progesterone levels and is effective for eliminating hot flashes, mood swings, and vaginal dryness and reduces the risk for bone loss.