1. When the Brain Dies First
Camara Powell
Period 1, Anatomy & Physiology
February 2012

2. Definition of a Neurological
Disorder
 The DSM-IV proposed definition of a mental disorder is as
follows:
 A behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that
occurs in an individual
 That reflects an underlying psychobiological
dysfunction
 The consequences of which are clinically significant
distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e.,
impairment in one or more important areas of
functioning)
 That is not primarily a result of social deviance or
conflicts with society

3. Environmental Impact
 Identical twins don’t show 100% concordance, so there
must be an environmental component
 Stress triggers potential risk and can make it worse,
however the severity of impact is difficult to measure
 Persons born in winter are more likely to develop post-
natal mental illness in Northern climates
 In years of influenza epidemics, babies born 3 months later
are at increased risk for mental illness (diagnosed 20 years
later)
 Pre-natal development is highly influential, and can be
detrimental

4. Biological Bases
 Evidence from several case studies via the following
methods concludes that most neurological disorders
are a result of highly active synapses within the brain:
 Brain scans
 Studies using antipsychotic drugs
 Drugs decreasing dopamine activity in brain reduce
severity
 Drugs increasing dopamine in brain (e.g., L-dopa) can
produce schizophrenic-like conditions
 Dopamine Hypothesis: Underlying cause of
neurological disorders is excessive stimulation of
certain types of dopamine synapses

5. Most Common Disorders
 Schizophrenia
 Depression
 Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD)
 Phobias
 Mood Disorders (Bi-polar, etc.)
 Anxiety
 Compulsions

6. Schizophrenia
 Literal translation: “split mind”
 Subtypes: Paranoid, Disorganized, Catatonic, Indifferent
 Symptoms include disorders of thought (e.g., delusions
& paranoia). language (e.g., incoherence, rhyming
speech), perception (e.g., auditory hallucinations – 70%
of schizophrenics report hearing voices), blunted or
inappropriate emotions, and/or strange or odd
behaviors (e.g., facial grimaces)
 Typically caused by either genetic, biological,
environmental, or developmental abnormalities
 Positive neurology: Hallucinations, delusions
 Negative neurology: Isolation, withdrawal, apathy
 Negative symptoms are less influenced by
medications than positive symptoms

7. Genetic Influences on
Schizophrenia

8. Depression
 “Common cold” of mental illness
 17% lifetime prevalence
 Twice as common among women as men
 Bias in diagnosis?
 Characteristics: Persistent sadness, gloom, hopelessness, guilt,
worthlessness, decreased energy, marked changes in sleeping/eating,
difficulty concentrating, restlessness
 Environmental factors
 ¾ of recently depressed individuals experienced a preceding negative life
event. However, only 1 in 5 experiencing a negative life event develop
depression
 Cognitive features
 Negative view of themselves, the world, and the future (cognitive triad)
 Attention turned inward (rather than outward)
 Important Risk factors
 Low social support, low self-esteem, ruminative response style,
physical/emotional illness, previous episode of depression, heredity

9. The Depression Cycle

10. Dissociative Identity Disorder
 Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder
 The presence of 2 or more distinct identities or personality
states that recurrently take control of behavior
 Each personality has its own memories, behavior patterns and
social relations
 Misconception: schizophrenia = having multiple
personalities
 Identities may have contrasting personalities which may
emerge in certain circumstances and may differ in reported
age and gender, vocabulary use, general attitude and
predominant affect
 Time to switch between identities is usually only a matter of
seconds and often accompanied by visible changes.

11. Phobias
 Specific phobia types in DSM-IV
 Animal type (snakes, spiders)
 Natural environment type (heights, storms)
 Blood-injection-injury (BII) type (seeing blood,
getting a shot, watching surgery)
 Situational type (enclosed spaces, bridges)
 Other (vomiting, loud sounds, clowns, being
constantly watched by a duck)
 Thought experiment: What are your three biggest
fears?

12. Adaptations to Predators &
Environmental Dangers
 Fears: Snakes, spiders, heights, separation, darkness,
strangers
 Responses: Freeze, flee, fight, submit
 Developmental timing of onset of fears: Coincides with
adaptive problems

13. List of Common Phobias:
 Myrmecophobia- Ants
 Phalacrophobia- Becoming bald
 Hobophobia- Bums or beggars
 Acrophobia- Heights
 Pentheraphobia- Mother-in-law
 Hypengyophobia- Responsibility
 Venustraphobia- Beautiful women
 Ailurophobia- Cats
 Gamophobia- Marriage
 Ophidiophobia- Snakes
 Arachnophobia- Spiders
 Hydrophobia- Water

14. Mood Disorders
 Manic Depression
 Characterized by dramatic mood swings—from overly "high" and/or
irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods
of normal mood in between
 Depressive episode: usual symptoms of depression
 Manic episode
 Increasing rates of teen suicide
 1% prevalence
 Approximately 1 in 5 die from suicide
 Highly heritable
 70% concordance rate for MZ twins, 20% for DZ

15. Bipolar Disorder
 "Manic-depression distorts moods and thoughts,
incites dreadful behaviors, destroys the basis of
rational thought, and too often erodes the desire
and will to live. It is an illness that is biological in
its origins, yet one that feels psychological in the
experience of it; an illness that is unique in
conferring advantage and pleasure, yet one that
brings in its wake almost unendurable suffering
and, not infrequently, suicide. “
-- Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., An Unquiet Mind, 1995

16. PET Scan of Bipolar Brain