Schizophrenia

I recently learned about the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, which was earlier known as dementia praecox, which is latin for "premature mental deterioration". What I found interesting was a myth buster that I even believed up until I read: Schizophrenia is not related to multiple personality disorder. Many people confuse the two and have labeled each in the same category of symptoms. 

This blog defines the two separately and at an understandable level.

There are also many different types and factors that go into play when being diagnosed for schizophrenia. 

"The Many Faces" gives great insight to these types.

The symptoms of schizophrenia can vary and range from having deteriorated in everyday functioning such as through work, interpersonal relations, self care for at least 6 months with two or more of the following:

• Delusions (aliens controlling my brain)
• Hallucinations (hearing voices)
• Disorganized speech (rambling)
• Grossly disorganized behavior
• Absent signs of emotion, speech, and socialization 

If you or someone you know is experiencing any of these above, it is important to find peace and understanding of the disorder and to do something about it. Don't wait. There is HELP.

Mood Disorders...

When I was younger, I was always told that depression is not a real disease, that it was just something that people talked about when they were feeling sad. Now that I am older, I like to do plenty of reading on subjects that interest me and that I am unsure about the source. Recently though I've read on major depressive disorder, feeling sad and helpless everyday for weeks at a time. The idea that depression has a specific look and is easily identified by trained professionals astounds me. I now believe that depression is a serious issue because of the side effects to being depressed such as:

• little energy
• contemplation of suicide
• hardly imagining being happy
• feeling worthless
• sleeping trouble
• lack of concentration

It is evident that there are many factors that affect why people fall into depression. For most patients, they remember a highly stressful event that could have triggered the first episode, such as the loss of a loved one. After the first single episode of depression, more will follow and much easier too.
Families should be aware of the possible onset of depression if another member has had a history of depression. There is also different kinds of depression and levels of extremities.

Postpartum depression significant in women after giving birth. This 20% reported degree of postpartum depression is real and is flourished by stress as well as hormonal fluctuations. It is also believed that the amount of stressful life events and lack of social support will increase the chance of postpartum depression.

There is a difference between sadness and actual clinically significant depression. The video below is a great explanation of major depression and the changes that occur in the brain.

If you are feeling any of these significant signs or symptoms, it is important to talk to your doctor, school counselor, or a trusted source for direction and help in overcoming this disorder. It is important to remember that you are not alone, as the video explains, there are over 20 million Americans feeling the exact same way.

There are ways to help deal with depression and there is hope. In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Stress and a cup of tea

STRESS the hair pulling, teeth grinding, stomach turning feeling that some individuals deal with daily. According to McEwen, stress is brought upon when events that are interpreted as a threat to an individual elicits physiological and behavioral responses. Whether it’s finals week or the death of a loved one, stress takes its toll on our bodies positively and negatively. There are two body systems activated by stress, one is the sympathetic nervous system also known as “fight or flight”- which one professor recently tested by calling for a surprise pop quiz and our second system the HPA-axis which consists of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and the adrenal cortex.

Stress that releases cortisol the “stress hormone” helps the body mobilize its energies to fight a difficult situation, but the effects depend on the amount and duration. In fact, brief or moderate stress can actually improve attention and memory formation as well as ones performance on regular, simple tasks. Stress also helps enhance our immune system. On the other hand, prolonged stress does the exact opposite by impairing memory and immune activity.

But no need to stress! There are thousands of different techniques used for relaxation. The relaxation response is bringing your nervous system back into balance. One widely used technique is deep breathing meditation. In which you sit up straight with one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach, you breathe in through your nose feeling the hand on your stomach rising, and exhale as much air through your mouth, contracting your abdomen muscles, the hand on your chest should only move slightly. The more oxygen you get, the less tense, short of breath, and anxious you feel. 

Another technique is yoga and tai chi, they involve a series of both moving and stationary poses, combined with deep breathing. Feel free to check out this great website sharing helpful techniques and suggestions to help relieve stress.

Warm Milk and Toast Please!

As a college student, I can go many nights without the proper amount of sleep. This I know can be harmful to my overall health in the long run. So I've done my research on possible sleeping help, but the natural kind of course! I prefer to do most things naturally so that I know for sure what is going into my system. What I read most on is melatonin and what I can do to increase my sleep hours the healthy way, since I often have long days of work and studying. Melatonin influences both circadian and circanual rhythms and is released naturally through our pineal gland. It is usually released at night, which is why the yawning starts when I try to write a paper past midnight...

It is possible to change your melatonin rhythm shift when you move to another country or time zone for a while. A good thing to keep in mind if you want to take melatonin before you sleep, it works best 2-3 hours before to actually kick in and also if taken in the morning, it will have little effect.

Since I sometimes have trouble turning off my thinking switch at night, I usually have and do or eat! a few things to make me sleepy. There are many websites and sources that offer examples of relaxation, but I go for simple solutions like this one.

It might seem silly to some and may not even work for others, but I like to listen to calming music while getting ready for bed and even while reading a book to make me sleepy. Just try! It might help if you have anxiety when you're about to fall asleep.

What Men and Women Want

I found this comedian talking about what women really want and decided to share..just cause I think it goes with my blog today!

What is your type? Have you ever reflected on why you tend to go for women with a pretty laugh or a man that can keep a conversation going? The answer seems obvious; everyone would like their partner to be smart, trust-worthy, funny, healthy and of course- physically attractive. There is actually research that  says women like men who would be able to provide for them. Some evolutionary theorists suggest it is a need for survival. Such as when a woman is pregnant or caring for a child, she will need someone to help her buy food and run errands (or that is preferred anyway, since we all know single parenting is definitely possible). This makes sense if we think about why most women tend to build walls before letting the man through, not just to protect her heart from getting hurt, but also so she won't be alone in her time of need. 

Another interesting factor to think about is that men don't care as much about how a woman smells compared to how much she cares! I think this is quite humorous since women spend more on body perfumes and hair products that smell good. Men look more for what works best for their body odor, but women will reject him faster if his scent is not pleasing to her liking. There is research that suggests a woman is less sexually responsive to a man if he smells too feminine, to avoid inbreeding (in an evolutionary sense). This is all thanks to genes relating to the immune system called major histocompatibility complex.

Here's one for the men now...
There is a partial excuse made by an evolutionary explanation that says men choose younger women unconsciously because of their ability to remain fertile longer. So some men are just creeps and like to go for the young-enough-to-be-your-daughter female, but considering the evolutionary perspective, younger women are able to have more offspring, which makes the man feel superior by being able spread his genes through many more generations. 

There ya go.. just a few interesting facts about variations in reproductive and sexual behaviors or why we like what we like!

Power of the Mind...or Placebos?

The phrase "The power of the mind..." has been used in most cases of when you want something or don't want something to happen. Such as when we are in a cold setting and we try to think of everything warm like hot cocoa and blankets by a fire in order to replicate what we want our body to feel instead of what it is actually feeling. I think it gets even more interesting when it is pain that we want to ignore especially physical pain. Did you know that placebos actually relieve some physical pain? A placebo is a drug or other procedure with no pharmacological effects. They will usually never help with actual medical conditions, but they are known to show a decreased response to pain. That is, the patients will not only say they feel better, but brain and spinal cord scans actually prove this decrease! This is the idea that the patients will emotionally feel better according to the decrease response in what is called the cingulate cortex. Another amazing fact about these placebos is that the effects are not just relaxation, but actually work by partly increasing the release of opiates and the other part of releasing dopamine. There are still new findings of different effects even the placebo's opposite a antiplacebos, or nocebos, actually worsen some pain by the increase of anxiety. 

I really like this video of different placebos and their effects because it explains pretty much everything I did and even more that I had not known or read about yet.  

If you would like to learn more about placebos, I found this fun and interesting place to read on science things that has a great category on the topic.

When Brain Damage Turns to Serious Amnesia...

I think all people at one point or another have fears or even just think of encountering amnesia for a short period of time. Considering the more serious possibilities, such as Korsakoff's syndrome or better known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, amnesia can be a devastating issue and difficult to understand. It is defined as brain damage caused by prolonged thiamine deficiency. When this kind of deficiency happens, the body finally feels the effects of the usual alcohol from the weeks of no proper nutrition or vitamins needed. 

Of course, this syndrome is preventable and highly unlikely formed within a short period of time. 

According to the Family Caregiver Alliance National Center on Caregiving's publication of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, it is proposed that the criteria needed for diagnosing alcohol-related dementia (not strictly WKS) suggest that the diagnosis be made at least 60 days after the last exposure to alcohol and that a “significant” alcohol history would include an average of 35 drinks per week for men (28 for women) for at least five years. 

Now I don't know about you, but that seems like a whole lot of alcohol and one would assume that this would lead to some kind of deficiency. Based on this new found knowledge, it is easily guessed that those with Korsakoff's syndrome are typically struggling alcoholics and unable to treat themselves when and if diagnosed properly. This in turn makes the entire syndrome even more devastating in a way because of the known symptoms such as:

- Apathy

- Confusion

- Memory loss

- Major impairment of episodic memory and sparing of implicit memory

- Confabulation: patients fill in memory gaps with guesses.

*Point of interest of this particular symptom: Most patient's answers of confabulation were true at some time of their past and most are made up to be more pleasant than the one present ones would be.

There is help for this crucial syndrome and one point of reference is from the article previously mentioned above. 

Broca's Aphasia

When the frontal lobe of the brain is damaged by a stroke, Broca's aphasia is common in about 1/3 of those people. Broca's aphasia also known as nonfluent aphasia is a language impairment that includes:

• Difficulty in language production e.g., reading, writing, speaking.
• Understanding complex sentences e.g., omitting pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, helping verbs.
• Word meanings, not just pronunciation. 
• Frequently speak in short phrases that make sense but are produced with great effort.

Other impairments include:

• Right-sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg because the frontal lobe is also important for motor movements.

What is important to realize is that even though the risk of stroke doubles for each decade between the ages of 55 and 85, they also can occur in childhood or adolescence and men and women are equally affected. According to the National Aphasia Association, approximately 80,000 individuals acquire aphasia each year from strokes. About one million people in the United States currently have aphasia. It is definitely smart to stay informed and aware of the possible treatable risk factors of stroke such as:

• High blood pressure
• Cigarette smoking
• Heart disease
• Diabetes 
• Cholesterol imbalance
• Obesity or physical inactivity
• History of TIA or stroke

You can find more information on preventing strokes here as well as a chart to help determine your stroke risk if you are above the age of 55.

Areas of the brain affected by 

Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia

The video below is one of many that Sarah Scott has made over the past couple of years of her life and progress after a stroke at the age of 18. She has Broca's aphasia. Just by watching a few minutes, it is amazing to see her work at her language and over the course of her videos, she has such an increase in her abilities. Very informative and definitely inspiring to watch.

Drugs that Help Strokes

What?! There are drugs that may actually help with strokes?

So far as to what I have been researching, yes there is and a few might be shocking to some people.

We have definitely come a long way medically as to finding the cause and factors of different types of strokes. I have found ischemia interesting because there is a way to reduce the effects of stroke if done quickly. The drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is known to break up blood clots. Similar effects can be found in aspirin and it is good to know the causes of strokes. It is amazing now that hospitals are prepared to do what is best for each type of stroke. For example, the physician cannot give tPA to a patient who experienced a hemorrhage (ruptured artery) like candy considering it will make the effects worse. There are a few more options to consider, some that I am a bit skeptical on, but if they help, then by all means. Brain damage is preventable to a certain degree through cooling the brain and even a bit of marijuana because of the cannabinoids chemicals. From my past readings and research, marijuana has yet to be pronounced dangerous to an occasional user. Definitely not for pregnant women, but for those in medical needs, I don't see why not if it is not harmful and may make the effects better because of the decrease in glutamate. 

That of course is a completely different post for a different time...

For more information and videos on strokes you can look here.

So What About That Marijuana Legalization?

I find the topic of marijuana to be very interesting and you too will understand soon.

If you didn't already know, marijuana has chemicals such as cannabinoids, that are used medically for the following reasons:

• relieves pain or nausea
• combat glaucoma (an eye disorder)
• increases appetite

This is the purified THC called dronabinol that is approved, but is not legal in every state. It is controversial because of some of the effects it has on users such as:

• psychological effects: 
• intensification of sensory experience 
• illusion that time slows down
• impairments of memory and cognition

These effects we investigated and was concluded to be caused by the brain's cannabinoid receptors (found in many areas of the mammalian brain, but scarce in the medulla). The experience of marijuana can be pleasant, but with legitimate reason. Cannabinoids inhibit GABA to the ventral segmental area of the midbrain (which is the major source of axons that release dopamine. The cannabinoids then decrease inhibition so the increase of activity of the neurons release dopamine (the feel good chemical).

I found a few stats and web pages that I feel provide important research and information of the use and consequences of marijuana use.

-Medical Dangers

-Addiction Help

Our Beyond Huge Universe

"Imagine the number 1 followed by about 500 zeros." Straight from the source of the book being used in Physiological Psychology. Wow! The whole idea is mind blowing for our universe to possibly be different in so many ways, but ended up this particular way for us to be able to live in. I loved how the chapter engaged me right at the beginning with the insights on if the universe were made any differently, even to the slightest, life would not be possible! I think this was a great way to introduce all the topics in the module such as biological psychology, which is one of my favorite studies so far. Mainly because it is able to branch out into all kinds of focuses on brain functioning. This is where neurons are mentioned, which so happens to be my group's team name! 

This is what they look like in case you have never seen them magnified like me. :-) 

So speaking of brain functioning, I really enjoyed the biological explanations of behavior which include: physiological, evolutionary, ontogenetic, and functional. Functional explanation intrigues me the most because it answers the why questions on how certain things or animals evolved. I would like to see more examples on which animals use their passed on genes as an advantage to living and what the functional explanations will be. I am definitely excited to learn more on biology, even though this is physiological psychology class.