Autism, ADHD and depression

Question 1

1. Are women more commonly diagnosed with mental illness or neurodevelopmental disorders?
2. What are some specific conditions where women receive more diagnosis than men?

Answer 1

1. Women are more commonly diagnosed with mental illnesses
2. anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, OCD, PTSD are almost 2x more prevalent: Anorexia is 3 times more common: Bulimia is 10 times more common

Question 2

1. Are men more commonly diagnosed with mental illness or neurodevelopmental disorders?
2. What are some specific conditions where men receive more diagnosis than men?

Answer 2

1. neurodevelopmental disorders
2. Autism & ADHD are 4 times more common
   - Intellectual disability is 2 times more common
   - Tourettes is 3 times more common

Question 3

What’s the comorbidity of autism with other disorders

Answer 3

• 1/3 of people with autism have an intellectual disability as well as seizure disorder
• many people with autism also have ADHD, depression, and anxiety disorder

Question 4

What are some hypothesized reasons for autism

Answer 4

• Altered neuronal migration during early gestation
• Abnormal formation of synapses and dendritic spine
• Over connectivity in key brain regions
• Unbalanced excitatory–inhibitory neural networks

Question 5

Heritability of autism is between __% and __%

Answer 5

Heritability of autism is between 70% and 90%

Question 6

1.What are CVNs
2. why do they cause autism in males at a much higher rate than females?

Answer 6

1. CVNs are are rare gene copy number variations, where a section of the genome is duplicated or missing
2. Because heterogametic (XY instead of XX) have more variability (in basal energy, brain morphology, etc). it’s thought that having only 1 X chromosome creates developmental instability

Question 7

How do ritalin and adderall work for people with ADHD

Answer 7

They’re stimulants that raise dopamine levels by blocking or reversing dopamine reuptake transporter

Question 8

Bipolar disorder affects around __% of the population and around ___% heritability

Answer 8

Bipolar disorder affects around 2% of the population and around 80% heritability

Question 9

What are 3 drugs prescribed to people with bipolar (just list don’t explain)

Answer 9

1. Lithium
2. Voltage-gated sodium channel blockers
3. Anti depressants & anti psychotics

Question 10

What is lithium good at treating in bipolar

Answer 10

It’s effective for treating mania, which consequently lowers depression (doesn’t lower depression on its own)

Question 11

1. More women (__%) are diagnosed with major depressive disorder than men (__%)
2. The heritability of major depressive disorder is ___%

Answer 11

1. More women (7%) are diagnosed with major depressive disorder than men (3%)
2. The heritability of major depressive disorder is 40%

Question 12

List (don’t explain) different drugs prescribed to people with major depressive disorder

Answer 12

• MAOi (monoamine oxidase inhibitors)
• Tricyclics
• SNRIs
  -SSRIs
  -Ketamine

Question 13

1. How do MAOis work
2. How do tricyclics work? What’s not so good with them?

Answer 13

1. MAOis increase serotonin & norepinephrine by inhibiting their enzymatic breakdown
2. Tricyclics inhibit reuptake of serotonin & norepinephrine BUT also affect other neurotransmitters :/

Question 14

1. How do SNRIs work?
2. How do SSRIs work?

Answer 14

1. SNRIs - Specifically inhibits reuptake of norepinephrine & serotonin without affecting reuptake of other neurotransmitters
2. Increase serotonin only by inhibiting the reuptake process: doesn’t affect reuptake of other neurotransmitters

Question 15

How does ketamine work? (for depression)

Answer 15

it blocks NDMA glutamate receptors

Question 16

What’s the monoamine hypothesis?

Answer 16

Theory that depression may relate to insufficient monoamine (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine) receptor activity

Question 17

Are depression symptoms alleviated by dopamine receptor agonists like cocaine and amphetamine?

Answer 17

no

Question 18

What is tryptophan and why do we think it’s a cause of depression

Answer 18

Serotonin is made from tryptophan amino acid.
We think a lack of it causes depression bc preventing people from eating any tryptophan & then giving them a a tryptophan-free amino acid “cocktail” triggers an episode in ppl who are already susceptible.

Question 19

List some non-drug treatments for major depressive disorder

Answer 19

Electroconvulsive therapy
Deep brain stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Vagus nerve stimulation
Bright-light therapy (phototherapy)

Question 20

How does electroconvulsive therapy work for depression? How effective of a treatment is it?

Answer 20

We electrically induce seizures through electrical shocks to the head
. The effects are very rapid effects - seen within days: it’s the most effective form of depression treatment

Question 21

In DBS for depression, what part of the brain is targeted

subgenual..

Answer 21

The subgenual ACC is stimulated bc it’s an area that’s more active during depression

Question 22

How is complete sleep deprivation related to depression

Answer 22

Total sleep deprivation acts as an immediate antidepressant (while inducing some mania) - It’s theorized that it’s bc a chemical builds up when ur awake that acts as an antidepressant & gets washed away during sleep

Question 23

1. Do depressed people spend more time in deep, slow wave sleep or in stage 1 sleep
2. Do depressed people or non-depressed people enter REM sleep faster

Answer 23

1. ppl with depression spend more time in stage 1 sleep & less time in deep, slow-wave sleep
2. depressed people enter REM much faster than non-depressed people