Chapter 18 - Biopsychology of Psychiatric Disorders Flashcards
Psychiatric disorders
A disorder of psychological function sufficiently severe to require treatment by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.
DSM-IV-TR
The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, produced by the American Psychiatric Association.
Positive symptoms
Symptoms of schizophrenia that involve the production of an abnormal behavior or trait (e.g., hallucinations).
Negative symptoms
Symptoms of schizophrenia that involve the loss of a normal behavior or ability (e.g., anhedonia).
Chlorpromazine
The first anti-schizophrenic drug.
Reserpine
The first monoamine antagonist to be used in the treatment of schizophrenia; the active ingredient of the snakeroot plant.
Haloperidol
A butyrophenone that was used as an anti-schizophrenic drug.
Phenothiazines
A class of anti-schizophrenic drugs that bind effectively to both D1 and D2 receptors.
Butyrophenones
A class of anti-schizophrenic drugs that bind primarily to D2 receptors.
Neuroleptics
Drugs that alleviate schizophrenic symptoms.
Atypical neuroleptics
Drugs that are effective against schizophrenia without binding strongly to D2 receptors.
Clozapine
An atypical neuroleptic that is used to treat schizophrenia, does not produce Parkinsonian side effects, and does not have a high affinity for D2 receptors.
Psychedelic drugs
Drugs whose primary action is to alter perception, emotion, and cognition.
Anhedonia
A general inability to experience pleasure.
Clinical depression (major depressive disorder)
Depression that is so severe that it is difficult for the patient to meet the essential requirements of daily life.
Affective disorders
Depression and mania
Mania
An affective disorder in which the patient is overconfident, impulsive, distractible, and highly energetic.
Mood disorders
Affective disorders
Bipolar affective disorder
A disorder of emotion in which the patient experiences periods of mania interspersed with periods of depression.
Unipolar affective disorder
A disorder of emotion in which a patient experiences depression but no periods of mania.
Reactive depression
Depression that is triggered by a negative experience.
Endogenous depression
Depression that occurs with no apparent cause.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Type of affective disorder in which attacks of depression and lethargy typically occur every winter, presumably triggered by the reduction in sunlight.
Postpartum depression
Clinical depression that some women suffer after they have given birth.
Iproniazid
The first antidepressant drug; monoamine oxidase inhibitor.
MAO inhibitors
Antidepressant drugs that increase the level of monoamine neurotransmitters by inhibiting the action of monoamine oxidase.
Cheese effect
The surges in blood pressure that occur when individuals taking MAO inhibitors consume tyramine-rich foods, such as cheese, pickles, etc..
Tricyclic antidepressants
Drugs with an antidepressant action and a three-ring molecular structure; they selectively suppress REM sleep.
Imipramine
The first tricyclic antidepressant drug.
Selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Class of drugs that exert agonistic effects by blocking the reuptake of serotonin from synapses; used to treat depression.
Prozac
The trade name of fluoxetine, the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor developed for treating depression.
Mood stabilizers
A drug that blocks the rapid transition between depression and mania.
Lithium
A metallic ion that is used in the treatment of bipolar affective disorder.
Up-regulation
An increase in the number of receptors for a neurotransmitter in response to decreased release of that neurotransmitter.
Three structures have been found to be abnormal in many structural and functional brain-imaging studies of affective disorders:
The amygdala,
The medial prefrontal cortex,
The hippocampus.
Even the connections between these structures appears to be disturbed in some patients with affective disorders.
Antischizophrenia medications typically affect
only the positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
The first two antischizophrenic drugs were
chlorpromazine and reserpine
The monoamine theory of depression is based on the fact that
most drugs used to treat depression are monoamine agonists.
MAO inhibitors are no longer used in the treatment of depression because they
block MAO’s ability to break down tyramine.
The probability that a close biological relative (i.e., a parent, sibling, or child) of a patient suffering from schizophrenia will also be diagnosed with schizophrenia is about _____.
10%
Schizophrenia typically begins in (what age range)
adolescence or early adulthood
Chlorpromazine
binds to the D2 dopamine receptor
Selective norepinephrine-reuptake inhibitors are used in the treatment of
depression
Name a positive symptom of schizophrenia
hallucinacions
When insufficient neurotransmitter is released at a synapse, there is often compensatory ______ of the receptors.
up-regulation
The first tricyclic antidepressant, was initially thought to be an antischizophrenic drug. However, it had no effect against schizophrenia but seemed to help some depressed patients.
Imipramine
Four major classes of drugs have been used in the treatment of affective disorders:
- monoamine oxidase inhibitors
- tricyclic antidepressants
- selective monoamine-reuptake inhibitors
- mood stabilizers
The first antischizophrenic drug
chlorpromazine. Was developed as an antihistamine.
Drugs (like chlorpromazine) that bind effectively to both D1 and D2 receptors.
phenothiazines
Drugs (like haloperidol) that bind effectively to D2 receptors but not to D1 receptors.
butyrophenones
Affective flattening
reduction or absence of emotional expression
reduction or absence of emotional expression
affective flattening
alogia
reduction or absence of speech
reduction or absence of speech
alogia
avolition
reduction or absence of motivation
reduction or absence of motivation
avolition
inability to experience pleasure
anhedonia
catatonia
remaining motionless, often in awkward positions for long periods
remaining motionless, often in awkward positions for long periods
catatonia
Name some positive symptoms of schizophrenia
delusions, hallucinations, inappropriate affect, incoherent speech or thought, odd behavior.
inappropriate affect
failure to react with the appropiate emotion to positive or negative events
Schizophrenia means
the splitting of psychic functions
The primary symptom of the disorder (schizophrenia):
the breakdown of integration among emotion, thought, and action.
Schizophrenia attacks about _____ of individuals of all races and cultural groups.
1%
The concordance rate for schizophrenia in identical twins is substantially less than 100%, suggesting that
differences in experience have a significant effect on the development of schizophrenia.
It is clear that schizophrenia has multiple causes. Many genes have been linked to the disorder, but
no single gene can cause schizophrenia. Instead, the genes act in combination with one another and experience to produce the disorder.
The concordance rates for schizophrenia in identical twins are
45%
Monoamine
a compound having a single amine group in its molecule, especially one that is a neurotransmitter (e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine).
Disorder of tics. Typically begins early in life-usually in childhood or early adolescence- with simple motor tics, such as eye blinking or head movements, but the symptoms tend to become more complex and severe as the patient grows older.
Tourette syndrome
echolalia
repetition of another’s words
palilalia
repetition of one’s own words
coprolalia
uttering obscenities
Tourette syndrome develops in approximately ___ of the population, and is three times more frequent in ____ than in _____.
.07%,
males,
females
Some patients with Tourette syndrome also display signs of
attention-defecit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or both.
Although the tics of Tourette syndrome are involuntary, they can be temporarily ______ with concentration and effort by the patient.
supressed,
The greatest difficulty in studying Tourette syndrome is the fact that symptoms usually _______.
subside as people age
Most research on the cerebral pathology associated with Tourette syndrome has focused on the _____. Patients with this disorder tend to have smaller _____. Presumably, the decision to suppress the tics comes from the prefrontal cortex, which initiates the suppression by acting on the ______.
caudate,
caudate nuclei,
caudate nuclei.
An MRI study of children with Tourette syndrome documented thinning in ____ cortex that was particularly prominent in the areas that controlled the ____, ____ and ____.
sensorimotor,
face,
mouth,
larynx (voice box).
The tics of Tourette syndrome are usually treated with ______, which can reduce tics by about ______. Though, many patients refuse because of the adverse side affects.
neuroleptics,
70%.
The success of D2 receptor blockers in blocking Tourette tics is consistent with the current hypothesis that the disorder is related to an abnormality of the _______. The efficacy of thesee drugs especially implicates the ______, which is the target of many of the dopaminergic projections into the basal ganglia.
basal ganglia-thalamus-cortex feedback,
striatum (caudate plus putamen).
Individuals who have not been diagnosed with schizophrenia but are at risk for the disorder (for example, because they have close relatives with schizophrenia) display ______.
reduced volumes in several brain areas
Extensive ______ exists when patients first seek medical treatment and have their first brain scans. Subsequent brain scans reveal that the brain damage has ______. Damage to different areas of the brain develops at ______.
brain damage,
continued to develop,
different rates.
Anxiety disorders are the most _____ of all psychiatric disorders. About _____ of people suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. The incidence seems to be about ______ as great in females as in males.
prevalent,
17%,
twice.
Panic disorders
characterized by rapid-onset attacks of extreme fear and severe symptoms of stress (e.g., choking, heart palpitations, shortness of breath); they are often components of generalized anxiety and phobic disorders, but they also occur as separate disorders.
Phobic anxiety disorders
similar to generalized anxiety disorders except that they are triggered by exposure to particular objects (e.g., birds, spiders) or situations (e.g., crowds, darkness).
Generalized anxiety disorders
characterized by stress responses and extreme feelings of anxiety that occur in the absence of any obvious precipitating stimulus.
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
characterized by frequently recurring, uncontrollable, anxiety-producing thoughts (obsessions) and impulses (compulsions). Responding to them is a means of dissipating the anxiety associated with them.
Posttraumatic stress disorder
a persistent pattern of psychological distress following exposure to extreme stress, such as war or being the victim of sexual assault.
Agoraphobia
a pathological fear of public places and open spaces.
A pathological fear of public places and open spaces.
Agoraphobia
repetition of another’s words
echolalia
repetition of one’s own words
palilalia
uttering obscenities
coprolalia
