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Issues in Mental Health > Explanations of Mental Illness > Flashcards

Explanations of Mental Illness Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 main explanations of mental illness?

A

The biochemical explanation, the genetic explanation and brain abnormality as an explanation of mental illness.

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2
Q

What does the biochemical explanation see mental illness as?

A

Sees mental illness as an imbalance of chemicals in the body. For example lack of insulin can lead to diabetes.

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3
Q

Outline the nervous system and how it works in terms of neurotransmitters, neurons, synapse etc.

A
  • Nervous system made up of thousands of nerve cells
  • Between 2 cells is a gap called a synapse which allows one cell (pre-synaptic cell) to pass chemicals to another cell (post-synaptic cell)
  • Chemicals passing across synapse are called neurotransmitters
  • Chemicals cross synapse and transmit electrical signal, and once post-synaptic cell has received chemical, it is taken back to first pre-synaptic cell (called reuptake)
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4
Q

How can biochemistry explain mental illness?

A
  • Sometimes messages between 2 neurons are interrupted
  • This could influence availability of certain neurotransmitters meaning we might have too little of something available to use
  • This could explain abnormal behaviours
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5
Q

What are the three neurotransmitters which are believed to play a part in mental illness?

A

Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine

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6
Q

What mental illness is associated with serotonin?

A

Depression.

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7
Q

What happens if levels of serotonin are low?

A

Serotonin won’t get passed along synapse effectively and their message won’t get across before the serotonin gets taken back, therefore it will cause a low mood.

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8
Q

How can you treat an imbalance of serotonin?

A

Through SSRI drugs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) that block the re-uptake so that the neurotransmitters stay in the synapse for longer and have more of an effect.

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9
Q

What mental illness is associated with dopamine?

A

Schizophrenia.

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10
Q

What effect can illegal substances have on dopamine?

A

They can increase dopamine so it is unsurprising that drug users can often show symptoms of psychotic disorders.

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11
Q

How can we treat high levels of Dopamine?

A

Dopamine receptor blockers block the post-synaptic cell receiving the Dopamine, and therefore help to reduce psychotic symptoms.

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12
Q

What is in imbalance of Serotonin and Norepinephrine linked to and why?

A

Linked to anxiety disorders.

Norepinephrine is released in response to danger.

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13
Q

How can we treat an imbalance of Serotonin and Norepinephrine?

A
  • SNRIs (Serotonin - Norepinephrine Re-uptake Inhibitors)

- They block the re-uptake of serotonin and norepinephrine

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14
Q

What does the genetic explanation of mental illness suggest?

A

Suggests that certain disorders are passed from one parent to a child through genetic transference.

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15
Q

What did Ohman do in his study of phobias?

A
  • Tried to induce phobias of various object by presenting objects and then an electric shock
  • Found people shown images of snakes had greater response to fear than those shown houses and faces
  • Measured through galvanic skin response (electrical charge carried through sweat)
  • Easiest to condition a fear of the snakes - suggests a biological preparedness
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16
Q

What are monozygotic and dizygotic twins?

A
  • Monozygotic - Identical twins - same genetic make-up and share 100% of genes (come from one egg)
  • Diszygotic - Twins who are not identical (2 eggs) and share roughly 50% of their genes
17
Q

How can twins help us understand the role of genes and the environment?

A
  • As identical twins share 100% of genes, we expect them to share traits
  • To measure this we look at concordance rates
  • If something is concordant, both twins have it
18
Q

Outline Gottesman and Shields study and the results.

A
  • They looked at adoption and twin samples to investigate genes and schizophrenia
  • Found 58% concordance rates for monozygotic twins - if one twin had it, there is a 58% chance the other will too
  • 12% concordance rates for dizygotic twins
19
Q

What does the brain abnormality explanation see mental illness as?

A

Sees mental illness as a result of abnormalities within the brain. Abnormality can be in terms of size or in terms of activity.

20
Q

What are the main ways we can look at brain abnormalities?

A

Scanning techniques such as MRIs, fMRIs and PET scans.

21
Q

Outline Brown’s study of schizophrenia.

A
  • Studied 41 patients with schizophrenia, and 29 with an affective disorder
  • Found that the brains of patients with schizophrenia were 6% lighter
  • Had larger ventricles in the anterior and temporal sections
22
Q

Outline Weinberger’s study of identical twins.

A
  • Looked at MRI scans to see brain structures of 9 pairs of twins
  • The scans showed differences in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus volume
  • Hard to pinpoint specific brain abnormality associated with mental illness
23
Q

What did Strakowski find to do with brain abnormality and mood disorders?

A
  • Found that patients with bipolar disorders had differences in their prefrontal, thalamic, hippocampal, amygdala, pallidal and striatal regions compared to a control group
  • Amygdala particularly enlarged - part of limbic system (responsible for emotions)
24
Q

What have studies shown to do with brain abnormality and depression?

A

Studies shown that patients with depression have a smaller hippocampus than non-depressed people.

25
Q

What effect can cortisol have on mental health?

A

Cortisol is a stress hormone and can destroy hippocampal cells, and these cells normally respond to serotonin, meaning it could have a negative effect on mental health.

26
Q

What does PET scan stand for?

A

Positron Emission Tomography Scan

27
Q

What did Baxter find to do with brain activity and abnormality using PET scans?

A
  • Baxter looked at metabolic rates in parts of the brain in patients with OCD before and after treatment
  • Changes in behaviour correlated with reduced activity in the right caudate nucleus
28
Q

What are 3 strengths of the brain abnormality explanation?

A
  • Advanced technology can help identifyn abnormalities
  • Can help identify which treatment is needed
  • Alleviates blame from individual
29
Q

What are 3 weaknesses of the brain abnormality explanation?

A
  • Reductionist (ignores other causes)
  • Hard to pin-point exact part of brain which is responsible
  • May be people who have brain abnormalities but don’t show symptoms of disorders - individual differences

Issues in Mental Health (9 decks)

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