Kandle Reading (Lecture 1)

Question 1

what is the purpose of the new intellectual framework for psychiatry? (2)

Answer 1

1. emphasize that professional requirements require greater knowledge of structure/functioning of brain
2. illustrate that psychiatry can be best studied by having a full understanding of the biological components of the behavior

Question 2

what 2 things illustrate the dominance of psychoanalysis in psychiatry (< 1960s)?

Answer 2

1. encompassed almost all mental illness (including major psychoses, schizophrenia and MDD)
2. included specific medical illnesses that didnt readily respond to pharmacological treatments (ie hypertension, asthma, etc)

Question 3

who proved the following statement wrong:
“The thinking about the relationship between brain and behavior was dominated by a view that different mental functions could not be localized to specific brain regions.”

Answer 3

Karl Lashley

Question 4

what was Lashley’s view (1940s) of brain/behavior?

Answer 4

argued that cortex is equipotential: all higher mental functions were presumed to be represented diffusely throughout the cortex

Question 5

who contributed to the separation of psychiatry from biology?

Answer 5

freud and skinner

Question 6

why might the separation of psychiatry from biology be healthy for psychiatry/psychology? (3)

Answer 6

1. permitted development of systematic definitions of behavior/disease
2. develop direct and respectful ways for physicians to interact with mentally ill patients
3. led to less stigmatized social perspective on mental illness

Question 7

why was it encouraged by psychiatry teachers in > 1950s to NOT read?

Answer 7

argued that reading interfere with residents ability to listen to patients and biased their perception of the patients’ life histories

Question 8

what was Day and Semrad’s 1978 summary of therapy with schizophrenic patients? (3)

Answer 8

1. Therapy is collaborative
2. therapist relies on personal experiences and therapeutic principles to accept the patient as they are and fostering mutual learning.
3. therapist’s primary focus is on loving the patient in their state of decompensation

Question 9

The almost unrealistic demand for empathy left little room for _____ content

Answer 9

intellectual

Question 10

give two examples of how the demand for empathy left little room for intellectual content

Answer 10

1. no grand rounds at the mental health center
2. no outside speakers invited to discuss current clinical/scientific issues

Question 11

what caused the turning point in American psychiatry in the 1960s?

Answer 11

new and effective treatments -> psychopharmacology

Question 12

How did the advent of psychopharmacology impact psychiatry? (3)

Answer 12

1. provided effective treatments for major mental illnesses, approaching practical cures for diseases like depression and manic-depressive illness
2. field saw advancements with clinically validated diagnostic criteria
3. renewed interest in the biology and genetics of mental illness

Question 13

what is the double role of psychiatry?

Answer 13

1. seeks to answer questions on its own level (diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)
2. pose behavioural questions that biology needs to answer to advance understanding of higher mental processing

Question 14

what are the 5 principles of Kandle’s intellectual framework?

Answer 14

1. All mental processes, even the most complex psychological processes, derive from operations of the brain.
2. Genes and their protein products are important determinants of the pattern of interconnections between neurons in the brain and the details of their functioning.
3. Altered genes do not, by themselves, explain all of the variance of a given major mental illness.
4. Alterations in gene expression induced by learning give rise to changes in patterns of neuronal connections.
5. long-term changes in behavior occurs through learning, by producing changes in gene expression that alter the strength of synaptic connections and structural changes that alter the anatomical pattern of interconnections between nerve cells of the brain.

Question 15

which principle applies to behaviours by single individuals, to behaviours between individuals, and to social behaviour in groups of individuals?

Answer 15

principle 1

Question 16

social scientists objected to which notion?

Answer 16

that everything can be reduced to genes

Question 17

the unease of social scientists derives from which 2 misapprehensions?

Answer 17

1. biologists think that biological processes are strictly determined by genes
2. sole function of genes is the transmission of hereditary info

Question 18

what is the dual functions of genes?

Answer 18

1. template function (provides succeeding generations with copies of each gene)
2. transcriptional function: genes determine the phenotype (determine the structure, function and characteristics of cells in which they are expressed

Question 19

(template/transcriptional)

Whereas the ____ function the sequence of a gene is not affected by environmental experience, the ____ function of a gene is, in fact, highly regulated, and this regulation is responsive to environmental factors.

Answer 19

template; transcriptional

Question 20

what familial pattern of schizophrenia was found in the analysis of data from Denmark?

Answer 20

higher incidence: first-order > second-order > third-order > general population

Question 21

what does the penetrance of an allele depend on?

Answer 21

the interaction btw that allele and the remainder of the genome + environment (exhibits phenotype)

Question 22

in the 1970s, psychiatric illnesses were classified into what two major categories?

Answer 22

organic and functional

Question 23

what is an organic brain syndrome?

Answer 23

describe those conditions of impaired function of the nervous system that are manifested by psychiatric symptoms (brain lesions)

Question 24

what are functional mental illnesses?

Answer 24

illnesses lacking anatomical evidence

Question 25

classify the following as organic vs functional

1. dementia
2. AD
3. MDD
4. schizophrenia

Answer 25

1. organic
2. organic
3. functional
4. functional

Question 26

the classification of mental disorders must be based on criteria other than the _____ of gross anatomical abnormalities.

Answer 26

presence or absence

Question 27

what do heritable psychotic illnesses reflect?

Answer 27

alterations in the template function of the gene leading to abnormal mRNAs and abnormal proteins

Question 28

how do external factors alter gene expression?

Answer 28

modifies the binding of transcriptional regulators

Question 29

what is the biological basis for individuality?

Answer 29

distinctive modification of brain architecture + unique genetic makeup

Question 30

what two studies provided evidence for the biological basis of individuality?

Answer 30

1. somatosensory maps vary considerably among normal animals
2. activity is important in determining the topographic organization of the somatosensory cortex

Question 31

what neuroanatomical thing is OCD associated with?

Answer 31

the functional hyperactivity of the head of the right caudate nucleus