☆ L3: Mental Health (Focus on Anxiety, Depression, and Addiction) ☆ Flashcards
Define anxiety and depression
Anxiety: GAD involves frequently elevated levels of anxiety, generally from the normal challenges and stressors of everyday life
Depression: MDD is marked by prolonged periods of sadness, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, social withdrawal, and cognitive and physical sluggishness
Explain comorbidities and mental health disorders.
What might comorbidities suggest?
Comorbidity: simultaneous presence of multiple mental health disorders
Ex: 50% of those with anxiety have depression, ~33% of those with substance abuse disorders have depression
Comorbidities suggest that these cooccurring disorders may involve similar mechanisms; they share a cause(s)
Describe stress and its measurement through psychological tests.
Stress: A feeling of tension resulting from the perception of demanding circumstances (stressors)
▸ Stressors are cumulative
▸ The more stressful events you experience, the more prone you are to mental disorders
• Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS): based on major life events
• Daily Hassle Scale (DHS): based on minor nuisances
• Perceived Stress Scale (PSS): based on feelings instead of events
▸ Most preferred test because it is quick and easy to administer
▸ Meditation and mindfulness programs reduce PSS scores
Describe the contribution of the amygdala to stress reactivity in mental health.
• The amygdala is involved in social processing and social behaviour
• Changes in amygdala structure are evident in stress, depression, autism, anxiety, and PTSD
• Treatments to reduce stress and improve mental health may affect amygdala structure
• Activation of the amygdala during stress states leads to activation of other body systems
▸ The amygdala turns on the HPA axis in stress response
Describe the contribution of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in stress reactivity.
SNS: The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) → stimulates the adrenal medulla → resulting in the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline (chemicals that stimulate the fight-or-flight response)
HPA: when you perceive you are in a stressful situation (via the amygdala), the hypothalamus → initiates the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis → activating the pituitary gland → then adrenal gland → then generating the release of cortisol
Comment on the importance of cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline to stress states.
Cortisol: hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex that prepares the body to respond to stressful circumstances.
Once the HPA axis is activated cortisol levels will rise, gradually reaching a peek overtime
Cortisol is important to stress states because it suppresses the immune system (reduces inflammation) and increases the availability of blood sugar
Adrenaline & noradrenaline: Connected to SNS (involuntary movements)
What effect does meditation have on stress physiology?
Meditation, particularly mindfulness, is associated with reduced stress reactivity (less cortisol)
What neural system is involved in emotional regulation, mood disorders, and anxiety?
The emotional network: involves the amygdala, hippocampus, frontal cortex, and cingulate gyrus
How is the emotional system affected by meditation?
Amygdala:
• Meditation reduces grey matter in the amygdala
▸ People with lower trait mindfulness have less grey matter
• Meditation involves lower activity in the amygdala
Hippocampus:
Meditation is associated with…
• A larger hippocampus
• Reduced aging of the hippocampus
• Normalizing the hippocampus may restore HPA regulation and improve mood
• Changes in the hippocampus may contribute to meditation’s effects on memory
• MBSR involves higher activity in the hippocampus
Prefrontal cortex (PFC) - particularly OFC:
• Meditation may alter PFC structure and activity, thereby improving emotional regulation
• MBSR involves higher activity in the PFC
Cingulate gyrus:
• Involved in emotion, empathy, social behaviour, pain, and addiction
• CG is frequently activated by meditation and often larger in meditators
• Meditation might change how to CG communicates with other brain areas involved in emotion, such as the amygdala
• Enables mood and social behaviour changes
Define addiction.
Addiction: complex brain disease, compulsive engagement and behaviour despite knowledge of harmful consequences
What perspectives does a neuroscientist use in studying addiction?
Biopsychosocial model
What neural system might be involved in addiction?
Reward system, including the mesolimbic pathway.
What meditation-induced changes in the brain may help manage addiction?
Meditation—particularly mindfulness practises—may increase the size of the OFC
▸ Changes in OFC thickness may reflect an enhanced ability of meditators to properly evaluate decisions and inhibit undesirable behaviour
Comment on the relative value of meditation as a treatment for anxiety, addiction, and depression.
Meditation as treatment for anxiety and depression:
• More effective than no treatment and active control treatment
• Not more effective than other EBTs like drugs or psychotherapy
Meditation as treatment for addiction:
• Pilot trials suggest that meditation might be useful in treating alcohol in nicotine addiction.
• However, meta-analysis suggests that the effects of meditation on substance abuse are subtle overall
• Meditation should not be viewed as a first line treatment for addiction
Describe mindfulness based interventions, including mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT).
MBCT: cumulative approach combining mindfulness practices and CBT
