Lecture 1: Introduction

Question 1

Name three issues with classifying psychiatric disorders as brain disorders.

Answer 1

1. ) Psychiatric symptoms are often difficult to identify and classify.
2. ) Variability in severity, may be reversible or progressive.
3. ) Often subjective, to some extent defined by cultural and societal norms.

Question 2

Name advantages of referring to psychiatric disorders as brain disorders.

Answer 2

1. ) Neuropsychiatric models may inspire treatment (think about neurostimulation or pharmacology).
2. ) Neuropsychiatric models may increase understanding and reduce stigma.

Question 3

What do reductionism and emergentism refer to in the context of psychiatry?

Answer 3

Reductionism: explain disorders solely in terms of molecular neuroscience.

Emergentism: explain disorder only in terms of specified mental or social mechanisms.

Question 4

What does the Capgras delusion refer to? Give an explanation of the symptoms based on cognitive dysfunctions.

Answer 4

The Capgras delusion involves being convinced of the fact that another person has been replaced by a double. A cognitive model identifies two pathways for face recognition, one overt (ventral) and one covert (dorsal). In prosopagnosia the ventral pathway is interrupted while in Capgras the dorsal pathway is disturbed, enabling the patient to identify faces, but without the necessary feeling of familiarity.