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PSYC 211 > Lecture 21: Psychological Disorders l > Flashcards

Lecture 21: Psychological Disorders l Flashcards

1
Q

3 biological aspects of mental illnesses

A

they are heritable, common, and harmful to reproductive success

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2
Q

heritability of mental illnesses

A

20-80% of the variance in who has a given mental disorder is explained by genetics

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3
Q

the commonality of mental illnesses

A

the frequency of severe mental disorders is around 4%

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4
Q

harmfulness of mental illnesses to reproductive success

A

fertility rate is about half the national average

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5
Q

genetic studies about mental illness have discovered

A

that hundreds of common gene variants reflect a vulnerability to mental illness in general, not a specific disorder

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6
Q

psychiatric illnesses have high rates of

A

comorbidity (more than one diagnosis at the same time)

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7
Q

why are mental illnesses not discrete, unitary diseases?

A

there’s too much heterogeneity within diagnostic categories, comorbidity across categories, and continuity with normality

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8
Q

heterogeneity within diagnostic categories

A

two people with the same disease will have very different symptoms

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9
Q

comorbidity across categories

A

someone is more likely to get a second diagnosis than someone without a current diagnosis

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10
Q

continuity with normality

A

hard to draw fine lines to label diseases

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11
Q

similar symptoms can arise from _____

A

different neural circuits

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12
Q

many gene variants associated with mental illness regulate

A

brain development and neural plasticity. Their expression in the brain gives rise to altered patterns of neural activity throughout the brain.

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13
Q

mutation-selection balance theory

A

A popular theory for why mental illness mutations persist. Mental disorder susceptibility genes are continually being selected out through evolution but new mutations keep arising

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14
Q

inherited gene mutation theory

A

A popular theory for why mental illness mutations persist. The human genome has evolved to buffer environmental, genetic, and molecular noise. This robustness allows genetic variation to accumulate in the population if the individual mutations aren’t too severe

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15
Q

brain development mechanisms

A

Error-checking mechanisms and quality control efforts are put in place to guide proper brain development. But, much depends on chance

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16
Q

development of the two sides of the body

A

The two sides of the body develop independently from the same set of genomic instructions.

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17
Q

clear instructions for body development

A

the body should be symmetrical

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18
Q

unclear instructions for body development

A

the body should be asymmetrical

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19
Q

how to maintain a healthy brain

A

Stay active, physically and mentally
Eat well
Reduce stress, lower blood pressure
Maintain good sleep habits
Limit alcohol intake, avoid tobacco and hard drugs

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20
Q

two new treatment and prevention strategies for mental illness

A
  1. gene editing techniques that could be used in people or as part of IVF
  2. new pharmacological treatments that directly target intracellular signalling cascades rather than neurotransmitter signalling
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21
Q

schizophrenia symptoms

A

Characterized by social withdrawal, disorganized thinking, abnormal speech, and an inability to understand reality

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22
Q

% of people affected by schizophrenia

A

1%

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23
Q

how many people with schizophrenia don’t believe they have an illness

A

30-50%

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24
Q

schizophrenia onset

A

Increase in the late teenage years/the early 20s. Bump in females during menopause. Some connection to sex hormone signalling during puberty and menopause that affects brain functioning

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25
Q

types of schizophrenia symptoms

A

negative cognitive and positive

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26
Q

negative symptoms

A

the absence of behaviours (social withdrawal, reduced motivation)

27
Q

cognitive symptoms

A

disorganized and irrational thinking, deficits in learning and memory

28
Q

positive symptoms

A

the presence of delusions (hallucinations, delusions of control)

29
Q

what symptoms of schizophrenia appear first?

A

Negative symptoms typically appear first, followed by cognitive symptoms, and positive symptoms many years later

30
Q

neurological symptoms and schizophrenia

A

Many patients with schizophrenia also exhibit neurological symptoms, such as poor control of eye movements and unusual facial expressions and the illness is associated with subtle differences in brain structure

31
Q

heritability

A

measures the fraction of the phenotype variability that can be attributed to genetic variation (the amount of variation that would be eliminated if everyone had the same genes)

32
Q

cause of schizophrenia

A

environmental and genetic factors

33
Q

estimates of schizophrenia heritability

A

80%

34
Q

risk of developing schizophrenia if both of your parents have it or your identical twin has it

A

50%

35
Q

risk of developing schizophrenia if one of your parents has it

A

13%

36
Q

risk of developing schizophrenia if your sibling has it

A

8%

37
Q

gene copy variations and schizophrenia

A

Around 5% of cases are attributed to rare gene copy number variations (duplicated or missing genes) which are frequently comorbid with autism and intellectual disabilities

38
Q

environmental factors of schizophrenia

A

Mother’s nutrition during pregnancy
Mother’s stress during pregnancy
Certain infections (particularly during pregnancy)
Birth month
Being raised in a city
Childhood trauma
Social isolation
Perinatal hypoxia/brain damage

39
Q

the seasonality effect

A

a disproportionately large number of schizophrenia patients are born in February, March, April, and May, especially if the temperature was lower than normal during the previous autumn

40
Q

explanation for the seasonality effect

A

Perhaps because temperature causes people to go inside which increases the mother’s risk of getting diseases which increases the risk of the baby getting schizophrenia

41
Q

schizophrenia in cities vs. rural areas

A

Schizophrenia is also about 3x more prevalent in people who live in the middle of large cities as compared in rural areas. This suggests the transmission of infectious illnesses is facilitated by increased population density

42
Q

twins and schizophrenia

A

Some evidence suggests that the concordance rate for schizophrenia is much higher for monochorionic twins than in dichorionic twins, which suggests the prenatal environment is an important factor

43
Q

monochorionic vs dichorionic twins

A

twins that share one placenta vs. have their own

44
Q

behavioural evidence for abnormal prenatal development and schizophrenia

A

children who go on to develop schizophrenia display less sociability and deficient psychomotor functioning as kids

45
Q

anatomical evidence for abnormal prenatal development and schizophrenia

A

minor physical abnormalities are often seen in children who go on to develop schizophrenia, such as partial webbing of the two middle toes and a high steepled palate in the mouth

46
Q

main treatment course for schizophrenia

A

medication often in combination is psychological and social supports

47
Q

antipsychotics/neuroleptics

A

drugs that have been developed that relieve the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. They typically block dopamine D2 receptors. (dopamine D2 antagonists)

48
Q

what happens when non-schizophrenics take dopamine receptor agonists

A

they tend to temporarily elicit positive symptoms of schizophrenia

49
Q

the dopamine hypothesis

A

excessive dopamine D2 receptor activity, particularly in the nucleus accumbens (stratum) underlies the positive symptoms of schizophrenia

50
Q

do dopamine d2 receptors work for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia

A

no

51
Q

what causes the negative symptoms of schizophrenia

A

hypofrontality, which is decreased activity of the frontal lobes, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which may relate to the hypoactivity of local dopamine D1 receptors.

52
Q

what is associated with excess dopamine signalling in the straitum

A

positive symptoms of schizophrenia

53
Q

what is associated with reduced dopamine signalling in the prefrontal cortex

A

negative symptoms of schizophrenia

54
Q

dopamine in the brains of people with schizophrenia

A

too little dopamine in the prefrontal cortex and too much elsewhere

55
Q

clozapine in monkeys

A

simultaneously decreases dopamine levels in the striatum and increase dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex

56
Q

Atypical antipsychotic medications:

A

Recently developed medications which aim to reduce both the positive symptoms and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. They typically influence the activity of several neurotransmitter receptors (beyond blocking the dopamine D2 receptor).

57
Q

clozapine

A

First of the atypical antipsychotic medications. It blocks both dopamine D2 and serotonin 2A receptors.

58
Q

aripiprazole

A

An atypical antipsychotic. It acts as a partial agonist at the dopamine D2 and D3 receptors. It is thought to reduce dopamine receptor activity in the striatum (nucleus accumbens) but boosts it in the prefrontal cortex

59
Q

partial agonist

A

a drug with a very high affinity for a receptor but it activates it less than the normal ligand does

60
Q

what type of drug is aripiprazole

A

a partial dopamine D2 receptor agonist

61
Q

when do partial agonists act like agonists?

A

in regions of low concentration of normal ligands

62
Q

when do partial agonists act like antagonists?

A

in regions of high concentration of normal ligands

63
Q

some people argue that body symmetry is indicative of

A

the robustness of the underlying genetic instructions, which have to contend with environmental variation and molecular noise

64
Q

what does body symmetry correlate with

A

intelligence, which overlaps with attractiveness and health. These gene variants are thought to be indicative of neurodevelopmental robustness

PSYC 211 (23 decks)

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