Medical Model of Mental Illness Flashcards
What are 3 Biological explanations for Mental Illness ?
- Biochemical
- Inheritance
- Brain abnormality
What does the Biomedical model say ?
-Mental illness a result of biological malfunctions or disruption
-Causes and symptoms are caused by biology
–Mental illness can be diagnosed and treated in the same way as physical illness.
-We can correct or reduce the effect of these malfunctions or disruption.
What is the biochemical explanation of mental illness ?
- Symptoms are the result of abnormal neurotransmitter levels or actions.
- Neurotransmitters transfer information
- Different neurotransmitters regulate different mental processes.
What monoamines are involved in depression ?
- Serotonin- controls activity of the other neurotransmitter
- Noradrenaline- activity levels
- Dopamine- regulates mood
- Depression involves lower moods and disruption to activity levels
How are monoamines thought to cause Mental illnesses such as depression ?
- Reduction in serotonin levels leads to a failure to regulate normal dopamine and noradrenaline– which disrupts mood and activity levels.
- Disruption to monoamine levels- caused by abnormally high levels of an enzyme that breaks down the monoamines, reduces their action and disrupts the passage of information around the brain.
How does inheritance explain Mental Illness ?
- Genes produce physical structures and neurotransmitters
- Genes influence psychological characteristics, including mental illness
- Influence the nature of the physical structures and chemicals in the CNS
What is gene vulnerability ?
- Some people are more vulnerable than others to developing mental health problems as a result of their genetic make-up.
- The extent of gene vulnerability varies greatly between different mental illnesses.
How is the Serotonin transporter gene thought to cause Depression ?
- Serotonin transporter gene – responsible for producing serotonin in the brain.
- Comes in three forms, varying in the length of its strands
- Short form leads to inefficient serotonin production
- People with it are less resilient to the effects of stress and more vulnerable to depression.
How does brain abnormality explain Mental Illness ?
- Brain structure and function are associated with mental illness.
- Certain structures in the brain may develop with a different size or shape
- Levels of electrical activity can be higher or lower in particular brain regions
- CNS does not function normally when we suffer certain conditions.
- Particular areas of the brain malfunction during mental disorder, maybe due to abnormal neurotransmitter levels
How is brain abnormality thought to cause depression ?
- Role for the frontal lobes – the region at the front of the brain cortex which is particularly involved in thinking.
- Coffey et all (1993) compared lobe size in depressed and non-depressed patients using MRI
- Found the frontal lobe volume in depressed patients was significantly lower.
What was the Aim of Gottesman’s Study ?
- Examine how likely it is for offering to develop a mental illness if both of their parents have mental illnesses
- Mostly interested in schizophrenia or bipolar
What was Gottesman’s Sample ?
- 2.7 million Danish people
- Had an identifiable mother and father
- Born before 1997
What method was Gottesman’s Study ?
- Cohort study- looking at a cohort of the population
- Natural experiment
What was the IV of Gottesman’s Study ?
-Parental schizophrenia or bipolar
What was the DV of Gottesman’s Study ?
-Diagnosis of any mental illness