The Medical Model Flashcards
Outline the biochemical explanations of depression?
The monoamine hypothesis of depression
A monoamine is a group of neurotransmitter including serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine.
Dopamine plays a role in regulating mood while noradrenaline is linked to activity levels. Serotonin may be important in controlling the activity of noradrenaline and dopamine.
Monoamine hypothesis of depression says that reductions in serotonin levels lead to failure to regulate normal dopamine and noradrenaline function. This in turn disrupts mood and activity levels.
What are the two genetic explanations for mental illness?
Genetic vulnerability to depression
Genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia
Outline genetic vulnerability to depression?
The serotonin transport gene is responsible for producing serotonin in the brain.
These come in a range of lengths of its too strands: long-long, long-short, short-short.
The short form leads to inefficient serotonin production.
This may mean that people with the short-short form of the gene are less resilient than there to the effects of stress and are more vulnerable to responding to stress with depression
Outline genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia?
It now appears that a number of genetic variations each make use slightly more vulnerable, this can be described as polygenic.
Outline brain abnormalities in schizophrenia with relevant research.
Purdon et al (2001) compared the force applied with the right hand and left hand in 21 patients with schizophrenia and in a control group.
Ten of the treatment group were given antipsychotic medication and tested again.
The untreated group were significantly weaker in the right hand, though not the left. This effect disappeared after treatment. This suggested that schizophrenia involves a problem with the left-brain and antipsychotic drugs help correct this.
Outline brain abnormalities in deression with relevant research.
Some studies have suggested a role for the frontal lobes, the region at the front of the brain cortex that is particularly involved with thinking.
Caffey el al (1993) compared the size of the frontal lobes in depressed patients and non-depressed controls using MRI-scanning technology.
They found that the mean frontal lobe volume in the depressed patients were significantly smaller.
What was the aim of research by Gottesman et al.?
To examine how vulnerable the children of two parents with medical illness (schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) are to developing a mental illness themselves.
What was the research method used in this research?
This was a national register-based cohort study conducted in Denmark. Also classed as a natural experiment.
What was the IV?
Parent diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar.
What was the DV?
Children diagnosed with any mental illness according to the ICD.
What was the sample used?
Minimum age for particpants was 10.
196 couples, both of whom had diagnoses of schizophrenia, and their 270 children.
83 couples, both of whom had diagnoses of bipolar disorder, and their 146 children.
What were the ethical considerations in this research?
The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency.
Because data available for register-based research do not include information that can lead to the identification of individuals.
What were the results from this research?
For both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder the risk of mental illness was much greater for offspring of two parents with the diagnosis.
- 3% of offspring of parents with schizophrenia also developed the illness by the age of 52.
- 5% of offspring of parents with schizophrenia develop some kind of mental illness by the age of 52.
What were the conclusion from this study?
Having both parents with a serious mental illness is associated with a significantly increases risk of developing not only that disorder but mental illness in general.
Outline SSRIs
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac and Seroxat, stop serotonin being reabsorbed and broken down after it has crossed the synapses.
Start to work after about 6 to 8 weeks
