W13

Question 1

What are the special characteristics of mental illness?

Answer 1

1. Illness is usually on a spectrum.
2. Ordering of mental illness is almost always based on symptoms rather than cause
3. identical symptoms occur with different diseases.
4. complex mixture of brain development, environment and social situations.
5. challenging to define the terms
6. difficult to use animal models.

Question 2

Important points relating to schizophrenia.

Answer 2

1. Schizophrenia is relatively common (1%)
2. Most likely die to brain development problems, most often associated with anatomical defects.
3. Inheritability plays an important role.
4. Symptoms are only partly explained through neurotransmitter defects.
5. Dopamine hypothesis explains a lot, but not all aspects of the disease.

Question 3

Symptoms of schizophrenia.

Answer 3

Positive:
Halluzianationen, Wahn, formale Denkstörungen, bizarres verhalten, katatone symptome.

Negative: Alogie (Sprachverarmung), Affektverflachung (less highs and lows) Anhedonie (Freudlosigkeit), sozialer Rückzug, Antriebsarmut, Apathie, Aufmerksamkeitsstörung.

Question 4

Symptoms of depression.

Answer 4

Niedergeschlagenheit, Anhedonie.
Schlafstörung, Gewichtsverlust, Selbstmordgedanken, Energiebangel, Entscheidunsschwäche, Mangel and Libido, Ruhelosigkeit, Schuldgefühle.

Question 5

Possible causes of depression

Answer 5

Physical causes: Lack of light (SAD), hormone fluctuations, medicine and drugs, infection.
Stress, trauma, genetic predisposition.

Question 6

Therapy for depression

Answer 6

Medicines: slow uptake of serotonin in synapses.

Question 7

Key features of autism.

Answer 7

• developmental problems
• genetic
• special problems with the social brain
• Rare monogenetic forms of autism can be traced back to synaptic proteins: neuroligin-2,3 & Neuroligin-2
• lack of activity of mirror neurons