Auditory Hallucination

1. Explain which parts of the brain would be active if a schizophrenic patient is having an auditory hallucination? Visual hallucination? The temporal and Broca’s area. The thalamus filters incoming sensory signals and transmit them to the cortex.

2. How does low activity in the frontal cortex provide biological evidence of murder’s conducted by those with antisocial behavior The frontal cortex helps brake impulsive, aggressive behavior; however, in a murdere’s frontal cortex there is a reduced activation. People who suffer from antisocial personality disorder lack conscience for wrongdoing which is also supported by frontal lobe damage; thus, they exhibit marked deficits in frontal lobe cognitive functions.

The diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders involves concepts and research from other areas of psychology. In this way, the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders is an example of applied psychology. Identify some of the symptoms of the psychological disorders listed below and explain how the accompanying concept relates to the symptoms or treatment of the disorder. Each pairing is worth 6 points (3 for the symptoms and 3 for the explanation about the related concept). Before answering review the textbook and your notes.

1.• Dissociative identity disorder (DID): constructive memory Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over a person’s behavior. There’s also an inability to recall key personal information and high distinct memory variations, which fluctuate with the person’s split personality. Constructive memory is the use of knowledge to organize new information and fill in gaps in information that was encoded and retrieved. We remember only a small fraction of what we experience so our memories are constructed from our thoughts, dreams, and intentions in addition to “real” experiences. People who suffer from DID often form constructed “memories” of alters as a coping mechanism, where the person literally dissociates himself from a situation or experience that’s too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with his conscious self.

2.• Major depressive disorder: mood- congruent memory
Symptoms of MDD include a constant sense of hopelessness and despair, recurring thoughts of death or suicide, markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day and impaired concentration and indecisiveness. Symptoms are said to be mood-congruent if they are consistent with a patient’s mental disorder. For example, suicidal thoughts in a patient suffering from MDD would be a mood-congruent symptom.

3.• Schizophrenia: dopamine hypothesis
The symptoms are: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and lack of emotional expression. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that transports signals between nerve endings in the brain. It is thought that the brains of people with schizophrenia produce too much dopamine. Antipsychotic medications, which are used to treat schizophrenia, block dopamine receptors. The medications are designed to bind to dopamine receptors in the brain, and their effects have helped many people cope with symptoms; while drugs that increase levels of dopamine, like amphetamines, often cause psychotic symptoms and a schizophrenic-like paranoid state.

4.• Antisocial personality disorder: autonomic nervous system Symptoms include superficial charm, shallow emotions and lack of guilt, failure to conform to social norms, impulsivity, deceitfulness, failure to learn from experiences, absence of anxiety, and irresponsibility. Research shows their autonomic nervous system is actually under active at rest. Because of this low arousal, these individuals are easily bored, have an increased need for excitement and are driven by uncontrollable impulses. The increased need for excitement and poor response to punishment sets the stage for substance abuse and addiction. A study showed that if mothers smoked during pregnancy, their offspring were at risk of developing antisocial behavior. This suggests that smoking brought about lowered oxygen levels with may have resulted in subtle brain injury to the fetus.