Depression

Biological Causes of Depression:

• Medications:Medications prescribed for the relief of depression may restore balance to the levels of neurotransmitters. For example, many people who are depressed have low levels of norepinephrine. Some anti-depressants increase the levels of norepinephrine and relieve the symptoms of depression. However, this is not definitive, because some depressed individuals have high levels of norepinephrine, and anti-depressant medications do not work for everyone. Still, there is a strong correlation between levels of neurotransmitters levels and depression, and medications relieve symptoms for many people.
• Stress Hormone:Cortisol, popularly known as the stress hormone, is secreted by the adrenal glands in order to help individuals react to stressful events. This is sometimes referred to as the "fight or flight" hormone. Cortisol tends to increase alertness, heart rate and respiration, and to decrease digestion. In depressed individuals, cortisol may continue to be secreted even though the levels of the hormone are already high in their body. Cortisol is believed to be related to depression because once the depression disappears, cortisol levels return to normal.
• Organic Conditions:Because depression is influenced by hormones, disease in the organs producing the hormone can contribute to the condition. Cushing's Syndrome is caused by abnormally high cortisol levels over a prolonged period and can originate with tumors of the adrenal gland. Addison's Disease is caused by damage to the adrenal glands, resulting in their inability to produce enough cortisol. Thyroid disorders resulting in both the overproduction and underproduction of the thyroid hormones also cause mood changes.

Environmental causes of Depression:

• Stress:A buildup of stress can sometimes trigger clinical depression. How someone handles multiple stresses such as a job loss followed by mounting debt and relationship troubles can determine whether or not depression will follow.
• Tramautic Events:The death of a loved one, the loss of a job or living through a natural disaster like a hurricane can all be environmental triggers of depression.
• Childhood:Often, a child who has lived through sexual or physical abuse, a turbulent upbringing, separation from a parent or mental illness in a family member may not have learned the skills necessary to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood. These adults may become depressed because they have not been taught coping skills.

Cognitive causes of Depression:

• Cognitive causes of depression are learned through relationships, unfavorable life situations often in childhood and the formative years. People view the world in a negative way, this negative view is usually a distortion of reality.

Cognitive Triad:

• Negative thinking that often accompanies depression. The three components of the triad include one’s view of the world, oneself, and the future. People who are depressed tend to view the things around them negatively, evaluate themselves as unworthy and flawed, and view the future with caution and pessimism.

1. Environmental Causes of Depression | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5435189_environmental-causes-depression.html#ixzz14tYi46mk Biological Causes of Depression | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5514504_biological-causes-depression.html#ixzz14tXK2vHr

articles on depression

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609083221.htm

• Dr. Mahmood I. Siddique wasw the conducter who was the clinical associate professor of medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J.  It was presented in June 9, 2010 in San Antonio Texas at SLEEP 2010 in the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.The study involved 262 high school seniors with an average age of 17.7 years who were attending a public high school in Mercer County, N.J. Participants reported socio-demographic characteristics using a cross-sectional survey. Excessive daytime sleepiness was indicated by a score of 10 or higher on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and mood was evaluated with a validated depression scale.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802165402.htm

•  Lawrence T. Lam, Ph.D. conducted the esxperiment who os of the School of Medicine, Sydney, and the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia, and Zi-Wen Peng, M.Sc., of the Ministry of Education and SunYat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China, in August 2010. Participants were assessed for depression and anxiety using previously validated scales. They also completed a questionnaire to identify pathological Internet use, including questions that reflect typical behaviors of addiction.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117094933.htm

• The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College led by Dr Robert Stewar. The study  shows that patients with depression face an overall increased risk of mortality, while a combination of depression and anxiety in patients lowers mortality compared with depression alone. Utilising a unique link between a survey of over 60,000 people and a comprehensive mortality database, the researchers found that over the four years following the survey, the mortality risk was increased to a similar extent in people who were depressed as in people who were smokers.

paranoid-type schizophrenia: may have delusions that one or more people are plotting against them or their loved ones. It is difficult or impossible for others to convince them that they are not the target of a plot. People with this condition may spend a lot of time thinking about how to protect themselves from the person or people they believe are trying to harm them.  Is marked primarily by delusions that follow a theme, like persecution or grandeur. Auditory hallucinations may accompany a delusion and are, therefore, usually related to its theme. Symptoms common to other subtypes, like disorganized speech and flattened affect, are not usually prominent in episodes of paranoia, but anger, irritability, and extreme anxiety are. People suffering from paranoid delusions become particularly preoccupied with them and may be especially prone to violence.


disorganized-type schizophrenia: type of schizophrenia in which behavior is disturbed and has no purpose. Is marked by disorganized speech, behavior, and flattened affect is particularly disruptive. The disorganized episode often features fragmented speech and inappropriate or unexpected behavior that does not reflect ideas expressed verbally. Strange mannerisms, gestures, and surprising behavior are common. This type of schizophrenia typically causes significant dysfunction in daily life, self-care, and interaction with others, as well as notable thought disturbance and loss of goal-directed behavior. People in the midst of a disorganized episode show no catatonic signs.


catatonic-type schizophrenia: People with catatonic type assume peculiar postures and are usually speechless. They may be both rigid and motionless, or they may seem agitated and move around excessively, but always without external stimulus. Catatonic people may also have strange facial expressions, may mimic the behavior of others, and may repeat words that others say. Catatonic behavior is also seen in mood disorders, like bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, and occasionally in diseases of the central nervous system, like Parkinson's disease.


positive symptoms:
* hallucinations and illusions
Hallucinations are perceptions that occur without connection to an appropriate source. Although hallucinations can occur in any sensory form - auditory (sound), visual (sight), tactile (touch), gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell).
* delusions
Delusions are false personal beliefs that are not subject to reason or contradictory evidence and are not explained by a person's usual cultural beliefs. Delusions may take on different themes.
*Disorganized speech/thinking
Disorganized speech/thinking, also described as thought disorder or loosening of associations, is a key aspect of schizophrenia. Disorganized thinking is usually assessed primarily based on the persons speech. Therefore, tangential, loosely associated, or incoherent speech severe enough to substantially impair effective communication is used as an indicator of thought disorder by the DSM-IV.
* Catatonic behaviors
Catatonic behaviors are characterized by a marked decrease in reaction to the immediate surrounding environment, sometimes taking the form of motionless and apparent unawareness, rigid or bizarre postures, or aimless excess motor activity.


negative symptoms:

*Affective flattening is the reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression, including facial expression, voice tone, eye contact, and body language.
* Alogia
Alogia, or poverty of speech, is the lessening of speech fluency and productivity, thought to reflect slowing or blocked thoughts, and often manifested as short, empty replies to questions.
*Avolition
Avolition is the reduction, difficulty, or inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed behavior; it is often mistaken for apparent disinterest. (examples of avolition include: no longer interested in going out and meeting with friends, no longer interested in activities that the person used to show enthusiasm for, no longer interested in much of anything, sitting in the house for many hours a day doing nothing.)

differnece between a halucination and a delusion:
Delusions are a symptom of some mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophreniform disorder. Hallucinations, on the other hand, tend to only appear in people with schizophrenia or a psychotic disorder.


cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia:

• Difficulty maintaining attention The inability to maintain focused attention makes people with schizophrenia seem spacey or “out of it.”
• memory problems
  Schizophrenia often effects working memory, which is the kind of memory you use to keep things in your head for active processing, like the digits of a phone number you’re about to dial.
• Difficulty planning and structuring activities
  Caused by reduced executive control. Executive control is the mental process that allows us to identify the steps needed to complete a task and then execute them in a proper order. Executive control also allows us to suppress our response to distractions in order to get something done.
• Lack of insight
  People with schizophrenia have a specific cognitive blindspot that prevents them from understanding that they are ill. This means that loved ones and caregivers should remain as vigilant as possible to help the patient maintain the routines of treatment in order to control symptoms.

avolition:
 Avolition is the reduction, difficulty, or inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed behavior; it is often mistaken for apparent disinterest. (examples of avolition include: no longer interested in going out and meeting with friends, no longer interested in activities that the person used to show enthusiasm for, no longer interested in much of anything, sitting in the house for many hours a day doing nothing.)


Catatonia:
People with catatonic type assume peculiar postures and are usually speechless. They may be both rigid and motionless, or they may seem agitated and move around excessively, but always without external stimulus. Catatonic people may also have strange facial expressions, may mimic the behavior of others, and may repeat words that others say. Catatonic behavior is also seen in mood disorders, like bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, and occasionally in diseases of the central nervous system, like Parkinson's disease.


Delusion od Grandeur:
A delusion in which one believes oneself possessed of great importance, power, wealth, intellect, or ability.


delusion of reference:
Delusions of reference refers to the strongly held belief that random events, objects, behaviors of others, etc. have a particular and unusual significance to oneself.
A person might believe that secret messages about him are broadcast in a weekly television show, to the point where he would record the programs and watch them again and again.


somatic delusion:

a false notion or belief concerning body image or body function. See also delusion.

http://www.enotalone.com/article/3018.html
http://www.mentalhealthchannel.net/schizophrenia/causes.shtml
http://www.schizophrenia.com/diag.php
http://schizophrenia.about.com/od/whatisschizophrenia/f/schiz_symptoms.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/delusion-1
http://bipolar.about.com/od/glossaryd/g/gl_delusofrefer.htm

a class divided

the purpose of the experiment was to show the kids that they should'nt be rasist. the brown colored eyes were to be black people and the blue were white. one day the teacher said the brown werent better so their grades went down and te next day the teacher they were better so their work was muh better. the same she did with the blue eyed kids. she gave a hankerchief to the kids she said they were not better. what surprised me about this experiment were the grades of the kids how they lowered and how the were raised.

why are people racist?

Racism is a form of discrimination of color, content, and culture. Some people are racist because they are afraid and others because that is what they were taught, to hate people of other races. People are racist because they are scared to admit that they want to do something with that person or group. People could be racist because of they way they are brought up. Also because of the past history. Wars may effect on how people think about each other of different races. Humans are very competitive and if we can find fault with someone else then we make that a gain for why we are better. Some are just plain ignorant. All racists are not happy unless they have someone or some thing to hate. People are racist because it is easy to pick on people who are different. I think people are also racist because they are scared or envy the people o they mistreat them and kill them. Many people think also they are better than black people or any other race so they make them feel bad or make themselves look better by embarrassing them or making them suffer making them look as a lower class.

why is psychology important?

Psychology is important because it is concerned with the study of behavior and mental processes and at the same time, it is also applied to many different things in human life. Everything we do is related to psychology. Psychology studies who and what we are, why we are like that, why we act and think like that and what we could be as a person. Psychology is important in a lot of different ways, the studies that has been conducted in various life threatening illnesses.

Personality Disorders

Borderline: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious and often life-threatening disorder that is characterized by severe emotional pain and difficulties managing emotions. The problems associated with BPD include impulsivity (including suicidality and self-harm), severe negative emotion such as anger and/or shame, chaotic relationships, an extreme fear of abandonment, and accompanying difficulties maintaining a stable and accepting sense of self. Thus, BPD is characterized by pervasive instability of mood, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and actions, often negatively affecting loved ones, family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity.

Schizotypal: Schizotypal Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing. This disorder should not be diagnosed if the distrust and suspiciousness occurs exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, or another Psychotic Disorder or if it is due to the direct physiological effects of a neurological (e.g., temporal lobe epilepsy) or other general medical condition.

Paranoid: Paranoid Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by excessive distrust and suspiciousness of others. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing. This disorder should not be diagnosed if the distrust and suspiciousness occurs exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, or another Psychotic Disorder or if it is due to the direct physiological effects of a neurological (e.g., temporal lobe epilepsy) or other general medical condition.

Narcissistic: Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, need for admiration, extreme self-involvement, and lack of empathy for others. Individuals with this disorder are usually arrogantly self-assured and confident. They expect to be noticed as superior. Many highly successful individuals might be considered narcissistic. However, this disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing.

 Histrionic: Histrionic Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by excessive emotionality and attention-seeking. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing.

Antisocial: Antisocial Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by persistent disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. Deceit and manipulation are central features of this disorder. For this diagnosis to be given, the individual must be at least 18, and must have had some symptoms of Conduct Disorder (i.e., delinquency) before age 15. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing.

Obsessive-compulsive: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD, is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Repetitive behaviors such as handwashing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called "rituals," however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety.

Avoidant: Anxious (Avoidant) Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by extreme shyness, feelings of inadequacy, and sensitivity to rejection. These individuals feel inferior to others. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing. This diagnosis should be used with great caution in children and adolescents for whom shy and avoidant behavior may be appropriate.