Question

Choose one of the following topics to discuss pertaining to chapter 6 in Kandel's book. In addition to your chosen topic, comment on the statement below from Kandel's book.

"Mood disorders are brain diseases that afflict the integrity of the self-that collection of vital emotions, memories, beliefs, and behaviors that shapes each of us as a unique human being. It is precisely because of emotion's role in both our thinking and our feeling - and because we experience shifts in mood everyday- that we have such difficulty identifying and accepting a mood disturbance as potentially abnormal. That same difficulty helps explain why people with mood disorders are frequently stigmatized. To put it simply, despite advances in science and medicine, many people are still inclined to view mood disorders as a personal weakness, as bad behavior, rather than a set of illnesses."

1. How are depression and stress similar biochemical states? Why is this detrimental to the brain and body?

2. Discuss what is known about the neural circuits of depression.

3. Discuss the role and mechanism of action(s) of lithium in the treatment of bipolar disorder.

Answer 1

Question 1

Answer: Depression and stress are caused because of biochemical imbalance state. Depression and stress are related to the imbalance of serotonin hormone. There is a decreased level of serotonin in depression and stress patients. This imbalance leads to balancing the mood by confusion in learning or memory, decrease in pleasure, complain of having physical pain with unknown causes, anxiety, the restlessness of the body and because of imbalance neurotransmitter leads to reduce the function of the brain.

Question 2

Answer: The Neural circuit is the group of neurons that is interconnected by synapse to form a large scale network of the brain. There are many dysfunctions in the neural circuit during depression-like default mode, salience, negative affect, positive affect, attention, and cognitive control. The neural circuit base biotypes can identify for the improvement after treatment or effectiveness of treatment can be understood by identifying the biotypes.

Question 3

Answer: Lithium is a drug used to treat bipolar disorder and also for depression. This acts as a mood stabilizer after administration to the patient. After the administration of lithium, it widely distributed to the central nervous system. Then interact with various kinds of neurotransmitters and receptors leads to decrease in norepinephrine and an increase in serotonin and reduce mania to the patient. Then stabilize the mood of the patient and leads to control of the symptoms of bipolar disorder.