to put it simply it helps to know thatthe human stress response is the samefor all types of stressors while theintensity duration varies the internalbiochemistry is the sameHe mentions snipping off the connectionfrom the cortex to the rest of thebrain Moral of the stony a candidatefor this would be someone who has nothingto lose in the way of pleasure becausethere was no pleasure to begin withSo the brain interprets a stressful event, it releasesome stress hormones that float down to theadrenal glands which then pump out their own setof stress hormones and the body gets ready tofight off whatever challenges it.While the body will respond in different ways toheat or cold, this basic stress response is the sameto all stressors. Add in that all stimulation runsthrough the brain and you can see that whetherthe pain is physical or psychic, the brain startsthe cascade. So the brain is the reality center, thestress response is the same, and you end uphaving a physical stress response to a mentalevent and the response is every bit as real in yourbody as it would be if you'd just been assaulted). this is the biologic element ofDepressionThyroid hormones metabolism body temperaenergy levels somedepressions are really hypothyroidismNutrition hormone levels matter tooSigman frued hasgot somethinggoodabout depressionmooring melancholiaingulatomy iscut the cortexin brain to releaseof depressionWomen are at about twice the risk ofdepression as men, and the worst timesare after birth, menopause, andaround the time of their period. Thisis also a time of hormones bouncingaround like crazy. Additionally, womentend to ruminate more on emotionallyupsetting things than men. Sapolskyjokes about men and how they "can't expresstheir emotions." But of course there's a realtruth in that which may be a big deal fordepression - if it's at some level about thecortex expressing emotional thoughts to therest of the brain, an incapacity to expressthose thoughts would be protective. welcometo the partyglucocorticoidsthese are releasedby the adrenal glandsA portion of the brain known as the reticularactivating system helps focus the brain on the thoughtsand stimuli you want it to see.For example, if you look around a roomlooking for brown colors, you'll see them morethan green colors. Do the opposite and you'llsee more green. It also applies to thinkingprocesses.If you ask your brain to come up with five things youdid well today, it will do so. Ask it to come up with fivethings you screwed up, and it will do that too.So these thinking processes are hardwired to direct therest of the brain and the body. Start obsessivelythinking things through in the wrong direction and theThese indicate that the full on stressresponse is occurring. The more exposure toglucocorticoids, the greater the risk. It'spossible these are the guys that turnruminating thoughts into the derailed trainof depression. Get yourself a massivestressor, add in the thoughts, and next thingyou know they're throwing the system out ofwhack and you don't bounce back. glucocorticoidFreud mooring melancholia Tn mourningwe bounce back in melancholia we don'tstart off with mixed views lose a lovedone person goal concept dreamfrevdoxytocinYou focus on the love and sense of loss. In melancholia youcannot put the negative in the background. Instead it grows.And thankfully as this is going this is just when all thosehelpful people in your life will start criticizing you andtelling you to get over it, thus compounding and increasingthe negativity. So you have the grief, but you also have theguilt and loss that goes with losing the chance to makethings right.Have 4+ major depressions, and the cycle can justgo on its own (remember the pathways).In Cushing's, a boatload of these glucocorticoids aresecreted. Common side effect of Cushing's?Depression. It's also seen when people have to be onimmunosuppressant drugs (these are also theglucocorticoids) - common side effect? Depression.But wait you say, how can the hydrocortisone I useto reduce swelling be the same guy triggering amassive stress response and suppressing myimmune system? Read Why Zebras Don't GetUlcers to find out... Depression is aggression turnedinwardsthat gets internalized fires upthe pathwayslose a parent whenyou're under 104 yourrisk skyrocketsDepression is also agenetic disorder Sthas some degree ofheritability 504identical twins25 full Sibling So again we havethe whole nature nuture in tractionLack control and you learn to be helpless. Yougive up. You aren't able to accept that this thingis awful but it's not the whole world. Instead youglobalize it and it becomes your whole world.Research in this area can be sad; rats who havelearned to be helpless in one area (shocks theycan't control) will no longer bother pressing thelever when moved to a box where hitting the leverstops the shocks. And people aren't anydifferent.Have the bad gene (a serotonin one), add in major stressors and uh-oh. A 30 fold increasein the likelihood of depression at the extreme. Oh, and glucocorticoids regulate theexpression of the gene. O24 part 2SchizophreniaFox p2 is transcription factor that impactlanguage development influencing boththought patterns the ability to expressthem Fox p2 is a common gene amongmany different animals with largedifferencesbetween the expression in humansother animals when knockout mice arecreated their language occurs lessfrequentlyis less complex It's estimatedthat humans experienced massivemutation about 200,00 years ago thegene was massively selected forwhen knockout mice and introducethe human version the mouse becomes morevocal demonstrates much more complexexpressionLanguage ishow weoutsmartplantssapolsky goes on to note that linguisticdiversity is disappearing were movingtowards a time when only a few languagewill remainPigeon (pidgin) languages emerge when people from different cultures cometogether (willingly or not) and have to develop an effective means ofcommunication.The initial pidgin language will show little to no complexity but over the next 1-2generations it will evolve the characteristics of real language (syntax, grammar,etc.) and become a Creole language. And all of the Creoles have a similargrammatical structure. This suggests - as Chomsky would argue - that there's adefault linguistic structure that humans use to create language which reflectshard wiring for language within the human brain.And of all the 6,000 languages in the world, only about 14 different syntaxes areemployed and the vast majority fit within 4 styles, again supporting Chomsky'sviews. This doesn't sound like a bigdealuntil you consider the Sapir Whorfhypothesiswhich argues that our view of theworld is heavily influenced determined byOur language Lose language you will losethe entire world viewAt its core Sapolsky suggest thatschizophrenia is a disease of abnormalcognitive associations of loose associationsA normal person can tell a story in alogical sequence that makes senseto others This sequential association islacking in theFurthermore, if we consider this from the viewpoint ofDaniel Quinn's Ishmael, we're also losing a worldviewthat contributed to a successful style of human life thatlasted for thousands of years (or longer). This is notgood news.Click languages may have been the initial form ofhuman communication.Language evolution is about sequence, with evergreater complexity emerging. schizophrenic thought arrangementleading to loose or ostensibly confusedassociations that make sense to theschizophrenic but which are oftenPuzzling to the listenernext trouble isabstraction isthis literal AParable ArumorSchizophrenics are terrible at this theytend to take things more corretely thanthey should For example if you askfor eomonality among an apple watermelonBanana Schizophrenic might respondthey are all polysyllabic or use letterswith closed loops instead saying they arefruitsDof of theworld languagewill dis appre in next centuryA key element is the manner in which dual associations to a single word(boxer, caddy, jaguar) will send the speaker off in a seemingly unrelatedmanner. In some ways this suggests an overly unique perception of theworld, whereas normal folks share a more normal set of conversationalcues (this may relate to the earlier discussion on default linguisticconstructions within the brain.)They are focused on the concrete elements of the words andsounds instead of seeing what is to the other observer the simpleanswer of them being similar types of foods. oone effective test for schizophrenia isthe proverb test Proverbs like birds ofin a literal fashion by schizophrenicbut if wetie togetherthe concretemess of languagethe delusionsthe factthat everyonehears voicesThe normal listener knows to disregard thestructure or pronunciation of the words becausethey are irrelevant to the question, just as a normallistener can correctly interpret the meaning of "Yes,John resigned." from the context of the rest of theconversation despite completely contradictorymeanings. These types of abstract linguistic leapsare very easy for most speakers but are lost onschizophrenics, resulting in an entirely different,and disorganized, communication style.Delusions are another hallmark of schizophrenia. This can include believingone was there or came up with certain ideas of historical importance.Paranoia is also common.Sapolsky points out that if the world makes very little sense to you (and itwould if you were schizophrenic), then the world would be very threatening.It's not that crazy to become afraid of listening devices in bananas if yourentire world is filled with people treating you like you're crazy and trying togive you pills so you'll behave differently.In a world like that, there's really no reason why the bananas aren't also outto get you. Lastly hallucinations are another calling card. The vast majority ofhallucinations are auditory. Sapolsky notes this isn't fully understood, fThe shout out to hisstudent was nice butthe notion is off ifthere are more fragmentedvisual image then theproportion of visualhallucinations would behigher since theopportunity is higherMRISocial with drawl isalso typical sadly the majority of thepsychiatric drugs given to schizophrenicsaim to eliminate the hallucinations butdo little to alleviate the more social(bear in mind also that people havedifferent learning styles - some peoplelearn best from visual sources, some bydoing and some by hearing.Get yourself a person that learns best byhearing, factor in that hearing is aneuronal process of conversion in thebrain and then add in some concretenessin thinking that the "voice" you hear is realand you have yourself a hallucination.)For it to be lower in the presence of more stimuli isbackward since it requires the schizophrenic mind toactively and correctly interpret vast amounts offragmented stimuli and only occasionally get itwrong. Psychiatric disorders aren't characterized bygetting things right nearly all the time and thenoccasionally goofing up. That is unless the readernever thought they saw something they didn't. It'smore about not being able to distinguishabstractions from realities. Stare in a mirror longenough and you'll see something that isn't reallythere. Be a schizophrenic doing that and you'regoing to crap your pants because you'll take whatyou see as something real. isolation And of course the more oestraged your thoughts beliefs willbecomet Scanschizophrenia typically begins in thelate teen years into the early 20 sThe typical victim is someone who wasalways a little odd a little isolatedwho had lots of imaginary friendsat an age when others had let theirimaginary friends goHe points out that while stories ofschizophrenics gone mad and bloody makefor good news, the actual rate of violence islow, lower than with normal folks, with theexception of self-injury. Half ofschizophrenics attempt suicide and suicideattempts are more common among thosethat have more periods of remission/claritythat permit them to assess how awful theexperience truly is.This person then encounters a massive stressor and on comes the problem. This is around the same time that thefrontal cortex gets its last big burst of growth. A line of thinking is that whatever prompts the schizophrenia has todo with this section basically getting kicked one too many times, creating a cascade of other problems.Schizophrenia is rooted in the cortex (the cortex being responsible for coordination of thoughts, self control,reasoning, etc.)