Abstract
There is a great need to understand the relationship between Neuroscience and Psychopathology. The understanding of Neuroscience and Psychopathology can be attained by a consideration of the causation of a psychological disorder like Schizophrenia. Pointedly, nature and the environment role-play in the causation and manifestation of various psychological disorders. Understanding the manner in which factors such as genetics and the surrounding environment affect the etiology of various disorders is considered an important step towards gaining an understanding neuroscience behind psychopathology. Based on the information presented by three journals with regards to the causation of schizophrenia, this paper seeks to bring to light the relationship between neuroscience and psychopathology
Key Words: Neuroscience, Psychopathology, Causes, Schizophrenia
The inter-relationship between Biology and social behavior has been the core concern of psychology, attracting interests in Neuroscience and Psychopathology respectively. These studies have strived to explain the links between human physiology and social behavior. Neuroscience has been very influential in establishing the causes of most social behaviors that are of interest in the field of psychology. Indeed, there are various disorders that are caused either directly or indirectly by the environment and biological conditions. The study of such relationships is very influential in creating a well-informed community with good health and social behaviors. Neuroscientists have taken the central nervous system as a very active system in determining social conditions and disorders like substance abuse, addictions, psychopathy, attention-deficit disorder, anxiety-related disorder and more others which are rampant in contemporary societies. As a matter of fact, to demonstrate these health cues and to establish proven relationships would necessitate the comprehensive evaluation of one or more of these disorders with respect to human physiology. For a start, the question is what are the relationships between schizophrenia, human physiology and the environment?
Studies have proven that the environment we live in significantly dictate our social responses and future health status (Brown & Derkits, 2010). For instance, Post-traumatic Disorder is one condition which arises as a result of childhood trauma. This could have been caused by violent environments in which the individual was exposed to at childhood stage. This analysis is going to center its explanations and demonstrations on a brain disorder, Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is essentially a mental condition characterized by confusion, social alienation, psychosis, abnormality in behavior, disorganized thought and speech as well as other psychological thought related symptoms. In fact, the disease takes time to show its symptoms and may be realized at later stages of an individual’s life.
According to neurological studies, dysfunctions in the brain or part of it would have tragic effects on the perception and social makeup of an individual. The brain is an integral part of the nervous system. Therefore, once a part of it is not functioning well, the overall performance of the brain and the nervous system is paralyzed. Moreover, the patient will most likely have poor judgments and low social activity as these actions are controlled by the brain. To be specific, patients with dysfunctional cingulate cortex (a part of the brain in the cortex) are normally diagnosed with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia are found to have reduced size of cingulate cortex. The following psychological behaviors are symptoms of this brain disorder; hallucinations, inability to interpret reality normally and frequent unrealistic delusions. Most of the symptoms associated with such mental disorders like hallucination and delusions have no known conclusive treatment. However, preventive measures could be properly set up if the cause of the disorder or symptom in question is established.
In the context of Neuroscience, the brain is a sophisticated organ and it is quite hard to successfully treat one dysfunctional part. This is the reason why most brain disorders are controlled and cannot be fully treated. Moreover, various functions attached to the parts of the brain are merely theories from different researches which connect human behavior and social activities with different parts of the brain. However, the brain remains the center of control and perception in human beings; this explains the symptoms attached to various diseases and disorders of the brain.
Different psychiatric symptoms require different approaches depending on how serious it is and the depth of damage in the social prospects of the individual. Hallucinations are addressed by administration of antipsychotics, trans cranial stimulation, coping strategies which would change particular behavioral efforts of the victim, psych education, cognitive behavior therapy as well as the use of hallucination-focused integrative treatment in case of persistent conditions. On the other hand, these disorders are rare and once a victim is hospitalized, the best approach is for the psychiatric nurse to evaluate the possibility of a significant disease or disorder that would be linked with the recorded symptoms. The society nowadays is attacked with various psychiatric conditions some of which can or cannot be controlled; some of these conditions show symptoms in earlier stages of an individual’s life while others are only visible at later stages. This calls for informative campaigns to alert the community on the dangers of particular factors that would lead to such conditions.
Various neuro-imaging and brain studies have shown abnormalities in a good number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The following are examples of disorders linked with the brain; Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, autism, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as ageing. All these disorders are characterized with reduced or interfered attention. The brain’s activity in perception and judgment are impaired when a part of it that is responsible for that action is impaired. Most of the symptoms associated with such mental disorders like hallucination and delusions have no known preventive measures. However, preventive measures could be properly set up if the cause of the disorder or symptom in question is established. It is clear that most brain disorders cannot be treated but can be prevented by maintaining a balanced social environment to prevent strains in the brain. However, this paper reveals the significance of physiological knowledge to the community as it will help prevent future disorders and equip the society with skills in handling those with such disorders.
The role of the central nervous system in human beings makes the brain and the spinal cord the most delicate parts of the body (Brown & Derkits, 2010). However, it is encouraging that technological inventions and improvements in the fields of surgery and psychotherapy have made it possible to detect and even treat tumors in the brain successively. Additionally, health information services have made it possible to educate the community on symptoms and control measures to be used to help people with such disorders. Moreover, schools and higher learning institutions have encouraged study of the brain through research to unveil more relationships between parts of the brain and abnormal social behavior present in the contemporary world. Additionally, given that different psychiatric symptoms require different approaches depending on how serious it is and the depth of damage, psychologists strive to solve these problems (Brown & Derkits, 2010). The above explanations show the significant relationship between the social behaviors displayed by patients diagnosed with this disorder and the explanations that can possibly give a picture of its causative factors.
The American Journal of Psychiatry, an editorial issue, tried to explain this disorder at length and also explain the factors behind different perspective on the subject. The question, is schizophrenia a gene related disorder? , has been a subject of interest for numerous scientific studies. People have for a very long time perceived this disorder to be embedded in the genes and can be passed to offspring. The report tries to solve the issue of genes with respect to the disease. Through qualitative and quantitative research, the team found out that there were no links whatsoever that would relate the human genes with schizophrenia. In answering the question of what causes schizophrenia, the report found out that there is no compact activity that would be directly linked to this condition.
These in essence are studies that try to establish the relationship between such disorders and parts of the body. Precisely, the condition was found out to be the result of complex interactions between genes and divergent environmental factors which put the individual at a significant risk. As a matter of fact, it is stipulated that the disorder is a neurodevelopment condition related to the brain. The studies went ahead to establish to what extent environmental risk factors affected the normal functioning and development of the brain. The report concluded that the condition could only be controlled by strategies aimed at regulating the rate of brain development by making it consistent.
Generally, this report made considerable effort in establishing some facts about schizophrenia. In the context of the study question above, the report tried to give a relationship between the genes which is a part of the human physiology (cell) and the disorder. However, the study failed to provide substantive evidence on the exact link between the two. It only highlighted that the complexity of this condition makes it impossible to link it with a single action or factor as the sole causative agent. It is true, though, that the condition is as a result of more complicated conditions (environmental and physiological) which ultimately result to the disorder.
The issue of management of schizophrenia is emergent as an important facet in any discussion revolving around neuroscience and schizophrenia. It should be noted that the management of the disorder, thence its manifestation, is greatly affected human perception about the disorder. Philips, Li, Stroup & Xin (2000) sought to explore the causes of Schizophrenia as reported by patients in a bid to come up with a quantitative measure that has the ability of assessing the relationship between causal beliefs and management of schizophrenia. Noting that Philips et. al. (2000) study lead to the realization of a possible influence of belief on the management of schizophrenia, a lot of insight should be drawn into understanding the causation models of schizophrenia in details.
It is common knowledge that different parts of the world pose divergent environmental and social conditions for this living around. As elicited by Philips et. al. (2000) study, it is conclusive that the factors linked to the disease would vary depending on the environment and social setup of the area. It should be noted that several research concentrating on worldwide cases of schizophrenia and the perceived conditions (such as the study by Philips et. al.) have somehow revealed the science behind the symptoms and environmental factors linked to the condition.
A recent report conclusively highlighted that violence could not be considered as the sole factor that caused schizophrenia. However, it stated that a small portion of patients they studied had a past experience of violent environments. The research was actually responding to the numerous allegations from informative media that violence was the significant factor that orchestrated this condition. Moreover, it analyzed the communities’ perspective of the disorder and found out that it was not perceived as a disease. The research admitted the diagnostic and challenges of recognizing the early stages of the condition basing their analysis on biological and environmental transforms.
This research is one of the numerous studies that have tried to concentrate on one or more factors to establish cognitive relationships with the disease. In the context of Neuroscience and psychotherapy, the establishments of factors that jeopardize emotional stability are of essence. The part the brain plays with respect to emotional stability cannot be disputed. There are unique organs in the brain that are responsible for the control of emotions. Therefore, violence causes the imbalance and neurological shifts in brain organs which results to organ damage. This is one of the explanations used to link these environmental behaviors with human physiology. Assertively, Neuroscience studies all the parts of the brain, especially the central nervous system to provide psychologists with relevant information to help control such disorders.
Furthermore, it was recently reported that a series of researches done to establish the causes of schizophrenia, numerous factors were found to have a portion of responsibility. The research concentrated on the study of brains in a comparative basis of the affected and the unaffected. The research covered the brain structure, substance abuse and addictions, the environment and genetics. It aimed at explaining the essential features of the factors listed above that put individuals at risk of getting the disorder. This report is a perfect source that can be used in explaining the context of Neuroscience, psychopathology and the environment (Brown & Derkits, 2010).
It found out that the genetic components of human beings could influence the chances of developing this condition. Moreover, it concluded that a single gene could not bear the responsibility of resulting to the condition but numerous genes. This was explained to be the reason why genetics with respect to schizophrenia has been a controversial topic, yielding divergent perspectives. This report revealed the vivid nature of environmental factors that exposed individuals to the condition (Brown & Derkits, 2010). Additionally, substance abuse, perceived as the social side of these factors, has a share of its own in the argument. However, there have been contradictive findings from sociology on this particular factor. Furthermore, the findings on brain structure confirm the significance of brain physiology.
These studies were concentrated on different areas of human life forms. The findings are somehow contradictive in particular aspects and also converge in certain dimensions. For instance, the factor of brain physiology and environmental conditions has remained to be the only sure factors that can be attributed to the condition all over the world. This produces the best linkage between Neuroscience and psychopathology. The use of human physiology to study different factors that bring about several social conditions describes this relationship best. The significance of the environment in this case cannot be ignored. This is because psychology mainly depends on the nature of environment individuals stay in to actually bring out the discrepancies.
In conclusion, the factors discussed above are mere perspectives of studies on the relationships highlighted. The question of social behavior and Neurology can have as many answers as possible depending on an individuals’ perspective. The belief behind psychological prescriptions is that these conditions can be controlled or prevented. The first step would be to shape the environment to enable individuals in the community to developed balanced emotional strategies in everything they do. This would save all parts of their bodies from the effects unbalanced emotions have. Moreover, the study of the nervous system should be encouraged to avail more grounds of study with respect to psychotherapy. Generally, there are very many social disorders and the exact body physiology that relates to them have not been conclusively established, this is why Neuroscience and psychotherapy are inter-related subjects with cross-linked objectives.
References
Brown, A. S., & Derkits, E. J. (2010). Prenatal Infection and Schizophrenia: A Review of Epidemiologic and Translational Studies. Am J Psychiatry, 167(3), 261–280.
Gilmore, J. H. (2010). Understanding What Causes Schizophrenia: A Developmental Perspective. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(1), 8-10.
Philips, M. R., Li, Y., Stroup, S., & Xin, L. (2000). Causes of Schizophrenia Reported By Patients' Family Members in China. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 20-25.
