Description: Perhaps you have heard about the use of ECT (electroconvulsive shock therapy) to treat “treatment resistant depression. It involved(s) the induction of a grand mal seizure (random firing of all neurons in the brain) through the application of electrical stimulation of the brain. Why does it work (when it does)? It seems to “rest”… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Clinical Neuropsychology
Seeking the Causes of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder with Epigenesis
Description: What causes schizophrenia? If you said something like “a chemical imbalance in the brain” you are not alone and that fits with what else you likely know which is that there are a wide array of drugs available that are used as parts of efforts to address that “imbalance.” However, you know those drugs… Read more »
Suicide Prevention: Multifactorial Odds
Description: Do you think you would be able to tell if someone close to you was contemplating suicide? There ARE things you could/should look for (more on those below). However, how do you think a mental health professional (Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist, Psychiatric Nurse, or Social Worker) would respond to this question? Does the typical “what… Read more »
How ARE Childhood and Adult Stress Levels Linked?
Description: We are seeing more and more research in recent years examining the physiological and developmental consequences of stress. For example, we now better understand the ongoing impact of developmentally early traumatic experiences on subsequent development and psychological functioning and well being at both an observational level and increasingly at a physiological causal level. We… Read more »
If Rats Have Empathy Do We Understand What Empathy Involves?
Description: How would you define empathy? Would feeling another person’s feelings capture it or at least part of it? Some sort of positive response would likely also need to be included in the definition, but it could be seen to follow from the first part. So how do we feel what someone else feels? We… Read more »
Understanding and Overcoming Pain and Anxiety: FAAH-OUT!
Description: A big part of the current opioid crisis that does not perhaps get the level of attention it deserves is that many people caught up in it got there through their experiences and issues with pain management. Pain experience and pain management is a very complex area of psychological and medical research and a… Read more »
Getting Into the Heads of Actors When They Are In Character
Description: If you watched Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker in The Dark Knight (Batman) film you saw an amazing piece of acting – of method acting. Ledger was a method actor meaning that he got into his character by essentially becoming the Joker and, it is said, stayed there on and off set throughout… Read more »
Making Sense of Old Sayings at the Cellular Level: Sleep and T Cells
Description: Not feeling well? Perhaps a good night’s sleep is just what you need. Even if you believe this to be true do you know why it is true? What is actually going on at the cellular level in our immune system while rest and recover? No idea? Well, have a read through the article… Read more »
Alzheimer’s: When Potential Treatments Fail
Description: Imagine you are a biochemist and you have been working on finding substances that could be used against the two main toxic proteins involved in Alzheimer’s, amyloid beta and tau. Further imagine that you have found a substance that seems to do what you want, at least when tested on the proteins in petri… Read more »
Chemobrain: An Important Part of Cancer Treatment Patient Experience
Description: Have you heard the term “Chemobrain”? While it has been around for quite a while it has been coming up more frequently lately as a concern for those undergoing cancer treatments using chemotherapy as at least 50% of them currently will experience some of the aspects of cognitive imparement associated with Chemobrain and for… Read more »
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