Description: Antidepressants work wonderfully well in the treatment of the symptoms of depression, right? They have saved us from having no treatment that works or from resorting to ECT (Electro-Convulsive Shock Therapy), right? Well, if you believe these statements to be true then you have been paying attention to what the general media has had… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Clinical Neuropsychology
Searching for the Origins of Schizophrenia
Description: Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population and while there are treatments that can be partially effective there is no real cure. An understanding of the origins of schizophrenia, of how it emerges, could move us towards earlier identification and could suggest new treatment avenues. As it has been discussed in our textbooks, schizophrenia… Read more »
Baby Strokes: Plasticity and Hemispheric Shifts in Loction of Function
Description: Two questions before we get into this topic. First, who has strokes? Second, if someone has a massive left hemisphere stroke what will likely happen to their spoken language abilities? Old people and language will suffer right? Well, not entirely. You see, infants, and in fact, newborns (about 1 in 4000) can have strokes…. Read more »
Forensic Neuropathology and Forensic Psychology: Searching for the Whys of heinous behavior
Description: When individuals do horrible things we, of course, want to know why they did what they did. We want to know if there was something specifically wrong with them and, in particular, we want to know if there was either something that could or should have been done to prevent the person doing what… Read more »
Executive Functions in Alzheimer’s: Brain Pacemakers Might Help
Description: Alzheimer’s main impact is on peoples’ memories, right? Well, we can debate the depth of impact of the various features of the disease but it is the case that more than memory is affected. Specifically, the array of frontal lobe functions involving various aspects of what is called Executive Function (thinking, reflecting, planning and… Read more »
What Might Woodpeckers be able to tell Football Players About Concussion?
Description: As I write this it is Sunday February 5 and I am getting some work done to clear up my late afternoon and early evening so I can watch the Superbowl. I must admit to a bit of guilt over looking forward to the game as I have read a lot over the past… Read more »
MIND Diet: What Makes for “Good” Diet Research?
Description: One cannot open a paper or a magazine these days (especially in the weekend “lifestyle” editions) without encountering one or more article extolling the virtues of one diet or another for weight loss, health, wellness, vim vigor or longevity. Often such articles are rather light on systematic science or, if they cite studies they… Read more »
Criminal Brains: Opportunties and ethical pitfalls of looking beyond minds
Description: Have you ever watched an episode of the TV show Criminal Minds which fictionally focusses on the activities of an FBI behavioral analysis unit that hunts psychopaths? In the show there are many discussions of the sorts of developmental histories that amplify some psychopathic behavioral tendencies and of the sorts of things that can… Read more »
Dopamine and Video Gaming: by Dilbert and Zimbu the Monkey
Description: As the Dilbert cartoon below suggests there has been much research and more speculation about the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in explaining the focused nature of many people’s interest in video or online games. The American Psychiatric Association considered adding a disorder called Internet Gaming Disorder the latest 5th edition of its Diagnostic… Read more »
A key to health, recovery, and combatting depression? Let the Sun Shine In!
Description: In Egypt, rates of clinical depression are highest in December and rates of mania are highest in June. Why might that be? ….“Sunlight on my shoulders makes me happy” to quote John Denver. A signature line in a kitschy song but is there some truth to it from a clinical perspective? What do you… Read more »
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