Description: You have heard the term stigma before, right? It involves the stubborn attachment of negative assumptions or beliefs to a socially marked situation or circumstance. Stigma also is viewed as the inappropriate, ongoing, application of those negative beliefs or assumption when they really should not be in play. For example, imagine you have met… Read more »
Posts Tagged: schizophrenia
Toxoplasmosis, Inflamation, and Dementia: New Possibilities
Description: Perhaps you have heard about Toxoplasmosis? It is a condition caused by a parasite that is carried by cats who catch wild birds and that can be picked up by humans when they clean the cats’ litter boxes and inhale some of the T. gondii parasite while doing so. Exposure among pregnant women can… Read more »
Two Types of Schizophrenia: A Matter of Grey Matter
Description: Think about this statement. We have drugs that can treat the symptoms of schizophrenia for many who struggle with it and that means that we have figured out what causes schizophrenia or at least how it works on the brain. Is this true? Is it a little bit true? What do you think? The… Read more »
Psychosis: Early Identification and Intervention Opportunities are Important
Description: You are no doubt aware of the standard medical observation that the earlier an emerging health challenge is identified the more effectively it can be treated or even prevented from fully emerging. There is also a lot of talk about the sorts of things one can do to contribute positively to one’s mental health… Read more »
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 »
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 »
Cerebellum, Brain Timing and Schizophrenia?
Description: Quick pop-quiz! What does the cerebellum do? It is involved in producing smooth motor movement right (balance, equilibrium etc.)? Yes, right, but what else is it involved in? Well, how about schizophrenia? As our understanding of the neurological factors involved in psychological functions and dysfunctions expands we are increasingly realizing more clearly something neuroscientists… Read more »
Schizophrenia and Gene Component 4: A Clue to Origins?
Description: One of the keys to understanding the emergence of schizophrenia might be developmental and genetic. This article explores a recent finding looking at the way our system regulates the pruning of neurons in neural networks within adolescents in the role that malfunctioning of this planning process might play in the development of a disorder… Read more »
Schizophrenia: Mouse Study of Negative Symptoms
Description: The social withdrawal and emotional blunting that often present as symptoms amongst individuals struggling with schizophrenia have been hypothesized to not be linked to the neuro-chemical functioning within an area or areas of the brain. The suggestion was made due to the lack of response of these symptoms to neuro-chemical treatments that were producing… Read more »
Cat Ownership and Schizophrenia: Not Straightforward
Description: So what is the first thing that pops to mind when you think of “cat people”? Crazy? Weeellll it’s a bit more complicated. Read this discussion by Andre Picard of an article suggesting that childhood cat ownership increases the chances that one will show symptoms of schizophrenia in adulthood. Source: Andre Picard Column Globe… Read more »
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