Chapter 3 Reading Guide

1. Discuss emotional health vs. mental health.

2. Describe the different components of the Maslow Pyramid.

3. Discuss in detail several aspects of psychological wellness, and how psychological wellness can be supported (ex, clarifying values,managing moods, becoming optimistic, developing autonomy, etc).

4. What are some specific examples of how mental health can affect physical health?

5. What are neurons? How do they talk to each other?

6. Define axon, dendrite, neurotransmitter, synapse and receptor. Now explain how they are related.

7. What are some specific ways that male and female brains differ?

8. What does the term "reuptake" mean as it relates to communication between neurons?

9. Describe what happens during REM sleep.

10. Does everybody need the same amount of sleep? How can you determine what is the right amount of sleep for you?

11. Name and briefly describe each of the anxiety disorders. How are they similar to one another, and what are some differences?

12. Describe/define depression. Differentiate between minor and major depression.

13. What are some ways that depression has been treated successfully?

14. What are some factors that are at least partly predictive of the development of depression?

15. What is bipolar disorder?

16. In which age/race/gender groups is suicide most common?

17. What are some factors that increase the risk of someone attempting suicide?

18. What are some different types of therapies used to treat anxiety, depression and attention deficit? For most of the disorders, does the book suggest that medication alone, behavioral treatment alone, or some combination is the most successful?

19. What are some potential problems with drug therapies in general?

20. Describe some symptoms of schizophrenia.

21. Does anyone know what causes schizophrenia? What are some potential causes?

22. (From required links) What are the "positive" symptoms of schizophrenia? "negative?"

23. (From required links) In what part of the brain do schizophrenics have fewer of certain dopamine receptors than non-schizophrenics?

24. (From required links) In what part of the brain do schizophrenics produce more dopamine than non-schizophrenics?

Supplemental Lecture

I. The brain, neurons, neurotransmitters, receptors and reuptake:

When you look at a picture of a whole brain, like the picture in the text, you are looking at a structure that is composed of millions of individual neurons, other types of cells (for example, glial cells that take care of neurons), and connective material that holds all these cells together. Neurons in specific parts of the brain deal with specific types of information; for example, neurons in the occipital lobe receive information coming in from your eyes, and help translate that information into what you perceive as a vision. Neurons in the cerebellum help to coordinate complex movements without your conscious awareness.

Neurons talk to other neurons using chemicals: neurotransmitters. The end of one neuron (the axon) will spit neurotransmitters onto the dendrites of another neuron. This transmission of chemical sends a message from one neuron to the next. For example, neurons in your eyeball receive light information. They have axons that extend into the part of the brain called the thalamus. There, the neurons from your eyeball spit neurotransmitters onto neurons in the thalamus. Now, the neurons from the thalamus have axons that extend into the occipital lobe of your brain. Here, the thalamic neurons spit neurotransmitters onto neurons in the occipital lobe. Once this occurs, your perception of the vision can begin.

There are lots of interconnections throughout the brain; information tends to be shared with lots of different areas of the brain. So, for example, when your eyeball neurons "see" something, that information will go to the occipital lobe as you know, but it will also go to neurons in other areas. It will go to areas that process light information and regulate your sleep-wake cycles. It will go to areas that process emotional responses and (hopefully) elicit an appropriate response.

So, neurons talk to each other with chemicals, and different neurons in different parts of the brain process different types of information (or different aspects of the same types of information, like the example of vision vs. light vs. emotion above). But, the only way for neurons to communicate effectively with chemicals is if the "listening" neuron has receptors for a neurotransmitter, and if those receptors work well. When the "talking" neuron spits out a neurotransmitter, the neurotransmitter must bind to a receptor on the surface of the "listening" neuron. Only then can the listening neuron respond. And, neurotransmitters don't stay bound for long. The "talking" neuron immediately sucks back its neurotransmitter. It's like when you talk to somebody: in order for them to hear it, they must have ears. And, once you say something, the sound doesn't stay stuck in their ears.

Some examples of neurotransmitters you've probably heard of are: serotonin and dopamine.

Okay, the reason I'm going on about this is to try to really point out how important these minute aspects of brain function are to PROPER brain function. Many disorders are linked to problems with neurotransmitters (too much is made, not enough is made) and receptors (not enough, not shaped right). For example, Parkinson's disease is caused by not enough dopamine being made by neurons; schizophrenia is associated with too much dopamine. Some types of depression are associated with not enough serotonin. Some of these anomolies have a genetic basis, some can be affected by life experiences, both emotional and physical.

And many drugs take advantage of the way neurons communicate. For example, many antidepressants are serotonin reuptake inhibitors. What that means is, when serotonin is spit out by a talking neuron, the antidepressant makes it less able to suck serotonin back in. The longer serotonin stays bound to the listening neuron, the better you feel! (Yes, this is oversimplified!).