Outline and Evaluate the biological approach to psychopathology. The biological approach assumes that abnormality has a physical cause. The main four factors are Genetic Inheritance, Viral Infections, Biochemistry and Neuroanatomy. Genetic Inheritance in this context means that abnormalities that are found in parents are passed on to their child. One way to study this is by looking at two identical twins, they are also known as Mono-zygotic twins.
Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) is a multisystem autosomal disorder affecting both children and adults in a ratio of approximately 1in 3500 (Boyd, Horf & Theos 2009). Children and adults are prone to the development of both malignant and benign tumours of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS) (Gutmann, Parada, Sila & Ratner 2012). NF1 has been present throughout history, is found across all ethnic groups, is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion and primarily affects tissue derived from the embryonic neural crest (Coleman & Wallace 1994). The purpose of this independent investigation is to develop a better base of knowledge of the condition and understand of how NF1 impacts on the nervous system. Those
The biological approach is a way of looking at abnormality that assumes that psychological disorders are physical illnesses with physical causes. According to the biological approach, the cause of a psychopathology is to with genetics, neurotransmitters, infection or brain injury. Faulty genes are known to cause some diseases that have psychological effects, such as Huntington’s disease (leads to a deterioration of mental abilities), and Schizophrenia (leading to symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and disorganised behaviour.) A key study into the genetic basis of schizophrenia was done by Gottesman et al, who did a meta-analysis of 40 twin studies. It was found that having an identical twin with schizophrenia gave you a 48% chance of developing the condition.
This perspective is mostly used by biological psychologists and they try to associate behaviour the roles nervous system and the brain. This perspective is widely used in the health care sector. There are a variety of applications to the biological approach, for examples in the healthcare sector practitioners are able to study the genetic disposition to illness. This allows providing service users with the best possible advice on how to be able to cope; they will also be able to research the best possible treatment for the illness. For example researchers are able to carry out genetic tests in labs to see whether the offspring of adults will be likely to be diagnosed with cancer.
Disorders may be a result of exposure to viruses in the womb. Torrey found that mothers of many schizophrenics had influenza during pregnancy. The virus may enter the child’s brain, where it lays dormant until puberty, when hormones activate it leading to Schizophrenia. Genes control levels of biochemicals in the brain. Different
Outline and evaluate the Biological Approach to Psychopathology The biological approach views psychological abnormality as the consequence of malfunctioning of biological mechanisms in the brain and explains behaviour in terms of physiological or genetic factors. It focuses on physical treatments for psychological disorders. It proposes 4 main causes of abnormality: infection, genetics, biochemistry and neuroanatomy. Infection is thought to be one of the causes of mental illness. For example, schizophrenia has been liked to being the result of microorganisms causing infection.
As electrical messages arrive in this junction, they release Acetylcholine to nerve receptors to control muscle contractions, whose actions trigger or suppress muscle movement. Patients with MG have a limited amount of these receptors because they are destroyed. The destruction is caused by antibodies that were made by the human body, intended to combat germs and infections (Lundy-Ekman, 2007 and NINDS, 2010). This disease is believed by many researches to have origin in the thymus. Some patients afflicted with MG have abnormal growth or tumors in this gland (Cavalcante et al., 2011).
Neurological Process Paper Jennifer S. Cumella University of Phoenix Biological Foundations is Psychology PSY/340 Richard Olcese November 22, 2010 Neurological Process Paper Psychology has changed biology in many ways. The different techniques developed, which enable scientists to obtain a better understanding of the way the brain works by monitoring both the brain and the way it functions. Post translational modification, otherwise known as a modification of proteins that has proven itself to respond to different cell types during either periods of depression or elation. Some scientists say that hormones play a large role in both the activity in the mind and body. A procedure called brain mapping, which is a visual image
It is easier for your doctor to diagnose Lupus if you have the most common symptoms and your blood has certain proteins. The proteins are called antinuclear antibodies, or ANA. But other problems can cause your body to make ANA’s so doctors will use blood test and other tests to find out if you have
In general, both children and adults with sickle cell anemia are more vulnerable to infections. This vulnerability is the result of spleen, the organ that filters blood, damage from sickled erythrocytes. Spleen damage prevents the organ from destroying bacteria in the blood. All individuals with the disease, especially young children, are susceptible to bacterial infections such as sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis (Bindon, 2004). Pneumococcal infections was the principal cause of death in children with sickle cell anemia until physicians began routinely giving penicillin on a preventive basis to those who are diagnosed at birth or in early infancy (Bownas, 2000).