Abnormal Psychology Week 5

 

 

Abnormal Psychology Week 5

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

What is known about the brain bases of memory and reward enhance psychopathologists’ understanding of mental illness

Being recognized as a complex structure that contains billions of nerve cells called neurons, the brain is widely known for its ability to control memory and learning, including emotions and senses. However, much of what is known about the brain’s “reward circuit,” a group of neural structures responsible for reward-related cognition, i.e., incentive salience, associative learning, and valence emotions, is that even a mere alteration of the circuit could result in an abnormal reward process. With an increase in investigative data obtained from biochemistry, psychology, and genetics studies regarding how altered reward processing in psychopathology if often treated, it is clear that the abnormalities in the brain’s reward circuit are caused by multiple psychiatric disorders, i.e., obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance use disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, autism and so much more. Memories rely heavily on distinct processes in neural systems as they can exist in different forms. However, during the molecular consolidation process, episodic memories can be eroded if the hippocampus is lesioned. Recent substantial research revealed that bipolar disorder is the main psychiatric illness that can cause episodic memory impairment (Bisaz et al., 2014).

In another context, it has been argued that any dysfunction in communication and functionalities of two key nodes, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), also known as the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and ventral striatum in particular within the brain’s reward circuit, may contribute to psychopathology. This is because vmPFC and OFCare densely interconnected, and any faulty wiring in either the two could lead to abnormal brain activity, including mental illness and its related impairments (Zald and Treadway, 2017).

How do these neuroscientific insights encourage a dimensional approach to psychopathology, rather than the traditional categorical one?

Although the past half-century has witnessed a dramatic expansion of knowledge about psychopathology, neuroscientific insights suggest that there is a need to present and classify mental illness based on four aspects, namely, etiology to understand the causality of the disorder; a threshold to differentiate between the disorder and non-disorder; dimension and discrete to differentiate the phenomenon, and comorbidity to understand if the victims are meeting the diagnostic requirements for their conditions.

Question 2

Patients diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to experience some difficulties in communication, social interaction, and behavioral flexibility. Theory and research on autism suggest that patients diagnosed with ASD have poor self-insight as they may lack that capacity to contemplate their internal thoughts and feelings, the capacity to utilize ideal concepts of language that are crucial in knowledge building, and the capacity to participate actively in social interactions crucial to them in terms of self-knowledge recognition and through internalization to realize how they are perceived. They tend to be troubled with grasping other’s intentions, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and so much more as they lack immediate rapport of such concepts in them. This phenomenon is, however, termed as mindblindness.

However, despite displaying deficits in communication and social behavior for individuals with ASD, it has been noted that they possess unique abilities that may surpass those of people without autism spectrum disorder. Although their basic abilities and unique characteristics have received little empirical attention, a suite of a recent study has reported that gene variants called alleles for ASD and the alleles for high intelligence quotient overlap broadly. Even though it is a paradox that individuals with ASD are overly rated below-average IQ, the hypothesis of the study, which was supported by convergent evidence, revealed that autism and high intelligent quotient share set convergent correlates, including increased visual-spatial and sensory abilities, ability to make deliberative decisions, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attention and focus, high levels of positive assortative mating, large brain size, and so much more (Crespi, 2016). This shows that the enhanced abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder lend credence to an evolutionary approach to psychopathology. There will be a need to re-think the classification of autism spectrum disorders by taking into consideration neurobiological and physiological research, including clinical and psychometric observations.

Question 3

In this context, because depression and anxiety can occur at the same time, even though each condition has its own causes, it is undeniable that they both share similar symptoms and treatment. Well, traditional cognitive therapy, particularly traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and the “new wave” variant called cognitive processing therapy (CPT) work together to help patients acquire ideal knowledge that can allow them to control their thoughts, emotions, and responses. However, the new variant, cognitive processing therapy (CPT),  in particular, tend to incorporate the elements of mindfulness-based treatments to additionally control the automatic response of the client’s body so that he/she can respond efficiently to stress-associated disorders. It is mostly thought that mindfulness-based treatments and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is the most important in treating depression, and through mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), patients can participate in meditation, breathing exercises and stretching, and other elements of cognitive behavior therapy to overcome depression (Timulak et al. 2018).

Also, it will be relevant to develop a comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy and emotion-focused therapy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Among psychological treatments of a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), cognitive behavioral therapy is the most recognized treatment. This is because it employs a number of interventions such as the cognitive restructuring of beliefs relating to worry, psychoeducation that concerns worry, relaxation training, and so forth. However, emotion-focused therapy, on the other hand, tend to incorporate a wide range of intervention components, i.e., developing an increased awareness of maladaptive and adaptive emotions, the transformation of maladaptive emotions, enhancement of emotion regulations, reflecting on the aspects of adaptive emotions and so much more.

Lastly, since psychodynamic therapy focuses on the interpretation of both mental and emotional conditions of a person rather than his/her behavior, therapists strive to help patients to discover the patterns in their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs in order to gain insight into their stressful issues that trigger depression. However, when compared to the new treatment procedure, such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), it is clear that psychodynamic therapy is a less-lengthy alternative to psychoanalysis in relation to MBCT treatment strategies.

Question 4

Adjustment disorder is a type of psychiatrist diagnostic that is characterized by an emotional response to a stressful/negative life event. For diagnosis of adjustment disorders, an individual should exhibit some of the symptoms listed below

• Having emotional symptoms or behavioral characteristics for a period of 3 months after incurring a stressful life event, i.e., a feeling of injustice
• Experiencing more stress than what was expected of one to react to a stressful event which one can experience significant problems in his/her relationship, work, or any other place.
• If an individual experiences a mixture of despair, aggression, dysphoria, having intrusive memory, disturbed sleep that occurs more often, loss of appetite, and so much more. All these symptoms are a result of an exceptional negative life event that an individual experiences (Mayo Clinic, 2017).

Adjustment disorder also occurs under the duration of more than three months.

On the other hand, acute stress disorder is a psychiatric mental disorder that occurs within the first month after experiencing a traumatic event (Eske, 2019). ASD symptoms fall under five broad categories;

1. Intrusion symptoms – occurs when an individual fails to reflect on the traumatic event through dream, flashbacking and memorizing.
2. Negative mood – occurs when an individual experiences low moods, sadness, and negative thoughts.
3. Dissociative symptoms – occurs when a person lacks awareness of the surrounding and fail to remember what transpired
4. Avoidance symptoms – occurs when one starts avoiding people or places where the traumatic event happened.
5. Arousal symptoms – include insomnia and when one experiences other sleep disturbances, irritability or aggression, difficulty in concentrating, and so forth.

Lastly, post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by the prolonged experience that an individual fails to recover from it after a terrifying event or a negative life event. The condition may last for months depending on one’s reaction to the negative event as it often triggers one to flashback on the memories of the trauma, which bring about intense emotional and physical reactions. The symptoms required for diagnosis include nightmares, depressed mood, avoidance of situations that trigger traumatic thoughts, and so forth.

Question 5

Exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy offer effective psychological treatment alternatives for many anxiety disorders. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is commonly used as an intervention treatment for social anxiety disorder (SAD). CBT employs a number of techniques that focus on problematic thinking that helps patients with SAD to overcome social and clinical anxiety. People with SAD have the tendency to develop automatic negative thoughts that tend to increase anxiety and lessens their ability to cope up with their situations. However, with traditional cognitive therapy, particularly traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and the “new wave” variant called cognitive processing therapy (CPT), the two processes work together to help patients acquire ideal knowledge that can allow them to control their thoughts, emotions, and responses. Furthermore, cognitive processing therapy (CPT) tends to incorporate the elements of mindfulness-based treatments to additionally control the automatic response of the client’s body so that he/she can respond efficiently to social anxiety disorder (Timulak et al., 2018). With mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), patients can participate in meditation, breathing exercises and stretching, and other elements of cognitive behavior therapy to overcome social anxiety disorder.

On the other hand, exposure therapy tends to utilize unique approaches that can expose patients to the social anxiety source without the intention to cause danger in order to help them overcome their distress (Scheurich et al., 2019). However, exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD) can allow patients to overcome their worst fear. Therapists often expose people with anxiety disorder directly to their worst fears and teach them how to overcome them. The fact that social anxiety disorder (SAD) can be viewed as a debilitating condition; therapists, often utilize exposure therapy to treat SAD. However, if any biopsychosocial aspect of abnormal behavior can be experienced across an individual life-span, therapists will have to employ more strategic measures by taking into consideration biochemistry, psychology, and genetics analysis to understand how the issues arise and how they can be treated without interference to one’s normal life.

References

Bisaz, R., Travaglia, A., & Alberini, C. M. (2014). The neurobiological bases of memory

formation: from physiological conditions to psychopathology. Psychopathology, 47(6),

347-356.

Crespi, B. J. (2016). Autism as a disorder of high intelligence. Frontiers in neuroscience, 10,

300.

Eske, J. (2019, February 4). Acute stress disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and treatment. Medical

and health information. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324354

Mayo Clinic. (2017, October 25). Adjustment disorders – Diagnosis and treatment – Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic – Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adjustment-disorders/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355230

Scheurich, J. A., Beidel, D. C., & Vanryckeghem, M. (2019). Exposure therapy for social

anxiety disorder in people who stutter: An exploratory multiple baseline design. Journal

 of fluency disorders, 59, 21-32

Timulak, L., Keogh, D., Chigwedere, C., Wilson, C., Ward, F., Hevey, D., … & Irwin, B. (2018).

A comparison of emotion-focused therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the

treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled

trial. Trials, 19(1), 1-11.

Zald, D. H., & Treadway, M. T. (2017). Reward processing, neuroeconomics, and

psychopathology. Annual review of clinical psychology, 13, 471-495.