The Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia Essay -- Biology Essays Resea

The Dopamine Hypothesis of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a infirmity that has plagued societies around the world for centuries, although it was not given its formal name until 1911. It is characterized by the forepart of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are so named because of the presence of altered behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations (usually auditory), extreme emotions, excited motor activity, and garbled thoughts and speech. (1,2) In contrast, negative symptoms are described as a neediness of behaviors, such as emotion, speech, social interaction, and action. (1,2) These symptoms are by no operator concrete. Not all schizophrenic patients volition exhibit all or even a majority of these symptoms, and at that place is roughly disagreement in the psychiatric community as to the exact diagnostic criteria. In addition, there is a great deal of debate as to the causes of the disease. While some proposed causes have been proven false, such as bad pare nting and poor will power (2), there are many theories that remain. One of the most notable and most debatable is the dopamine hypothesis. The proposed hypothesis states that the brain of schizophrenic patients produces oft dopamine than normal brains. It is this increased dopamine that is believed to be responsible for the symptoms of the disease. However, the is much debate in the scientific community as to the exact mechanics by which altered dopamine levels, especially in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and limbic system, produce schizophrenia. There is much clinical evidense that provides support for the dopamine hypothesis. The jump evidense that dopamine may be involved in schizophrenia came from fastness users. Amphetamines work by causing the brain to produce mo... ...ital Cortex central Abnormalities in Orbitofrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia From Meador-Woodruff Laboratory Homepage (University of Michigan) http//www-personal.umich.edu/himmw/pubs/index.html(5) Detail ed interpretation of Our Studies From Meador-Woodruff Laboratory http//www.umich.edu/jmwlab/(6) Dopamine, Glutamate, and the Neurochemical Circuitry of Schizophrenia From Department of Psychiatry Homepage (University of Michigan) http//www.med.umich.edu/mhri/res/95/meadorwoodruff/meadorwoodruff.html(7) Schizophrenia Trigger Described From NARSAD Homepage http//www.mhsource.com/advocacy/narsad/trigger/html/?_requestid=1006565(8) Altered Neural Circuits in Schizophrenia http//www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/fr51.html(9)Rosenzweig, M.R., Leiman, A.L., & Breedlove, A.M. Biological Psychology. Sinaur Associates Inc Massachusetts, 1996