Depression and Bipolar Disorder Addiction (Psychological Disorders) by Vatsal Thakkar, Christine Elaine Collins, Pat Levitt (2006)

Depression and Bipolar Disorder Addiction (Psychological Disorders) by Vatsal Thakkar, Christine Elaine Collins, Pat Levitt (2006)




Think of the most complicated aspect of our universe, and then
multiply that by infinity! Even the most enthusiastic of mathe-
maticians and physicists acknowledge that the brain is by far
the most challenging entity to understand. By design, the
human brain is made up of billions of cells called neurons,
which use chemical neurotransmitters to communicate with
each other through connections called synapses. Each brain cell
has about 2,000 synapses. Connections between neurons are
not formed in a random fashion, but rather, are organized into
a type of architecture that is far more complex than any of
today’s supercomputers. And, not only is the brain’s connective
architecture more complex than any computer, its connections
are capable of changing to improve the way a circuit functions.
For example, the way we learn new information involves
changes in circuits that actually improve performance. Yet
some change can also result in a disruption of connections, like changes that occur in disorders such as drug addiction, depres- sion, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, or even changes that can increase a person’s risk of suicide.

Brain architecture reflects the highly specialized jobs that
are performed by human beings, such as seeing, hearing, feel-
ing, smelling, and moving. Different brain areas are specialized
to control specific functions. Each specialized area must com-
municate well with other areas for the brain to accomplish even
more complex tasks, like controlling body physiology—our
patterns of sleep, for example, or even our eating habits, both
of which can become disrupted if brain development or func-
tion is disturbed in some way. The brain controls our feelings,
fears, and emotions; our ability to learn and store new infor-
mation; and how well we recall old information. The brain
does all this, and more, by building, during development, the
circuits that control these functions, much like a hard-wired
computer. Even small abnormalities that occur during early
brain development through gene mutations, viral infection, or
fetal exposure to alcohol can increase the risk of developing a
wide range of psychological disorders later in life.



Bibliographic information
for Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Title Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Psychological disorders
Authors Vatsal Thakkar, Christine Elaine Collins, Pat Levitt
Contributor Pat Levitt
Publisher Infobase Publishing, 2006
ISBN 1438118406, 9781438118406
Length 129 pages