PSY

7. Describe a specific behavior that you engage in fairly regularly, and discuss how this behavior is controlled by the different lobes of your cerebral cortex, as well as the more primitive parts of your brain. Which hemisphere or half of the brain do you believe was most heavily involved in the processing of this behavior within your brain, and why? Finally, which neurotransmitters do you believe were most active in your brain during the completion of this behavior, and why?

Here’s a sample Discussion response to help you get a sense of what you need to do here:

The behavior that I am going to describe in detail is reading. This action involves the use of a key part of your brain called the cerebral cortex. This is the outer layer of the brain, and as you read, the different lobes or sections of the cerebral cortex are activated. Specifically, being able to see the words uses your vision, and focusing in on the specific features of the letters allows you to differentiate one letter from another. This is controlled by the occipital lobe of your brain – the visual cortex is located here. Both hemispheres, or halves, of the brain are involved when you use your eyes to read. In addition, the frontal lobe is involved in interpreting and understanding the meaning of the words, sentences, and paragraphs which you read. Further, the left hemisphere of your temporal lobe is believed to be primarily involved in making the sounds that are made when you read silently, even if you do not say a word. Other parts of the brain that are involved in reading include the cerebellum (this part of the brain controls the movement of your eyes) and the reticular activating system (this controls your ability to focus and pay attention). With regard to some of the neurotransmitters involved in reading, glutamate would be one that is critical to this activity. Since it is one of the main excitatory neurotransmitters, glutamate is necessary for learning and memory – two functions necessary for reading to be effective. In addition, epinephrine is another neurotransmitter (it is also a hormone) that is needed for reading to occur. Epinephrine regulates attention, mental focus, and arousal. All of these are critical to the successful reader. This is just a brief overview of what goes on within the brain when you read. Simply amazing isn’t it?

8. Choose one of your five senses (touch, taste, smell, vision, hearing), describe how your biology, mood, prior learning, recent/past experiences, or upbringing might influence your perceptions of the world around you. What are some potential applications of these findings to your chosen field of study? To how you interact and communicate with others around you?

To help get you started, here is a sample of what you need to do for this Discussion:

For the sense of sight, your biology can definitely impact on how you see the world around you. For example, if you inherit poor vision and it develops at a young age, or you are color blind due to a genetic anomaly, this will impact on what you see and how you pay attention to the multitude of stimuli in the world around you. You might not see things as clearly as others, and this may allow you to see the bigger picture and not get bogged down in details. Sometimes, your mood can also impact what you see and focus on. For example, if you are in a bad mood or you do not feel well, you might not notice things that you normally would like the sunshine, a smiling child’s face, or a beautiful flower. Instead, you focus on the litter which is scattered about in the street or the dog poop your neighbor failed to pick up.

Prior learning will influence how you respond to certain stimuli in the world around you as well – for example, slowing down when the traffic light turns yellow. Your recent experience can also impact on how to see the world around you by encouraging you to focus more on some things and not others. For example, if you watch the evening news, you will begin to believe that the world around you is a very unsafe and frightening place to live. As a result, this recent experience or “priming” may encourage you to focus more on the negative side of life, and this can influence how you “see” the world around you. Your childhood or upbringing may also influence how you see things by encouraging you to focus on some things and not others. In other words, you learn to “see” by observing your parents and what they pay attention to.

I am going to focus my studies on marketing and advertising, and I think that this subject is a very important topic for my future work in the business world. How to get the attention of the consumer is critical to the success of an advertisement, so I have to think about all of these different factors when I work on designing a graphic art piece for a newspaper advertisement.

9. Describe a fictitious client (not a real person) who suffers from one of the mental illnesses you read about this week, and provide a brief description of the various symptoms your fictitious client displays. Your post should also: 

· Identify a diagnosis that could possibly fit this client. Provide a clear rationale for the diagnosis based on the symptoms presented.

· Discuss treatment options for your fictitious client, using at least one biological, one psychological, and one social intervention (the biopsychosocial model).

Here is a sample response to get you started:

Joe is a middle-aged 45-year-old Caucasian male. He has been married for 20 years, and has been working at the same job for the past 10 years as an accountant. He is a busy working dad, the father of two children: a 5-year-old daughter (Josie) and a 10-year-old son (Carl). Joe coaches his son Carl’s baseball team, runs about 1-2 miles a day, and plays basketball once a week with his buddies at the local YMCA. Three months ago, Joe’s company had some layoffs, and his job was cut along with 5,000 others due to the economic downturn. Since that time, Joe has been extremely depressed and withdrawn, and he reports that he doesn’t enjoy activities that he used to like running or playing basketball. He turned over his coaching job to the assistant coach of the baseball team and states that he just doesn’t have the energy to do much of anything anymore. Some days, he feels so depressed he stays in bed for the entire day. He adds that he spends most of his time on the couch in his bathrobe watching TV and playing poker online.

These symptoms have persisted for the past three months—pretty much all day, every day. Joe’s wife has since returned to work full-time to help pay the bills, and Joe reports that this makes him feel like a failure. Joe’s children are worried and want to spend time with him, but Joe tends to push them away due to his feelings of sadness and shame for “letting them down.” Overall, Joe is in good health and does not have any other medical conditions or concerns.

As per the DSMIV-TR, it appears that Joe could be diagnosed with major depression due to his symptoms of anhedonia and feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and shame lasting for three months.

In terms of treatment, an antidepressant medication may be helpful to assist Joe in getting through this difficult time. A consultation with a psychiatrist would be in order here. This medication would be considered a biological intervention. Additionally, Joe would be recommended to participate in weekly sessions with a cognitive-behavioral therapist to help him overcome his cognitive (feelings of failure and shame) and behavioral (staying in bed, lying around on the couch, etc.) symptoms. This would be considered a psychological intervention. Finally, a focus on changing Joe’s daily routine would be recommended by encouraging the entire family to eat right and exercise. In addition, making sure that Joe gets to spend time with his friends and is given the support that he needs in getting motivated to begin looking for a new position would be important to add. Both of these latter recommendations would fit as a social intervention.