TABLE OF CONTENTS - NR 546 / NR546 Midterm Exam Study Guide Weeks 1...

Chamberlain University

NR 546 / NR546

Midterm Exam Study Guide Weeks 1 to 4 Advanced Psychopharmacology

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

❖ Week 1: The Brain

❖ Week 2: Neurotransmitters

❖ Week 3: Psychosis & Schizophrenia

❖ Week 4: Anxiety Disorders

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Week 1The Brain Temporal Lobe The temporal lobe is located on the sides of the brain and involved in short-term memory, speech, auditory signals, and smell recognition. It identifies “what” things are – object identification. It contains the limbic system, amygdala, and hippocampus. There are multiple pathways within the temporal lobe which affect object identification and language comprehension, including the ability to understand semantics. A dominant temporal lobe lesion can present as Wernicke’s aphasia. Temporal lobe disorders include dementia, affective disorders, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders

(ADHD).

Parietal Lobe The middle part of the brain, responsible for proprioception, is the home of the somatic senses. This part of the brain helps a person to identify spatial relationships, interpret pain and touch in the body, and identify and give meaning to objects. Damage to the anterior portion of the parietal lobe may cause asterogenesis, the loss of ability to recognize objects via the sense of touch. This may be experienced by patients with post cerebral vascular accidents.Occipital Lobe This is the back part of the brain and controls visual processing. Damage to this lobe results in the inability to form visual memories. Bilateral lobe damage results in the inability to recognize items by sight even though vision is normal. Occipital lobe seizures can cause hallucinations, such as lines of color.Central Sulcus This separates the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe.Corpus Callosum This controls the communication between the two brain hemispheres. The corpus callosum is involved in attention, impulse control, and emotion regulation. It integrates impulses from both sides of the brain. It is said that Albert Einstein had a very large corpus callosum. Persons with an underdeveloped or missing corpus collosum may have intellectual impairment.Thalamus This is an egg-shaped structure involved in sensory organ and motor command processing. All sensory systems except for the olfaction process through the thalamus, which is responsible for processing all external information. The thalamus has been associated with symptoms related to schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD).

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Limbic System This is associated with pleasure, reward, and reinforcing behavior. Drug abuse affects the limbic system, disrupting emotions and feelings associated with normal behavior.Hippocampus This is located deep in the temporal lobes and is involved in anxiety and memory, and shifting short-term to long-term memory. Hippocampal function is impaired in schizophrenia and dementia. There is ongoing research into the role the hippocampus plays in anxiety and decision making.Amygdala This is located deep in the temporal lobes and involved in emotional regulation and perception of odors. All smells travel directly to the amygdala. Cooking smells can elicit memories of childhood events and holidays. A traumatic event can result in the formation of the fear response, causing the fight or flight reflex within the autonomic nervous system and affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis causing the release of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol). The amygdala also is involved in the interpretation of facial expressions and sexual stimuli.Nucleus Accumbens This is involved in the reward circuit and reinforces addictive behaviors.Basal Ganglia A group of structures involved in voluntary motor movements, cognition, and emotion.Basal ganglia movement disorders include Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Tourette syndrome. The striatum is a group of structures that includes the caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. The dorsal striatum contains the caudate nucleus and the putamen. The ventral striatum contains the nucleus accumbens. Both are involved in facilitating voluntary movement.Dorsal Striatum This is involved in complex motor actions and linkage of cognition to motor actions. It is the main input area for the basal ganglia and is activated when anticipating or engaging in pleasure.Frontal Lobes The frontal lobes are associated with movement, intelligence, abstract thinking. the ability to organize, personality, behavior, and emotional control. Traumatic brain injuries can result in personality changes, difficulty controlling emotions, and other cognitive functions.Grey Matter The cerebellum, cerebrum, brain stem, and butterfly-shaped portion of the central spinal cord are comprised of gray matter which contains neural cell bodies, axon terminals, dendrites, and all nerve synapses. It is the working area of the brain and the focus of psychiatry and neurology. Gray matter is associated with learning. Changes in the gray Downloaded by Benjamin Luca ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|51648332

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