Psychobiology, Help with terminology and info requested...

Help with terminology and info requested...

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rroo.. #1 / 5	Help with terminology and info requested... I'm a college student researching various pathological psychological disorders. In researching affective disorders, I've found all kinds of information and sources about bipolar disorder, chronic and acute depression, mania, and hypomania, along with some background on the chemical and neurological mechanisms at work, and some drug therapy that addresses them. What I have had difficulty finding, however, is any substantive literature on pathological lack of affect. The closest descriptions I've found are some dissociative and catatonic forms of schitzophrenia. That doesn't sound right to me; I feel sure that there's some affective disorder that doesn't effect cognition except for suppressing emotion. I'm told that severe prolonged depression can manifest this way, but that doesn't sound right either. What seems fully possible is that I simply don't know the name of what to look up. I don't know the term, so I don't know what to ask for. I'd be very appreciative if any professionals or fellow students could help with this, as well as any pointers to other sources on the neurobiological basis and/or treatment of such a disorder. Thanks, idfx id Rooney
Thu, 07 Jun 2001 03:00:00 GMT

Mark Mori #2 / 5	Help with terminology and info requested... Quote: > I'm a college student researching various pathological > psychological disorders. In researching affective disorders, > I've found all kinds of information and sources > about bipolar disorder, chronic and acute depression, mania, and > hypomania, along with some background on the chemical and neurological > mechanisms at work, and some drug therapy that addresses them. don't forget the psychological mechanisms--they can be just as powerful. Quote: > What I have had difficulty finding, however, is any substantive > literature on pathological lack of affect. The closest descriptions I've > found are some dissociative and catatonic forms of schitzophrenia. That > doesn't sound right to me; I feel sure that there's some affective disorder > that doesn't effect cognition except for suppressing emotion. I'm told > that severe prolonged depression can manifest this way, but that > doesn't sound right either. To the best of my knowledge, there has yet to be a condtion defined that meets your criteria. You definately have a flattening or deadening of affect in schizophrenia and depression can be described as an absence of affect. Perhaps you could describe the condition you had in mind. Is there any special reason why you are assuming that such a disorder would not affect cognition? If, as human beings we are feeling, thinking, and doing creatures; anything that impacts one of those is going to have an impact on the other two. [...] mark -- =========================================================== If I had only..... forgotten future greatness and looked at the green things and the buildings and reached out to those around me and smelled the air and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations and heard the rain on the roof .......and it's not too late Hugh Prather http://members.xoom.com/mmorin Psychology FAQ (a work in progress) http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Resort/5806/spp/
Thu, 07 Jun 2001 03:00:00 GMT

rroo.. #3 / 5	Help with terminology and info requested... Quote: > don't forget the psychological mechanisms--they can be just as powerful. Good call. Absolutely. Quote: > >That doesn't sound right to me; I feel sure that there's some affective disorder > > that doesn't effect cognition except for suppressing emotion. > To the best of my knowledge, there has yet to be a condtion defined that > meets your criteria. You definately have a flattening or deadening of > affect in schizophrenia and depression can be described as an absence of > affect. Perhaps you could describe the condition you had in mind. What I had in mind? giggle Sorry. Won't happen again. ; ) Quote: > Is there any special reason why you are assuming that such a disorder > would not affect cognition? If, as human beings we are feeling, > thinking, and doing creatures; anything that impacts one of those is > going to have an impact on the other two. I guess "cognition" was a poor word choice. Obviously, the thought patterns of someone with no emotions would be singularly unique (redundant again). I suppose what I meant was that a great majority of schitzophrenic and/or schitzo-affective disorders are characterized by markedly impaired perception of reality. There's philosophers' points to argue about that, but that's semantics. The general idea is that I'm looking for a disorder in which no emotions are consciously felt or manifest in behavior, without distorting the perception of reality. Just to see things like a normal person, only with- out emotional import. There's an additional factor to wonder about: above, I specified that "no emotions are consciously felt or manifest in behavior", but I think that there would be two distinct disorders there - one where there is no emotion generated at all, and another where the emotion exists but is thoroughly suppressed. They both sound interesting. As for the feeling/thinking/doing trinity, I beg to differ. There are many instances in which no perceivable thought (or any brain activity) occurs for long periods of time in living people. I have personally seen people in states of psychological and drug-induced catatonia, where they could think, feel, and talk, but not do anything. I don't think the three are as strongly bonded as you seem to think. But that's somewhat tangential. Quote: > >I'm told that severe prolonged depression can manifest this way, but that > > doesn't sound right either. Actually, on further reflection, I think that severe, accute depression aptly describes one of the two cases mentioned above: severe depression is often a reaction, analogous perhaps to an edema reaction, to overwhelming emot- ional stimuli or trauma. That would be the case where the feelings were there, just suppressed. Then it would be the other case - no emotion generated - that I'm asking about. Anybody out there got a copy of DSM-IV handy? yrs, in_sanity, idfx
Fri, 08 Jun 2001 03:00:00 GMT

Mark Mori #4 / 5	Help with terminology and info requested... Quote: > As for the feeling/thinking/doing trinity, I beg to differ. There > are many > instances in which no perceivable thought (or any brain activity) > occurs for > long periods of time in living people. since brain activity is one or perhaps the criteria for "living," I disagree. Quote: > I have personally seen people in > states of psychological and drug-induced catatonia, where they could > think, feel, and talk, but not do anything. somebody under anesthesia may be an exception as they are not in relation to the world at that particular moment. As far as psychological catatonia--there is more going on in the person that is observable and in their case doing nothing is exactly what they are doing. Quote: > I don't think the three are as > strongly bonded as you seem to think. But that's somewhat tangential. > > >I'm told that severe prolonged depression can manifest this way, > > but that > > > doesn't sound right either. > Actually, on further reflection, I think that severe, accute > depression aptly > describes one of the two cases mentioned above: severe depression is > often > a reaction, analogous perhaps to an edema reaction, to overwhelming > emot- > ional stimuli or trauma. That would be the case where the feelings > were > there, just suppressed. Then it would be the other case - no emotion > generated - that I'm asking about. It's still not clear what such a person would look like and how that person would look differently than people with other disorders. Our diagnostic criteria do not start with the hypothetical "what if" but rather the real life observable. What you are trying to do is a nice exercise in the "what if" spectrum but the connection to experienced reality is tenuous. Quote: > Anybody out there got a copy of DSM-IV handy? Where do you think I'm getting my information? -- =========================================================== If I had only..... forgotten future greatness and looked at the green things and the buildings and reached out to those around me and smelled the air and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations and heard the rain on the roof .......and it's not too late Hugh Prather http://members.xoom.com/mmorin Psychology FAQ (a work in progress) http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Resort/5806/spp/
Fri, 08 Jun 2001 03:00:00 GMT

F. Frank LeFev #5 / 5	Help with terminology and info requested... You might try looking at various disorders involving the amygdala. Joe Ledoux has spent a few years detailing the amygdala's role in forming emotional associations, and early descriptions of animal lesion studies as well as human clinical cases suggest ways in which much of our cognition and experience could be deprived of affect. Also, Anthony Damasio has written on neural mechanisms on which anticipatory emotions might depend--without which, a patient with (for example) frontal lesions may logically predict the outcome of his actions but not "feel" it sufficiently to influence his own behavior. Haven't read this segment of his work in detail, but I suppose he may refer to what Nauta called the "Fox circuit" (cf. the "Papez circuit"): inter-relations among orbito-frontal cortex, anterior temp{filter}lobe (amygdala) and (mediodorsal?) thalamus. F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D. New York Neurppsychology Group Quote: >--------------B2AC3EDDD0DFF04E4EA0C772 >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I'm a college student researching various pathological psychological >disorders. >In researching affective disorders, I've found all kinds of information >and sources >about bipolar disorder, chronic and acute depression, mania, and >hypomania, along >with some background on the chemical and neurological mechanisms at >work, and >some drug therapy that addresses them. > What I have had difficulty finding, however, is any substantive >literature on >pathological lack of affect. The closest descriptions I've found are >some dissociative >and catatonic forms of schitzophrenia. That doesn't sound right to me; >I feel sure that >there's some affective disorder that doesn't effect cognition except for >suppressing >emotion. I'm told that severe prolonged depression can manifest this >way, but that >doesn't sound right either. > What seems fully possible is that I simply don't know the name of >what to look up. >I don't know the term, so I don't know what to ask for. I'd be very >appreciative if any >professionals or fellow students could help with this, as well as any >pointers to other >sources on the neurobiological basis and/or treatment of such a >disorder. >Thanks, >idfx >id Rooney >--------------B2AC3EDDD0DFF04E4EA0C772 >Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> ><html> >    I'm a college student researching various pathological >psychological disorders. ><br>In researching affective disorders, I've found all kinds of information >and sources ><br>about bipolar disorder, chronic and acute depression, mania, and hypomania, >along ><br>with some background on the chemical and neurological mechanisms at >work, and ><br>some drug therapy that addresses them. ><br>    What I have had difficulty finding, however, is >any substantive literature on ><br>pathological <i>lack </i>of affect.  The closest descriptions >I've found are some dissociative ><br>and catatonic forms of schitzophrenia.  That doesn't sound right >to me; I feel sure that ><br>there's some affective disorder that doesn't effect cognition except >for suppressing ><br>emotion.  I'm told that severe prolonged depression can manifest >this way, but that ><br>doesn't sound right either. ><br>    What seems fully possible is that I simply don't >know the name of what to look up. ><br>I don't know the term, so I don't know what to ask for.  I'd be >very appreciative if any ><br>professionals or fellow students could help with this, as well as any >pointers to other ><br>sources on the neurobiological basis and/or treatment of such a disorder. ><p>Thanks, ><p>idfx ><br>id Rooney</html> >--------------B2AC3EDDD0DFF04E4EA0C772--
Sat, 09 Jun 2001 03:00:00 GMT

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