Saturday, February 28, 2015

Bipolar Disorder and Positive Mood

         
 Apparently it’s not an easy thing for people to admit and state that they have any mental disorder. Most people of different ages and cultural  backgrounds always tend to hid or not even admit the fact they have a mental disorder such depression or hypo-mania. They always try to deny the fact that they are in need of a treatment for their mental disorder. Fallon even experienced the same thing “I saw depression as a form of weakness and didn't want to admit that I was a victim.”  At the same time the denial of the mental disorder accompanies an intense episodes  of positive moods. They always try to show that they are having a good time which is way for them to reject the fact that they are in need of a treatment because of their mental illness.



People with Hypo-mania experience episodes of  positive mood thought out the day or even for a longer period of time that could be weeks. Sometimes they decide to do nothing but have fun all day long and forgetting about all the other priorities that they have such as family and work. They would do all sort of things that would seem fun for them. They will go party all day, and buy all sort of luxury stuff that complement the good mood that they are having. Fallon explained his hypo-mania “my days- to weeks long bouts of hypo-mania were associated with little sleep bursts of productivity, and a desire to party hard” 


A study that was done in Indiana University that used functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) to look for the areas in the brain that shows the abnormal activities of the patients with bipolar disorder with changing mood phases trying while they are trying to control their response to emotional and non emotional materials that they come across.
“They found that bipolar depressed patients abnormally activated brain areas when they had to withhold responses to sad faces. Manic patients, on the other hand, had abnormal activation regardless of whether they were trying to withhold response to sad faces, happy faces or non-emotional material” The article agrees with what Fallon said describing the phases that he goes through, such as parting and gambling. This is because of the activation of those areas in the brain.


 It’s unfortunate that people with mental disorders have to deny their illnesses and try to fight that with a positive happy response that probably show that they are fine. 









References
The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. New York: Penguin.
Elsevier. (2013, January 14). How do happiness and sadness circuits contribute to bipolar disorder?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130114092525.htm

Friday, February 27, 2015

Empathy in Psychopaths


Andy McNab, a former SAS soldier, author, and psychopath, claims that being a psychopath is advantageous. His book in 1993, Bravo Two Zero, discusses his life as a soldier in military. He says having no empathy in the field of business is beneficial mentally for staff and will make the production value higher. The concept of empathy is examined in James Fallon’s book, The Psychopath Inside: A neuroscientist’s personal journey into the dark side of the brain, in which Fallon discovered his brain to be highly similar to those of psychopathic killers.

McNab’s idea of success in business world and empathy has a direct correlation since the employees with empathy are hesitant to refute a proposal and will have a high emotional toll outside of work. Being ruthless with no remorse is key to success in business and military as well. In the military, there is a pressure for one to be neutral, with absolutely no emotion, in the situation since the lives of the people around are in jeopardy. Killing the enemy should provide one with no remorse because the next performance will be of emotion, repentance, and error. It is priority to stay alive to save others. MnNab describes psychopath as people that are skillful at carrying out the most abhorrent crimes, without any feeling of regret. He believes that a non-extreme psychopath lives inside everyone. People are in a range from mild to extreme.

James Fallon’s explanation of empathy refers to one’s emotional reactivity to another individual person. He discovered that it is hard for him and other psychopaths to have normal interpersonal relationships due to the lack of empathy. He is using his colleagues and family to make his life more entertaining rather than actually caring for them. This is due to the loss of activity in the orbital cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and damage in insula. McNab is looking for this kind of empathy to explain the success behind business.

Keep in mind that McNab is not promoting psychopathic employees at workplace. He is just providing a pathway to see how the brains of psychopath and others work. Helping individuals to figure out what is going on in their brain is the best way to increase productivity and capita.

Fallon, J. (2013) The Psychopath Inside. New York, New York: Penguin Group.


Santos Nina. 2015, May. Does being a psychopath make you more successful? CNN. Retrieved February 25, 2015 from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/29/business/psychopath-andy-mcnab/index.html#em4

Lack of Empathy in Psychopaths

James Fallon is a neuroscientist and a medical school professor. He’s relatively average guy on the surface. In his research, he discovers neurological patterns in his brain are identical to patterns in the brain of a psychopath. He continues researching serial murders, and discovers  what it was in their brains that would explain their evil nature. 
Fallon noted that there was a decrease of activity in the orbital cortex by the amygdala which prevents impulsivity normally. This means that people who have this decrease are more likely to be impulsive, which would make sense for someone who is a psychopath. In addition to this, someone with damage to the orbital cortex, cannot predict others’ thoughts and has sharing his feelings. This would entail they’re missing empathy and theory of mind, which means to about visualize another’s perspectives. They also have decreased activity in the ventomedial pre-frontal cortex which leads to inhtion in social behavior, ethics, and morality. Their cold behavior is do to damage in the temporal lobe at the amygdala. Fallon highlighted how a psychopath’s brain has a poorly functioning ventral system, yet a normal dorsal system. Therefore, they are without context and empathy which leads to cold panning and execution of predatory behaviors become finely, tuned, and persuasive. It’s these defects that give the illusion a psychopath actually cares for the people in his or her life. 

An article titled, “Psychopaths Might Have an Impaired Empathy Circuit,” contains some parallels to Fallon’s study and makes more interesting findings on lack of empathy in psychopaths due to their brains.  The experiment illustrated how when thinking about pain on someone else, the brain shows abnormality by the amygdala while areas of pleasure were stimulated. This is like Fallon’s findings, because it also showed that there was reduced activity in the amygdala which a crucial part of the limbic system, or the system hat deals with emotions in the brain. This defect is what fuels psychopath’s ruthless behavior and can result in the shamelessly committed horrendous acts. 


Reference
Fallon, James H. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. New York: Current, 2013. Print.
Knight, M. (2013, December 19). Psychopaths Might Have an Impaired Empathy Circuit. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psychopaths-might-have-an-impaired-empathy-circuit/

Unclear Criminal Warning Signs

In “The Psychopath Inside”, James Fallon tells his story about finding out he has the brain of a psychopath. This disturbing, but also very interesting story about his findings shines a light on genetic pre-disposition to certain personality disorders. Although Fallon did find that some of his personality traits over the years corresponded to those of a psychopath, he lived a normal life and had never committed any violent crimes. However, in recent years, the amount of shootings and crimes committed by very disturbed individuals have seemed to be more prevalent. Although people that lived among these gunmen and criminals said they saw warning signs of their actions, can these warning signs be universal to all people? Can we say that someone who has an antisocial personality and somewhat violent thoughts is going to hurt the people around them?

The New York Times article, “Warning Signs of Violent Acts Often Unclear,” brings up that the warning signs of violent behavior cannot be black and white. The article talks about legislature that was trying to be passed in New York and Washington stating that all doctors have to “report any person who ‘is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others.”’ These warning signs could range from simply unpleasant thoughts to someone who has been involuntarily hospitalized for a mental disorder. I believe ‘The Psychopath Inside’ shows us that not everyone with pre-dispositions to violence, like James Fallon, are going to seriously endanger anyone. These violent acts are often done by people that have both mental disorders and have gone through a traumatic event in their life. Although I understand the states’ concerns with keeping their residents safe, there would be a lot of reported individuals that will never commit any violent crimes. The New York Times article states, “people with serious mental disorders, while more likely to commit aggressive acts than the average person, account for only about 4 percent of violent crimes over all.” That means that people like Fallon would be on a sort-of watch list, when they won’t be of any danger to the people around them.

Fallon, J. (2013). The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. New York: Penguin.

Mirror Neurons: Why the Feels?

How are we able to learn, respond to, and imitate certain emotions and behaviors? Through mirror neuronsMirror neurons are characterized by a certain type of brain circuitry. Marco Iacoboni of UCLA found that in primates, “there are neurons that activate when a person watches an action and then imitates that particular action.” There is thought to be a connection between the prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex that is involved in this neural network.
In The Psychopath Inside, James Fallon shared an anecdote of his visit to a Kenyan village. Fallon and his brother, Tom, were able to show a group of people who were never exposed to golf or golf clubs the sport to golf at an expert level. It was a remarkable experience of socializing that implied there may be a cognitive connection to replicating certain behaviors – even emotional reactions – on an expert, universal level.

Fallon links mirror neurons with processing empathy and altruistic behaviors. “Research involving fMRI has revealed that the mirror neuron system extends beyond cognitive circuitry and affect other areas of the area processing emotion”(146).  Neurotransmitter and hormone systems also play a role in empathy. There are also genetic and environmental roots to processing and exhibiting empathetic behaviors.

In the New York Times, “World cup: Why mirror neurons play a part in jubilation” is an article which explores the observed, emotional aspect behind mirror neurons in sports events. Why is it that we start to feel sad for ourselves when someone cries at a goal loss? Why do we feel pride when someone else is beaming because of their accomplishments? This has to do with mirror neurons eliciting empathetic behaviors and cue us in to what is happening around us.
Fans in sports are susceptible to mirror neurons, as their emotional responses (i.e. weeping, celebrating, cheering, booing) are elicited by the other fans in the crowd, especially if they have experience with the sport. Ultimately, their mirror neurons are firing off at much higher rates.
Mirror neurons are a significant aspect of social interaction and learning behaviors. They act in accordance with areas of the brain which planning and coordinating.
"In general, mirror neurons make a positive contribution to learning and communication, this also applies to small children as they imitate us," says Valenti.

Fallon, J. (2013). The psychopath inside: A neuroscientist’s journey into the dark side of the
            brain. New York: Penguin Group.

Medical University of Vienna. (2014). World cup: Why mirror neurons play a part in jubilation.
            ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2015 from            www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140610101318.htm


Slender Man Stabbings: Looking through the Lens of Neuroscience

Slender Man Stabbings: Looking through the Lens of Neuroscience
By Shannon O'Sullivan
               Violence has always been a tantalizing drug to the public, with the most memorable instances gaining their salience from their atypical circumstances and inhumaneness. In May 2014, the story that captured the eyes of the world is known as the Slender Man Stabbing.
               Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier—two 12 year old girls from Wisconsin—lured their friend into the woods for a game of hide-and-seek, only to stab her 19 times and leave her to die. According to CNN’s release of the Slender Man interrogation tapes on Anderson Cooper 360, the victim crawled her way out of the forest and miraculously lived, despite the fact that one stabbing came so close to her heart that “she was 1mm away from certain death (Cooper). The girls had been plotting their attack for months, and are being charged as adults for first degree murder. Why did these young girls try to kill their friend? The answer the girls gave was that they wanted to prove themselves worthy of Slender Man: a faceless boogeyman of the Internet.
               Somewhere along the way after Geyser and Meier came across the Internet born-and-bred legend Slender Man, the boundaries between reality and fantasy all but dissipated. According to Newsweek’s The Girls Who Tried to Kill for Slender Man article by Abigail Jones, since the girls believed Slender Man to be real, they wanted to prove themselves worthy of him as his “proxies” (Jones).  The girl’s belief in this “modern day, tech-fueled folklore” (Jones) appears indisputable, but besides their distorted view on the reality of Slender Man, they seem to possess an otherwise rational method of thinking. Geyser and Meier plotted the attempted murder, created a list of items necessary to carry out the task, were persuasive enough to gain the girls trust, knew that taking another person’s life was technically wrong, and were aware of the consequences (Cooper). Hence, the better question to ask ourselves is not why they attempted to kill their friend, but how could two 12 year old girls possess the mental capacity to carry out such an act?
               While the Newsweek article by Jones addresses the incomplete development of an adolescent’s prefrontal cortex and it’s consequent limitations on critical thinking and decision making—which is an important component to consider when Wisconsin charges everyone 10 and older as an adult for cases of first degree murder—this still is not enough evidence to explain how two girls could stray so far from societal norms. To further understand these girls and their actions, we must take a look at the Slender Man Stabbings through the perspective of neuroscience. The Psychopath Inside by James Fallon provides an eye opening way to see the neurological background for psychopathy, and how it can differentiate a psychopathic murderer from a murder who does not possess all the qualifications for psychopathy. Fallon is able to interpret the lack of activity or over-activity of certain brain regions and associate them with behavioral characteristics, which can show how the abnormalities that are repeatedly found in psychopath’s brain scans correlate with their behavior. By analyzing the Slender Man Stabbings through the information and methodology provided by Fallon, I believe we can attribute the actions of Geyser and Meier to an underlying neurological susceptibility to psychopathy induced by the underdeveloped cognitive skills of an adolescent and their susceptibility to supernatural beliefs and groupthink.
               Through the comparisons of brain scans of a variety of psychopaths, Fallon discovered a “trademark inactivity in the orbital, ventral, and temporal cortex, as well as the connective tissue”(The Psychopath Inside, pg 62). A combination of inactivity in all these regions results in the typical behaviors which help initially identify a psychopath. Although there is no formal definition of psychopathy, some of the traits associated with the term are deceitfulness, lack of remorse, impulsivity, history of juvenile delinquency, and cold cognition. The one practically uncontested characteristic which defines a psychopath is “a lack of interpersonal empathy…they don’t fear consequences the way most people do, and while they may react to the stress of being caught in a lie or a violent act like anyone would, some remain cool as a cucumber” (The Psychopath Inside, pg 16).
               Although no current neurological tests are currently known by the public of Geyser and Weier, the behaviors which define a psychopathy clearly correlate with what we know about the girl’s actions. Evidently, Geyser and Weier were cunning enough to have lured their friend into the woods without any suspicions on her part of their intentions; the victim even proclaimed that “I hate you! I trusted you!”(Jones) as they continued to stab her. Geyser blatantly admits to the police that “it was weird that I didn’t feel remorse”(Jones) and their impulsive nature shows through their immature, yet chilling accounts of the stabbing. Weier recalls telling Geyser to “Go ballistic, go crazy”(Jones), and Geyser described her subsequent actions as “stabby, stab, stab”(Jones). Apparently, the girls did not fear the consequences of their actions either; CNN ended the showing of the interrogation tapes with Geyser remarking on the consequences of her actions, stating that “I knew this would happen. I knew we’d get in trouble”(Cooper).
               And of course, the trademark lack of empathy appears throughout both Newsweek’s account of the stabbing and CNN’s showing of the interrogation tapes. The tapes themselves portray both girls as monotone and aware of their wrongdoing, yet lacking the innate morals or empathy to fully comprehend the emotional damage they have inflicted. A psychopathic lack of restraint is seen through another of Geyser’s accounts of her emotional state during the attack, stating that “I didn’t know what I did. It sort of just happened. It didn’t feel like anything. It was like air”(Cooper).
               Along with the possibility of neurological psychopathy, the aspects of groupthink form a common pattern in adolescence and first degree murder. Dr. Harold Kopiwiez, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, calls peer pressure for adolescent girls “powerful and can lead to risky choices”(Jones), while Prof. Kathleen Heide, a professor of criminology who has evaluated 150 juveniles charged with violent crimes, adds that “kids will do things in groups that they would never do by themselves…it starts out as talk…and then it gets to a point where they’re at the cusp, and neither feels like they can back down. Heide’s idea of how these juvenile crimes work supports the accounts both girls gave on how each would egg each other on to the next step of the stabbings. Fallon admits that it is hard to indicate childhood psychopathy, but some trademarks are that children “show very little fear and can be quite bold”(The Psychopath Inside, pg 102). Even if these girls prove to not be full-blown psychopaths, the signs of susceptibility and the challenges of adolescence could possibly explain how such a devastating phenomenon could occur.
               As shocking as the Slender Man Stabbings may be, it is unreasonable to try any child 10 years or older as an adult in a criminal court case. At the age of 12, Geyser and Weier possess neither the cognitive ability nor social experience to fully understand that their apathetic reactions to murder and belief in the supernatural are irrational. Facing up to 65 years in prison, it is hard to imagine these girls coming out more neurologically stable than when they went in. A number of cases of adolescent premeditative murderers who were given freedom and anonymity after a relatively short period of confinement and rehabilitation allowed these people who made grievous childhood mistakes a second chance. Fallon claims that a psychopath can go for years without carrying out their destructive tendencies, “but at some point the urge overpowers all other priorities”(The Psychopath Inside, pg 205). On this point, I do not believe that Fallon’s assumption has to apply to these possibly psychopathic adolescents. Proof of a return to normal life after first degree murder as an adolescent exists, and the best way to help these children would be to implement a constructive and short detainment period. One doctor is quoted to have said about Geyser that “she needs to grow up” after hearing about her delusional beliefs in the supernatural, and although his statement his highly ignorant and derogatory for a doctor to make, he is right for the wrong reason. These girls deserve a chance to grow up and learn from their wrong doings how to become a beneficial member of society.
               The fact that the victim survived is a miracle, and thankfully a life was saved that day. However, the possibility still stands that another two girls can have a second chance as well.

references
Fallon, James H. "Ch.2 Evil Brewing." The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. New York: Current, 2013. Print.
Jones, Abigail. “The Girls Who Killed for Slender Man” Newsweek. 13 Aug, 2014. 25 Feb, 2015. http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/22/girls-who-tried-kill-slender-man-264218.html

Cooper, Anderson. “Chilling ‘Slender Man’ Interrogation Tapes Released” CNN. 20 Feb, 2015. 25 Feb, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/02/20/ac-dnt-kaye-slenderman-interrogation-tapes.cnn

Cannabis Use and Hippocampus Activity

Our memories form the core of character and being. While it is known that the hippocampus plays a critical role in associative memory, the ability to remember relationships between unrelated terms, not much research has been done on the interactions between different hippocampal regions that enable this memory recollection. This is the research Jane Wang and her colleagues went on to perform.  By using non-invasive magnetic stimulation and later recording fMRI activity in the hippocampus, Wang and her team were able to delve deeper into this interconnectivity.  Compared to control groups, the groups that received magnetic stimulation showed greater activity in the superior parietal cortex and lateral parietal cortex, both of these regions being critical for associative memory. To observe if this stimulation translated into greater real world recall, Wang ran further experiments to test associative memory. These results demonstrated that compared to the control group, the magnetically stimulated group showed significantly greater recall. These findings opened the door to potential future non-invasive treatments for memory-impaired individuals.

            These treatment options may soon be attracting a particular group of our society. Recent research has shown that chronic cannabis use leads to a less active hippocampus, making users more susceptible to false memories. Specifically, a group of researchers from the Biomedical Research Institute of Hospital de Sant Pau took a group of healthy individuals and chronic cannabis smokers and recorded their fMRI activity. THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is known to impair working memory and these researchers aimed to see if it also had long-term effects on associative memory. After administering a series of cognitive and memory tests, the chronic cannabis smoking group was found to perform an average eighteen percent worse on the tests compared to the control. They were also more prone to falsely recalling words when asked which belonged on a previously administered word list. The fMRI revealed the hippocampus of the chronic smokers to be less active and even different in structure than healthy individuals. This study leaves little doubt on the cognitive effects chronic and long-term cannabis may have. Even for what is often portrayed as a relatively harmless drug, serious long-term effects may arise.

fMRI result demonstrating hippocampal activity
fMRI result demonstrating differences in hippocampal structure

            The results demonstrated by the non-invasive magnetic stimulation may prove a key treatment for chronic cannabis smoking individuals suffering from memory problems. Both of these studies also demonstrate the real world effects as a result from an increase or decrease in hippocampal activity and the significant effects it can have on an individual's life. It should also serve to caution that while there is a growing acceptance of cannabis for use in medical treatment or recreation, more research has to be performed to fully understand its long-term effects.

Sources:
Riba, J., Valle, M., Sampedro, F., Rodríguez-Pujadas, A., Martínez-Horta, S., Kulisevsky, J., & Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2015). Telling true from false: cannabis users show increased susceptibility to false memories. Molecular Psychiatry, 10 (1038), 1-6.

Wang, J. X., Rogers, L. M., Gross, E. Z., Ryals, A. J., Dokucu, M. E., Brandstatt, K. L., ... & Voss, J. L. (2014). Targeted enhancement of cortical-hippocampal brain networks and associative memory. Science, 345(6200), 1054-1057.