Purpose: Cotard’s syndrome, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, and Catatonia are all rare psychiatric disorders that have relatively little research regarding their treatments. The aim of this article is to highlight any ...Purpose: Cotard’s syndrome, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, and Catatonia are all rare psychiatric disorders that have relatively little research regarding their treatments. The aim of this article is to highlight any gaps in knowledge regarding represented demographics in these treatment studies, and to discuss the current and upcoming treatment options. Background: This literature review explores under-researched psychiatric conditions: Cotard’s syndrome, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, and Catatonic Schizophrenia. Understanding psychiatric disorders requires basic knowledge of brain anatomy. These conditions are often result of or associated with neurological issues, such as migraines or tumors. The brain has eight lobes, two of four kinds: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes, which all govern different functions and abilities. Frontal lobes control judgment, decision-making, personality traits, and fine motor movements. Parietal lobes interpret pain and temperature, occipital lobes handle visual stimuli, and temporal lobes enable hearing. The pre-frontal cortex is associated with high intelligence, psychotic traits, and psychosis. The Broca’s Area in the frontal lobes controls expressive language. These areas and divisions of the brain contribute to the complexity of the psychiatric disorders discussed in this review. Introduction: Cotard’s syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterized by delusions of being dead or not having certain limbs or organs. It is believed that there is a disconnect between their fusiform face area and the amygdala, causing a lack of familiarity between one’s mind and body. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is another psychiatric disorder which is characterized by visual hallucinations, such as distorted perceptions of color, size, distance, and speed. The most common symptoms include micropsia and macropsia. Catatonia/Catatonic Schizophrenia is an uncommon type of schizophrenia. This type of schizophrenia is characterized by motor rigidity, verbal rigidity, t展开更多
Both pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy are said to be rare syndromes, but are reported frequently in developing countries. A distinction has been made between the two syndromes, but the line of demarcation is blur...Both pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy are said to be rare syndromes, but are reported frequently in developing countries. A distinction has been made between the two syndromes, but the line of demarcation is blurred. The aim of this paper is to review recent cases of pseudocyesis/delusional pregnancy in order to learn more about biopsychosocial antecedents. The recent world literature(2000-2014) on this subject(women only) was reviewed, making no distinction between pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy. Eighty case histories were found, most of them originating in developing countries. Fifty patients had been given a diagnosis of psychosis, although criteria for making the diagnosis were not always clear. The psychological antecedents included ambivalence about pregnancy, relationship issues, and loss. Very frequently, pseudocyesis/delusional pregnancy occurred when a married couple was infertile and living in a pronatalist society. The infertility was attributed to the woman, which resulted in her experiencing substantial distress and discrimination. When antipsychotic medication was used to treat psychotic symptoms in these women, it led to high prolactin levels and apparent manifestations of pregnancy, such as amenorrhea and galactorrhea, thus reinforcing a false conviction of pregnancy. Developing the erroneous belief that one is pregnant is an understandable process, making the delusion of pregnancy a useful template against which to study the evolution of other, less explicable delusions.展开更多
Neural interaction is realized by information exchange. It seemed that the information amount does not keep constant and may be reduced during the travel between neural nodes. In addition, recent research of neural co...Neural interaction is realized by information exchange. It seemed that the information amount does not keep constant and may be reduced during the travel between neural nodes. In addition, recent research of neural coding has suggested that neural information could be represented by parsimonious spiking pattern, named sparse coding. Based on the above observation, neuro-messenger theory (NMT) is proposed to explicate the communicative process between the source and the target neural nodes. Neuro-messenger is a sparse code which does not have to carry every detail of the dynamics in source node. Other formats of neural coding (e.g., temporal and rate coding) could be the precursors of neuro-messengers, and the repeated spatiotemporal patterns buried in the ongoing brain activities may be the circulated neuro-messengers<span> from diverse origins. Referred to chaos/complexity theory, information can be recovered at target node where neuro-messenger serves as a facilitator to locate the trajectory at proper </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span>attractor, and hence the associated psychological entity. In contrast to conventional concepts of encoding and decoding, the processes of encoding in source node, issuing neuro-messengers,</span> and recovering information at target node are summarized as “three-facet coding scheme”. The design of neuro-messenger enables the brain to utilize energy in an efficient and economical way. NMT may have substantial implication in several major psychiatric disorders. Some psychiatric conditions could be mediated by abnormal neuro-messengers that coerce the regional neuro-dynamics to delve into maladaptive attractors and hence the characteristic symptoms.</span>展开更多
Departing from the long debates on the role of faith/belief, recent interdisciplinary research has turned to characterize the features of the psychophysical processes underlying believing. Here we review recent cognit...Departing from the long debates on the role of faith/belief, recent interdisciplinary research has turned to characterize the features of the psychophysical processes underlying believing. Here we review recent cognitive neuroscience models of the believing process and propose a conceptual framework that integrates current theoretical and empiric knowledge about the processes of believing. There are theories that elegantly explain believing as a self-organization process of cognitive and emotional elements. Adding to the component of self-organized belief representation, dual-component models assume a belief evaluation component, which is probably supported by the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and explains the stability of the belief despite the changing environment. Borrowing an idea from the neural models for the mental representation of action or situation, inclusion of both perceptive and action informations as the construct of belief representation allows the intimate relationship between a specific belief and a specific range of behaviour. Furthermore, inclusion of the personal value or affective information in the representation explains the deep impact of one’s emotional and physical state on the believing process. For associating perception, action, and value in a representation, the medial frontal cortex (MFC) may play a key role. Recent neuro-cognitive models of self-cognition explain the developmental origin of such a representation and the hierarchically nested structure of three levels of complexity in the representations: basic physical level, interpersonal level, and higher social level. The integrated model provides a comprehensive perspective of the believing process which suggests the importance and future directions of this interdisciplinary approach.展开更多
文摘Purpose: Cotard’s syndrome, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, and Catatonia are all rare psychiatric disorders that have relatively little research regarding their treatments. The aim of this article is to highlight any gaps in knowledge regarding represented demographics in these treatment studies, and to discuss the current and upcoming treatment options. Background: This literature review explores under-researched psychiatric conditions: Cotard’s syndrome, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, and Catatonic Schizophrenia. Understanding psychiatric disorders requires basic knowledge of brain anatomy. These conditions are often result of or associated with neurological issues, such as migraines or tumors. The brain has eight lobes, two of four kinds: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes, which all govern different functions and abilities. Frontal lobes control judgment, decision-making, personality traits, and fine motor movements. Parietal lobes interpret pain and temperature, occipital lobes handle visual stimuli, and temporal lobes enable hearing. The pre-frontal cortex is associated with high intelligence, psychotic traits, and psychosis. The Broca’s Area in the frontal lobes controls expressive language. These areas and divisions of the brain contribute to the complexity of the psychiatric disorders discussed in this review. Introduction: Cotard’s syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterized by delusions of being dead or not having certain limbs or organs. It is believed that there is a disconnect between their fusiform face area and the amygdala, causing a lack of familiarity between one’s mind and body. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is another psychiatric disorder which is characterized by visual hallucinations, such as distorted perceptions of color, size, distance, and speed. The most common symptoms include micropsia and macropsia. Catatonia/Catatonic Schizophrenia is an uncommon type of schizophrenia. This type of schizophrenia is characterized by motor rigidity, verbal rigidity, t
文摘Both pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy are said to be rare syndromes, but are reported frequently in developing countries. A distinction has been made between the two syndromes, but the line of demarcation is blurred. The aim of this paper is to review recent cases of pseudocyesis/delusional pregnancy in order to learn more about biopsychosocial antecedents. The recent world literature(2000-2014) on this subject(women only) was reviewed, making no distinction between pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy. Eighty case histories were found, most of them originating in developing countries. Fifty patients had been given a diagnosis of psychosis, although criteria for making the diagnosis were not always clear. The psychological antecedents included ambivalence about pregnancy, relationship issues, and loss. Very frequently, pseudocyesis/delusional pregnancy occurred when a married couple was infertile and living in a pronatalist society. The infertility was attributed to the woman, which resulted in her experiencing substantial distress and discrimination. When antipsychotic medication was used to treat psychotic symptoms in these women, it led to high prolactin levels and apparent manifestations of pregnancy, such as amenorrhea and galactorrhea, thus reinforcing a false conviction of pregnancy. Developing the erroneous belief that one is pregnant is an understandable process, making the delusion of pregnancy a useful template against which to study the evolution of other, less explicable delusions.
文摘Neural interaction is realized by information exchange. It seemed that the information amount does not keep constant and may be reduced during the travel between neural nodes. In addition, recent research of neural coding has suggested that neural information could be represented by parsimonious spiking pattern, named sparse coding. Based on the above observation, neuro-messenger theory (NMT) is proposed to explicate the communicative process between the source and the target neural nodes. Neuro-messenger is a sparse code which does not have to carry every detail of the dynamics in source node. Other formats of neural coding (e.g., temporal and rate coding) could be the precursors of neuro-messengers, and the repeated spatiotemporal patterns buried in the ongoing brain activities may be the circulated neuro-messengers<span> from diverse origins. Referred to chaos/complexity theory, information can be recovered at target node where neuro-messenger serves as a facilitator to locate the trajectory at proper </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span>attractor, and hence the associated psychological entity. In contrast to conventional concepts of encoding and decoding, the processes of encoding in source node, issuing neuro-messengers,</span> and recovering information at target node are summarized as “three-facet coding scheme”. The design of neuro-messenger enables the brain to utilize energy in an efficient and economical way. NMT may have substantial implication in several major psychiatric disorders. Some psychiatric conditions could be mediated by abnormal neuro-messengers that coerce the regional neuro-dynamics to delve into maladaptive attractors and hence the characteristic symptoms.</span>
文摘Departing from the long debates on the role of faith/belief, recent interdisciplinary research has turned to characterize the features of the psychophysical processes underlying believing. Here we review recent cognitive neuroscience models of the believing process and propose a conceptual framework that integrates current theoretical and empiric knowledge about the processes of believing. There are theories that elegantly explain believing as a self-organization process of cognitive and emotional elements. Adding to the component of self-organized belief representation, dual-component models assume a belief evaluation component, which is probably supported by the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and explains the stability of the belief despite the changing environment. Borrowing an idea from the neural models for the mental representation of action or situation, inclusion of both perceptive and action informations as the construct of belief representation allows the intimate relationship between a specific belief and a specific range of behaviour. Furthermore, inclusion of the personal value or affective information in the representation explains the deep impact of one’s emotional and physical state on the believing process. For associating perception, action, and value in a representation, the medial frontal cortex (MFC) may play a key role. Recent neuro-cognitive models of self-cognition explain the developmental origin of such a representation and the hierarchically nested structure of three levels of complexity in the representations: basic physical level, interpersonal level, and higher social level. The integrated model provides a comprehensive perspective of the believing process which suggests the importance and future directions of this interdisciplinary approach.
