Posted on 10/14/2019 10:45:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In the 1950s, researchers stumbled upon a new class of drugs that provided relief for those suffering from schizophrenia. These drugs were known as antipsychotics and, as the name suggests, they reduced symptoms like hallucinations and delusions — primarily by reducing the levels of dopamine in the brain. This led clinicians and scientists to argue that dopamine was linked to the experiences of psychotic symptoms, and a concerted research effort ensued, seeking to solve the puzzle of why excess dopamine might produce hallucinations.
Although it was later shown that increasing dopamine could produce hallucinations, establishing a consistent link between them, it has not been clear why.
They achieved this by taking advantage of a simple fact: Your brain is lazy. It makes shortcuts to understand the deluge of information that bombards it daily. If you’re presented with consistent information, consistently, your brain adjust its expectations of reality in turn. This is the basis of Bayesian theories of how we perceive the world – that is, the brain makes inferences about the world around us based on statistics and probabilities on what is likely to occur.
[I]ncreasing dopamine made it more difficult for participants to adjust their perception — an effect comparable to how the hallucinators had struggled. Moreover, the extent to which participants struggled was strongly associated with the severity of hallucinations — but not with any diagnosis of schizophrenia. In other words, the difficulty appeared to be associated with a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Using brain imaging, the researchers also showed that an increased capacity for dopamine release, from a part of the brain known as the striatum (an area involved in schizophrenia), was associated with the severity of hallucinations. Together, these experiments showed that excess dopamine was associated with difficulty in accurately predicting reality.
(Excerpt) Read more at inverse.com ...
Awww.... I wish everyone on the UT a very Blessed Christmas/Holiday season and a very Blessed 2020.
Good morning. Happy Solstice!
It’s Patrick’s 18th birthday. He’s celebrating, as 18-year-olds do, by not getting out of bed.
Morning Floof is a Yoda Wannabe...
Good morning.
How are you feeling this morning?
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just a few days away. I was so late with getting my Nativities out that I just realized I’ll have to turn around and put them all away in just a few days. Wow.
I’m feeling okay, although the gripa is settling in my chest. The whole choir has it: we’ll all need hot tea with honey and lemon for Christmas.
You can leave your Nativities out for 12 Days of Christmas like we do.
I hate when things settle in my chest. But because of the Pertussis I had at 18 months, that’s where I always get colds, so I’m super aware of hand shakes.
I don’t normally take down anything Christmas until January 2, at the latest. Normally, the decorations go up no later than the 15th, so I have time to absorb the atmosphere, but the last two Christmases have been strange. Moving in and all that, last year, and I was lucky to get the wreath on my door. This year the wreath is up and so are 14 of the Nativities. Now, of course, I’m looking for another one to buy on sale, since I don’t get to thrift stores much.
All my Christmas stuff was packed for the three years before my move, and before that, I just didn’t celebrate it. Depression and all that.
You can celebrate 40 Days of Christmas if you want to. My pastor in Broken Arrow always did.
DP has taken Pat away. They’re going to Costco, and then Pat wants a Chinese buffet. The rest of us are having leftovers.
Happy Birthday Pat! I hope you enjoyed your Chinese buffet!!
We had a nice Christmas program this morning, and the only carol we sang as a congregation was Silent Night, and I can NEVER get through that without choking up. Tears, the loss of voice, the whole thing.
But I gave my invitations to a few people, inside their Christmas cards, and a couple by themselves. One I wanted to give, but he and his family were gone, evidently to visit family.
I had to look twice at the chorister...she was wearing our robes!! LOL!
He did. Tom is home. Jake already scratched him. Tom asked for it.
I’m glad Pat had a good birthday.
Some folks just don’t know when animals have had enough. Looking from a cat’s perspective (or moreso, a parakeet) people are hugh, and a small critter often has no recourse but to protect itself. Tom should know better.
Well, I’m going to go wash my face off, take my pills, and go to bed, since tomorrow is the laundry’s day to be attended to.
I woke up at 0230 this morning, and I think I was dreaming about someone who said they loved me. I can’t recall if it was male or female, but I guess it doesn’t matter, since this is the time of year when we’re reminded of the One who gave His Perfect Love for all of us.
I forgot to get a Hungry Man dinner and a beer. *sigh* Ohwell. Payday isn’t too far away. I hope.
Have a good night, and I hope your chest feels better. If all else fails, you could invest in some coconut oil capsules.
I empathize with Patrick.
Not me. With any luck, my second childhood won't even reach the teenage years.
Everyone can be 18 once, at most.
That's an observation, not a rule.
"Monday can't see me!"
Monday says, “BOO!”
Happy Monday before Christmas, everyone. I expect to be online this morning and tomorrow morning from the wildlands.
It’s cold, but warming up.
We’ve had over 2” of rain, and it’s continuing.
Morning Kitteh sez Monday has hit!
Good morning.
The laundry is done and the bed is semi-made and two letters and a sympathy card have been sent and here I am, more letters to write and I’m out of stamps again.
That’s what I get for writing to my family every week, and to my friends less often. And of course, this being Christmas, some of my vast extended family got cards, so the stamp famine is REAL!
And I may have a funeral to go to. The friends from Henderson who moved me up here have family here, and her father passed away on Friday. So if I see the funeral notice on FB, I’ll go. Much as I hate funerals.
The cable guy is coming this morning, and I hope he comes early so I can get to the library. I’ve had to move a bunch of Nativities, but moving the sofa is easy. It will look like home in here when he’s gone!
Shhh! Don’t give Monday any ideas.
Crikey.
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