There's a good chance you hallucinated this week without ever knowing it

Inverse ^ | October 11, 2019 | By Jack Barton on

[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.

[ArGee]

Reminds me of the shirt I saw that said:

“Dyslexics of the world, UNTIE!!!”

[Monkey Face]

I was going to answer this a while ago but several things happened almost at once — I got some text messages from my son, inviting me to lunch and a movie tomorrow, I started to wrap the present for the birthday boy as well as a thank-you to his wife, and I put in the first volume of the Harry Potter movies.

In a few minutes, I’ll go to the library and return the DVDs from last week, and then come home, maybe to take a short nap. Just because. ;o]

[null and void]

Did I mention my mom’s in the hospital? Ticker trouble, BP bouncing all over the place, pulse up to over 190 BPM. I will be going back shortly. Hopefully to bail her out...

[Monkey Face]

Oh, Nully, I am so sorry! I’ll add her to my prayer list for an indefinite time. Hopefully, she’ll be up and cracking the whip in no time.

{{{hugs}}}

[NicknamedBob]

"Did I mention my mom’s in the hospital? Ticker trouble, BP bouncing all over the place, pulse up to over 190 BPM."

I'd guess the prognosis will be that an "instrument of obedience" will need to be installed. ("For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky!")

Good Luck and prayers as needed for all of that.

[ArGee]

Thanks for the update, Nully. We will pray.

Just curious, should we pray for your mom or for the hospital staff? When my F-I-L is in we definitely pray for the staff.

[null and void]

She's home, sleeping peacefully.

Spent just under a full hour trying to penetrate Renown's amazingly well armored automated phone system to schedule an appointment for the cardiologist next week. After a series of electronic misadventures and one-way doors to nowhere, whose navigation was ably assisted by three different humans expertly coached by:

- Do not go that way.
- What was that?
- Do not go that way.
- Never go that way.
- Oh. Thanks.
If she had gone that way she would have gone straight to that castle.

Finally got to a fourth (or was it a fifth?) human and managed to schedule an appointment at the very end of not next week, but the week after.

[Tax-chick]

Kathleen says that worm was in “The Labyrinth,” which we checked out of the library recently.

I had a similar experience today with my insurance company.

[null and void]

Kathleen is absolutely correct.

[Tax-chick]

She’s an alert little devil.

[NicknamedBob]

"She’s an alert little devil."

Hmm.

Might she be interested in helping me build some L-1 mirrors?

[null and void]

That’s good. The world needs more lerts.

[Tax-chick]

Oh, of course, as long as horses are involved.

[NicknamedBob]

Her interest may be foiled in that. Maybe I’ll check back later.

[Tax-chick]

Hard to get good help these days. If you could persuade her that L1 mirrors would allow horses to do space travel, it would work.

[NicknamedBob]

I’m still lobbying for goats and chickens.

[Tax-chick]

[Monkey Face]

I'm very glad that your mom is home. She will begin to improve, now.

Now, of course, I have to interrupt my Harry Potter marathon by watching Labyrinth again.

[Monkey Face]

That looks like my Mr Psycho. What a cutie.

I slept in. Until 0412. This old lady isn’t used to these long hours filled with fun and excitement. Or total boredom, depending on the person who’s talking.

[Tax-chick]

Good morning. I’m glad you slept! We have a hike this morning with the Cub Scouts. We’ll need to bundle up!