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 ...
I was exercising. Next I’ll take a shower.
We don’t think you’re judgmental.
That’s very reassuring! Thanks!
I’m glad tomorrow is my “short” wash day, because then I can go to Walmart early!
Wednesday is the CT scan, and I’m not looking forward to it. I refused the MRI because I have to be so heavily sedated to undergo that stuff. If this is anything like that, it’s not going to happen. The older I get, the worse my claustrophobia gets.
We think you’re observant. An observant person says, “Those people are funny!” A judgmental person says, “Those people aren’t nearly as good as wonderful me! How dare they exist!”
Sunny morning here. The cats are happy. The teenagers are still sleeping.
Almost two months in, and I’m still having trouble adjusting to the later schedule. I’m still confused about what time I should start getting ready, so that I’m either rushed to get out the door or have half an hour to kill.
It’s hard because the longer I’m up, the harder it is to get motivated, so that right now, I don’t want to go. I felt not-too-bad when I woke up, but now, it’s like nap-time. Only, it can’t be nap-time if I’m going to church because I have to get ready, shortly. *sigh*
The problem, I think, is that I haven’t been able to get some uninterrupted rest during this last week. It seems I wake up 2-4 hours in and can’t go back to sleep, but I still get up by 0300 or sooner because I get cold.
I’d probably better stay home.
You have to do what’s best for your health and safety!
This is true. I keep telling people that I have to choose my battles because CFIDS won’t let me fight them all. If I want to do that, I have to forego doing this. If I want to go there at that time, I have to stay here at this time. It hasn’t been easy to adjust to, but the supplements have helped.
And there are people who have no idea how hard it is for me to say “no” or to make an excuse because they won’t understand the truth when I tell them. *shrug* I have to quit letting it bother me, I guess.
“Nothing that comes from outside a person can defile that person, but only what comes from inside.”
Other people’s misunderstanding or judgment doesn’t affect the core of you who are. You - and the Spirit of God - know your heart. You know that you are doing your best within the constraints that you have. There’s not much you can do about anything that comes from outside except to remember that it doesn’t touch the real you.
Yes, I know that on my core level, but sometimes, it gets buried under just trying to exist within the parameters of CFIDS.
It's so very hard to "pretend" that all is well when I still have to tell people I don't socialize. They don't understand it, but its self-preservation. I'm not willing to give up even a gnat's eyebrow of real estate I've taken back from the disease, but I have no idea how to explain it in layman's terms.
This one’s Lord High Master of the Milky Way considering the latest Intergalactic Peace Plan. (Milky Way First!)
I, for one, welcome our Feline Overlords from beyond the Milky Way.
Put an AI in charge of toasting and you bring on the heat death of the Universe.
Yeah. If that happens, we’re all toast!
I don’t want home appliances to talk to me.
Alexa, check on Tax-chick...
Worse than my mother!
In you mother’s eyes, you will always be three years old and somewhat retarded...
Or 17 and a total raging pain.
I’m in just to get that lucky number 3220...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.