Dopamine Hypothesis
- Created by: Amber-Jade
- Created on: 26-02-13 14:51
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- Dopamine Hypothesis
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- Neurons that transmit dopamine fire too easily or too often, leading to symptoms of schizophrenia
- Schizophrenics - abnormally hig levels of D2 receptors.
- Evidence from large doses of amphetamines cause hallucinations and delusions
- Antipsychotic drugs - block dopamine and eliminate symptoms
- Parkinson's disease - treatment with L-dopa raises dopamine levels and can therefore also trigger schizophrenic symptoms
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- Drugs can increase schizophrenia symptoms as neurons try to compensate. Haracz found elevated dopamine levels in post-mortems of schizophrenics who had taken medication
- Neuroimaging studies failed to provide convincing evidence for altered dopamine activity in schizophrenics
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