The Biological Approach + Psychosurgery
- Created by: chlopayne
- Created on: 10-04-19 15:25
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- The Biological Approach
- Key assumptions
- Evolutionary influences
- Change of a species over time. Charles Darwin - natural selection.
- Small proportion of each generation survives to reproduce. Each generation has a degree of variation in order to survive.
- Natural sexual - characteristics evolve that increase ability to survive
- Localisation of brain functions
- Two halves of the brain are called hemispheres.
- Key areas of the brain.
- Wernicks and Broca's area = language development.
- Parietal, occipital, frontal lobe and temporal. (POFT)
- Limbic system, amygdala, hippocampus, angular gyrus, corpus callosum + right hemisphere.
- Neurotransmi-tters
- neutrons are cells which are found in the brain and nervous system.
- They work by sending chemical and electric messages to each other.
- Depoamine = pleasure. Serotonin = anxiety, emotion. Oxytocin = love hormone
- Evolutionary influences
- Psychosurgery
- Surgical procedure for treating mentally disordered behaviour.
- By removing or destroying part of the brain. Aim is to eradicate undesirable behaviour.
- Early psychosurgery
- Walter Freeman (1940/19500). Transorbital loobotomy.
- Shocked them to leave unconscious. Insert sharp instruments through eye.
- Prefrontal lobe is damaged - thought to reduce aggressive behaviour.
- Shocked them to leave unconscious. Insert sharp instruments through eye.
- Egas Moniz (1935). Prefrontal leucotomy.
- Selective destruction of nerve fibres, performed on the frontal lobe.
- Drill holes in each side of the skull, insert ice pick to destroy nerve fibres.
- Selective destruction of nerve fibres, performed on the frontal lobe.
- Walter Freeman (1940/19500). Transorbital loobotomy.
- Evaluation
- Effectiveness
- Both had high success rates. Pippard (1955) = good results with 50% of mood disorders.
- Severe side effects.
- Comer (2002) found the fatality rate was 6%.
- Modern psychosurgery
- Cogrove and Rauch (2001) found cingulotomies effective in 56% of OCD patients and capsultomomies in 67%.
- It helped major affective disorders; cingulotomies = 65% and capsulotomies = 55%.
- Ethical issues
- Freeman performed lobotomies without much consultation - issue of consent.
- Howard Dully case
- Long term side effects and irreversible damage.
- Used as a last resort today. OCD and depressed patients aren't in a right state of mind - issues of valid consent.
- Better doing something than nothing.
- Freeman performed lobotomies without much consultation - issue of consent.
- Effectiveness
- Modern psychosurgery
- Bilateral cingulotomy - burn away tissue by heating tip of electrode, non-invasive tool to focus beams of radiation at target site.
- Capsulotomy- insert probes through top of skull down into capsule, heat tip of probes burning away tissue.
- Surgical procedure for treating mentally disordered behaviour.
- Evaluation of the approach
- Strengths
- scientific.
- meta-analysis.
- successful applications.
- develop treatments.
- Weaknesses
- not always ethical.
- nature, ignores environmental factors.
- reductionist approach.
- ignores free will.
- Strengths
- All behaviours can be explained by genetics and physiology All thoughts, feelings & behaviour ultimately have a biological cause.
- Key assumptions
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