HLTH2510 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Cardiovascular Disease, Sympathetic Nervous System, Traumatic Brain Injury
Lecture 11: Mental Health
Context - Mental Illness
• Mental health issues lead to both mortality and morbidity
• Unlike other chronic diseases, mental health issues impact directly the youth of
Australia
• 1 in 35 young Australians aged 4-17 experience a depressive disorder
• 1 in 14 young Australians aged 4 - 17 experience a anxiety disorder
• 3/4 adult mental health conditions emerge by age 24 and 1/2 by age 14
• The chronic disease of young people!
• General term for a group of diagnosed illnesses
• 2 major categories:
• Psychotic - abnormal thinking and perceptions. Experience a lost
touch with reality. Main symptoms are delusions and hallucinations.
• Non psychotic – prolonged feelings of depression, sadness, tension or
fear.
• 3 sub categorises
• Substance Abuse Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders - Generalised; OCD, Phobia
• Depressive Disorders – Depression, Bi-polar
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Biopsychosocial Model for Mental Illness
Pathophysiology
Key areas of the brain linked to mental health:
1. Amygdala:
Structures deep in the brain associated with emotions such as anger,
pleasure, sorrow, fear, and sexual arousal. Activated when a person recalls
emotional or frightening situation. Activity in the amygdala is higher when a
person is sad or clinically depressed.
2. Thalamus:
Receives sensory information → cerebral cortex which directs high-level functions such as
speech, behavioural reactions, movement, thinking, and learning.
3. Hippocampus:
Central role in processing long-term memory and recollectio. Oe itte, tie sh.
Hippocampus is smaller in some depressed people
1. Serotonin:
Regulates sleep, appetite, and mood and inhibits pain. Some depressed
people have reduced serotonin transmission.
2. Norepinephrine:
Constricts blood vessels, raising blood pressure. It may trigger anxiety and be
involved in some types of depression. It also seems to help determine
motivation and reward.
3. Dopamine:
Essential to movement. Influences motivation and plays a role in how a person perceives
reality. Involved in reward system so linked to addiction.
4. Acetylcholine
Enhances memory and is involved in learning and recall. Links to anxiety.
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Context - mental illness: mental health issues lead to both mortality and morbidity, unlike other chronic diseases, mental health issues impact directly the youth of. Main symptoms are delusions and hallucinations: non psychotic prolonged feelings of depression, sadness, tension or fear, 3 sub categorises, substance abuse disorders, anxiety disorders - generalised; ocd, phobia, depressive disorders depression, bi-polar. Key areas of the brain linked to mental health: amygdala: Structures deep in the brain associated with emotions such as anger, pleasure, sorrow, fear, and sexual arousal. Activated when a person recalls emotional or frightening situation. Activity in the amygdala is higher when a person is sad or clinically depressed: thalamus: Receives sensory information cerebral cortex which directs high-level functions such as speech, behavioural reactions, movement, thinking, and learning: hippocampus: Central role in processing long-term memory and recollectio(cid:374). (cid:862)o(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:271)itte(cid:374), t(cid:449)i(cid:272)e sh(cid:455)(cid:862). Hippocampus is smaller in some depressed people: serotonin: Regulates sleep, appetite, and mood and inhibits pain.
