PSYC 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Substance-Induced Psychosis, Minamata Disease, Hatmaking
Document Summary
Lecture 16: causes of brain dysfunction part ii cont. Enter into the soft tissue and can travel to the brain. Worms gain advantage because the immune cells respond to attack them, but the worms end up actually eating these immune response cells. The consumption of certain heavy metals (lead/mercury) can also lead to several brain dysfunction and impairment in cognition. English hat makers in the 18th century would use mercury in the felt, and exposure to this mercury caused them to run into problems. Inhalation of mercury is the bad thing: mercury vapour occurs occasionally through tooth fillings that may cause toxic psychosis. Mercury can accumulate in the brain and permanently damage it producing toxic psychosis. Mercury is kind of a non issue (if you"re not going around snorting it) The major fear is that it is a preservative used in an increasingly small quantity in some vaccines: but it"s so negligible that it doesn"t matter!
