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7: Mental Health

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    Clinical Perspectives

    • As mentioned previously, the following sections include information on clinical perspectives

    Nervous System

    • Central nervous system (CNS)

      • Brain – cerebrum, cerebellum, diencephalon, brainstem

      • Spinal cord – reflexes, immediate response

    • Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

      • Neural tissue outside of CNS

      • Carry information to and from CNS

    • PNS: Somatic nervous system

      • Skeletal muscles (voluntary)

    • PNS: Autonomic nervous system

      • Smooth and cardiac muscles, glands (involuntary)

        • Sympathetic – “fight or flight”

        • Parasympathetic – “rest and digest”

    • Gaps between neurons

      • Neurotransmitter – chemical messenger that communicates in the gaps between neurons

    • Cerebrum

      • Left and right hemispheres

      • Corpus callosum – connects two hemispheres

      • Lobes – parietal, frontal, occipital, temporal

      • Grooves

    • Cerebellum

      • Left and right hemispheres

      • Balance, equilibrium, timing of skeletal muscle activity

    • Brainstem

      • Connects to spinal cord

      • Automatic behaviors for survival

      • Reflexes, senses, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, coughing, vomiting, sneezing

    • Diencephalon

      • Links cerebrum to brain stem

      • Thalamus – incoming information

      • Hypothalamus – involuntary control (heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, body temperature, sleep, emotions)

      • Pituitary gland – kind of like a thermostat that controls hormones

    • Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) – stimulates adrenal glands to produce cortisol (“stress hormone”)

    • Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) – sperm production, stimulates ovaries to produce estrogen

    • Growth hormone (GH) – stimulates growth in children

    • Luteinizing hormone (LH) – stimulates ovulation, testosterone production

    • Prolactin – stimulates lactation

    • Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) – stimulates thyroid to produce hormones that manage metabolism, energy, nervous system

    • Antidiuretic hormone (ADH, or vasopressin) – regulates water and sodium levels

    • Oxytocin – hypothalamus produces it, pituitary gland stores and releases it

      • Contractions during childbirth, lactation “let-down” response, affects sperm mobility

    • Hypothalamus-pituitary complex

      • The two work closely together, so affecting one affects the other

    • Stereoscopic color vision

    • Taste perception – able to taste bitterness of toxic substances

    • Affinity for sugar (primates)

    • Ear and equilibrium adaptations for bipedalism 

    • Laughter reflex – fear response?

    • Selective attention span – brain quickly approximates information for a rapid response

    • If neurons are lost or damaged, brain can create new pathways or “reconfigure itself”

    • Brain can re-learn processes/functions

      • Adding or removing connections

      • Adding brain cells

      • Reorganizing neural pathways

    • Limbic system – links conscious functions of cerebrum to autonomic functions of brainstem

      • Memory storage and retrieval

      • Fight or flight response – links emotion with memory

    • Neurotransmitters and Drug effects (Zak Fallows, MedLinks): http://web.mit.edu/zakf/www/drugchart/drugchart11.html

    • Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) – watery cushion; lumbar spinal tap draws CSF to test for infection, tumors, brain conditions

    • Meninges – connective tissue covering CNS structures

      • Meningitis – inflammation of meninges; various bacterial and viral infections can cause it

    • Cranial bones: occipital, frontal, sphenoid, ethmoid, parietals, temporals

    • Cranium:

      • Occipital

      • 2 Parietals

      • Frontal

      • 2 Temporals

      • Sphenoid

      • Ethmoid

    • Face:

      • Maxilla

      • Mandible

      • Nasal

      • Zygomatic

    • Blood-brain barrier – cells prevent substances from crossing into brain

    • Some substances that can cross:

      • Water

      • Glucose

      • Amino acids

      • Gases

      • Fat-soluble substances

      • Anesthetics, alcohol, nicotine, some other drugs

    • Evolutionarily, the cost of not recognizing danger outweighs the cost of feeling anxious temporarily; advantage for false alarms

      • Similar to effects of overactive immune system?

    • Stress with planning for the future?

      • People may rely on many “delayed-returns” strategies (setting something up now that will hopefully pay off in the future)

      • High-risk/high-reward strategies can be advantageous in competitive environments, but can also lead to somatic symptoms from stress

    • Possible influences on mental health:

      • Genetics

      • Childhood upbringing

      • Relationships

      • Environmental stressors

      • Occupational stressors

      • Economic stressors

      • Physical health

      • Intergenerational trauma

      • Quality and accessibility of needed services

      • Culture, values, and beliefs

    • Intergenerational trauma

      • Psychological and physiological effects are passed from traumatized generation to offspring

      • Offspring pass down effects to descendants that were not directly exposed to traumatic event

    • Epigenetic changes resulting from stress?

      • Epigenetics – study of reversible changes in DNA

      • Stress, diet, STIs, and some substances during pregnancy affects fetus

      • Socioeconomic status affects diet, medical care, and education

      • Daily stressors, poverty, and violence contribute to health effects

    • Research on pregnant individuals during 9/11

      • Those that developed PTSD had children born with lower cortisol levels and increased susceptibility to PTSD

    7: Mental Health is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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