While there are a number of potential factors that may cause mental illness, one that many people don’t consider is that of methylation. It is believed that genetic mutations may lead to abnormalities in the methylation process. The methylation cycle is a specific biochemical pathway that is responsible for influencing a variety of critical biological …
Reward deficiency syndrome (RDS) is a psychological theory first noted by Kenneth Blum in 1996. It is characterized by reward-seeking behavior and/or addictions, stemming from genetic variations, most notably resulting from those carrying the D2A1 allele. People carrying the A1 allele tend to have insufficient numbers of D2 receptors in their brain, resulting in lack …
Writer’s block is a condition in which a writer is unable to think of what should be written next. The phenomenon was first documented in 1947 by Edmund Bergler, a psychoanalyst. If you experience writer’s block, you may be unable to develop a new piece of content or finish an existing piece. You may feel …
A recent discovery has shown that the serious mental illness that is schizophrenia is actually a group of 8 distinct genetic disorders. Although genetic research has been difficult for those involved in the field of mental health, it is the future of all medicine and humanity. Simply altering neurotransmitters with drugs is a short term …
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a diagnosis that is usually given to children and/or teenagers who engage in significant defiance of authority figures. This defiance may involve disobeying rules, starting arguments with parents, spiteful behavior, and/or intentionally annoying adults. Although some of this behavior is pretty normal for most kids and teens, if it becomes …
Undifferentiated schizophrenia is characterized by general symptoms of schizophrenia that do not fit a specific classification or diagnosis of another subtype. People may exhibit the traditional “positive” and “negative” symptoms, but they may fluctuate over a period of time. This type of schizophrenia can be particularly challenging to diagnose with confidence because someone needs to …
Residual schizophrenia is one of the 5 types of schizophrenia that is characterized by a long-term history of negative symptoms (i.e. psychomotor slowing), with very infrequent or rare occurrences of positive symptoms. To meet the criteria for diagnosis, the person must have experienced positive symptoms (e.g. hallucinations/delusions/etc.) at some point. With that said, the person …