Mental health

How does the body function

• The body functions through biochemistry and chemical signaling.

• Hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biochemical molecules regulate cognition, memory, sleep, and higher-order functions.

How do many mental illnesses start?

from chemical imbalances in the brain

Brain

• The brain controls both autonomous (unconscious) and voluntary (conscious) functions.

• It regulates behavior, self-control, sleep, and emotions.

• Some behaviors are controllable, while others (e.g., OCD) are compulsive and harder to regulate.

Genetics and Personality

• Genetics influence mental health and personality traits.

• Different neurotransmitter balances contribute to different personalities.

• Genome sequencing helps identify susceptibility to mental illnesses like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s.

Historical Perspectives on Mental Health

• In the past, mental illnesses were attributed to supernatural causes (e.g., demons).

• Early treatments included trepanation (drilling holes in the skull), lobotomies, and electroshock therapy.

Development of Psychiatric Medications

• 1950s saw the emergence of effective psychiatric drugs.

• Schizophrenia involves loss of reality, hallucinations, paranoia, and anxiety.

• Early treatments included antihistamines (e.g., Promethazine, Thorazine), which helped calm patients but did not fully address all symptoms.

• Histamines (chemical messengers) play roles in both allergic responses and brain function (e.g., sleep-wake cycles).

• Some psychiatric drugs induce sleep by blocking histamines, which can help with anxiety but not other symptoms of mental illness.

How do antidepressants work?

• Many antidepressants work by preventing the reuptake of neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine) in the synaptic cleft, increasing their availability and enhancing mood.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors

There’s something in your brain called MAO — it acts like scissors and cuts up "feel-good" chemicals like serotonin.

Some medicines, called MAOIs, stop those scissors from working. That means more serotonin stays in your brain, which can help you feel happier.

TCAs

worked by keeping neurotransmitters in the brain longer

caused:

• Drowsiness (from blocking histamine receptors)

• Dry mouth and memory problems (from blocking acetylcholine receptors)

• Heart-related risks, especially dangerous in overdoses.

SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)

newer antidepressants focus only on keeping more serotonin (the “feel-good” chemical) in the brain.

They don’t mess with other brain systems like histamine, dopamine, or acetylcholine, so they don’t cause as many side effects.

They’re safer and easier to use for a long time compared to older medicines like TCAs and MAOIs.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD

People with OCD have trouble with how their brain uses serotonin, a chemical that helps with mood and thinking. This can cause:

• Repeating actions over and over (like checking locks or washing hands a lot).

• Being really picky about small things (like needing everything in a perfect order).

Medicines called SSRIs (like Prozac) help by increasing serotonin, which can make OCD symptoms better.

Bipolar Disorder and Chemical Imbalance

Bipolar disorder makes people’s moods go up and down a lot

Now, scientists think it’s because the brain has trouble balancing certain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

A medicine called lithium is often used to help keep moods more stable by helping those brain chemicals work properly.

Anxiety Disorders & Treatments

Anxiety is linked to having too much “adrenaline” (the body’s stress chemical).

A long time ago, a medicine called barbiturates was found to help people feel less anxious by calming down the brain. It worked by helping a brain chemical called GABA, which slows things down and makes you feel relaxed or sleepy.

Later, a safer kind of medicine called benzodiazepines (like Valium or Xanax) was made. These also help GABA work better, making them good for treating anxiety without as many risks as barbiturates.

Psychiatric Medications & Challenges:

Medicines like Prozac and Valium change how brain chemicals work to help with mental health problems.

But some people say these drugs aren’t very exact — they can affect more than just the problem area, which can cause side effects.

Also, sometimes people feel better just because they believe the medicine will help — this is called the placebo effect.

Some of these medicines can be very addictive, and stopping them suddenly can make people feel sick (this is called withdrawal).

Placebo Effect in Clinical Trials:

• Placebos (sugar pills) are used as a control to measure drug effectiveness.

• Placebo responses can mimic drug effects, making efficacy assessment complex.

• Some individuals experience side effects from placebos (e.g., nausea, headaches, rashes).

Limitations in Psychiatric Drug Development:

• Progress in psychiatric drugs has been slow compared to other fields like computing.

• Most new drugs are minor modifications of older ones, reducing side effects but offering little improvement in efficacy.

• The brain's extreme complexity makes developing precise treatments challenging.

• The brain contains over 90 billion neurons and trillions of synapses, making targeted drug development difficult.