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Etkin Grey Matter

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Dr.Amit Etkin decided to test whether common physiatrist disorders had a similar structure in the brain. Him and his colleagues sifted through almost 200 structural brain imaging studies that involved over 7,000 people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder or anxiety, along with about 8,500 healthy individuals. They eventually found that all of them showed a loss of Gray matter which Etkin defined as the things that allow a person to function in life — for example, to keep a job or relationship, not act on impulses, resist distractions and so on. Grey matter contains most of the brain's nerve cell bodies. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control(which may …show more content…

The anterior cingulate cortex control functions such as detecting errors, anticipating tasks, attention, motivation, and regulating and adjusting emotional responses. The insular cortex controls things such as empathy, blood pressure, the degree of pain, hand and eye motor movement, swallowing, speech articulation and so on. The anterior insular cortex (AIC) is thought to be the reason for for emotional feelings, including maternal and romantic love, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, sexual arousal, disgust, aversion, unfairness, inequity, indignation, uncertainty, disbelief, social exclusion, trust, empathy, sculptural beauty, and hallucinogenic state. Also, the insula is where a person imagines pain when looking at images of painful events while thinking about their happening to one's own …show more content…

For example, schizophrenia differed from other mental-health disorders in the amount of gray-matter loss, and patients usually have less brain tissue. A depressed brain commonly shows shrinkage of the hippocampus(area involved in memory) and the amygdala (the area involved in emotional responses). Scans also show less brain activity. These effects on the brain can cause rash decision making and bad choices while depressed, which can often lead to drugs and alcohol which of course lead to more health risks. With Alzheimer's the brain tissue shrinks significantly, usually starting with the hippocampus, which causes the memory loss. The scans on brains with ADHD revealed less activity in the brain's frontal cortex which is the area of the brain that is associated with decision making, this can also cause rash decisions, or doing things without trying to (this includes moving around, fidgeting, playing with things especially with the hands). OCD showed high activity in the brain which can cause the need to constantly rearrange things, or to try to make them perfect. Those who suffered from PTSD had reduction of volume in the hippocampal region of the brain (memory) and increased activation of the amygdala (emotions). Those two areas can work together to change memories to make them seem worse, and to have a terrible emotional response to those

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