ECT as a comic

If you want to know all about ECT, you could do worse than start with this, an 11 page comic detailing the use and ethics of ECT.

Psychopathology in the Movies

Here is a reasonably fun exercise to help you identify certain mental disorders. Watch the clips and then match up the disorders.

DSM V

Some articles on the proposed changes from the current version DSM IV-TR to DSM V. DSM V should be out very soon and if you're thinking of studying Psychology at Uni etc it would be good to know a little about it because I'd imagine courses are going to be talking a lot about it! DSM V DSM considered by PsychCentral 'A sad day for psychiatry'

VMH Rats and Hunger

Here's the original article (bits got stolen from this for the booklet) Go here to find out what else the Hypothalamus does... some of this will come in useful... Quite a bit here about Hunger and Eating

Trippy Eye

Or Motion Aftereffect illusion...

This was found in class by Nathan and works as a pretty good example of what we were talking about in class...

Isabel Quaresma, Portuguese Chicken Girl

Isabel was born in 1970 Tabua, Portugal to a mentally deficient mother. Isabel was the only child of three not to be fathered by a family member. Isabel was found at the age of nine and had spent the last eight years shut up in a hen-coop, deprived of human interaction and socialisation. Members of the neighbourhood regarded the situation as a family matter and would not get involved. Isabel was finally found and taken to hospital where a series of tests were conducted. After these tests she was sent back to the family who had treated her so badly.

For a nine year old, her growth was seriously stunted. She wasn't toilet trained and she could not talk. Isabel held her arms in the position of hens wings and the palms of her hands were calloused. She had been fed on scraps (the same as the hens feed) and one eye was affected by a cataract, supposedly due to a chicken scratch. She flapped her arms and clawed the ground with her feet to show emotion.

Eventually Isabel was taken to an institution for handicapped children. Eighteen years later she still hadn't grown much and made little progress generally. She could understand simple orders but had she been asked to fetch two items she would only be able to understand one of the two orders at the time and could only retrieve one of the items. Isabel had an estimated mental age of a two year old.

Isabel did show more signs of progression socially than in any other area. She was able to interpret expressions of others and understand whether they were happy or sad. Physically she had learnt to walk but still suffered a delicate stomach. Isabel was still unable to talk.

Sybil

Or you could try and get hold of this, based on the best-selling account of a girl with Multiple Personality Disorders, a very controversial (i.e. no one is really sure it exists) disorder now called Dissociative Identity Disorder...

Fun for all the family at Christmas.

Requiem For A Dream

Too disturbing to show in class and not for the faint-hearted but worth a watch if you want to see amphetamine psychosis in full flow and fancy a look at what Electro-Convulsive Therapy is like. Also probably the best anti-drugs film ever.

Very freaky promotional website too.

Anorexia

For any AS students, don't miss 'Help Me Help My Child' and Monday 11th December, 20:00, Channel 4. It's all about teenage anorexia and some new kind of therapy, should be useful!! :)

Schizophrenia

Everything about Schizophrenia all in one convenient place.

MRI scans predicting Schizophrenia

The London institute of Psychiatry has found that some parts of the brain change slightly just before schizophrenic symptoms appear. They found that you can see the changes in the brain through MRI scans. The theory is that if they can tell if someone is in the early stages of schizphrenia, they can take the relevent steps to delay the effects of shizophrenia, of even get rid of the illness before it develops. I'm not sure when this was found, but the BBC report was published on Novermber 1st 2000, so its fairly old news, but its kinda interesting. This is the link to the BBC news story about it...

Lisa Campbell

Schizophrenics

found this about the perception of schizophrenics

cannabis use and risk of schizophrenia

found this article which is just generally interesting!

biological ideas of schizophrenia

found this news article which looks at how the brains of schizophrenics are different, and how 'grey matter' becomes destroyed.... supports biological stuff

crazy phobia list

http://www.phobialist.com/

Leopard Man

The Anti-Psychiatry movement...

Pibloqtoq etc

Here's a list of CBSs by culture, just in case you wanted to astound your friends and family with your knowledge of obscure mental disorders....

Well, you might...

Japanese psychiatric art gallery.......