Tahj Mitchell

2-11-07
Biology II- 6
Brain Research Activities- Part I

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is also known as

anankastic personality disorder. OCPD is psychological; people with it go
through rules and procedures, perfectionism, and excessive orderliness.
People confuse this disorder with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) a
lot, but they do have something in common, OCD is ego-dystonic while
OCPD is ego-syntonic, also, people with OCD notice their problems,
while people with OCD don’t, people with OCD do ritualistic actions while
people with OCPD just worry about what’s wrong with them and strive to
be perfect. The usual OCPD person has a clean house, hoards of money,
etc. the three primary areas that cause anxiety for OCPD personalities
are: time, dirt and money. Studies have shown they have problems with
relationships because they excessively demand a lot on their friends,
romantic partners, and children. DSM-IV-TR is the most commonly used
manual for diagnosing mental disorders, so that apples to OCPD, to be
diagnosed with OCPD the person has to specify at least four of the
traits in the DSM-IV-TR: “Preoccupation with details, rules, lists,
order, organization, bodily functions, or schedules to the extent that
the major point of the activity is lost, Showing perfectionism that
interferes with task completion (e.g., is unable to complete a project
because his or her own overly strict standards are not met), Excessive
devotion to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities
and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity), Being
overconscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality,
ethics, or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious
identification)”, those are some of the things that can help diagnose
OCPD but even if you show all of the signs you will not be diagnosed
with OCPD unless your actions actually affects your daily life.
Treatment for OCPD usually involves psychotherapy and self help,
medication isually not prescribed for this disorder but Prozac has helped
with it.
 Epilepsy

Eplilepsy is sometimes called seizure disorder. It is a chronic

condition that is unprovoked epileptic seizures. These seizures are
transient signs and symptoms due to abnormal excessive or
synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Epilepsy affects 5o million
people worldwide. Pilepsy can be controlled through medication and
also surgery (which isn’t considered), but there is no cure for this
disorder. Not all Epilepsy syndromes are lifelong, some just happen
during childhood and you outgrow it. Epileepsies can be classified in
five ways:

1. By their first cause (or etiology).

2. By the observable manifestations of the seizures, known as
"semiology."
3. By the location in the brain where the seizures originate.
4. As a part of discrete, identifiable medical syndromes.
5. By the event that triggers the seizures, as in primary reading
epilepsy.

In 1981 the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) peoposed this

plan just for individual epilepsies. It is based on observation. Right now
ILAE is working on a new plan that has five axes: ictal phenomenon,
seizure type, syndrome, etiology, and impairment. Epilepsy can be
diagnosed using an MRI, SPECT, PET or magnetoencephalaography, but
Long-term video-EGG monitoring is the golden standard. The causes of a
person’s epilepsy can be divided into two categories: syptomatic and
idiopathic. Symptomatic epilepesies can orginate because of stroke, head
injury, alcohol, parasitical infection, neurosurgical operations, bacterial
or viral encephalitis complications during pregnancy or birth etc. There
are a lot of epilepsies for example Childhood absence epilepsy, Benign
focal epilepsies of child, Juvenile myoclonic epilepy (JME)) and much
more. Beings asleeep, transition between sleep and wakefulness,
tiredness, illness, , menstruation, stress, etc. can increase someone
likelihood of epilepsy. Epilepsy can be treated with medication, The
implantation of a stimulator of the vagus nerve or a special diet can be
helpful to people with epilepsy also. Neurological operations can reduce
someones seizures also.
 Multiples Sclerosis

Multiples Sclerosis is abbrievated/commonly called MS, it can also be

called disseminated sclerosis or encephalonmyelitis disseminata. MS is an
inflammatory disease that affects the nervous system. It can cause a
variety of symptoms: changes in sensation, visual problems, muscle
weakness, depression, difficulties with coordination and speech, severe
fatigue, and pain. It can cause impaired mobility and disability. MS
affects neurons (cells of the brain and spinal cord that carry
information that helps the brain to function). The names Multiple
Scleroris comes from multiple scars on the myelin sheaths. The scars
vary upon which signal is interrupted. A therory is going around now that
MS is caused by attacks by an immune system on the nervosu system
and it is categorized as an autoimmine disease but some people think it
isn’t an autoimmune disease but maybe a metabolically dependent
neurodegenerative disease. MS can take several different forms,
symptoms can appear all at once or slowly over time. A lot is known
about MS but the exact cause is still a mystery and there is no cure for
this disease. MS usually affects adults between there 20 and 40 years,
it is more common in women than men. MS is hard to diagnse in your
early life, a definite diagnosis of MS can’t be made until there is
evidence of at lease two anatomically separate demyelinating evens
occurring at least 30 days apart. Some people think MS occurs because
of a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. MS is not
considered to be genetic, the proof that MS might be an environmental
disease is that some populations like the Roma, Inuit, and Bantus rarely
get MS, while the idigenous people of the Americas and Asia have very
low incidence rates. The chance of developing MS is less than a tenth of
one percent, the likehood of identical twins getting it is 30%, likelihood
of fraternal twins getting it is 4%, but some people think if you have
MS someone in your family tree must have had it generations back.
There is no cure for MS but several types of physical therapy have
helped. Also medications can help. The life expectancy of people with
MS are less than an unaffected person, this is because of urinal
infections, improved methods of limiting disability and more successful
treatments.