The Biology of Mental Illness: Schizophrenia and Depression (Repeat)

What is the meaning and what are the implications of our modern biological understanding of schizophrenia and depression? What we can learn about our own minds from the clues provided when our biology goes seriously wrong as in these two serious yet poorly understood forms of mental illness?

Does better understanding how the biology of our minds can go wrong help us better understand our own minds?

What is schizophrenia? From the biology of schizophrenia (that is from the nature of the behavior itself, the chemistry of neurotransmitters, the neuroanatomy of the brain, genetic and environmental factors, etc), what can we learn about those afflicted and about our own minds? Is there a clear distinction between mental illness and mental health? What comprises the difference?

What is major depression? What can we learn about depressed people and our own minds from a better understanding of the biology of depression?

What are the implications of the role of major stress in triggering the onset of both schizophrenia and depression?

What are the benefits and challenges in trying to understand the biology of depression and schizophrenia?

These questions occur to me as I reflect on the following two sobering Robert Sapolsky videos exploring the biological depths of schizophrenia and depression.

• 1h 40m Robert Sapolsky video on the biology of schizophrenia (skip past the first 23 minutes which concern the topic of language). Read Jon Dakin's notes on Sapolsky's lecture on schizophrenia (http://robertsapolskyrocks.weebly.com/schizophrenia.html). Read CJ Fearnley's notes on Sapolsky's lecture on schizophrenia (https://www.facebook.com/cj.fearnley/posts/10206876666570820).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEnklxGAmak

• 52m Robert Sapolsky video on the biology of depression. Read Jon Dakin's notes on Sapolsky's lecture on depression (http://robertsapolskyrocks.weebly.com/depression.html). Read CJ Fearnley's notes on Sapolsky's lecture on depression (https://plus.google.com/104222466367230914966/posts/6S7wF6aMejY).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc

• This 15 minute video of Elyn Saks so poignantly describes schizophrenia, that it is worth watching as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6CILJA110Y

This is a repeat of the September 12th meetup (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/223325873/).