Kims friend John Case Study

Kims friend John Case Study

Kim was asked to define a neurotransmitter and whether or not there was more than one when her friend John began using a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for his depression. Kim should explain that neurotransmitters act as neuronal messengers, helping relay signals from one neuron to another throughout the nervous system (Barrett et al., 2019; Goldstein, 2018). One of these neurotransmitters, serotonin, is crucial for maintaining stable emotions. While serotonin has received the most attention concerning depression, it is not the only neurotransmitter involved. Acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine are the other significant neurotransmitters.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates feelings of reward, pleasure, and drive. A lack of dopamine may cause a condition known as anhedonia or the loss of the capacity to enjoy life. Norepinephrine helps maintain normal blood pressure and has a role in maintaining alertness, focus, and arousal. Fatigue and inability to focus are symptoms of low norepinephrine levels (Barrett et al., 2019; Goldstein, 2018). Memory, learning, locomotion, and emotion regulation all rely on acetylcholine. Memory loss, physical weakness, and emotional instability have all been linked to insufficient amounts of acetylcholine.

Carol’s Patient Case Study

While at work, Carol is contacted by a lady caring for her mother, who has had a stroke and needs Carol’s assistance. The patient can communicate verbally but has trouble comprehending others. The lady is curious about which part of her brain suffered an injury. She also questions how physicians know where the harm is. The affected region is most likely the left temporal lobe, which is found above the ear on the left side of the brain. If the patient has intact auditory comprehension but incoherent speech, injury to the left frontal lobe is likely to be blamed (Barrett et al., 2019; Goldstein, 2018). This part of the brain may be found at the front of the head, just over the eyes.

The cerebral hemispheres are divided into four lobes: the frontal, occipital, temporal, and parietal. The brain’s frontal lobe is where the planning, deciding, and problem-solving processes occur. If this brain area is injured, the victim may have difficulties communicating and understanding others. The top and rear of the brain house the parietal lobe, which is in charge of sensory processing and spatial awareness. Reading, writing, and arithmetic may all become challenging if this lobe is injured (Barrett et al., 2019; Goldstein, 2018). The memory and emotion-processing functions of the brain are housed in the temporal lobe, which is situated on the brain’s side. Language comprehension and facial recognition problems have been linked to this lobe’s damage. The occipital lobe is the area of the brain that processes visual information. The visual system and object recognition may suffer from damage to this lobe.

Three brain imaging techniques can be used to identify the location of damage in the brain. These are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT),  and positron emission tomography (PET). CT scans use X-rays to generate images of the brain. The patient lies on a table and passes through a large machine (Barrett et al., 2019; Goldstein, 2018). The images are then used to identify any abnormalities in the brain. MRI scans use magnetic fields and radio waves to generate ideas about the brain and can be used to identify areas of damage or disease. During a PET scan, the patient is injected with a dye that emits radiation. The radiation is then detected by a scanner and used to generate brain images (Treglia, 2020). The images are used to identify areas of the brain that are not functioning correctly.

 References

Barrett, K. E., Barman, S. M., Yuan, J., & Brooks, H. L. (2019). Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, Twenty-Sixth Edition. McGraw Hill Professional.

Goldstein, E. B. (2018). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Cengage Learning.

Treglia, G. (2020). Evidence-based Positron Emission Tomography: Summary of Recent Meta-analyses on PET. Springer Nature.

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 Instructions
Case Studies
Kim’s friend John started taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for depression. His doctor told him that serotonin is a neurotransmitter. John asks Kim what a neurotransmitter is and if there is more than one neurotransmitter. What should Kim tell John? Include answers to the following in your response:

Kims friend John Case Study

Define the purpose of neurotransmitters.
Describe the function of serotonin.
Name three other neurotransmitters and describe their functions.
Carol is working in a nursing home and is approached by a woman whose mother is recovering from a stroke. The patient can speak but has difficulty understanding others. The woman wonders what area of the brain was damaged by the stroke. She also wonders how doctors can identify the location of the damage. Answer the following questions:

Name the damaged area and describe its location.
What area of the brain might be damaged if the patient could understand speech but didn’t make sense when she was speaking?
Name each lobe of the cerebral hemispheres, describe the location, and give an example of a specific skill that could be affected if the lobes were damaged.
Name and discuss three brain imaging techniques. Describe what happens to a patient during each of these techniques, what is measured, and what the test results look like.