Brain Lateralization - Broca's Aphasia

Broca's Aphasia

Here’s an example on how people with Broca’s Aphasia read a passage even though they know it is wrong but they cannot say how to correct it. 

We spend much of our day listening to language, and we sometimes forget that the original, primary function of hearing has to do with simpler but extremely important issues.

What is Broca’s Aphasia?

                Broca’s Aphasia is damage to the brain in a location that is known as the Broca’s area.  This area helps the brain for language production. It is usually caused by a stroke which causes interruption of blood flow to the brain and damages the Broca’s area.  It can also be cause by a head injury or can be slowly developing because of a tumor or dementia.  It is a non-fluent aphasia.  People with Broca’s aphasia speak in short phrases that make sense but they have a lot of difficulty in speaking.  They usually omit small words like “is” “the” “and” etc.  They are unable to say a complete correct sentence.  They don’t remove the small words because they want to, it is just easier for them to communicate because it becomes very difficult for them to say the complete sentence. 

                People with Broca’s aphasia not only have difficulty in speech but also run through difficulty with paralysis on the right side of the body due to the damage caused also affects motor movements.

Is it treatable?

                There are currently no surgeries or medical treatments that can help treat the disability, but there is therapy that can help with time.  Therapy is not a sure thing someone will not retain their complete language skills.   

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has been in our society for many years and as time has passed our knowledge h has evolved to the best of the person’s interest throughout the years.  In the past, people, who had this mental illness, would be outcast by society due to their beliefs.  They would say the person with Schizophrenia was possessed by an evil spirit.  Since our knowledge has changed our views of what is Schizophrenia so has the treatments for it.  

Many years ago, Schizophrenia would be treated in a completely different manner than how it is treated nowadays.  People who were diagnosed with schizophrenia would be subjected to trial and error treatments which some would have lifetime side effects.  They would be institutionalized for the rest of their lives because doctors believed there was no cure or control of the illness.  There were different methods how schizophrenics would be treated in the past.  The most common methods were insulin shock, electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomy.  These treatments were very unpleasant and dangerous.  Even though these were dangerous treatments, families of schizophrenic patients would still request them believing it could help their beloved ones.  

 Insulin Shock Therapy

 

 In our present days, everything has changed for the best.  Doctors have more knowledge on how schizophrenia is caused and how they can help the patients other than hurting them.  There is still no cure for schizophrenia but there are treatments that patients go through in a more humanely manner.  Now there are psychotherapies and medication treatments the patients can take for their illness.  They do not cure the illness but helps the people diagnosed with schizophrenia to have a better life and not be a danger for themselves. Our society has outgrown the way they would see and treat people with schizophrenia.   

 

Bipolar Disorder

Depression can happen to anyone, but there are different episodes that are diagnosed differently depending on the characteristics of emotions the person is going through.  It can be a mild depression or can be diagnosed as a severe disorder.  Some learn to cope with their illness and others go through denial believe it will go away on its own. 

A bipolar disorder is a manic-depressive illness, which causes unusual shifts of mood, energy, excitement, rambling speech, and the inability to go on with their normal daily tasks.  Some believe a bipolar disorder is usually heavy mood swings but it is actually more than that.  Someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder can be a danger to themselves and others.  It needs to be treated and observed at all times to avoid any episodes.  It usually begins in adult years before age 30 but it can happen to anybody, even young children or teenagers.  Children and teenagers can be diagnosed to bipolar disorder if any of their parents had bipolar disorder.  It goes by many names, such as, manic depression, bipolar mood disorder, or manic depressive disorder.  It is a manic-depressive illness due to the extreme mood changes from one minute to the other.  Sometimes they can be so happy and excited and suddenly their mood changes completely it gives a complete turnaround.   Since the patterns of their moods are not leveled it is a complex disorder to diagnose the first time. 

Bipolar disorder is classified in two categories:  bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder.  Bipolar I are episodes has manic episodes.  It also includes psychotic symptoms. In Bipolar II disorder there are hypomanic, milder manic, episodes.  This classification is less severe than Bipolar I because it does not have psychotic episodes or hallucinations. 

Even though this disorder sounds hectic because a person never knows when their emotion will change, it is still treatable and someone can live their life normal as anybody else but treatment is necessary.  The first medications given to someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder are mood stabilizing medications such as lithium.  There is no cure for bipolar disorder but treatment is available to control episodes. 

Here is a video of someone who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and he describes how his life came to be with this illness.

FEAR

 

Imagine being hold at gunpoint with nowhere to run?  Somebody with fully brain functionality would be scared out of their mind, figure of speech.  It would be so terrifying that it would not be easy to forget.  People get traumatized going through that horrific experience.  Fear is naturally needed in our system to show our emotions and protect us from life-threatening situations.  Without fear being an important mechanism in our body, we would be in danger if we would have a close encounter with a venomous snake, a fast car coming your way.  We, as human being, have the fear mechanism in our system to help us survive, but some people do not. 

Have you ever heard of Urbach-Wiethe disease?  This is a neurological disease that affects the amygdala region in our brain.  The amygdala regulates anxiety and fear in our body.  This disease is an unusual genetic disorder that slowly destroys the amygdala. Without the amygdala properly functioning fear is revoked from the system, and the person does not understand or feel what fear is. 

There is a women, SM, who has been studied by many scientists who has been diagnosed with Urbach-Wiethe disease.  She is not afraid of anything what normal people would be afraid of, no spiders, snakes, scary movies, and anything that can be frightful for us. 

Some might think without fear, there would no reason to be scared of anything and live a life without worries, but think about it without fear you would never know when your life is in danger just like the women, S.M., it can be such a risk not understanding the situation of not reacting with an emotion to avoid danger. 

I personally believe that fear, even though it is not a good emotion, helps us to stay alive and alert throughout our life.  I prefer of reacting from getting away of a spider or snake than just be there and see what could happen, the farther the better for me.

Sleep Apnea

How many hours do you sleep and do you think it is a healthy resting time for your body?  Well, it is said that we as human beings need at least 7 ½ to 8 hours of sleep to feel well rested, but not everybody has the same sleep pattern rhythm.  Some people are deprived of having a goon sleep in which their body could re-energize for further activities during the day.  There are some disorders that have been named for different sleep deprivations.

What is sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea is a type of insomnia that avoids a person from breathing while sleeping.  People who have sleep apnea go through the process of the brain not getting enough oxygen while resting.  They have difficulty sleeping throughout their sleeping time due to the repeated times of them not breathing during their sleep. 

There are two kinds of sleep apnea, the obstructive and central sleep apnea.  The obstructive sleep apnea is the most common forms of apnea.   This apnea is caused when the airway is blocked by a tissue in the back of the throat that happens during sleep.  The central sleep apnea is different from the obstructive instead of blocking the airway, the brain does not respond efficiently to signal the muscles to breathe due to the instability respiratory system.  Central sleep apnea is more common in people who have certain medical conditions or is taking certain medications. 

Who can be diagnosed with sleep apnea?

Actually anyone can even children.  It can be caused by genetics, large tonsils, allergies, sinus problems, men being over 40, overweight.  These causes can happen to anyone from children to adults. 

Is sleep apnea treatable?

Of course, it is treatable.  Sleep apnea can be treated at home or by a doctor.  It all depends on the severity of the diagnose.  Sleep apnea can be easily treated by changing the lifestyle of a person.  A person with sleep apnea might need to lose weight, change sleeping positions, stop smoking if a smoker, avoid alcohol, no sleeping pills, and avoid sleeping on their back.  Sometimes home treatment will not help if the sleep apnea is being caused by a deviated nasal septum, enlarged tonsils, or someone with a small jaw and with an overbite.  What is needed would be a surgery for it to be treated. 

If not treated, sleep apnea could cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, obesity, and diabetes.  If the person already has heart problems, it can increase the heart failure of a person. 

Conclusion:

Everybody needs a good sleep to be able to function properly during our daily lifestyle.  A person with sleep apnea does not need to feel they do not have options in being able to sleep well.  There are many treatments that a doctor could prescribe or inform about.   

The Perfect Mate

 

In some cultures, arranged marriages are acceptable, but now imagine having that specific trait throughout the whole world in the human species?   These views have changed throughout the centuries.  Our society has evolved, women and men have been given the choice, to find and choose their mate. 

 

Things have changed throughout the years.  Women now work and also provide for themselves and their family and men are attracted to women around their same age.  Our society is not so close-minded as how it used to be but in some other places around the world the arranged custom marriages still happen, and the past views of women marrying men who could provide and men marrying fertile young women still continue.  Women tend to find men who can be good providers for her and future family and men tend to find women who are young for fertile purposes.  These were reasons for past marriages from our ancestors, but nowadays their view on what is a perfect mate has evolved.  Women tend to still find men that could provide for them but they also need to be attracted by physical looks.  So as for men, they go by the same, physical attraction has to be a must for mating.  In our present day’s women and men are driven to each other not by what they get out of a relationship but what they want from their partners. 

In choosing the perfect mate, there are no genes that can be proven to be in fault for women and men to act the way we do when finding the one.  Our views are driven by what our society brings to us.  Our genes work in many different ways but by choosing our mates it still being studied to find out why we act the way we do.