> Anxiety stimulates excessive transmission of amines,
> it makes sense that it would be correlated with
> schizophrenia.
>
> Paranoia is common with bipolar affective disorder
> as well as schizophrenia. What are the amine
> levels associated with that disorder?
It is widely believed that it is serotonin and norepinephrine
that are depressed during the depressive phase, and that
norepinephrine levels rise during the manic phase. But
there are some complications, like hypophysal hormones and
other neuromodulators.
> The inhibition you speak of sounds like self-reflective
> awareness, or self-monitoring, or self-consciousness, or
> self-observation -- all names for the same phenomenon.
Yes, in some sense. But self-control as you describe it
seems to be more involved in impulse control disorders;
if it gets disrupted our actions become impulsive, badly
planned or we act with no regard for consequences.
What I was thinking of was more a "reality check" function
in the brain that removed clearly irrelevant or unreal
patterns.
> > I think pattern finding in random dots likely would correlate to
> > paranoia, but also to hallucinations. Paranoia seems to involve
> > an emotional component, likely a limbic fear program that makes
> > us more attentive to perceived threats.
> >
> And keeps the aminergic system excessively high?
Maybe. The feedback loops in this respect are tangled.
> "My limbic system is out to get me."
:-)
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