PURPOSE: Our final forum has two major purposes.  The first is to give you an opportunity to apply and demonstrate all of the knowledge you have learned (or earned) during the course.   The second is to help you develop a sense of empathy for individuals who suffer from one or more of the psychological disorders.

INTRODUCTION—BACKGROUND

Our textbook discusses some of the ways we try to understand the neurological and chemical basis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  It covers major symptoms and how we use psychoactive drugs to treat individuals who suffer from these diseases.  One of the things the textbook does not cover in adequate detail though, is the risk of suicide among people with these diseases.  According to many sources (see linked references at the bottom of the page for more information), the risks of suicide in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are the highest of any of the psychological disorders.  It seems to me that this risk might be associated with similarities in genetic risk factors, neurotransmitter activity, anatomical abnormalities in the brain, or any combination of these factors (plus developmental, environmental and other factors).

DISCUSSION FORUM—INITIAL SUBMISSION

Focus your response on only one of the prompt issues below.  Be specific and as thorough as possible, including citations where necessary.  Note: for this forum, if you use peer-reviewed articles (recommended), you need not read the entire article—the abstracts should give you enough information to answer a prompt in sufficient detail.  You should discuss one of the following issues.

1. Describe specific enetic factors that might increase the risk of suicide in both bipolar and schizophrenic individuals. OR
2. Describe specific neurotransmitter influences that might increase the risk of suicide in both bipolar and schizophrenic individuals. OR
3. Describe specific neuroanatomical abnormalities that might increase the risk of suicide in both bipolar and schizophrenic individuals.

DISCUSSION FORUM—RESPONSES

The original submitter will have focused on one of the three prompts above. For your response, briefly suggest how the other two factors could also influence the suicide risk.  Note: for responses to original posts, you need not review outside literature if the text or any other relevant material gives you enough material to write a good response.

NOTE: There is no example submission for this discussion.  But I have provided a few example references.  You are not required to look these up, but these and others might prove helpful as you complete this forum.  Also, there are far more relevant sources than these, I’ve listed only those that are available full text online—some of these may require library logon.

Brüne, M., Schöbel, A., Karau, R., Faustmann, P.M., Dermietzel, R., Juckel, G., & Petrasch-Parwez, E. (2011).      Neuroanatomical correlates of suicide in psychosis: the possible role of von Economo neurons. PLoS One,        6. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21731632 (Links to an external site.)

Castagnini, A. & Foldager, L. (2013). Excess mortality of acute and transient psychotic disorders: comparison          with bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 128. 370-375.

De Luca, V., Housek, D., Likoodi, O., Van Tol, H.H., Kennedy, J.L., & Wong, A.H. (2006). The interaction                between TPH2 promoter haplotypes and clinical-demographic risk factors in suicide victims with major              psychoses. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 5, (107-110).

Kim, S., Choi, K.H., Baykiz, A.F., & Gershenfield, H.K. (2007). Suicidal candidate genes associated with bipolar     disorder and schizophrenia: an exploratory gene expression profiling analysis of post-mortem prefrontal               cortex.  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2211497/ (Links to an external site.)

Vawter, M.P., Thatcher, L., Usen, N., Hyde, T.M., Klienman, J.E., & Freed, W.J. (2002). Reduction of synapsin      in the hippocampus of patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry, 7, 571-578.