Neurological Pyrotechnics
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Anyone who has ever tried to start a campfire on a cold, damp morning knows precisely how frustrating it can be to try to get the fire to catch. You stack your pine needles and slivers of bark in a neat pyramid and breathe on them encouragingly as you watch for a spark to take. The first several times are likely to result in nothing but smoke and then suddenly the kindling catches and thick logs are quickly turning to embers. There are few things as satisfying as is the sight of such a kindling effect - when a small spark becomes a roaring, spitting fire in just a few moments - if you are trying to cook breakfast at a campsite. And likewise there can be few things as therapeutically disturbing as watching the kindling effect in mental illness as a small stressor turns into an emotional and psychological conflagration.The term "kindling effect" is used to describe the rapid increase in symptoms in a number of different mental illnesses in which an initially asymptomatic individual suddenly becomes consumed by a disability. One form of mental illness in which this is often the case is depression, especially as a component of bipolar disorder, as described below: [Biederman (1998)] points to research on the "kindling" effect of depression to show how misdiagnosis can hurt a child. The kindling effect is seen in the damage the brain incurs as it is weakened by depression over time. The first depression may not be that bad, but because it has happen
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o the stimulus and begin to react at lower thresholds. This sensitivity persists over time and can become stronger with continued exposure to the stimulus. The concept of neuronal kindling is used to understand what clinicians may see during alcohol withdrawal: symptoms tend to become worse over time in people who repeatedly expose their brains to withdrawal from alcohol. Certainly kindling can complicate addiction by contributing to an individual's unwillingness to forego alcohol, even when its ingestion is no longer a source of pleasure (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-09/ace-sfn091001.php).
It might seem puzzling that two such seemingly different mental conditions as depression and bipolar syndrome on the one hand and post-traumatic stress disorder on the other should share the kindling effect. But while the two mental conditions might seem to be unconnected to each other, an increasing amount of research suggests that there are biochemical similarities between the two. Depression acts (on the biochemical level) as a stressor on the brain, creating a neurological legacy (just as more obviously violent forms of trauma do) that allow the kindling effect to reproduce the original symptoms at a later time:
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Stress Disorder, Anti-Kindling Therapies, Neurological Pyrotechnics, kindling effect, Post NIMH, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic stress, stress disorder, effect seen, described below, mental conditions, kindling effect mental, kindling effect seen, treatment kindling effect, primary condition, effective forms, categories drugs, rate cycling,
Approximate Word count = 1256
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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