Neurodynamic system theory: scope and limits

The new brain: concepts, challenges, and opportunities for mental health nursing

The new paradigm that the brain is able change itself (neuroplasticity) is acknowledged and teased out in terms of the ramifications for mental illnesses. Parallel studies in pain (central sensitization) and mirror neurones are examined to conceptually clarify these ramifications in relation to mental health, and to expand our understanding of empathy and social inclusion beyond good ideas to being a part of our nature. The paper then focuses on making clear what the concepts, challenges, and opportunities for mental health nursing might be; even advancing possibilities for recovery through better understanding the third space or intersubjective. What ramifications this has for mental health nursing is reviewed in terms of a paradigm change and the necessity for conceptual clarity, as it relates to the uniqueness of the person right before our very eyes. The author contends that to embrace this new paradigm is not only necessary but ethically obligatory, as it opens up new possibilities for understanding ourselves and this changeable person.

A visual metaphor describing neural dynamics in schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

In many scientific disciplines the use of a metaphor as an heuristic aid is not uncommon. A well known example in somatic medicine is the 'defense army metaphor' used to characterize the immune system. In fact, probably a large part of the everyday work of doctors consists of 'translating' scientific and clinical information (i.e. causes of disease, percentage of success versus risk of side-effects) into information tailored to the needs and capacities of the individual patient. The ability to do so in an effective way is at least partly what makes a clinician a good communicator. Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder which affects approximately 1% of the population. Over the last two decades a large amount of molecular-biological, imaging and genetic data have been accumulated regarding the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. However, it remains difficult to understand how the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions are related to disturbances on the molecular-biological level. In general, psychiatry seems to lack a conceptual framework with sufficient explanatory power to link the mental- and molecular-biological domains.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Here, we present an essay-like study in which we propose to use visualized concepts stemming from the theory on dynamical complex systems as a 'visual metaphor' to bridge the mental- and molecular-biological domains in schizophrenia. We first describe a computer model of neural information processing; we show how the information processing in this model can be visualized, using concepts from the theory on complex systems. We then describe two computer models which have been used to investigate the primary theory on schizophrenia, the neurodevelopmental model, and show how disturbed information processing in these two computer models can be presented in terms of the visual metaphor previously described. Finally, we describe the effects of dopamine neuromodulation, of which disturbances have been frequently described in schizophrenia, in terms of the same visualized metaphor.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

The conceptual framework and metaphor described offers a heuristic tool to understand the relationship between the mental- and molecular-biological domains in an intuitive way. The concepts we present may serve to facilitate communication between researchers, clinicians and patients.

Biophysical body-brain-mind unity: theory and practice

A novel substance-attributed biophysical theory of brain-mind unity is presented. We separate spiritualism and matters of the soul from the medical sphere. Biophysical principles are responsible for the body's operational regimen (BOR) in the homeostatic state which allows for materialization and emergence of the mind; Excitation and/or inhibition modulate 8 BOR stages. There is automatic (somatic) and non-automatic (biophysical and psychological) Circadian cycle control. Computer-analog input and output occurs in wired neuronal electric pathways. Biotechnological devices located in emotional neurons positively signal homeostatic and negatively signal deranged BOR and biophysical mind operations. Macro and/or micro cerebral lesions which affect homeostasis may cause psychopathology, which can be treated with 'instrumental psychotherapy' (IPT) which enables recovery from homeostatic disorder in Phase 1, refining EGO in Phase 2, and social competence in Phase 3. The theory of brain-mind unity and practice of IPT is geared to medical workers and biophysical psychologists.

Metaphors, models and bioinformation

The notion of bioinformation is central to the biosciences. This short paper examines a number of metaphors which are intimately related to this idea. These include metaphors about 'system' as well as metaphors associated with biosystem as 'text'. A framework its presented which allows ideas about biosystems and computer systems to be displaced and a number of specific topics are then discussed. Firstly, information processing in non-neural tissues is given as an example of parallel distributed processing. This is followed with a number of metaphors associated with 'text', including 'glue', 'verbs' and 'interpretation'. The paper concludes with a proposal on how to integrate general ideas of bioinformation using the idea of the 'ecology of domains'.

The brain as a hermeneutic device

An attempt has been made to reconcile the 'device approach' and the 'philosophical approach' to the brain. Systems exhibiting high structural and dynamic complexity may be candidates of being hermeneutic devices. The human brain, which is a structurally and dynamically complex device, not only perceives but also creates new reality: it is a hermeneutic device.

Vertical information flow in the brain: on neuronal micro events and consciousness

The consciousness problem and its relation to theories of spontaneous brain activity are discussed. It is argued that an evolutionary perspective suggests an interactionist solution of the consciousness problem, i.e., mental events interact with physical brain events. A specification of the physical events assumed to be associated with mental events is proposed to make the discussion of mind-brain theories more fruitful. An interactionist solution of the consciousness problem requires random spontaneous brain activity. A mechanism for such activity is proposed on the basis of experimental findings. Some new results from patch-clamp experiments on intact tissue (the hippocampal slice preparation) are presented. The results indicate that single channel events may cause random spontaneous neuronal activity, illustrating the phenomenon of micro events inducing macro or global brain events, and also the central theme of vertical information flow. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the stochastic nature of channel gating.