|
Neurotransmitters |
Functions |
Implications in mental illness |
|
Acetylcholine |
Sleep, arousal, pain perception, motor control, learning, and memory |
Motor and memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease |
|
Norepinephrine |
Regulation of mood, cognition, perception, attention, vigilance, memory, cardiovascular functioning, and sleep-wake cycles |
Mood disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and mania |
|
Dopamine |
Regulation of movements and coordination, emotions, reward signals, learning, voluntary decision-making ability, and inhibits release of prolactin |
High levels = mania and schizophrenia Low levels = Parkinson’s disease and depression |
|
Serotonin |
Sleep-wake cycle, sexual behavior, appetite, anxiety, aggression, and pain perception |
Depression and schizophrenia |
|
Histamine |
Circadian rhythms, psychomotor activity, learning, cognition, appetite, and eating disorders |
Epilepsy, depression, psychosis, stroke, anxiety, neuroinflammatory process, and neurodegeneration |
|
Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid |
Prevent postsynaptic excitation, interrupting the progression of the electrical impulse at the synaptic junction |
Alterations may lead to anxiety disorders, movement disorders, and epilepsy |
|
Glycine |
Regulation of spinal and brainstem reflexes |
Glycine encephalopathy |
|
Glutamate and Aspartate |
Relay of sensory information and in the regulation of various motor and spinal reflexes |
Huntington’s disease, temporal lobe epilepsy, and spinal cerebellar degeneration. |
- Neuroendocrinology is the study of the interaction between the nervous system and the endocrine system, and the effects of various hormones on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning.
- Studies have been conducted to determine genetic and environmental contributions to psychiatric disorders.
- Possible genetic links to various psychological disorders have been discovered through these studies.
- Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the relationship between the immune system, the nervous system, and psychological processes.
- Psychiatric nurses must have a specialized knowledge about, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, neuronal processes, neuroendocrinology, circadian rhythms, genetic influences, PNI (psychoneuroimmunology), trauma, psychopharmacology, and diagnostic technology.
