For centuries, understanding depression has been a central scientific endeavour across numerous scientific disciplines. Contemporarily, a biomedical perspective has won favour and is dominated by biomarker research, which seeks to identify objective pathophysiological features of major depressive disorder (MDD). One such approach utilises functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain function, two key methodologies being resting-state (rsfMRI) and task-based (tbfMRI) investigations, ordinarily kept separate in analyses and empirical articles. Psychologically, MDD is frequently conceptualised as a disorder of rigidity or abnormal reactivity, which may manifest as stable or aberrantly fluctuating patterns of brain activity, respectively. Recognising this, this dissertation explores the potential of combining rsfMRI and tbfMRI data to identify context-specific manifestations of MDD.
Read MoreThis thesis aspires to contribute to the understanding of how ECT affects AM by investigating the utility of AMT within this field. Ultimately, this was motivated by the hope that doing so could lead to a more well-informed clinical practice, reducing stigma, and ultimately benefiting patients.
Read MoreThe mirror neuron system (MNS) consists of fronto-parietal neurons active during both the execution and observation of actions. In the mirror neuron theory of action understanding, activation of the MNS facilitates an understanding of action goals. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explore whether infants’ development of action understanding can be understood within this theoretical framework
Read MoreIn this bachelor thesis I examine the phylogenetic origins of unipolar depression. Some evolutionary psychologist has argued that clinical depression is a discrete adaption while others argue that it is a malfunction of the adaptative capacity for low mood. I account for the arguments of each field and subsequently for behavioral genetic findings on depression and three models of genetic variation from evolutionary genetics which explain why natural selection has not eliminated susceptibility alleles for psychopathology.
Read MoreThis bachelor thesis examines the traumatic memory from a cognitive neuroscientific and a psychoanalytic perspective. The aim is to make a critical assessment of two of the criteria for PTSD; criterium A in DSM-5 and ICD-10 concerning exposure to an event that can be acknowledges as “traumatic” from the objective particularities of a situation, and criterium E in ICD-10, which defines that the traumatic symptoms and the clinical syndrome of PTSD have to develop within six months after the potentially traumatic event.
Read MoreThis dissertation sets out to explore the grounds on which the term Internet Addiction is based. The concept is not yet accepted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), as there are substantial inconsistencies in the definitions and diagnostic tools of the disorder. This dissertation looks closely and critically at the empirical foundation of Internet Addiction and proposes several interventions and a suggestion for a future study.
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