PSY 3023 Biological Bases of Mental Illness
Dr. A.C. Santucci
Fall 2004
Behind every crooked thought there is a crooked molecule.
An infamous neuroimaging scientist
Overview: If this scientist were correct, then all mental illnesses would be seated in
some abnormality of brain function or structure. The present course explores this
prospect by providing an introduction to the study of mental illness and disorders from a
neurobiological perspective. In this context, “neurobiological perspective” is viewed
quite broadly to include such areas of as neurochemistry, neuropsychopharmacology,
genetics, neuroelectrophysiology, neuroanatomy, neuroendocrinology, and
neuroimmunology. The course is organized around eight functional units, the last two
units reserved for topics for student research papers. The eight functional units are:
 Methods of Clinical Neurobiological Research
 Schizophrenia Psychosis
 Mood Disorders
 Anxiety Disorders
 Substance Abuse Disorders
 Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
 Childhood Psychiatric Disorders, and
 Special Topics in Biological Psychiatry
Although no specific prerequisite is attached to this course, the professor will
assume that students have a basic understanding of brain function. The successful
completion of previous course work in this area such as Physiological Bases of Behavior
or Introduction to Neuroscience will be extremely advantageous, however.
Book: Charney, D.S. & Nestler, E.J. (2004). Neurobiology of Mental Illness (2nd
edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
This book is unique in that it is the first comprehensive volume to present an
overview of a wide variety of psychiatric disorders. It is written by world-wide leading
researchers in the field. Since the publication of the first edition in 1999, Neurobiology
of Mental Illness has quickly become the premier authority in this field. However, you
must understand that the book is not a traditional textbook. It has been written for
professionals and advanced students (like yourselves!) who want to learn more about the
most recent finding in biological psychiatry. I do realize that the book may be
intimidating for some of you. Please don’t be! I will provide enough interpretation and
guidance to allow for you to make sense of the information. Because this is your first
course in this area, the intent of the coverage is to be broad and introductory rather than
narrow and specific. The plan is to cover about 40% - 50% of the chapters with specific
chapters being selected to provide an overview of the field of biological psychiatry.
Because this is a psychology course, I place less emphasis on molecular and cellular
approaches and more emphasis on systems and behavior. One final note, the retail price
of the book is quite steep. Because I am a contributing author to the book, however, the
publisher has offered my students a substantial 35% discount (discounted price = $115).
If you are interested in taking advantage of this discount, please give me a check for $115
made out to “Oxford University Press” by September 10th, Friday. I will then submit a
group order to the publisher. It will take about one week to receive the book.
Alternatively, I have a copy of the book on reserve in the library.
Office, Phone & e-mail: Brownson 220; 914-323-5359; santuccia@mville.edu
Course Requirements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Research Paper
Class Participation and Discussion
25%
25%
25%
25%
Research Paper: An approximate 10-page research paper with citations from the
SCHOLARLY LITERATURE on any area that is covered in Part VIII (Psychiatric
Disorders of Childhood Onset) or Part IX (Special Topic Areas) of Neurobiology of
Mental Illness is required. Please check with me for approval before initiating your
research. The paper is due on Dec. 7th.
Class Participation and Discussion: You will be assessed on the degree to which you
participate in class discussions and respond to discussion questions. Class participation
and discussion can take the form of asking or answering questions, providing feedback or
reactions to the readings, or incorporating news items with information discussed in class.
Of course, it goes without saying that you need to attend class in order to participate.
Final Exam: The final exam for this course is scheduled for Tuesday, Decemeber 14th,
2004 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Please do not make travel plans to leave campus for the
break before this date.
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Functional
Module
Week of
Chapter # and Title (authors, pp.)
Methods of Clinical
Neurobiological
Research
Sept. 7
Introductory Comments to the course
Introduction to Methods of Clinical Biological Research
Ch. 8: Contributions of Epidemiology to the Neurobiology of
Mental Illness (Merikangas & Herrell, pp. 103-111)
Ch. 10: Methods of Affective Clinical Psychophysiology (Grillon
& Ameli, pp. 127-140)
Ch. 11: Clinical Neurochemistry (Owens & Ritchie, pp. 141-154)
Ch. 12: Clinical Neuroendocrinology (Holsboer & Kunzel, pp.
155 - 170)
Ch. 13: Neuroimmunology (Petitto et al., 171 - 179)
Ch. 14: Cognitive Neuroscience: Bridging Thinking and Feeling to
the Brain, and its Implications for Psychiatry (Carter et al.,
pp. 180 – 189)
Ch. 17: Drug Discovery and Development Methods for Mental
Illness (Tollefson, pp. 221 – 231)
Ch. 18: Diagnostic Classification of the Psychoses: Historical
Context and Implications for Neurobiology (Breier, pp.
237 - 246)
Ch. 20: Animal Models of Psychoses (Robbins, pp. 263 - 286)
Ch. 21: Pharmacological Models of Psychoses (Krystal et al., pp.
287 - 289)
Ch. 22: The Neurobiology of Schizophrenia (Cho et al., pp. 299 –
310)
Ch. 23: Functional Brain Imaging Studies in Schizophrenia (Faith
et al., pp. 311 - 323)
Ch. 24: Psychophysiological and Information-Processing
Approaches to Schizophrenia (Braff, pp. 324 - 338)
Ch. 25: Principles of the Pharmacology of Schizophrenia
(Tamminga, pp. 339 - 354)
Ch. 26: Diagnostic Classification of Mood Disorders: Historical
Context and Implications for Neurobiology (Boland &
Keller, pp. 357 - 368)
Ch. 28: Animal Models of Mood Disorders (Silaber & Holsboer,
380 - 396)
Ch. 31: The Neurochemistry of Mood Disorders (Garlow &
Nemeroff, pp. 440 - 460)
Ch. 32: Neuroimaging Studies of Mood Disorders (Drevets et al.,
461 – 490)
Ch 33. Principle of the Pharmacotherapy of Depression (Sporn et
al., pp. 491 – 511)
Ch. 34: Abnormalities of Brain Structure and Function in Mood
Disorders based on Postmortem Investigations (Mann &
Arango, pp. 512 - 522)
MIDTERM EXAM
Sept. 14
Sept. 21
Schizophrenia
Psychosis
Sept. 28
Oct. 5
Mood Disorders
Oct. 12
Oct. 19
----------
Oct. 26
Anxiety Disorders
Nov. 2
Nov. 9
Substance Abuse
Disorders
Nov. 16
Alzheimer’s Disease
and Related
Dementias
Nov 23
Nov 30
Dec. 7
----------
Dec. 14th
(11:00 am–
1:00 pm)
Ch. 35: Diagnostic classification of Anxiety Disorders: DSM-V
and Beyond (Stein & Bienvenu, pp. 525 - 534)
Ch. 37: Animal Models of Anxiety Disorders (Fuchs & Flugge,
pp. 546 – 557)
Ch. 38 Structural and Functional Plasticity in the Hisppocampus
Formation: Stress, Adaptation, and Disease (McEwen, pp.
558 – 583)
Ch. 40: The Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders (Charney &
Bremner, pp. 605 - 627)
Ch. 41: The Neurobiology and Treatment of Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (Swedo & Snider, pp. 628 - 638)
Ch. 42: Neuroimaging Studies of Anxiety Disorders (Kent &
Rauch (Baxter, pp. 639 - 660)
Ch. 43: Principles of the Pharmacotherapy of Anxiety Disorders
(Goddard et al., pp. 661 - 679)
Ch. 44: Animal Models of Addiction (Wise & Gardner, pp. 683 697)
Ch. 47: Effects of Drugs of Abuse on Brain Development
(Malanga & Kosofsky, pp. 720 - 739)
Ch. 48: Neuroimaging in Substance Abuse Research (Fowler &
Volkow, pp. 740 – 752)
Ch. 49 Principles of the Pharmacotherapy of Substance Abuse
Disorders (O”Brien & Cornish, pp. 753 - 765)
Ch. 50: Diagnostic Classifications: Relationship to the
Neurobiology of Dementia (Kaufer & Dekosky, pp. 771 782)
Ch. 52: Pharmacological and Transgenic Animal Models of
Alzheimer’s Disease (Santucci & Haroutunian, pp. 791 –
806)
Ch. 54 Neurochemical Systems Involved in Learning and
Memory (Berger-Sweeney et al., 813 – 820)
Ch. 55: Neuropathological and Neuroimaging Studies of the
Hippocampus in Normal Aging and in Alzheimer’s
Disease (Bobinski et al., pp. 821 – 835)
Ch. 56: Abnormalities in Brain Structure on Postmortem Analysis
of Dementias (Perl, pp. 836 - 848)
Ch. 57: Neuroimaging Studies of Dementia (Buchsbaum &
Hazlett, pp. 849 - 863)
Ch. 58: Principles of the Pharmacotherapy of Dementia (Evers &
Marin, pp. 863 - 872)
Ch. 59: Cognitive Impairments in Demyelinating Diseae (Hyde,
pp. 873 – 880)
Ch. 61: Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease (Gracies & Olanow, pp.
896 – 916)
Research Paper Due
FINAL EXAM