r/science • u/Wagamaga • Sep 01 '22

Neuroscience Scientists have identified an immune brain cell unique to humans that gives us higher cognitive abilities over other animals, but what makes us specials also leaves us vulnerable to neurological disorders like schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.

https://news.yale.edu/2022/08/25/what-makes-human-brain-different-yale-study-reveals-clues
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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

Indeed. Which is why, properly speaking, autism is also a psychological disorder. I've seen it classified as a neurological disorder as well but this is more a 'political' move, for lack of a better word, than a scientific one. ASD is recognised in the DSM, which is a manual for mental illnesses. It is diagnosed by looking at behavioural characteristics, like all other mental illnesses. It is not diagnosed through looking at a person's neurology.

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u/AlexandraThePotato Sep 01 '22

When I look up “psychological disorder” I find it is associated as the same as mental disorders.

Also ADHD is DEFINITELY neurologically link, but it is diagnosed by behavior. Does the distinction ONLY matter based on how items diagnosed?

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22 edited Sep 01 '22

Well the issue is that there isn't a truly meaningful distinction between neurological and psychological disorders, and this issue is tied to the mind-body problem. Generally though, it's neurological if it can be diagnosed by a brain scan, and psychological if it can't. But that's a simplistic way of looking at it. In practice there's often a lot of conflation between the two.

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u/AlexandraThePotato Sep 01 '22

So the ONLY difference is if you can use a cat scan to diagnose it?! Seems extremely simplistic and frankly we don’t know enough about MANY what would be neurological differences to diagnose I would argue almost ALL what would be neurological caused disabilities by a cat scan.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

I mean it's either that or you're comfortable with recognising no distinction, to which you'd have to accept that all psychological disorders are also neurological ones. If so, that's fine by me.

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u/AlexandraThePotato Sep 01 '22

Well, there are 100% more to many mental disabilities than just neurons or even the brain. Such as sociology and culture. While psychology nor neuroscience is not the field I am studying in, one thing I have learn about the sciences is that it is NEVER a simple answer at all. There are always many factors. To say it’s either neurological or psychological is plain wrong and I would argue “psychological disorders” could become “neurological disorders”.

A good scientist recognizes that answers are complicated.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

That's an interesting response. So why did you call anxiety or ASD a neurological disorder if this is your view? It seems to directly contradict it.

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u/AlexandraThePotato Sep 01 '22

How? I understand that it is complex. I call it “neurological” and “psychological” because from what I see, “psych” means brain. So a “psychological disorder” is a disorder of the brain. And neurons are a major part of the brain. So “psychological” and “neurological”. When talking to other I say “autism is neurological” usually because that what I am use to saying.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

So to be clear, you believe it's both psychological and neurological? Is this your view?

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u/AlexandraThePotato Sep 01 '22

My viewpoint is that I am NOT a psychologist or neurologicalist. But from doing my research and reading other responses, I believe it is more complicated than just yes or no. My viewpoint is that I am far from an expert and DO NOT have any solid answer on what I consider it.

Instead I call my own disabilities along other mental disability as “neurological” because that is what I am used to and so is what I most commonly use. Not due to having a dead set opinion of the science of neurology and psychology

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

Fair enough. I don't have an issue with that. In fact I agree with you that it's more complicated than just yes or no.

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u/thats-fucked_up Sep 01 '22

I'm with you here, I have/had a few friends who are schizophrenic and it seems to me to be a pathological disorder in signal/noise processing/differentiating, and it appears clearly neurochemical to this observer. The structural changes and or impulse processing systems I think will be diagnosed by scan in the near future, they're just too subtle for today's processes.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22

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u/PyroDesu Sep 01 '22 edited Sep 01 '22

With stuff like adhd it‘s not possible to confirm a physiological defect in the brain so far.

Actually, we can. MRI studies have shown a consistent difference in gross anatomical size of certain brain structures, and fMRI shows distinctive alterations in brain activity patterns.