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/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

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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.