Brain Emotional Circuits and Psychopathologies

Emotion: The self-regulatory sense

“…In fact, one's very stress response can be epigenetically programmed by the environmental exposures of one's immediate ancestors, one's grandparents. 386 Likewise, "increasing evidence suggests that most, if not all, diseases of the central nervous system are associated with either primary or secondary perturbations of the epigenome," 387 which of course include "psychosomatic" syndromes, affective disorders 388,389 and psychiatric diseases 390 -not to mention the profound developmental deficits from extreme contextual deprivation. 349 Furthermore, disruptions in these chemical signaling systems and their neural circuitry can give rise to the empathy deficits in autism, 382 to psychopathy, 391,392 and the dissociative 393 and identity pathologies in schizophrenia.…”

The Relative Efficacy of Live Graded Exposure, Live Modeling, and Computer- Based Symbolic Modeling in the Treatment of Spider Phobia: A Perspective of Emotion

“…The literature on emotion shows that the nature of emotion and the mechanisms involved in its experience and expression constitute a field of long-standing controversy (e.g., James, 1890James, /1950Cannon, 1927;Papez, 1937;MacLean, 1950;Schachter, 1964;Lazarus, 1984;Zajonc, 1984;Panksepp, 1988Panksepp, , 1990Gray, 1982Gray, , 1990Hassan and Ward, 1991). The result of this controversy has been a set of concepts of emotion that are neither exclusive nor complementary, and which have projected a range of divergent clinical implications (e.g., Rachman, 1981).…”

“…The belief (e.g., Panksepp, 1988) is that the neuro-biological approach has a better chance of generating factual knowledge about brain structures, pathways, and processes implicated in emotionality. This approach represents a molecular level of analysis, and the evidence www.intechopen.com yielded by which may help guide the search for solid understanding of emotion at the psychological level.…”

“…This approach represents a molecular level of analysis, and the evidence www.intechopen.com yielded by which may help guide the search for solid understanding of emotion at the psychological level. All psychological phenomena can not be reduced to intrinsic brain processes (Panksepp, 1988); therefore, the two domains can reciprocate to produce a much more accurate model of human emotional functioning (Hassan and Ward, 1991). Cannon's (1927) theory of emotion proposes that the thalamus is the center that mediates the various processes associated with emotional expression (somatic-motor, autonomic, and subjective/cognitive).…”

“…The same probably applies to cognitive responding and autonomic reactions associated with such a state. Second, the brain seems to sustain a dynamic two-way exchange with external as well as internal environment (Panksepp, 1988). In so doing, the brain is equipped with intrinsic but experientially refined sensory, attentional, perceptual, emotional, and motor systems.…”