This essay will focus on the involvement of the brain neurotransmitters, serotonin, in the psychological disorder, depression, and dopamine, in the psychological disorder, schizophrenia. With evidence from various studies relating to the effectiveness of drug treatments in both disorders, this trial will demonstrate treatments for psychological disorders and that medications are only effective in less than 60% of people with these disorders, as therapy or another form of treatment. also important and necessary for the disorder to be long-lasting. This is because there are underlying factors that need to be addressed and the use of medications only treats the surface. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The psychological disorder, schizophrenia, is the result of overactivity of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in systemic pathways. Dopamine pathways are specialized and can influence different types of behavior or thinking. High levels of dopamine in certain parts of the brain can cause psychotic symptoms or paranoid thoughts, symptoms described as schizophrenia. There are two types of symptoms to recognize schizophrenia; positive and negative. Positive symptoms consisted of delusions and hallucinations (auditory and visual), described as engaging behavior. While negative symptoms were catatonic behavior or flat/inappropriate performance, this was described as a lack of activities. However, diagnosing schizophrenia is difficult because no symptoms are specific to the illness and no two patients have the same symptoms in common. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a manual used by clinicians to diagnose mental health disorders, a person must display these behaviors for at least one week and have a continuous sign of disturbance for six months, before they are characterized as suffering from schizophrenia. Studies suggest that dopamine systems in the mesolimbic pathway may be linked to positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Underactivity of the mesocortical pathway is believed to be linked to negative symptoms of schizophrenia, while overactivity of the mesolimbic pathway is believed to mediate positive symptoms (Meltzer and Stahl, 1976). There is no concrete evidence as to the cause of schizophrenia, with evidence suggesting that there may be abnormalities in the brain in schizophrenics, showing changes in gray matter density in the frontal and temporal lobes ( Seeman et al, 2005). This suggests that there are multiple causes of schizophrenia, including genetic mutation and anatomical damage. In 1976, Johnstone et al. found that schizophrenic brains had an enlarged ventricle-to-brain ratio compared to non-schizophrenic brains and may be linked to cognitive impairments. However, these size differences are thought to be much smaller than previously thought and are not significant for the diagnosis of cerebral schizophrenia (Van Horn and McManus, 1992). There are different treatments for schizophrenia, the most common being drug treatment. Previously, schizophrenia patients underwent psychosurgery, a rare procedure involving a frontal lobotomy. The effectiveness was questionable and there was a lack of consent. However, this made patient care easier. Later therapycognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was introduced. Sarin et al (2011) performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and found that changes were possible with CBT over months with longer treatment, at least around 20 sessions. This suggests that CBT is effective in reducing schizophrenic symptoms. In 1952, drugs called antagonists were introduced to treat schizophrenia, with a common drug being called chlorpromazine. It worked by combing the dopamine receptors and blocking them. This prevented the dopamine receptors from absorbing too much of the neurotransmitter and limited the amount entering the neighboring neuron, which would create a normal flow of activity. This is said to be effective in reducing positive symptoms. However, this would later generate Parkinson's-like symptoms in the patient. Further experiments challenged the idea that blocking receptors with drugs was not effective. Studies show that patients' receptors were blocked by more than 90% by antipsychotic medications, but their psychosis showed virtually no change. It was dominant in patients who had had their symptoms for ten to thirty years. However, 90-95% of first-episode patients responded to medications. Harding et al (1987) reviewed 5 long-term studies involving patients treated between 22 and 37 years of age. The sample size was 118. They saw improvement in patients suffering from the disease, thanks to the ability to control their symptoms. Between half and a third of them improved or recovered. Kissling (1992) conducted a similar study looking at 7 studies of patients on drug treatment and in remission between 6 months and 5 years. The results suggest that there is a relapse rate of between 53% and 100%, with an average of 73%. Which suggests that antipsychotic medications are not as effective as they should be. By following patients aged 6 months to 2 years, they later discovered that ¼ of the patients did not relapse once treatment was stopped. Other studies suggest that there is at least a 20% relapse rate in schizophrenia (Weiden & Olfson, 1995). Which suggests that the effectiveness of drug treatment in eliminating or reducing these symptoms is very low. The neurotransmitter serotonin is primarily associated with the psychological disorder depression, although it plays a key role in many bodily functions. This can happen when there is not enough serotonin released in the brain. The neurotransmitter is created through a biochemical conversion process, which begins with the building block, tryptophan (Richard et al, 2009). The cells then use tryptophan hydroxylase, a chemical reactor that creates serotonin, when combined with tryptophan. Depression is said to occur when there is a reuptake process in the brain, where neurotransmitters are naturally reabsorbed into nerve cells after being released to send messages. Reuptake inhibitors, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are antidepressants, prevent this from happening. Instead of being reabsorbed, the neurotransmitter temporarily remains in the synaptic cleft. They are indirect agonists because they make more neurotransmitters available. Symptoms related to unipolar depression include loss of enjoyment in things, problems sleeping, changes in appetite, or loss of energy. Five symptoms are required for at least two weeks before a diagnosis is possible. It is still unclear whether the decrease in levels.