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Brain Anatomy

Part 1, "Brain Anatomy," introduces anatomy and discusses neurological conditions associated with specific structures.

Brain Structure and Neurons

Gray matter, white matter, glial cells
Brain cortex and brain nuclei
Neurons, neurochemicals, and neurocircuits
Neurons, projections, and pathways

DNA, the Brain, and Human Behavior

Genetics, an introduction

Human Brain Development

Embryology, an introduction
Neural tube brain organization
Neurocircuit integration

Brain Anatomy Diagram

Forebrain or prosencephalon
Midbrain or mesencephalon
Hindbrain or rhombencephalon

Broca's Limbic Lobe, Papez's Circuit, and MacLean's Limbic System

Pierre Paul Broca names the limbic lobe
C. Judson Herrick differentiates the lateral and medial parts of the cortex
The "nose brain" or rhinencephalon
James W. Papez's proposed mechanism of emotion
Paul D. MacLean's defines a limbic system

Brain Evolution—The Triune Brain Theory

Protoreptilian Brain
Paleomammalian Brain
Neomammalian Brain

Brain Anatomy—Early Structures and Systems

Brain stem structures and the reticular formation
Pattern generation in the brain
ANS—the autonomic nervous system
The cerebellum and equilibrium

Subcortical Brain Structures, Stress, Emotions, and Mental Illness

Our animal brain
The amygdala, stress, OCD, and PTSD
Kindling and stress—how experience affects the brain
The hippocampus, memory, and depression
The hippocampus, epigenetics, and PTSD
Epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the amygdala, and the hippocampus
Hypergraphia, religiosity, and anatomic loci
The thalamus and OCD
The hypothalamus and seeking behavior
Hypothalamus, appetite, attachment, and anorexia
The corpus striata (basal ganglia) complex

The Brain's Two Hemispheres

Brain lateralization
Left brain or right brain?
The brain and consciousness

The Brain's Cerebral Cortex (Neocortex)

The brain's neocortex
The anterior cingulate cortex–emotion, attention, and working memory
The brain's five lobes
The brain's frontal lobes
The orbital-frontal cortex

The brain's language areas, pragmatics, hemineglect, anosognosia, and prosody—the importance of both left and right hemisphere function

Using Brodmann's areas to analyze the human brain's neocortex
The brain's motor and somatosensory cortical maps
The brain's visual retinotopic cortical maps

Neurotransmitters and Emotional Systems

Part 2, "Neurotransmitters and Emotional Systems," discusses innate mechanisms prompting behavior and how they contribute to neurological illnesses.

Brain Neurotransmitters—an Introduction

Monoamines and catecholamines
Serotonin action, synthesis, and pathways
Dopamine action, synthesis, and pathways
Norepinephrine action, synthesis, and pathways
Epinephrine action, synthesis, and pathways

Brain Neurotransmitters and Illness

Depression, mania, and anxiety
Parkinson's Disease and dopamine
Encephalitis, OCD symptoms, and Parkinsonism
Tardive Dyskinesia

Emotions are Hard-Wired in the Brain:
Introduction to Ancestral Brain Systems

Innate emotional systems neurocircuitry
Jaak Panksepp, an acknowledgement

Survival —The SEEKING-VIGILANCE Construct

Vigilance and anxiety
Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine
Obstacles to survival increase brain size

The Brain's SEEKING System

The SEEKING System, obsessions, and compulsions
The SEEKING System and pattern generation
OCD, depression, addictive drugs, incentive salience, and metabolic memory

Attention, Learning, and Memory: The VIGILANCE System

Are we talking about consciousness?
Consciousness, fugues, and OCD
Vigilance, the sleep-wake cycle, PGO spikes, and schizophrenia
Dopamine and dreaming in REM sleep
Hypervigilance, depression, obsessions, and compulsions
Stress, attention, learning, memory, and ADHD

Rage: and Innate Brain System

Rage, predatory, and other aggressions defined
The brain's RAGE neurocircuitry

Fear: an Innate Brain system

The brain's FEAR neurocircuitry
The polyvagal theory, autism, and PTSD
Fear processing, PTSD, and kindling
Fear, autism, splitting, and savantry

PANIC/LOSS: an Innate Brain System

The brain's PANIC/LOSS system and attachment
The brain's PANIC/LOSS neurocircuitry
Depression and PANIC/LOSS neurocircuitry

PLAY: an Innate Brain System

The brain's PLAY neurocircuitry
Laughter and the brain
ADHD and PLAY neurocircuitry
Autism, opioids, and PLAY neurocircuitry

The MATING System, the Brain, and Gender Determination

Sex differences in brain anatomy
Gender determinants—the role of testosterone
The effects of maternal stress on gender
The role of genetics and timing in determining gender
Books about gender

CARE: an Innate Brain System Important to Motherhood

Maternal Care, Hormones, and Brain Anatomy
Access to sex, male oxytocin, and reduced aggression

Innate Behavior, Grooming, OCD, and Tourette Syndrome

Part 3, "Innate Behavior, Grooming, OCD and Tourette Syndrome" focuses on the etiology, neurocircuitry, and treatment of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders including Tourette syndrome and grooming compulsions such as dermatillomania and trichotillomania.

Depression, Obsessions, and
Compulsions: Concepts in Ethology
and Attachment Theory

Stress and isolation are major causes of depression
The mother-child bond, contact comfort, and depression
The effects of isolation on parenting skills and propensity for child abuse
Hospitalism and the reign of the behaviorists
Ethology and attachment theory
Chronic stress and frustration related to attachment—implications for depression and OCD
Fixed-action patterns and OCD
Displacement, stereotypies, frustration, and perseveration—understanding ADHD, OCD, PTSD, and Tourette syndrome
Perseveration (ADHD) or compulsion (OCD)?
The role of norepinephrine and dopamine in ADHD and OCD
Is hoarding related to ADHD?

Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Trichotillomania, and Skin Picking

When primates groom, they form attachments
Grooming, exaptation, and human compulsions
Grooming, patterns, antipsychotics, and mice
Barber mice and trichotillomania
Body dysmorphic disorder and skin picking

OCD and Tourette Syndrome: Causes and Symptoms

Obsessions and compulsions—symptoms and triggers
Tourette syndrome symptoms
Role of autoimmune reactions in OCD and Tourette syndrome
OCD risk factors
OCD and the corpus striata complex (basal ganglia)

OCD, Dopamine, and the Nucleus Accumbens

The brain's development of emotive and motor functions
The globus pallidus and nucleus accumbens
The brain's emotive-motivational-motor interchange
Is the nucleus accumbens an actuator?
The brain's cortical-subcortical circuits
Autonomous processing in the brain
Dopamine-driven bioprograms in the brain
Explaining obsessions and compulsions

OCD Treatments Including Antipsychotic Medications

Dopamine and uncertainty
Does increased serotonin help reduce dopamine levels?
Why have so few studies addressed the use of typical antipsychotics in treating obsessions and compulsions?
The importance of understanding whether a drug is an agonist or an antagonist for a given neurotransmitter:
Antipsychotics—risks increase with dosage
Medication caution—thioridazine
Medication caution—atypical antipsychotics
Why typical may be better than atypical antipsychotics:
Typical antipsychotics considered
Atypical antipsychotics considered
Antipsychotics and eating disorders
Capsulotomy as an OCD treatment
Deep-brain stimulation as an OCD treatment

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