Psychopharmacology - Research Psychology Essay Paper

Pharmacology of Autism
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Pharmacology of Autism
Autism is defined as a developmental and neurobiological disorder that results in lifetime disability and has these core clinical features that include impairment in social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and repetitive as well as stereotyped patterns of behavior and activities. Autism is also associated with co-existing neuropsychiatric disorders that include seizure disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, anxiety as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Autism is often associated with different problematic behaviors that include self-injurious behaviors (SIB) alongside aggression that is harmful to patients and those around them. In this case, such physical disorder interrupts the normal functioning of the brain that eventually leads to drastic and significant behavior changes (Di Martino et al., 2014).
Etiology of the disorder
The etiology of autism spectrum disorder is widely debated over several years. According to research over the decades, there are suggestions that autism may be a result of genetic or environmental factors. Kern et al (2015), proposes that autism may be caused by a combination of the three factors that include; genetic factors, environmental factors as well as neurological development. The neurological underpinning that associated with autism involves the greater brain volume. In this case, the overgrowth of the early brain alongside related dysfunction provides the strongest evidence within the prefrontal cortex. Some of the overgrowth is identified within the regional gray and white matter that includes the temporary cortex as well as the amygdala. There are specific cognitive deficits that focus on disrupting effective communication as well as developing and maintaining social relationships. Such features are underpinned by the aspect of abnormal inhibitory control of the various motor as well as general cognitive skills alongside the typical face processing. However, there is also a partial explanation of the typical connectivity existing between the frontal lobe as well as the striatum that includes the basal ganglia and at the same time between the temporal cortex and amygdala. The effects are also associated with the regions that involve in social processing such as the fusiform gyrus, insula, and the medial prefrontal cortex. The existing impairments in the brain areas that sub-serves inhibitory control, emotions as well as communication and results into a range of related deficits within interpersonal interaction that entails remembering of problems as well as people identification, lack of sense to perceive social cues and the misunderstanding of non-verbal cues.
The data from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) shows that 90% of autistic children below the age of five portray a significantly larger brain volume as compared to neuro-typical controls (Di Martino et al., 2014). In this case, the increased brain volume correlates to the accelerated head size that is bigger in circumference. Young children with autism reveal excessive neurons within the prefrontal cortex. These children at the same time exhibit more cortical as well as cerebellar white matter as compared to contro...