The Psychology of "awakenings"

The Psychology of "Awakenings"

The film awakenings is about a dream of a neurologist who gave "life" to his post-encephalitis patients who were paralyzed by Parkinson's disease for several years. He began treating them with the miracle drug L-dopa. The awakenings showed him a window into the passage of time that a lot of patients could not have admitted to losing. The difference between the benefits and adverse side effects was a difficult area between doctor-patient relationships no matter how evident they were. The victims of encephalitis lethargic that broke out in the twenties were progressively reduced to a vegative- Parkinsonian state in the hospital for the chronically ill. Dr. Sayer uses one of his patients to test the new drug and revives him and then uses it on other patients.

The first psychological principle presented in the movie is that the patients are incorrectly diagnoses with schizophrenia and hysterics. "Schizophrenia is a life-long mental illness that affects every aspect of human functioning" (MindDisorders). A person with schizophrenia usually struggle with interpersonal relationships. "The catatonic form of schizophrenia is very rare today in North America and Europe" according to Mind Disorders," It is categorized by severe disturbances in motor behavior." Patients that experience cationic schizophrenia often remain in the same position for hours to weeks to even longer. They appear very uncomfortable; they may stand on one leg for an extended period of time. If someone was to move their limb and change their position they may remain in that position for an extended period of time. This is considered waxy flexibility. The cause of schizophrenia is unknown. Research has pointed to abnormalities in structure and function in the limbic system , frontal cortex, and the basal ganglia.

The limbic system is one of the areas that abnormalities have been found. It is located between the brain's older parts and the cerebral hemisphere (Myers 62). The limbic system contains the hippocampus which process memory and the amygdale which influences aggression and fear (Myers 62). Research has also pointed to abnormalities in the frontal cortex that is involved with speaking, muscle movements and in making plans and judgments (Myers 67).

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The third psychological principle in the movie Awakenings is the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dr. Sayer uses L-Dopa, a dopamine, to "awaken" his patients but as time goes by the drug stops working. Eventually the body builds up a tolerance for the drug and stops responding to it causing the patients to go back into a comatose state. According to Psychology the Ninth Edition in Modules, "Tolerance is the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effects". As the