The Other Side of Normal is a book written by Dr. Jordan Smoller, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. This post has some notes from the book featuring the results of studies cited in the book.
• Research shows that more than half of all Americans meet the criteria for a psychiatric disorder at some point in their lives.
• An analysis found that between 1994 and 2003 the rate of pediatric bipolar disorder increased fortyfold.
• A study found that two weeks and three months after the birth, more than 70 percent of parents were preoccupied with the safety of their babies, and 25 to 40 percent of parents had thoughts about doing harm to the baby.
• A study found that the brains of new parents showed activation in fear centers that correlated with OCD-like symptoms upon hearing recordings of their infant’s cries.
• Research shows that brain regions associated with disgust activate in individuals with OCD and contamination fears when shown pictures of dirty objects.
• A neuroimaging study showed that the anterior insula was activated when viewing images of other people expressing disgust.
• A longitudinal study showed that children who had a high reactive temperament were more likely to be socially avoidant in adolescence and adulthood.
• A neuroimaging study found that adults who had been inhibited as infants had a much stronger amygdala response to pictures of unfamiliar faces.
• A longitudinal study showed that people with high reactive temperaments in infancy had thicker brain tissue in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex, while people with low reactive temperaments in infancy had thicker brain tissue in the left orbitofrontal cortex.
• Brain imaging studies show that people with high levels of social phobia have exaggerated responses in the amygdala or medial prefrontal cortex.
• A study involving nearly 1,000 children into adulthood found that children who were undercontrolled at age three were more likely to engage in dangerous behaviors as adults.
• Research shows that inhibited children are more likely to be bullied.
• A personality survey of more than 600,000 Americans showed that neuroticism levels were high on the East Coast and extraversion levels were high in the Midwest. Agreeableness levels were high in the Midwest and the South.
• Twin studies show that the heritability of temperamental and personality traits is 40 to 60 percent.
• Multiple studies, including neuroimaging studies, show that a variation in the SLC6A4 gene is linked to fearfulness.
• A study found that children with specific variants of the RGS2 gene were three times more likely to be shy.
• A neuroimaging study showed that adults carrying certain variants of the RGS2 gene had a stronger response in the amygdala and insula.
• Studies have found that SSRIs reduce activity in brain circuits that have been linked to anxiety and neuroticism.
• A study found that abused children were able to identify an angry face much sooner than other children.
• A study found that orphaned children who remained institutionalized by age four and a half were nearly three times more likely to have depression or anxiety disorders than children who were adopted.
• A study found that infants whose mothers were depressed during the third trimester had increased DNA methylation of the NR3C1 gene.
• A study found increased methylation in the NR3C1 gene in brain tissue of suicide victims with a history of abuse.
• A study of twins found that face recognition ability is almost entirely due to genetic influences.
• A study found that the temporoparietal junction is engaged when people think about another person’s mind.
• A study of children in South Korea found that more than 1 in 40 have an autism spectrum disorder.
• Research shows that the risk of autism and schizophrenia is higher in children born to older parents.
• A study of people with Asperger’s syndrome found that they had less activity in the temporoparietal junction.
• Research shows that relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorders have more autistic-like traits.
• A face-mapping study found that the facial expression of disgust is the inverse of the facial expression of fear.
• A fMRI study found that a certain network of brain areas activates when people observe facial expressions or watch a loved one experience pain.
• A study showed that patients with damage to the inferior frontal gyrus had severe deficits in emotional empathy.
• A study showed that patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex performed poorly on false belief tasks.
• Neuroimaging research shows that individuals with psychopathy have small and underactive amygdalae.
• Research on criminal psychopaths show that they have emotion recognition deficits similar to patients with brain damage to the orbitofrontal cortex.
• Twin studies show that genetic variations account for nearly two-thirds of individual differences in psychopathy.
• A study found that up to 30 percent of people in the U.K. exhibited some psychopathic traits, though less than 2 percent reached the clinical threshold for psychopathy.
• 30 to 60 percent of oncologists experience emotional exhaustion and burnout.
• Brain imaging studies of women show that smiling babies and cute babies activate the brain’s reward system.
• A study found that men with a variant of the AVPR1A gene were more likely to be unmarried or have major marital problems.
• An experiment found that couples who inhaled oxytocin had more positive interactions and lower cortisol levels.
• A neuroimaging study showed that romantic love and maternal love both activated brain regions rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors and brain regions involved in reward processing.
• Research shows that people with borderline personality disorder have improvement rates of up to 85 percent by ten years after therapy.
• Twin studies show that genetic variations account for 35 to 70 percent of the risk of developing borderline personality disorder.
• Brain imaging research shows that people with borderline personality disorder have overactive amygdala and limbic region when viewing emotional faces.
• A study found that people with borderline personality disorder were more accurate at reading the mental states of people in photographs.
• Research shows that up to 90 percent of people with borderline personality disorder have childhood histories of abuse and neglect.
• Studies have found that inhaling oxytocin improves the ability of people with autistic spectrum disorders to recognize emotional cues.
• Research shows that patients with amygdala damage view others as more trustworthy and approachable.
• Research has found that mothers and aunts of gay men have more children than those of straight men.
• A study of more than 7,500 twins found that the heritability of same-sex sexual behavior was 34 to 39 percent in males and 18 to 19 percent in females.
• Research has found that looking at beautiful faces engages brain reward circuitry in the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex.
• A fMRI study found that the brain reward centers of heterosexual women and gay men were activated more by attractive male faces, while brain reward regions of lesbian women and heterosexual men were activated more by attractive female faces.
• A study of 3,369 older women found that those who had recently experienced a panic attack were twice as likely to die over the following five years.
• Neuroimaging studies show that people with anxiety disorders have abnormalities in the amygdala, insula, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus.
• Neuroimaging studies have found abnormalities in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in people with PTSD.
• Twin studies have shown that the heritability of anxiety disorders ranges from 25 percent to 45 percent.
• A study found that people with a variant in the BDNF gene had reduced activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and increased activity in the amygdala.
• A twin study of Vietnam veterans found that the heritability of experiencing combat-related trauma was 35 to 47 percent.
• A study found that being a victim of assault had a heritability of 20 percent.
• A study showed that administering propranolol immediately after a traumatic event led to fewer stress responses when recalling the event three months later.
• Multiple studies show that d-cycloserine can help in treating multiple anxiety disorders.
