In order to accurately assess Mr.

Klein’s brain, a physician can use neurological

equipment to find problems in the brain. Today, it is common for doctors to selectively
lesion tiny clusters of the brain tissue and study it without harming its surrounding areas.
An EEG can be used to record the brain’s electrical activity. AN EEG or
electroencephalogram is an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that
sweep across the brain’s surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on
the scalp.
Doctors can also use neuroimaging techniques to see inside the brain without
lesioning it. For example, the CT (computed tomography) scan examines the brain by
taking x-ray photographs that can reveal brain damage. Even more dramatic is the PET
(position emission tomography) scan, which depicts the brain activity by showing each
brain area’s consumption of its chemical fuel, the sugar glucose. Active neurons are
glucose hogs. A person is given a temporarily radioactive from of glucose, and the PET
scan locates and measures the radioactivity, thereby detecting where the glucose goes.
By noting these “hot spots,” researchers can see which brain areas are most active as
the person is doing something.
Also, MRI scans can look at the living brain through atoms. In the scan, the brain is
put in a strong magnetic field, which aligns the spinning atoms. Then a brief pulse of
radio waves disorients the atoms momentarily. When the atoms return to their normal
spin, they release detectable signals, which become computer-generated images on their
concentrations. The result is a detailed picture of the brain’s soft tissue. Concerning brain
disorders, MRI scans reveal enlarged fluid-filled brain areas in some patients who have
schizophrenia, a disabling psychological disorder defined as a group of severe disorders
characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and
inappropriate emotions and actions.
If Mr. Klein’s physician decides to label Mr. Klein’s recent symptoms to be caused
by a psychologcial disorder, it will be harder to define. In general, psychological disorders
are harmful dysfunctions in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing,
maladaptive, and unjustifiable. In psychiatry, physicians can turn to the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM-IV. The DSM-IV is widely used system
for classifying psychological disorders. Within the manual are sublevels or neurotic or
psychotic disorders. Neurotic disorders are psychological disorders that are usually
distressing but allows one to think rationally and function socially whereas a psychotic
disorder is a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality,
experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions.
Finally the physician can use psychological therapies to help define Klein’s brain
problems. Psychoanalysis is Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed that patient’s
free associations, resistance, dreams, and transferences – and the therapist’s
interpretations of them – released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to
gain self-insight. Freud’s aims with psychoanalysis were to help patients release energy
between their inner conflicts and help them see their own problems more clearly. Within
the therapy, resistance is the flocks of flow between one’s free associations; resistance
hint to the therapists that on is repressing sensitive information. Interpretations are
suggestions of underlying wishes, feelings, and conflicts that help provide one with
insight. Transference exposes long repressed feelings and gives one a chance to work
through them with an analyst. However, within the psychological therapies, the physician
can also turn to humanistic therapies that include client centered therapy and active
listening; behavior therapies that include counter conditioning. Exposure therapies,
systematic desensitization, and aversive conditioning; and cognitive therapies that are
helpful for patients suffering from depression.