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Manic depression illness is a psychiatric
disorder characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression.
Dr. Jack Pettigrew a neuroscientist at the University of Queensland
in Brisbane, Australia, and Dr. Fredrick Schiffer a psychiatrist at
Harvard Medical School Questions raised by these theories were, "Do people have one overarching mind that spans the two hemispheres? or "Are they born with two separate minds--one on the left and one on the right--which operate so well together that the person doesn't recognize that there are two?"These questions first raised twenty years ago by the scientific community, became less popular as they were oversold and people got interested in other things. Then, the two halves of the brain were associated with different functions: the left brain was rational and analytical while the right one was m ore creative and emotional. Dr. Marcel Kingsborne, a cognitive scientist at the New School for Social Research in New York Catty believes these assumptions that make the left brain a whiz at legal briefs and the right brain an expert poet, carried things to far. "The new theories are intriguing, although they have a long way to go before they can be accepted as valid." Dr. Joseph Bogen, a neurosurgeon at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had this to say, "The subjective sense of having just one mind is overwhelming and unmistakable. But if the thick band of fibers connecting the two hemispheres is severed , humans to end up with two separate minds that show two different abilities" An experiment done with split brain patients showed that when the right barb is shown a photography the talkative left brain will say that it does not see anything and cannot comment. The left hand which is connected to the right brain can raise a thumb up or down in response to the question, "Do you like the picture?" These kinds of experiments led to the vastly opposing opinions of neuroscientists. After numerous experiments with split brain patients and normal subjects, scientists still disagree. One fact that did come out of these experiments that has to be considered when forming opinions is that the abilities and functions attributed to the left brain and right brain are based on averages. "Each individual brain is a complex system that evolves in response to a unique environment, many brain functions do not end up in the same place. The new ideas that say certain abilities are restricted to a particular hemisphere do not resolve the dispute between the one brain, two brain theory. They do add insight and suggest new ways to treat mental patients" said Dr. Bogen "People with manic depression have a 'sticky switch' somewhere deep in their brains" said Dr. Pettigrew of the University of Queens land. If you tilt a person's head thirty degrees to the side and put ice water in one ear, the opposite hemisphere will become activated. The left brain is unstuck when cold water is placed in the right ear, and the right brain is unstuck when water is placed in the left ear. "This strange observation was made by Italian scientists some years ago. It is traditionally used as a neurological test, to help us understand space sickness," Dr. Pettigrew said. It is not known how ice water unsticks the hemisphere. "It seems to activate orientation pathways in one ear (which tell people they are in space), and these pathways are connected to mid and higher brain regions in the opposite side of the head," When normal people perform mental tasks their hemispheres take turns allowing them to function. Most people switch every two or three seconds manic depressives switch every twenty or thirty seconds. One of the hemispheres in people with manic depression becomes locked in a dominant position. This causes bouts of excessive physical activity, rapidly changing ideas and violent abnormal behavior. These are the signs and symptoms of mania and when the other hemisphere is dominant,inability to concentrate, feelings of extreme sadness, dejection and hopelessness; these are signs and symptoms of depression. Dr. Schiffer's theory proposes that one hemisphere is more immature than the other, and that this imbalance creates different mental disorders. To combat this, Dr. Schiffer designed two kind of special goggles that allow people to "talk" to their immature hemisphere and eliminate the imbalance. One only allows vision in the left visual field. The goggles are used in therapy sessions to guide patients into recognizing their two minds. Once this is done, they can help the mature side take over the immature side.
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proposed two new theories pertaining to this disorder last November
in Los Angeles at a meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.