Carlsson Et Al (1999) Contemporary Study For Clinical

Front 1

What did Carlsson aim to investigate?

Back 1

1. Carlsson aimed to present the existing dopamine hypothesis as an explanation of schizophrenia and to explore the role of glutamate as an explanation of schizophrenia.
   
2. There was also an underlying aim to lead to suggestions for drug therapy as a treatment.
   

Front 2

What was the procedure?

Back 2

1. Carlsson conducted a review of 33 studies (14 he researched) surrounding biological causes of schizophrenia.
   
2. He reviewed research investigating levels of neurotransmitters in those with schizophrenia, drugs that induce psychosis and the effectiveness of drugs that treat the disorder.
   

Front 3

What research methods did the studies use?

Back 3

He referred to a lot of studies that use brain scanning methods such as PET and SPECT scans. Several other studies used animals. Carlsson reviewed secondary data and didn't collect any primary data.

Front 4

What were the main findings?

Back 4

Glutamate seems to regulate the behaviour of dopamine, acting as either an accelerator or a brake. Miller and Abercrombie found that if glutamate activity is reduced, dopamine release is increased.

Front 5

What areas of the brain correlate with positive and negative symptoms?

Back 5

Low levels of glutamate in the cerebral cortex correlate with negative symptoms and low levels in the striatum correlate with positive symptoms.

Front 6

Where did Carlsson state future research should be aimed at?

Back 6

Future research should focus on new drugs that lower dopamine levels, as well as ones to raise glutamate levels.

Front 7

What did Carlsson conclude?

Back 7

1. Carlsson concluded that there are different types of schizophrenia that could have different biological explanations. He concluded that there may be a particular population of individuals with schizophrenia with low glutamate levels.
   
2. Future research should focus on developing drugs that avoid side-effects.
   

Front 8

How is the study generalisable?

Back 8

Several of the studies used were animal experiments, which show ambiguous results and lack generalisability to humans.

The research may be time-locked and no longer generalisable to today's society as scientific knowledge has advanced since 1999

Front 9

How is the study reliable?

Back 9

Sendt et al recently published a review confirming Carlsson's claims that glutamate is involved in schizophrenia, highlighting his results to be consistent.

All of the data was from laboratory experiments, however, Carlsson cannot be sure of the extent to which the researchers used standardised procedures.

Front 10

How can the review be applied to society?

Back 10

Carlsson concluded that new drugs should be researched, targeting dopamine, glutamate and other neurotransmitters. This means individuals with schizophrenia have been able to benefit from the production of new drugs targeting these neurotransmitters.

Front 11

How is the review valid?

Back 11

1. Carlsson reviewed data from 33 studies, meaning he could cross-check his findings using triangulation, leading to the high validity of conclusions.
   
2. Carlsson cannot be sure the researchers controlled all extraneous variables, which would have impacted the DV, lowering internal validity.
   

Front 12

Ethics

Back 12

No ethical issues as he didn't conduct any primary data, so he didn't induce any harm through drug trials or animal experiments, however, the data he reviewed may have harmed animals or participants in drug trials.