Preface

Neurological and mental disorders affect an extensive network of neurons spread throughout the brain and body. An intact neuronal system is essential for synaptic interactions and for the normal functioning of the brain.

Mental disorders can result from disruption of neuronal circuitry, damage to the neuronal and non-neuronal cells, altered circuitry in the different regions of the brain and any changes in the permeability of the blood brain barrier. Early identification of these impairments through investigative means could help to improve the outcome for many brain and behaviour disease states.

This book rightly entitled "Neurological and Mental Disorders" effectively describes the basic biochemical concepts of the neurological circuitry and their role in the mental state of a person. The role of the BDNF protein in anxiety disorders is very well described in the first chapter.

The following chapters describe how different therapeutic management techniques can stabilize diseases such as personality disorders and feeding and eating disorders. Later in this segment, the role of neurofeedback training was analysed in maintaining cognitive reserve in aging adults.

The medical section of the book begins with describing the neuroprotective role of non-allopathic medicine curcumin and supplement vitamin D3 in the animal model of Alzheimer's disease, followed by revealing the aetiology and characteristics of ADHD and the effect of stimulants in alleviating its symptoms. The next chapter in this section explains the demographic traits, symptoms and outcomes of "falls from height" patients, followed by another interesting chapter on using computational modelling and machine learning for the detection of depressive disorders. Similarly, art-based practices and psychological interventions were clearly shown to be effective in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.

The social aspects section commences with a remarkably interesting chapter illustrating the effect of intergenerational and psychosocial traumas on the degree of amnesia in indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. In another chapter, the author thoroughly describes the changes in the pattern of mass suicide with the advent of computers and social media. Last but not the least, the readers will be captivated by how transient global amnesia is associated with hippocampal perturbation and memory loss paradigm.

I hope those who read this book gain a better understanding of the various facets of neurocircuitry and behavioural patterns under the influence of social aspects around the globe.

I would like to thank my co-editor Dr Kamil Hakan Dogan (Forensic Medicine Specialist at Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey) for his contribution towards compiling this book, editing the chapters and writing the preface.

**II**

**Chapter 7 103**

**Chapter 8 117**

**Chapter 9 137**

Social Aspects **155**

**Chapter 10 157**

**Chapter 11 177**

**Chapter 12 189**

Suicide Attempts from Height and Injury Patterns:

*Konstantinos Kateros, Grigorios Leon, George Machairas* 

*by Stamatios A. Papadakis, Dimitrios Pallis, Spyridon Galanakos,* 

Advances in Emotion Recognition: Link to Depressive Disorder *by Xiaotong Cheng, Xiaoxia Wang, Tante Ouyang and Zhengzhi Feng*

Reimagining Attachment Traumas: Perspectives on Using Image-Making in Psychoeducation for People with Borderline

*by Dominik Havsteen-Franklin, Maria Patsou, Greta Somaini* 

Psychosocial Autopsy of Mass Suicides: Changing Patterns in

Neurocognitive Perspective of Transient Global Amnesia

An Analysis of 64 Cases

*and George Sapkas*

Personality Disorder

**Section 3**

*by Alison Husain*

Contemporary Times

*by Eugenia Marin-Garcia*

*and Jorge Camarena Altamirano*

Amnesia among Indigenous Australians

*by Nishi Misra, Harshita Jha and Komal Tiwari*

Production of this book would not have been possible without the contribution from the experts in the field and the continuous hard work of Ms Dolores Kuzelj, Author Service Manager from IntechOpen Publication.

In the end I would like to emphasise that this book is meant for a broad range of readers including undergraduates, graduates, researchers, teachers, medical professionals and specialists such as neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, forensic pathologists and social scientists.

#### **Kaneez Fatima Shad**

Professor, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, Centre for Health Technologies, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

#### **Kamil Hakan Dogan**

Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey

**1**

Section 1

Behavioral Aspects
