Psychological causes

In order to establish the psychological causes of errors, data from accidents or near misses which are relevant to the human error tendencies discussed in Chapter 2 should be collected. These include information on the following ... 

Shapiro, Bruce. The Guns of Littleton. The Nation, vol. 268, May 17, 1999, p. 4. Insists that whatever the complex social and psychological causes that alienated Littleton, Colorado, shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, what adds a new dimension to the threat is today s ready availability of powerful firearms. Gun makers have flooded the market, with many sales targeted to young people. 

The ideal animal model for any human chnical condition must fulfill three criteria (McKinney and Bunney 1969) (1) pharmacological treatments known to be effective in patients should induce comparable effects in the animal model (predictive validity) (2) the responses or symptoms observed in patients should be the same in the animal model (face validity) (3) the imderlying rationale should be the same in both humans and animal models (construct validity). In other words, the ideal animal model for anxiety has to respond to treatment with anxiolytics such as benzodiazepines with reduced anxiety it has to display defense behavior when confronted with a threatening stimulus the mechanisms underlying anxiety as well as the psychological causes must be identical. 

Prevalent theories in the early 20th century focused on psychological causes such as traumatic experiences during childhood, but much of the later research has concentrated on genetics as well as on brain abnormaUties. Researchers have found the brains of schizophrenia patients to be slightly different from normal in a number of ways for instance, the fluid-filled cavities in the brain known as ventricles are larger. But no one has foimd what role, if any, these differences play in the onset and time course of the disease. 

Even one dose of PCP can lead to aftershocks, which are similar to the flashbacks experienced by some LSD users. Aftershocks are a re-experiencing of some or all of the effects of PCP intoxication, and can occur weeks, or months after the drug was taken. They have a physical, not psychological, cause. PCP stays in the parts of the body high in fat or oil, like the brain, liver, and fat... 

Unfortunately, the sterility is not remedied, although loss of libido and of secondary sex characteristics can be greatly improved. Impotence is helped if it is hypogonadal, but not if it has a psychological cause (which is often the case). 

Clearly, these models aU have merit in helping to tease out complex factors that can contribute to the development of depression. These psychological causes also very likely influence much of what goes on in the so-called biologic depressions. However, the focus of this section is limited to a discussion of current theories of biological causation—causes that either imderlie or contribute to the development of the biologic-based depressions listed above. 

For the purposes of unsafe operation behavior can be roughly divided into the following two categories, unintentional and intentional violation, and the violation of unintentional causes are divided into behavioral and psychological causes. 

Huhmun, K. L., Moore, T. O., Mougey, E. H., and Meyerhoflf, J. L, 1992, Hormonal responses to fighting in hamsters separation of physical and psychological causes., PAysfo/. Behav. 51 1083-1086. 

Differential diagnosis includes a wide variety of possibilities that have to be considered, such as inhalable and ingestible allergens, irritant or allergic airborne contact dermatitis, psychological causes, menopausal hot flashes, rosacea and seborrheic eczema. 

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