There is an article in The New York Review of Books, The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?, where the author stated that, “the brain contains billions of nerve cells, called neurons, arrayed in immensely complicated networks and communicating with one another constantly. The typical neuron has multiple filamentous extensions, one called an axon and the others called dendrites, through which it sends and receives signals from other neurons. For one neuron to communicate with another, however, the signal must be transmitted across the tiny space separating them, called a synapse. To accomplish that, the axon of the sending neuron releases a chemical, called a neurotransmitter, into the synapse.”
“The neurotransmitter crosses the synapse and attaches to receptors on the second neuron, often a dendrite, thereby activating or inhibiting the receiving cell. Axons have multiple terminals, so each neuron has multiple synapses. Afterward, the neurotransmitter is either reabsorbed by the first neuron or metabolized by enzymes so that the status quo ante is restored. There are exceptions and variations to this story, but that is the usual way neurons communicate with one another.”
Nerve cells communicate. The next cell is activated or inhibited. Synapses are connective gaps between neurons. Yet, the brain is not understood, hindering the pathology of mental illnesses.
How does the brain work? What are the most important factors in the brain that make it an organ of intense complexity, differentiating it from others? Impulses: electrical and chemical.
There is no function of the brain that is not centralized by impulses. This means that while neurons and their synapses are said to be involved, neurons and synapses aren’t forwards, quarterbacks or shooting guards.
It is postulated here that electrical and chemical impulses function in sets or loops. Or, clusters of neurons for functions within a circuit have all their impulses in loops or sets. Simply, within [ say ] the hypothalamus, there are different clumps of neurons for different functions, each clump has loops of impulses. It is within these loops that functions are constructed and information is organized. Loops drive neurons, not the other way around.
Every loop [ of impulses ] has a dimension, sometimes determined by the convolution of the structure or the detours of axon terminals or dendrites. Loops in the cerebral cortex are shaped differently because of its sprawling corrugation. Dimensions of loops [ of impulses ] can be described similarly to figures or alphabets, say M, N, O, 2 and so forth.
Electrical and chemical impulses interact within these loops. Interactions are bifurcated between electrical and chemical partitions for collective loop actions. What is called firing is an ongoing interaction, said to be electrical. There are features of electrical and chemical impulses within these loops.
The features decide what they do and how. The specific feature that determines functions is postulated to be stairs or drifts. This is where chemical impulses are rationed or filled, or where they can be said to be in formation. This means that chemical impulses are provisioned at varying percentages, determining the specificity of a function or an experience. Stairs or drifts of chemical impulses are based at synaptic clefts, with vesicles and receptors.
For example, a smell can be decided by the combination, 1425, each figure is [ say ] a chemical impulse from a synapse, but the collection with others in that loop results in the specific smell, differentiating from other smells and from taste and so forth. It also decides the intensity or the degree of that smell.
When pre-synaptic neurons reuptake chemical impulses, it means that what is necessary has already passed onto the electrical impulses. 1425 is the formation for which information, regulation, emotion or others is held and must match or closely, to be, in instances. It is provided by drifts of chemical impulses, with rations that determine those combinations. When they tally in the loop, they can make the information available or the emotion and so forth.
Post-availability, with the right ration that holds taste, or smell, regulation or an emotion, there are shares, which is what makes electrical impulses carry on, while the chemical impulses recede by reuptake or breakdown by enzymes.
Simply, the reason for loops of impulses is to have formations, where information is held or where functions are determined. The loops provide the architecture for the formation, where it is not just about individual [ neural ] firing or synapse, but about the collection, 1425, of different rations of chemical impulses, with some more than others, but all harmonized for the conscious and non-conscious states. Then, this is shared with other loops in the array.
It is postulated here that all loops or sets [ of impulses ] are arrayed. This means that they are ordered around each other, where loops can pass on their formation, in part or completely. These arrays or scaffolding of loops also have their role in normal order for individuals, as well as for states like sleep, wakefulness and several other functions. They are connected from the edges of loops or the drifts or stairs of chemical impulses, with a specific drift having the most prominence in the give off. It is within these loops that the sense of self is found. Access is possible to some centers for the sense of self, becoming the provenance for intentionality, free will or control.
In a loop, when electrical impulses strike chemical impulses, what decides if it will be a memory, an emotion, a feeling or for modulation, is the dimension of that loop, for the right combination or formation. After which there is distribution, within the loop — or without, into the array, to determine what is observed as a neuron being activated or inhibited — including with a resting membrane potential. This means that what is called switch ON or OFF for neurons, or activation or inhibition, is determined by what gets shared in segments by features of loops including drift or stairs, pre-/prioritization and sequences.
Electrical impulses have their own stairs or drifts. They are myelin sheaths. It is known that electrical impulses leap from node to node in myelinated axons, in what is called saltatory conduction. It is theorized that this leap allows some to go ahead of others in a set, to interact with chemical impulses, before others follow. This feature is called early-split or go-before, which explains what is described as predictive coding, processing and prediction error.
Some neurons extend axon terminals to different parts of the brain. The terminals make electrical impulses join loops there. For example, there are neurons with axons in the visual cortex that extend to the prefrontal cortex, making it possible for impulses to participate distant loops.
If a meal is seen, which is an initial result of loops in the primary visual cortex, information that it is a meal, or its possible aroma, or some memory of when it was last eaten could be in loops in the DL, FP or VL of the PFC. There are other things about the meal like an emotional experience of it or some locations it was consumed and so forth.
Whatever is remembered about the meal in that moment, like the aroma, where it was last eaten and so forth are loops of impulses. If the loops that structured the vision in the V1 pass to the ones for information about the meal at the PFC, they may go to the one for aroma, or to some emotion for the meal and so forth.
This brings those to mind, while others are kept out. It is by distribution from loops that information becomes available, or that context or understanding is possible. For example, when a vehicle in motion is seen, there is a distribution to loops aside the view or what it is that is made available from other loops, but they are often in pre-prioritization.
Loops and arrays usually adjust their dimensions, defining neuroplasticity. This also defines reassignment where a certain part of the body is lost, but the part of the brain that was responsible is adapted to other functions, even if not totally, as some pre-existing loops may remain, explaining phantom limb. There are also new loops, made from existing ones, or adjustments, where, for example, something is used to note or link with something else to recall easily, explaining concepts and categories.
There are other features of impulses like prioritization, pre-/prioritization, principal spot and sequences that impulses have in loops.
There is just one prioritized loop of impulses in any instance, other loops are pre-prioritized. There are often fast and numerous interchanges, with other pre-prioritized. Though the dimensions of loops are nearly fixed for their formation, they are able to rotate, adjust position or bulge to extents deciding what loops they share to or which one gets prioritized.
A principal spot is a high or low altitude stay within an array set, where one loop has a steep spike or plummet, affecting others, which is why depressive heaviness may lead to an inability to get up or do things, as other loops stretch to send up or below to that loop. It may then result in dragging other loops up or down, affecting their normal [ function ].
Pathology of Mental Disorders
There have been several studies in neuroscience about missing brain areas in some mental disorders, as well as disorganized neurons in the PFC, problems with myelin sheaths and so forth.
They can be summarized as conditions of aberrations in the features and interactions of impulses, within loops and their arrays. There are other factors in mental disorders like genes, glial cells and so forth, but they have to perturb loops of impulses and their arrays to disrupt social and occupational functioning.
Loops of impulses can be categorized and their shapes estimated. For example, variations of M — for a range of voices or internally expressive dialogues, or a variation of N— for some vision and so forth. They have their formations, which result in something alphanumeric, say M2536, then arrayed with N3647, or M2536||N3647.
When an individual who is living with schizophrenic psychosis has auditory hallucinations or hearing voices, there are loops that become arrayed directly, because of breaks from others, where distributions should have gone, to qualify what is heard. This means that when an internal monologue is heard, distributions from the originating loop that should go to destinations to indicate that it is not real are not available, making it seem real to the individual.
The severity and command may also grow because the formation in some loops are askew. This means that there may still be shares to some important loops, but since the formation, say for M2536, is now M2 or 56, the function flops. Since the sense of self is within the formation of chemical impulses, and the formation becomes problematic, sense of self in some loops are gone, with loss of control, especially to dismiss certain hallucinatory thoughts. There are also experiences with detachment or dissociation.
There is the principal spot too, which often defines compulsion or obsession, with something, could be anxiety, intrusive thoughts, delusions and so forth. There are also problems with sequences from which a stair distributes to other loops, which can be old or new. Old is useful for protocols or how things should be. If there is some problem with formation, it could affect sequences, making reactions to some experiences seem new in psychosis, or gaps made for regular protocols.
There may also be too constant prioritization of a few loops, while others are denied, making compulsion or obsession constant.
Catatonia, alogia, avolition, anhedonia, asociality, diminished emotional response or affective flattening, as symptoms, are connected with problems with the loops of impulses, their features and arrays.
Impulses, their loops, features and arrays are theorized here to be the human mind. It is the architecture of mind that can be used to understand and better place mental disorders.
When psychiatric drugs work, like antidepressants in major depressive disorders, where their action inhibits serotonin reuptake, the percentage of serotonin in some loops jumps, which then affects formations in loops where serotonin might be involved, even in small rations. They work in major depressive disorder because of how they reorganize some loops or arrays, which may then remove the key depressive loops from the principal spot.
The side effects of antipsychotics and others can be said to be due to changes mostly to formations within loops, where they could affect those for regulations, emotions, or cause other kinds of dysfunctions.
Range of therapies sometimes work for mental health because the incoming loops, from integration at the thalamus and olfactory bulb, are targeted to distribute to some other loops in the cerebral cortex that may be useful against existing situations, especially episodic.
Collections of impulses can be used to measure all mental illnesses, becoming the first clear objective criteria, in psychiatry.
