Month: March 2015

Dr. Alan Maneviz was interviewed by CBS2 concerning the Germanwings tragedy. THe segment was broadcasted on March 27, 2015.

According to Dr Manevitz, everything is speculative until we learn more about the specifics of the medical and/or psychiatric disorder he was suffering from.  The major question is why he would decide to take his aggression directed inward and direct it outwards and take so many people with him in this horrible catastrophic way. As facts emerge, we may find character or personality traits that influenced and distorted his thinking to hide his medical issues from his employers, disregard his doctors instructions and fuel his rage to act the way he did.

Auditory hallucinations commonly referred to as “voices” has been a feature of many psychiatric illnesses.  Auditory hallucinations involve perceiving sound without an auditory stimulus. It is presumed to be pathology or a symptom that reflects ‘psychosis’ (a break from reality) caused by substance abuse or other medical/psychiatric illnesses that needs to be treated.  Other research has shown auditory hallucinations are correlated with an increase in activity of the thalamic and strietal subcortical nuclei, hypothalamus and paralimbic regions in the brain.  Dopamine neurotransmitters and metabolism are what is currently implicated and treated by a variety of antipsychotic medications. The treatment and resolution of this symptom has been the way medicine and psychiatry traditionally tracks improvement in patients.
Continue reading ““Voices” in People’s Heads Are Complex -commentary by Alan Manevitz, MD”