Bipolar Disorders... Psych 101...

BIPOLAR DISORDERS

When an individual suffers from a bipolar disorder- once referred to as manic- depressive illness- they experience extreme mood swings between depression and mania. The symptoms of mania include: 

• Feeling irritable
• Being extremely energetic
• Feeling high
• Feeling grandiose and having a very large self-esteem
• Feeling agitated
• Speaking in a fast manner
• Not needing to sleep in doing activities that bring pleasure, even if that means these activities can have harmful consequences
• Being impulsive
• Possibly having paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations

There are several types of bipolar disorder. These include:

Bipolar I Disorder

In bipolar I disorder, manic episodes or manic and depressive episodes last for at least seven days, or an individual will have such a strong manic episode that hospitalization is required. When people suffer from bipolar I disorder, they will generally also have depressive episodes that last for two weeks or longer. 

Bipolar II Disorder

This is a milder type of bipolar disorder where episodes of hypomania and depression are not as severe.

Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (BP-NOS) 

This is when an individual suffers from symptoms of bipolar disorder- exhibiting symptoms that clearly stray from how the individual normally behaves- but does not meet the criteria needed to be diagnosed as having bipolar I or bipolar II. Symptoms in BP-NOS may last for too short an amount of time, or the individual may have too few symptoms. 

Cyclothymia

This is a less severe type of bipolar disorder. While a person with cyclothymia will experience the same symptoms of bipolar I disorder, they will never be in a total manic state or have a major depressive episode. In order to be diagnosed as having cyclothymia, an individual must have these symptoms for at least two years. 

"Bipolar disorder can be a great teacher. It's a challenge, but it can set you up to be able to do almost anything else in your life." - Carrie Fisher

~Bella

Mood disorders... Psych 101...

MOOD DISORDERS

When emotions take over

Mood disorders are when disturbances in an individual's emotional state are so extreme that they affect his or her thinking processes, social relationships, and behavior. These tend to be episodic, meaning the symptoms will come and go. There are two major types of mood disorders that can be broken down into several sub-types. They are depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. 

DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS

To be diagnosed with major depression, an individual has to experience a major depressive episode at least once. Major depressive episodes last for a period of two weeks or longer, and the individual will suffer from some, if not all, of the following symptoms:

• An overwhelming and consistent feeling of sadness or irritability
• Feeling guilty or worthless
• A loss of interest in doing anything, even previously enjoyable activities, and a lack of interest in being social
• Having very low energy
• Being unable to focus or make decisions
• Experiencing a change in eating patterns, either not eating well or eating too much
• Experiencing a change in sleeping patterns, either not being able to sleep or sleeping too much
• Experiencing recurrent thoughts of suicide or death

Interestingly enough, individuals that are extremely depressed will usually not commit suicide because, during their major depressive episode, they feel too apathetic and unmotivated to create a suicide plan and follow through with it. Instead, it is during the recovery process, when the individual has more major depression than men. While more women also attempt suicide than men, men are more successful with following through with their suicide than women. In addition to major depression, there are several other types of depression that share these symptoms:

Dysthymia Disorder

If a person experiences major depression symptoms for at least two years, then they have what is known as dysthymia disorder. It should be noted that people who suffer from this do not experience depressive symptoms at all times. There are moments when they do feel completely normal. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Appropriately referred to as SAD, seasonal affective disorder is when a person suffers from symptoms of depression because of the time of the year. The majority of people who experience the condition do so in the wintertime. 

Psychotic Major Depression

This is when an individual suffers from symptoms of major depression and also has hallucinations and delusions. 

Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression occurs when a woman experiences depression following childbirth. This may be due to shifts in hormone levels, a lack of sleep, bodily changes in the woman's social or work relationships. 

Atypical Depression

This is a type of depression where an individual has many characteristics of major depression. Symptoms of atypical depression usually included a gain in weight and increase in appetite, excessive sleeping or always feeling tired, and feeling very sensitive to any type of rejection.

Catatonic Depression

This is a very rare type of depressive disorder where a person will become motionless for an extended period of time, or move in a violent or strange manner. People who suffer from catatonic depression will sometimes decide not to speak, or may even imitate the actions or speaking pattern of another individual. 

Melancholic Depression

This type of depression is characterized by losing interest and pleasure in many, if not all, activities. Individuals also find it very difficult to react positively when something good happens. Symptoms are generally worse in the morning, and early morning awakening can occur, where an individual wakes up on his or her own at least two hours too early without an external source causing the person to wake. 

Individuals suffering from melancholic depression also experience a very strong sadness that is obvious because of how different the person seems.

"Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer."- Dorothy Rowe

~Bella

Left and Right Brain... Psych 101

LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN
Thinking from your side

The left and right sides of the brain have specific functions and are responsible for different types of thinking. Most interestingly, these two sides of the brain have the ability to operate practically independently of each other. In psychology, this is referred to as the lateralization of brain function. 

In the early 1960s, psychologist Roger Sperry began conducting experiments on epileptic patients. Sperry discovered that by cutting the structure responsible for connecting and communicating between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, known as the corpus callosum, seizures could be reduced and even eliminated.

Once the corpus callosum was cut, the patients- who originally appeared normal- began experiencing other strange symptoms. Many patients found that they could name objects that had been processed by the left hemisphere of the brain but could no longer name objects that were processed by the right hemisphere. From this, Sperry deduced that the left hemisphere of the brain was responsible for controlling language. Other patients struggled with the ability to put blocks together in the prearranged way. 

Sperry was able to successfully show that left and right hemispheres of the brain were responsible for different functions and that each hemisphere also had the ability to learn. In 1981, Roger Sperry was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in brain lateralization. 

RIGHT BRAIN DOMINANCE
The right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for the left side of the body, is more capable in tasks that are expressive and creative-- also known as visual construction tasks. These include tasks such as expressing and reading emotions, understanding metaphors, discriminating shapes (like picking out an object that is camouflaged), copying designs, and making music. 

LEFT BRAIN DOMINANCE
The left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for the right side of the body, is more capable at tasks such as languages, critical thinking, logic, reasoning, and use of numbers.

THE SPIT-BRAIN EXPERIMENTS
In Roger Sperry's split-brain experiments, Sperry had a split-brain patient (someone with a cut corpus callosum) sit in front of a screen that would hide his or her hands. Behind the screen, Sperry placed objects that the split-brain patient could not see.

The patient would then focus their eyes to the center of the screen and a word would appear on the screen in the patient's left visual field. This information was then received by the right hemisphere of the brain (the nonverbal part). The result was that the patient was actually unable to tell Sperry the word that he or she had seen. 

Sperry would then ask the patient to use their left hand to reach behind the screen and choose the object that corresponded with the word. Even though the patient was not aware of even seeing a word, the patient was able to choose the correct object. This is because the right hemisphere controls the movement of the left side of the body. 

Through this experiment, Roger Serry was able to successfully show that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for controlling reading and speech and that the right hemisphere of the brain does not have the ability to process verbal stimuli. 

So I Know My Dominant Side... Now What?
Understand which hemisphere you are more dominant in can actually be incredibly useful when it comes to thinking of better ways to approach studying or learning. For example, if you are more dominant with your right hemisphere, you may have a harder time following verbal instructions, and might benefit from improving your organizational skills or writing directions down. 

"My brain has two sides, the right side and the left side. The right side has nothing left and the left has nothing right." 

~Bella

Dreams... Psych 101

DREAMS

What goes on when the lights are off

In psychology, dreams are defined as any thoughts, images, or emotions that person experiences while asleep. Psychologists have yet to agree on why we dream and what these dreams mean, but there are several significant theories. 

The "Science" of Sleep
Believe it or not, scientists still don't know the reason or purpose for sleeping in the first case!

FRAUD'S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF DREAMS

Sigmund Freud believed that the contents of our dreams were associated with wish fulfillment and that our dreams represented the thoughts, motivations, and desires of our unconscious. Furthermore, Freud believed that the sexual instincts that the conscious represses appear in our dreams. In Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud broke dreams down into two components: 

• Manifest content - The actual thoughts, content, and images in the dream.
• Latent content - The psychological meaning in the dreams that is hidden. 

To understand the meaning being dreams, Freud broke dreams down into five distinct parts:

• Displacement: When a desire for something is represented by something or someone else. 
• Projection: When the wants and desires of the dreamer are pushed onto another person in the dream. 
• Symbolization: When the urges and desire that are suppressed are metaphorically acted out in the dream.
• Condensation: When a lot of information is compressed into one image or thought, making difficult to decipher. 
• Secondary Revision: The final stage of dreaming, where the incoherent elements become reorganized into a comprehensible dream.

While research has refuted Freud's theory of the latent content being disguised by the manifest content, the work of Sigmund Freud contributed greatly to interest in the field of dream interpretation.

CARL JUNG'S THEORY ON DREAMS

While Jung believed in much of what Freud did when it came to dreams, Jung thought dreams were not just an expression of repressed desires, but that they also compensated for those parts of the psyche that were undeveloped during waking life. Jung also believed dreams revealed the collective unconscious and personal unconscious and featured archetypes that were representative of unconscious thoughts. 

COMMON THEMES FOUND IN DREAMS

The following are ten of the most common themes people experience while dreaming, as well as the possible meanings of these themes according to Freudian theory.

1. Taking a test that you are not prepared for: This type of dream does not only pertain to an academic test, and will usually be specific to the dreamer. For example, an actor might dream about not remembering their audition or not being able to recognize the words on a script. This type of dream deals with the feeling of being exposed, and the test might symbolize being judged or evaluated by someone else. 
2. Being naked or inappropriately dressed in public: This type of dream relates to feelings of shame or vulnerability.
3. Being chased or attacked: This type of dream is much more common in children, whose dreams tend to focus on more physical rather than social fear. Additionally, their size can often make them feel as though they are more physically vulnerable. In adults, this type of dream can be a sign of being under stress.
4. Falling: Falling can represent feelings of being extremely overwhelmed with your current situation and having a loss of control. 
5. Being lost in transit: This often represents feeling lost or trying to get something or find your path and being unsure of how to do it. 
6. Losing a tooth: This can represent feeling unheard or unseen in a personal relationship, or feelings of aggression. 
7. Natural disasters: This can signify feeling so overwhelmed by personal problems that it seems they are raging out of control. 
8. Flying:  This can represent a desire to escape or be free from a situation.
9. Dying or being injured: This can represent something in the dreamer's everyday life that no longer thrives or is wilting away, like a personal relationship or personal attribute, and does not necessarily mean or imply true thoughts of death. 
10. Losing control of a car: This type of dream can result from feelings of stress and fear, and of not feeling in control of everyday life. 

While Psychologists still do not fully understand dreams, their interpretation plays a key role in modern psychology. From Freud's prominently used interpretation of dream analysis, which suggests dreams are connected to our unconscious and represent repressed desires, to the work of G. William Domhoff, who believed dreams were merely a result of neurological processes, understanding why dreams occurs and the various details and possible meanings behind them remains a very important part of psychology. 

"I am a daydreamer and night thinker." 

~Bella

Psych 101...The Psychology of Women

KAREN HORNEY'S THEORY OF NEUROSES

Karen Horney's theory of neuroses in one of the best-known theories on the topic. She believed that interpersonal relationships created basic anxiety and that neuroses developed as a method to deal with these relationships. Horney identified three categories that neurotic needs could be classified under.  If an individual is well-adjusted, he or she will be able to apply all three categories. A person only becomes neurotic when one or more of these are overused. The categories are:

Needs that move an individual towards other people

These are neurotic needs that will make an individual seek out the acceptance, help, or affirmation from others in order to feel worthy. These type of people need to be appreciated and liked by those around them and may come off as clingy or needy. 

Needs that move an individual against other people

In an effort to feel good about themselves, people will deal with their anxiety by trying to force their power onto other people and control those around them. People that express these needs are seen as unkind, selfish, bossy, and controlling. Horney stated that people would project their hostilities onto others in the process she referred to as externalization. The individual would then be able to use this as a justification for his or her sometimes cruel behavior. 

Needs that move an individual away from other people

These neurotic needs are responsible for antisocial behavior, and a person may appear indifferent to other people. The mentality behind this approach is if an individual does not get involved with other people, then other people cannot then hurt the individual. This can lead to feelings of emptiness and loneliness.

Horney then identified ten neurotic need within these categories:

* Moving Towards Other People

        1. The need for affection and approval: This is the desire to meet other people's expectations, make others happy, and be liked. Those that experience this need is afraid of hostility or anger from other people, and are very sensitive to any rejection or criticism. 

        2. An individual's need for a partner that will control his or her life: This need involves a strong fear of being abandoned, and the belief that having a partner in one's life can resolve any trouble or problems that he or she may be having.

* Moving Against Other People

       1. The need to have power: Individuals with this need control and dominate others because they hate weakness but admire, and are desperate for, strength.

       2. The need to exploit other people: Individual with this need are manipulative and believe people exist to be used. Associations with other people are only used to attain things such as control, sex, or money.

       3. The need for prestige: These are individuals that need acclaim and public recognition. Social status, material possessions, professional accomplishments, personality traits, and even loved ones are judged based on prestige, and there is a fear of public embarrassment. 

       4. The need for personal achievement: Pushing oneself to achieve is perfectly normal. However, neurotic individuals may become desperate to achieve, and push themselves as a result of their own insecurities. There is a fear of failure, and the need to always accomplish more than others.

       5. The need for personal admiration: These are individuals that are narcissistic and wish to be viewed based off of an ideal version of themselves, instead of who they actually are.

*Moving Away from Other People

       1. The need for perfection: An individual with this need will commonly be in fear of personal flaws, and will search for these flaws so that he or she can quickly conceal or change them. 

       2. The need for independence: In an effort to not depend on, or be tied down to, other people, an individual exhibiting this need might distance him or herself from others. This creates a "loner" mentality. 

       3. The need to limit one's life so that it remains within narrow borders: The preference for individuals with this need is to go unnoticed and remain inconspicuous. These individuals will often undervalue their own skills and talents, will not demand much, will not desire material objects, are content with very little, and regard their own needs as secondary.

Karen Horney was incredibly influential to the world of psychology. Her views on neuroses as a way to deal with interpersonal relationships and her identification of neurotic need were truly groundbreaking, and by breaking away from the male-dominant views set forth by Sigmund Freud, Horney established herself as a strong voice for woman and female psychology.

"Life itself remains a very effective therapist."- Karen Horney

~bella

Psych 101... Love, Listening to your heart...

Love may be one of the most complex human emotions, but also possibly the most central too. There are many different theories regarding love and while psychologists agree that love is central human emotion, they are still unsure exactly why it happens, or how. At present, there are four primary theories that attempt to explain love, emotional attachment, and liking. 

RUBIN'S SCALES OF LIKING AND LOVING

Psychologist Zick Rubin was one of the first people to create a method of empirically measuring love. Rubin believed that romantic love was composed of three elements: attachment, caring, and intimacy.

• Attachment: The need to be with another person and be cared for. Important components of attachment include approval and physical contact. 
• Caring: Valuing the happiness and needs of the other person just as much as you value your own. 
• Intimacy: Communicating your private desires, feelings, and beliefs.

Rubin then created two questionnaires that would be able to measure these elements. According to Rubin, the difference between liking someone and loving someone can be seen in how we evaluate the other person. Rubin's questions were then created to measure feelings of liking another person and feelings of loving another person, and then these results were compared. When Rubin gave the questionnaire to a group of participants, he told them to base their answers on how they felt about a good friend and how they felt about their significant other. He found that, while the scores regarding significant others rated high on the loving scale. Thus, Rubin was able to successfully measure feelings of love. 

ELAINE HATFIELD'S PASSIONATE AND COMPASSIONATE LOVE

Psychologist Elaine Hatfield claimed that there was only two forms of love: passionate and compassionate love, 

• Passionate love: Feelings of intense sexual arousal, attraction, affection, emotion, and a strong urge to be with one another. Passionate love tends to be short-lived, lasting from six to thirty months, but can lead to compassionate love. 
• Compassionate love: Feelings of attachment, respect, trust, affection, and commitment. Compassionate love lasts longer than passionate love. 

Hatfield also differentiated between reciprocated love, which leads to feelings of elation and fulfillment, and unreciprocated love, which leads to feelings of desperation and despair. She believed there were certain key factors that had to exist for compassionate and passionate love to occur. These include: 

• Timing: When an individual is ready to fall and be in love.
• Similarity: A person has the tendency to fall passionately in love with an individual that is similar to him or herself.
• Early attachment styles: Long-term and deeper relationships are often the results of people who are strongly attached to one another, while people who fall in and out of love often generally do not have a strong attachment or connection.

"Studying psychology is fun because you're always looking for the same things.." 

~Bella