Mental Misconceptions
“…if we do nothing, then maybe it will get better- maybe its just a
phase.” This appears to be a very common misconception in families of
people with schizophrenia. Although the reality is that, if left
untreated, the schizophrenic stands a greater chance of suffering
permanent brain damage. Like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease,
schizophrenia is a disease of the brain, in which the brain is
physically damaged, and unfortunately symptoms of the disease usually
appear quite late. MRI scans of a schizophrenic, show a degeneration
in the volume of grey matter in the brain, and recently
neuroscientists have detected grey matter loss of up to 25%. Grey
matter is tissue of the nervous system, thus largely found in the
brain, rich in nerve cells, which transmit messages or impulses all
over the body.
The word “schizophrenia” is less than one hundred years old and comes
from the Greek roots, “schizo” meaning to split and “phrene” meaning
mind, which is supposed to convey the fragmented thinking of people
with the disorder.
Significant loss of grey matter causes severe symptoms of
schizophrenia including, hallucinations, delusions, psychotic thoughts
and depression. Schizophrenics may also have difficulty in expressing
emotions, have slurred speech and feel suicidal. One schizophrenic
commented that “the nurses and doctors were plotting to kill me.”
Treatment for the disorder is largely in the form of anti-psychotic
medication, but anti-depressants and mood-stabilisers are also
available. Rehabilitation programs, cognitive therapy and peer
support groups are also effective means of rebuilding a r...
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...d. We find
ourselves accepting diseases or disorders of the brain which may also
leave one mentally impaired, such as brain tumours or meningitis, but
people often appear dismissive and tense towards mental illnesses.
Perhaps our fear prevails us from learning more about mental health.
Or do we already have an image fixated in our minds of what a “mental”
person is like, which frightens us more…not “normal,” but psychotic,
who’s only emotions are anger and disconcertion; sectioned in a
psychiatric hospital?
Rising above our ignorance allows society to learn more about
schizophrenia and in exploring the unknown, our fears change to
interest and our misconceptions to understanding as future research
and treatments provide reassurance and hope to those living in fear.
*NIMH: National Institute of Mental Health
...us advances in this field, while we still consider it a stigma even to be referred to a psychiatrist. Mental illness is just another biological or sociological problem, which needs to be dealt with on time, before it’s too late, by a specialist.
In final analysis, mental illness is not being taken as seriously as an disease or a
Before beginning my argument I would like to clarify the current criteria for diagnosing mental illness. First, the patient must show “clinically significant detriment” (Gray 578). This could be shown by way of “distress (painful feelings) or impairment of functioning (interference with the ability to work, play, or get along with people” (578). Second, the distress must have “an internal source… in the person’s biology, mental structures (ways of perceiving, thinking, or feeling) or learned habits) – and not i...
For this interview, I have chosen a group in which for Asians overall and Vietnamese specifically, is seen as a low affinity group in which received many frown upon and disapprovals. This group is LGBT. LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. They are defined as people who are sexually attracted by other people of the same sex. History has shown that gay people have always been discriminated against; also they have been victims of violence and harassment in our own society because of their sexual orientation. Even in the Bible, Jesus asked the mankind to have children and since gay people don't have the ability to reproduce, therefore, homosexuality is considered an act of sin. This is why I chose this group seeing that they are considered low affinity to not only my group but to other groups as well.
Apply ONE theory of the causes of political conflicts to ONE real-world case of conflict to help explain why/how the conflict occurred.
Cognitive dissonance can be described as the feeling of discomfort resulting from holding two conflicting beliefs. It can also be said to be the mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. A well-known psychologist Leon Festinger (1919–89), introduced this concept in the late 1950s where he proved that, when confronted with challenging new information; most people are observed to preserve their current understanding of the world by rejecting or avoiding the new information or by convincing themselves that no conflict really exists in one way or the other (Festinger, 04).
According to Beck’s Cognitive Theory, negative thoughts generated by distorted beliefs are the key cause of depression symptoms (Dombeck, Nemade, & Reiss, 2014). The intensity of negative thoughts produced affects the level of depression a patient sets into. The theory comprises of four major aspects – Schemata, Cognitive Errors, the Cognitive Triad and Automatic Thoughts (Beck, 1967). Schemata are beliefs that influence the way situational information is processed. Depressogenic Schemata are beliefs that are negative in nature. It is undesirable as it produces undeveloped, absolute, and inflexible attitudes about the individual and its relationship with the world (Knopf & Pössel, 2011). Stressful situations, such as changes in school and relationships during early adolescence, would activate negative schemata (Graber, Hilsman & Robinson, 1995) (Beck, 1967, 1983). When activated, Cognitive Errors arise and negatively modify self-perception and thoughts of their surroundings (Knopf & Pössel, 2011). They tend to be severe, dysfunctional and do not portray the situation correctly (Black & Pössel, 2013). The methodical errors in thought processing cause thoughts to be over exaggerated (Abela & Sullivan, 2003). They magnify the significance and meaning placed on one negative experience, and diminish those that are positive (Dombeck , Nemade, & Reiss, 2014). This means that patients tend to jump to conclusions quickly (Renaud, Dobson, & Drapeau, 2014). As a result, patients form pessimistic perceptions of themselves, the environment around him and the future, hence known as the Cognitive Triad (Black & Pössel, 2013). The Cognitive triad influences and is expressed by Automatic Thoughts, which are uncontrollable, not permanent, recurrin...
Most of us in our lifetimes have committed the act of “malingering”. As children, we just did not want to go to school for fear in being picked on or perhaps we did not want to take that grueling math test. We made up any excuse to not go to school by feigning a sickness. As an adult, you wanted to take off to guarantee a three- day weekend, concocting and citing to your boss that you felt feverish. Unfortunately, in our society, there have even been some selfish people that will fake an illness, such as Breast Cancer, gain money from funding that sympathetic people have ponied up to benefit their personal obligations.
Ignorance is bliss as one who is ignorant does not fully understand all the issues occurring around him or her and is therefore somewhat innocent to them. In “Revelation”, by Flannery O’Conner, the main character Mrs. Turpin is ignorant of the fact she is the same as everyone else, but she has different classifications of people of which she is of the higher category. O’Connor uses “Revelation” as a tool to represent people who are both ignorant and not ignorant and what it almost takes for some people to fully overcome ignorance.
Have you ever been judged for being around a certain type of group of people? If you have then congratulations, you are part of the many stereotypes created by society, and you probably have classified other people into these stereotypes as well. There are stereotypes and misconceptions, a stereotypes is used to categorize a group of people, a widely believed mental picture of the group, although the truth can be exaggerated. For example, grouping a race, gender, or sexuality together without knowing them and judging them is being stereotypical. Now misconceptions are formed from having stereotypes, they are views that are incorrect based on opinions that were wrong. Although it might sound like prejudice or discrimination, they are formed
Cognitive, Cognitive Behavioral and Reality Theories. Cognitive Theory Cognitive theory is a learning approach in psychology that attempts to explain the behavior of humans by studying thoughts and reasoning processes. Cognitive theory is founded on many other factors like cognitive reasoning and social cognitive theory. Aaron Beck founded the theory and it is meant to understand the human behavior by observing the processes triggered by reasoning and individual thoughts.
“Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability… About 1 percent of the world has autism spectrum disorder,” stated the Autism society. Autism is a learning, social, and developmental illness that causes behaviors to be repeated, low communication skills, along with very little interests, making it difficult to function on a daily basis at work, at home, and even in public. The environmental factors that contribute to autism, according to Cindy Croft, are toxins that the growing embryos and fetuses come in contact with from medications like; thalidomide; which is used for myeloma, misoprostol; which is used to terminate an early pregnancy, and valproic acid; which is used to treat seizures or bipolar disorder, along with the rubella
This is very much a possibility, and with growing research in the field of mental studies there is more evidence that this could highly be possible.
Socrates once stated “Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people”. According to this quote individuals with closed minds and biased thoughts have the propensity1 to develop gossip about what people are supposed to be doing, what they might be doing or what others said they are doing. Strong minds usually don’t care too much what others think, therefore when it comes to building up an opinion they are not malleable2 thus they don’t let what others think shape what they think. These individuals make their own decisions not letting others judgments and experiences hamper them from doing what they want to do and they do not second guess themselves. Weak minds, on the other hand, lack strength so they are easily influence by what others think instead of building their own opinion. Instead of thinking for themselves they just follow the crow because it is easier for them. These individuals often avoid making important decisions because they are afraid of any type of change or mistakes as well as the consequences, and let the experiences and judgments form others engender3 their own opinion. Gossip are equivocal4 statements that travel through a lot of people and each individual that hears or reads a gossip can interpret it in their own way causing the gossip to become distorted5 as it goes from one person to the other. The strong minds form their own opinion while the weak minds just copycat what everyone thinks. This idea can be seen through an analysis of various literary terms in Leonardo Sciascia’s novel entitled To Each His Own as the gossip that is formed, subsequently to the death of the pharmacist, is passed through many individuals, each interpreting the gossip according to what they be...
A cognitive disorder is a psychological disorder that affects the cognitive abilities such as memory, problem solving, and perception. (Cherry) Some anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders are classified as cognitive disorders. (Cherry) Other types of cognitive disorders are Alzheimer’s disease, delirium, dementia, and last amnesia that. People develop these disorders over time as they grow.