The Psychology Thread

Did a bit on various forms of dysphasias when I was doing my course. It boils down to where the damage is as to what exactly happens. <shrugs> It's a highly individual problem with few common traits, as I recall.

Aphasia is mainly used when you can boil down the problems to a longer laundry list of common traits, but, in effect, aphasia is a form of dysphaisa affecting a similar part of the brain in a lot of people.

edited 4th Apr '13 7:02:05 PM by Euodiachloris

#7 is pretty interesting, although I am sure most of you guys know this already.

edited 7th Apr '13 1:38:47 PM by dRoy

I assume you meant number seven. I don't think Nuns have much to do with psychology.

Anyway, yeah, Freud is outdated now. Interestingly, Freud was right about a lot of the 'whats' but he was wrong about the 'whys'.

Oh, yeah. Mind you, it was people dog-piling in to prove him wrong that pushed developing the whys we have, now.

That is an interesting way to put it.

Double post.

I got a question for my novel.

How severe would the symptoms of PTSD (I am aware that PTSD is not something that just "goes away") have to be if the patient has to be admitted to a mental hospital? Also, how long does a typical mental patient get hospitalized?

It would strongly depend on which symptoms are primary for that individual, mate. <shrugs> Sad, but true: it's easier to commit somebody who shows violent tendencies towards others than to themselves when undergoing anxiety-induced breaks at a lower level of exhibition.

It would also depend on what form the primary anxiety takes. That, too, can vary widely spin off subsidiary symptoms which, depending on what they are, can actually be hidden fairly effectively even when the individual is in very bad shape. Even from close family.

Add to that the attentiveness of those around somebody. Sometimes, having busybodies poke their nose into your business is a good thing. <shrugs> The sooner people notice something is very wrong (and don't excuse the symptoms as being something else), the sooner intervention can happen.

In short: you could be talking months. Or decades.

edited 12th Apr '13 1:34:32 PM by Euodiachloris

I think people give Freud a really bad rap. Some of the stuff he said was pure nonsense, sure, but it's not like he had a huge legacy of psychological evidence and experimentation to look back on as a reference, he was a pioneer(and a bit of a nutjob).

But despite all that, he was right about a lot of shit, and he was also a product of a very different time from right now, and lots of that shows and influences his work.

I think people also take him way too literally. I've never considered the Oedipus and Electra complexes as "I want to fuck my parents" so much as that people have a natural predisposition towards mates who have traits that they associate with their parent of the opposite gender, because your parental figures are your primary template of what children in their developmental stages should consider a "normal" man or woman, because it's what they have the most experience with.

It just irritates me that people interpret those two particular examples of his work, I feel, incorrectly, and then proceed to dismiss all of Freud's work. I also admire the concepts he drew out for the id, ego, and superego.

Oh, it's fashionable to bash Freud, alright. But, without him, we wouldn't be where we are, now. And, you're right: he helped lay foundation stones for areas of investigation, even if some of them have been very much altered, since (either in what the floor-plan turned out to be, or whatever).

His methodology was often flawed for the reasons you stated. Doesn't mean it was totally useless, either. He wasn't to know the problems inherent in the case-study, and had little alternative to fall back on.

He's a benchmark and a target, both.

edited 13th Apr '13 3:39:13 AM by Euodiachloris

At some point, the words Psychopathy and Sociopathy described similar behavior, but each had different causes. Psychopathy was considered the result of psychological and biological factors, while Sociopathy was the result of social and environmental factors.

Now what was considered Psychopathy is called Antisocial personality disorder.

edited 13th Apr '13 9:33:26 AM by RockLeeYourFace

@Euo - Decades I can understand, but how can it be cured (as in, back to being at least functional enough) in months?

@Barkey - Hmm, that's interesting.

@Rock - Thanks for clearing that up for me, especially the APD part.

edited 14th Apr '13 6:59:27 PM by dRoy

18 months can see a major difference if it's caught early... depending on the person in question and what preparation they had going into whatever induced it in the first place. <shrugs> If you're giving a solid template to follow ahead of time, it can help: which is why decent training for various scenarios can be important in jobs where PTSD is a risk.

And, no slacking in the treatment, either (on either end — delays and inaccuracies in provision are just as disastrous as a patient who cannot engage).

edited 14th Apr '13 7:59:54 PM by Euodiachloris

Ah, I see.

Okay, finished enrolling for next fall classes. Half of the classes I am taking are psychology:

Personality Psychology

Psychological Statistics

Developmental Psychology

Hopefully I don't go all psycho.

My Psy 101, though, didn't go too well. It was fun, not too hard, but I was just too damn lazy. Damn, those research credits...

edited 2nd May '13 11:44:39 AM by dRoy

You can't escape the lab and the reports plus the essays... or those statistics. <_< Even if you run like a bunny, they'll chase you down.

edited 2nd May '13 12:19:39 PM by Euodiachloris

I never had to do any lab works, but I am pretty sure that can be arranged, no, will be arranged, whether I like it or not. <_<

Darn, apparently I can't register Developmental Psychogy because of schedule conflict. Urgh, headache...

Hmmm... which direction are you wanting to go in? Developmental will impact what route you can take rather significantly. <_< Actually, it's pretty important in Personality and Isometrics in general, let alone the impact on aspects of Neurology, Visual Perception and Cognition. :|

What's the clash with?

edited 2nd May '13 1:15:25 PM by Euodiachloris

I have Research Methods this fall, which includes statistical analysis. The only reason I didn't fail Statistics was because the exam was open book.

@Euo -

Actually, I have no idea. I figured that a double major in Psychology would be beneficial, not only because it is a pretty popular and useful subject, but also because it would help my English major as well. I never really thought of which direction yet. Hmm...

Initially it crashed with my Psychological Statistics lab session so I decided to move it around. Then I realized that I should also take ENG 301, which is Criticism, one of requisite courses for my English major. After moving things around, eventually I settled with Criticism instead of DP.

edited 2nd May '13 1:31:27 PM by dRoy

Personality would be very good for you, but Developmental would be nice to have, too, though yes... they'd gel with the English very nicely. Trouble is how to juggle that... <_< If it's not possible, try seeing if Abnormal or something can be done alongside Personality, rather than the Developmental itself. Abnormal Psychology touches a lot of the other sections, even if it doesn't go in depth, so it could be a good "instead of". You can, at least, get pointers towards deeper areas of reading from it: and, bug others who have e.g. managed to sit through the Developmental module, etc. for their reading list.

Unless you go left field and do visual processing (mix of visual perception and cognition: vital in lexical processing and linguistics). Another possible dove-tail with the English... and interesting enough if you think about where reading and writing goes right as well as wrong. Granted, that area is focused more on the mechanics of lexicography, rather than characterisation, so may not be what you're after. Not sure how cognitively weighted your college is, though. <_< Tends to be quite specialist, that.

edited 2nd May '13 2:16:45 PM by Euodiachloris

I am very interested in Abnormal too. In fact, that would probably be what got me into psychology to begin with.

By the way, I always wondered; why is that when someone tells us to not to do something we just want to do it more?

Partly it's just that it's brought to our attention. We start focusing on it. Also, when we're told not to do something, we normally aren't told why, so we have no real incentive not to do it aside from, "don't lean over the well Timmy, it's a bad idea,".

EDIT: I actually have a great example of a family not realizing how this works. Basically, they were trying to sell a house in Niagara on the Lake, just across the river from Fort Niagara. Anyway, they seemed perfectly nice, the house was a tad creepy but it was really old and badly designed. So they showed us upstairs to look at the bedrooms until we got to one specific one. "Don't go in there. That's where the Grandfather lives." The entire family, including the little girl referred to him as The Grandfather. My family decided not to buy the house based entirely on that, because we had no idea what was in the room, and the curtains were ragged, black and torn as seen from the outside.

Essentially, they told us not to go somewhere, but managed to make it so creepy, apparently by accident, that almost no one actually wanted to buy the house. The people who finally did just knocked it down and built a new one.

edited 3rd May '13 8:18:27 AM by Zendervai

That sounds like a(n accidental) real life application of Nothing Is Scarier.

I always thought that Psychological Horror is a higher level of horror. Considering how my first experience with psychology class went and that next semester I will have to do some labworks too, I will definitely experience some Psychological Horror, all right.

Yup: true horror is... Realising you've totally screwed the presentation date for the report up. You're this week's rotation. Not next's. And, it's your turn to head up and insert the USB with your work on it into the projector PC... you... um... don't actually... have...

Enjoy the cold, pale green, cloud of woozy embarrassment/ stark terror as it descends like a living fog-bank.

edited 3rd May '13 2:40:04 PM by Euodiachloris

Dude, I got goosebumps -

Don't scare me like that, jesus.

Reverse psychology if the person telling the other not to do something is intentionally relying on on that little act of rebellion.

This is a good visual example.◊