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Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Ranking and Evaluating Different Forms of Therapy

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Therapy is different for everyone. Typically speaking therapy is tailored for each and every individual person’s need. A psychologist, especially if they’re specialized in a specific field of interest, needs to be able to approach their client in a beneficial manner. So, loosely speaking, a psychologist will have different ways to approach a vet seeking out therapy to cope with their PTSD, help abuse victims, people with phobias, etc. psychiatrists have a plethora of approaches that are tailored for their clients.

But first, I’ll be examine 4 different approaches, defining them, and covering which and why these different forms of therapy deserve the rank that they receive.

1)Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a relatively short form version of therapy that tackles a wide range of psychological problems (alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anger problems, etc.). This form of therapy requires and helps a person learn efficient self-help skills that help change how a person thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the problem they’re having. More often than not, cognitive therapy comes with requirements (self prescribed homework) for the patient to do outside of their therapy hours. Placed at number one, I felt that cognitive therapy out of the other three therapies that will be covered was round about. Not only does it tackle a wide rang of issues, but it allows and forces the patient in this case to form healthy self-help skills to adapt and overcome their issues. Whether that’s learning to control ones anger, retrain their way of thinking about their relationship with food or alcohol or any number of things.

2)Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy is defined by it’s positive approach. A form of therapy in which there’s a focus on a person’s individual nature rather than categorizing groups of people by a commonality. This form of therapy looks at a person not from only the therapist’s point of view, but from the view point of individuals who are observing their own behavior. An emphasis is placed on a person’s positive traits and behavior and their ability to grow and find fulfillment. This form of therapy can be used to treat depression, panic attacks, or social disorders. An approach that uses a person’s feelings in the here and now in order to try and identify past events that caused the event to trigger the patient.

This humanistic form of therapy allows a therapist to sit down and gently approach what events or triggers could have led up to someone feeling the way they do. This form of therapy deserves to be second on the list because it takes a different approach compared to traditional methods, most of the emphasis is taken off of the therapist. Instead, it forces the patient to reexamine the event and process their own complex feelings all while coming to an understanding about why and how they feel.

3)Psychodynamic Therapy

In third place, psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk-therapy; less focused on the relationship between therapist and and the patient due to the focus on the patient’s relationship with the external world.

Psychodynamic therapy is the form of therapy that’s most commonly seen in the media and the one that people frequently think of. Due to the nature of the therapy in which the patient is encouraged to freely speak about whatever is on their mind, I believe that this tried and true method deserves the third spot on their list. While this form of therapy mostly relies on the patient talking about their experiences with little feedback or input from the therapist until when it is needed. This form of therapy requires multiple and consistent sessions that sort of prolongs the healing process for the patient in my opinion. While it isn’t perfect, it’s the most tried form of therapy on this list.

4)Behavioral Therapy

Coming in last, behavioral therapy reinforces desirable behaviors in the patient while eliminating maladaptive ones. Using classical conditioning and operant conditioning in order to reinforce positive behaviors while eliminating bad ones, I felt that this form of behavioral therapy seems to be least effective compared to the counterparts mentioned above. Behavioral therapy seems most appropriate and effective with children, not to mention that this form of therapy can operate well only when it’s treating specific issues that a patient has and doesn’t tackle multiple like the other variations of therapy listed above.

While each individual form of therapy can be effective in its own way. The list given above ranks different variations of therapy based upon my own criteria and evaluation.

Researches Determine That Hormonal Changes in the Brain Can Impact Memory Loss

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Dr. Sarah Conner along with several other researchers affiliated with The Framingham Heart Study sought to answer the age-long question that their study proposed: can memory loss be impacted by a change in the brain’s chemistry?

In order to answer this question, researchers singled out a single hormone in the brain that they wanted to focus on for the duration of the study. Cortisol, or a hormone that regulates the bodies metabolism as well as immune system. Taking a large group of participants who were related to the original participants of the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers subjected the participants to a series of mentally stimulating tests and activities that were meant to stimulate the participants minds. Afterwards, researchers subjected the participants to CAT scans in order to see if there were any noticeable changes in the structure of their brains after the experiment.

It was found that long term, high exposure of cortisol in the brain can in fact weaken memory and contributes to memory loss. Researchers further found that this condition affected women more than it did men.

Reflection:

After taking several English courses at college, it’s been hammered and honed into me that people never read the entirety of an article, or better yet that the majority of people never read the entirety of it. Along with the fact that a huge portion of Americans (often times the readership base) tend to read at a High School level. In our current climate, it’s better to take the key core components of a piece that is being summarized and keep it short as possible. So that readers can simply skim through understand why something happened and how it was resolved or concluded. It’s important to keep the language simple as well, as pointed out earlier due to the fact that a large portion of American’s read at a High School level, complex language and words are simply going to go over peoples heads.

While it’s important in psychology to answer all five critical questions for reading research to some effect not all of those questions can be answered when it comes to summarizing and keeping an article based on a lengthy psychology research brief without losing the attention span and marketable traffic revenue that readers can bring to a site. If an article is too long or uses what is considered too much fluff language or even fails to summarize the main points of the research in a short and concise manner that aids the reader’s skimming, then the site will see a decline in traffic and in turn revenue.

So when it came to this article, I decided that it’s best to keep at least one researcher’s name from the study in this article with a following description that there were other researchers. Since a reader doesn’t want to feel inclined to read through several names of varying complexity. It was also important to include the fact that this study is connected to another and using participants who are connected to the Framingham study. Other information that I deemed important to include where the research methods and conclusion. I didn’t want to keep the research methods long or go into a heavy detail about them, because again, readers have a short attention span in a world where everything is at the tips of our fingers. While there are some similarities between the summarization found here and the study it’s summarizing itself, I feel that the study goes in depth on the topic.

But, for the sake of the readership as well as keeping the article itself short enough for people to be engaged in to read, there are some sacrifices that were made. Especially when it comes to trimming information and omitting some things altogether.

In all when it came to the three parts of this assignment and writing as a journalist who’s main emphasis is in writing about psychology, I felt that there was a duality needed in order to understand how readers of this current time period read in an increasingly advancing period and the ability to understand the psychological focused pieces that are being consumed for research.

Citation:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30355700

The Misunderstood Condition of Schizophrenia

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Schizophrenia is often ones of psychologies most misunderstood psychoses. Often times in the media, the condition is treated as not as the life altering psychosis that it is but instead a condition that is romanticized in nature along with mental health and illness in general. In the YouTube video titled, “Types of Schizophrenia- A day in the life of (Scary),” the video walks the viewer through the life of someone living with the condition. Allowing the viewer to experience audio-sensory stimulation that someone living with either undiagnosed or diagnosed condition of Schizophrenia might live through.

The video starts of light-hearted enough with the viewer going about their daily morning routine, getting prepared, dressed, and even enjoying a morning cup of coffee. However, the video soon takes a differing turn as the viewer begins to hear disembodied voices and even believes that the phone rings. The voices soon begin to fill the viewer with doubt, arguing that people are conspiring against them, attempting to poison them, and even convince the viewer to not take medicine that is prescribed to them. All while filling the viewer with doubt and negative thoughts about themselves.

The viewer then hallucinates that weather people on the television is talking to them or that someone harmless like a pizza delivery person is out to get them. Overall the experience itself felt stressful, like I myself was constantly at war with my own thoughts and felt paranoid all the time. Like what if the delivery person who is still standing outside my home and notices me looking through the window really wishes harm against me?

Overall, the entire experience was nothing like what the media romanticizes Schizophrenia to be and the only shows I’ve ever seen get it right or weekday detective dramas that have officers on a local and federal level who interact with suspects or witnesses that have Schizophrenia. The media still, however, has a long way to go when it comes to the portrayal of conditions like Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses and mental health in general.

The Implicit Association Test

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

The process of taking the Implicit Association Test was interesting, as a progressive human society we like to believe that we don’t have any biases when it comes to others, but the test forces you to reflect upon such notions and beliefs. To test whether I truly had biases against others in some capacity, I decided to take the AST’s age and Native tests.

When it came to the age test I was tasked with separating images into different categories ; pressing the E key for pictures and words that I felt were associated with older people and the I key for things that I felt were associated with younger people. When the second part of the test occurred, the E key now became things that were associated with a negative connotation and I was for positive ones. The test continued in this fashion, combing thoughts and emotions into one category while forcing me to categorize the words and images that I saw. At the conclusion of the test, it determined that I had no automatic preference for either young or old people.

The second test attempted to determine if I held an association with the terms “foreign” and “American” in conjunction to Native Americans as well as White Americans. To which the test determined that I held no associate with either.

In regards to the tests themselves I felt that results weren’t particularly surprising, especially as my own brand of philosophical thoughts regarding everyone as a whole operates under a complex series of thoughts that can only be summarized as, “I hate humanity equally as much as I enjoy and love it.” So I felt that my thoughts or potential biases about anything would come close to my personal feelings.

Personality Tests

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Personality tests. We all loved to play them whenever they were began to pop up online in the mid 2000s. Not only were they a chance to see if some random generator could predict our personality, but see how correct…or how wrong it came out to be.

For the first personality test that I took (one measuring personality archetypes) I felt that it was somewhat accurate. I believe that personality is fluid; oftentimes people change or grow, and oftentimes the same outcome of a test differs if you take it on a different site. For this test I got ISTJ which surprised me as I’ve taken a personality archetypes test before and got INTJ. While both personality descriptors fit me, I find that I’m comfortable with the outcome of the test.

For the following tests I felt they were fairly on the nose about my need for a quite and serene environment. However I felt that when the tests described me as being too self-centered and constantly needing validations on my future goals and careers as well as my inability to open up about my feelings in an intimate and personal relationship to be wildly off the mark. While some of the tests fairly got my personality, some of the results were so off the mark that I felt like they were describing someone else.

While personality tests can be fun and call back to that long lost mid 2000s era. I feel there needs to be some air of skepticism surrounding them as while they can be accurate for the most part, they aren’t an official test nor are they the something you have to live your life based on.