Week 16 – Mental Health Treatment Option 1

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

Your textbook lists 4 major types of psychotherapy (psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic). Rank these types of therapy according to how helpful you think they would be if you needed therapy and explain what it is about each one that you like/dislike.

____________________

Humanistic: Person’s individual nature, rather than categorizing groups of people with similar characteristics as having the same problems; emphasis on a person’s positive traits and behaviors, and the ability to use their personal instincts to find wisdom growth, healing, and fulfillment within themselves. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/humanistic-therapy

I would personally rank humanistic therapy is the best because the focus is you and you only. Therapy of all sorts does focus on you but with a humanistic therapist, they don’t use the same methods with each person with the same disorder. It’s understood that everyone has different experiences, triggers, and could have more than just that one said mental illness. This type of therapy sounds like it’s custom made for you and you only, which actually can encourage the treated patient to be more motivated to heal due to specific methods that are designed to work for you but not everyone else.

Cognitive: Negative, self defeating thinking; promote healthier thinking and adaptive behaviors; Train people to counter self harmful thoughts and to act out their new ways of thinking (textbook)

Cognitive would be the next best type of therapy I would recommend. Though I would use cognitive and behavioral together because most negative thinking from personal experience, causes self-destructive behavior. I believe this therapy would help you verbalize your negative thoughts to a trusted professional, and having that person reinforce positive coping skills may inspire the patient to even learn something they like about themselves by trying something new.

Psychodynamic: Unconscious conflicts from childhood experiences; reduce anxiety through self-insight; interpret patients’ memories and feelings (textbook)

I feel that a lot of people that currently have any type of mental illness may be influenced because of their childhood traumas. They may have never talked about it with anyone and bundled it up inside for so many years, also they could be in a living situation where they are at risk which can trigger mental health issues. Acknowledging the trauma’s can help the patient process it much better and maybe figure out where to go after learning about their childhood. It can also help the therapist knowing about their childhood to recommend any other types of treatment to medication.

Behavioral: Dysfunctional behaviors; Lean adaptive behaviors, extinguish problem ones; use classical or operant conditioning (textbook)

Behavioral I believe would also pair well with cognitive. But by itself I would find least effective because I personally think dysfunctional behavior comes from what is going on in your head mentally. Any one can learn how to behave properly, but there is usually a reason why the person is behaving badly. I think that everything mentally should be processed first before learning how to extinguish problem behaviors.

Spotlight Blog 3: Psychotherapy vs Medication

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

Mental health in general has changed dramatically I believe since the 1960’s. Before John F. Kennedy’s presidency, mental health treatment was overlooked, ignored and unknown. For example, PTSD wasn’t an actual diagnosis until 1980, and a lot of people, even General George Patton (WW2) believed PTSD wasn’t a real disease. The only solution for people suffering anywhere from depression, bipolar, to schizophrenia was sending that person to a psychiatric hospital; where they will most likely be abused and/or their disorder goes untreated. JFK’s sister, Rosemary suffered from mental disabilities—mostly intellectual. Kennedy and his administration proposed The Community Mental Health Act, the purpose of the bill was to build mental health centers to provide for community-based care, as an alternative to institutionalization. At the centers, patients could be treated while working and living at home (wiki). Though this bill can be argued that it wasn’t a turning point, to myself and others, it shows that people even in high power want to not just help their loved ones, but for the rest of the countries mentally disabled. Moving forward, we have been fortunate enough to have understood mental health disorders much more. There are many ways to treat a specific illness, even multiple mental illnesses discovered in one person. Though we have come very far in treatment, there are controversal measures where it’s argued whether medication or psychotherapy treats mental illness effectively.

As TIME reported in a recent cover story, clinical depression affects about 16 million people in the U.S. and is estimated to cost the U.S. In the most recent study done (2011) 13% of people from ages 12 and up have said to take antidepressants.; it’s said that the amount of people taking antidepressants will continue to grow. A large problem is most people seek prescription drugs rather than psychotherapy. An intake of a patient who gets prescribed medication most of the time isn’t even recommended any kind of therapy; most of the antidepressants have dangerous side affects that can typically make your mental illness worse.

Television and the internet are constantly advertising ads for depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. The ads make it sound that these medications are the key to picking up or lowering your mood as needed as long as you don’t pay attention to the many side effects they quickly read out and have in the smallest print on the bottom of the screen. It’s pretty clear that there is no alternative options shared on the commercials to seek some sort of psychotherapy. So most people interpret that taking medicine is the way to get better. Kathryn McHugh from McLean Hospital investigated that the vast majority of people seeking treatment for depression and anxiety disorders prefer pharmacological to psychological interventions by a ratio of 3 to 1 (Psychotherapy).

Few few know this but psychotherapy can do just about what medication can do though it may take longer than a fast acting medicine. Therapy should be recommended if you have a non psychotic disorder or a minor disorder than can be quickly resolved. Though medication works faster, it can be addictive; the best type of treatment would be a combination of both.

A study was done in the 70’s by psychiatrist named Klerman, finding that a combined treatment of psychotherapy and medication is superior to either treatment alone. The study founded that psychotherapy can enhance the effectiveness of medication. Concurrent treatment may also improve the therapeutic alliance and enhance patient satisfaction with treatment. The therapeutic alliance, in turn, has a profound effect on antidepressant efficacy (Klerman, 2). It’s also founded that the side effects of the medication will be less likely due to being preoccupied with whatever type of therapy the person is on.

It’s also said a person with a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia will benefit and cope much more with medication and psychotherapy.

Nowadays with the increase of adolescents quickly getting diagnosed with bipolar, ADHD and even depression, doctors are too quick to give medication out to them, which in of it’s self should be known that they are still developing and growing; doctors and their parents need to exhaust every single option before considering the child to take medication. Psychotherapy would be the absolute best option for adolescents especially, since they are easily impressionable and can get professional help to outgrow the issue. Yes, there has been significant improvement from both doctors and the person that is ill; knowing which illness they have and the patient actually seeking to get help. But just like the way the opioid epidemic is headed, where they exhaust all options before prescribing pain medication, the same needs to be looked at with mental illness.

Sources
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201507/psychotherapy-vs-medications-the-verdict-is-in

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201108/13-qualities-look-in-effective-psychotherapist

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/depression/combining-drug-therapy-and-psychotherapy-depression/page/0/1

http://www.abct.org/Help/?m=mFindHelp&fa=CBT_Or_Medication#a1

Media Production Post: Eating Fast = Weight Gain?

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

News Article [736 Words]
https://psychcentral.com/lib/eating-too-quickly-may-encourage-weight-gain/

Scholarly Article
https://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2002

Article Rewrite [261 words]:

As society moves forward, convenience develops. Convenience has been created to make a person’s life so much simpler such as in how we eat and what we eat. Fast food, take away, delivery, microwavable foods, etc. are inexpensive and easy to take on the go. Could the types of food we eat be a contributor to the speed of how we eat? Are there addictive ingredients or preservatives that cause us to feel full much less? The professor’s study created a randomly assigned group of Japanese men and women varying of ages 30-69 years old. A large percentage of the participants were considered to be obese which is a BMI of 25. According to National Institutes of Health, being clinically obese is 30 and above. Though it’s not certain how long the study went on for, they were given questionnaires to record how fast they ate a meal and how full they feel after they were done. The study relied on straight up honesty from the participants, though they would also have a family member or friend re-confirm if the answers were truthful. After looking over the speed, fullness and taking into consideration of ones intake of alcohol, cigarettes and exercise, the study concluded that eating too fast does contribute to weight gain. Which can lead to other issues such as diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, the list of medical risks because of obesity are endless. Though the study doesn’t state why people eat fast, it’s assumed that an unhealthy upbringing can influence the risk of obesity, where they tend to overeat and eat fast. It’s suggested that parents need to take part in their children’s eating habits, taking bites and teaching them to enjoy and savor the taste until they are full.

Reflection

I found myself asking questions when I was done reading the article about the study. The article had a great start telling us about the participants in the study and how they were assigned. They gave out the specifics of the type of Japanese men and women that were selected, but as the article went on it was quite vague of what the research and data consisted of let alone a final determination. Yes, it was presumed that eating too fast does cause weight gain, but where is the data supporting that? As the article went on, I felt that a complete 180 jump happened when the author of this article began discussing healthy eating among preschools. Again, I was asking myself if they were part of the study, an addition to the study, and were they even Japanese. I honestly believe that this news article definitely should not be considered for informational and research purposes. Out of the five critical questions, they answered the ones about the participants and it’s variables but that is it. Reading the scholarly article compared to the news article was as if it was a whole new study. I personally never even thought about looking for research articles over ones you find on google about the study; from now on I will be looking at the scholarly articles for the key information much more than the news articles.

Schizophrenia: Elyn Saks

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

Watching Elyn Saks was a breath of fresh air for me. I unfortunately don’t know too much about schizophrenia, assuming it was related to multiple personality disorder and they can never live a normal life. I get this impression from the media and also from one of my friends moms, who has schizophrenia. I’ve met her and she’s always talking about that someone is after her and that we need to check the closets in the house. She lives with my friend because my friend found her not taking care of herself on her own.

Elyn describes schizophrenia just like what I’ve witnessed, the paranoia and intense nightmares she experiences while she’s awake, opened my eyes. It’s incredibly scary and unpredictable for the person that has it. I admire the fact that Elyn has taken a stand and is not just a psychologist but a firm believer that people of mental illness should not be in restraints. Showing this to my friend, she said she needed to see this because she finds herself getting so angry at her mom, she needs to realize it’s not her fault and there is no thoughts of sending her to a psych ward.

Elyn should be shown to people in the medical world and take consideration of what she believes helps people like her.

Intelligence Option 2

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

Many people consider intelligence to be largely determined by genetics, but there is I was in public school, then cyber school then back to public school. Growing up, I used to be an honor roll student taking pride in my work and my success, it was mainly due because of my mom. My mom would always take the time to sit down with me and do flashcards, help me with writing, practically every subject in school she would help me. My mom is very intelligent from what I remember, she was excellent at math and jeopardy. Which Jeopardy can be considered pointless facts, but do you ever see someone of low IQ on the show? But anyway, my classes weren’t very substantial. As I got older the studying at home stopped and family issues came about which deterred my learning. Public school in middle school to me, was more of a popularity contest. The environment was created to where if you weren’t an athlete and a class clown, you didn’t matter. Being social at school I’m pretty sure got in the way of not just my education, but others. The classroom setting in public schools were nearly the same as everyone else, a lot of kids misbehaving and teachers only there for a paycheck. I remember one of my teachers having a mental breakdown, screaming at us as she broke those long rulers into pieces. It gave me the attitude that if they don’t care, and if no one else cares, and my parents don’t care, why should I? So I stopped trying, and I barely made it through high school. In between middle school and high school I did class online, which was a huge fail because the computer was in my bedroom and while class went on, I’d go surf the internet. There wasn’t any affirmative set of teaching for me, which I personally believe there isn’t one. On my free time I taught myself haiku and started writing short stories or fan fiction. I believe that is what I would call “writing smart” or just being productive with my time. No one in my family has gone to college, mainly working blue collar or even under the table because of their lack of trust in the government. Currently my brain is being tested with college, where I’m the only one (so far), that hasn’t dropped out. Whats different about college is that in Elizabethtown, with it being a smaller school the teachers focus on each student. I am able to meet with my teachers and learn new ways to understand the curriculum more; and it helps knowing that I WANT to learn. College has been the best type of schooling that I ever received, which is sad in a way because I look back and think that my teachers who couldn’t handle being a teacher could have sat down and had one life changing conversation with me, to change my mind that the people in school now don’t matter, what matters is your education. It took me until my mid 20’s to figure that out.

Motivation

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

I chose to write about my motivation for school and why I chose Elizabethtown College. I was never in my life motivated to go to school or even care to perform well in school. I was very set in joining the Military and staying in for the rest of my life. Well, things like real life tend to happen, and I’m no longer in the military. Thinking back, a had so many peers urge me that I should go to college especially because being a member of the military, they help pay for your tuition. At that time I had zero patience and motivation to seek out going back to school after never really trying in high school. It took me several years later and I honestly didn’t really “plan” on going to college, just one day I called a old military friend and asked her how do I apply. I didn’t think of a major or anything, I just knew if I delayed it any longer I’d lose motivation. It’s just the type of person I am, impatient.

I actually have friends who are social workers, and they’ve always discussed to me what they do and the pros and cons about it followed by the need for my social workers. I’ve always wanted to help female veterans especially, because the social workers in my time have failed me. It just so happened that Elizabethtown College offers a social work major and that it’s not at all far near my home. I believe the closeness of the college besides having the major I wanted gives me more motivation every day to go to class, because it’s right there. I don’t have to worry about traffic, worry about how late I would get home, chores, cooking, and other things an engaged 28 year old home owner needs to do. So I guess to sum it all up my motivation definitely comes through convenience.

I have a lot of days, especially this week for some reason to even go to class and engage in the lecture. Sometimes my motivation goes down because I sometimes get beyond overwhelmed with all the assignments that I need to get done. That and lack of sleep just makes the situation worse for myself. The best advice I received from a teacher was to just keep showing up to class, no matter what. So no matter how I feel that day, formed this habit to not question if I should or shouldn’t go. I just go. It makes it worth it in the end because I don’t feel like I’m missing anything in the lecture.

To maintain motivation until graduation, again the closeness of the school helps. I email updates at least every two weeks to someone in the school that checks on my accountability and if I have any concerns or questions. I am very honest with her and she helps me a lot to maintain my consistency. My family member also goes over my goals and keeps me accountable and gives me reasons why graduating from college would be a great thing for me, which usually is realistic and exciting.

Johari Window – Extra Credit Post

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

Last week I was able to get 15 people to pick 5-6 personality traits they believed I had. I picked for myself kind, observant, quiet, self-conscious, mature, and nervous. Picking good things and not so good things about myself that I wish I could approve on. These we my results from everyone else:

60% of people think that Eitmaher is friendly
53% of people think that Eitmaher is powerful

able (20%) accepting (26%) adaptable (0%) bold (13%) brave (46%) calm (0%) caring (46%) cheerful (13%) clever (0%) complex (6%) confident (0%) dependable (0%) dignified (0%) energetic (46%) extroverted (0%) friendly (60%) giving (26%) happy (6%) helpful (6%) idealistic (0%) independent (20%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (13%) introverted (0%) kind (6%) knowledgeable (6%) logical (0%) loving (13%) mature(6%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (20%) organised (6%) patient (0%) powerful (53%) proud (6%) quiet (6%) reflective (0%) relaxed (0%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (0%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (6%) sensible (0%) sentimental (6%) shy (6%) silly (13%) spontaneous (0%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (26%) warm (13%) wise (0%) witty (6%)

I honestly didn’t look too much into this personality quiz because I believe there are better quizzes out there that friends could fill out for me. I felt like the choices were almost too nice. I already know I’m friendly and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that result. If I wasn’t friendly enough, would I have any one do this quiz for me? The second most picked choice was powerful, which it was kind of surprising. Most of the people that did this quiz, I train with at the gym so I feel like I would say that to them as well if they had me do a quiz for them. I would like to have the quiz follow with questions of why they picked these particular traits, and what I could improve on. I feel like the results I received is what I already know but I actually more than anything appreciated the people that took the time to fill this quiz out. Again, this test would be more sincere and even fun for me and others if it was more in depth, by asking questions and giving honest feedback. Nonetheless it was still fun.

Personality Quizzes

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

I took all four quizzes and I will give each quiz a brief description, breakdown and opinion of my results:

1.) The first quiz is called the Jung Topology Test where you answer questions about you depending on how you are currently feeling. My results were Introvert (62%), Sensing (38%), Feeling (3%), Judging (1%). Followed by in-depth descriptions of your general personality, careers you most likely would match with, etc. I actually found this quiz to be the best one out of all four. It was the most accurate obtaining towards me and the questions that I answered to give me those specific results seemed to make sense.

2.) This one made no sense to me, it had the same style of questions like the first one, and it resulted in giving me jobs/personality traits that are completely opposite of me. The top five results were confusing to me; it was divided into job categories. For one, I am not a leader or want to be a leader, nor am I aggressive if appointed as a leader. Not good at advertising, politics and acting. Then followed by more leadership positions. I guess the closest personality trait I would have is the “inventor” since I don’t conform into the trends, I look at all possibilities.
ENFJ “Pedagogue”
Outstanding leader of groups. Can be aggressive at helping others be the best that they can be. 5% of the total population.
ENFP “Journalist”
Love novelty and surprises. They are big on emotions and expression. Life is an exciting drama. They are good at sales, advertising, politics, and acting. 5% of the total population.
ENTJ “Field Marshall”
The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 5% of the total population.
ENTP “Inventor”
Enthusiastic interest in everything and always sensitive to possibilities. Non-conformist and innovative. 5% of the total population.

3.) This quiz had a scale from disagree, neutral and agree; focusing on mood, how organized you are, whether you are happy, etc. This one is like the questionnaires I take at my doctors. The results gave you a scale of five personality traits and described the traits you have if you had a high number or low number:

Extroversion (4) “shut in”, Emotional Stability (34) “stable”, Agreeableness (11) “friendly-aggressive”, Conscientiousness (31) “careful and diligent”, Intellect/Imagination (14) “openness to experience”

I would say this one was pretty accurate, though I wish there was more reasoning to why I got these answers.

4.) Honestly I thought the color quiz was to be the most pointless but was pretty surprised by how I can relate to a lot of the results this color test gave me:

Feels there are barriers between herself and the essential things she desires. High standards, demanding and picky with her relationships. Situations brought tension and anxiety which are out of her control, feeling helpless, anxious and inadequate.

It pointed out ALOT that I am self-centered and thats the reason why I can’t achieve my realistic goals and that I take things too personally. I don’t agree with that, I’d like to believe that their intake of being self-centered is I am more independent and trusting of myself more than others to achieve success due to my experiences. If this color quiz had more questions, I’d probably find them to be more credible in that situation.

Other than that I had fun taking these personality quizzes, though I do believe that I do have a strong view of who I am and what traits I have to offer without taking a personality test.

Week 9: Emotion – Option 3

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

I decided to write about option three because I thought this would be fun to write about as well as see the other students picks of music. I instantly thought of the band Foster The People “Pumped up Kicks”. This song came out several years ago and I remember how me and my friends just got so hooked to this song. It sounds like such a chill out song and yet even a song to dance to, we’d sing the lyrics without a real thought to what it means. I think like most people we respond to the sound of the song, and if you like the sound you don’t really care what the lyrics are. A friend told me that this song is actually messed up. I looked up the lyrics and it’s definitely not what I was picturing in my head when I listened to the song. It’s about a kid who is losing his mind, getting his dads gun out of the closet planning revenge against his peers.

“Yeah found a six-shooter gun, in his dad’s closet hidden in a box of fun things. I don’t even know what, but he’s coming for you, yeah he’s coming for you.”

“Pumped Up Kicks” which the other kids in this song are wearing: it’s actually a old basketball shoe that was popular in the late 80s-90s. The sneaker had a pump shaped like a basketball on the tongue, and the idea was that if you needed a little extra lift, you could just give it a few pumps. The chorus is the shooter telling the kids to watch out and that he’s coming for them.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, out run my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet

My opinion of this song did change a bit. I was honestly more impressed with the band creating a song that isn’t just about sex or preteen love. The song is quite realistic and doesn’t need to speak of any violence or swear words to get the point across. Though it’s a very catchy song and it’s hard to get the meaning unless you read the lyrics or listen closely, it could also be a song that will be overlooked or even someone who is easily influenced would want to reenact this song. It may be far to assume, but these days nothing is surprising anymore.