Tag Archives: Spring 2018

Media Production Project

--Original published at Miguel's College Blog

News Article: (1034 words)

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201801/why-smarter-men-make-better-partners

Scholarly Article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886917305780

Article Rewrite: (327)

Finding the right partner can be a hit or miss situation. One of the common problems people have in relationships is knowing if their partner is “the one.” If there was a way to  see if your partner was going to be your potential “one,” would you trust it?

A recent study by Jaakko Aspara, Kristina Wittkowski, and Xueming Luo (2018) studied the role of intelligence in marriage behavior based on the statistical evidence from 120,290 males who took a cognitive test before entering the Finnish military. The results of the study suggests the partner who is smarter is going to be the best bet for a long term relationship.

The researchers claimed there was a positive correlation between high intelligence scores and marriage outcomes. The researchers took scores from the cognitive test and watched marriage statuses of the males who took the test from 2007 to 2011. Those who scored higher on the test statistically were more likely to get married, and stay married, in comparison to their peers who scored lower. An interesting variable the researchers added into their study was car possession and size and how that adds to marriage outcomes as well.

The intelligence test was taken from the Finnish Defense Forces, given before admittance to the military, and the marriage records were taken from public marriage registers from Finland’s Population Register Center. The test gathered verbal, numerical, and logical intelligence, with verbal intelligence being highlighted by the researchers as having a larger effect on marriage likelihood. They believed that a high verbal intelligence allowed for better communication skills and therefore, better probability for marriage.

The researchers took a biological stance in how intelligence affects marriage and how that can affect fitness of an individual. Fitness of an individual is how many offspring one individual can produce. The hypothesis at hand then is that by having high intelligence increases the chance of getting married, increasing the chance of the opportunity to reproduce, thus increasing one’s biological fitness.

Reflection:

Summarizing the research article was pretty easy to do because the news article had 1,034 words, which left me with more than enough room to substantially describe the findings of the article in depth enough. I did have to make sure that I did not go too in depth with the article because the original research article had much more statistical evidence and values to defend their results. Adding statistics and more numbers into the news article probably would have confused the reader and may turn the reader away from reading the entire article. What was difficult in this assignment was trying to include the most important parts of the research article for the rewrite now that I read the actual research article. There was a lot of extraneous information included in the research article that may be interesting to know but for the news article I had to figure out whether or not it was important for an overall understanding of the research. My perspective of journalists have evolved over the course because now I understand how difficult writing about research actually is. Journalists not only have to find the research, but they also have to thoroughly read the article and understand it. After that, they have to write an article that is precise enough to hit all the main points of the research, as well as being easy to understand for the reader. Reading the news article first gave me confidence in understanding the research article because the news article was easy to understand and gave me a general understanding of the research article. When I read the research article, the article was dense and filled with graphs and numbers that were confusing. It took me a couple of reads to actually understand the results that were given by the study. This assignment was really beneficial in that I now understand better how to digest news articles and check the actual research to completely understand what the research is telling me.

 

Spotlight Post #3

--Original published at JanellesCollegeBlog

For my last spotlight post, I decided to write about intelligence and whether or not year-round schooling is a good idea. Although students may hate the idea, there are some valid pros to year-round schooling. The first article states that students will actually remember what they learn, like school, and the achievement gap will start to be bridged. In summer break, students often lose a good amount of information that they worked hard to learn during the school year. We have all experienced this effect when we know we learned something the previous year but just cannot recall it. With year round schooling, there would be less time to lose this precious information. The article also believes that students would tend to like school more because there would be more time for students and teachers to build stronger relationships. The achievement gap is between minorities and other students in school. Research has shown that minorities are likely to lose more information over summer vacation than other students, so year-round schooling would help these children benefit from the education that they are receiving. Also, this would hopefully help decrease the drop out rates for minorities if they start seeing results from their schooling. The second article presented ten arguments for year-round school. These included easier vacation scheduling, solving overcrowding in schools, benefiting low-income students, having more frequent breaks, allowing teachers to earn more money, increasing respect for teachers, getting rid of an educational system meant for a different time, limiting time constraints on teachers, allowing students to advance more quickly, and cutting down on loss of information. This article talks about a multitrack system where there would be different groups in the school and one group would have vacation at one time while the others were in school and then the vacations would be rotated throughout the year, thus solving overcrowding in school. The system would also allow students to advance at the pace that they are able to go instead of having students restricted by grades like the current system does, which would allow students to achieve more. The article also thinks year-round school would be a good thing for teachers. They could earn more money instead of potentially having to pick up second jobs in the summer, would get more respect from other professions that consider them lazy for having a break in summer, and would be less constrained with time and could cover more material over the course of a year. The last new perspective that this article had was that the current school system was designed for an agricultural society where families needed their children to help cultivate crops over the summer when they were not in school. Society does not revolve around this labor anymore and the article’s point was that the system should actually match society.

The two articles against year-round schooling have valid points against the idea. The first article states that the academic benefits have not actually been proven and students will forget the same amount of information in 3 weeks as in 10, so teachers may actually have to take more time reviewing information previously learned throughout the course of the year. Summer camps and the ability for older students to hold a summer job would become obsolete. Also, extracurricular activities that usually practice throughout the summer would run into scheduling issues with this time taken away. Finally, if schools implemented a multitrack system, parents with children in different tracks would have an impossible time trying to schedule a family vacation because the children would have different breaks. The second article states three main arguments against year-round schooling including it being more expensive, children not having enough down time, and scheduling conflicts. Summer months have the highest rates of energy consumption so school districts would actually have to pay more to run schools year-round. This shot to the school budget could create other budget cuts elsewhere lessening the opportunities that students have. Finally, summer break is a vital time for childhood development where students need to get out of sitting in a classroom and go outside. Summer allows children to do this and to experience the outdoors.

Personally, with a lot of bias from being an actual student, I do not agree with the arguments for year-round schooling. I think summer is an important time needed for students to be able to relax, spend time with their families, go on vacations, and take a break from school. It is a good time to recharge before the new school year. I have experienced the issue of forgetting information from one year to the next, but I agree with the first against article that stated the loss of information would happen anyway even within a shorter amount of time, so teachers would need to spend more time reviewing over the year. Also, I do not believe that stronger relationships between students and teachers would occur because there would be a huge backlash from students when this system would be implemented. Students would actually end up hating school more. I also do not believe that it would allow students to advance more quickly because I do not think that schools would get rid of grades. Also, if there was a really intelligent 11-year old that advanced through all of school, I have a hard time believing that they would be allowed to graduate. Finally, I agree with the argument that it would help bridge the gap for minority students, but I do not believe that this huge jump to year-round schooling needs to be made just to help the minority. I think that other programs could be tried first during summers to help these students keep up with their learning and work. This would be a better first step to trying to bridge the gap between students. Overall though, I do not support the idea of year-round schooling.

For year-round schooling:

http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/

https://www.screenflex.com/reasons-why-year-round-school-is-a-good-idea/

Against year-round schooling:

https://www.thoughtco.com/year-round-education-6742

http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/

 

 

Spotlight Post #3 – Overcoming Peer Pressure

--Original published at Site Title

Facing peer pressure is an inevitable thing that we all surely have some experience with. Although peer pressure can sometimes be a positive thing, more often than not it is negative. Considering the fact that the majority of the students in this class are underclassmen, peer pressure is probably more prevalent in our lives than it is in most other categories of people. The following link is to a website that offers suggestions as to how college students can avoid giving in to the peer pressures that they face.

https://www.mazzittiandsullivan.com/preparing-student-resist-peer-pressure-college/

As we all probably know, one of the most common pressures we face as college students is the temptation to drink alcohol. In a lot of college settings, drinking has become a norm even though it is illegal for a large percentage of the students who participate in it. According to the article above, there are several things a college student can do to help them resist engaging in these behaviors. One strategy is to become involved in as many activities as you can. These activities can include sports teams, clubs, and pretty much any other thing that takes time out of your day. When someone has less time, they are less likely to party because they just don’t have the time to. Being involved in clubs like this is also a great way to create relationships with people. A lot of times you will hear college students say one of the main reasons they attend parties is to be social and meet new people. If you already have established relationships, you will be less likely to succumb to peer pressures. Additionally, you will have more of a sense of belonging, causing you to feel more secure. Based upon what we have discussed in class, I feel as if this is a valid suggestion that could prove to be a successful strategy. At one point we learned that it is in human nature to want to be seen as “cool” or just to be liked in the eyes of others. This is exactly why people give into peer pressures so frequently. However, it is less likely if you already have a good group of people who you know are in your corner regardless of the choices you make.

While college students and young adults face a lot of peer pressure, there are many other groups of people that struggle with the same issues. Specifically, athletes. Athletes often have this reputation of being “cool” and “the life of the party”. The following article consists of strategies that are geared specifically towards what athletes can do to avoid peer pressure.

https://www.positiveperformancetraining.com/blog/female-athletes-and-peer-pressure

This article gave five tips as to what an athlete can do in peer pressure situations. One is to be aware of your feelings. As I have previously mentioned, we discussed in class that it is normal to want to be liked and you can be aware of the fact that you want to be liked. Being aware of this can remind you that sometimes the impulses that you’re facing are not things that you really want to do in the long run, even though it may seem like a good idea at the time. The second tip is to ask yourself questions such as “would I be proud of this in ten years?”. Next, gather a support system. Having people in your corner will remind you that you do not need to try to impress others in order to be liked. The next tip is to remind yourself of why you decided to not make a certain decision. Just because you overcame peer pressure once doesn’t mean that it will always be easy. Remind yourself why you are making the sacrifice that you are, and what your goal is. Finally, do something that will help you to build up your inner strength. Doing things like meditating, keeping a journal, and working on your self-talk will help you to become more secure in yourself. Similarly to the first article, I believe that the tips in this article could help someone to successfully avoid giving into peer pressure. Again, we discussed in class that it is on our human nature to want people to like us. If you were to follow these tips, it is likely that you will become more secure in yourself, decreasing the need for others approval. Therefore, peer pressure will be easier to overcome.

A third group of people that struggle with facing peer pressure are teens. Middle school and high school can be pretty rough for many kids. Fitting in is super important for most kids, and often times kids will do things that they don’t actually want to do in order to seem cool. This article is targeted specifically at what parents can do to help their children avoid peer pressure.

http://paofdurango.com/helping-kids-avoid-peer-pressure/

This article gives parents five suggestions of strategies they can use to help their children avoid peer pressure. The first suggestion is to teach their children how to say no to things like cigarettes, alcohol, etc. The second suggestion is talking to their children about how to avoid situations where they know rules will be broken. Next is to remind children that there is strength in numbers, and having support will make resisting peer pressure easier. It is also important to let teens know that it is okay to to seek the advice of adults. Finally, parents should do their best to raise their kids to have a high self-esteem. I believe all of these strategies are likely to successfully help teens avoid peer pressure for the same reasons as the previous two articles. Human beings want to be accepted, and we want to feel as if everyone likes us. However, when we are informed, secure, and strong-willed, the desire for others to determine our worth is lessened. Therefore, succumbing to peer pressure is less likely.  

Media Production Project

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

It is a common belief and misconception that as the cold weather approaches, depression worsens, most commonly known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Most people believe that the colder weather lowers an individual’s mood, slows their mind and become more prone to depression. This misconception was caused by a SAD study conducted in which the participants recruited believed that they had this diagnosis. This ultimately led to bias and skewed results. An improved study was conducted by Megan K. Traffanstedt, Sheila Mehta and Steven G. LoBello to determine if a seasonally related pattern of occurrence of major depression could be demonstrated in a population-based study.

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional U.S. survey of adults, from 18-99 years old. A total of 34,294 participants were randomly chosen from a population registry during all four seasons. The study was based on a larger population representative sample. The researchers ensured that depression measurement was consistent with DSM criteria, was population representative, the participants were unaware of the seasonal hypothesis and were aware of the effects of variables. The survey included the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8), which was the current measure of depression, and was conducted in 36 different states. The data collected was interpreted using regression models to determine if depression was related to sunlight exposure. The study was sure to investigate the latitude, season and sunlight exposure in each participant, and took those factors into account.

The latitude was classified as an individual living in the northern, middle or southern latitude and this aspect was tabulated at the time of the survey. The researchers were also able to acknowledge the duration of daylight for most U.S. areas. The amount of sunlight exposure ranged from 8 hours and 43 minutes to 15 hours and 37 minutes. A few analyses of the correlation between depression and sunlight were evaluated. The first being if depression is related to season, second being if latitude or season independently interacted with depression scores.

The study resulted that seasonal variables were not related to depression scores. The same results came from the effects of latitude. Most importantly the amount of sunlight exposure did not significantly alter depression scores. There was no association with depression scores and sunlight in the total sample or in the participants who had increased depression scores. Additionally there was not a correlation of sunlight exposure the day of the interview and the depression score.

This study conducted is able to be representative of the entire U.S. population and was properly executed to ensure no self-selection bias. The results of this study doubt that major depression with seasonal variation is an actual psychiatric disorder. It is evident to note that just because an individual is depressed in winter does not mean that their depression is caused by winter itself.

 

 

Reflection:

I found this assignment challenging because I quickly realized that the news article contained very little information to support what they were discussing. I am definitely an individual who believed what I read in news articles online; however my views have completely changed. I am now aware that the news article that I read did not contain any of the 5 important questions and did not provide the reader with any information that could verify their results. Overall both the news article and the scholarly article had the same results which allowed me to at least agree with the outcome of the news article. I did not have a lot of difficulty summarizes the research article because my original news article was 1,496 words, which gave me a ton of room to include the necessary aspects of the research for the reader to understand the study. Interestingly the difficult part was to not include too much detail that the reader would not be able to understand what I was trying to say. In the scholarly article much more information was given but not necessarily all of the information could be used in the new summary. The summary was challenging because I needed to prioritize and organize the information in a way that would make sense to the reader. I did have trouble deciding how in depth I should go or if I was being too vague. I now understand the difficulty of journalist who does not have full control of what to include in an article if they are under a word constraint. It is not their fault that they were not able to provide the reader with all the information necessary. Overall I found this assignment incredibly helpful and it now allows me to look at things in a different light.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/19/health/your-brain-on-winter/index.html

(News Article)

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167702615615867

(Scholarly Article)

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

Image result for quotes on antidepressants

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

First Impression Post Week 16

--Original published at Sidney's college blogs

For this week’s first impression post, I decided to explore the campaign Change Direction, in option number 2. The campaign is used to encourage people to open up about mental illnesses. For such a long time, people avoided talking about mental illnesses. Having a mental illness always made others either act uncomfortable or rude towards that person. This campaign helps to break this stereotype for those with mental illness. Their goal is to bring others together to form a support group for them. Talking about mental illness is okay, it is not a bad thing. This is important for people to know and realize. The site says that 1 in every 5 people have a mental illness. Unfortunately, having a mental illness is fairly common. On the positive side, it allows for people to relate and form bond to better themselves in these areas. I feel as though the campaign would be effective as long as the audience was listening. We all grew up hearing the countless presentations and programs on drug use, and they stick in your mind. I think that if this program is introduced as persistently as drug awareness programs are, then it would be very effective. They would understand that it is a serious deal, it is not something to joke around about or to take lightly. I think a strength of this program is the ability to change the bad stereotype on those with a mental illness. A weakness to the campaign is that there is always the possibility of people not taking it seriously. However, I think that if it is portrayed correctly, this would not be a problem. I think that if this campaign was set up at Elizabethtown College, a lot of people would benefit. The site has the 5 warning signs to look out for in yourself or others. This would be very useful for everyone to know in college. You get down on yourself and you get stressed out to the max while in college. Having negative thoughts and emotions are inevitable in college no matter where you go. Knowing all of this information that this program has to offer would benefit everyone in some way or another. Whether it be for themselves, a friend, or someone they meet later on in life. You never know when you will be in a tough position, so this information could be helpful for now and later. I think the best way to reach the campus would be through dedicating an entire week to it. There could be flyers around campus and in the bathroom stalls with the 5 warning signs and different information on it. There could be different games to play while educating the college students about these mental illnesses. If I have learned anything at college, it is that a college student will do just about anything for a free t-shirt. I think that almost everyone takes mental illnesses seriously in college. I think many would be willing to learn about the facts and what the campaign has to offer.

Spotlight #3

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

When an individual has a mental health condition it is possible to be treated effectively through the use of medication or by pursuing psychotherapy. Some may believe that one is more effective than the other, or that one option is the correct option. Major Depressive Disorder has become the most common mental illness and the methods of treatment are becoming controversial.

The first article by Dave Asprey, “How to fight depression without medication”, focuses on how previously the chemical imbalance theory, where the individuals neurotransmitters were not balanced. This is why they believed prescribing medication could resolve the problem, however the drug prescribed did not alter the serotonin levels and did not work and that the benefits of these drugs is actually the placebo effect. He also explained how prescription drugs are overprescribed, and the amount of prescriptions written has increased annually. The risks of antidepressants that are most common are anxiety, agitation, insomnia, weight gain and an upset stomach. After listing all the symptoms of the antibiotics he states “I think we can do better”. His belief is that there are 5 science based hacks for a stronger brain. The first being meditation and mindfulness which have shown results of alleviating pain, stress, anxiety and depression. He also explains that getting outside more can rapidly lower stress hormones. Along with this he explains exercise and nutrition is more effective and safer for individuals with a more mild depression. Lastly he explains how to reduce oxidative stress by eliminating fats and increasing vegetables. Along with this talking to another individual can greatly benefit and aid an individual through a tough time. Although this article has a strong view point on fighting depression without medication, the source is not the most credible because it was posted on a blog and is heavily opinionated. However, he does get most of his information from reliable online sources.

Another article “Coping with Depression”, encourages individuals to handle stress on their own and emphasizes a more natural method and urges to talk to other people. Authors Melinda Smith, Lawrence Robinson, Jenn Shubin and Jeanne Segal collaboratively came up with simple steps to take in order to better help individuals with depression. The main idea they stress is reach out and stay connected in order to get support because it is difficult to overcome depression on your own. They make it aware that an individual may feel guilty of not sustaining relationships, but that is just the depression talking. In order to stay connected they recommend looking for people that make them feel safe, face time, keep up with social activities, care for a pet, or join a support group for depression. They also recommend doing things that make you feel good, exercise, eat healthy and get a daily dose of sunlight. If these self-help steps do not improve an individual’s state of being, then it is the best option to seek professional help. They emphasize not feeling guilty for not being able to handle it on their own, rather be proud of the fact you are trying to get better and are not giving up. I believe that this article was not the most credible because although the information seems accurate and logical the reference sited was from a “.com” rather than supported by medical research.

On the other hand an article written for Psychology Today, “The blues is depression. Should you treat it with pills?”, interprets the benefits of using medication to treat depression. No doubt the article explains that there are downsides to using medication, similarly with all medications there will be side effects. There is a 60% effectiveness of the people who use antibiotics for depression. They also explain that these medications do help people and people experience relatively few side effects. It is also noted that medication is a short term fix and should be used until you feel better, but be sure to wean off slowly and not all at once. It is most heavily noted that medication and psychotherapy both have very similar effectiveness rates, but medication has a direct impact more quickly. This article is more reliable because the author herself, Susan Heitler, has a Ph.D and is more educated on this topic and included reliable sources.

Another article titled “Depression: How effective are antidepressants?”. The author explains how antidepressants are a key part of treating depression. They are effective for moderate, severe and chronic depression. It is beneficial to relieve symptoms such as sadness and exhaustion, but most importantly prohibits them from coming back. The medicine is aimed to restore emotional balance, and increases the ability of certain chemicals. The more severe the depression is, the more effective the medication will be, but it varies within each individual. I found this source very credible because the article was posted on PubMed and contained factual information as well as obtained their information from a great amount of credible references.

In my opinion, I believe that psychotherapy is the better option and should be the first method for an individual who is dealing with depression. Most of the individuals who sided with medication argued that it was more effective quicker but does not have a lasting impact. On the other hand, psychotherapy is a slow continuous process, that will have a much larger impact on the individual and allow themselves to be cured properly. I also think that psychotherapy is much safer and there are no known side effects like there are with antidepressants. Overall, psychotherapy is the same effectiveness as antidepressants, but does not create additional symptoms.

 

https://blog.bulletproof.com/how-to-fight-depression-medication/

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/coping-with-depression.htm

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resolution-not-conflict/201110/the-blues-is-depression-should-you-treat-it-pills

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0087089/

Week 16 First Impression Prompts – Mental Health Treatment

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, use the tag “Mental Health Treatment.” The first impression posts will be due by the beginning of class on Wednesday, 5/2. The refinement posts will be due at 5pm on Sunday, 5/6.

Option 1:

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.

Option 2:

Former First Lady Michelle Obama contributed a considerable amount of energy and support into a campaign targeting increased awareness of mental health issues called Change Direction. Using the information provided on their website (http://www.changedirection.org) evaluate how effective you think the campaign will be in general. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign? Will college students pay attention to this or not and why? If Etown was going to do an awareness campaign to help students identify mental health issues in their friends and classmates, how should they go about doing it to give it the best chance of actually working?

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Media Production Project

--Original published at Melissa's Blog

The 2015 study, “High School Students’ Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Vaporize Cannabis,” published by Meghan Morean in the journal Pediatrics, reports an influx in teens use of cannabis. Instead of smoking cannabis, today’s cunning youth are getting high by vaporizing cannabis in e-cigarettes.

Morean, an assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College, and fellow researchers, surveyed 3,847 students from five Connecticut high schools, from varying socioeconomic standings. To determine if vaporizing cannabis was most prevalent in a particular population, the participants listed their demographic information: age, sex, socioeconomic status, and the name of their high school.

Morean reported an 89.9% variance between demographics and using e-cigarettes to vaporize cannabis (Morean, p. 613). This means the students’ age, sex, and high school were influential. Morean noted the student’ socioeconomic statuses were not statistically significant. It was necessary to include the high schools in the demographic information because their substance tolerance and rules, which Morean called “cannabis culture,” influenced the students’ likelihood to use cannabis and e-cigarettes (p. 614).

The survey asked students to state if they ever used cannabis, if yes, how often, and the devices/methods they used to get high, in the last 30 days. Morean labeled the students who never tried cannabis as “never users,” (e-cigarettes: 72.1%, cannabis: 70.8%); those who ever tried cannabis as “lifetime users,” (e-cigarettes: 27.9%, cannabis: 29.2%); and those who ever tried both as “lifetime dual e-cigarette and cannabis users,” (18.8%) (p. 613). These labels do not account for students who only tried cannabis and/or e-cigarettes once. Being classified as a “lifetime user or dual user” infers the students get high regularly, which is likely false. Thus, Morean’s data may not be representative of the population, all high school students. Next, the cannabis and/or e-cigarette users selected their preferred device/method: “e-cigarettes with hash oil,” “e-cigarettes with a wax plug,” “portable vaporizers with dried marijuana,” and “other” (p. 613).

Morean determined the correlations between the above data. The results showed the most prominent cannabis users were lifetime dual users (26.5%), followed by lifetime cannabis users (18.4%), and lastly, lifetime e-cigarette users (18%) (p. 613). The most used devises were portable electronic vaporizers with dried cannabis (6.7%), then e-cigarettes with hash oil (4.5%), and lastly, e-cigarettes with wax (3%) (p. 613). The data proposes high schoolers are more likely to experiment with cannabis and e-cigarettes than adults; 5.4% of the students surveyed used e-cigarettes to vape cannabis, compared to only .2% of adults. The study’s overall findings indicate young male high school students, classified as lifetime dual users, are the most likely to use e-cigarettes to vaporize cannabis (p. 614).

Morean reminds parents to closely observe and monitor their children to protect them from the harms of cannabis. She adds, cannabis from e-cigarettes is odorless, thus, harder to notice, and cannabis oil used in e-cigarettes is stronger and more dangerous than dried cannabis.

One limitation to Morean’s research was the participating schools were all from Connecticut, a state that prohibits cannabis and those under 18 from using e-cigarettes. Another weakness was collecting data with a survey, which relies on integrity. Consequently, many self-report methods suffer from social desirability, lying to be praised or accepted, and malingering, purposely making yourself look bad. Another disadvantage to using surveys is the lack of treatments or control groups. Additionally, the study’s sample size of 3,847 students is too small to represent all high school students. Thus, Morean’s study fails to generalize to the intended population.

Morean study would have been more relevant and significant if she surveyed more diverse students. She failed to account for demographics such as race, religion, and culture. Morean attempted to incorporate race, however, she had to remove it because the sample was 85.9% Caucasian (p. 612). Lastly, Morean did not include how many students were from each school. This is problematic because more students could have been from schools with liberal tolerances toward cannabis and e-cigarettes, than from stringent schools.

Reflection

In my summary, I included essential information the news article left out. The news article did not mention the considerable influence of the students’ demographic information. I referenced the demographic portion of the survey because Morean found it significant. Specifically, Morean emphasized that the high schools’ drug tolerances influenced whether students’ used cannabis and e-cigarettes. Further, I was surprised the news article authors ignored the study’s finding, young males, labeled as lifetime dual users, were most likely to use e-cigarettes to vaporized cannabis. This result shows a correlation between age and gender.

The news article failed to include Connecticut’s legislation against cannabis and those under 18 from using e-cigarettes. I found this important because if high schools in a strict state show an increase in the use of cannabis and e-cigarettes, liberal states are likely to have even higher statistics. I also decided to explain Morean’s labels on the survey: “never users, lifetime users, and lifetime dual users,” because they are not representative. The term “lifetime users” presumes the student smokes or vapes very often, when some students may have only tried it once.

The news article excludes the limitations of Morean’s study. The limitations were noteworthy because they suggest Morean’s study can not be generalized to the population, all high school students. Additionally, unlike the news article, I included statistics from the study to strengthen my summary and add credibility. Lastly, I think mentioning my questions shows the study has flaws and needs supplementary research. Likewise, I answered the five critical questions in my summary to show the study was not a true experiment. Morean’s study is not representative of all high school students because it was survey-based and there was a small sample size.

The past three assignments made me realize the complexity of psychological journalism. The pop culture article critique exposed me to an interpretation of a scholarly journal. After examining and critiquing the journal article I was faced with the task of writing my own summary. When I read the news article I assumed it was simple and easy to describe the journal article, however, the media production project proved me wrong. I was dumbfounded by how precise, yet, thorough news articles must be. Condensing a 4-5 page journal article into a 1-2 page summary takes more time and effort than I initially assumed. This assignment was helpful because I learned how to comprehend and analyze scholarly articles. Also, now I know to read the journal article because although the news article is supposed to be concise, authors can leave out essential information.

Works Cited

Fox, Maggie, and Erika, Edwards. “High School Kids Use e-Cigarettes to Smoke Cannabis.” MSNBC, NBCUniversal News Group, 7 Sept. 2015, www.msnbc.com/msnbc/high-school-kids-use-e-cigarettes-smoke-cannabis-study

Morean, Meghan, et al. “High School Students’ Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Vaporize Cannabis.” Pediatrics, vol. 136, no. 4, October 2015, pp. 611-616,        www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2015-1727