Mental workings of a mental worker in progress

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Things I am tired of hearing: Psychology Is Just Common Sense

While discussing psychological research, people may tend to have an "Of course!" type of response. "Well that’s obviously true! Can’t believe people are researching stuff that's just common sense?". But it isn’t always the case. Psychology researches what is believed true at the time.  All of the most common researches done at the time in the past looked at the common assumptions people made at the time. Like how American citizens would never have the same response to authoritarian dictators because “it’s obvious” isn’t it. Would they willingly deliver potentially fatal electrical shocks to a stranger just because an authority figure told you to? Common sense says no, that would not happen and yet but psychologist Stanley Milgram famously demonstrated in an obedience experiment that the majority of people would do exactly such a thing. The thing about common sense is, just because we assume something is true, or want something to be true based on what we assume, doesn’t mean it is how things are. Researchers take these assumptions we make about ourselves and assess them scientifically to see to what extent we are correct or incorrect. By using scientific methods, assumptions are analyzed and assessed objectively and fairly.

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How hurtful it can be to deny one's true self and live a life of lies just to appease others.

June Ahern

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Does a prime balance of chemicals in the brain exist?

In a recent survey done in the US, it was found that an overwhelming majority of people believed that all mental illnesses are caused by a chemical balance in the brain.  Ask any professional, however and they’ll be quick to assure you that no one knows the correct “balance or the ratio” of the chemicals in the brain is supposed to be. The misunderstanding is understandable in the sense that as many medications for neuro psychological problems cause differences in the brain chemical levels. Yet the changings that the medicinal drugs do, do not by any means mean that the lack of those specific chemical changes result in the mental illnesses.  Just as the lack of a pain-relieving medicine does not mean the presence of pain.  The myth is actually endorsed by many people with mental health problems and by some mental health campaigners, partly because they believe it lends a medical legitimacy to conditions like depression and anxiety. However, encouraging such statements can lead to an increase in the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. In most parts of the world, mental illnesses are often attributed as being permanent. If one goes on to suggest and perpetuate the idea that metal illness patients had chemical imbalances, the idea of mental illnesses being permanent and untreatable may hold even more ground.

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“According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else.”

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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I know enough to know that no woman should ever marry a man who hated his mother.

Martha Gellhorn, Selected Letters

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Do we really use ten percent of our brain?

In 1936, writer Lowell Thomas claimed that “the average man develops only ten percent of his latent mental ability.” In modern popular culture with movies such as Scarlet Johansson starer  Lucy  and Bradley Cooper starer Limitless explore the possibilities of a brain unlocked, and new and advanced cognitive abilities making the impossible possible. Neuroscience, however, disagrees from the assumptions of the sci-fi fantasy. The brain uses up most of our energy, 20 percent of all our calories usage is by the brain, despite it being around 2 percent of our body mass.  All of the brains 86 billion neurons are programmed to self-destruct if they fail to properly form and function in active, useful circuits. Since such “neural pruning” is pervasive, anyone who used only 10 percent of their neurons would have had a marginally small brain. It has not been the case for most individuals.

 It is clear and repeatedly stated that every part of the brain is always on active duty. The neurons work hard every second of everyday, and  no part of the brain can withstand more than trivial damage without a loss of neuro-cognitive function.

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Girls, taught to ignore their anger, become disassociated from themselves.

Soraya Chemaly, Does Your Daughter Know It’s OK To Be Angry?

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learning neuroscience, one neuron at a time

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Abuse by WOMEN; Not a non-issue

Hi guys, since I’ve been not here for a while, I feel as though I must start by giving an explanation. I was off visiting an old friend, and although it was supposed to be a fun trip together, it turns out it was more than that. My friend asked me to join her on a weekend getaway. It was sometime on day two of our trip that she opened up about how she was witnessing abuse in her family. Assumptions were made and I generally thought that being the kind of person my friend is, it definitely must be someone outside her family who is the abuser. Turns out I was quick in my judgements and that what I had thought was wrong. Her younger brother was convinced by her parents to break up with his girlfriend who had been abusing him, emotionally and physically. His friends had downplayed his abuse as him being weak and that had furthered increased his problems.

Her story or rather her younger brothers’ story is not uncommon. Women abusing their partners is a very discerningly common issue. Yet everyone hurriedly pushes it under the carpet, downplaying the consequences rather than providing a proper space to talk about it. Extreme cases of such emotional manipulation end in gruesome and horrific results. Not even a month ago, for instance, a young college student committing suicide because of his girlfriends mental abuse.