Wednesday, December 7, 2011

PTSD Treatments

1. Medication :
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a type of antidepressant medicine. These can help patients feel less sad and worried. They appear to be helpful, and for some people they are very effective. Chemicals in your brain affect the way you feel. For example, when you have depression you may not have enough of a chemical called serotonin. SSRIs raise the level of serotonin in your brain, causing you less depression.

2. CBT Therapy
In cognitive therapy, the therapist helps the patient understand and change how they think about their trauma and its aftermath. The patient will also learn ways to cope with feelings such as anger, guilt, and fear. The patient might blame themselves for things they couldn't have changed. For example, a soldier may feel guilty about decisions he or she had to make during war. This tupe of thearpy helps them understand that the traumatic event you lived through was not your fault.


By pairing this together, the treatment effectiveness can be very much boosted. Only because medication gets you at the correct mood where you need to be to be able to really apply yourself in CBT, and for the patient to really be able to forgive themselves for whatever trauma they have lived through or caused.




http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/treatment-ptsd.asp

Monday, December 5, 2011

Talarico & Rubin (2003)

Talarico & Rubin set out to find out the difference between regular ordinary everyday memories and FB memories.

Procedure: They asked participants to recall the events of September 11, 2001- 9/11- on four occasions, 1, 7, 42, and 224 days after the attack, then they tested the partcipants' memory for an everyday event that happened around the same time.

Findings: The FBM's were very vivid throughout the study, same with confidence of accuracy, but they were not more consistent than corresponding memories for the everyday event.

Conclusion: The only difference between them was FB memories were more vivid, and participants' have more confidence in their memories.

Limitation: These tests were questionnaires..








http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2005/04/is_memory_better_for_shocking.php
also, our psychology book..

Neisser & Harsch (1992)


Neisser and Harsch suggest that FB memories are actually the result of rehearsal- dramatic events are likely to be the ones we think of over and over again.

Procedure: They asked subjects one day after the challenger explosion in 1986 and again 3 years later, about the situation that they were in when they first heard the news..

Findings: Subjects reported highly vivid memories but they were often simply wrong, or didn't make any sense..such as being at an event when they heard, when such event was not taking place at that time.

Conclusion: Possibility exists, that this loss of accuracy over time reflects the flexibility and reconstructive power of the mental system instead of questioning the original vividness of FB memory.

Limitation: Loss of accuracy over memories because the memory itself has been gone over too many times causing the memory to have a great possibility of being altered.


http://lhernandez13.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/53/


Flashbulb Memory- Brown & Kulik (1977)

In the study---Brown & Kulik (1977), redefined the way many viewed flashbulb memories.

The aim of the study was the investigate whether dramatic or personally significant events can cause "flashbulb" memories.

Procedure: They asked 40 white & 40 black Americans whether they recalled vivid memories of hearing of major events, such as, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm "X", Martin Luther King, and the day of Princess Diana's death. They tested their hypothesis by comparing non-consequential events against consequential events.

Findings: FB memory is more likely to be remembered for unexpected or shocking event, also personally relevant events.

Conclusion: Events that we place under dramatic or influential cause us stronger held memory of the event.

Limitation: Data is collected through a questionnaire, so accuracy is doubted.



http://www.psychologistworld.com/memory/flashbulb.php

http://www.coursework.info/University/Biological_Sciences/Psychology/Psychometrics/Brown_and_Kulik_and_Flashbulb_Memories_L9731.html

Saturday, December 3, 2011

PTSD

PTSD Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it's an actual disease or illness that affects the victim of this disorder mentally, physically, and emotionally. It is classified under Anxiety Disorders, though Anxiety is most definitely not all it comes with. The people with this disorder live daily differently then us, trying to avoid thoughts and feelings of the trauma that had once caused their suffering now. They tend to avoid place, people, or things that remind them of any of their traumatic experiences, and they are sensitive to things that to other people are normal but to them are treacherous. 
The symptoms of a sufferer include:
substance abuse ( to help take their mind off of the trauma)
a smaller hippocampus
have trouble keeping their realitionships
loneliness
panic- anxiety
emotional problems mostly in general,
sleep deprivation, etc.
The causes of PTSD are :
Any type of trauma
usually life-threatening, or witnessing a severe accident or severe "torture" to another human, being the victim of torture or kidnapping, sexual assaults, rape, murder, exposure to war combat, forms of abuse, etc.


Memory and Emotion greatly relate to PTSD, it is the cause of PTSD. If you wouldn't have had the memory of this traumatic experience then you would not think or care about it. If you didn't have emotion, the memory would mean nothing to you, you wouldn't dwell on it. It would fade away with time, and soon you would forget it ever happened.



Monday, November 28, 2011

The Possible Biological Components of EMOTION

What exactly is happening in the brain to make activities we enjoy produce the warm glow of contentment? What makes some people more upbeat than others? What areas of the brain are important in controlling our desires to connect with one another?

“We are just beginning to discern what parts of the brain are responsible for certain positive emotions,” Kalin explained. “For example, we are finding that some of the newer, more recently evolved neural structures, such as the limbic system, play vital roles in emotional expression. At the same time, we’ve found that these limbic structures are controlled or modulated by other areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex. Our work for the near future is to determine how these and other areas of the brain actually function in human emotional response.”

Davidson, who heads up the Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Research at the Institute, has been studying how differences in the structure of the brain are related to the diverse ways individuals express positive emotional states. Much of his research utilizes modern imaging methods such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the quest for better understanding of the relationship between the brain and emotions.

Davidson says such individuals are characterized by enthusiasm, alertness, energy, persistence in goal orientation and other positive behavioral characteristics. The research so far has shown that the brains of such individuals are also distinctive: They show what Davidson’s research describes as “a pattern of left prefrontal activation.”

“We’ve already discovered that there are differences in the amygdalas of people who appear to be these happy, positive individuals compared with those of individuals who show more vulnerability and more depressive emotion in response to the emotional events in life,” he said.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Seneca and Lazarus- an explanation of emotion?

In all honesty, I don't see how these two philosophers or their "philosophies" relate to each other, Lazarus's appraisal theory explains how emotions happen, and Seneca explains why certain emotions happen, and what we can do to counteract, stop, or decrease their effects. Seneca explains that negative emotions, mainly focusing on anger arise from certain rationally (or more like irrationally) held ideas about the world, and the problem with these ideas, are that they are far too optimistic. In Seneca's analysis, people get angry, because they're too hopeful. Whenever people are angry, there's an element of surprise, self-pity, and injustice, but if we didn't have expectations then we wouldn't get surprised, therefore we wouldn't get angry. Lazarus's appraisal theory insists that our emotions are evaluations of events that cause specific reactions in different people.  Thus the sequence of events is as follows: event, thinking, and simultaneous events of arousal and emotion.

I feel like these two theories would be more explainable had they been put together, Lazarus's appraisal as the first part, Seneca's as the second. They correspond with each other, this I think is the only thing they have in common.

They conflict only a little, because Lazarus's theory states our emotions are based on events and how we interpret them, but Seneca's brings up a new perspective of ours, expectations. Expectations in his theory play a big role, so I'm thinking the way these two could be put together ( like I said would work out perfectly up there ^) would be... Expectations ----> Event-----> Interpretation-----> Simultaneous Arousal  & Emotion.

My opinions are that Lazarus was correct, with that correction ^ and one statement Seneca mentioned in the video that caught my attention was something about how being pessimistic in the end will make you happier because you won't have as big of expectations as an optimist would have. This does make sense, but I think that living your life pessimistically will only hurt you in the end, sure you won't have that much of expectations to live up to, but then what are you living for? You must strive to be better, at all times, with high expectations of yourself. If at the end of the day you fail those expectations, you go home you deal with it, say you can do better, and go back out into the world with the same expectations, starting a new day. If you have expectations or not, i'm not so sure happiness will just fall into your lap.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

October 17th, 2011

 This article was on a study that proves emotions are genetically resident within us, San Francisco State University Psychology Professor Matsumoto compared the facial expressions of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Olympic Games. More than 48,000 photographs were taken and analyzed, including  images of 23 athletes. The conclusion of the study was that the facial expressions of sighted and blind athletes was almost perfect, meaning that emotions must be in our genes if we don't get emotions from observing others.
I choose this article because I was most interested in this one, rather than the others, I also don't agree with this fully.
This article relates to what we've been talking about in class because this article makes it clear that emotions are not because of cultural differences or social differences, but I think that that's slightly correct and slightly not, I think for example when a person lose something they really want like..the olympic medal for a sport they experience the emotion sadness, but a blind person may facially express this emotion differently than a sighted person, because a sighted person is socially effected, they may not want people to see they are that sad, so they may hide it, a blind person is not effected but social standards so their sadness will be more noticable.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229080859.htm

Friday, October 21, 2011

Brain Structures & Memory Loss: The Case Study of H.M.- October 21th, 2011


    Scientists tested and saw that there were atleast two systems in the brain for creating new memories. One known as declarative memory record names, faces, and new experiences and stores them until they are consciously retrieved. This system depends on the function of medial temporal areas, such as hippocampus, now the object of intense study. The other system, motor learning is subconscious. This explains why people can jump on a bike after years of not riding which is proven by H.M.'s star test. They learned that without the hippocampus a human brain could not hold thoughts for more than about 20 seconds.
"The study of H.M. by Brenda Milner stands as one of the great milestones in the history of modern neuroscience."

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Thought this was interesting, has to do with what we were talking about it class today

Alzheimer's Disease: What can we learn about memory? -October 19th, 2011

                 Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia, a serious brain disorder that impacts the patient's live daily through memory loss and cognitive changes. Right now 16 million people worldwide have this form of dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer's worsen over time, progressing from mild forgetfulness to loss of self, mind and almost all of the patient's abilities because they forget how to use them. This disease starts in the hippocampus, the area of memory, and is caused by starchy tangles in the brain neurological system.
              The video for me was insightful because the students got a taste of the life of a family member of a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, which was honestly disheartening. The family must literally watch their loved one turn crazy and lose their mind, and cannot do anything about it. It was a great way to show the students that the patient loses their personality almost entirely, and what are you if you don't have your personality? It's also very different experience when you read about a certain disease in a textbook and watch the disease and how it affects the people around the patient on video. In a textbook, you just read it to read it, on video you can relate to the emotions the family, and patient are feeling. You feel sympathy and this as we learned today in class causes you to remember more of what you learned. In one sentence I can describe my own feelings on this disease. It's a monster. A monster that deprives you of your family, true emotions, interests, hobbies, friends, thoughts, skills, and finally your life. 

http://helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_symptoms_stages.htm

Friday, October 14, 2011

Culture & Gender: How do they affect emotion?- October 14th, 2011

  • Two gender differences are women typically have a larger deep limbic system than men, which allows them to be more in touch with their feelings and better able to express them, which promotes bonding with others. Because of this ability to connect, more women serve as caregivers for children. The down side to this larger deep limbic system is that it also opens women up to depression, especially during times of hormonal shifts such as after childbirth or during a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Pain also differs for women and men, in studies, women require more morphine than men to reach the same level of pain reduction. Women are also more likely to vocalize their pain and to seek treatment for their pain than are men. The area of the brain that is activated during pain is the amygdala, and researchers have discovered that in men, the right amygdala is activated and in women, the left amygdala is activated. The right amygdala has more connections with areas of the brain that control external functions while the right amygdala has more connections with internal functions. This difference probably explains why women perceive pain more intensely than do men.
    http://www.mastersofhealthcare.com/blog/2009/10-big-differences-between-mens-and-womens-brains/

    Two Cultural/Ethnic Differences are

    1. People persived as Latino, or African American are looked at most likely to be in a gang or drug cartel. This causes them to feel like they should have extreme masculinity and or respect/power just because they are black or latino.
    2. Another cultural difference is for example there was this study on students who took some test and after the test they got their scores. The study shows that African Americans and White Americans (European decent also) differed from the Japanese students, showing more evaluative and exposure embarrassment. These results demonstrate that cultural differences, whether due to temperament or direct socialization of cultural values, influence their emotional  responses to achievement situations.

    http://jbd.sagepub.com/content/34/1/53.short

    Thursday, October 13, 2011

    The Gift of Fear- October 11th, 2011


    What is emotion?

    Emotion is a state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. Emotionality can be catergorized into temperment, personality, mood and motivation. Human emotions involve physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience. Emotion may be an adaptive feature in human's quest for survival because certain emotions release certain hormones or chemicals that in turn help us in whatever situation we are in, or they may not help us. For example, I once heard a story about a mom lifting up an enormous object because her little baby was caught underneath it.. This woman regularly probably couldn't pick something up that was so heavy but when her baby was caught underneath her emotions released adrenaline, causing her to get more strength and save her baby. Another example is, when you're presenting in front of a class you may get nervous or embarassed and automatically you start to sweat or blush, these things are uncontrollable as you may have already known from experience. Your emotions make this happen.. Emotions allow humans to survive and be successful in the world because everybody has them, when you see a sad person you automatically feel sympathy or pity. When you see a happy person, you feel joy for that person for a second or two atleast. Since we all share emotions we all survive together successfully (with the exception of sociopaths manipulating some of  our emotions). Our emotions also give us survival skills because when you're stuck somewhere you don't know, your motivation kicks in..for me motivation would be considered an emotion, also fear, when you're fearful of a place you don't want to be there anymore, so this emotion will prompt you to get out, forcing you to use any tactic necessary.



    http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologytopics/a/theories-of-emotion.htm