Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Together with hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, commitment and acceptance therapy, and many others, it is hard to find a therapy which is not debated by scholars and clinicians alike. However, CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy remains among one of the most widely taught, and whose benefits have been most closely associated with remission from depression. For example, psychological studies have shown that in conjunction with medication, CBT use was more likely to lead to positive results and recovery from depression than use of medication alone.

Art has a lot to do with how we perceive the environment. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

So what is CBT? CBT operates on the notion that our feelings, thoughts and behaviours are interrelated. Cognitions or thoughts influence our feelings and our behaviours, while emotions and actions in turn influence and reinforce the way we think. Thus, according to CBT the cycle of negative emotions, thoughts and behaviour may be broken by introducing positivity at any stage of the interrelated circle. However, it may be difficult to change the way one feels, so thoughts and behaviours may be better targets to a healthier lifestyle.

Hypothalamus Influence on Food

Hypothalamus Influence on Food

By Dr. Megan Jorgensen

The major inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA (γ-Aminobutyric acid or Gamma-AminoButyricAcid) is often associated with energy regulation and eating. So is the hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain. For instance, hypophagia and resultant weight loss caused by cobalt protoporphyrin in mice, is related to diminished activity of nitric oxide synthase in that part of the brain (Li et al., 2006). Further, the link (via the pituitary gland) between the endocrine and nervous systems is also hypothalamic in nature.

Moreover, Williams & Elmquist (2011) write that the optogenetic placement of nutrition intake related actions, corresponds to the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. More precisely, the pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and agouti-related peptide (AGRP) neurons would be responsible for this regulating mechanism. Furthermore, the roles played by the two cell types appear contradictory. POMC activity decreases food intake, while AGRP elevates it.

Very thin individuals are sometimes called ‘stick thin’. mysterious room: stick figures. Image: Copyright © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Along these lines, leptin orOBprotein expression in the hypothalamus, has also been said to reduce appetite in rats (Schwartz et al., 1996). Clearly, the structure is crucial for metabolism.

References:

• Li, M., Vizzard, M. A., Jaworski, D. M. & Galbraith, R. A. (2006). The weight loss elicited by cobalt protoporphyrin is related to decreased activity of nitric oxide synthase in the hypothalamus. J. Appl. Physiol., 100: 1983–9
• Schwartz, M. W., Seeley, R. J., Campfield, L. A., Burn, P. & Baskin, D. G. (1996). Identification of targets of leptin action in rat hypothalamus. J. Clin. Invest., 98 (5): 1101-6.
• Williams, K. W. & Elmquist, J. K. (2011). Lighting up the hypothalamus: Coordinated control of feeding behavior. Nat. Neurosci.: News and Views, 14 (3): 277-8.

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Limitations of Psychology Research

Limitations of Psychology Research

Many students who enroll in a psychology undergraduate program become very disappointed in the subject. The problem, aside from a certain disappointing inability to analyze people as many believe psychology courses confer, is that most arguments are open to debate. For example, in almost any theory in psychology there are other psychologists who argue the reverse. Of course, the statement applies much less to neurobiology or neuroscience, which are often taught in psychology programs as introductory courses.

Another problem is sampling bias. To be accurate, an experimenter must conduct what is known in research methods as random sampling. However, psychology research is often conducted on college undergraduate students creating a sampling bias. Thus, several aspects are affected: age, education level and knowledge of psychology in some cases. For instance, some psychology courses offer course credit (for example, 1%) in exchange for participation in psychological research. Naturally, students taking part in research for additional credit may differ from those who do not.

Researcher in psychology. Photo : Elena

Also, age groups differ in many aspects and college students tend to be young adults, in general. Therefore, results obtained in such studies may not be generalizable to all populations. Another limitation of research in psychology is the continuous reliance on self-reports. Questionnaires answered by people themselves may not always represent the truth. Not to imply that participants lie on administered self-reports, but the Hawthorne effect may take place; in addition, people may not always understand their own selves.

The Hawthorne effect resonates with behaving differently because you know you are being observed, or because of the trust that nothing can go wrong because it is a controlled, often laboratory, experiment. So much so, that the findings of psychology research may lose validity as a result. Another, perhaps frustrating, fact of psychological theory is that often psychologists disagree among themselves on a topic of discussion. Indeed, most peer-reviewed, academic articles have a literature review (introduction), a methodology, a results, a discussion and a limitations sections.

Social Media Strategies

Social Media Strategies

Social psychologists define very different concepts when they talk about loneliness and solitude. The former implies a sense of dissatisfaction, perhaps even desolation, while the latter does not. Indeed, it seems that a person may be quite content with their solitude and even prefer to be left alone. However, the situation may not apply to social media and social networking Websites. As a matter of fact, bloggers and Webmasters (or Webmistresses) want to generate more traffic to their blogs and Websites, people on dating sites want to receive more messages and get more dates, people on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ want more friends and followers. The situation is clear, but what is less clear is how to achieve those goals.

Not a single soul in sight. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

So, how to get more followers on Twitter? The first suggestion is to have a follow-worthy profile, or a profile that people are interested in following. For example, profiles without a profile picture are less likely to be followed than those with an attractive or interesting one. Similarly, if someone never or rarely tweets anything, then their visibility is somewhat undermined. Other suggestions include providing a solid bio, if people get a sense that they know you personally, or at least have a good idea about who you are, they are more likely to follow you. Yet another piece of advice comes from the fact that if someone has begun to follow you, you might want to follow them back. The principle of reciprocity is hard at work in the social media world.

Alternatively, to grow your audience on Pinterest, you might want to invite your friends from Facebook, connecting the two social networking accounts is easy. Still, from such a situation comes the following question: How to get more friends on Facebook? As Facebook’s policy states, Facebook is a social media platform designed to connect people who know each other in real life, and allow them to share, like and comment on each other’s content. Regardless, as is well known with most rules, exceptions do abound. For example, some Facebook users have over five thousand friends, and it seems less probable that they know every single individual personally. Also, if Facebook suspects your friend adding activity is suspicious they might suspend or block altogether your account, so caution and common sense are in order.

Loneliness or solitude? Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

The last paragraph of the present post refers to Web development and Web developers. Search engine optimization (SEO) or content marketing strategies help to grow your target audience. In a few words, to drive traffic to your site it remains imperative to write high-quality content, use relevant and important keywords, and promote the resource using social media, such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and others. Notwithstanding, SEO strategies are dynamic and keep slightly changing from year to year, so it seems crucial to keep up to date on the latest trends.

Therapeutical Approaches to Psychosis

Therapeutical Approaches to Psychosis

Command hallucinations are commonplace in psychosis. Psychosis is usually defined not as a disorder per se, but as a symptom of a particular mental illness. For example, bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder all usually include psychotic features. Also, hallucinations represent perception in the absence of real sensory stimuli. Further, commonly referred to as “hearing voices”, command hallucinations, commonplace in many mental disorders, cause great anxiety and even distress to patients suffering from psychotic episodes.

Furthermore, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(CBT) may help alleviate some of these command hallucinations (e.g. when the voices are telling the person to do something, often times in a dangerous manner, which may endanger the person or others, in which case the legal measures permit an involuntary psychiatric hospital stay). An alternative therapy, which may be used in conjunction with CBT is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT has a different approach to hearing voices, stating that it is better to accept one’s symptoms, and in a way simply almost ignore them, focusing instead on one’s personal values and on how one must direct one’s own life.

Turning the page on psychosis requires pharmacotherapy, among other things. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena).

A particular treatment of command hallucinations is named TORCH (Treatment of Resistant Command Hallucinations), an alternative treatment is called Befriending. Psychotic episodes, including command hallucinations have been documented as very detrimental to the person suffering from the psychotic episode. For example, research data shows that command hallucinations and other psychotic disturbances may result in very destructive behaviours. For example, a person suffering from psychosis may act illogically and irrationally, throwing out all their personal belongings without thinking about subsequent financial need. Likewise, they may fight with all their friends, eventually becoming friendless since their hallucinations and delusions lead them to believe that friends are somehow at fault and maybe even trying to harm them.

Moreover, the situation is made worse when close ones try to make the person with psychosis consult a doctor, since the hallucinations and delusions seem real to the person suffering from psychosis, he or she may get angry at those trying to make them get help, instead thinking that they are lying or simply refusing to understand them. Delusions, unlike hallucinations, refer to fixed false beliefs held despite all evidence to the contrary. In conclusion, it is imperative for a person suffering from psychosis to get professional, psychiatric help because they often live in a sort of nightmare and because the condition may bring about drastic consequences if left untreated.

Hallucinations are experiences that seem very real but are not. Illustration: © Megan Jorgensen.