Psychiatry and Psychology

Hello everyone I love to see Derren Brown (mentalist, illusionist) at work; he manipulates one's brain into believing or thinking what he wants one to believe or think; a very simplistic example I used on a friend of mine (without him knowing of it): I asked this friend to pick a random number from 0 to 10. I would guess that number. I guessed correctly: 8. Well, ok.. There's a chance of 1/10, which is relatively big. How I made him pick 8? Just say a lot of phrases in which the word/pronunciation 'eight' (~ 'ait') is hidden subtle. So, this is a very simple form of what I think is called (hypnotic) suggestion, and I was wondering if anyone knows if this is…

Just recently, I was wondering what makes things funny and what makes us laugh? Simple deviation from normal behaviour causes us to laugh although if it's something serious, it will not. Just recently I saw on T.V. :- People talked in an unconventional way. They ommited prepositions and some other English words from their sentences, something like this:- I am going --> I going He is laughing --> He laugh This was very funny when they talked like this with each other. Now that I look back, it is stupid but nonetheless it made me laugh at that point of time. So in general, what actually makes us laugh? What is laughter?

Early this morning I was watching local news and they had footage of the first gay marriages in NJ, performed by the Mayor of Newark, soon to be NJ's senator. The first couple, two women, gave each other a loving gentle kiss on the mouth. The second couple, two women, gave a quite lewd passionate tounge kiss, that the camera cut short. The third couple two men, went to kiss, and as I saw their mouths headed for each other...I looked away. I can't report the nature of the kiss. Why did I look away? TAR

Hello everyone, I read about this protozoan about a month ago and it's been interesting me since. In one book, I read that it has affected about 50% of the world's population and on wikipedia I read only 33%. Whatever the number it's still extremely significant, from my knowledge it has shown to affect behavior so that comes down to over 30% of the world at least under the effect of behavioral changes or any of the parasites plethora of defects. I don't know a lot about this subject, but does anyone know quite a bit about it?

I'm wondering that if it is possible to scan someones brain and detect what and how much endorphin/synapse activity is present during different emotions. Involving all emotions in the cortex and limbic system. What emotions register on what parts of the brain and how much activity is their? What would you use to do this? If this is possible then I have a hypothesis that can be tested and I would love to share it in science forums. If anybody finds it interesting I would really need some help formatting a paper.

Adrenaline is known to make a person more mentally sharp. or cognizant of his environment. Also adrenaline is known to define Type A personalities. Then is adrenaline a vector of personality who are typically go-getters and constantly seeking achievement. Please comment.

Since we use only a fragment of our brain when we are at the peak of our consciousness and that the rest is happening whithin our unconscious state so can it be said that we are on autopilot when we are awake and consciously aware.

I love this article. I'd prefer not to debate the shootings themselves, but perhaps it would be interesting to discuss our reactions to them as a culture and from a psychological angle... Confirmation bias, etc. Read the short article below. Do you agree with its thrust and tone? Or alternatively, is YOUR hypothesis about the cause the REAL reason we have these problems? http://mindhacks.com/2013/09/21/this-complex-and-tragic-event-supports-my-own-view/

This ought not to warrant the status of 'topic' since it is a mere observational bugbear of mine. Has anyone else noticed that most of the obscene terms intended as insults do not actually make much sense as derogatory terms? This is especially true when the labels of genitalia are hijacked as slang terms and directed as an insult. In any other context, the reference to a functional part of the reproductive anatomy essential for perpetuation of the species - even in relation to oneself - would not be considered offensive. Probably the reason that people feel offense is because of the implicit intention of the insulter - to hurt the feelings of the insulted - and because o…

Who we are could easily be influenced by our subconscious mind with it's implications focussing on some particular stimuli of our brain. This happens at a very unconscious level and we may not even realise it until we try to accept it. The greatest flaw of human being is assuming we are in perfect control of our mind, such denial in rationalising the methods of our brain only leaves us with arrogant thoughts about everything. Once we observe the choices we made so far wasn't always upto us, we could harness the dynamicity of our subconscious mind affecting our conscience and thus make us a 'being' with tensile psyche. Good luck

I've been attempting to understand some differences between bipolar disorder and brain trauma. In bipolar disorder, people have mood swings; they can feel as though time has passed and they have not recognized that time has passed; they can be somewhere different than they were before, thus having a form of dissociation. However, this is similar to brain trauma. People have mood swings (their behavior is different than it was before the trauma). They'll have some form of amnesia that can alternate and be indeterminable. Time can pass without understanding why or noticing, thus dissociation. It appears that the major difference between trauma and bipolar disord…

A reality check paradox. ( for sane peeps) Do you really know what reality is? Is the people and the world around real enough for you. Are you for real. Lets look at it this way, can/do you actually behave the way you want regardless of what you may assume people would think/do to you. Do you express yourself throughly without regarding it's consequences. I don't think so. We hold ourselves back when needed but when so, we don't actually bother to see how he/she would behave but we simply assume their response even though they may be well familiar to us. Note that the rest of the people also does the same. So what does this explain, we are all living in an illusion of p…

Do our conscious state of mind over power our subconscious mind or vice versa?

Recently taken an interest in Psychology but not sure where to go from here. What makes you have a good day or a bad day? I have put on a brave face since the end of my marriage but now feel that I need some help as it's not getting any better after 18 months. I have had a good life and done so many things that other people will never do in a life time and I have never suffered any depression. It's like everything has come to an end,all in one go. I'm 64, fit as a 25 year old, no problems there but can see the light dimming at the end of the tunnel. Still maintained my ridiculous sense of humor, but so many people are so serious and just don't get it and …

As more has been learned about neurology, including brain plasticity and feedback mechanisms, cognitive behavioral therapy appears as a practical means for anyone to improve their state of mind. presents some of the evidence related to mindful meditation and some other techniques.

Having survived my own suicide attempt (at the time of trying it wasn’t a cry for help) I have since changed my mind on the subject. Should this be allowed? Isn’t this just a temporary state of mind however long this state persists? Does a doctor’s oath become meaningless if s/he is allowed to kill?

The concept of the conditioned reflex or skill is familiar to everyone. We also know that skill is formed by multiple reiteration of a type of behavioral reaction during any times. This effect has been studied in details, so we will not concentrate on it. Now let's turn to our memory. How to memorize a poem? How to remember the state capital or a word in a foreign language? A common method is to repeat. As it is said – «reiteration is mother of learning». And as we have mentioned above, we will call a skill something that was formed by behavior type reiteration. Therefore Knowledge = Skill = Repeat * Behavior Psychosis is illogical knowledge. There a …

If you accept that we are machines, then you accept that we are at least mostly programmed by our environment, and probably even more so by language. If someone gets input that prompts them to act a certain way, then there is a person involved in the behavior, and their weapon was their words.... Another attempted suicide prompted me to post. There needs to be an established and reliable solution to abuse, physical or mental (like theres any difference).

Why are there so many global warming sceptics in USA? I have heard that it is the third most populated country in the world but are there any psychological reasons for why this is so. What are the psychological reasons?

This is a statement, not a question. I'm interested in your own opinions. The Flynn Effect states that the general IQ of the population increases over time; IQ scores in recent history have shown this trend to be true. However, what if those IQ tests are potentially biased, lacking in logical problem solving and critical thinking skills? What if those tests are merely amplifications of generalizations that society has come to? Looking at the lack of logical and critical problem solving examples in todays society, and the increase in stagnant information overflow, I boldly say its true. Here's some examples of what I'm saying: Prior to Rutherford and Einstein, most…

Hello Members; This is my first post, so be nice to the newbie. I have no training in science, but have an abiding respect for it, as science is the "answer man", and I need answers that I can't find. My interest is consciousness, but not the scientific definition of conscious, unconscious, and preconscious; more the philosophical definition of consciousness as in awareness. My studies keep bringing me around to emotion, and I have begun to believe that it may be more closely linked to awareness than thought is linked to awareness. But recently, it occurred to me that emotion is also very relevant to mind, Emotion and mind are not well studied and understood, so I hoped…

If I am going to be an activist against anything, it is the way psychiatry and psychology is conducted. What you guys do is so (insert adverb) wrong that I can safely say that it is the most disturbing thing I have ever encountered in my entire existence. You guys should lay down your "weapons" and seriously step away from what it is that you are doing. If you have any sense of sympathy within your soul, you will step away and actively try to change the system even if it costs you your job, your credit, or your house, I'm sure there are plenty of people who will support you in your decision and lend a helping hand knowing that you did it for what is in humanities best int…

The problem of schizophrenia is the balance between the consciousness and subconsciousness.The balance is violated and consciousness take advantage over subconsciousness.And when the links which made us conscious are interrupted this lead us to schizophrenia.Our mind is build to seek to what we can not reach.This mean that big endeavours being conscious lead us to schizophrenia.

I recently did a presentation, and received an applause. And it was good, until I started to think about it, which I probably shouldn't have done. So, is clapping a cultural thing? If so, who started it? Do we know of cultures that do not clap/applaud to show approval? Wikipedia says it is probably as old as humanity, so could it be that it goes deeper, more like a dog wagging its tail?

Hello Everyone, I am bran-new to the forums and this is my first post. I'm really happy I finally googled science forums to post in because this is a field that I aboustly love - I became a nurse largely because of my obession with science. I will also say that I am a very bad speller and I dislike (hate) individauls who nit pick my spelling or grammer while missing my general point, arugement or statement. Its my hope that all of you help me step my intellectual game up. I have heard (largely through Indigenous studies and Native indivdiauls) that language and culutre shape their experience in the world. As in Mohawk, Cree, Greek, English, etc shape an individaul…