Psychiatry and Psychology

Hello! I was having a problem recently, so I decided to ask on this forum. My problem is that I can't smile unless I am looking at a person who is also smiling (a little polite smile doesn't work though, it has to be a big genuine smile) or if I really do experience a positive emotion while engaged in a conversation with someone. I find myself incapable of smiling whenever I want (it always looks weird when I try to fake it). I am currently going through training for a new job that will require me to have contact with people, and smiling is a really important part of it. Is there a way that I could smile in any situation? Thank you in advance for your answers.

HI! I've been worried about this for the long time and it seemed that I'm positive. I need to ask this to all you guys. Well, sorry for not introducing first..I'm female, 31 with a husband and two sons.. I have the following symptoms. -Frequent memory lapses -Mood swings -I always argue with my mind -Uncontrolled emotions -Unthoughtful acts -I often switched my behavior Are these all signs of insanity? or as what my friend said..."Schizophrenia"? Thanks to all you guys...

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Helllo My name is beast unleashed well thats my PC gamer name but i am rather fond of it. I am very intrested in Psychology and was wondering if you people could give me another way of looking at things. I want to understand why people do things.Things like smoking, taking drugs.swearing.bulling. everythink that if i person was to actually think about it would not do it but yet they do.The sources ive looked at mostly saying because they enjoy it but i want to go even deeper than that. Thank you.This is my first post on your website dont be too harch

Me and my friend were talking about how we think their is a minority in the human population who have not only consciousness, but a perception of consciousness; the ability to analyse their consciousness from an external perspective. They see the fascade humans have put up for themselves from a sociological point of view; as a meaningless structure we've set up to distract from the animals that we really are.

What is their purpose according to the world of psychology?

Ok so I am a fairly average human in most respects. I am a bit of an insomniac, I sleep about 4 hours per night on average, frequently staying up for 36+ hours straight. I have frequent headaches that as of yet no doctor can seem to explain and a near-photographic memory. Ok so maybe I'm not so average, but recently I discovered that I can sort of 'force' myself to hallucinate. I was at a buddies house and I was bored, just staring off into space with my mind wandering aimlessly. Slowly my eyes started to feel strange, like they were constantly focussing and unfocussing. The room started to sort of melt and warp and my ears started ringing. I kind of shook my head and it …

Can meditation extend human life? If so, by how many years?

Which body/organisation was responsible for giving the go-ahead to drug companies for a new drug in the UK back in 1998? Which body is responsible now? And what is the criteria for a new drug being allowed on the market? I'm particularly interested in fluoxetine

Can the human notion of "pride" be defined as the "recognization of the ability to live"? The human need for continuity of existence of self, country, race, etc seem to be predominant in our daily decisions.

Hypnosis is not regarded as a science . Yet its use in surgery as anaesthesia has been recorded and verified . If the power of suggestion can visibly alter the human physiology and render a body part immune to pain , doesn't the idea of proven science leave much to be desired ?

I think I'm suffering from this syndrome, I have most of the symptoms metioned in here -->wiki. I was doing an intense traditional practice for almost one year without taking advice from a spiritual master, it was an intense physical exercise which also requires one to have breathing exercises at the same time and one day all of a sudden I fell forward in the morning and backward in the evening (not my words, it was put nicely by my friend), when I was doing it in the morning that day I lost my consciousness and after I was awake I was lying on my mat with my whole body jerking with involuntary movements, it was a rush of energy which I felt. Since I had no guidance I …

So about a year ago, I skipped a creative minds class to write this. Took it in to the class to explain my absence and the teacher flipped out a bit, and told me they would be contacting places like Stanford's department of the human mind (or some person studying the human mind, not entirely sure) about whether this would be worth continued study. Didn't hear anything back, as I was told they hadn't had time to get in contact with their colleague. What I wanted to ask was whether you think my musings on human thought, and how they interact within my mind might be useful, or at the least an interesting read? Also not sure if this is the right forum for this. The writing i…

Ok so the basics are I have a new partner and we love each other's company to bits, when we are together time flies by, I have googleeyed this and understand pretty much why, ie. the brain is pre-occupied to actually notice time, the opposite I guess of 'a watched pot never boils'. But what I can't seem to find the answer to is why when we went out for a meal only 24 hours ago, it actually seems ages ago, more like a few days.... being of very curious mind, I was just wondering if anyone had a theory what was going on? TIA Richie_Rich

Hi all, I wasn't sure where to put this question but I think this is the right place. When I think about something I use language, I "hear" the words in my head. How do you think without language? for instance if you were born deaf (or raised by wolves or whatever...) what would your thoughts be like? would there be a more abstract process of thought going on, or would you sort of "create" your own personal language of sorts to enable higher thought? Any feedback welcome Thanks, Alan

By emotive behavior I mean like NLPt.

Is it possible for a schizophrenic to live and work, raise a family and function completely 'normally' in society without any medication or therapy? If someone diagnosed with schizophrenia or a schizophrenic-like illness can function in this way is it proof that they were miss-diagnosed?

Just as you can conveniently live your life without using words like God and Soul .. Can't you do away with the word ' Mind ' ? Won't you be better off without treating the word as a sort of ' Entity ' . May be the same holds true for the word Love . Do you really know what you mean when you say - ' fall in love ' ? The less the vagueness , more the clarity ..

Hi guys, My sister finished her BSc in Psychology in Ben Gurion University in Israel. She wants to continue to a PhD and eventually become a practicing psychologist, and she wants to study in the USA. She has research experience (whatever a BSc research experience is worth) and while her paper wasn't peer-reviewed-published (it's not yet a full fledged psychological research, more of a primer) she made us all squee in pride when her work appeared in the news (!). I know that news items aren't very "science" valid, but it's something. Also, her grades are great and she speaks very good English. I have no idea about the requirements of a psychology PhD or …

Anybody got any ideas? What's the psychological reason for this? Are men just better at building things than women or is there more to it?

Does anyone have a scientific explanation for the following scenario to cause anxiety attacks? A person takes 120mg of pseudoephedrine for sinus congestion daily for several months. They are experiencing physical symptoms related to anxiety (e.g. globus hystericus) and are given a prescription for 0.25 mg Xanax to be taken daily. The person takes the Xanax for 3 days and on the 4th day begins to experience short, intense anxiety attacks. The person then stops taking all medications and within about a week begins to feel much better. I'm wondering how taking the Xanax could have triggered the anxiety attacks? I welcome your thoughts. - David

I have an 8 year old girl who is the oldest of 3 girls. A few years back, after visiting her granmother, she started getting into the habit of stealing junk food in the middle of the night. Her grandma started the idea that it was alright for her to have junk food when ever she wanted it, no matter what her mother and I wanted. I believe this may have started something that was easier to start than to stop. We've tried punishing her with grounding, writing sentences, reading text books and the like. None of that seems to work. No matter how well we hide the junk food she seems to find it. I wouldn't say that it is an all around stealing problem because she seems to only s…

I am posting this in Psychology for lack of a sociology forum. This thread is inspired by a rant by Martin (one of the resident physics experts)

A disorder or condition that makes one lie constantly? For no apparent reason or gain?

Does anyone else in here believe, as questionposter does, that you are conscious while you are dreaming or that consciousness does not cease when you sleep or pass out? Or that individual cells or neurones are conscious and self aware?