Psychiatry and Psychology

Hi guys... yes this is my first post but I was impressed by what I've read so far, and I'm in need of some outside opinions. I have a book I'm working on in three sections. The first section is done, but before I can proceed with the next part I need some help and I have no background in psychology myself other than a single high school class. My book is about a schizophrenic killer and the woman he takes hostage. I should say that there are parts that get rather graphic, but not gratuitously. I'll say right now that for that reason, I will NOT knowingly let a minor read it. *disclaimer over* So if you're still curious, let me know & I'll forward you my…

Anybody seen proof that these guys have been able to hypnotize people. By that I mean, the eyes closing and the sleepy response to questions.

Are Hypnopompic hallucinations common in people who don't do drugs and don't have any pyscholgical illnesses? Also is it possible to experience a highly vivid hallcination without drugs, high fever, or illness? (I'm not talking about a short, mild hallcination or olfactory (smell) and/or gustatory (taste) hallcination. I'm talking about a full blown hour long auditory,visual, and tactile hallcination.) I've read that people that do harder drugs can experience hallcinations that include a feeling of bugs or things crawling under their skin or that their flesh has a hot burning like sensation. I also need to know if that can happen without drugs, high fever, or mental illn…

I have recently read that we are all endowed with at least 7 senses. These are the five you learn in school, followed by two more obscure ones. Kinesthesia, the body's knowledge of it's position in space and balance. Thinking of these two as senses is only hard for lack of practice. Stop and define the word sense. The body's mechanism for interpreting its environment. Thusly you could include the two I mentioned before. We cannot make out many sounds without visual input to accompany it. Understanding this it should be a simple step to see how Kinesethisia is a sense. Without it our sense of touch would be much less informative on it's own. If touch is the only sense…

So, psycologically speaking... is the stuff that Derren Brown claims to do actually feasible? Or is it most likely faked?

...damn. I know it's completely stupid and irrational and such, but there's a guy I've not really chatted with that much, and don't really know, but I have these stupid adolescent feelings for him based on nothing more than a few photos and a few messages. It's ridiculous, I've chatted with loads of sexy guys with hot pics and haven't felt like this with anyone else, (I don't even KNOW him!) but I *have* been in a situation like this before... With someone else that I fell in love with. (In fact, the *only* person that I've ever truly fallen in love with, but that's beside the point.) So I should recognise the warning signs of unfounded infatuation and ke…

This topic of discussion is not concerned with primative worship of idols but with the psychology behind the affect. Before posing a question, I would like to create a little background with an example. The easiest example to see is cutting edge fashion. Every generation of young people have certain styles that are the cutting edge. These clothes create a subjective enhancement of the individual both within their minds as well as via feedback from others in the environment. This affect is not fully logical but is mostly subjective. If one was to get a dog to look at the lastest styles, they would probally just sniff at the object to see if it was food or maybe piss o…

I found the 5 theories on why we forget. However, I was wondering if there were any more, either not scientifically accepted or pending. Are there any of you that have your own theories on why we forget? The five I found are: The Atrophy Theory The Interference Theory The Displacement Theory The Neural Consolidation Theory The Cue Dependent Theory http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/inmandw/tutorials/memory/qu4.htm

hello recently read an article that stated that many younger children now would rather have robotic pets the real ones. amoung reasons given that there was far less care needed, and that when they weren't interested in playing with the pet they could simply turn it off. also that robotic pets learned tricks far easier an could learn to commuicate with them. and a problem was shown that when placed in situations with live animals these children had difficulty dealing inter-personally with the animal. expecting the real animal to be as obedient as their robotic counterpart. what i was wondering is, is this how many people are bec…

Being new to this field of Knowledge I would like to know the purpose of Psychiatry. What is the defintion of Normal Human Behaviour?

As an undergraduate student currently studying Medicine and Psychology, I am trying to write a proposal for a research project in Belize. The project would be concentrated in the area of the Rio Bravo Conservation District and the New River Lagoon. The people of intrest would be in San Carlos. The problem I have collided with is determining a project alltogether. For it seems as though every idea I have is too broad and cannot be accomplished within the limitations. Time limitation is 10 days on ground. The people are readily accessable and language is no issue. I have no previous experience with the San Carlos people and my dilemma lies in designing a project …

I saw a Man tortured for Injection forcibly. He never wanted such a treatment as he belived in Alternative Medicine.. but the Doctors used Muscle power to force an injection.HYpertension along with such a treatment could have made anyone commit suicide...The person is supposed to be intelligent andDoctors wish to bring down his mental strenght .. what should he do?

I read from a user named "hw help" that inspired me to do some research myself on how to induce hallucination. I came across with this. Kneel down and take 5 deep breaths, or 30, or 100. Stand up then hold your arms to your chest (kind of like what a mummy does) and press on it lightly. This is suppose to induce a short high, and mild hallucinations. I do not know if this method is effective or not, and i do not take credit for this. It was written by someone on totse.com Can anyone provide a scientific explanation on how this works?

good or bad?

Thought Dimensionality Theory was invented about 15 years ago. It helped me during my early explorations of the unconscious mind. The first level is 1-D thoughts. These are linear thoughts with a 1 to 1 correspondence. For example, letters of an alphabet are 1-D. The speed of light is 1-D, in that it is the same in all references. It is what it is, very linear, nothing more or less. The second level of thought is 2-D. This is the basis for logic: cause and affect. The 1-D memories will populate the x, y-axis of cause and affect. One can then make rational comparisons. This is like a zigzag line moving between the two axes. For example, although the speed of light i…

I guess I am sort of considered a looney tune, which gives me the creative freedom to touch upon the unconventional. So I am going to discuss a simple experiment, which should allow many to experience synchronicity, in a semi-reproduceable way. The only real data is direct data. If one does not feel comfortable about this, don't do it. I also believe that females will be better at this then males, on the average, since they are often more in touch with their unconscious mind, i.e., intuition. Here goes. What you will need is a dictionary. That's it. The object of the experiment is to think of a question, anything. Next, without looking, randomly open the dictionary an…

My teacher told me that all he did was relate things to sex.

One of the structural flaws with psycho-theory is connected to the lack of concensus understanding of what consciousness is. This should be the foundation of the mind since it is what interfaces the personality to the brain and to the biochemistry of the brain. Without such basic understanding one can not begin any theory at step one. This might explain why most consciousness theory is empirical instead of rational. In all due respect, empirical is useful because it lets the dice fall where they may without requiring concensus understanding of consciousness. I would like to attempt to deduce the nature of consciousness from my own studies and observations. The first…

The current estimate is that we (ego-consciousness) use from 1-10% of the brain. The other 90-99% is not brain dead, but is fully functional but at an unconscious level. Let me give an example. One can walk to the fridge and get a drink. That is something very easy to do, even a 2 year old can do it. If one did the very same thing, while having to consciously manipulate and coordinate every needed muscle to do this simple task, it would take a long time or else the movement would be very robotic in an attempt to simplify the task. The ego is like a computer terminal that can think in the command line, "get a drink" and the unconscious supercomputer takes care of…

I would like to present a topic; synchronicity or meaningful cooincidence. In essense, the occurance of events, that go beyond mere chance, which often have a meaningful implication in some psychological sense. For example, one may cross the path of the person who would become their mate. It is not uncommon for one or both people to have an urge to do something out of character which leads to this meaning cooincidence. Normally one might classify such discussions as pseudo-science, but it is based on a theory that was proposed by the psychology Carl Jung to explain a range of documented cases. His willingness to address this data, led to a separation by the rest of t…

How many of you can speed read? What do you think of it? Effectiveness and benefits? Controversy? Stories? See here and here for the facts. I myself am a very slow reader, I am a substantial bit less than 500 words a minute. And because of my interest and likely benefit of speed reading, I hope to take a class in college and learn (as best I can) the technique. Tries on my own have been a failure, and, to my knowledge, there are no free lessons given through the internet. For the current or past college members here: do you or did you take a class on speed reading? If so, how well did it work for you, and can you still do it after discontinuing practice?

This is something that has come up in several posts in this forum and i was unable to find a specific thread for it so i decided we might as well create one. What is 'unatural'? how do we define such a thing, wouldn't anything occuring in nature be a 'natural' occurance. I'm sure this could be taken in different contexts so i will just say that it be taken in the context that it is being discussed in the other threads which is unatural behaviour with regards to personality disorders, paedophilia and generally anything we often call 'unatural', and why that is a justified term. I will post when i have more time.

So…what aspect of the human psyche does the “old dog” in the film “the Mexican” symbolize. Discuss with reference to the current interest in fate and synchronicity.

Democrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds "The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making. ... 'The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data,' Westen said." No real surprises, I think.

Bang for your buck. Hi, I have just been studying economic theory. Long story but “supply” and “demand” feature quite a lot. Almost a “black art” according to some. Funny thing… demand seems to be mostly psychological. Sure part of it is “need” but part of it is merely “want”. Sometimes consumers seem to act illogically. That is until you think about it on the “bang for you buck” level. If a situation can fire up pleasant brain chemicals.. you will move towards it. Can it possibly be that simple? No, it’s way too easy. Thoughts.?