Psychiatry and Psychology

Ok, so it's fairly common knowledge that, contrary to intuition, states in the USA that do not have the death penalty actually have lower murder rates than those that do. If that wasn't common knowledge to you ... well ... a 2-minute google search can verify it for you. But those studies only compare capital punishment vs. non-capital punishment. What about different forms of capital punishment? Is more humane execution more effective as a criminal deterrent than slow, painful, and (most importantly of all) public death? While I was able to find plenty of articles detailing the attitudes of the policy-makers of the Roman Empire regarding …

There is this interesting study from Stephen Schultz and Georgianna Gould "Acetaminophen Use for Fever in Children Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder", published in 2016: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5044872/ Conclusion of the study: "In summary, we have presented evidence for the association of acetaminophen use with ASD. Our theory of how this may occur can be explained in the following illustration. Suppose a susceptible young boy has a fever due to a viral infection or after the MMR vaccination. His parents give him acetaminophen which increases endocannabinoid stimulation in his brain making him feel better and bringing down his f…

I had some time this summer to work on my previous research on diet, stress and homosexuality, so I put a revised, extended paper "A diet-stress-diathesis model of homosexuality" on PsyArxiv: https://psyarxiv.com/bjxvs/ The paper analyses in detail how the attribution of sexual arousal to a cue, courtship, thrusting reflex and orgasm get affected in homosexuality. The mechanisms of how addiction, brain inflammation, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, diet and stress affect the phases of the sexual response cycle are discussed.

I think I've heard this idea somewhere. Has anyone heard it before? Can this really happen?

title

do words have feelings attached to them?

Greetings. I apologize if this isn't the right question for this forum, but I'm trying to find an answer for this and I find that Google isn't of much help. I'm a college student interested in being a psychologist (either forensic psychology or neuropsychology). I know that a doctorate degree is necessary for this type of field and I know a doctorate is a big commitment. So if I'm trying to pursue this type of journey, what options exist for the interim, after the master's degree is obtained? I don't know/think that being an LCSW/therapist is most fruitful considering they have their own major hurdles in their respective fields as well. I don't know how long it…

What brings on laughter without any stimulant to laugh at?

Ok so here recently I’ve been experiencing like a slight numbness but more of a tingling type feeling in my arms and legs. I’m only 20 6’6 200 lb’s exercise every now and then pretty fit. Not diabetic or anything like that pretty healthy..so far. Now I did try to look up the symptoms and the closest thing I could find that matched it was anxiety,the only thing that didn’t match there was Nasuea. It’s been going on for a few days now and I’m starting to get very worried it could be something serious. Could anyone help and give me some type of reasoning why it’s continuing?

Hello,I'm wondering if there are any books out there on the subject of finding substitutes to drugs. Specifically, I'm looking for substitutes to caffeine. It doesn't have to be other substances either like yerba mate or probiotics, but lifestyle changes or changes in perspective as well.I figure that finding substitutes to drugs is such a common approach to overcoming substance abuse that there must be tons of research on it. <-- That's what I'm looking for.Can anyone help me out? Thank you so much. PS - I realize this is not the place to ask for medical advice (or any kind of advice) so please take this as a request for information resource (books, articles, stu…

Is there a way to significantly increase personality traits of Extraversion and Openness to experience and at the same time, significantly decrease the trait of Neuroticism? I am talking the Big Five personality traits. May be via pharmacological means.

Is it better for your health to release anger over injustices you have faced or repress it over many, many years? What are the repercussions of repressing your anger over many, many years? If you one day explode and manage to release all that repressed anger to an individual who you think deserves it, would it be better for your health than a situation where you never 'exploded' at all? Would you live a healthier life if you managed to get rid of all that anger through exploding onto someone else and venting/releasing all that steam and hidden anger?

Does anyone know of any data on average intelligence in different political factions?

This might sound silly so please drop this thread into another section if it doesn’t fit the standards for psychology; I havent seen any research on this but I’m suspecting I’m not the only one feeling a certain type of satisfaction when looking at a large number of identical things. Be it hundreds of new smartphones lying evenly on shelves or hundreds of batteries evenly standing on shelves or simillar. Is there a pinpointed psychological mechanism that is responsible for this reaction or is it a combination of factors like a lot of things which are expensive and they’re all lying in one place? In my case I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter if the object is something …

Hello, I've been doing some research on hypnosis. Trying to understand how it works. I came across this website here: https://gshypnosis.com/does-hypnosis-work-understanding-the-science-of-hypnotherapy-2/# I thought I'd ask about this on a science forum like this one. According to the link above, the way hypnosis works is by inhibiting what they call "top down" thinking thereby allowing "bottom up" processing to work more effectively. Top down thinking is the way our expectations and assumptions influence the way we interpret our immediate experiences. One example they site is this: So their expectation of how the wine should taste, whic…

In the spirit of my favorite .gif and meme (posted below)... I've read a couple of pop science articles on the neurochemistry of love that all have some sort of headline along the lines of "Your Brain Is Tricking You Into a Weird Endogenous High". It seems like most of these articles are focused on how an individual experiences love and attraction alone, as a flood of endorphins in their own brain that are released in response to types of arousal. The sequel to this story that I want to hear--and perhaps someone can direct me to some studies-- is wether or not we truly experience this kind of thing alone. How does another body/mind respond to someone who is already exper…

Fairly recently I am having Symptoms that I've never ever experienced until now. here is what they are - Thinking I don't exist - Thinking that what I am looking at or looking around at is not real - Thinking the Reality I'm in is not real. - Feeling as if I'm not in my own body - Whispering voices that are actually not there. - Extreme Paranoia for completely no reason - Heightened Fight or Flight response - Despair - Extremely Jumpy for no apparent reason Conditions I already have : Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Do these have symp…

What are some disorders people can have due to being exposed to violence let's say under 18 years of age or even in general no matter how old you are. What are the disorders?

I think yes. There is a subtle difference in the sexual behavior of homosexuals compared to heterosexuals: the sexual movements during sex. Thrusting movements during heterosexual sex are stereotypical, almost reflexive movements that appear upon sexual arousal. They are regulated by the sexually dimorphic nucleus in the medial preoptic area (SDN-POA). In heterosexual females there are vaginal muscle movements, which manifest with the urge to grasp and engulf. Homosexuals (both males and females) have issues with this reflex. I think that the reason is diet and stress, which affect the development or functioning of the SDN-POA. I began to study the issue as part of my…

Coincidentally to a new starter here, I found this new report on the BBC A brief history of psychedelic research https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/a-brief-history-of-psychedelic-research/p06hcd5z So the question for debate is Do these compounds have a future in Western Medicine?

Guys, does anyone in here know anything about why some children hit themselves on the head when they are frustrated? I find this really strange. Can anyone help?

Numerous police departments have come under public scrutiny in recent years after use of lethal force in cases that, to many people, did not appear to require lethal force (the keyword being "lethal"). The Mesa, Arizona police department after the shooting of Daniel Shaver, and the Sacramento Police Department after the shooting of Steffon Clark are two examples that come immediately to mind. Police and their sympathizers tend to argue that their improvident use of lethal force is a necessary evil by arguing that, if a cop waits until he's actually being shot at before he opens fire himself, he's probably already dead before he even gets the chance to defend himself.…

So my quandary is when the brain thinks of a thought say a bear it forms a nuerochemical pattern or pathway associated with that thought. By thinking about "bear" the brain reinforces that pattern in the brain ie "use it or lose it". And when the brain is busy thinking about something else that pathway weakens. So say you have two unrelated thoughts positive and negative, bacon and the death of a loved one for example, by just having those two thoughts simultaneously present in your brain a connection or association be it weak could form between the two. There is no logical reason they should be associated except for the fact they popped in the brain at about the same tim…

I purchased Paul Ekaman's Emotions Revealed, Revised Edition to understand others, but it also helped me to understand myself. Moreover, this forum lacks the psychology experts who would otherwise provide far more information than I could. Enjoy (criticizing) my theorizing that followed my reading this book. Where else would I put it? The Book I Read The book began with Ekman's decades-old research that searched for universal emotions, or rather the universal facial expressions of emotions. His 60's research on the isolated Guineans confirmed the universality of happiness (the smile), sadness, anger and disgust, but not surprise. However, Ekman gradually ad…

Hello, I wasn't sure if this should go there but it was my best guess. I love reading the 'New scientist' magazines and I have a big collection of them, however, as they are very detailed and have a lot of information in them I find it really difficult to remember what I have read. I think this is because of my dyslexia or it might happen to a lot of other non dyslexic people but I was wondering if you all have some helpful tips to help. I would love to be able to read the magazines and all the information just get absorbed into my head. I know that the brains memory is never that good though. Any help would be greatly appreciated.