Schizophrenia Commission

How fantastic that a report has been made looking into the way Schizophrenia is handled in the UK. The points that really caught my attention were that 220,000 people in England have psychotic experiences, patients are frequently being admitted against their will (and probably given anti-psychotics against their will) and that the cost of Schizophrenia to society is estimated at nearly £12 billion in England! The commissioners have highlighted how only 1 in 10 of those who could benefit from CBT actually receive the therapy which is ludicrous, NICE guidelines have pointed out the benefits of psychological therapies and these need to be recognised and put into action. I agree that the money budgeted for everything involved with Schizophrenia (from drugs to prevention) is not enough- only 13% of NHS resources- and that more should be spent on preventative programmes instead of using every resource on security provisions and drugs. Finally someone has noticed the flawed system that is being used to treat Schizophrenia in the UK and is doing something about it, I say more therapy/therapists and less time temporarily 'managing' the patients with major tranquillising drugs!

Derren Brown and Placebo

Four participants think they are receiving a drug that eradicates fear, will the power of placebo prevail? Derren just pointed out 75% of anti-depressent success may be due to the placebo effect, the fact that we have the psychological power to treat our own conditions is just breath taking.

Reference for work experience from my Psychology teacher

Work Experience

Looking forward to ringing around care homes soon in order to gain some work experience of individuals with degenerative conditions and other conditions found in the elderly. Currently in talks with St Ann's Psychiatric hospital to commence work experience with them in the new year, so excited to have experience of children (from Linwood), adults and the elderly with psychological conditions and gaining a wider knowledge of treatment/ therapy for the latter two.

A Clockwork Orange

Hmmm, disturbing- yes, enthralling- yes, shocking-yes. I am completely on the fence (for want of a better phrase) over this film; the brutality of the controversial adversion therapy used certainly highlights how experimental and dangerous earlier experiments for the rehabilitation of criminals were but there's something about the film I really didn't like and I can't put my finger on it; perhaps it was the slight obvious overacting of the 'sickness' felt by Alex or the unsatisfying ending that simply a knock on the head can reverse deeply rooted conditioned physiological reactions to violence. Let's hope the book is better!

EPQ!

Summer time means Extended Project Qualification research time! I have decided to do my EPQ on dissociative identity disorder and it's representation in the media specifically looking at The Three Faces of Eve (the book and film) and Sybil (once again the book and film). I am then hoping to really research the real-life cases of this women and do a detailed comparison between both the case and the media's representation. I honestly don't know how people can't be interested by fascinating cases such as these; hopefully I will keep a regular account of how my 10 month EPQ journey pans out and it's results- wish me luck


-- Sadly the extra strains of A2s, work experience and extra curricular activities have meant my EPQ has been put on hold... don't get me wrong i'm still very much enjoying researching and reading about my topic even if I won't be finishing my research in a 10,000 word essay!

Resurfacing After Exams and Ready To Get Reading

After finishing all of my AS exams and completing year 12 I have now got my whole summer to read about and gain an extra insight into Psychology. My first book is titled "Love's Executioner and other tales of Psychotherapy" in which therapist Irvin Yalom gives detailed accounts of previous patients and his work with them. From the onset I was fascinated by Yalom's theory of "an ever-present conflict between the wish to continue to exist and the awareness of inevitable death" and how one, as a child growing up, devises ways to escape or deny the inevitability of death as I could apply this to my own experiences growing up. 1) The very young are given religion and reassurance from parents to deny death. 2) As we get older we transform death into an entity or a monster waiting under one's bed so we feel able to elude death and hide from it. 3) Growing older yet again we attempt to detoxify death by challenging it through the use of daredevilry or desensitise ourselves through to use of horror films and giggling with friends. Personally this mirrors my own life so far which allows me to really consider and appreciate many of Yalom's ideas having never given attention to this behaviour before. A challenging and extremely enthralling read so far- updates shortly!