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!

Review Of Blue Monday

I'm afraid to say I was disappointed; The beginning was slow and took a while to get going, I thought the way the authors integrated Freudian dreams that some of Dr Klein's patients had were pretty interesting, but the ending (which I'm not going to talk about just incase you want to read it) which my Mum professed to be an excellent twist was predictable and I guessed both twists before they were explained in the book which is always incredibly disappointing for an avid fan of Nicci French's thrillers. I will be reading the next book in the new series entitled Tuesday's Gone and I'm hoping it will live up to expectation!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

All I can say is how fantastic this film is, the actors (especially Jack Nicholson), the plot line and the sense of liberation that one man can bring to a group of oppressed psychiatric patients. Just brilliant; please go and watch this.

Race for Life

In June I will be running the race for life in memory of my Papa who sadly passed away last year due to Bowl cancer and a multitude of other problems. His life was inspirational to me and everyone who know him and so I've decided to do this for him (even though I can't run!) I went for a practice jog a few days ago and let's just say that it didn't go fantastically well... Fingers crossed with a bit more practice I will be ready for the 5km in time!

The Best Way to Spend 1/3 of your Life

Unlike the majority of my friends who seem to be chemically wired up to wake up at 7am every morning, I am able to carry on sleeping until mid- afternoon if it suits me, maybe even longer. Leading sleep experts say that the brain is very active at night, I think that perhaps dreams are the brain's way of unravelling your day and all of the significant things that you may have consciously or unconsciously witnessed- that's why sometimes you wonder why you dreamt of Deirdre Barlow until you realise Coronation Street has a good plot line at the moment! 

After watching A Dangerous Method I have taken more time to consider Freud's analyses of dreams. I feel compelled to agree that the major recurring themes are the result of the desires of the stripped back, instinctive, sexually driven part of a person's personality; but then I don't agree that every single part of a dream had meaning that must be interpreted in this way. I do think that a large part of dreaming is one's brain unravelling the complex world it has witnessed that day so that it does not become overwhelmed with lingering information. This is why when one is deprived of sleep, their concentration lacks and higher thinking brain stores shut down as the brain is prioritising it's unravelling mechanism that it uses during sleep. With the amount of hours I seem to be able to pack in, however, I don't think this will be a problem!

Films and Books

I have now watched A Dangerous Method and I did enjoy it. The relationship portrayed between Jung and Freud seems, in the beginning, to be Jung attempting to walk in the footsteps of Freud whom Jung deems "the father of psychoanalysis" but later as Jung rejects Freud's theory that everything spawns from sexual drives and the "labido" they begin to drift apart and eventually end their friendship. Furthermore, the techniques used by Jung seemed interesting as he tested the physical reactions of his wife during word association and concluded that she was completely focussed on her pregnancy and also worried that she may be losing the attention of Jung. Overall, I found it well acted by Knightly, Fassbender and Mortensen and thoroughly engrossing and thought provoking.

 I have also today begun reading Blue Monday by Nicci French- one of my favourite authors duos- it appears to be particularly focussed on psychotherapy: let's hope it's as good as some of their other works.

A Dangerous Method

Let's see how Cronenberg depicts Jung and Freud-should be a very interesting film

Sigmund Freud

The idol of my psychology teacher- I certainly find his theories interesting, some may write them off as ridiculous but I feel they do give great insight into personality and the conscious and unconscious mind

The benefits of sharing common interests

Just shared everything I've learnt in my psychology classes with my step-mum who seemed incredibly interested about Freud, Clive Wearing and Bowby's theory of attachments. It's really encouraging when members of your family show a genuine interest in your future career; I could honestly talk about Freud and his analyses of dreams for hours...

An Amazing Experience

Ice-Cream, Delicious but Deadly

Ice-cream, delicious but deadly (as I found out the hard way after being slightly over enthusiastic about a tub of Ben and Jerry's). After doing some reading up on what most have come to christen as "Brain Freeze" i've discovered that: a) it's not brain freeze at all as the brain has no pain receptors b) it is, in fact, the temples and the surface of the face which experiences the pain c) No-one really knows for certain why your brain suddenly feels like it has been sliced with ice. The best guess amongst scientists is that the cold substance shocks the Trigeminal nerve which is responsible for sensation in the face, the brain then gets the message the heat the area and so dilates the blood vessels around the area to heat it with blood flow. The sudden dilation causes pressure and the sudden wave of pain... well you learn something new everyday!

The First Sign of Madness

Some say it's the first sign of madness, talking to yourself. I discovered recently that I have a very active phonological loop, which means not only do I subvocalise but I also talk aloud to myself. A lot. Revision period is coming up soon, so according to leading psychiatrists I should retell everything I learn to another- thus reinforcing the information phonologically which gives it a better chance of entering my long term memory. I'd better get chatting to the dog then if I want to pass my A-Levels!