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The best psychology frees us from emotional and behavioral problems. It teaches us about a hidden, inner agenda that works against our best interests.
In a sense, we have to become smarter, or more conscious, so that we don’t unknowingly participate in, or contribute to, our own failures and ... Views: 1080
The first encounter between psychiatrist or therapist and patient (or client) is multi-phased. The mental health practitioner notes the patient's history and administers or prescribes a physical examination to rule out certain medical conditions. Armed with the results, the diagnostician now ... Views: 3358
Children and adolescents with conduct disorder are budding psychopaths. They repeatedly and deliberately (and joyfully) violate the rights of others and breach age-appropriate social norms and rules. Some of them gleefully hurt and torture people or, more frequently, animals. Others damage ... Views: 1778
The Man In The Looking Glass
"When you get what you want in your struggle for self and the world makes you king for a day Then go to a mirror and look at yourself and see what your face has to say for it isn't your father, or mother or wife who judgement upon you must pass the one who means ... Views: 1032
A personality disorder is identified by a pervasive pattern of experience and behavior that is abnormal with respect to any of the following two: thinking, mood, personal relations, and the control of impulses.
The character of a person is shown through his or her personality--by the way an ... Views: 977
Phineas Gage was a 25 years old construction foreman who lived in Vermont in the 1860s. While working on a railroad bed, he packed powdered explosives into a hole in the ground, using tamping iron. The powder heated and blew in his face. The tamping iron rebounded and pierced the top of his ... Views: 963
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition, text revision [American Psychiatric Association. DSM-IV-TR, Washington, 2000] - or the DSM-IV-TR for short - describes Axis II personality disorders as "deeply ingrained, maladaptive, lifelong behavior patterns". But the classificatory model ... Views: 4852
The DSM-IV dropped two diagnoses that made an appearance in the DSM-III: the masochistic and the sadistic personality disorders. But these are not the only differences between the two editions as far as Axis II (personality disorders) goes.
The DSM-IV considerably expanded and updated the ... Views: 921
The Negativistic (Passive-Aggressive) Personality Disorder is not yet recognized by the DSM Committee. It makes its appearances in Appendix B of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, titled "Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study."
Some people are perennial pessimists and have ... Views: 2219
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is published by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It included mental health disorders for the first time in 1948, in its sixth edition. In 1959, following widespread criticism of its classificatory scheme, the WHO ... Views: 1305
How often do you feel rejected? Think about it. The person you asked on a date said “No”, a prospect said “No” to buying the product you sell, and you’re boss didn’t like your ‘great’ idea. The list goes on and on doesn’t it? We all hear the word “No” several times a day, and we have since we ... Views: 1596
One of the keys to being successful in anything you do is persistence. Once you have determined exactly what it is you want to accomplish, you must take massive action on a consistent, persistent basis in order to succeed. Think of it like building a muscle. If you have never weight rained ... Views: 1009
The Depressive Personality Disorder is not yet recognized by the DSM Committee. It makes its appearances in Appendix B of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, titled "Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study." It is not clear in what way is the Depressive Personality Disorder ... Views: 1355
The Masochistic personality disorder made its last appearance in the DSM III-TR and was removed from the DSM IV and from its text revision, the DSM IV-TR. Some scholars, notably Theodore Millon, regard its removal as a mistake and lobby for its reinstatement in future editions of the DSM.
The ... Views: 4437
The Sadistic Personality Disorder made its last appearance in the DSM III-TR and was removed from the DSM IV and from its text revision, the DSM IV-TR. Some scholars, notably Theodore Millon, regard its removal as a mistake and lobby for its reinstatement in future editions of the DSM.
The ... Views: 9651
Are you Wounded?
Have you ever tried to put some water on a fresh wound? If you have, you must have felt some pain. Water, which can never harm you if you were not injured, has just made you feel some pain when it touched your wound, simply because when we develop a wound we tend to become over ... Views: 6165
Obsessions and compulsions are about control of self (mental) and others (interpersonal). People with the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) are concerned (worried and anxious) about maintaining control and about being seen to be maintaining it. In other words, they are also ... Views: 3739
Ever since Freud, more women than men sought therapy. Consequently, terms like "hysteria' are intimately connected to female physiology and alleged female psychology. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of the psychiatric profession) expressly professes gender bias: personality ... Views: 1611
Based on The Enlightenment Pack by Chuck Spezzano, and the work of Psychology of Vision, "The Innersense Game" is designed to help people unblock their lives, solve their problems and live in a happier more fulfilled way, in a psychology-based ‘reading’ format.
To play 'Innersense' is simple. ... Views: 1326
Are personality disorders the outcomes of inherited traits? Are they brought on by abusive and traumatizing upbringing? Or, maybe they are the sad results of the confluence of both?
To identify the role of heredity, researchers have resorted to a few tactics: they studied the occurrence of ... Views: 1141
The Five Factor Model deals with the healthy, normal personality. Not so other factor models. In 1990, Clark and a group of researchers constructed an instrument with 21 dimensions, based on the criteria of personality disorders in the DSM-III, on various scholarly texts in the field, and even ... Views: 969
Moving makes change happen fast. When you move to a new residence, you change more than your address. You shift the way you view yourself and the world around you. Moving forces you to re-learn everyday roles. You'll begin to navigate a new way to be a spouse, parent, friend, lover, choir ... Views: 830
The Five Factor Model was suggested by two researchers, Costa and McCrae, in 1989. The designers of previous factor models sifted through bulky dictionaries and came up with thousands of words to describe human nature in all its variability. Not so the inventors of the Five Factor Model. It is ... Views: 1345
The paranoid's world is hostile, arbitrary, malicious, and unpredictable. Consequently, he or she distrusts others and suspects them. No good deed goes unpunished. Every gesture of goodwill is surely fuelled by ulterior, self-interested and uncharitable motives. Paranoids are firmly convinced ... Views: 1583
"We share what we know, so that we all may grow."
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THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING - THE POWER OF THOUGHT ENERGY (PART TWO)
INTRODUCTION:
Submitter's Note: Craig has been studying and researching the human mind, the "last ... Views: 4689
It seems everyone is into psychics these days ! Late-night television has dozens of 1-900 lines waiting to take your call. The popularity of shows like "Unsolved Mysteries", "Sightings" , "Crossing Over with John Edward" and recent movies like "The Sixth Sense" and "Stir of Echoes" all reflect ... Views: 2237
The requirements for success are often listed in business manuals and magazines. How many of those enviable qualities do you have ? Or to put it differently, if you had them would you be able to recognize them? Would you be sufficiently objective to be able to assess yourself with complete ... Views: 775
Have you ever wondered why doctors have such notoriously bad handwritings? It often seems as if the words in their prescriptions have to be guessed at rather than read.
One explanation is that doctors tend to write quickly - a tendency that is undoubtedly increased by years of note-taking at ... Views: 912
Are You Feeling Down?
Are you feeling down? Do you want to get over this bad mood? If you want to get rid of something, you should first understand it. Most people experience bad moods without even knowing why. They just tend to relate these feelings to the first thing they find in their way, ... Views: 2396
Do you believe in UFOs and alien abductions? You may be suffering from the Schizotypal Personality Disorder. Do you believe in the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary and in the resurrection of her son? Then you are merely a religious person.
In other words, it is OK to believe in certain ... Views: 1874
“Only two things are certain in this world — change and death.”
A relative told us this as we gathered in the balcony one summer evening many years ago. For a young boy, those words sounded strange and profound.
As a physician, I’ve realized that change and death are ... Views: 2247
There is great confusion regarding the terms co-dependent, counter-dependent, and dependent. Before we proceed to study the Dependent Personality Disorder in our next article, we would do well to clarify these terms.
Codependents
Like dependents (people with the Dependent Personality ... Views: 1480
All who ascribe to the belief that we create our own reality must be deeply concerned about the events of 9 11. What do these events tell us about the mass consciousness? What grand purpose does all this death and destruction serve?
All who have been angry with the current economic systems, ... Views: 758
According to Freud and his followers, our psyche is a battlefield between instinctual urges and drives (the id), the constraints imposed by reality on the gratification of these impulses (the ego), and the norms of society (the superego). This constant infighting generates what Freud called ... Views: 2380
They Say You're Crazy; How the World's Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who's Normal by Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D.
Peaking out: How My Mind Broke Free from the Delusions in Psychiatry by Al Siebert, Ph.D. Practical Psychology
Here are two books from PhD psychologists, one American, one ... Views: 1573
People suffering from the Avoidant Personality Disorder feel inadequate, unworthy, inferior, and lacking in self-confidence. As a result, they are shy and socially inhibited. Aware of their real (and, often, imagined) shortcomings, they are constantly on the lookout, are hypervigilant and ... Views: 2248
Schizoids enjoy nothing and seemingly never experience pleasure (they are anhedonic). Even their nearest and dearest often describe them as "automata", "robots", or "machines". But the schizoid is not depressed or dysphoric, merely indifferent. Schizoids are uninterested in social relationships ... Views: 3377
The fact that the Borderline personality disorder is often found among women makes it a controversial mental health diagnosis. Some scholars say that it is a culture-bound pseudo-syndrome invented by men to serve a patriarchal and misogynistic society. Others point to the fact the lives of ... Views: 2619
It is not easy to be totally truthful with others and often even with ourselves.
The main reason for this is our fear or rejection. This fear is often greater even than the fear of death.
We identify our self-worth and consequently our feelings of security with how others perceive us and ... Views: 991
Most patients with the Histrionic Personality Disorder are women. This immediately raises the question: Is this a real mental health disorder or a culture-bound syndrome which reflects the values of a patriarchal and misogynistic society? A man with similar traits is bound to be admired as a ... Views: 3441
When the human body first experiences stress adrenaline takes over and causes a chain-reaction within the nervous system. The heart begins to beat faster, the sizes of the body’s blood vessels are changed, and the body actually prepares itself for a frightening or emotional event. Even though ... Views: 8083
Roots of the Disorder
Are the psychopath, sociopath, and someone with the Antisocial Personality Disorder one and the same? The DSM says "yes". Scholars such as Robert Hare and Theodore Millon beg to differ. The psychopath has antisocial traits for sure but they are coupled with and enhanced by ... Views: 1050
"In the beginning . . ." lights faded and the timbre of
anticipation congealed into a rhythmic clap.
Engulfed in darkness, a rhythmic pulse increased in speed and amplitude. Small beams of
lights appeared, swinging through space as if they were floating in the blackness. ... Views: 2236
By Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, authors of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
False memories allow us to forgive ourselves and justify our mistakes, but sometimes at a high price: an inability to take responsibility for our lives. An appreciation of the distortions of memory, a realization ... Views: 1196
We all heard the terms "psychopath" or "sociopath". These are the old names for a patient with the Antisocial Personality Disorder (AsPD). It is hard to distinguish narcissists from psychopaths. The latter may simply be a less inhibited and less grandiose form of the former. Indeed, the DSM V ... Views: 2080
Clinical Features of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Opinions vary as to whether the narcissistic traits evident in in infancy, childhood, and early adolescence are pathological. Anecdotal evidence suggests that childhood abuse and trauma inflicted by parents, authority figures, or even ... Views: 1232
What is the Difference between Healthy Narcissism and the Pathological Kind?
In my book "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited", I define pathological narcissism as:
"(A) life-long pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of ... Views: 1881
The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is not a new psychological construct. In previous centuries it was called "egotism" or "megalomania". It is an extreme form of pathological narcissism.
The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is one of the four personality disorders in Cluster B ... Views: 1663
Psychosomatic disturbances are very frequent causes of therapeutic blockade´s in the general practice. We are often blocked already at the diagnosis of such disturbances and let ourselves be deceived by the delusion of somatization. As naturopath´s we are moreover willing to incriminate such ... Views: 1530
The Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) is similar to the Rorschach inkblot test. Subjects are shown pictures and asked to tell a story based on what they see. Both these projective assessment tools elicit important information about underlying psychological fears and needs. The TAT was developed ... Views: 4787