After watching all of the personality disorder projects, I decided to go over McKenna, Caitlin, and Julie's presentations. McKenna did her presentation on Dissociative Identity Disorder. I thought it was really interesting about how a lot of people who have this disorder developed it at a younger age as a defense mechanism for abuse. It's almost as if they use this to completely mask or forget about their terrible circumstances. I am wondering if psychologists have given this tendency a name? Also, I wanted to know what program McKenna used to make her brochure. When I looked at Caitlin's project, I thought it was really cool that she made it personal to her own life. I wonder what it would be like to live in a family where your mother has borderline personality disorder. I also wanted to know statistics or the ratio of BPD that is caused from hereditary or environment. How does living in a home where a parent has BPD affect the children as they are growing up? Lastly, I looked at Julie's presentation on Histrionic Personality Disorder. Histrionic Personality Disorder is basically where people are addicted to getting attention from other people. As a high school student, I am around many people who love getting attention from people and almost search for compliments at times. I am wondering where psychologists have drawn the line between histrionic tendencies and histrionic personality disorder. Also, what is the tendency of seeing improvements in behavior after seeking treatment or therapy? I thought that this was a really interesting disorder to learn about because it is an issue that many teenage girls struggle with.
This article was basically all about the different traits and tendencies that creative people have. To be honest, I saw a lot of the things discussed in myself. It's pretty unfortunate that we don't stress creativity at a high school level because I would personally thrive a lot more. As stated in the article, some teachers may want their students to focus on the credibility and validity of their work rather than how personal or unique it is. While I can understand their viewpoint, I wish that more teachers encouraged this. It's really disappointing because for example, I would get marked down for focusing on being creative in my AP Literature essays. Eventually, I started to just focus on answering the prompt, which is something that Mrs. Dolbee drills into our heads from day one. I'm so used to writing and just answering the prompt that things like my personal statement for the UCAS application ends up being dry. I didn't always write like this & its' really disappointing that I'm not as easily able to make the statement more personal. I personally think that creativity is innate just as problem solving. Not every person is able to problem solve as well as others while some may not be able to harness their creativity as easily as others. During the personality unit, I learned a lot about myself and the kinds of things that motivate me. I am able to understand why I am so relentless in my work, but why I struggle internally with some things. It's interesting because some of the very things that I have realized about myself were in this very article. For example, the whole paragraph about being conservative and rebellious at the same time is very relatable to myself. I was able to find some sort of connection to my own personality in almost every numeral listed in the article.
In the motivation article, I read about the "5 Keys To Unlock Your Creative Motivation" and about "The Goals That Guide Us." In the first article, I learned that to unlock my creativity, I need to challenge myself, have a new approach towards it, change my perspective, find your intrinsic motivation, and make it fun. These 5 steps are connected to the motivation unit because we learned about how people find their motivation and what they need to do to reach self-actualization. These steps can be used to take what we have learned in class and actually apply it to our lives. Whether it be in class or out in the world, we can use these 5 steps to find out what things excite us and how we can be efficient while also enjoying ourselves. The second article was about how setting goals for ourselves can give us direction in life to increase our focus and productivity. Some things that we can do when setting these goals are to write them down, acknowledge obstacles, identify benefits, make subgoals, enable ourselves, seek help, visualize your results, be organized, and reward yourself. This article is related to our motivation unit because not only can it help us to successfully achieve self-actualization, but can help us to feel in control of our success. These ideas can not only help us in school but can help us in achieving long term and short term goals in an efficient manner.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creating-in-flow/200907/5-keys-unlock-your-creative-motivation http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200307/the-goals-guide-us Personifying Panic Disorder I have the ability of sneaking up on my victims when they least expect it. It's kind of disappointing because they become very paralyzed and startled whenever they know I'm near. I'm sure that everyone hates me, but if they don't even want to spend time with me, I'll just make sure that they know I exist and that I can return whenever I please. The truth is, I know their fears and worries better than anyone. I love to use this understanding of my victims to play a little game on them. Don't worry! My game only takes a few minutes to play, so it's not like anyone is being seriously hurt. The trick of this game is to catch your opponent in a moment of weakness. When I notice that one tiny worried thought is floating around in their head, I fill a bucket with all of their fears and dump it on top of their head as if it's a bucket of ice cold water. Then, while they try to get away from my first attack, I sneak up behind them, place a blade to their neck, and whisper negativity into their ear while they sit paralyzed in their place. At this point, my opponent is clearly losing to my ruthless and strategic attack. Their are frozen in their place, leaving me to do with them what I please. I like to gag them with a cloth so they are unable to call out for help. Then, I move that knife to their chest and cut a slit right below their rib cage. I slip my cold hands inside their body and latch onto their lungs. At this point, my opponent is wrapped around my finger. I add a moment of silence for them to anticipate my wrath and then squeeze their lungs with all of my might. When my victim reaches their climax of fear and panic, I release their lungs, retract from their body cavity, sew up their skin, clean up the water I had dumped on them, and disappear without any sign that I was there. Was I really just by my victim's side, threatening their life, or was it all in their head? I'd tell you, but that's what makes it so invigorating. This is a really fun game, don't you think? Perhaps we could play sometime? Ideas For My Multi-Genre Project
Research Links on Panic Disorder
I used a LOT of the information you gave me in that packet on panic disorder.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/03/15/psychotherapy-for-panic-disorder/689.html http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/tc/panic-attacks-and-panic-disorder-medications I have chosen to study panic disorder because I have been involved with it a few times throughout my life and it is an extremely unsettling thing to witness. Someone that I am very close to has experienced a panic attack, but I never realized that it was actually a psychological disorder, so I am interested in finding out more.
I have noticed that psychological disorders is a sort of taboo in our society. People are so open to talk about physical ailments that they might have like being paralyzed or having cancer, but people usually keep their mental illnesses in the dark. Depending on the region in which you live, the treatment of those with mental illnesses are different. In Asian countries, people are very much encouraged to be as normal as possible. Therefore, people with psychological disorders are seen as a source of shame. About 26% of the American population has a mental disorder, which is 1 in every 4 people. If that statistic is accurate, then there are so many people with psychological disorders that no one knows about. However, in past years, people have begun to fight more and more for equality for all people. With all of the cancer awareness, fighting for gay rights, people are more inclined to represent their mental disorder with determination and bravery. For example, a young girl at my church has down-syndrome and her parents have been very public about loving their daughter unconditionally and giving her the normal life that she deserves. That kind of behavior and treatment wouldn't be so common in the past. Years ago, people with psychological disorders have be excommunicated from society or even killed because they are seen as incompetent human beings. After doing some research on Abnormal Psychology, I found a website that encompasses a lot of important information about it. While reading, I discovered that abnormal psychology is the study of people who are considered "abnormal" by the society in which they live in based on their actions. People who are classified as abnormal have behavior that is statistically infrequent and rare. However, these infrequencies don't necessarily deem a person as abnormal because their actions may be because they are more gifted than the usual person. Discovering if a person is truly abnormal, you have to do more research and make more observations to see if they are violating social norms. People who violate social norms go against the acceptable behavior that a certain social group has set for the mass majority to follow. However, social norms are always changing, which means that the list of abnormal behavior is evolving as well. Fortunately, another way to determine if a person if abnormal is if they are unable to function adequately to meet the needs of everyday life. If they are unable to take care of themselves, to keep a job, to interact properly with people, they therefore fail to function well in society. These people could possibly also encounter suffering, maladaptiveness, unconventionality, unpredictability, discomfort by those observing, and could possibly violate social standards. However, some people with the inability to function properly in society may use abnormal behavior to soothe their mental complications, making everyday life a little easier to handle. Once these abnormal actions are discovered, it is necessary to determine whether or not these characteristics are a necessity to acquiring good mental health. While it is near impossible to achieve all of these ideal characteristics at a time, it is always a good goal to work towards if people choose to live a normal life. As seen in the video above, I also found a YouTube video about abnormal psychology. In The World of Abnormal Psychology, we discover the difference between people that behave in a narcissistic way and people who have a narcissistic personality disorder. As stated in the video at :40, "there is a healthy narcissism and there is an unhealthy narcissism. The healthy narcissism has to do with our need to love ourselves, to value ourselves, to regard ourselves as worthy human beings" while at 1:05, people with an unhealthy narcissistic personality disorder "are unable to develop this... where they have their own internal sense of value." To research the difference between the two types of narcissism, psychotherapists train actors to understand these disorders. In the video, an actor plays out an argument with her boyfriend while using narcissistic personality traits. While it may seem that she "is being unreasonable," as her boyfriend states at 3:07, her narcissistic attitude is so "self-involved... that [she needs] to get involved with people who will admire [her]," as stated at 3:25. The abnormal behavior of the female is caused simply because she has an unhealthy narcissism personality disorder where all she cares about is what people think of her and "be[ing] the star and... the center of attention" as her psychologist states at 5:03.
Something in this article that I agreed with was the fact that "traits are mere mental constructions-- properties of the perciever's imagination rather than real characteristics of persons." This means that the behavior of people depends on specific situation rather than following a set list of personality traits. When people act based on these specific situation, it allows for those observing to make a psychoanalysis of what they think makes up those individuals. However, there may be traits that no one sees on a regular basis. Depending on what specific environments that the person is in, their observers may only see a specific side of them. Without taking time to observe a person's behavior in all situations and environments, it is impossible to accurately assess one's personality. However, something that I disagreed with in the article is the belief that "personality test[s] should predict differences in neatness in any situation." shouldn't be that so specific. Personality tests should only point out big ideas or main traits of a person instead of ranking smaller ideas. Personality tests are good to take when looking for general results, not specific details about yourself. Besides, those specific details shouldn't be left to a computer or a psychologist to asses. Once you know the general framework of your personality, you can use those results to dive deeper yourself. It probably isn't necessary for personality tests to even exist, considering that we are who understand our behaviors the most. Instead of analyzing yourself all the time, personality tests can also be useful to get a second opinion. Often times, we see only the person that we want to see. Personality tests can help to coax us out of denial about our own character. Therefore, social psychologists may have designed and implemented personality tests to see how accurately our view of ourselves lines up with how others see us. When we are given a much better understanding of ourselves, people can discover how they really are in general and can acknowledge what things they may want to improve on.
In module 12.6, we read about self-esteem, which is associated with our psychological well-being and how we view ourselves. Even though self-esteem can drop at times, it is not set at a fixed quantity. In fact, we can work to improve our self esteem to better how we function in the world and feel about ourselves. Self-esteem is often associated self-worth, which is something that develops with the goals that we set for ourselves. I was able to discover the quantity of my own self-esteem by my goals, my skills, by expectations, by the meaning of my life, my perfectionism, and my need for approval.
In the process of building my self-esteem, I try to acquire skills that enable me to meet and conquer the challenges I face. I have spent time building my academic, artistic, and social skills in order to become a more well-rounded person. Academically, I have pushed myself to get good grades and to join National Honors Society so that I will be able to use this skill in the future as I graduate high school, college, and finally enter into the work world. I am in the top quarter of my class and take pride in that. I sometimes get really hard on myself if my grades aren't as good as they could be, but I've started to care less and less. Now, the only time I really let my success in my academic pursuits affect me is when I'm compared to another person who is smarter than me or when I feel like I have a goal that is unattainable because of my lack of success by their standards. Artistically, I push myself to express myself as much as possible in my academic and creative pursuits. On the artistic level, I think that I have skills that I should improve. I can always be a better singer, actress, piano player, guitar player, or artist. However, I do believe that I have talents that not everyone has so, I'm pretty satisfied with that. Unless I set really high expectations for my academic skills, this doesn't really affect my self-esteem. I also am very proud of my social skills. When I want to, I can be a very conversational and outgoing person, which is a good quality to have in the real world when in the work environment and trying to make friends. I'm satisfied with my social skills because I'm way more comfortable with talking to other people than your typical introvert. I would rather be able to approach a situation with ease rather than having a loss for words or feeling social anxiety towards it. However, when I doubt my ability to make friends, my social skills (or lack there of) can have an affect on my self-esteem. When I am confident in all of my abilities, I believe that I possess skills that will help me to be successful in the real world, thus improving my self-esteem. In order to build my self-esteem, a basic step towards doing so consists of setting realistic goals to aim to achieve. These goals don't serve as roadblocks towards improving my self-esteem, but they essentially help a person to feel at peace with their success in life if they are accomplished. For example, wanting to get a job & wanting to get a decent score in my classes are all very realistic goals to have. If I continue to make goals like this throughout my life, I can maintain a sense of self-esteem while conquering the basic stepping stones towards success. A different kind of goals that you can set for yourself is called self-efficiency expectations. These expectations is where you take those basic goals to the next level. After acquiring things like a job and good grades in school, I can work to add my personal creative twist on everything. I can take my assignments in school and begin to add my personal stamp onto it. However, I have began to notice that right when I begin to add my personal stamp, I get so focused on creating what I have inside my head that I forget to include other people in the work process. My trust towards other people declines because I begin to doubt that they will not meet the expectations that I have set in my mind. When I focus on not making this mistake, I have come to find that the outcome is usually better than what I intended. Another step in improving my self-esteem is by creating a sense of meaning in my own life. For a long time, I felt like I was stuck in the same place and that there was no genuine purpose for why I am alive. However, when I traveled to Hungary, I got this huge rush of excitement. I never felt homesick and didn't want to return back to America because I felt such a great sense of purpose in the work that I was doing in Hungary and the relationships that I had built. For a long time, I have realized that my longing to travel the world has turned into a love for Europe. At this point, I feel very unfulfilled, living in the states, because I know that there is so much more that I could be doing than going to school and watching Gossip Girl every day. If I could be anywhere in the world, I would be in Europe without a thought. However, I realize that I need to create meaning in my life here, so I have made efforts to find my niche. For example, I joined advanced drama, advanced tv production, the plays/musicals, the television production crew at my church and so on. As long as I can maintain some sort of connection to the things that I am really passionate about, I feel satisfied enough for the time being. In order to understand exactly who I am as a person, I need to challenge the perfectionist expectations that I have of myself. This is something that I seriously, seriously, seriously need to work on because it's destroying my ability to be content with who I am and what I have accomplished. Often times, I will take on much more than I know I can handle, being apart of countless clubs, extra curricular assignments, and taking advantage of any extra credit assignments that I can do. My closest friends always tell me that I do way too much and that one day, I will exhaust myself to the point where it is unhealthy to do as much work that I take on. When I take on a new project, I don't just accomplish it with a low level of quality. I strive for my projects and assignments to be near perfect. I make it a goal to surpass the level of effort that the peers that surround me take. I don't do these things on purpose, but I tend to not think of how much I actually can handle when my mind is consumed in something like this. Other times, I have noticed that I shy away from things that I know I cannot attain. This doesn't happen too often, but with things like college applications and auditions, I could potentially be holding myself back. When browsing for colleges, I would find so many schools that I would love to be involved in. However, the second I saw their requirement list, I doubted things like my grades and ACT scores and subconsciously convinced myself that I would never be good enough for a school like that. Now that I realize that this is a mistake that I have made in the past few months, it is too late to go through and apply to the colleges that I had initially found. I am going to keep myself accountable in the future so that I don't make these mistakes again. If I can stick to that new realization, I truly believe that nothing can get in the way of achieving my hopes and dreams. Lastly, I need to challenge my need for constant approval in order to be content with who I am and the choices that I make as an individual. As stated in countless journals, I have spent a good majority of my life trying to please people and to create an image of myself that people will approve of. Throughout middle school and high school, I have wasted time trying to get the wrong people to want to be my friend. With things like Student Leadership Council, I have put myself on the line, putting as much effort that I have time for into being as successful as I can be in order to please the other people in my council. However, there will always be those people who will never be happy with what you do. I found that out the hard way, getting removed from being the president of my class without the rest of my group telling me about their decision first. No matter how hard you try and put time towards accomplishing goals and building relationships, there will always be people that disapprove. Because of situations like this, I try to receive approval for everything that I do. If someone has a single bit of negative feedback towards me, I can't help but to take it to heart. However, I've realized that this is such an unhealthy thing to do to myself because of the reaction that I have towards that criticism. I don't really know how to fix it, but I guess it's something that I should take some time to figure out. When I get out into the real world, it's not going to matter what my high school friends thought of me. I guess I'm trying to search for something, whether it be self-assurance or just friends who like me. By caring so much about what people think of me, I tend to doubt how many people actually care enough to be my friend. When I'm not keeping myself busy and distracting myself with my perfectionist tenancies, I tend to get really lonely really quickly. I know that I'm stronger than that, but at the same time, I care way too much. All that is going to matter is if I am satisfied with my own actions at the end of the day. No one has to set the standard of the kind of person I should be because that is my own job. If I am content with who I am and the decisions that I make, nothing really matters besides that. Easier said than done. In chapter 12.2, I read about personality traits and how everyone has different personality traits. Gordon Allport, a psychologist, created a hierarchy of traits where he determined to what degree a certain trait affects a person's personality. He believed that the basic building blocks of a person are called central traits and the most influential characteristics of a person are called cardinal traits. Then, there are the details that define a person's taste in music & clothing, which are called secondary traits. Psychologist, Raymond Cattell, believed that there were two parts that make up a person's personality. He believed that the traits that can be inferred simply through observation are surface traits while source traits consist of the traits that lie in a deeper level of a person. Another psychologist named Hans Eysenck created a simpler trait model that describes someone's personality in three major traits. He analyzed someone and determined to what degree they are associated with introversion or extroversion, with neuroticism (emotional stability), and with psychoticism (how cold/insensitive they are). Lastly, a model of psychoanalysis was created called The "Big Five," which measures someone's personality based on neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. This model is extremely useful because it helps college students to see how successful they will probably be in school. The "Big Five" also helps to determine how successful they will be in more intimate relationships and what the structure of their personality is. While I think that my personality has been influence by both nature and nurture, I have noticed that a lot of my own traits have come from different experiences and environments that I have grown up in. By spending time with people, listening to music, & traveling, I have been able to develop my own traits, desires, and interests. |