Do you think you may have a personality disorder? Follow this link to take a test!
Follow the link on my page titled " Personality Disorder Test".
Personality disorders are patterns of perceiving, reacting, and relating to other people and events that are relatively inflexible and that impair a person's ability to function socially.
Behavior may be odd or eccentric, dramatic or erratic, or anxious or inhibited.
Doctors consider the diagnosis when inappropriate thinking or behavior is repeated despite negative consequences.
Drugs do not change people's personality traits, but psychotherapy may help people recognize their problem and change their socially undesirable behaviors.
Everyone has characteristic patterns of perceiving and relating to other people and events (personality traits). That is, people tend to cope with stresses in an individual but consistent way. For example, some people respond to a troubling situation by seeking someone else's help; others prefer to deal with problems on their own. Some people minimize problems; others exaggerate them. Regardless of their usual style, however, mentally healthy people are likely to try an alternative approach if their first response is ineffective.
In contrast, people with a personality disorder are rigid and tend to respond inappropriately to problems, to the point that relationships with family members, friends, and coworkers are affected. These maladaptive responses usually begin in adolescence or early adulthood and do not change over time. Personality disorders vary in severity. They are usually mild and rarely severe.
Most people with a personality disorder are distressed about their life and have problems with relationships at work or in social situations. Many people also have mood, anxiety, substance abuse, or eating disorders.
People with a personality disorder are unaware that their thought or behavior patterns are inappropriate; thus, they tend not to seek help on their own. Instead, they may be referred by their friends, family members, or a social agency because their behavior is causing difficulty for others. When they seek help on their own, usually because of the life stresses created by their personality disorder, or troubling symptoms (for example, anxiety, depression, or substance abuse), they tend to believe their problems are caused by other people or by circumstances beyond their control.
Until fairly recently, many psychiatrists and psychologists felt that treatment did not help people with a personality disorder. However, specific types of psychotherapy (talk therapy), sometimes with drugs, have now been shown to help many people. Choosing an experienced, understanding therapist is essential.
Did You Know...
People with a personality disorder do not know that there is anything wrong with their thinking or behavior.
Personality disorders are grouped into three clusters. Cluster A personality disorders involve odd or eccentric behavior; cluster B, dramatic or erratic behavior; and cluster C, anxious or inhibited behavior.
Consequences of Personality Disorders
People with a personality disorder are at high risk of behaviors that can lead to physical illness (such as alcohol or drug addiction); self-destructive behavior, reckless sexual behavior, hypochondriasis, and clashes with society's values.
They may have inconsistent, detached, overemotional, abusive, or irresponsible styles of parenting, leading to medical and psychiatric problems in their children.
They are vulnerable to mental breakdowns (a period of crisis when a person has difficulty performing even routine mental tasks) as a result of stress.
They may develop a mental health disorder; the type (for example, anxiety, depression, or psychosis) depends in part on the type of personality disorder.
They are less likely to follow a prescribed treatment regimen; even when they follow the regimen, they are usually less responsive to drugs than most people are.
They often have a poor relationship with their doctor because they refuse to take responsibility for their behavior or they feel overly distrustful, deserving, or needy. The doctor may then start to blame, distrust, and ultimately reject the person.
Cluster A: Odd or Eccentric Behavior
Paranoid Personality: People with a paranoid personality are distrustful and suspicious of others. Based on little or no evidence, they suspect that others are out to harm them and usually find hostile or malicious motives behind other people's actions. Thus, people with a paranoid personality may take actions that they feel are justifiable retaliation but that others find baffling. This behavior often leads to rejection by others, which seems to justify their original feelings. They are generally cold and distant in their relationships.
People with a paranoid personality often take legal action against others, especially if they feel righteously indignant. They are unable to see their own role in a conflict. They usually work in relative isolation and may be highly efficient and conscientious.
Sometimes people who already feel alienated because of a defect or handicap (such as deafness) are more likely to suspect that other people have negative ideas or attitudes toward them. Such heightened suspicion, however, is not evidence of a paranoid personality unless it involves wrongly attributing malice to others.
Schizoid Personality: People with a schizoid personality are introverted, withdrawn, and solitary. They are emotionally cold and socially distant. They are most often absorbed with their own thoughts and feelings and are fearful of closeness and intimacy with others. They talk little, are given to daydreaming, and prefer theoretical speculation to practical action. Fantasizing is a common coping (defense) mechanism.
Schizotypal Personality: People with a schizotypal personality, like those with a schizoid personality, are socially and emotionally detached. In addition, they display oddities of thinking, perceiving, and communicating similar to those of people with schizophrenia (see Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorder: Schizophrenia). Although schizotypal personality is sometimes present in people with schizophrenia before they become ill, most adults with a schizotypal personality do not develop schizophrenia.
Some people with a schizotypal personality show signs of magical thinking—that is, they believe that their thoughts or actions can control something or someone. For example, people may believe that they can harm others by thinking angry thoughts. People with a schizotypal personality may also have paranoid ideas.
Cluster B: Dramatic or Erratic Behavior
Histrionic (Hysterical) Personality: People with a histrionic personality conspicuously seek attention, are dramatic and excessively emotional, and are overly concerned with appearance. Their lively, expressive manner results in easily established but often superficial and transient relationships. Their expression of emotions often seems exaggerated, childish, and contrived to evoke sympathy or attention (often erotic or sexual) from others.
People with a histrionic personality are prone to sexually provocative behavior or to sexualizing nonsexual relationships. However, they may not really want a sexual relationship; rather, their seductive behavior often masks their wish to be dependent and protected. Some people with a histrionic personality also are hypochondriacal and exaggerate their physical problems to get the attention they need.
Narcissistic Personality: People with a narcissistic personality have a sense of superiority, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. They have an exaggerated belief in their own value or importance, which is what therapists call grandiosity. They may be extremely sensitive to failure, defeat, or criticism. When confronted by a failure to fulfill their high opinion of themselves, they can easily become enraged or severely depressed. Because they believe themselves to be superior in their relationships with other people, they expect to be admired and often suspect that others envy them. They believe they are entitled to having their needs met without waiting, so they exploit others, whose needs or beliefs they deem to be less important. Their behavior is usually offensive to others, who view them as being self-centered, arrogant, or selfish. This personality disorder typically occurs in high achievers, although it may also occur in people with few achievements.
Antisocial Personality: People with an antisocial personality (previously called psychopathic or sociopathic personality), most of whom are male, show callous disregard for the rights and feelings of others. Dishonesty and deceit permeate their relationships. They exploit others for material gain or personal gratification (unlike narcissistic people, who exploit others because they think their superiority justifies it).
Characteristically, people with an antisocial personality act out their conflicts impulsively and irresponsibly. They tolerate frustration poorly, and sometimes they are hostile or violent. Often they do not anticipate the negative consequences of their antisocial behaviors and, despite the problems or harm they cause others, do not feel remorse or guilt. Rather, they glibly rationalize their behavior or blame it on others. Frustration and punishment do not motivate them to modify their behaviors or improve their judgment and foresight but, rather, usually confirm their harshly unsentimental view of the world.
People with an antisocial personality are prone to alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual deviation, promiscuity, and imprisonment. They are likely to fail at their jobs and move from one area to another. They often have a family history of antisocial behavior, substance abuse, divorce, and physical abuse. As children, many were emotionally neglected and physically abused. People with an antisocial personality have a shorter life expectancy than the general population. The disorder tends to diminish or stabilize with age.
Borderline Personality: People with a borderline personality, most of whom are women, are unstable in their self-image, moods, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Their thought processes are more disturbed than those of people with an antisocial personality, and their aggression is more often turned against the self. They are angrier, more impulsive, and more confused about their identity than are people with a histrionic personality. Borderline personality becomes evident in early adulthood but becomes less common in older age groups.
People with a borderline personality often report being neglected or abused as children. Consequently, they feel empty, angry, and deserving of nurturing. They have far more dramatic and intense interpersonal relationships than people with cluster A personality disorders. When they fear being abandoned by a caring person, they tend to express inappropriate and intense anger. People with a borderline personality tend to see events and relationships as black or white, good or evil, but never neutral.
When people with a borderline personality feel abandoned and alone, they may wonder whether they actually exist (that is, they do not feel real). They can become desperately impulsive, engaging in reckless promiscuity , substance abuse, or self-mutilation. At times they are so out of touch with reality that they have brief episodes of psychotic thinking, paranoia, and hallucinations.
People with a borderline personality commonly visit primary care doctors. Borderline personality is also the most common personality disorder treated by therapists, because people with the disorder relentlessly seek someone to care for them. However, after repeated crises, vague unfounded complaints, and failures to comply with therapeutic recommendations, caretakers—including doctors—often become very frustrated with them and view them erroneously as people who prefer complaining to helping themselves.
Cluster C: Anxious or Inhibited Behavior
Avoidant Personality: People with an avoidant personality are overly sensitive to rejection, and they fear starting relationships or anything new. They have a strong desire for affection and acceptance but avoid intimate relationships and social situations for fear of disappointment and criticism. Unlike those with a schizoid personality, they are openly distressed by their isolation and inability to relate comfortably to others. Unlike those with a borderline personality, they do not respond to rejection with anger; instead, they withdraw and appear shy and timid. Avoidant personality is similar to generalized social phobia (see Anxiety Disorders: Social Phobia).
Dependent Personality: People with a dependent personality routinely surrender major decisions and responsibilities to others and permit the needs of those they depend on to supersede their own. They lack self-confidence and feel intensely insecure about their ability to take care of themselves. They often protest that they cannot make decisions and do not know what to do or how to do it. This behavior is due partly to a reluctance to express their views for fear of offending the people they need and partly to a belief that others are more capable. People with other personality disorders often have traits of a dependent personality, but the dependent traits are usually hidden by the more dominant traits of the other disorder. Sometimes adults with a prolonged illness or physical handicap develop a dependent personality.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality: People with an obsessive-compulsive personality are preoccupied with orderliness, perfectionism, and control. They are reliable, dependable, orderly, and methodical, but their inflexibility makes them unable to adapt to change. Because they are cautious and weigh all aspects of a problem, they have difficulty making decisions. They take their responsibilities seriously, but because they cannot tolerate mistakes or imperfection, they often have trouble completing tasks. Unlike the mental health disorder called obsessive-compulsive disorder (see Anxiety Disorders: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)), obsessive-compulsive personality does not involve repeated, unwanted obsessions and ritualistic behavior.
People with an obsessive-compulsive personality are often high achievers, especially in the sciences and other intellectually demanding fields that require order and attention to detail. However, their responsibilities make them so anxious that they can rarely enjoy their successes. They are uncomfortable with their feelings, with relationships, and with situations in which they lack control or must rely on others or in which events are unpredictable.
Other Personality Types
Some personality types are not classified as disorders.
Passive-Aggressive (Negativistic) Personality: People with a passive-aggressive personality behave in ways that appear inept or passive. However, these behaviors are actually ways to avoid responsibility or to control or punish others. People with a passive-aggressive personality often procrastinate, perform tasks inefficiently, or claim an implausible disability. Frequently, they agree to perform tasks they do not want to perform and then subtly undermine completion of the tasks. Such behavior usually enables them to deny or conceal hostility or disagreements.
Cyclothymic Personality: People with cyclothymic personality alternate between high-spirited buoyancy and gloomy pessimism. Each mood lasts weeks or longer. Mood changes occur regularly and without any identifiable external cause. Many gifted and creative people have this personality type (see Mood Disorders: Cyclothymic Disorder).
Depressive Personality: This personality type is characterized by chronic moroseness, worry, and self-consciousness. People have a pessimistic outlook, which impairs their initiative and disheartens others. To them, satisfaction seems undeserved and sinful. They may unconsciously believe their suffering is a badge of merit needed to earn the love or admiration of others.
Diagnosis
A doctor bases the diagnosis of a personality disorder on a person's history, specifically, on repetition of maladaptive thought or behavior patterns. These patterns tend to become apparent because the person tenaciously resists changing them despite their negative consequences. In addition, a doctor is likely to notice the person's immature and maladaptive use of mental coping mechanisms, which interferes with their daily functioning. A doctor may also talk with people who interact with the person.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Post-tramatic Stress Disorder
Diagnostic Features:
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a condition characterized by intense fear, helplessness, or horror (or disorganized or agitated behavior in children) resulting from the exposure to extreme trauma. The characteristic symptoms include persistent reexperiencing of the traumatic event, persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness, and persistent symptoms of increased autonomic arousal. The full symptom picture must be present for more than 1 month, and the disturbance must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Complications:
Individuals with this disorder may describe painful guilt feelings about surviving when others did not survive or about the things they had to do to survive. Avoidance patterns may interfere with interpersonal relationships and lead to marital conflict, divorce, or loss of job. Auditory hallucinations and paranoid ideation can be present in some severe and chronic cases.
Comorbidity:
This disorder often co-occurs with increased rates of Major Depressive Disorder, Substance Related Disorders, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Specific Phobia, and Bipolar Disorder. These disorders can either precede, follow, or emerge concurrently with the onset of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder may be associated with increased rates of somatic complaints and general medical conditions.
Associated Laboratory Findings:
No laboratory test has been found to be diagnostic of this disorder. However, often individuals with this disorder have increased arousal which may be measured through studies of autonomic functioning (e.g., heart rate, electromyography, sweat gland activity).
Prevalence:
In a community sample in the United States, the lifetime prevalence rate for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is 8%. However, the highest rates (ranging between one-third to more than half of those exposed) is found among survivors of rape, military combat and captivity, and ethnically or politically motivated internment and genocide.
Course:
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder can occur at any age, including childhood. Symptoms usually begin within the first 3 months after the trauma, although there may be a delay of months, or even years, before symptoms appear. Frequently, the person first has an Acute Stress Disorder in the immediate aftermath of the trauma. The duration of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder varies, with complete recovery occurring within 3 months in approximately half of the cases, with many others having persisting symptoms for longer than 12 months after the trauma. In some cases, the course is characterized by waxing and waning of symptoms. Symptom reactivation may occur in response to reminders of the original trauma, life stressors, or new traumatic events. The severity, duration, and proximity of an individual?s exposure to the traumatic event are the most important factors affecting the likelihood of developing this disorder. This disorder can develop in individuals without any predisposing conditions, particularly if the stressor is especially extreme.
Familial Pattern:
There is evidence of a heritable component to the transmission of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. A history of depression in first-degree relatives has been related to an increased vulnerability to developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
I have suffered from this disoder for some years now. It can really inhibit your life if untreated. But if you seek help, you have to full capacity to live a happy and normal life. If you think you suffer from this disorder, or you have been diagnose by a doctor, you are not alone. There are many people with this disorder and you CAN live your life, just seek help!
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a condition characterized by intense fear, helplessness, or horror (or disorganized or agitated behavior in children) resulting from the exposure to extreme trauma. The characteristic symptoms include persistent reexperiencing of the traumatic event, persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness, and persistent symptoms of increased autonomic arousal. The full symptom picture must be present for more than 1 month, and the disturbance must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Complications:
Individuals with this disorder may describe painful guilt feelings about surviving when others did not survive or about the things they had to do to survive. Avoidance patterns may interfere with interpersonal relationships and lead to marital conflict, divorce, or loss of job. Auditory hallucinations and paranoid ideation can be present in some severe and chronic cases.
Comorbidity:
This disorder often co-occurs with increased rates of Major Depressive Disorder, Substance Related Disorders, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Specific Phobia, and Bipolar Disorder. These disorders can either precede, follow, or emerge concurrently with the onset of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder may be associated with increased rates of somatic complaints and general medical conditions.
Associated Laboratory Findings:
No laboratory test has been found to be diagnostic of this disorder. However, often individuals with this disorder have increased arousal which may be measured through studies of autonomic functioning (e.g., heart rate, electromyography, sweat gland activity).
Prevalence:
In a community sample in the United States, the lifetime prevalence rate for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is 8%. However, the highest rates (ranging between one-third to more than half of those exposed) is found among survivors of rape, military combat and captivity, and ethnically or politically motivated internment and genocide.
Course:
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder can occur at any age, including childhood. Symptoms usually begin within the first 3 months after the trauma, although there may be a delay of months, or even years, before symptoms appear. Frequently, the person first has an Acute Stress Disorder in the immediate aftermath of the trauma. The duration of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder varies, with complete recovery occurring within 3 months in approximately half of the cases, with many others having persisting symptoms for longer than 12 months after the trauma. In some cases, the course is characterized by waxing and waning of symptoms. Symptom reactivation may occur in response to reminders of the original trauma, life stressors, or new traumatic events. The severity, duration, and proximity of an individual?s exposure to the traumatic event are the most important factors affecting the likelihood of developing this disorder. This disorder can develop in individuals without any predisposing conditions, particularly if the stressor is especially extreme.
Familial Pattern:
There is evidence of a heritable component to the transmission of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. A history of depression in first-degree relatives has been related to an increased vulnerability to developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
I have suffered from this disoder for some years now. It can really inhibit your life if untreated. But if you seek help, you have to full capacity to live a happy and normal life. If you think you suffer from this disorder, or you have been diagnose by a doctor, you are not alone. There are many people with this disorder and you CAN live your life, just seek help!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia Information & Treatment Introduction
By Michael Bengston, M.D.
30 Mar 2001
Throughout recorded history, the disease we now know as schizophrenia has been a source of bewilderment. Those suffering from the illness once were thought to be possessed by demons and were feared, tormented, exiled or locked up forever. In spite of advances in the understanding of its causes, course and treatment, schizophrenia continues to confound both health professionals and the public. It is easier for the average person to cope with the idea of cancer than it is to understand the odd behavior, hallucinations or strange ideas of the person with schizophrenia.
As with many mental disorders, the causes are poorly understood. Friends and family commonly are shocked, afraid or angry when they learn of the diagnosis. Expectations become more realistic as schizophrenia is better understood as a brain disease that requires ongoing treatment. Demystification of the illness, along with recent insights from basic neuroscience, gives new hope for finding more effective treatments for an illness that previously carried a grave prognosis.
Schizophrenia is characterized by a broad range of unusual behaviors that cause profound disruption in the lives of the patients suffering from the condition and in the lives of the people around them. Schizophrenia strikes without regard to gender, race, social class or culture.
One of the most important kinds of impairment caused by schizophrenia involves the person's thought processes. The individual can lose much of the ability to rationally evaluate his surroundings and interactions with others. There can be hallucinations and delusions, which reflect distortions in the perception and interpretation of reality. The resulting behaviors may seem bizarre to the casual observer, even though they may be consistent with the schizophrenic's abnormal perceptions and beliefs.
Nearly one-third of those diagnosed with schizophrenia will attempt suicide. About 10 percent of those with the diagnosis will commit suicide within 20 years of the beginning of the disorder. Patients with schizophrenia are not likely to share their suicidal intentions with others, making life-saving interventions more difficult. The risk of depression needs special mention due to the high rate of suicide in these patients. The most significant risk of suicide in schizophrenia is among males under 30 who have some symptoms of depression and a relatively recent hospital discharge. Other risks include imagined voices directing the patient toward self-harm (auditory command hallucinations) and intense false beliefs (delusions).
The relationship of schizophrenia to substance abuse is significant. Due to impairments in insight and judgment, people with schizophrenia may be less able to judge and control the temptations and resulting difficulties associated with drug or alcohol abuse.
In addition, it is not uncommon for people suffering from this disorder to try to "self-medicate" their otherwise debilitating symptoms with mind-altering drugs. The abuse of such substances, most commonly nicotine, alcohol, cocaine and marijuana, impedes treatment and recovery.
What Causes Schizophrenia?
By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. &
the National Institute of Mental Health
12-Nov-2006
There is no known single cause of schizophrenia. Many diseases, such as heart disease, result from an interplay of genetic, behavioral and other factors, and this may be the case for schizophrenia as well. Scientists do not yet understand all of the factors necessary to produce schizophrenia, but all the tools of modern biomedical research are being used to search for genes, critical moments in brain development, and other factors that may lead to the illness.
Can It Be Inherited?
It has long been known that schizophrenia runs in families. People who have a close relative with schizophrenia are more likely to develop the disorder than are people who have no relatives with the illness. For example, a monozygotic (identical) twin of a person with schizophrenia has the highest risk -- 40 to 50 percent -- of developing the illness. A child whose parent has schizophrenia has about a 10 percent chance. By comparison, the risk of schizophrenia in the general population is about 1 percent.
Scientists are studying genetic factors in schizophrenia. It appears likely that multiple genes are involved in creating a predisposition to develop the disorder. In addition, factors such as prenatal difficulties like intrauterine starvation or viral infections, perinatal complications, and various nonspecific stressors, seem to influence the development of schizophrenia. However, it is not yet understood how the genetic predisposition is transmitted, and it cannot yet be accurately predicted whether a given person will or will not develop the disorder.
Several regions of the human genome are being investigated to identify genes that may confer susceptibility for schizophrenia. The strongest evidence to date leads to chromosomes 13 and 6 but remains unconfirmed. Identification of specific genes involved in the development of schizophrenia will provide important clues into what goes wrong in the brain to produce and sustain the illness and will guide the development of new and better treatments. To learn more about the genetic basis for schizophrenia, the NIMH has established a Schizophrenia Genetics Initiative that is gathering data from a large number of families of people with the illness.
Is It Caused by a Chemical Defect in the Brain?
Basic knowledge about brain chemistry and its link to schizophrenia is expanding rapidly. Neurotransmitters, substances that allow communication between nerve cells, have long been thought to be involved in the development of schizophrenia. It is likely, although not yet certain, that the disorder is associated with some imbalance of the complex, interrelated chemical systems of the brain, perhaps involving the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate. This area of research is promising.
Is It Caused by a Physical Abnormality in the Brain?
There have been dramatic advances in neuroimaging technology that permit scientists to study brain structure and function in living individuals. Many studies of people with schizophrenia have found abnormalities in brain structure (for example, enlargement of the fluid-filled cavities, called the ventricles, in the interior of the brain, and decreased size of certain brain regions) or function (for example, decreased metabolic activity in certain brain regions).
It should be emphasized that these abnormalities are quite subtle and are not characteristic of all people with schizophrenia, nor do they occur only in individuals with this illness. Microscopic studies of brain tissue after death have also shown small changes in distribution or number of brain cells in people with schizophrenia. It appears that many (but probably not all) of these changes are present before an individual becomes ill, and schizophrenia may be, in part, a disorder in development of the brain.
Developmental neurobiologists funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have found that schizophrenia may be a developmental disorder resulting when neurons form inappropriate connections during fetal development. These errors may lie dormant until puberty, when changes in the brain that occur normally during this critical stage of maturation interact adversely with the faulty connections. This research has spurred efforts to identify prenatal factors that may have some bearing on the apparent developmental abnormality.
In other studies, investigators using brain-imaging techniques have found evidence of early biochemical changes that may precede the onset of disease symptoms, prompting examination of the neural circuits that are most likely to be involved in producing those symptoms. Meanwhile, scientists working at the molecular level are exploring the genetic basis for abnormalities in brain development and in the neurotransmitter systems regulating brain function.
Schizophrenia is characterized by at least 2 of the following symptoms, for at least one month:
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
Negative symptoms (e.g., a "flattening" of one's emotions, alogia, avolition; see below)
(Only one symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person's behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing with each other.)
For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset (or when the onset is in childhood or adolescence, failure to achieve expected level of interpersonal, academic, or occupational achievement).
Schizoaffective Disorder and Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features have been considered as alternative explanations for the symptoms and have been ruled out. The disturbance must also not be due to the direct physiological effects of use or abuse of a substance (e.g., alcohol, drugs, medications) or a general medical condition.
If there is a history of Autistic Disorder or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder, the additional diagnosis of Schizophrenia is made only if prominent delusions or hallucinations are also present for at least a month (or less if successfully treated).
Different Types of Schizophrenia:
Paranoid schizophrenia a person feels extremely suspicious, persecuted, grandiose, or experiences a combination of these emotions.
Disorganized schizophrenia a person is often incoherent but may not have delusions.
Catatonic schizophrenia a person is withdrawn, mute, negative and often assumes very unusual postures.
Residual schizophrenia a person is no longer delusion or hallucinating, but has no motivation or interest in life. These symptoms can be most devastating.
Positive Symptoms
Negative Symptoms
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized thinking
Agitation
Lack of drive or initiative
Social withdrawal
Apathy
Emotional unresponsiveness
By Michael Bengston, M.D.
30 Mar 2001
Throughout recorded history, the disease we now know as schizophrenia has been a source of bewilderment. Those suffering from the illness once were thought to be possessed by demons and were feared, tormented, exiled or locked up forever. In spite of advances in the understanding of its causes, course and treatment, schizophrenia continues to confound both health professionals and the public. It is easier for the average person to cope with the idea of cancer than it is to understand the odd behavior, hallucinations or strange ideas of the person with schizophrenia.
As with many mental disorders, the causes are poorly understood. Friends and family commonly are shocked, afraid or angry when they learn of the diagnosis. Expectations become more realistic as schizophrenia is better understood as a brain disease that requires ongoing treatment. Demystification of the illness, along with recent insights from basic neuroscience, gives new hope for finding more effective treatments for an illness that previously carried a grave prognosis.
Schizophrenia is characterized by a broad range of unusual behaviors that cause profound disruption in the lives of the patients suffering from the condition and in the lives of the people around them. Schizophrenia strikes without regard to gender, race, social class or culture.
One of the most important kinds of impairment caused by schizophrenia involves the person's thought processes. The individual can lose much of the ability to rationally evaluate his surroundings and interactions with others. There can be hallucinations and delusions, which reflect distortions in the perception and interpretation of reality. The resulting behaviors may seem bizarre to the casual observer, even though they may be consistent with the schizophrenic's abnormal perceptions and beliefs.
Nearly one-third of those diagnosed with schizophrenia will attempt suicide. About 10 percent of those with the diagnosis will commit suicide within 20 years of the beginning of the disorder. Patients with schizophrenia are not likely to share their suicidal intentions with others, making life-saving interventions more difficult. The risk of depression needs special mention due to the high rate of suicide in these patients. The most significant risk of suicide in schizophrenia is among males under 30 who have some symptoms of depression and a relatively recent hospital discharge. Other risks include imagined voices directing the patient toward self-harm (auditory command hallucinations) and intense false beliefs (delusions).
The relationship of schizophrenia to substance abuse is significant. Due to impairments in insight and judgment, people with schizophrenia may be less able to judge and control the temptations and resulting difficulties associated with drug or alcohol abuse.
In addition, it is not uncommon for people suffering from this disorder to try to "self-medicate" their otherwise debilitating symptoms with mind-altering drugs. The abuse of such substances, most commonly nicotine, alcohol, cocaine and marijuana, impedes treatment and recovery.
What Causes Schizophrenia?
By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. &
the National Institute of Mental Health
12-Nov-2006
There is no known single cause of schizophrenia. Many diseases, such as heart disease, result from an interplay of genetic, behavioral and other factors, and this may be the case for schizophrenia as well. Scientists do not yet understand all of the factors necessary to produce schizophrenia, but all the tools of modern biomedical research are being used to search for genes, critical moments in brain development, and other factors that may lead to the illness.
Can It Be Inherited?
It has long been known that schizophrenia runs in families. People who have a close relative with schizophrenia are more likely to develop the disorder than are people who have no relatives with the illness. For example, a monozygotic (identical) twin of a person with schizophrenia has the highest risk -- 40 to 50 percent -- of developing the illness. A child whose parent has schizophrenia has about a 10 percent chance. By comparison, the risk of schizophrenia in the general population is about 1 percent.
Scientists are studying genetic factors in schizophrenia. It appears likely that multiple genes are involved in creating a predisposition to develop the disorder. In addition, factors such as prenatal difficulties like intrauterine starvation or viral infections, perinatal complications, and various nonspecific stressors, seem to influence the development of schizophrenia. However, it is not yet understood how the genetic predisposition is transmitted, and it cannot yet be accurately predicted whether a given person will or will not develop the disorder.
Several regions of the human genome are being investigated to identify genes that may confer susceptibility for schizophrenia. The strongest evidence to date leads to chromosomes 13 and 6 but remains unconfirmed. Identification of specific genes involved in the development of schizophrenia will provide important clues into what goes wrong in the brain to produce and sustain the illness and will guide the development of new and better treatments. To learn more about the genetic basis for schizophrenia, the NIMH has established a Schizophrenia Genetics Initiative that is gathering data from a large number of families of people with the illness.
Is It Caused by a Chemical Defect in the Brain?
Basic knowledge about brain chemistry and its link to schizophrenia is expanding rapidly. Neurotransmitters, substances that allow communication between nerve cells, have long been thought to be involved in the development of schizophrenia. It is likely, although not yet certain, that the disorder is associated with some imbalance of the complex, interrelated chemical systems of the brain, perhaps involving the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate. This area of research is promising.
Is It Caused by a Physical Abnormality in the Brain?
There have been dramatic advances in neuroimaging technology that permit scientists to study brain structure and function in living individuals. Many studies of people with schizophrenia have found abnormalities in brain structure (for example, enlargement of the fluid-filled cavities, called the ventricles, in the interior of the brain, and decreased size of certain brain regions) or function (for example, decreased metabolic activity in certain brain regions).
It should be emphasized that these abnormalities are quite subtle and are not characteristic of all people with schizophrenia, nor do they occur only in individuals with this illness. Microscopic studies of brain tissue after death have also shown small changes in distribution or number of brain cells in people with schizophrenia. It appears that many (but probably not all) of these changes are present before an individual becomes ill, and schizophrenia may be, in part, a disorder in development of the brain.
Developmental neurobiologists funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have found that schizophrenia may be a developmental disorder resulting when neurons form inappropriate connections during fetal development. These errors may lie dormant until puberty, when changes in the brain that occur normally during this critical stage of maturation interact adversely with the faulty connections. This research has spurred efforts to identify prenatal factors that may have some bearing on the apparent developmental abnormality.
In other studies, investigators using brain-imaging techniques have found evidence of early biochemical changes that may precede the onset of disease symptoms, prompting examination of the neural circuits that are most likely to be involved in producing those symptoms. Meanwhile, scientists working at the molecular level are exploring the genetic basis for abnormalities in brain development and in the neurotransmitter systems regulating brain function.
Schizophrenia is characterized by at least 2 of the following symptoms, for at least one month:
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
Negative symptoms (e.g., a "flattening" of one's emotions, alogia, avolition; see below)
(Only one symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person's behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing with each other.)
For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset (or when the onset is in childhood or adolescence, failure to achieve expected level of interpersonal, academic, or occupational achievement).
Schizoaffective Disorder and Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features have been considered as alternative explanations for the symptoms and have been ruled out. The disturbance must also not be due to the direct physiological effects of use or abuse of a substance (e.g., alcohol, drugs, medications) or a general medical condition.
If there is a history of Autistic Disorder or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder, the additional diagnosis of Schizophrenia is made only if prominent delusions or hallucinations are also present for at least a month (or less if successfully treated).
Different Types of Schizophrenia:
Paranoid schizophrenia a person feels extremely suspicious, persecuted, grandiose, or experiences a combination of these emotions.
Disorganized schizophrenia a person is often incoherent but may not have delusions.
Catatonic schizophrenia a person is withdrawn, mute, negative and often assumes very unusual postures.
Residual schizophrenia a person is no longer delusion or hallucinating, but has no motivation or interest in life. These symptoms can be most devastating.
Positive Symptoms
Negative Symptoms
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized thinking
Agitation
Lack of drive or initiative
Social withdrawal
Apathy
Emotional unresponsiveness
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Information Processing
From birth, people are confronted with stimulation and information that their minds must process. The information processing theory is a “group of theoretical frameworks that address how human beings receive, think about, mentally modify, and remember information, and on how such cognitive processes change over the course of development” (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 186). There are many key components that are involved in the information processing theory. The three main areas of the memory that hold information are called the “sensory register”, the “working memory”, and the “long-term memory”; information is first received at the sensory register, it is then processed by the working memory, and after some other complex processes it may be transferred to the long-term memory (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 186). There are many things that cause information to move through these memory banks. These components are called “attention”, “rehearsal, organization, and elaboration” (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 186). There are factors that influence how and what information is processed, and the processes develop as a person grows. Without all these factors a person would not be able to perceive, understand, use, and remember the information they are given everyday. The information processing theory is a theory that explains how people perceive, remember, and store the massive amounts of information they are subjected to everyday.
Information is received through a person's senses, it comes from the environment around you, and it is referred to as the sensory register ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). There are two other places where information is stored in the memory, and they are called working memory and long-term memory. Working memory is where information is processed and “problem solving” occurs; the working memory usually only processes things for a short period of time. The working memory will process information for longer periods of time if the person is actively concentrating on the information. Long-term memory is where the information remembered over time is kept; there are many ways that information is moved from the working memory into long term memory ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 187). Attention is another key idea in information processing because it is what causes information to move from the sensory register to the working memory. There are many processes that cause information to move from the working memory to the long-term memory. These processes are called rehearsal, organization, and elaboration ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). People have a mechanism that controls the information they process. This mechanism is called the “central executive”, and it is “critical for planning, decision making, self-regulation, and inhibition of unproductive thoughts and behaviors”( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 188). Another idea in the information process theory is that the development of abilities and cognitive processes occurs steadily and gradually through trends. The mind and the way it processes information is very complex and continues to develop.
In young children, “researchers may assess the capacity of working memory by asking children to recall a series of scrambled digits. The capacity of working memory-the number of digits a child can recall-increases rapidly. At age 4, children typically remember only two digits; at age 12 they typically remember 6 ”(Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2008).The development of the executive function, which is the conscious control of thoughts, emotions, and actions to accomplish goals or solve problem, usually emerges around the end of an infants 1st year and develops in spurts with age. Changes in executive function between ages 2 and 5 enable children to make up and use complex rules for solving problems (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2008).
By ages 2 to 5 years, most children have developed the skills to focus attention for extended periods, recognizing previously encountered information, recall old information, and reconstruct it in the present. For example, a 4-year-old can remember what she did at Christmas and tell her friend about it when she returns to preschool after the holiday. Between the ages of 2 and 5, long-term memory also begins to form, which is why most people cannot remember anything in their childhood prior to age 2 or 3 ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Part of long-term memory involves storing information about the sequence of events during familiar situations as “scripts”. Scripts help children understand, interpret, and predict what will happen in future scenarios. For example, children understand that a visit to the grocery store involves specific sequences of steps: Dad walks into the store, gets a grocery cart, selects items from the shelves, waits in the check-out line, pays for the groceries, and then loads them into the car. Children ages 2 through 5 also start to recognize that there are often multiple ways to solve a problem and can brainstorm different ( though sometimes primitive) solutions ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Between the ages of 5 and 7, children learn how to focus and use their cognitive abilities for specific purposes. For example, children can learn to pay attention to and memorize lists of words or facts. This skill is obviously crucial for children starting school who need to learn new information, retain it and produce it for tests and other academic activities. Children this age also developed a larger overall capacity to process information. This expanding information processing capacity allows young children to make connections between old and new information. For example, children can use their knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds to start sounding out and reading words. During this age, children's knowledge base also continues to grow and become better organized ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Meta cognition, “the ability to think about thinking”, is another important cognitive skill that develops during early childhood. Between ages 2 and 5 years, young children realize that they use their brains to think. However, their understanding of how a brain works is rather simplistic; a brain is simply a container where memories are stored. By ages 5 to 7 years, children realize they can actively control their brains, and influence their ability to process and to accomplish mental tasks. As a result, school-age children start to develop and choose specific strategies for approaching a given learning task, monitor their comprehension of information, and evaluate their progress toward completing a learning task. For example, first graders learn to use a number line, or count on their fingers, when they realize that they forgot the answer to an addition or subtraction problem. Similarly, children who are learning to read can start to identify works (I.e., “sight words”) that cannot be sounded out using phonics and must be memorized ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
References
McDevitt, T., & Ormrod, J. ( 2004). Child Development: Educating and Working with Children and Adolescents (2nd ed.).: Prentice Hall
Papalia, Diane E., Olds, Sally Wendkos, Feldman, Ruth Duskin. (2008). A Child's World: Infancy though Adolescence.
Oswalt, Angela. ( 2007) Early Childhood Cognitive Development: Informative Processing.
Information is received through a person's senses, it comes from the environment around you, and it is referred to as the sensory register ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). There are two other places where information is stored in the memory, and they are called working memory and long-term memory. Working memory is where information is processed and “problem solving” occurs; the working memory usually only processes things for a short period of time. The working memory will process information for longer periods of time if the person is actively concentrating on the information. Long-term memory is where the information remembered over time is kept; there are many ways that information is moved from the working memory into long term memory ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 187). Attention is another key idea in information processing because it is what causes information to move from the sensory register to the working memory. There are many processes that cause information to move from the working memory to the long-term memory. These processes are called rehearsal, organization, and elaboration ( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). People have a mechanism that controls the information they process. This mechanism is called the “central executive”, and it is “critical for planning, decision making, self-regulation, and inhibition of unproductive thoughts and behaviors”( McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 188). Another idea in the information process theory is that the development of abilities and cognitive processes occurs steadily and gradually through trends. The mind and the way it processes information is very complex and continues to develop.
In young children, “researchers may assess the capacity of working memory by asking children to recall a series of scrambled digits. The capacity of working memory-the number of digits a child can recall-increases rapidly. At age 4, children typically remember only two digits; at age 12 they typically remember 6 ”(Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2008).The development of the executive function, which is the conscious control of thoughts, emotions, and actions to accomplish goals or solve problem, usually emerges around the end of an infants 1st year and develops in spurts with age. Changes in executive function between ages 2 and 5 enable children to make up and use complex rules for solving problems (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2008).
By ages 2 to 5 years, most children have developed the skills to focus attention for extended periods, recognizing previously encountered information, recall old information, and reconstruct it in the present. For example, a 4-year-old can remember what she did at Christmas and tell her friend about it when she returns to preschool after the holiday. Between the ages of 2 and 5, long-term memory also begins to form, which is why most people cannot remember anything in their childhood prior to age 2 or 3 ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Part of long-term memory involves storing information about the sequence of events during familiar situations as “scripts”. Scripts help children understand, interpret, and predict what will happen in future scenarios. For example, children understand that a visit to the grocery store involves specific sequences of steps: Dad walks into the store, gets a grocery cart, selects items from the shelves, waits in the check-out line, pays for the groceries, and then loads them into the car. Children ages 2 through 5 also start to recognize that there are often multiple ways to solve a problem and can brainstorm different ( though sometimes primitive) solutions ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Between the ages of 5 and 7, children learn how to focus and use their cognitive abilities for specific purposes. For example, children can learn to pay attention to and memorize lists of words or facts. This skill is obviously crucial for children starting school who need to learn new information, retain it and produce it for tests and other academic activities. Children this age also developed a larger overall capacity to process information. This expanding information processing capacity allows young children to make connections between old and new information. For example, children can use their knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds to start sounding out and reading words. During this age, children's knowledge base also continues to grow and become better organized ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
Meta cognition, “the ability to think about thinking”, is another important cognitive skill that develops during early childhood. Between ages 2 and 5 years, young children realize that they use their brains to think. However, their understanding of how a brain works is rather simplistic; a brain is simply a container where memories are stored. By ages 5 to 7 years, children realize they can actively control their brains, and influence their ability to process and to accomplish mental tasks. As a result, school-age children start to develop and choose specific strategies for approaching a given learning task, monitor their comprehension of information, and evaluate their progress toward completing a learning task. For example, first graders learn to use a number line, or count on their fingers, when they realize that they forgot the answer to an addition or subtraction problem. Similarly, children who are learning to read can start to identify works (I.e., “sight words”) that cannot be sounded out using phonics and must be memorized ( Oswalt, A., 2007).
References
McDevitt, T., & Ormrod, J. ( 2004). Child Development: Educating and Working with Children and Adolescents (2nd ed.).: Prentice Hall
Papalia, Diane E., Olds, Sally Wendkos, Feldman, Ruth Duskin. (2008). A Child's World: Infancy though Adolescence.
Oswalt, Angela. ( 2007) Early Childhood Cognitive Development: Informative Processing.
Cognitive Development
Cognitive developmental theorists describe how individuals come to understand and evaluate their environment, rather than to simply adopt and engage in behaviors. In cognitive developmental explanations of learning, cognitive processes are primary whereas behaviors are secondary manifestations of those cognitive processes. Cognitive developmental theorists argue that children are not simply passive observers, but rather that they actively structure their own experiences and make sense of their own environment based on their current cognitive ability. This constructivist premise underlies a crucial factor in the process of a child's gender identification, that of the child's developing cognitive ability to categorize herself as female of himself as male. (Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
Drawing on Jean Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development, Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of cognitive sex-typing. Retaining Piaget's basic premises about cognitive structures and processes, Kohlberg demonstrated that children were active processors of the gender-related information in their environment. According to Kolhberg, children seek information from the environment in order to master that environment. In their attempt to understand the environment, children first organize information in simple, meaningful ways. They do this by mentally categorizing stimuli based first on their physical and then conceptual properties. As mental categories or schema develop and are modified with new, alternative, and conflicting information, children learn to actively select from the environment information that closely fits the modified schema. (Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
Drawing on both social learning and cognitive developmental accounts of sex role acquisition, gender schema theorists describe how children's conceptual categories are shaped by sociocultural standards and practices. Cognitive developmental theorists describe a schema as a cognitive structure, a set of associations that organize and guide an individual's perceptions of environmental stimuli. Gender schema theorists believe that gender schema guide an individual's gender-role identity development. While Cognitive developmental theorists also discuss the formation and use of gender schema, they believe such schema are developed as a consequence rather than as a determinant of gender-related information categorization. (Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
Gender schema theorist Sandra Bem notes that culture determines which schema are salient and contends that we pay greater attention to and have more memory for information related to important schema. In highly patriarchal cultures, gender is an important schema. Children raised in such cultures are more likely to attend to and remember gender-related than non gender-related information. Bem asserts that, based on the amount and type of information available in the environment, individuals develop a wide range of gender schema. The more gender-related or sex-typed information in a child's environment, the more likely she or he is to develop strongly sex-typed gender schema.(Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
On the other hand, according to social cognitive theory, observation enables children to learn much about gender-typed behaviors before preforming them. They can mentally combine observations of multiple models and generate their own behavioral variations. Instead of viewing the environment as a given, social cognitive theory recognizes that children select or even create their environments through their choice of playmates and activities. “Human evolution provides bodily structures and biological potentialities that permit a range of possibilities rather than dictate a fixed type of gender differentiation. People contribute to their self-development and bring about social changes that define and structure gender relationships through their agentic actions within the interrelated systems of influence.” (Bandora and Bussey,1999) However, critics say that social cognitive theory does not explain how children differentiate between boys and girls before they have a concept of gender, or what initially motivates children to acquire gender knowledge, or how gender norms become internalized-questions that other cognitive theories attempt to answer.( Papalia, Olds and Feldman, 2008)
References
Papalia, Diane E., Olds, Sally Wendkos and Feldman, Ruth Duskin. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. 2008
Biaggio, Maryka, and Herson, Michel. Issues in the Psychology of Women. 2000. pp. 44-46.
Bandora, Albert and Bussey, Kay. Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation, Psychological Review, Vol. 106, pp. 676-713.1999
Drawing on Jean Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development, Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of cognitive sex-typing. Retaining Piaget's basic premises about cognitive structures and processes, Kohlberg demonstrated that children were active processors of the gender-related information in their environment. According to Kolhberg, children seek information from the environment in order to master that environment. In their attempt to understand the environment, children first organize information in simple, meaningful ways. They do this by mentally categorizing stimuli based first on their physical and then conceptual properties. As mental categories or schema develop and are modified with new, alternative, and conflicting information, children learn to actively select from the environment information that closely fits the modified schema. (Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
Drawing on both social learning and cognitive developmental accounts of sex role acquisition, gender schema theorists describe how children's conceptual categories are shaped by sociocultural standards and practices. Cognitive developmental theorists describe a schema as a cognitive structure, a set of associations that organize and guide an individual's perceptions of environmental stimuli. Gender schema theorists believe that gender schema guide an individual's gender-role identity development. While Cognitive developmental theorists also discuss the formation and use of gender schema, they believe such schema are developed as a consequence rather than as a determinant of gender-related information categorization. (Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
Gender schema theorist Sandra Bem notes that culture determines which schema are salient and contends that we pay greater attention to and have more memory for information related to important schema. In highly patriarchal cultures, gender is an important schema. Children raised in such cultures are more likely to attend to and remember gender-related than non gender-related information. Bem asserts that, based on the amount and type of information available in the environment, individuals develop a wide range of gender schema. The more gender-related or sex-typed information in a child's environment, the more likely she or he is to develop strongly sex-typed gender schema.(Biaggio and Herson, 2000)
On the other hand, according to social cognitive theory, observation enables children to learn much about gender-typed behaviors before preforming them. They can mentally combine observations of multiple models and generate their own behavioral variations. Instead of viewing the environment as a given, social cognitive theory recognizes that children select or even create their environments through their choice of playmates and activities. “Human evolution provides bodily structures and biological potentialities that permit a range of possibilities rather than dictate a fixed type of gender differentiation. People contribute to their self-development and bring about social changes that define and structure gender relationships through their agentic actions within the interrelated systems of influence.” (Bandora and Bussey,1999) However, critics say that social cognitive theory does not explain how children differentiate between boys and girls before they have a concept of gender, or what initially motivates children to acquire gender knowledge, or how gender norms become internalized-questions that other cognitive theories attempt to answer.( Papalia, Olds and Feldman, 2008)
References
Papalia, Diane E., Olds, Sally Wendkos and Feldman, Ruth Duskin. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. 2008
Biaggio, Maryka, and Herson, Michel. Issues in the Psychology of Women. 2000. pp. 44-46.
Bandora, Albert and Bussey, Kay. Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation, Psychological Review, Vol. 106, pp. 676-713.1999
Creative Problem Solving
Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, was not always encouraged artistically. When he was young, he not only was turned away from The Famous Artists School, but he did not do well in his college drawing class. Instead of being persistent in his creative endeavors, he gave up and pursued a degree that led him to a career that became frustrating. I believe that if Scott would have been more persistent and practiced his drawing skills that he would have found the inspiration to be successful with his creativity.
There have been many circumstances in my life when I had to use creative problem solving to help overcome them. For instance, after hurricane Ike ravaged our area, I was unable to work for a couple of weeks due to power outages and damage to my place of employment. I was already barely making it on my wages and this had just set me back even further. I had to come up with a creative solution so that I would be able to pay my bills and buy food and other necessities for my family. I am a single mother of two, so it was up to me to do this on my own.
I used my creative problem solving strategies that I have learned from my classes and decided that the strategy that best works for this situation would be to evaluate the problem. I evaluated the pros and cons of staying at my current job and those of finding a new, better paying job. At this time of crisis, our area was in desperate need of people to do demolition on houses that had been flooded. They were willing to pay a significant amount more than my steady job. So from my evaluation I decided to take the demolition job temporarily and go back to my regular job after I get caught up.
I am always looking for new ways to better myself in all areas of my life. Being positive has major effects in a lot of different ways. This has been a struggle for me to stay positive since my mother and grandmother have always been naturally negative. Through this class I have learned that changing a negative mind set into a positive one takes time and a lot of patience.
First, you have to want to be positive and I defiantly do. I believe that you can get more enjoyment out of life that way. You are also a more pleasant person to be around. Second, you have to visualize how you will feel being the positive person that you will become. Visualize already being that positive individual and how different it will be. I have surrounded myself with other positive people and I try to keep their positive reactions in my head when ever I have a negative thought come to mind. Whenever I have a negative thought cross my mind, I stop and tell my self to turn it around and change it. I pay more attention to my thoughts and my feelings. When I am feeling bad or stressed out I know that I am not thinking positive, because negative thoughts make you feel bad.
Positive thinking has rewards in it self. I feel energized and I feel a since of accomplishment that I know that I have control over my thoughts, I just have to work at it. This is not something that I have yet mastered but I will continue to work on.
There have been many circumstances in my life when I had to use creative problem solving to help overcome them. For instance, after hurricane Ike ravaged our area, I was unable to work for a couple of weeks due to power outages and damage to my place of employment. I was already barely making it on my wages and this had just set me back even further. I had to come up with a creative solution so that I would be able to pay my bills and buy food and other necessities for my family. I am a single mother of two, so it was up to me to do this on my own.
I used my creative problem solving strategies that I have learned from my classes and decided that the strategy that best works for this situation would be to evaluate the problem. I evaluated the pros and cons of staying at my current job and those of finding a new, better paying job. At this time of crisis, our area was in desperate need of people to do demolition on houses that had been flooded. They were willing to pay a significant amount more than my steady job. So from my evaluation I decided to take the demolition job temporarily and go back to my regular job after I get caught up.
I am always looking for new ways to better myself in all areas of my life. Being positive has major effects in a lot of different ways. This has been a struggle for me to stay positive since my mother and grandmother have always been naturally negative. Through this class I have learned that changing a negative mind set into a positive one takes time and a lot of patience.
First, you have to want to be positive and I defiantly do. I believe that you can get more enjoyment out of life that way. You are also a more pleasant person to be around. Second, you have to visualize how you will feel being the positive person that you will become. Visualize already being that positive individual and how different it will be. I have surrounded myself with other positive people and I try to keep their positive reactions in my head when ever I have a negative thought come to mind. Whenever I have a negative thought cross my mind, I stop and tell my self to turn it around and change it. I pay more attention to my thoughts and my feelings. When I am feeling bad or stressed out I know that I am not thinking positive, because negative thoughts make you feel bad.
Positive thinking has rewards in it self. I feel energized and I feel a since of accomplishment that I know that I have control over my thoughts, I just have to work at it. This is not something that I have yet mastered but I will continue to work on.
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