Weekly Blog

Today in class Dreier talked about his life when he was obese. He talked about how times have changed at fast food restaurants and new dieting techniques. He said that he and his wife went on weight watchers which I believe is a good way to lose weight except it takes awhile to get in the habit of watching what you eat and counting all the "points". Is becoming obese and social issue or a hereditary disorder because if it is social, you do not think about what you eat because you are busy socializing. With hereditary, you eat what your parents feed you. I know that my parents made me eat everything on my plate before i could leave the table. My step mom makes my step sister do the same thing. With eating everything on your plate your going to want to do that at every meal even when you are full. It is not okay to eat EVERYTHING on your plate! A good way to lose weight is portion control, how can you control your portion size as a kid when you have too much on your plate. I believe that people eat with their eyes.

Disorder articles

The first article that i read was called "The Course of Bipolar Disorder Over Time" by Krisha McCoy. In her article, it states that if people with the Bipolar Disorder do not take their medications and do not follow their doctors orders, their disorder will get worse throughtout life. If people do not take their medications and they don't attend their therapy sessions, they are more likely to have an "episode" once a year. If you do take the prescribed medications and attend the therapy sessions, people are more likely to decrease the amount of "episodes" by half. It said in the article that there is no definate cure to this disorder but doctors believe that with proper medication, therapy sessions, and routine check ups, the disorder can be less noticeable by the patient and witnesses. http://www.everydayhealth.com/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-disorder-prognosis.aspx

The second article i read was called "What is Multiple Personality Disorder?" by Tricia Ellis-Christensen. This article is about multiple personality disorder or now known as dissociated identity disorder (DID). People who suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder usually get it by having a trauma in their life, whether it be childhood or adulthood. Most of the time it is during the childhood, starting with physical and sexual abuse. When the victim has been in a trauma during life, they make up characters to cope with their feelings. The alters can be female, male, strong, weak, young, or old. The biggest thing that doctors look for when diagnosing someone with this disorder is if the patient "loses" track of time. This is because they are acting out another alter. The article states some of the symptoms which include having phobias, confusion, depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, alcoholism, and drug abuse. One of the primary treatments for Multiple Personality Disorder would be therapy (play therapy, art therapy, talk therapy, and hypnosis). Doctors do not want to put people on medication because there is a liklyhood that the patient will overdose. Therapists say that the disorder can go away, not fully, but with years or therapy it is likely that it will go away unless placed in a previous traumatic place. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-multiple-personality-disorder.htm

weekly blog

Today in class, we talked about depression and other disorders. Dreier went through the "desk/pocket book" and said that to be diagnosed the psychologists and psychiatrists must be thorough with their patients background and disorder that may or may not be diagnosed. What i dont understand is that i have recently been diagnosed with depression and my psychiatrist was not in depth with me at all. I saw him the first time for about 20-30 minutes and he prescribed me with depression medication. I have noticed a difference but still, every time i see him, its only for 20-30 minutes. How can he be so sure that i have depression, if he still hardly knows me? While reading the article "Prognosis Negative" and talking to Patrik on googlewave, i realized that my "disorder" might be a new one and might be in the upcoming DSM book. I just have a hard time believing that people can diagnose a person the first time meeting them for atleast half an hour. If you have anything to add that could help me have a better understanding of this, please do...

weekly blog

During class yesterday, we talked about our id, ego, and superego. I have had times where there is a devil on one shoulder and angel on the other. It is hard because you have to weigh the consequences. A lot of times i dont want my id to win because i know bad will come from it. Then again i dont want my superego to win because i dont want to be known as a goody to shoes. I have learned to trust my ego and make sure that neither id or superego wins/loses. I think choosing which way to go happens alot for teenagers because we have a lot of pressure on us and we want to be rebelious. Thats not always the right choice though and that is why we need to let our ego talk.

six terms from chapter 9

I think on the station where we had to put all ten nails on a nail stuck in a board uses mental set because if we have done that station before and it worked we will keep doing it that way. We wouldnt be open to a new way to do the problem if we already know a way that works.
The station that had the logical problem with the cars, college, person, and money, that would use confirmation bias because when we read the facts on the bottom of the sheet, we read too much in depth and dont realize what is right in front of us.
The station where we had to make the record play uses a prototype, because we all know what a record player looks like and we have simple knowledge of how one works. To get all the materials together and try to make a record player takes a lot of time. At this station, i was uasing fixation because a couldn't see it in a new perspective like my group members had. They knew what had to go where and why it had to go there and i just kept picturing a regular record player.
The station where we had to find a way to get all the quarters on one side of the paper and the pennies on the other without having any stuck would use algorithm. We couldnt have two pennies in a row then a quarter, because the quarter wouldnt be able to move any farther. It took a certain method to intertwine the coins together without getting them stuck. This station also uses insight, because you have to use strategies.

weekly assignment 4

Today in class we took two different tests of memory. I did good on the first test but on the second test where we had to remember faces, I had some difficulty on it. I work in retail and I still dont remember faces. Ill help somebody then an hour later they will check out, I will not remember them unless I have something (a bag of theirs, a hold, etc.). I start to memorize faces when I start to see them over and over again on a daily basis. Even in my family, I dont see half my side because they live too far away. Recently one of my cousins stopped me to say "hi" and i didnt even realize it was them because I havent seen them in a long time. I personally dont think that it is part of my memory skills but of the fact that it has been so long and they have changed. I think if I were too work on my memorization skills I might be able to recall more faces.

weekly assignment 3

Yesterday in class, we had discussions aout classical conditioning. When I went home yesterday i pet my cat and sat on the couch. Every time my mom gets home from work at around 4:30ish, she feeds my cat. This happens everyday and my cat got so conditioned to this that she waits by the door. It is very hard for my cat to adapt to the weekends because my mom is always home. My cat thinks that everytime she seesmy mom, she will get food. She will sit by her dish, waiting to be fed and if she doesn't she starts crying and it gets really annoying. Also another example is that in the morning before my mom leaves for work, my cat gets a treat. Her treats are stored under our kitchen sink where her brush is also stored. At around 6:30 every morning she sits by the sink and waits for her treat. Recently, I went into the cupboard to get her brush. She was so confused because it was later in the day and my mom wasnt the one giving her the treat. When i tried calling her to come get brushed she sat and looked at the sink and cried. She is getting so used to the schedule at our house that she knows where and when to sit and wait for her food. I think that these are two good examples of classical conditioning that appears to take place in my household.