Understanding and Preventing Suicide (By Mehezabin and Shraddha)

 

Suicide is a major problem in the United States. Chances are good that you may even know someone who has either committed or attempted suicide. According to the National Institute of Health, suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2006, with more than 33,000 people taking their own lives. Experts also suggest that for every death, another twenty-five people try to commit suicide, and it may surprise you to learn that suicide actually outranks homicide as a cause of death. These statistics are even more frightening among teens and young adults; among those age fifteen to twenty-four, suicide is the third leading cause of death.

Risk Factors Associated with Suicide

 

While the exact reasons why a person chooses to commit suicide vary from one person to the next, researchers have discovered a number of different psychological and environmental risk factors. Recent problems in close relationships, feelings of social isolation, irrational thinking, substance abuse, a family history of suicide, the presence of a firearm in the home and major psychological disorders are all factors associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior.
People with poor problem-solving skills are also at a greater risk of committing suicide. When faced with a major life problem, rather than looking at the available options and looking for a realistic solution, these individuals may see suicide as the only way to resolve the crisis. For example, a student who fails all of his classes during his first year of college might become so depressed or fear the negative reaction of his parents so much that it seems like death in the only possible option.

How Can People Help Prevent Suicide?

 

While it is impossible to completely control the behavior of others, there are steps that you can take if you suspect that a friend or loved one is contemplating suicide. First, don't brush off or dismiss the person's suicidal talk by minimizing the situation or trying to paint a rosy picture that “everything is going to be all right.” Instead, focus on actively listening to the person's feelings without expressing judgment. Be emotionally supportive, and encourage the person to seek help from a trained mental health professional.

Psychotherapy and Other Approaches to Treatment

 

People seek the assistance of mental health professionals for a wide variety of reasons. Many people may seek treatment because they are suffering from some type of psychological disorder that seriously impairs their normal functioning or creates a significant amount of discomfort. However, not everyone who goes to a therapist has a mental disorder. Many people need help with various life issues, such as managing stress, dealing with relationship problems, or coping with a sudden life change. Now that you are familiar with some of the major mental disorders, let's take a look at some of the approaches used to treat these disorders. Keep in mind that treatments are constantly evolving as new ones enter the scene and older ones are improved upon. This chapter will take a look at both psychotherapy and biological approaches to treatment.

    

Personality Disorders (By Mehezabin and Shraddha)

Personality disorders are a classification of mental disorders characterized by maladaptive patterns that disrupt a person's ability to function in everyday life and/or cause extreme distress and the inability to get along with other people.
As you read, you may recognize someone you know in the symptoms of some of these disorders, but keep in mind that while a person may have some of the symptoms of a mental disorder, this does not necessarily mean he has the disorder itself. So don't go diagnosing your friends with a personality disorder or you just might not have any friends left!

Antisocial Personality Disorder

 

Probably the best-known personality disorder is antisocial personality disorder. People with this condition will manipulate or exploit others to get what they want, and this behavior if often characterized as criminal.
In the past, people have often called people with this disorder psychopaths or sociopaths, but psychologists now note that each of these represents a distinctly different mental disorder.
The DSM states that in order to diagnose an individual with antisocial personality disorder, he must be at least 18 years old and have a history of persistent disregard for the rights of other people since at least the age of 15. They must also exhibit a history of at least three of seven behavioral problems:

1. Impulsive and cannot plan ahead
2. Irresponsible and fails to meet obligations
3. Repeatedly gets into physical fights
4. Repeatedly breaks the law
5. Lacks guilt or regret for hurting others
6. Deceitful
7. Has a reckless regard for his own safety or the safety of others

While genetic factors are thought to play an important role in antisocial personality disorder, the exact cause is still unknown. Unfortunately, this disorder is also one of the most difficult to treat. People with this mental disorder rarely seek treatment on their own, so most are only diagnosed and treated after they have come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 

Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by self-centeredness, lack of empathy for others, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Individuals with this disorder consider themselves to be better than everyone else. They expect everyone else to shower them with attention and favors, though they very rarely, if at all, return the favor. They are self-absorbed to the point where they are obsessed with their own self-importance, brilliance, and power. They are, essentially, in love with themselves.

Borderline Personality Disorder

 

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder in which an individual has a history of unstable relationships — one minute the relationship will be passionate and intense as the partner is idealized, but in the next moment, the relationship takes a dive as the partner is suddenly of little or no value.
A person with borderline personality disorder is often self-destructive and may threaten to commit suicide. Drugs are sometimes a part of her life. Impulsiveness is also characteristic of this disorder, as is emotional instability.

Causes of Mental Disorders

 

Now that you've been able to take a closer look at some of the more common mental disorders and have seen how they can be debilitating to a person's life, you are likely wondering what could possibly cause such disorders. There isn't a simple and exact answer for this. Mental health professionals and researchers are constantly studying the causes of mental disorders in an attempt to better understand and treat the disorders.

Biological Factors

 

Some mental health professionals are of the belief that mental disorders are caused solely by problems in the brain and nervous system. As you know, the nervous system is a delicate and complex system in which there is a constant hum of activity that keeps your body alive and functioning well. If there were to be any damage to or a kink in the brain — the executor of the nervous system — the system could be thrown out of whack, possibly resulting in a mental disorder. For instance, the brain's prefrontal cortex is responsible for impulse control and planning. Should this part of the brain be damaged, a person may suffer impulsiveness and an inability to plan ahead, a symptom of schizophrenia.

These people have also shown that some of the biological factors of mental disorders are hereditary and that some people are more susceptible to particular mental disorders than others. For instance, research has shown that major depression is often a heritable mental disorder. Also, as you've surely heard, addiction is thought to originate in a person's biochemistry, and those with a genetic predisposition to addiction are more likely to suffer an addiction.

Psychological Factors

 

On the other hand, there are those who believe that psychological factors — such as traumatic experiences, past conflicts, the way parents behaved toward a child, etc. — are responsible for the development of mental disorders. For example, post traumatic stress disorder is a result of a traumatic experience; it is the body's reaction to and coping mechanism for past events of heightened stress. A mental health professional believing in this theory would focus solely on the traumatic event and its effects in an attempt to help the patient overcome this disorder. Certain phobias, also, have shown that they are a result of psychological factors. For instance, someone with the fear of the number thirteen may have developed the phobia due to societal stimulation or cultural tradition.

Working Together

 

Many mental health professionals and researchers in the field believe that the causes of mental disorders are found among a combination of biological and psychological factors. For instance, someone may have a genetic predisposition toward a certain mental disorder, such as addiction, but the onset of the mental disorder is triggered by a psychological event, such as being exposed to psychoactive drugs during adolescence. Borderline personality disorder is thought to be based on a problem with the emotion regulation system, so that emotions are experienced much more intensely than normal. Because feelings like frustration, hurt, or anger are so much more powerful even over small things, people with BPD elicit reactions such as “Just get over it”; “You're not that upset”; or “You're just looking for attention.” While parents of typical children often teach them how to self-soothe and deal with feelings, parents of people with BPD may not have the skills themselves to deal with extra-intense emotions. After a few years, people with BPD learn to hide their feelings — until they can't anymore, and the pain is simply intolerable. That's when they may hurt themselves, which then starts the consequences all over again. As stated before, the causes of mental disorders are continuously being researched and studied, and treatments are continuing to advance every day.

 

Bullying: How Parents, Teachers and Kids can take action against Bullying (by Mehezabin and Shraddha)

INTRODUCTION

Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power or strength. It is a repeated behavior and can be physical, verbal, or relational. While boys may bully others using more physical means; girls often bully others by social exclusion. Bullying has been part of school, and even workplaces, for years. More recently, though, technology and social media have created a new venue for bullying that has expanded its reach. Cyber bullying is bullying that happens online and via cell phones. Websites like Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr and Form
spring allow kids to send hurtful, ongoing messages to other children 24 hours a day. Some sites, such as Tumblr and Form spring allow messages to be left anonymously.
Preventing and stopping bullying involves a commitment to creating a safe environment where children can thrive, socially and academically, without being afraid. APA recommends that teachers, parents and students take the following actions to address bullying.

Teachers and school administrators 

 

Be knowledgeable and observant

Teachers and administrators need to be aware that although bullying generally happens in areas such as the bathroom, playground, crowded hallways, and school buses as well as via cell phones and computers (where supervision is limited or absent), it must be taken seriously. Teachers and administrators should emphasize that telling is not tattling. If a teacher observes bullying in a classroom, he/she needs to immediately intervene to stop it, record the incident and inform the appropriate school administrators so the incident can be investigated. Having a joint meeting with the bullied student and the student who is bullying is not recommended — it is embarrassing and very intimidating for the student that is being bullied.

Involve students and parents

Students and parents need to be a part of the solution and involved in safety teams and anti bullying task forces. Students can inform adults about what is really going on and also teach adults about new technologies that kids are using to bully. Parents, teachers, and school administrators can help students engage in positive behavior and teach them skills so that they know how to intervene when bullying occurs. Older students can serve as mentors and inform younger students about safe practices on the Internet.

Set positive expectations about behavior for students and adults

Schools and classrooms must offer students a safe learning environment. Teachers and coaches need to explicitly remind students that bullying is not accepted in school and such behaviors will have consequences. Creating an anti-bullying document and having both the student and the parents/guardians sign and return it to the school office helps students understand the seriousness of bullying. Also, for students who have a hard time adjusting or finding friends, teachers and administrators can facilitate friendships or provide “jobs” for the student to do during lunch and recess so that children do not feel isolated or in danger of becoming targets for bullying.

Parents of kids being bullied

 

 

Observe your child for signs they might be being bullied

Children may not always be vocal about being bullied. Signs include: ripped clothing, hesitation about going to school, decreased appetite, nightmares, crying, or general depression and anxiety. If you discover your child is being bullied, don’t tell them to “let it go” or “suck it up”. Instead, have open-ended conversations where you can learn what is really going on at school so that you can take the appropriate steps to rectify the situation. Most importantly, let your child know you will help him/her and that they should try not to fight back

Teach your child how to handle being bullied

Until something can be done on an administrative level, work with your child to handle bullying without being crushed or defeated. Practice scenarios at home where your child learns how to ignore a bully and/or develop assertive strategies for coping with bullying. Help your child identify teachers and friends that can help them if they’re worried about being bullied.

Set boundaries with technology

Educate your children and yourself about cyber bullying and teach your children not to respond or forward threatening emails. “Friend” your child on Facebook or MySpace and set up proper filters on your child’s computer. Make the family computer the only computer for children, and have it in a public place in the home where it is visible and can be monitored. If you decide to give your child a cell phone think carefully before allowing them to have a camera option. Let them know you will be monitoring their text messages. As a parent, you can insist that phones are stored in a public area, such as the kitchen, by a certain time at night to eliminate nighttime bullying and inappropriate messaging. Parents should report bullying to the school, and follow up with a letter that is copied to the school superintendent if their initial inquiry receives no response.

Parents should report all threatening messages to the police and should document any text messages, emails or posts on websites.

Parents of kids engaged in bullying

 

Stop bullying before it starts

Educate your children about bullying. It is possible that your child is having trouble reading social signs and does not know what they are doing is hurtful. Remind your child that bullying others can have legal consequences.

Make your home “bully free”

Children learn behavior through their parents. Being exposed to aggressive behavior or an overly strict environment at home makes kids more prone to bully at school. Parents/caregivers should model positive examples for your child in your relationships with other people and with them.

Look for self esteem issues

Children with low self-esteem often bully to feel better about themselves. Even children who seem popular and well-liked can have mean tendencies. Mean behavior should be addressed by parents and disciplined.

Students

 

Report bullying and cyber bullying

It is important for students to report any bullying to a parent or an adult they trust. Often kids don’t report cyber bullying because they fear their parents will take away their phone or computer. Parents will support their child’s reports of bullying and not take away their phones as a consequence. It is important for kids to remember that bullying is wrong and should be handled by an adult.

Don’t bully back

It may be difficult to not bully back, but as the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. Try not to show anger or tears. Either calmly tell the bully to stop bullying or simply walk away.

Avoid being alone

Whenever possible, avoid situations where there are no other students or teachers. Try to go to the bathroom with a friend or eat lunch in a group. When riding the bus, sit near the front. If you know a student who likes to bully others is in an area where you normally walk to lunch or class, try to use alternative hallway routes.

Remember, report bullying of yourself or other students to your teacher, coach, principal and/or parent.

Conclusion

 

Students who experience bullying may feel overwhelmed, depressed or anxious. If your child or student is having trouble at school or with friends as a result of bullying, a mental health professional, such as a psychologist, can help your child develop resilience and confidence. This will enable your child to be more successful both socially and academically.

   

 

 

 

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT (by Mehezabin and Shraddha)

What is Social Psychology?

Social psychology is a branch of psychology that studies individuals in the social context. In other words, it is the study of how and why people think, feel, and do the things they do depending upon the situation they are in. Social psychology is related to sociology in this regard, but instead of focusing on group factors such as race and socioeconomic class, it focuses on the individual. Also, it relies on the scientific research to generate the theories of social behavior.

WHY IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IMPORTANT TO US ?

In studying how people act in certain situations, we can better understand how stereotypes are formed, why racism and sexism exist, how a person can seem like an entirely different person in different situations, and even how people fall in love. (Social psychology can't explain all of our social problems, of course. There are always different ways to explain a social phenomenon.)

SOCIAL PERCEPTION 
Self-perception
There are many important factors in how one perceives oneself. One is self-esteem,a person's positive and negative evaluations of his or her self. People who have low self-esteem can get caught in cycles of self-defeating behavior, leading to depression or other mental disorders. There are theories concerning how low self-esteem develops. One is a result of large discrepancies between one's actual self and desired self. A serious manifestation of this example is anorexia nervosa, which usually results from distorted perceptions of one's own body. Self-awareness can encourage people to notice self-discrepancies. In general, people spend little time thinking about themselves, but mirrors, audiences, etc. can put the focus on oneself and cause people to notice their self-discrepancies. Most people find ways to keep up their self-esteem through self-enhancement techniques. These include (but are not limited to) taking credit for success but making excuses for failure, comparing oneself to less fortunate people, and self-handicapping, which is purposely handicapping oneself in order to excuse an anticipated failure. Research suggests that such positive illusory thinking can maintain mental health, but that too much of it can be self-defeating.

Perceiving Others
In regards to how people perceive others, there are a group of theories, called Attribution Theory, which describe how people attribute the cause of a behavior. A personal or internal attribution is an attribution to a person's characteristic that is from within, such as intelligence or effort. A situational or external attribution is an attribution something outside the individual, such as luck or God. The Fundamental Attribution Error states that in perceiving other people's behavior, people tend to focus on personal causes and underestimate situational causes. Such thinking can lead people to hold on to bad first impressions as well as stereotypes.

Perceiving groups
A stereotype is a set of beliefs that associates a whole group of people with a few certain traits. They are formed through 2 different processes: categorization, sorting individual objects or people in groups, and out group homogeneity effect, which is a tendency of people to overestimate to similarity of people in the out groups than people in the in group. Although categorization and other short-cut methods of thinking can be very helpful, they also contribute and arise from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination.

SOCIAL INFLUENCES
Aggression
Aside from unjust court verdicts, hot weather can contribute to aggression, as well as lack of personal space (crowded cities), and smog. Other more significant factors include viewing aggressive behavior or pornographic material, frustration, and highly arousing stimuli.

Altruism
So when do people help? Aside from self-interest, empathy has been found to be a major factor in influencing altruistic behavior in people. It has even been shown that a baby, when put near another baby who is crying, will start to cry as well. However, it's been argued that it since helping the other person reduces his or her distress, it reduces one's own stress (from empathizing with the other person) that it really stems from self-interest.

Attraction and Love
The old proverb "opposites attract" has in recent times been found to be just an old wives' tale. In fact, similarity breeds attraction. Such similarities include, demographics, mood ("misery loves company"), personality, physical attractiveness, and attitudes. Other forces that encourage attraction are familiarity (like that bad song they keep playing on the radio 'til you find yourself singing it one day), close encounters, and proximity. So "Birds of a feather" really do "flock together." But it takes a lot more than feathers to develop into love.

SOCIAL INTERACTION
Group Processes
When in a group discussion or debate with similar but not identical opinions, people's beliefs, whether they are moderate or not, become more extreme. (Ever had a discussion with an extremely conservative person and felt like you were a radical liberal?)

Conformity and Individuation
There is a lot of pressure in society to conform to a group. In America, majority rules, but the minority plays an important part in our society. The majority has more influence on direct overt measures of conformity while the minority influence impact private covert measures of conformity. Minorities encourage other people to resist conformity and practice more individuation.

Attitudes

Cognitive dissonance is a state in which one feels tension because one's attitudes are different from one's behavior. In order to alleviate the discomfort, people will often change one's attitudes to justify the behavior (like paying $50 to see a bad concert and then convincing yourself that it wasn't that bad).

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
Health
In coping with a stressful situation, women tend to focus on their negative feelings and are more likely to become depressed. Men in the same situation are more like to engage in self-destructive distractions. Research has shown that both confronting one's feelings and distractions, in moderation, can help with coping.

Law
Death qualification is a procedure in which judges may exclude prospective jurors in capital cases who say they would not vote for the death penalty. Although this eliminates bias in sentencing, it has been found that people who would vote for the death penalty are also more likely to give a guilty verdict. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the evidence that death qualification interfered with a defendant's right to a fair trial.

Business
Although there have been gains for women and minorities in the workforce in recent years, they are still very underrepresented in positions of leadership. Despite affirmative action, women and minorities are subject to gender and race stereotypes. Furthermore, many people devalue their own performance and feel devalued by others when they think they were chosen because of affirmative action.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY (by Mehezabin and Shraddha)

        

The idea of psychology in the West is very much degraded. Psychology is the science of sciences; but in the West it is placed upon the same plane as all other sciences; that is, it is judged by the same criterion — utility.How much practical benefit will it do to humanity? How much will it add to our rapidly growing happiness? How much will it detract from our rapidly increasing pain? Such is the criterion by which everything is judged in the West.           

People seem to forget that about ninety per cent of all our knowledge cannot, in the very nature of things, be applied in a practical way to add to our material happiness or to lessen our misery. Only the smallest fraction of our scientific knowledge can have any such practical application to our daily lives. This is so because only an infinitely small percentage of our conscious mind is on the sensuous plane. We have just a little bit of sensuous consciousness and imagine that to be our entire mind and life; but, as a matter of fact, it is but a drop in the mighty ocean of subconscious mind. If all there is of us were a bundle of sense-perceptions, all the knowledge we could gain could be utilized in the gratification of our sense-pleasures. But fortunately such is not the case. As we get further and further away from the animal state, our sense-pleasures become less and less; and our enjoyment, in a rapidly increasing consciousness of scientific and psychological knowledge, becomes more and more intense; and "knowledge for the sake of knowledge", regardless of the amount of sense-pleasures it may conduce to, becomes the supreme pleasure of the mind.          

But even taking the Western idea of utility as a criterion by which to judge, psychology, by such a standard even, is the science of sciences. Why? We are all slaves to our senses, slaves to our own minds, conscious and subconscious. The reason why a criminal is a criminal is not because he desires to be one, but because he has not his mind under control and is therefore a slave to his own conscious and subconscious mind, and to the mind of everybody else. He must follow the dominant trend of his own mind; he cannot help it; he is forced onward in spite of himself, in spite of his own better promptings, his own better nature; he is forced to obey the dominant mandate of his own mind. Poor man, he cannot help himself. We see this in our own lives constantly. We are constantly doing things against the better side of our nature, and afterwards we upbraid ourselves for so doing and wonder what we could have been thinking of, how we could do such a thing! Yet again and again we do it, and again and again we suffer for it and upbraid ourselves. At the time, perhaps, we think we desire to do it, but we only desire it because we are forced to desire it. We are forced onward, we are helpless! We are all slaves to our own and to everybody else's mind; whether we are good or bad, that makes no difference. We are led here and there because we cannot help ourselves. We say we think, we do, etc. It is not so. We think because we have to think. We act because we have to. We are slaves to ourselves and to others. Deep down in our subconscious mind are stored up all the thoughts and acts of the past, not only of this life, but of all other lives we have lived. This great boundless ocean of subjective mind is full of all the thoughts and actions of the past. Each one of these is striving to be recognized  pushing outward for expression, surging, wave after wave, out upon the objective mind, the conscious mind. These thoughts, the stored-up energy, we take for natural desires, talents, etc. It is because we do not realize their true origin. We obey them blindly, unquestioningly; and slavery, the most helpless kind of slavery, is the result; and we call ourselves free. Free! We who cannot for a moment govern our own minds, nay, cannot hold our minds on a subject, focus it on a point to the exclusion of everything else for a moment! Yet we call ourselves free. Think of it! We cannot do as we know we ought to do even for a very short space of time. Some sense-desire will crop up, and immediately we obey it. Our conscience smites us for such weakness, but again and again we do it, we are always doing it. We cannot live up to a high standard of life, try as we will. The ghosts of past thoughts, past lives hold us down. All the misery of the world is caused by this slavery to the senses. Our inability to rise above the sense-life — the striving for physical pleasures, is the cause of all the horrors and miseries in the world.          

It is the science of psychology that teaches us to hold in check the wild gyrations of the mind, place it under the control of the will, and thus free ourselves from its tyrannous mandates. Psychology is therefore the science of sciences, without which all sciences and all other knowledge are worthless.The mind uncontrolled and unguided will drag us down, down, for ever — rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us. So it must be controlled, and psychology teaches us how to do it.          

To study and analyse any material science, sufficient data are obtained. These facts are studied and analysed and a knowledge of the science is the result. But in the study and analysis of the mind, there are no data, no facts acquired from without, such as are equally at the command of all. The mind is analysed by itself. The greatest science, therefore, is the science of the mind, the science of psychology.       

 In the West, the powers of the mind, especially unusual powers, are looked upon as bordering on witchcraft and mysticism. The study of higher psychology has been retarded by its being identified with mere alleged psychic phenomena, as is done by some mystery-mongering order of Hindu fakirs.        

 Physicists obtain pretty much the same results the world over. They do not differ in their general facts, nor in the results which naturally follow from such facts. This is because the data of physical science are obtainable by all and are universally recognized  and the results are logical conclusions based upon these universally recognized facts. In the realm of the mind, it is different. Here there are no data, no facts observable by the physical senses, and no universally recognized materials therefore, from which to build a system of psychology after their being equally experimented upon by all who study the mind.        

Deep, deep within, is the soul, the essential man, the Âtman. Turn the mind inward and become united to that; and from that standpoint of stability, the gyrations of the mind can be watched and facts observed, which are to be found in all persons. Such facts, such data, are to be found by those who go deep enough, and only by such. Among that large class of self-styled mystics the world over, there is a great difference of opinion as to the mind, its nature, powers, etc. This is because such people do not go deep enough. They have noticed some little activity of their own and others' minds and, without knowing anything about the real character of such superficial manifestations, have published them as facts universal in their application; and every religious and mystical crank has facts, data, etc., which, he claims, are reliable criteria for investigation, but which are in fact nothing more or less than his own imaginings.         

If you intend to study the mind, you must have systematic training; you must practice to bring the mind under your control, to attain to that consciousness from which you will be able to study the mind and remain unmoved by any of its wild gyrations. Otherwise the facts observed will not be reliable; they will not apply to all people and therefore will not be truly facts or data at all.        

Among that class who have gone deeply into the study of the mind, the facts observed have been the same, no matter in what part of the world such persons may be or what religious belief they may have. The results obtained by all who go deep enough into the mind are the same.        

The mind operates by perception and impulsion. For instance, the rays of the light enter by eyes, are carried by the nerves to the brain, and still I do not see the light. The brain then conveys the impulse to the mind, but yet I do not see the light; the mind then reacts, and the light flashes across the mind. The mind's reaction is impulsion, and as a result the eye perceives the object.       

To control the mind you must go deep down into the subconscious mind, classify and arrange in order all the different impressions, thoughts, etc., stored up there, and control them. This is the first step. By the control of the subconscious mind you get control over the conscious.