PSYCHOLOGYCOMESALIVE.COM

PSA EXTRA: 100 Amazing Memory Hacks to Maximize Your Brain

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:08:00 GMT

Good day! If you happen to be one of my graduate or undergraduate students, don't freak out. I know you weren't expecting this, and there is no homework based on this. It's simply a treat, compliments of Emma Tayor of Accredited Online Colleges. It's enrichment to augment your knowledge in Cognitive Psychology. So simply enjoy this, take it in, and use it in your daily life. Be be warned: It could make your life a whole lot easier and it could make you a whole lot more productive. Feel free to comment, but you're not required to do so.

100 Amazing Memory Hacks

Charly: Movie PSYCHOanalysis

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:52:00 GMT

This blog post is primarily geared towards graduate students in my NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING class, but other students, and other blog visitors, are welcome to join in the conversation. Other movie psychoANALYSIS blogs are ones in which I provided very specific directions concerning the types of responses I was seeking. On this one, I'm going to leave more room for creative discussion. If you were in attendance on March 3, 2010, please simply discuss this movie as it pertains to concepts of the Neuropsychology of Learning that most interest you. If you are among those who haven't yet seen the movie, please rent the movie, or read the book upon which it is based, Flowers for Algernon. We'll see you on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 5:30 pm to further discuss the movie.

Skit: Match the Melody to the Malady: For Cognitive Psychology students, Brandman University

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:46:00 GMT

Students: Here is the skit we're playing to record on Wednesday, March 9. If you don't have a part yet, either pick one of the newly added ones (see bold characters), or join background voices that will represent auditory hallucinations). Once you've picked a part, or if you have any questions, email me at:
drblt@drblt.net

Match the Melody to the Malady

Dr. Amy Gdala: Good afternoon, welcome to another weekly Case Conferencing session at Head Rest Psychotherapy Center for the Neurologically Impaired, I’m your new clinical director, Dr. Amy Gdala.

Dr. Constance Flict. Hi, Amy, and welcome. We hope you’re less of a micro-manager than our last director. I’ve got a case of a patient named A. Volition. Although he’s not psychotic, he suffers from something that many schizophrenic patients suffer from---avolition. As such, he cannot initiate behavior. He’s stuck, emotionally, and thus, behaviorally paralyzed.

Dr. D. Stract: Hey, that happens to me all the time. It almost kept me from attending this meeting.

Dr. C. Reuss: This is no laughing matter, Dr. Stract. Let’s stay on track.

Dr. Basal Ganglia: Asking that of Dr. Stract is like asking a person with a hypothalamic lesion to relax.

Dr. Lateral I. Zation: We’re glad to have you on board. Dr. Flict’s case doesn’t sound like a life or death matter. Sound pretty mild if you ask me. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to bring up my case with you and the beloved group first. Ferlin Gitfell, my Alchiemer’s patient has really been giving me some challenges of late.

In terms of his visual functioning, he’s losing his ability to identify complex geometric patterns, like the wrinkled, but kindly face of his wife. He came in with his wife. He really loves her, and that seems to be helping. They met as dance partners, back in the 40s, but now he’s losing his ability to initiate complex voluntary movements, so dancing is out of the question.

Dr. Ep E. Lepsy: Excuse me, Dr. Zation, mind if I call you Lat?

I think my case is more pressing because it’s about somebody having a brain attack.

This guy is both a schizophrenic and an epileptic. I’m sure he’d be the ideal candidate for one of Sperry’s experiments on hemispheric specialization. I can’t overstress the urgency of this case.

Dr. Calm: Calm Down, Dr. Lepsy, you look like the one about to go psychotic or to go into an epileptic seizure.

Dr. Lepsy: It seems to me that you’re the one getting hysterical.

Dr. Corpus: Please, the two of you act like a brain that’s been split at the corpus collosum.

Dr. Calm: Now, as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted, I wanted to convey the phenomenological experience of my patient, with the help of these students from Dr. BLT’s class who will act as an amalgamation of his auditory hallucinations and the electrical storm in the brain. This is what he has to contend with while I speak with him in our sessions. Stormy McBrian is his name. “Stormy, what you are suffering from is a confluence of two conditions, one being Schizophrenia, Paranoid type and Epilepsy. There are reasons why you hear voices and think they are real people, saying real things. There are reasons why you are confused and can’t seem to separate reality from non-reality. There are reasons you think people are plotting against you. There are reasons why you feel like there is an electrical storm in your brain…

(all the while, the students, who represent an amalgamation of the patients auditory hallucinations and his electrical impulses (from the seizures are speaking, gradually getting louder and louder).

Dr. Amy Gdala: Well, we’re almost out of time, and believe it or not, each of you has already presented your case. This is a brief therapy center, and maybe your old director was into prolix presentations, but not me. And now that you’ve all heard each other’s cases, let’s play a game.

Dr. Sarah Bellum: Wait, I have a patient whose brain was accidentally severed by, Dr. Perry, a neurosurgeon who thought she was epileptic. Now she has a hard time being torn between what her head is telling her and what her heart is telling her. She in a state of ambivalence and avolition. She can’t mobilize her will to initiate action of any kind.

It’s called Match the Melody to the Mental Health Malady. Let’s listen to these three songs, penned by Dr BLT. The first one, I get Forgetful, is performed by Dr BLT and former student, Patricia Mikel.

This second song is My Heart has a Mind of Its Own. Is performed by Dr BLT, his former student Patricia Mikel and present student, Conrad Pamero.

This third song is called Brain Attack. It also features Patricia Mikel and Conrad Pamero.

Listeners, after hearing the skit, match the melodies to these maladies. Are you ready? Let’s go!

Cognitive Psychology: THe Winter Olympics aka Final Exam

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:59:00 GMT

Those of you who attend my Neuropsychology of Learning class at Fresno Pacific University in Bakersfield, you have a blogosphere holiday. As for my Brandman University Cognitive Psychology students, let me ask you this: Are you ready for the Cognitive Psychology final exam? Think about yourself as an athlete in a curling event at the 2010 Winter Olympic games. Tell yourself, "This may be a little slippery, but I rock!" and "Though this ice is cold, I will win the gold!"

Pick it up, grab the rock and send it down towards the target.

1. What are the following lyrics, from the song, All Fired Up, by yours truly, referring to?

at rest a neuron's charges
are negative within
and positive outside the cell
that's how it all begins
an AP is an action
potential that will change
when sodium is tossed about
and chemicals exchange...

a. The Action Potential that proceeds neurotransmission
b. The secretion of epigentic fluid following a spinal tap
c. The natural outcome of Sperry's work on epileptic patients
d. None of the above
e. All of the above

2. The movie, Secrets of the Mind, reveals Dr. V.S. Ramachandras discoveries that:

a. the brain undergoes a massive "re-wiring" when a person loses a limb
b. the corpus collosum is instrumental in mediating operations between the left and right hemisphere of the brain
c. the power of the mind in the management of pain, and how to trick the mind into providing pain relief
d. how seizures can lead to powerful spiritual experiences
e. all of the above
f. all of the above except b
g. all of the above except d

3. The mind is continuously involved in a 3-stage process involving input, integration and output. When you learn a word that you had no previous knowledge of, a brand new neuropathway is established in the brain. The following excercise will demonstrate the input-integration-output process.

Instructions: Find a way to seamlessly integrate the following low-frequency familiarity words, expanding the quote concerning the movie, The Village, (below) as you create a brand new set of sentences. If these are already familiar ones to you, then seek out words that are not presently familiar to you and find a way to incorporate them into the paragraph. Either substitute words in the sentences or add to existing sentences (or create new sentences using the new words), but make sure the new sentences blend with the existing sentences so an even flow is generated.

fictive (FIK-tive) adjective:
ardent, intense, fervent

objurgate (OB-jer-GAYT) verb
denounce, upbraid harshly; revile

bifurcate (BI-fer-KAYT) verb
fork, divide into two branches

legerdermain (LEJ-er-de-MAYN) noun
1. slieght of hand, magic tricks.
2. sophistry; trickery
Related words: legerdemanianist

prescience (PRESH-ens) noun
1. foreknowledge
2. foresight
Related words: prescient (adjective), presciently (adverb)

sanguine (SANG-gwin) adjective
1. hopeful, optimistic
2. confident
Related words: sanguinarily (adverb), sanguineariness (noun)

* Borrowed from Eugene Ehrlich's The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate.

Here are the sentences (paragraphs) you will rework, through incorporation of the new words:

In the movie, The Village, rather than relying on the neocortex, and the concomitant higher level processing to protect themselves from danger, the elders essentially regress, resorting to the lowest common denominator, fear, the type of fear that stems (no pun intended) from the more primitive areas of the brain, like the limbic system, involving the activation of the amygdala. Those who venture out of the village are harshly upbraided, but there are two burgeoning outlooks concerning the way that villagers should approach the outside world, and these two views divide the traditional members of the village from the risk-takers, who are generally younger in age.

The elders resort to slieight of hand in keeping the villagers under control and reinforcing fears they may have about outsiders. But some have the mental foresight, and are confidently optimistic that the locus for hope for their wellbeing and, ultimately, their survival may actually involve the enviorns surrounding the boundaries of the village.

4. Page 118 (Spotlight Attention and Visual Search): Among the input attentional processes, visual attention, a process related to perceptual space, is different than the orienting response in the following way:

a. In visual attention, movement of the eye and head are more jerky, not as smooth and flowing as they are in the orienting response

b. in visual attention, there is "no necessary movement of the eyes or head

c. the two types of input attentional processes are the same, so the question is a non sequitur.

d. all of the above, and yet, in existential terms, oddly none of the above at the same time.

5. Page 119 (lower paragraph):

Spotlight attention is:

a. Something that big stars like Lady Gaga to because it is in their nature as troglodytic cynosures

b. a phenomenon that first captured the attention around the world when American Idol was in its first season

c. the mental attention-focusing mechanism that prepares you to encode stimulus information

6. (page 123) Conscious attention:

a. is also called "controlled attention"

b. prepares us to respond in a deliberate way to the environment

c. is slower that spotlight attention

d. operates in a more serial fashion than spotlight attention

e. is especially influenced by conceptually driven processes

f. none of the above

g. all of the above, except h

h. all of the above

7. T or F quote (page 123):

"Spotlight attention...is a basic, rapid attentional mechanism that seems to operate in parallel across the visual field, in a highly automatic fashion."

8. Harry Hemi, who drives a semi, actually owns a hemi, but it sits on his driveway most of the time. This is not the only hemi Harry neglects. You see, Harry suffers from a condition known as hemineglect. This means that:

a. he doesn't eat the types of foods generally considered nourishing for the brain's right and left hemisphere

b. he experiences a marked disruption in his ability to refocus his attention to one side of his face or the other.

c. he experiences a disruption or decreased ability to attend to something in the (often) left field of vision

d. all of the above

e. b and c only

9. (page 161) In the recency effect:

a. all items in a to-be-recalled list are perceived with exactly the same level of salience

b. the late positions in a to-be-recalled list are sensitive to deliberate rehearsal that transforms information into long-term memory, whereas early positions tend to be recalled with high accuracy in the free recall task

c. early positions in a to-be-recalled list are sensitive to deliberate rehearsal that transfers information into long-term memory, whereas later positions tend to be recalled with high accuracy in the free recall task

d. all of the above

10a.  T or F:

Dr BLT's balloon-0-brain-ogram diagramming excercise, Part 1, is hypothesized to produce a more efficient memory for areas of the brain than simply diagraming the brain via pen and paper, because it likely creates a greater level of stimulation to the motor cortex of the brain, even as it profoundly engages both hemispheres of the brain.

10b. T or F:

Dr BLT's balloon-o-brain-ogram diagramming excercise, Part II, by engaging a creative-labeling scheme, is hypothesized to produce a more efficient memory for the functions of the brain than simply assigning the conventional name to each brain part/region because involves creative thought processes that involve meaningful associations between structure and corresponding function.

11. T or F: When you were asked to write a piece of fiction that, through the process of storytelling, and character development, portrays a particular cognitive phenomenon because it is more creatively challenging than simply writing a scientific paper.

12. Two of the greatest recent discoveries in Cognitive Psychology include:

a. the way that memory mimics attentional processes and the way that intentional processes mimic attention
b. new studies that illustrate, in a dramatic way, neuroplacitity (the brain's ability to mend itself) and new studies in an exciting new category known as epigenetics, which suggest that human behavior may impact generations that follow
c. episodic memory and semantic memory
d. all of the above
e. none of the above

13. T or F: Conceptually-driven processing is also known as bottom-up processing.

14. To or F: Proactive interference is interference or difficulty, especially during recall, because of some previous activity.

15. Figure out what an online comprehension task is, based on the context associated with the following sentence:

"What do you think this is, Selena, an online comprehension task? We don't have the luxury of measuring performance while comprehension is taking place. We'll draw those measurements later, when we can get to it."

Based on the context of the sentence, one can logically conclude that an online comprehension task:

a. is one that is performed on a blog on the computer
b. a task in which measurements of performance are obtained as comprehension takes place
c. a task in which measurements of performance and recall are obtains after a period of time elapsing beyond the duration of the comprehension task itself
d. all of the above

16. The question that you've just completed is an example of:

a. contextual cueing
b. contextual learning
c. contextual priming
d. all of the above

17. T or F
A neurotransmitter is the chemical substance released into the synapses between two neurons, responsible for activating or inhibiting the next neuron in sequence

18. T or F: Metamemory is knowledge about one's own memory system and it's functioning

19. To or F: B. F. Skinner is generally credited with introspection, the method of investigation in which subjects look inward to describe their mental processes and thoughts.

20. MRI stands for:
a. memory response input
b. mega-recall instructions
c. magnetic resonance imaging, a medical scanning technology that reveals anantomical structure, especially of the brain

21. In the movie, Charly, recognition-hungry researchers committed an ethical breach against Charly by...
a. forgetting to feed Algernon
b. failing to give Charly Gordon enough anesthetic prior to his operation
c. rushing ahead with the experiment before understanding possible complications, and in the process, failing to warn Charly that the collosally impressive results were not permanent, but temporary

22. The future that Charly described to scientists in the room where he was displayed as a trophy, was...
a. a bright one
b. a pretty good one
c. a gloomy, Stygian, and dire one, marked by abject pessimism
d. one marked by ostensible scientific progress at the expense of losing basic common sense and humaness
e. c and d
f. all of the above

23. T or F: While a person may lose a limb, the brain continues to map, or represent the lost limb as if it still exists, contributing to the pheneomenon of phantom pain

24. The two types of thinking most valued by your instructor are:
a. concentrated thinking and rote memorization
b. concrete thinking, which is initiated in Piaget's concrete operational stage of development
c. creative and critical thinking
d.  some of the above

25. The use of skits and songs that seamlessly incorporate course material are used in Dr BLT classes for the purpose of:
a. giving students an opportunity to show off their skills in the studio
b. stimulating holistic learning that draws extensively from both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously
c. disabusing students of the notion that everything must have a purpose
d. casting down on traditional methods of learning

Neuropsychological analysis of the movie, "The Village"

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:27:00 GMT

THE VILLAGE
NeuropsychologicalAnalysis

Welcome to an opportunity to expand your knowledge of the brain and of the phenomena associated with the brain by applying principles of the subject matter to the movie, THE VILLAGE.

Give a brief overview of the plot.

How does the movie relate to the course? I'll offer these words as cognitive primers to put your mind in motion: language; attention (think of selective attention); interference; perception; awareness; encoding; emotion and memory; states of consciousness; representation of knowledge; pattern recognition; problem solving; creative thinking; decision-making; spoken and written communication; memory and the effects of stress on the brain).

Describe in more detail what principles of neuropsychology and cognition are demonstrated in the movie.

Consider the song, YOUR HIDING PLACE, penned by yours truly and performed by Practially Poetz. How does this single-song-movie-analysis-soundtrack relate to the theme of the movie?

Your Hiding Place
Practically Poetz
words/music by Dr BLT

Practically Poetz is:

Dr BLT: lead vocals; rhythm guitar
Rod Marlin: bass
Chris Wise: drums

The Neurosurgeon's Methods Dance

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:40:00 GMT

Students: No blog homework is due for the next class, but if you want to get a jump start on the blog homework for the following week, then review these lyrics and then respond in these two ways:

1. The song (music to be added later) provides a creative adaptation of course material, and an informational skeleton that you will add flesh to. Elaborate on each of the neuro pioneers identified in the lyrics.

2. Elaborate and flesh out with more detail, each of the neuro-imaging techniques alluded to in the lyrics.

this in the comments section, and you're good to go.

The Neurosurgeon’s Methods Dance

They used to slice the brain all up

To find out brainy, research stuff

Old Sperry didn’t spare a brain

He needed lesions for his game

He made himself a wondrous name

but all their losses were his gain

and now we’re so much more advanced

so join our neurosurgeon’s dance

That’s now reserved for mice and men

Already damaged, on the mend

They say hey, stimulate instead

Directly stimulate the head

T’was pioneered by Penfield too

A great Canadian, t’was imbued

With neurosurgeon skills so deft

He’d stimulate the right and left

The patients in his surgery

Stayed conscious in emergency

A little local that is all

To numb the head and it involved

The application of a shock

To brains exposed and on the block

The regions triggered?

Very small

And barely noticed, if at all

He’d shock ‘em then

Asked them questions

Or have them share with “Pen,” their friend

Their thoughts and memories then and there

He’d analyze them and compare

Their words with others under knife

A dreamlike state is what it’s like

Could these reported thoughts and such

Be stuff of fantasy and fluff?

A feeble effort to construct

A pattern based on not enough

Of real thoughts and real states

Pen simply said, “I think it’s great!”

Regardless of the things they say

The value of “let’s stimulate”

Is in the way they’re localized

The functions of the brain realized

The kinds of knowledge stored in parts

Of neocortex torn apart

Let’s cheer the man we call “The Pen”

And ask not why, but what and when?

The neuroimaging technique

Intrigues me so, it’s so unique

The CT’s, MRI’s and PETS

Are pretty cool, way cool, you bet!

They all give pictures of the brain

So clear, and it’s hard to contain

The joy I’m feeling every time

I see an image of my mind

The different colors are a trip

Reflecting blood flow, there, that’s it

When blood gets oxygen it moves

The pictures cause me to be moved

They used to look at brains as dead

Just structures fixed inside the head

But these techniques bring it alive

The brain in action, actualized

And Tulving is the one we love

A pioneer of all this stuff

His look at memory inspired

A bunch of people to admire

The two types of our memories

The episodic and, you see

Semantic memory, yes, two types

Now never mind the pomp and hype

Just watch the different ways it flows

Where different types of memories go

Inject some junk inside the vein

That binds the oxygen contained

Inside the blood, that sticks like mud

There is a lag, and that’s a dud

But through these fancy things they do

We find a broader, cooler view

Our theories grow and stretch you know

According to these brains that glow

Electro-en-ceph-alograms

And ERPs are groovy, man

Two ways to look

Inside the brain

And and see the functions it contains

The first is primitive and crude

But ERPs are awesome, dude!

Momentary recent change

Is soooo detected in the brain

With ERPs that map the flow

Of currents ranging high and low

Semantic words---anomalies

Will be detected, yes, with these

An N4, for anomalies

And also for abnormalities

Like when you’re breakin’ grammar’s rules

An N4’s found with this great tool

Streetheart Serenade: Epigenetics and the matter of homelessness

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:33:00 GMT

Could epigenetics play a role in the whole matter of homelessness? Please offer your opinion, and a little support for such an opinion in the comments section below.

Then head over to this blog and listen to the new Dr BLT/Dave Howe duet.

Duet

After listening to the duet, offer suggestions in terms of how the heart and the head could work together to produce solutions to the issue of homelessness. Could it be possible for epigenetics to one day play a role in the eradication of homelessness? Offer a modicum of support for your answer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dolores Claiborne: Examining the family abuse, alcoholism and dysfunction through epigenetics

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:56:00 GMT

We're about to study the brain and mental/cognitive phenomena from multiple perspectives in order to gain a contextual understanding of how we think, and how we process our thoughts, underlying emotions, and memories. This may get complicated and that prospect may seem intimidating, so I'd recommend taking a breath, telling yourself that you're up for the challenge (after all, you are!), and then takling this blog entry head first.

Three types of abuse are evident in the movie, DOLORES CLAIBORNE: Sexual abuse, or child molestation, domestic violence (mutual, but it could be argued, Dolores was acting in self-defense), and alcoholism (four if you consider nicotine abuse). Certain research seems to indicate that memories characterized by emotional intensity, appear to be easier to recall than memories corresponding to little, if any, emotional intensity.

How would you reconcile this research with the revelation in the movie, that the only traumatic event that the character of Selena St. George seems to remember, involves the sight of her father bleeding after her mother struck back at him, shortly after being brutally attacked by him? It takes a series of vivid reminders by her mother to finally trigger memories of having been molested by her father.

We, as a scientific community, used to believe that DNA was fixed and that enviornment was a separate influence on the development of the individual. This had to do with the general consensus that our behavior had no impact on the genes of future generations.

While Darwin has carried the prevailing paradigm of Western civilization since the early days of science, Jean-Baptiste (1744-1829)Lamarck, who came before him, and the Lamarckian-based relatively new field of epigenetics (born of Lamarckian theory), appears to be nipping at that paradigm's achilles heel, and thus, threatening to bring about a dramatic paradigmatic shift.

This shift began to surface as a possibility when Dr. Lars Olov Bygren, a preventative-health specialist began examining, and later, publishing, the records of generations of offspring whose parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents from Norrbotten County in Northern Sweden, were exposed to abrupt shifts in food availability, leading alternatively, to periods of near-starvation followed by periods of exteme abundance, which triggered episodes of severe overeating.

The results flew in the face of the Darwinian-based assumption that changes in the development of species takes place over many generations and millions of years of natural selection. The boys, for example, who suffered from food consumption extremes, produced children and then grandchildren, with conspicuously shorter life-spans. This consequence proved to be enduring throughout several generations beyond the initial offspring.

Lars' findings, coupled with other epigenetic studies that have followed, suggest that environmental factors such as nutrition, stress and trauma can actually produce relatively enduring changes in offspring due to changes in epigenetic markers associated with DNA. For example, mothers who experience a great deal of environmental stress during pregnancy are found to have a higher rate of children who develop asthma.

Do a little research on epigenetic studies. A good place to start would be the cover article in the January 18, 2010 edition of Time magazine---an article entitled "Why Your DNA isn't Your Destiny." Then formulate an hypothesis that suggests how, if untreated, the trauma Selena experienced in her childhood, associated with family violence and her experience of having been molested, could impact future generations, if she were to marry, and subsequently have children. First, consider how changes in the epigenetic markers alone could impact future Selena decendants, and then consider the additional role of modeling and how it may interact with the epigenetic process to shape the behavior of her decendants.

Students, it would be helpful to refer to a diagram of the brain and its structures, as a frame of reference, to answer the next question. Cognitive Psychology students, there's one on page 53 of your text, Neuropsychology of Learning students, there's one on page 60 of your text. See if you can also do a little digging in your textbooks, and additional sources to shed further light on the function of each area or part of the brain. Then identify and discuss 3 areas of Selena's brain that likely played a role in facilitating, first memory blockage, and then, the gradual recall for memories of her father having abused her.

Now do a little independent research on the areas of the brain impacted by alcohol intoxication. Discuss what areas of the brain Selena's father likely influenced while he was drinking and how this may have influenced his behavior?

Do you think Selena's father would have been likely to molest her if he hadn't had a drinking problem? Why or why not?

Now listen to this original song (sorry about the rough nature of the recording):

Through the Eyes of a Child
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 1988, 2010

Then answer this:
Describe how the theme of multi-generational perpetuation of the cycle of abuse is introduced in this song? Then answer this:

How could the field of epigenetics add insight into the understanding of the multi-generational perpetuation of the cycle of abuse, and develop methods, based on epigenetic findings, that could play a role in the eventual breaking the cycle?

Everything 4 Granted: Inculcating empathy for those with serious brain dysfunction

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:30:00 GMT

This blog will be due by Wednesday, January 27, 2010 for Fresno Pacific University students. For students in my Cognitive Psychology class, this one is optional, and please, Cognitive psychology students, just disregard the final question, referencing Table 1.1.

Although it's virtually impossible to be born into this world, or to be exposed to the trials of life, and come out completely functional. But when an individual suffers from a profound brain disorder, or a profound learning disability, the challenges that everyday individuals experience seem to pale in comparison. Yet, as this song suggests, it is human nature to foolishly take everything for granted, including a relatively functional brain.

Everything 4 Granted (as aired on the KWMR show,
Bakersfield and Beyond

Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2009

What are a few of the things the character in this song took for granted? What were the consequences of taking "everything for granted?"

We can lose our brain functioning if we take it for granted. I can think of one example----alcoholism, either through excessive, prolongued abuse, or through drunk driving resulting in a serious automobile accident that could render a person brain-damaged?

Can you think of other examples? If so, offer them in the comments section below.

What is it like to be somebody who has suffered a stroke, or a series of strokes? What is it like to experience hemiplegia? Who would you feel if you couldn't move one side of your body? What if you couldn't move your right arm, or your right leg? Life would become so much more challenging and things we all take for granted would take on a whole new meaning. In order to work with children, adolescents or adults with learning disabilities or brain dysfunction, we need to be able to understand the nature of their suffering, the extent and nature of their challenges, and we need to have, above all, empathy.

Empathy vs. Pity:

Empathy empowers, pity only weakens and enables those with brain dysfunction to be ensconced in self-pity, a victim mentality, and a sense of hopelessness, haplessness and helplessness.

Before we can develop a subjective understanding of what it means to experience brain dysfunction, we must have an objective understanding of what areas of the brain are impacted, the extent of injuries or damage to the brain, and the practical manifestation in terms of the effect of brain dysfunction on thought, emotions and behavior.

Drawing from Table 1.1, along with any supplemental sources you'd like to incorporate, please create a vignette, involving one of these cases: a child that suffers from brain damage (either one showing hard or soft signs); a child that suffers from a specific learning disability, a child that suffers from a psychiatric condition without any clear indication of brain damage. Include details about the experience of that student that would convince your treatment team to establish feelings of empathy, but not pity, for your child case.

MOVIE psychoANALYSIS: Phoebe in Wonderland

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:44:00 GMT

The movie, Phoebe in Wonderland depicts and family in conflict and a young girl in crisis, all because of a syndrome or clinical condition that has impacted her thoughts, her behavior and her actions. After viewing the movie, please answer the following questions in the comments section, and please, use the comments section to delve further into a dialogue with students, peers and other blog visitors who may have chimed in on the conversation.

What diagnoses did you entertain, if any, for Phoebe as you watched the movie?

What diagnosis did she and the family discover to be the one that most adequately matched her symptoms?

After learning about the various brain structures and their functions seamlessly identified and addressed in the most recent episode of the short story, "Oil" Dale, posted here...

Bakersfield Sound Underground

...or more directly, here:

Adventures of Oil Dale

...please discuss which of the brain regions and their functions would be most related to Phoebe's case, and tell us why.

After listening to the song, It Only Hurts When I Cry, posted there, please tell us which centers of the brain were activated, if any, by your experience of listening to the song.

Homeless 4 the Holidays; Musically-enhanced psycho-educational skit; performed by Brandman University Students

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:08:00 GMT

Another historic creative collaboration to add to the Brandman/Chapman University collection. This one addresses the subject of homelessness and the homeless mentally ill in particular. Students, you did a great job! Please introduce yourselves and tell blog visitors which role you played in the skit. I want to thank Matthew and Robert and Command Studios in Santa Clarita, California for hosting the recording event, offering a discounted rate in support of the homeless recording project, and to Robert for engineering the skit and the song.

Skit written by Dr BLT and performed by Brandman University students in Dr BLT's Abnormal Psychology course, Fall 2 Term.
Song, Homeless 4 the Holidays (Folkountry/Soul version) words/music by Dr BLT © 2009 performed by Dr BLT and featuring Patricia Mikel.

Homeless 4 the Holidays
Skit/song podcast

18 Ho-le Holiday Classic Tiger Tournament: aka Abnormal Psychology Final Exam

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:12:00 GMT

Welcome to the Abnormal Psychology final exam disguised as tthe 18 Hole Holiday Tiger Tournament. This is a test. This is only a test. If it had been an actual emergency, I would have instructed you to be more anxious that you already are. Seriously though, there are 18 holes, aka 18 questions.   No more, no less, but you don't get more than one shot to get the ball in the hole.   Each correct answer will be recorded on your virtual golf score card as a hole in one.

Are you ready? Let's begin.

1. The movie, the Soloist, the skit performed by the class in the studio, and the song, Homeless 4 the Holidays, penned by your instructor and also performed yours truly (featuring your magnificantly skilled classmate, Patricia Mikel), all deal with the subject of:

a. homelessness and/or the homeless mentally ill

b.  Tiger Wood's infidelity and his wife's alleged violent reaction

c.  depression

d. none of the above

2. The movie, The Karen Carpenter Story, deals with the subject of Karen's outstandingly successful musical career and her, ultimately fatal struggle with...

a. Paranoid Schizophrenia

b. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

c. Anorexia Nervousa

d. None of the above

3. Which of the following, though also important and essential, is not one of Dr BLT's 3 E's of Education:

a. Effort

b. Entertainment

c. Engagement

d. Emancipation of the imagination

4. Dr. BLT uses original music, drama and movies in his classes for the purpose of:

a. confusing students and creating a choatic diversion

b. hiding his tendency to leave lesson planning to the last minute

c. to build a bridge between textbook content and emotionally compelling, culturally relevant phenomena

d. all of the above

5. In a skit written by students Cathy, Paul and Patricia, when Pat says:

"I'm telling you, Paul, I saw her put blood in the cake today," she is revealing...

a. the fact that she is color blind

b. a psychotic delusion

6. Autistic Disorders is listed in your textbook cover and in the DSM-IV-TR under which categories:

a. Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood or adolecence; Pervasive Developmental Disoders

b. Delirium, Dementia, and Amnestic and other Cognitive Disoders; Dementia

c. none of the above

d. some of the below

7. One of you said this, when, in a blog, you were asked how Wade in the movie, "Afflicted," would have been approached in the Middle Ages:

"Wade’s self-destructive spiral would have been described in the Middle Ages as his being possessed by demons. Clergy would have attempted treatment by an exorcism to rid Wade of the evil that possessed him."

This answer is:

a. True

b. False

8. After this one, only 10 more holes to go. If you're not getting these golf balls in the hole, try a different club. There's a really "happening" club just down the street from me (just kidding). In the song, JC Therapy, these lyrics extracted below, suggest a condition:

JC Therapy
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2009

"I am anxious in this place, in a place I can't escape/when I panic/you'll see me/freakin' out/it's embarrassin', see/and my travel is restricted, or endured by marked distress..."

One of your fellow students offered this in response to hearing such lyrics and other lyrics identifying other symptomatology in the song:

"According the symptoms of the person in the song, I would give a multi diagnosis of Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia and Bipolar Disorder."

The student provided:

a. The correct answer

b. The incorrect answer

9. In the skit that you all recently recorded, the final character expresses confusion over the notion of bi-directionality or multi-directionality and asked Patricia and myself to sing a song to add clarification. The song is based on a bi-directional approach because:

a. It shows how impoverishment, hunger and drug abuse all interact to perpetuate the problem of homelessness.

b. It contains a message of social responsibility, rather than point a finger at the homeless individual, and this suggests that the subject matter is approached in a bi-directional manner in which social factors and social sources of support are identified.

c. Both of the above.

10. T or F

Scale 3 on the Clinical Scales of the MMPI-2 listed in page 122 of your textbook is Hysteria, abbreviated as (Hy).

11. Treatment for Stress Disorders, as represented on pages 168-170 of your textbook, includes:

a. telephone hotlines

b. escape through tabloid gossip focusing on the various alleged mistresses of Tiger Woods and their contribution to his nemesis

c. psychological first aid

d. psychological debriefing

e. medication

12. T or F

According to page 188 of your textbook "Perceptions of uncontrollability and unpredictability" play a role in the development of panic, anxiety and their disorders

13. T or F
According to page 209 in your text, "like all the anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder frequently co-occurs with other mood and anxiety disorders."

14. T or F

According to page 251 of your text, "A summary of studies using refined diagnostic procedures suggests that about 1 percent of the first-degree relatives of a person with bipolar I illness can be expected to have bipolar disorder, relative to 8 to 9 percent of the general population.

15. Read the case study on page 341 of your text, then answer this as T or F:

This case of Bob would qualify as involving a personality disorder (namely, Narcissistic Personality Disorder), because it involves
patterns of behavior that are "pervasive and inflexible, as well as stable and of long duration."

16. A hemorrhagic stroke, as depicted in Figure 14.1 on page 500 of your textbook, happens when:

a. an artery of the brain bursts and either floods the surrounding tissue with blood or floods the surface and grooves of the brain

b. the blood irritates brain cells, disrupting their functions and causing the brain to swell with fluid

c. if the swelling continues, the brain is stopped by the skull and squeezed through the opening in the bottom of the skull, crushing the centers for consciousness and breathing

d. the colon becomes inflamed and it sets off a chain reaction that eventually destroys all brain tissue

e. a and b

f. a, b, and c

g. a and d

17. In figure 16.3 on page 594 of your text demonstrates:

a. the neurotransmission process that is triggered by antipsychotic medications which act as reuptake antagonists

b. the neurotransmission process triggered by triclyclic antidepressants as reuptake blockers

c. a and b

Finally, the last hole:

18. According to the recent skit that was recorded and will be posted here tomorrow, the recent scandal involving Tiger Woods is...

a. Irrelevant because, unlike the issue of the homeless mentally ill, it does not raise issues of importance to the field of abormal psychology.

b. It is relevant because it brings subjects of relevance to the field such as infidelity and domestic violence

c. none of the above

That's all, your test is done. You can now ride back with your caddy to the golf course lounge to hang out with Tiger Woods, have a virgin drink, and listen to the band play some of your favorite Christmas songs. But first I must say this:

FORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, and of course Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas to one and all and a very Happy New Year! To follow what's happening with the Sound of Bakersfield multi-artist/multi-band recording project for the homeless, visit:

Bakersfield Sound Underground

And to direct friends to the related songs, have them hit the "music' link here:

Dr BLT's Official Web Site

Visit this blog on Thursday or Friday when a new thread featuring your Homeless 4 the Holidays skit, studio pics, and the one-track soundtrack to that skit.

Finally, one word of advice for the New Year, unless it concerns your golf game, please, don't do anything in the coming year that Tiger Woods would do. Seriously though, since the message of Christmas is one of redemption, I hope he doesn't have to deal with any additional "stray" women, and I hope he doesn't have to face any more "stray," swinging golf clubs in the coming year.

Her Plate was Half Empty: Karen Carpenter's winning voice and her losing battle with Anorexia Nervosa

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:01:00 GMT

Welcome to another episode of Psychology Comes Alive. The game played here is called Blog n Roll. In the game of blog n roll, I provide the topics and the tunes and you provide the talk. You do that in the comments section below. Here's what your "talk" will be centered upon: After doing a little self-guided research, what is your understanding of Anorexia Nervosa and how is it contrasted with Bulimia? After having seen the movie, The Karen Carpenter Story, and participating in a skit that introduced concepts like proximal and distal causes, contributory causes, significant causes and necessary causes, formulate a sentence or two that addresses Karen Carpenter and her mental health condition in these terms.

Take a moment to conceptualize Karen Carpenter's experience and the development of a mental health condition in terms of bidirectionality, a concept also introduced in class via a skit.

Listen to this original song:

Her Plate is Half Empty
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2004, 2009

Compare and contrast the experience of the fictional character in this song with Karen Carpenter's apparent character as discussed in various sources.

The Thanksgiving season is upon us, and so it was fitting that, in one of the last scenes in the movie, The Karen Carpenter Story, Karen and her family were sitting around the dining table, waiting to partake in a Thanksgiving feast.

Mental health, like food, is something we often take for granted, so before I close, so as you sit down to feast upon the Turkey and all that goes with it, I want to ask you to be thankful, not only for your food, but for your mental health (to the degree that you still possess it). I also want to express thanks for having such wonderful students! Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Here's an original, brand new song of mine to get you in the spirit:

Everything 4 Granted
(Audio Sample) Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2009

Dr BLT's official website

Affliction: Staring down a dark tunnel in search of light

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:57:00 GMT

Welcome students, faculty, road scholars, scholars from the school of hard knocks, staff, truckers, cowboys, housewives, executives, and all other visitors to this blog. Welcome to Psychology Comes Alive, where we build bridges from the theories and principles of psychology and popular culture. Today you'll be afforded another opportunity to engage in a process I call "blog n roll." In the game of blog n roll, I provide the topic and the tunes, and you, the blog visitor/participant, provide the talk (in the comments section.)

First of all, for all Brandman University students who were left feeling ineffably depressed following the viewing of the movie, Affliction, I apologize, and I will offer what I am hoping to be a little light at the end of that dark tunnel here today. Let's focus on Wade Whitehouse, the New Hamphire police officer in the movie, played by Nick Nolte, and his mental state. If the story took place during the precivilized period of world history, characterized by an approach to understand and treat abnormal behavior according to demomology, gods and magic, how would Wade's behavior be explained and "treated?" (For Brandman University Abnormal Psych students, you'll gain an understanding of precivilation in chapter 2 of your text.)

How would the approach to Wade be different after the introduction of Hippocrates' early medical concepts? How would early philosophical conceptions of consciousness and later Greek and Roman thought alter the way Wade would be approached, understood and treated? How would Wade be treated if the story took place in China while the Chineese were establishing their early views on mental illness? How would treatment provided explain Wade's self-destructive spiral during the the Middle Ages?

If Wade were to be placed in an early asylum, what kind of treatment would he receive? How would he be treated differently after the humanitarian reform movement? How would Wade be treated if the story took place as nineteenth-century views on the causes of treatment and mental disorders came on the scene? How would changing attitudes towards the mentally ill that emerged in the early twentieth century alter the way Wade would be approached?

In the song, When I Heard You Sing (penned by yours truly and performed by Alyssa Kaess), the person whose story is told in the song has pretty much capitulated to a sense of hopelessness. What do the songs of the Beatles do to elevate her mood?

When I Heard U Sing
Alyssa Kaess: words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2009

If you were a therapist and Wade had come in to see you in the early stages of his mental health downward spiral, what would some of your treatment goals be? Which Beatles songs might you use to inculcate hope within Wade and to offer light at the end of his dark tunnel?

Ready? Set? BLOG N ROLL!

Differential Diagnosis and JC Therapy

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:41:00 GMT

The DSM, and the labeling process itself can, for various reasons, hinder the psychologist or mental health practitioner in how he/she sees and responds to his/her patient, but it does, at the very least, provide a basic structure that is useful in organizing ones caseload, developing a symptom-specific treatment plan, and in getting paid for the rendering of services by 3rd party payers.

How does the story of 6-String Therapy challenge traditional notions of therapy?

Six-string Therapy

Given the symptoms expressed by the character in this song, how would you diagnosis him/her?

JC Therapy
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2009

Opening Act 4 the Rolling Stones: There's more than one way to look at a dream

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:00 GMT

Like a painting, there are many ways of analyzing a dream. Freud looked at dreams as revelations of unconscious, psychosexual conflicts. Jung, on the other hand, looked at dreams as stories, based upon universal symbols and archetypal myths. Freud and Jung are the "big daddies" of, not only dream analysis, but also art and music critique. Yet dream analysis doesn't stop or end with either of these giants. Research one other theorist who looked at dreams and try to apply it to this dream. Then offer an interpretation of the dream based on your own approach, which may be Freudian, Jungian, a combination of various theories, or a theory of your own that totally stands out as unique among all others.

Then I'll give you may take on this dream, though, as the dreamer, I'm admittedly biased and prone to contaminating elements of subjectivity.

After sharing your take on my dream, offer a dream of your own, but please, don't offer a dream that is too risky or too risque for other visitors here, or too obviously revealing of your deepest, darkest secrets. Those of us with co-dependent issues don't want to be left feeling like we need to pick up the pieces and put you back together. LOL.

Opening Act for the Rolling Stones
Dr. BLT: words and music by Dr BLT
copyright 2009 Nu Bako Recordings

A "Pair 'o Docs": The 30+ Year Roosevelt High School Reunion Interview featuring Dr. Al Howsepian

Bruce L Thiessen Ph D — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:27:00 GMT

In August of 1977, my family moved from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Fresno, California. We were like the Bevery Hillbillies without the money. My dad moved us down to Fresno in order to make possible his quest to complete his doctorate in theology.

On the night we arrived, our home was not ready to be moved into yet, so we stayed with my great uncle Peter and aunt Margaret, both of whom have since passed. I had never seen a palm tree before, and when we arrived at their home, and took a tour, I noticed that they not only had 2 big palm trees in the back yard, but also a hamock hung beneath them. That's where I decided to stay for the night, me and my little black AM-FM shortwave radio. It was an incredible night. I clung to my radio, hoping to wake up in the morning to some cool new California tunes. Instead I awoke to this news: ELVIS IS DEAD!

I was forced to search for a new role model. Since Elvis only struck a chord with the musical side of me, and I also had scholarly aspirations, I needed a role model to help motivate me to pursue a graduate degree and a career. Sure, I had my dad, and without him, the idea of a graduate education may not have occurred to me. But he was a dad, and I was a kid. I wasn't looking for somebody young and hip, with lots of "chicks" surrounding him. I found that role model in today's interview guest, psychiatrist, Dr Al Howsepian, M.D.

I ended up transferring from Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Roosevelt High School. That is where I met Al. He used to hang out with another acquaintance of mine, a guy named Tim, who volunteered in emergency rescue operations at the time. I was very shy but would hang out in libraries where these two dudes and one other guy with a Mennonite name (I forgot his name), and I used to listen in on their conversations and marvel at their brilliant intellects. I admired Al's passion for learning, his intellectual verve, and his hunger for knowledge.

One day Al was hanging out in my psychology class with Mr. Wood, chatting with some good looking cheerleaders who just happened to be in my class. They all seemed to be in awe over Al. On that day it occurred to me that (though some had mistaken me for a rising star athlete whose last name I shared), I didn't need to be an athletic star to be surrounded by swooning females. Being a scholar didn't have to mean being a nerd.

It was official, Al had become my hero and my role model, and this went well beyond his ability to gain the favor of the best-looking girls on campus. I never did find myself surrounded by swooning "chicks," but ended up with an exceedingly satisfying career as a licensed clinical psychologist---one who is now married to a lovely wife. As a wonderful bonus, I am the father of a beautiful, adorable little 4-year-old daughter. I have found fulfillment by combining a full-time psychologist position with teaching part-time in universities and writing, all while still being able to follow my dreams as a singer/songwriter. Of course, I wish I had become a psychiatrist, they make the big bucks. Al did become one, and a noteworthy one at that, with a vita that requires a library to hold its contents.

I look Al up a few months back and this led to our 30+ Roosevelt High School Reunion Interview. Without further ado, I give you my role model, Dr. Al Howsepian, in the very first Psychology Comes Alive interview ever:

Dr. BLT: First, I want to thank you for participating in this interview, the very first interview for the Psychology Comes Alive blog site. I have been a fan of your since High School, and you have been one of the most influential role models of all time. You have actually contributed immensely to my decision to pursue the mental health field as a psychologist. One of the things I was struck with as a 12th grade student at Theodore Roosevelt High where we went to school together was your passion for knowledge and your love of education. What's more, you seemed to be able to pull it off without coming across as a nerd. Where did that passion for knowledge come from?

Dr. Al Howsepian: Good morning, Bruce. I am truly honored to be the first interview for your blog site.

My passion for knowledge has at least three sources. First, my father and mother highly valued education in part because of their history of educational privation. My father finished only the second grade and worked, for most of his life, as a custodian. My mother graduated from high school just one year before I did, having gone back to adult school after many years working as a seamstress. They both highly encouraged us to attain educationally what they, for various political, cultural, and socioeconomic reasons, could not. (My father was raised in the former Soviet Union. His parents died when he was very young, forcing him to support his younger siblings when he was only 8 years old. My mother lived many of her childhood years in an orphanage in Lebanon because of the death of her father when she was very young and the financial hardships that plagued her mother.)

Second, the study of psychology itself instilled in me a powerful motivation for learning. My psychology class at Theodore Roosevelt High,during my junior year (with Mr. Ralph Wood) inspired me, ignited my passion for understanding, inflamed my curiosity, and gave me academic direction. (Later, during my senior year at Roosevelt, I was exposed to a class in physiology that was also deeply interesting to me and highly motivating). When I was advised that I might best be able to combine those two passions into one field of study, viz. psychiatry, and I was told that one needed to complete medical school in order to become a psychiatrists, I began preparing myself academically to enter medical school. The only reason, therefore, that I attended medical school was to become a psychiatrist.) Third, I am a Christian who takes seriously St. Anselm of Canterbury's maxim, 'Credo ut intelligam'-'I believe so that I may understand,' St. Peter's admonition to "Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you (I Peter 3:15), and Jesus' 'Greatest Commandment', viz. to love God with all one's heart, soul and mind.

Dr BLT: We both attended California State University, Fresno, where you got your B.A. and also did some post-baccalaureate study in philosophy. I also attended there for my M.A. in psychology. Perhaps the reason our paths didn't cross there was because I did my undergraduate work at Fresno Pacific University (then FPC), while your were working on a philosophy degree at CSUF. You then went on to graduate, first with your MD, from the UC Davis School of Medicine, and did your internship in psychiatry through UC, San Francisco. In between that and your psychiatry residency, you completed a M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. If that weren't enough, you ultimately ended up with both an M.D, as a practicing psychiatrist, and a Ph.D., in Philosophy. Quite remarkable, and fascinating.

Dr. Al Howsepian: I have a very deep desire to understand, relentless curiosity, and I obtain great joy both in the exploration of ideas and in the exercise of creativity. Some people become exhilarated by the adventure of exploring other lands, other terrains; I become exhilarated by the adventure of exploring the mental and conceptual realms, traveling along psychic and logical structures, going places where the greatest of thinkers (psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers) have gone before, scaling those emotional cliffs on which my patients are stranded and from which they are in danger of falling, and (in virtue of my love for philosophical and psychiatric research) going places where no person has ever gone before.

One of my areas of deepest interest in psychiatry is in the intersection of psychiatry and religion; and one of my areas of deepest interest in philosophy is in the intersection of philosophy and religion. In addition to teaching courses (in whole or in part) in Neuropsychiatry, Psychopharmacology, Forensic Psychiatry, Psychiatric Ethics, and Electroconvulsive Therapy to psychiatry residents in our University of California, San Francisco - Fresno Medical Education Program, I also teach a course in Psychiatry and Religion. In addition, I have given lectures to wider audiences on the important, but greatly neglected, intersection, between religion and forensic psychiatry ('Religious Themes in Forensic Psychiatry, Parts I and II').

In addition, I have published multiple papers in philosophy journals on topics in philosophical theology. I am particularly interested in ontological aspects of philosophical theology, especially those involving various conceptualizations of free and morally responsible action. Part of what keeps me so interested in all of these topics simultaneously is that I am able to see, from the inside, how deep and important ideas in each of these areas inform deep and important ideas in other areas of inquiry. These disciplines are, in multiple ways, mutually informing, amplifying the intrinsically interesting theoretical and practical commitments of each discipline when viewed in isolation.

Dr. BLT: Your seemingly unquenchable thirst for knowledge continued well beyond those high school days, as I knew they would. And your formal education is merely the tip of the iceberg. Studying your accomplishments is like climbing Mount Everest. What gave you the energy, the stamina and the will to go so far, and cross so much territory, both in terms of your education, and in terms of your career and ongoing contribution to the field of psychiatry, especially as it intersects with both religion and philosophy?

Among all of the psychiatric disorders, which one have you found most challenging and difficult to treat and why?

Dr. Al Howsepian: In addition to being incredibly fascinating, the treatment of Bipolar Disorder, Type I, is, for me, the most challenging and difficult of psychiatric disorders to treat. This is, at least in part, because of the tendency of this disorder toward instability: one is never quite sure of 'who' is going to come through one's door. Is it the stable, confident, optimistic, and mildly energetic Mr. Smith? Or the irritable, angry, and hostile Mr. Smith? Or will it be the profoundly depressed, dark, despondent, hopeless Mr. Smith? Or will it be the paranoid, disorganized, hallucinating, and hyperkinetic Mr. Smith? Or something else?

Then there is the therapeutic challenge in the acute phase: How does one drag the deeply depressed Bipolar patient out of her emotional pit? How does one give hope to the hopeless? How does one deflect the hostility and the paranoid accusations of the dysphoric manic?

How does one avoid being victimized by the erratic, disorganized, and explosive bipolar patient? How does one convince the grandiose euphoric manic that he needs treatment? In virtue of this condition's inherent instability, it is difficult enough to keep these patients stable, but it is all the more difficult to reverse a decompensated state once it has taken hold. Then, there are the psychodynamic and interpersonal challenges involving a cohesive and coherent sense of self, marital discord, psychosocial and occupational disequilibrium, the optimal honing of reality testing, the proper reconfiguration of object relations, the managing of defenses, and the cultivating of insight. Family members of friends are critical to recruit in the context of a comprehensive treatment, so that often one is treating not just one patient, but many. Substance abuse and the high risk for self-harm further amplifies the complexity.

Dr. BLT: Do you believe that certain individuals are genetically predisposed to develop certain psychiatric conditions? If so, what societal forces either bring out, or prevent the latent tendencies to become manifested in the development of a full-blown syndrome, condition, or conditions?

In your view, are certain disorders, like Bipolar Disorder, or Schizophrenia, for example, more genetically or physiologically based, while others are more predominantly environmental in terms of etiology and in terms of specific environmental antecedents being

ascendant?

Dr. Al Howsepian: I ascribe to the fundamental axiom of biology that states that all phenotypes are combinations of genotypes and environments. Even in cases of autosomal dominant diseases, the phenotype of those diseases, how they manifest themselves in particular patients, will be influenced significantly by ones' environments.

In polygenetic cases there is, as a rule, variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance, this is all the more striking: one monozygotic twin, for example, might have the disorder in question, and the other twin will not.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder can both express themselves in this manner. What the environmental factors are that contribute to a condition declaring itself in one case and not in another have not been fully elucidated, but we appear to have some fairly good ideas, at least in some cases: psychoactive substance abuse, traumatic events, stress exposure, conflicts, neglect, head injury, co-morbid illness, etc. Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorders are clearly more genetically loaded conditions than many other psychiatric disturbances. Still, the environment can, in many cases, be decisive regarding whether one who has this loading goes on to develop these disturbances. It is especially telling, as I see it, that the index major mood episode in Bipolar Disorder and the index psychotic episode in Schizophrenia are almost always accompanied by substantial psychosocial stressors. This is less likely to be the case in later exacerbations of these illnesses (along the lines of a 'kindling' model in which subsequent episodes require less of a stimulus trigger than previous episodes of the same illness).

Dr. BLT: As I'm sure you're aware, Freud believed that religion was for the weak and that God was an illusion based on our own parental projections. You have studied religion a great deal. What conclusions have you come up with concerning the relationship between faith and mental health. Does faith in God keep the masses psychologically dependent in an unhealthy way, or is faith a boon to our mental and emotional sense of wellbeing?

Dr. Al Howsepian: Although Freud wrote negatively about religion in most instances, he also had some more favorable things to say about it and, especially, about one of its very committed adherents, the Protestant minister, Rev. Oskar Pfister, with whom Freud carried on a lengthy correspondence, developed a deep, close, and abiding friendship, and who made contributions to.

Freud's understanding of psychoanalysis and to psychoanalytic thought more generally. Although religion can, like any other complex system of belief and practice, be used by its adherents in ways that conduce neither to one's own or to others' mental or physical well-being, there is a very lengthy and growing list of studies that document in great detail the beneficial aspects of religion on mental and physical health. Whether most of this advantage is secondary to the benefits of religious faith itself or whether it is mediated by behaviors and habits of mind that are cultivated in religious contexts (e.g., regarding how one out to treat one's body, the value of being present, the social support of religious community etc.) is the subject of controversy. The interested reader can be directed to the voluminous works of, among others, psychologist David B. Larson, Ph.D.

Dr. BLT: You seem to have spent a fair amount of time and energy trying to understand dementia and depression in the elderly? I must admit that though Carl Jung seemed to hold old age in high esteem, I think of age as an equal opportunity destroyer. Though I try to have an optimistic attitude about growing old, all I think about are deteriorating organs, a compromised mind, sagging skin, aches and pains, and a continuous grieving process as one witnesses a seemingly never-ending series of deaths of loved ones of the same or about the same age. Even remaining active, eating health and exercising seems to only go so far in preventing inevitable decay. It all seems like a terrible ending to a movie, even though many take comfort in the thought of heaven.

What does one do, as a mental health professional to keep the aged in good spirits without simply putting them on anti-depressant medication and putting a positive spin on something that, on the surface seems so depressing? Furthermore, how do you help an aging mind plagued by dementia to keep from deteriorating so rapidly that the aging person goes from relative stability to utter chaos in no time?

Dr. Al Howsepian: Here are a few things that help me put aging into what I think is its proper perspective. First, I know and have known many older people and am struck by a proper subset of these individuals who are sharp, spry, active, and joyful, either to the ends of their lives or until just before the ends of their lives.

Second, there are some traits of character or ways of being that tend to improve with (normal) aging, including wisdom, contentment, and gaining a perspective on life that allows one to disregard what is less important and to uphold what is more important.

Third, if the family and social situation in which one ages has not disintegrated, the rich multigenerational context in which one lives, the honor, love, and care by those who themselves learn beneficence through both modeling and serving one's elders, and the inherently slower pace of life (whether due to retirement or illness or senescent motor slowing) that accompanies advancing age (a pace that conduces to reflection, the enjoyment of simpler aspects of life, and the time to be mindful of others' needs and desires) can lead to continued - even improved - human flourishing even in advanced years.

We can learn a lot from other cultures in this regard. It is no wonder that in India, although they do not have access to many modern psychopharmacological agents, especially in rural areas, outcome studies suggest that the rate of remission for schizophrenia is better than ours in the U.S. One explanation for this is that the social and family networks in India integrate the lives of schizophrenic persons better than our social and family networks do.

The problem of aging is, like the problem of schizophrenia, partially resolved by focusing not so much on the aging person but on her social and family networks. Of course, one way to forestall the ravages of neurodegenerative dementia is by keeping one's mind active, and one way to keep one's mind active is to be in a social and familial matrix that encourages human interaction, thoughtfulness, continued problem-solving, and the exercise of the moral and intellectual virtues. I have also been struck by the accumulating studies in the area of positive psychology that strongly suggests that happiness is tied neither to material wealth (as demonstrated, for example, in studies of lottery winners whose happiness levels reverted to pre-winning levels within a relatively short period of time) nor (at least in some important and striking cases) with physical health (as demonstrated, for example, in studies of parapeligics whose happiness reports, again in a relatively short period of time, approximate those who have suffered no paralysis whatsoever).

Dr. BLT: Were do you see the field of psychiatry going? Is it on the right path? Is the paradigm about to shift, or is the prevailing paradigm strong and solid?

Dr. Al Howsepian: The field of psychiatry appears, unfortunately, to be going in two different directions. First, there are those who see psychiatry as not being 'scientific' unless it is deeply embedded in a genetic and biological matrix, largely to the exclusion of patients' psychologies. In this 'biological psychiatry' branch, there is a respect and appreciation largely or only for 'scientific' models of and interventions in human problems. (The psychiatrists who endorse this view would do well to immerse themselves both in those areas of experimental psychology that exemplify the rigors of scientific technique apart from any direct connection to the biological sciences and to novels and other narratives that reflect insights into human psychology that predate or elude scientific characterization.

Second, there are those who do not recognize any field of inquiry that is bereft of the richness of human narrative, intrapsychic processes, and deep subjectivity as being 'psychiatry' at all.

Fortunately, there is a small but influential group of psychiatrists, led once again by psychoanalysts, who are working their hardest to mend this growing fissure in psychiatry between biologism and personalism. I am hopeful that this small but growing group will ultimately prevail. There is, finally, one other important development in psychiatry that I should mention: there is a growing openness in psychiatry to the spiritual side of human experience.

This is a most welcome development. Past suspicions of religious belief and practice by psychiatrists has given way to a rapprochment that is likely to be mutually beneficial. Much of this change has been ushered in through a greater awareness of cultural influences in health and illness generally. But some of this change is also, I believe, a function of the mysteries that are native to psychiatry itself and to a history of disappointments with standard psychiatric approaches to the treatments of various psychiatric conditions. (This is in no way meant to diminish the relatively rapid and impressive advances made in other areas of psychiatry.)

For example, existential issues concerning meaning, purpose, and death have been relatively neglected and poorly understood. These issues are often at the heart of patients' discontent concerning the shape of their lives and, typically, the best psychiatry has been able to offer is a clearing away of obstacles to genuine well-being rather than facilitating human flourishing itself.

There has also been a paucity of understanding of deep and abiding spiritual transformation resulting in dramatic changes in our patients that are precipitated outside of the sphere of psychiatric contexts. Some of my secular colleagues have commented to me about their astonishment in the face of having witnessed unexpected dramatic positive changes in patients by way of religious conversion that were believed to be untreatable. I have also witnessed this.

Also, chemical dependency models incorporating a reliance on spiritual principles continue to appear to be superior to secular alternatives (in spite of claims to the contrary in the rational recovery literature). Finally, as psychiatry and psychology continue to have a growing interest in fostering health (well-being, joy, happiness) in addition to illness, there is a new-found interest in models of optimal human flourishing and, as a result, a growing interest in religious texts in which not only models of optimal human flourishing can be found (e.g., Jesus) but there are also directives to achieve such flourishing (faith, prayer, service, loving one's neighbors) and a fundamental anthropology in which happiness is firmly understood to be our ultimate end.

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Interview analysis:

Dear students, professionals of all fields, truckers, farmers, and all other non-student blog scholars. To further solidify your understanding of the principles and ideas expressed by Dr. Howespian in the interview, answer these questions in the comments section below, and also, feel free to use the interview and the comments as a springboard to launch into an intellectually-stimulating dialogue.

1. In the interview, Dr. Howsepian sites three sources of his undying passion for learning and his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. What are those?

2. In explaining the three sources of his passion for learning and thirst for, or hunger for knowledge, what maxim by St. Anselm of Canterbury does he quote?

3. One of (Dr. Howsepian's) "deepest interests in psychiatry is the intersection of _________________ and ___________________.

4. What does Dr. Howsepian mean when he says he ascribes to "the fundamental axiom of biology"?

5. What is Dr. Howsepian's take on Freud's view of religion?

6. What is Dr. Howsepian's view of the relationship between psychiatry and religion?

7. Which disorder does Dr. Howsepian find most difficult and challenging to work with and why?

8. What are the three things that have helped Dr. Howsepian put the phenomenon of aging "into perspective"?

9. According to Dr. Howsepian, in what ways are aging, and the condition of schizophrenia, similar in terms, of their etiological origins?

10. What does Dr. Howsepian suggest may be "the growing fissure in psychiatry between biologism and personalism?

Bonus trivia questions:

1. What is the name of the High School that both Dr. BLT and Dr Al Howsepian attended (hint: graduating from this High School allowed both of us to become "Roosevelt Roughriders of the Psyche."

2. What role model (besides my dad) did Dr. Howesepian replace?

3. T or F: My decision to pursue a graduate education in psychology had nothing to do with my admittedly unscientific observation that scholarly dudes like Al Howsepian seemed to get at least as many "chicks" as athletic stars.