Postcards from the Id

Heavage - The Raging Fashion Issue

Because the issue of male chest exposure in the world of fashion is simply too great to ignore.  However, I don't know that I would recommend going this far:

The "Get Ready" Mindset

This article reviews research that suggests people, when faced with a difficult future task, actually work harder on current tasks.  The researchers labelled this tendency as the "Get Ready" mindset, believing that the the brain is preparing for the challenge of the future task by gearing itself up via increased effort on current tasks.  From the article:

In a series of five studies, the authors observed that the more difficult a future task was expected to be, the harder consumers worked on a current task. "For example, consumers consulted more information on a web page when they were asked to evaluate a new soft drink when they expected that they would later on have to work on a difficult and demanding task," write the authors. Other participants were better able to come up with weight loss ideas when they believed they would have to work hard on a future job.

The authors titled the phenomenon the "get ready mindset." "People seem to prepare themselves mentally for upcoming tasks, but in doing so, the resources that are freed up for the future task carry over to current tasks," the authors explain. "We found consistent evidence that if the mind gets ready to perform later, it is set to go now."

Basically, people will, in general, work harder overall when a difficult task lies ahead.  I found this to be an interesting observation on motivation and effort, and I recommend the whole article.

Wasn't This Freud's Philosophy As Well?

Okay, so I really strained (no pun intended) to figure out a mental health connection in order to justify posting this, when I should say it's up because I find it hilarious.

Interesting Research on Schizophrenia

This article reviews some new research into the presentation of Schizophrenia from around the world.  While different cultures, income levels, etc. will often impact how certain mental health issues will manifest and present (for example, delusions with technological themes are far more frequent in men than women), this research shows just how similar Schizophrenia tends to appear, regardless of where in the world a person experiences it.  From the article:

"Although there were some regional and country variations, on the whole the study provided a strikingly similar overall pattern when it came to key health, medication and socio-economic factors."

Patients were assessed at baseline and at three, six, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. All clinicians taking part in the study were free to determine what treatment and medication their patients received and no drugs were provided by the study sponsor.

Here a just a few of the findings:

- 26% of the study participants were taking more than one antipsychotic and about 74% were taking other prescribed drugs at the same time. 10% were taking antipsychotics for the first time.

- The key reasons for changing medication were the same across all the regions surveyed, with two-thirds of the investigators citing lack of effectiveness, followed by intolerance, patient request and incomplete adherence to the medication.

- Just over 34% of patients had been admitted to an inpatient facility because of their schizophrenia in the last six months. With the exception of the Latin American region (40.8%) all the other regions showed very similar rates, ranging from 31.2% to 36.3%.

Schizophrenia is a devestating illness that significantly impacts the lives of many people and their families - the more information we can learn, the better.  I highly recommend the whole article, which shows that Schizophrenia impacts people no matter where they are from.

Quote - Testing Of The Frontal Lobes

"Every clinical assessment of behavior requires a careful review of frontal lobe functions.  Nonetheless, several challenges face behavioral neurologists and neuropsychologists in their clinical attempts to assess the frontal lobes.  Whereas an assessment of sensorimotor systems is guided by a relatively well understood pattern of brain-behavior relationships, the frontal lobes are incredibly complex, and because of their extensive interconnections with other neural structures, they control or influence a broad range of behaviors.  Injury to the frontal lobes can affect initiation of complex motor behavior, attention, executive functioning, working memory, episodic memory, language, emotions, and behavior."

- From the chapter "Bedside Frontal Lobe Testing," pg. 279, of The Human Frontal Lobes

Greatest Movie Poster Ever???

Quite possibly!  From EW's Shelf Life, who is speculating on the next children's book to be made into a film.

Argentina - Psychoanalyst Capital of the World

Via Marginal Revolution, here is an interesting article about the major role psychologists, and psychoanalysts in particular, play in Argentina.  Most interesting part:

Mr. Rolón's rock-star status reflects Argentina's fascination with psychoanalysis. Argentina had 145 psychologists per 100,000 residents in a 2008 study by researchers Modesto Alonso and Paula Gago. That's far more than second-place Denmark, with 85, or ninth-place U.S. with 31, in a 2005 study by the World Health Organization.

There is some discussion of how psychology has grown to be so prevalent in Argnetina, both individually and collectively.  In addition, there is a brief profile of a celebrity psychologist in Argentina, who does not appear to be respected by at least some of his peers.  Read the whole thing!

New Study Bolsters Findings of Forensic Evaluators

This article reviews new research indicating forensic evaluators operate with a high degree of accuracy.  The research used a mathematical model to assess the findings of a group of forensic psychiatists, who offered opinions on 156 cases.  The researchers found the evaluators distinguished competent from incompetent defendants 29 out of 30 times.  From the article:

In an average of 29 out of every 30 cases, the psychiatrists could distinguish competent defendants from incompetent defendants. That’s a level of performance that exceeds standard diagnostic performance in other areas of medicine, such as spotting breast cancer in mammograms or using advanced imaging methods to detect Alzheimer’s disease.

What I also like about this research is the recognition of the difficulties in providing "Yes/No" responses, as psycho-legal issues generally require, when one is dealing with a particularly complicated case.  It is perfectly reasonable for two experts to examine the same data, yet ultimately arrive at different opinions, when the data is complex, scattered, etc.  There is not a single line separating competency versus incompetency to stand trial, or with other psycho-legal issues; there are cases where defendants fall somewhere in the middle.  As the article states:

“These results help us see how courtroom experts can be quite accurate in distinguishing competence from incompetence, but still reach different conclusions,” says Mossman of the study, which was published online in Law and Human Behavior, the journal of the American Psychology-Law Society. “It’s a matter of where experts draw the line on the issue of competence.”

Continues Mossman: “Experts may disagree with each other even though they are very good at making all the right distinctions. You’re apt to get disagreement when you ask experts for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, as the courts do, on issues that can have gray areas, like competence to stand trial.”

This is not to say there isn't the occasional individual who tends to find in one direction or the other more frequently, for whatever reason.  However, the notion that virtually all evaluators already have their minds made up is nonsense.  In addition, as the methods available to assess defendants continues to improve, it will become increasingly difficult to defend and outlying opinion.  Foresnic evaluations are far more data-driven than in the past, and more scientific in general; as a result, an opinion isn't worth much unless an expert can back it up on the stand.  A thorough evaluation, addressing the pertinent questions, explaining the findings in a way that makes sense to everyone in the courtroom, and being honest pretty much addresses these issues. 

HBO's Rome - Totally Digging It!

I have a book review pending for Rubicon, a book about the last days of the Roman Republic (hint: I loved it!).  Unfortunately, it is written on a computer that is now without a screen, and that is now being mailed back to me by Dell (unrepaired, I might add).  Once returned, I'll do my best to pull my writings off of its hard drive, and will hopefully be able to post my review.

Rubicon was written by Tom Holland, who also wrote Persian Fire, about Leonidas, Xerxes, and the war being the Greeks and the Persian Empire.  Note - I loved that book, too.  As a result, I read Rubicon, and will read Tom Holland's other stuff when able.

Based on my enjoyment of Rubicon, I recently began receiving HBO's series Rome in the mail.  Disc 1 sat on my computer stand for two weeks, but I finally popped it into the player this weekend.  All I can say is, "Wow!"

I'm not going to go into any kind of review; this has been around awhile (2005?), and I'm sure there are tons of quality reviews all over the Internet.  Suffice to say that if you enjoy history presented well, with a focus on both the major players, as well as the day-to-day lives of the typical citizens, this series is for you.  Well written, well acted, beautifully filmed, and with a story of remarkable importance and timelessness, I am four episodes in, and can't wait to watch more.  I recommend the double dip - read Rubicon, which is very well written and will provide you with a sense of the time, players, and issues.  Then, start watching Rome, and be sure to use the special feature "All Roads Lead to Rome,"  which provides bits of information and trivia on-screen as the episode plays.  Two seasons were filmed, with 22 episodes total.  I find this appealing, in that an end is in sight right off the bat, and the last episode appears to be at an appropriate juncture in Roman history.  Enjoy!  I know I will...

Impact of Domestic Abuse on Women's Health

Here is an article discussing new research into the impact of domestic abuse on the health of women.  The study examined the responses and medical records of over 3,000 women.  From the article:

Many of these health problems are not commonly understood as being associated with violence, such as abdominal pain, chest pain, headaches, acid reflux, urinary tract infections, and menstrual disorders.

"Roughly half of the diagnoses we examined were more common in abused women than in other women," said Amy Bonomi, lead author of the study and associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University.

There was also this:

Compared with never-abused women, victims had an almost six-fold increase in clinically identified substance abuse, a more than three-fold increase in receiving a depression diagnosis, a three-fold increase in sexually transmitted diseases and a two-fold increase in lacerations.

The article also notes this is the first time the data were gathered from medical records, rather than relying on subjects' self-report.  This gives the diagnostic information more credibility.  The authors pointed out that as these diagnoses become more present in a patient, they should serve as a cue to formally screen for abuse, as many women will not spontaneously volunteer this information.