Dutch Hunger Winter

The Dutch Hunger Winter is an unfortunate human tragedy which lasted from the start of November 1944 to the late spring of 1945. It was a bitterly cold period in Western Europe, creating further hardship on a continent that had been devastated by four years of brutal war. Nowhere was this worse than in the western Netherlands, which at this stage was still under German control. A German blockade and a very cold winter resulted in a catastrophic drop in the availability of food to the Dutch population. At one point the population was try­ing to survive on only about 30 percent of the normal daily calorie intake. People ate grass and tulip bulbs, and burned every scrap of furniture they could get their hands on, in a desperate effort to stay alive. More than 20,000 people had died by the time food supplies were restored in May 1945.

Even though this event is very tragic, it provided the psychologists with an opportunity to carry out a variety of different case studies on the victims of the Dutch Hunger Winter. An unfortunate event as such would be hard and unethical to initiate by the psychologists’ own will, so as the Dutch Hunger Winter occurred naturally, the psychologists could freely observe its outcomes.

One of the most interesting case studies that they carried out was the case study on the babies who were in the womb during the period of famine in Netherlands. The findings were that the malnutrition and stress of women who were pregnant during the Dutch Hunger Winter had an impact on their fetuses. The babies who were disposed to stress during their time in womb due to lack of nutrition suffer for their rest of lives. According to researcher Dr. Tessa Roseboom of the University of Amsterdam, these people still bear “the stress of war.” They are more at risk for cardiovascular disease, “more responsive to stress,” and in poorer health generally than those born before the war and those born after. She goes on to say that stress hormones in the mothers’ blood triggered a change in the developing nervous systems of the fetuses as they struggled with starvation. Early stress also affects the capacity to learn, to respond to stress adaptively rather than maladaptively, how readily you fall into depression, how vulnerable you are to psychiatric disorders, yet another realm in which early experience and early stress can leave a very bad footprint.

Therefore, an exposal to stress in the early stages of development of babies can have a radical impact on their lives. These babies are more likely to experience stress more often which also causes that they are more vulnerable to cardiovascular diseases and a weak immune system. 

Unethical Psychological Experiments

Milgram Study (1974)

Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist at Yale university, wanted to test the obedience to the authority. He set up an experiment with “teachers” who were the actual participants, and a “learner,” who was an actor. Both the teacher and the learner were told that the study was about memory and learning. Both the learner and the teacher received slips that they were told were given to them randomly, when in fact, both had been given slips that read “teacher.” The actor claimed to receive a “learner” slip, so the teacher was deceived. This is unethical because ethics say that deception should be avoided because the participants might be upset after they find out that they have been deceived and they also might feel bad about themselves. The experiment was conducted so that teachers and learners were separated into separate rooms and could only hear each other. The teacher read a pair of words, following by four possible answers to the question. If the learner was incorrect with his answer, the teacher was to administer a shock with voltage that increased with every wrong answer. If correct, there would be no shock, and the teacher would advance to the next question. In reality, no one was being given the electrical shocks and whenever the teacher administered a shock to the learner, there was a tape which had pre-recorded screams on it that played so that the teacher thought that he was really giving the learners an electrical shocks. When the voltage began to be high, the learners were banging on the wall and begged the teachers to stop but the authority which was standing next to the teacher kept on telling that the experiment has to keep going and that they can't stop. If after four orders the teacher still wished to stop the experiment, it was ended. Only 14 out of 40 teachers halted the experiment before administering a 450 volt shock, though every participant questioned the experiment, and no teacher firmly refused to stop the shocks before 300 volts. This experiment is unethical because first of all, it deceives the participants, second of all the participants were not aware of the real purpose and procedure of the experiment, and third of all it encouraged the people to act bad and hurt other people.

The Well of Despair (1960) - the monkey experiment

Dr. Harlow conducted an experiment on rhesus monkeys concerning social isolation. He took infant rhesus monkeys who had already bonded with their mothers and placed them in a stainless steel vertical chamber device alone with no contact in order to sever those bonds. The monkey had a choice to either be with a soft, fluffy toy which replaced the mother's touch that the monkey miss the most. The monkey also had a choice to stay with a "toy" which provided the food to it, but it was not fluffy and soft like the other toy. The findings were that the monkey almost all the time with the soft, fluffy imitation of his mom instead of spending the time with the toy that provided food. This shows that monkey missed its mom's touch the most. The monkey was kept in the chambers for up to one year. Many of these monkeys in the experiment came out of the chamber psychotic, and many did not recover. Dr. Harlow concluded that even a happy, normal childhood was no defense against depression which is common sense to most of the people. This experiment is unethical because the animal's welfare was not maintained as a result of separation of a baby monkey from its mother. It also has a long-term harm to the monkeys because after the experiment they started to suffer from depression. Moreover, this experiment did not really benefit neither the health or welfare of people and other animals afterwards because as many other researchers say the results of the experiment was common sense. As one of Dr. Harlow's experiment said, "Dr. Harlow kept the experiment going on to the point where it was clear to many people that the work was really violating ordinary sensibilities, that anybody with respect for life or people would find this offensive."

Major Depressive Disorder

People who suffer from major depressive disorder have a constant sense of hopelessness and despair and it can be difficult for them to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy friends and activities.
Symptoms of major depressive disorder might include:

• Fatigue or loss of energy almost every day.
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day.
• Impaired concentration, indecisiveness.
• Insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) almost every day.
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day (called anhedonia, this symptom can be indicated by reports from significant others).
• Restlessness or feeling slowed down.
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide.
• Significant weight loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month).

According to DSM-IV you have to suffer from at least 5 of the symptoms listed above for at least a two-week period.
Risk-factors

• Being a woman (they think more about things than men)
• Having biological relatives with major depressive disorder
• Having a traumatic experience
• Having few friends
• Recently having given birth (postpartum depression)
• Having certain personality traits, such as having low self-esteem and being overly dependent, self-critical or pessimistic

Causes

Biological Factors: Major depressive disorder tends to run in the families, so if someone if your family has it, it is more likely that you will have it, too. Hormones also play a huge role because they make our moods more unstable so there is a bigger chance to suffer from the depression.

Cognitive Factors: How a person interprets life events can be a major factor in the tendency to become depressed. Overly negative views of the self (low self esteem), and pessimism about the future can play an important role. The combination of anger and feelings of helplessness are often found at the root of depressive episodes. Hopelessness and lack of control may also contribute.

Environmental Factors: Social difficulties, such as death, divorce, financial problems, and other stressful life events can trigger depression. Compounding stressful events can make depression even more likely.

Treatments

 There are many ways to treat major depressive disorder, and research has shown the most effective treatments are cognitive, interpersonal, or behavioral therapy, as well as antidepressant medication. Cognitive therapy focuses on recognizing, challenging, and overcoming how one thinks of a situation. It helps the person to think about the situation differently. Interpersonal therapy focuses on helping relationships. Behavioral therapy focuses on changing behaviors, such as exercise to help the patient. Antidepressant medication is medication that changes brain chemistry, and is often used with other forms of therapy. Usually multiple forms of treatment are used at the same time. Faith-based and self-help strategies can be helpful for people who are highly motivated. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also called "Shock Treatment," is a remedy of last resort for those with severe depression.

Specific Phobia

Specific Phobia

A specific phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a specified object or situation. There are four defined categories of specific phobias: natural, medical, animal and situational. Many people suffer multiple specific phobias simultaneously.

DSM - IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th Ed.) provides diagnostic criteria for specific phobia:

Marked, Excessive Fear: A persistent and intense fear that is triggered by a specific object or situation.
Immediate Anxiety Response: The fear reaction appears almost instantaneously when the object or situation is presented. The response may resemble a panic attack.

Recognition That Fear Is Irrational: Adults with specific phobias recognize that their fears are out of proportion to reality. Children may not have this awareness.

Avoidance or Extreme Distress: The sufferer goes out of his or her way to avoid the object or situation, or endures it with extreme distress.
Life-Limiting: The phobia significantly impacts the sufferer’s school, work or personal life.
Six Months Duration: In children and teens, the symptoms must have lasted for at least six months.
Not Caused by Another Disorder: Many anxiety disorders have similar symptoms. The therapist will rule out other disorders before diagnosing a specific phobia.\

Risk factors:
Your age. Social phobia usually develops early in life, often before age 25. Specific phobias having to do with the environment or personal injury also first appear in childhood — as early as age 5. Fear of tunnels, elevators, bridges, flying, driving and other situational phobias usually develop by the mid-20s.
Your sex. Phobias affect both sexes, but women and girls are more likely to have specific or social phobias than are men and boys. Women are also more likely to be diagnosed with agoraphobia, but this may be because men tend to hide anxiety or mask it with alcohol. Men and boys may be less likely to seek help for emotional problems than women and girls.
Your family. If someone in your immediate family has a specific phobia, such as a fear of spiders or snakes, you're more likely to develop it also.
A traumatic event. Experiencing a traumatic event, such as being trapped in an elevator or attacked by an animal, may trigger the development of a phobia.

Causes:

Biological factors: Specific phobia tends to run in the family so if somebody in your family suffered from this disorder, you are more likely to suffer from it, too. The research shows that first-degree relatives of individuals with specific phobia, animal type are more likely to have an animal phobia themselves, but they may not necessary fear the same animal. First-degree relatives of individuals with specific phobia, situational type, are likely to develop situational phobias.

Cognitive factors: People who suffer from specific phobia are usually the ones that pay attention to things more than other people do. For example, individuals with a spider phobia tend to notice the presence of a spider in a room before anybody else. Also, it is common for individuals with specific phobia to have distortions regarding memories that involve the phobic stimulus. They recall the phobic situation as more dangerous than it really was, or the feared animal larger, faster, or more aggressive than it was in reality. The memory distortions can be supported by impaired beliefs and interpretations attributed to feared objects or situations. The anxiety response experienced during a phobic situation can be maintained or increased by these impaired beliefs and interpretations.

Environmental factors: Specific phobia can be developed as a result of traumatic experience. This means that the individual was either directly exposed to the traumatic event, witnessed the traumatic event, or he only heard or read about the traumatic event. The first case of being directly exposed to the traumatic event means that the person develops the specific phobia as the result of being directly exposed to the traumatic event. For example, a person that gets stung by a bee develops a bee phobia. The second case of witnessing the traumatic event can be for example when a person witnesses somebody falling from a high building, he might develop a phobia of heights. The third case is that the individual has only heard or read about some kind of a traumatic event. For example if a person hears a lot about the plane crashes, he might develop a phobia of flying. However, experiencing a traumatic experience does not always result in the development of a specific phobia, and some individuals with specific phobia do not recall any obvious trigger, cause, or source of their phobia.

Treatments:

Specific phobia is the only anxiety disorder that is effectively treated with psychological approaches rather than medication. The most effective forms of psychotherapy are: cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy combines two components (cognitive and behavioral component) for a better outcome. The cognitive component targets the individuals dysfunctional thinking patterns that supports and maintains the anxiety response, replacing them with more adaptive and realistic cognitions. The most effective technique is cognitive restructuring which challenges the irrational beliefs. This method is based on the theory that the unrealistic beliefs built when exposed to fear stimuli generate, maintain, and increase dysfunctional emotions and behaviors. The behavioral component targets the individual's reaction to the phobic stimulus. The most effective behavioral approach is exposure therapy where in a safe setting the individual gradually gets exposed to their feared stimulus, first using the imagination and then by direct confrontation. Behavioral therapy is another effective form of therapy that can treat specific phobia. The goal of behavioral therapy is to modify the fear-related behaviors and gain control over the dysfunctional behaviors. Two of the most effective behavioral techniques used to treat specific phobia are: learning a relaxation technique which allows the individual to control the anxiety, and exposure technique which gradually exposed the individual to feared stimuli. Medication, can be another treatment approach for individuals with specific phobia. However, medication has a limited utility in the treatment of specific phobia. In some cases, antidepressants (such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - SSRIs) and tranquilizers (to reduce the anxiety) can be prescribed for individuals with specific phobia. Medication seems to be more effective when the individual with specific phobia has another coexistent anxiety disorder.

Cognitive Triad Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Aaron Beck is an American psychiatrist pioneered research on psychotherapy, psychopathology, suicide, and psychometrics, and developed the cognitive therapy. He became interested in psychiatry during an internship at the Rhode Island hospital, where he studied neurology as a specialty. He is considered to be the father of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. According to Beck,"If beliefs do not change, there is no improvement. If beliefs change, symptoms change. Beliefs function as little operational units," which means that one's thoughts and beliefs affect one's behavior and subsequent actions. He believed that dysfunctional behavior is caused due to dysfunctional thinking, and that thinking is shaped by our beliefs. Our beliefs decide the course of our actions. Beck was convinced of positive results if patients could be persuaded to think constructively and forsake negative thinking.

Cognitive Triad Theory

Behavioral theorists suggest that depression results from faulty and irrational psychological perception, causing distorted learning and reasoning. These depressive cognition could be a result of traumatic experience or incapability of adaptive coping skills. Depressive people have a negative perception or belief about themselves and their environment. More the severity of one's negative thoughts, more is the severity of depression symptoms.

People who suffer from depression have a negative view of:

‘I am a bad person’

2. Experiences and Environment

‘My life is terrible’

3. The Future

‘Things will not improve’

Beck’s theory suggests that many of the secondary symptoms of depression can be understood in terms of this core of negative beliefs. For example, a lack of motivation could be the result of a combination of pessimism and helplessness. A person might lose interest in things they used to enjoy if they do not have the expectation that they will feel better by doing them.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a treatment for depression
Beck developed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which was meant to treat a variety of psychological, psychiatric and medical disorders such as uncontrolable anger, personality diorders, obesity, but mainly depression. At the heart of CBT is an assumption that a person's mood is directly related to his or her patterns of thought. Negative, dysfunctional thinking affects a person's mood, sense of self, behavior, and even physical state. The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to help a person learn to recognize negative patterns of thought, evaluate their validity, and replace them with healthier ways of thinking. Aaron Beck laid major emphasis on understanding and changing core beliefs as an approach to treating depression. By restructuring destructive thinking, he believed that positive changes could be brought in the patient. He considered the role of a therapist as crucial in the treatment. The therapist involves the patient in setting realistic goals and taking responsibilities for action and thought. By changing thought and perception, a change can be brought in behavior and emotional responses. A course is outlined to educate the patient on the concept of faulty thinking. New ideas and ways are generated to develop a positive outlook of oneself, experiences and the environment around. Sometimes, home assignments are also given to help the depressed person review and understand the impact of faulty thinking on his behavior and emotional well-being.

1. The Self

Methods of treating mental disorders

Lithium

Lithium is a medicine that is used to treat mood disorders:

• depression where mood is severely low. 
• bipolar affective disorder (manic depression) in which mood is excessively high on some occasions and very low on others 

It is a simple chemical (in some ways similar to salt) that occurs naturally. Lithium has been used for more than 50 years, so doctors and many patients are familiar with it. The forms of lithium used medically are lithium carbonate, and lithium citrate. In the United States, lithium (or lithium carbonate) was first approved for treatment of bipolar disorder in 1970. Since then it has been used as a treatment alternative for unipolar disorder--also known as major depressive disorder--as well as in the treatment of bipolar disorder. The drug effects are designed to readjust neurotransmitter levels in the brain by restoring them to normal secretion levels. Tryptophan and serotonin levels are the transmitters it targets. When first starting out on lithium, it typically takes one to three weeks before the full effects of the drug can be felt. As each individual's body chemistry is different, prescribed lithium treatment may require continued dosage adjustments before therapeutic levels are reached. Before the drug's effects can be felt, it must reach a certain level within the bloodstream. Oftentimes, the level needed is dangerously close to levels that cause blood poisoning. As a result, individuals who are prescribed lithium must have their blood levels checked on a routine basis to avoid this risk. Long-term use of lithium also can lead to kidney damage, as well as impaired thyroid function.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown by research to effectively treat depression. According to American Family Physician, it can be used on its own or along with antidepressants. It also reduces relapse rates because it teaches techniques that can be used even after a person leaves therapy. If depression starts to recur, he can use the same techniques he learned in his counseling sessions to stop it again. Along with treatment of depression, CBT is also used for treatment phobias, addiction, and anxiety. The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to teach patients that while they cannot control every aspect of the world around them, they can take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are one of the oldest classes of antidepressants and are typically used when other antidepressants have not been effective. They are used less frequently because they often interact with certain foods and require strict dietary restrictions. MAOIs can also result in severe adverse reactions if taken with many other medicines, including some over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. MAOIs are mostly used for atypical depression. It is thought that depression may be linked to an imbalance of chemicals within the brain. Within the brain there are chemical messengers or neurotransmitters, called monoamines. Examples of these are noradrenaline and serotonin. Neurotransmitters are involved in controlling or regulating bodily functions, and noradrenaline and serotonin are involved in the control and regulation of mood. When depression occurs, there may be a decrease in the amount of these monoamines released from nerve cells in the brain. Monoamines are broken down by a chemical (enzyme), called monoamine oxidase. MAOIs prevent monoamine oxidase from breaking down the monoamines. This results in an increased amount of active monoamines in the brain. By increasing the amount of monoamines in the brain, the imbalance of chemicals, thought to be important in causing depression, is altered. This helps relieve the symptoms of depression.

Trait theory of personality

1.What is the primary focus of trait theory of personality?

Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics. A trait can be thought of as a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways. The trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed broad dispositions.

2. Explain the differences between cardinal traits, central traits and secondary traits.Cardinal traits are traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. People with such personalities often become so known for these traits that their names are often synonymous with these qualities. Consider the origin and meaning of the following descriptive terms: Freudian, Machiavellian, narcissism, Don Juan, Christ-like, etc. Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare and tend to develop later in life.

Central traits are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality. These central traits, while not as dominating as cardinal traits, are the major characteristics you might use to describe another person. Terms such as intelligent, honest, shy and anxious are considered central traits.
Secondary traits are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. Some examples would be getting anxious when speaking to a group or impatient while waiting in line.

The differences between these three is that cardinal traits affect person's personality a lot, central traits affect just the basic foundations of personality and secondary traits affect only the attitudes and preferences of person.
3. What are two common criticisms of trait theory?The criticisms of this are the poor predictor of future behaviour, it does not adress development and there is
no means of change.

Poor Predictor of Future Behavior. While we may be able to say, in general that a person falls on the high end or low end of a specific trait, trait theory fails to address a person's state. A state is a temporary way of interacting and dealing with the self and others. For example, an introvert may be quiet, reserved, intellectual, and calm in most situations. When around close friends, however, he may seem quite outgoing, fun-loving, and excitable.

Does not Address Development. While statistics may be a strength of trait theory, it may also be it's biggest criticism. Because it is based on statistics rather than theory, it provides no explanation of personality development. Where most theories argue for the development (past), the current personality (present) and provide a means for change (future), trait theory is stuck in the present.

No Means of Change. Perhaps because trait theory does little to offer ideas about trait development, it also provides little or no guidance in the changing of negative aspects of a trait. Without understanding how a trait develops, how do we then change that trait? Many argue that the application of trait theory is significantly reduced because it lacks a means for change. What good is to measure something or to know something if we can do nothing about it?

4. Identify and briefly explain each of the five dimensions of personality according to McCrae and Costa.
Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.
Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors.
Conscientiousness: Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of details.
Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
Openness: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.

5. What are two strengths of McCrae and Costa's five factor model of personality?
Objectivity. Perhaps the biggest strength of trait theory is it's reliance on statistical or objective data. Unlike many other theories, the subjectivity or personal experience of the theorists play no role in trait theory. Freud's relationship with his mother, Adler's childhood illness, or Jung's belief in mythology could be said to have influenced their theories. In that sense, subjectivity may have biased their ideas. Trait theory has no bias.
Ease of Use and Understanding. Trait theory has been used to develop a number of assessment devices. It provides an easy to understand continuum that provides a good deal of information regarding a person's personality, interaction, and beliefs about the self and the world. Understanding traits allows us to compare people, to determine which traits allow a person to do better in college, in relationships, or in a specific career. We can help guide people toward a more agreeable future by knowing how they interact with the world.