weekly blog post #9

Today in class we talked about hormones and hunger. When talking about this we also talked about insulin and how it helps in controlling sugar in the body. My dad has type 1 diabetes and has had it since he was three. About five years ago I witnessed my dad have an insulin reaction. It was very scary for me because I had no idea what was going on. I was sleeping and i heard my dad yelling in the other room making funny noises, like he was laughing and joking around but not mad. I went into his room and my step mom and I told him to stop because I had to get up early for dance in the morning. He stopped after awhile and I went back to bed. Later my step mom came in my room telling her she needed my help. My dad was dazing off into the distance and looked like he had no idea what was going on, almost as if he were in a trance. My step mom told me to watch my dad while she went to go get him a candy bar and orange juice. I was so scared because he was just staring at me and it didn't seem like my dad at all. Finally he started eating and getting sugar and started to come out of it. I was so happy when he seemed like himself. He only remembered parts of what had happened. The was the first time my step mom saw my dad have a reaction and now we both know what to look for.

Narcissistic article #2

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/narcissistic-personality-disorder/ds00652/dsection=symptoms

Some symptoms include exaggerating about your talents and achievements, expecting praise and admiration from others constantly, thinking that you are special and always act the correct manner, fantasizing about gaining power, success and attractiveness, not being able to recognize others feelings and emotions, expecting others to go along with your plans and ideas, taking advantage of others, making fun of those who you feel are inferior, being jealous of others and always thinking that others are jealous of you, hard to keep healthy relationships, setting unrealistic goals, are easing hurt are rejected, delicate self esteem, appearing to be unemotional and tough minded, and an overall feeling and belief that you are better than others.

Even though these symptoms would make these people seem like they have a high self esteem and confidence, its not the same. Being Narcissistic crosses the line of having a good self esteem and confidence to viewing yourself better than others and putting yourself above everyone. These Narcissistic people don't actually have good self esteem and confidence, the people who do have these traits don't think any better of themselves than they do of anyone else.

When someone has a narcissistic personality disorder they may come across as conceited. They usually take over conversations and will tend to put down people to make them feel inferior to themselves. If these people are not getting the attention they are seeking, they will become upset. They also believe that they have the best of everything out there, including things like house, car, friends, etc.

Even though these people act like they have it all they have a very low self esteem. They have trouble handling criticism and may have a secret feeling of shame and embarrassment about themselves. In order to make these people feel better about themselves, they will belittle others to make themselves look better and feel better about who they are.

Schizophrenia article #1

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/schizophrenia/ds00196/dsection=symptoms

There are many symptoms of Schizophrenia. The symptoms of Schizophrenia are typically divided into three groups or categories; positive, negative, and cognitive.
Positive symptoms refer to the excess of abnormal characteristics of a normal functioning individual. Some positive symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder, and disorganized behavior.
Negative symptoms refer to the absence of characteristics of a normal functioning individual. Some negative symptoms are loss of interest in everyday activities, lacking emoting, not being able to carry out plans or activities, neglect to personal hygiene, social withdraw, loss of motivation.
Cognitive symptoms refer to the thought process and the inability to perform daily tasks. The person may be born with these characteristics and they may get more severe as time goes on. Some of these cognitive symptoms include problems understanding information, problems paying attention, and problems with memory.
There are also affective symptoms which affect the mood of the person. This can result in mood swings or depression. People with Schizophrenia often act odd or inappropriate which can cause others to stray away from them which causes social isolation.

weekly assignment #8

Today in class we watched a video on multiple personalities. This is the video that I find the most interesting. It intrigues me that this is something that we can only try to learn more about because it is so complex. It boggles my mind about how the whole process works and I want to learn more. I think it would be very hard to live with a person with multiple personalities, let alone how difficult it would be being the person with the multiple personalities. I cant believe the abuse that Barb went through... I think that the brain is so amazing and complex to find ways to block out that part of her life. I think it would be very strange not to remember any of my life up to a certain point, however, life for Barb is probably much better not knowing/remembering her past.

Weekly assignment #7

Today in class we talked about sleeping and dreaming. We watched a video that also went more into depth on this topic. I find dreaming to be very interesting and i enjoy learning about it. I was glad to finally learn in our reading what the "falling" sensation is when you are sleeping. I have had the dream where you are falling from a cliff and you actually feel like you are falling and your body actually jerks. I had always wondered what that was and I am glad that I now understand that it is in the first stage of drifting off into sleep from my reading in the text.