Conclusion

In this assignment I developed my writing technique based on all the topics about my studies field. Practically I enjoy this, because I could improve my writing and develop my critical thinking. I have to accept that this assignment had been very helpful regarding my concentration. Searching for all that information concerning my department helped me clarify my doubts about what I want to pursue in the future. At the beginning my first entry says that I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, and I still hold on to that statement. All that information made me learned what I liked and dislike about my concentration and I decided that in a future I would like to work in a psychiatric hospital, because mental disorders are my best interest.

Serial Murderers

Serial murderers or better known as a multiple murderer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of time that typically ranges between thirty days or more, leaving a cooling period between each murder. The motivation that these criminals had is based on psychological gratification that drives to the act. For years, psychologists have studied the minds of these criminals to know the reason for their actions and had come to some conclusions. There is a theory that explains differentiation between a serial murderer and a normal person: abuse, mental illness and dysfunctional mind, which mean neurological damage.

There are a huge variety of serial murderers, but one that caused great controversy was the serial killer clown, and no is not the clown from the movie “It”, but a man who disguised himself as a clown to catch and kill their victims violently. This began by killing two children and then when he got out of prison he kill eleven prostitutes by strangling them, although there were a lot of more victims. He confirm the theory all ready mentioned because he was found with neurological damage due to many falls that suffered when he was young. The abuses are clearly in his past because when he was a child his mother sexually abused him. Finally he was also diagnosed with mental illness.

Not all serial killers confirm this theory, since there have been cases where murderers do not experience any of those three factors but can be more dangerous and ruthless than the above. The murderers who do not follow this theory are considered psychopaths; they are more dangerous and ruthless. The difference is that the emotional response of a psychopath in less active, meaning they lack of feelings and what drives them to be even more dangerous is the lack of fear. The lack of emotion and fear is who leads them to commit more crimes and deaths.

There are a huge number of serial murderers cases, each with a different story and strategy. What makes this interesting is that the brain of a killer is different of the brain of a normal person, because of the prefrontal cortex, among other characteristics. There are a lot of studies and investigations that identify whether a person is a killed or not. It's a fascinating and important topic in psychology because with these new discoveries it becomes easier to identify these people and prevent them from causing more damage and harm, in order to live in a world with less violence and crime.

Technological Diseases

It's not a secret that technology has advanced in a surprising way that benefits as it affects us. Lately it affects more than it benefits, this is why there is a wide variety of investigations and studies according to technology. Not only there are biological diseases but also there exist diseases or disorders due to technology. Research and studies concerning this aim to know the effects they have on our brain according to the new technologies. These exciting new diseases have to do with the Internet and mobile.

The most common psychological disorders among Internet and mobiles users are: syndrome of the imaginary call, this is when it feels that the phone rings either normal sound mobile or feel you got a message but it is all in the mind, it’s not happening in reality and usually happens when the person is stress out. Nomophobia, is when the person feels phobia about not having their mobile close.  Cyber Dizziness is the most absurd of all but is true and this is when users of virtual reality feel dizzy. Depression by “Facebook” is another disorder, I remember talking about this in my social psychology class, may seem ridiculous, but many people feel depressed to see that other people have "a better life" through “Facebook”. Internet dependence is the most common of all, is when people depend on technology constantly, as the dependence on online games. The “Cibercondria” disorder is when you feel that you have a disease that read or see online at the moment. Finally the Google Effect disorder, has to do when if you are wondering about something you Google it instead of thinking yourself about it.

In the process of acquiring knowledge about this, I conclude that technology is finishing with humanity, I might be exaggerating a little bit but it’s slowly happening over time.  These new diseases may appear to be absurd and ridiculous but it is the reality in which we live today. At least we must recognize that we suffer some of them, because I admit that I suffer from the imaginary call syndrome, perhaps of stress, who knows. I also recognize that these disorders shouldn’t exist, because there are limits and we have the benefit of using the technology to use it right and productively but the reality is that rare time we use it for these purposes. We should be more aware regarding the excessive and unhealthy use we give to technology, because ultimately we are the ones who seem to be affected.

Teletubbies

"The Teletubbies" is a children television series, targeted pre-school viewers that appeared in the late nineties. It is based on four main characters: Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, each one with a respective color, with antennas of different shapes, each with a TV in their belly and another character that is a vacuum cleaner named Noo-noo. Takes place on a field surrounded by grass, artificial flowers, real rabbits all over the place, a sun with a real baby face on it and a strange house with some technological base. You may wonder why this topic in a blog based on psychology, well this have an explanation. This children's program has caused quite controversy not only for parents who allow their children to watch TV but also for psychologists. Psychologists seem interested in this topic, they had asked: why this show is categorized for twelve-month-old children’s? It has any educational purpose? How this program helps in the development of a child? Why so many parents have created a negative controversy regarding to this show?

At first the "Teletubbies" show, seems harmless, very colorful and happy for early childhood, which aims to help preschoolers, acquire skills, prepare for school, to help in their language development, find comfort in technology and to stimulate imagination and facilitate motor development. Psychology research has concluded that there is no evidence that the program is educational in any aspect for a one-year-old child, that don’t contribute in their language or help them to feel comfortable with technology. In conclusion there is nothing to suggest that can facilitate motor development of a child 12 months old or that it has an educational value at all. On the contrary, it was found that children 12 months old shouldn’t be watching TV, but after being three years old, because early television results in obesity, decreased school participation, causes changes in the arteries located in the eyes, increased risk of high blood pressure, among other consequences.

I had read so many articles in relation to this subject and it appeared to have so much controversy regarding to this show such as; the history, symbols, characters, setting, etc. One of the controversies which many agreed about was referring to the character Tinky Winky (the violet one) for being gay and Dipsy (the green one) for being black, but as I have no homophobic or racist problem I will not go into detail. Not only this, it is said that the characters are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, also identifying them as demons. It is said to that it shows subliminal messages that go directly to the subconscious of the child using collective hypnosis, which is quite interesting, since I had previously made an entry regarding to hypnosis. Recently had read an article by a mother who said that her son after seeing this program attacked her at midnight, describing that his son was possessed in some way. The last article that I read about the “Teletubbies” was that the show was inspired by a horrifyingly true story based on children of an institute of mental disability in Bulgaria that have a sad/horrible end and the show was created to make this a happy ending for the children’s that had suffered in the past.

Ignoring all these numbers of stories and articles relating to this popular toddler program, I found the task of seeing an episode of “Teletubbies” to be able to jump into my own conclusions. After watch a whole episode I concluded the following: It is a very absurd program without any logic at all, the characters are creepy as hell, not a sign of any early childhood education, moral or teaching, and the language used in this case the babbling does nothing regarding to the child development of language. The “Teletubbies” are not the only infant program that lacks education and contain subliminal messages, there are many others like this but at least in this case there have several psychological researches. I'm not a mother, but I’m an aunt and I care about the education and development of my niece and if I understand that there is a programs that are unsuitable for them is my responsibility to prohibit the access of it. It is very important if you are in charge of an infant and you let them watch TV, make sure is something appropriate to his age or appropriate at all. 

The Stanford Experiment

Some psychologists decided to do an experiment with the participation of students from the University of Stanford. This experiment was carried out in the prison of Stanford University who was located in the basement of the psychology building. The experiment in the psychology of imprisonment occurred in the late seventies, in order to see what happen to good people when they deal with a bad situation, which in this case is the prison. The volunteers were examined to verify that they were physically and mentally healthy, and then randomly selected who would play the role of prisoners and guards.

This whole process made it look very realistic, the future prisoners were arrested in their own homes and then took them through a process, like everything was real. The results of this experiment were surprising and caused great controversy in the world of psychology. Fantasy became reality, as the results of many changes in their behavior. Young good college guys became brutal guards, healthy boys got sick and active boys became passive prisoners, almost like zombies. Many of them had to be released because of the extreme situations they were in but they never said that wanted to voluntarily leave the experiment because they were so catch up in that fantasy. They abandoned the experiment in six days when it supposed to last two weeks.

This experiment gave so much to talk about, because many psychologists believed that this study broke the ethical principles of psychology and expressed that the experiment should never happened. Is quite odd because the participates otherwise expressed that they were fascinated by the results, because they could not believe that they were able to do the things that they did, now they know their bad side.  I believe that despite of the problems with the professional ethics that a psychologist should have, the experiment was very good and was very successful, as it explained things that were unknown and participants learned about this experience. I understand that there are two important points in here: when you live a fantasy role you may end up believing it and there are parts of us that we not know about, that are hidden unless we see our self in some sort of extreme situation. 

Bipolarity Disorder in Children

Bipolarity is a mental disorder marked by episodes of mania and depression. In children, the disorder can be much difficult to define and treat. Bipolarity can be seen as a series of outbursts and tantrums that may be daily or temporary and in disproportionately form, compared to other children who do not suffer from this disorder. A child with bipolarity can be identified for their constant tantrums; the face change, look constantly at the floor, roll their eyes almost blank, clench their fists and make grunting; in some cases. The change in the mood is another factor, first it’s happy and calm and suddenly the mood changes drastically, can get depressed and enrage for not understanding what is happening.

They are by episodic nature, meaning they begin to have manic and depressive episodes. When they are angry, they do not measure what they say or do because it is hard for them to control it on their own, and may even cause harm not only to itself but also to others. The worst thing of all is that these children can destroy the benefits and welfare of their family. The problem of treating children with this disorder is the medication, because this has to be treated with so much carefulness, although it is proven that sports help them as a therapy.

This mental illness is very worrisome because it plays with the life and innocence of the children’s. Their lives are like a roller coaster; it goes up and down their emotions so constantly. In consequence of this disorder children’s are being bullied, don’t have friends because other kids don’t know how to handle the episodes situations, they tend to become depressed and find it difficult to be at social events. I remember being in situations in which children have tantrums and outbursts, not saying that necessarily mean they are bipolar but people tend to judge, thinking that is nurturing that is given to the child, without having in mind that the child could be suffering from some type of disorder, that’s why it is so important to be informed.

Psychosis

The concept of psychosis is used to refer to those mental disorders characterized by some loss of contact with reality. When a person suffers from this type of disorder is said that the person had a psychotic episode. Psychosis is a common disorder that affects mostly young adults. Often cause changes in mood and mindset, causing abnormal ideas and this make it difficult to understand what the person with the disease is felling.

This disorder can be identified by the following symptoms: confused thoughts, false beliefs, hallucinations, emotional changes and perceptual and behavioral changes. It’s important to emphasize that psychosis affects each person differently. This is extremely complex, since there are to many different types of psychosis, which differs each one and have different ways to be treated. Some of these might be: drug-induced psychosis, organic psychosis, brief reactive psychosis, delusional disorder, schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, bipolar disorder and finally psychotic depression.

This disorder is extremely complex and the strangest thing is that it can come from nowhere. I don’t know anyone who suffers from this disorder, but I've seen so to many movies, read about cases, as I have also read articles regarding this and I find psychosis in general extremely fascinating. It is so different to read the information that Internet provided to us and compare it to real complex cases of people who suffer from this disorder, because the Internet makes you see this problem as something appease and normal, but the reality is different. The problem is that many people with this disease do not seek for help, don’t have any professional help or simply do not follow their treatment or don’t take the medications. As a result of this, the disorder may increase to the point of putting at risk the lives of others or putting the person own life at risk.