Nightmares

A nightmare is a dream, which causes distress or fear in the person. The nightmare has become a topic of discussion in psychology, as it studied; the causes, has to do with brain function, it comes from the unconscious, among other things. It is said that the nightmare may have a psychological motive, either by anxiety disorder or trauma, as well as by physiological reason. It is also said that the negative attitude toward the self, insomnia and fatigue are the most common risk factors for having frequent nightmares. These three factors are correlated with insomnia and depression. Previously I had discussed a little about depression but had forgotten to stand out that nightmares could be an early indicator of the depression disorder and is quite interesting to know that nightmares are more common in women than in men.

One of the most interesting things about nightmares is that like in the dream, it appears a series of symbols that can be interpreted as key messages from our subconscious. Many people had been giving to this symbols meanings and associations key concepts that occur in our dreams or nightmares, for example, if you dream of a tsunami wave it means you have many worries and concerns. I understand that everyone writes his own dreams or nightmares according to their own experiences, fears and concerns, and is not that everything has a specific meaning. The nightmares also appear from fear, uneasiness or pain that someone had experienced or by a problem. Now you understand why you have nightmares after watching a horror movie.

Somehow we all had experienced nightmares but it is interesting to know why. The psychology field is pretty interested in this topic, because if the nightmares occur frequently it’s considered a sleep disorder that has to be immediately treated. Experience nightmares are very normal, unless they are frequent as the above. Is nice to know that as you get older the nightmares decrease, because it’s very common in children and these are hardly frequently in adults. It is interesting that as you get older you begin to realize that everything has an explanation, even the nightmares that we thought as kids that they occurred without any explanation, now we know the reason of why. 

Depression

Depression is an emotional disorder that makes the person feel sad and lethargic, experiencing inner discomfort and hindering their interactions with the environment. We are surrounded daily by people, but to know a person is facing this disorder is a little bit tricky, because this is not something you seen with the naked eye nor people are saying out loud that have depression...well it is not something that common. Unfortunately it is an invisible illness  that like to play with the mind of people who has it. People with this mental illness feels useless, constantly crying, anxious, have low self esteem, low energy, difficulty sleeping, physical in pain and sees future somehow blurred. Depression is caused: biologically, cognitively, by gender, by medications, genetically and for some types of situations.   

       Depression is a bit complex and can be different for each person that has it. People with the disorder can have the same symptoms but can be manifested differently. There is a huge number of very interesting facts regarding this disorder, but most of them are: blurry memory, exercise helps with depression as well as prevent it in the future, causing more physical pain than someone without the presence of this illness and that women suffer this disorder twice as men. The disorder often tends to confuse and because of this, the person who suffer of depression may not being treated properly. It is tended to prejudice a person who is suffering from this disorder, thinking that the person is being weak, slow according to overcome past events, being so dramatic and the worst of all is thinking that the person can control simply this illness. The reality is that the person cannot control this easily and the person that doesn’t have this disorder cannot even imagine how strong and hard is to have it and fight it.

It has to be understood that depression is a common serious illness and not a personal weakness and it can happen to anyone. Currently I know two people who are going through this disorder and I had learned gradually how to handle such situations by helping, advising and especially having a lot of patience towards them. I understand that we should be more informed and educated concerning this topic, because lately we live in a world where we only worry about ourselves and we do not realize that the person next to us may be suffering or fighting this mental illness. This is a very serious issue because not everyone handles situations in the same way and many of these cases end in suicide.

Hypnosis

For this topic is taken as reference an article about hypnosis: “El Trance Hipnótico”, by Alfredo López, published on December 19, 2008. Hypnosis describes the procedure and techniques taught by a hypnotist based on suggestion (and using an own imagination) to produce changes in the hypnotized such as alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior. This article discusses what is and what is not hypnosis on cognitive processes such as memory and perception of pain, researchers and fundamental principles of hypnosis, behavior of the subjects to be hypnotized, brain activity, identifying a subject to be hypnotized (if pretends to be) on experiments, studies, meta-analyzes that have been conducted and finally how hypnosis work.

The process of hypnosis begins with the suggestion phase, where the specific goals or impressions are presented, it is also the most famous stage where you ask questions to the subject, and explore their memories. Then you move to post-suggestion phase that occurs after the subject returns to its normal state of consciousness, in this state the subject may experience different behaviors due to hypnotic suggestion. All this in order to achieve an altered state of consciousness in which the mind is relaxed in order to have greater access to the unconscious mind and thus this subject more susceptible to suggestion for better result or benefit. An interesting point in the article is the observation by Hilgard and Eva I. Banyai, which concluded that they are no difference in where and how to do hypnosis because it will have the same result. For example, observing a subject on a stationary bike responded to hypnotic suggestions exactly like the one being hypnotized in a comfortable seat. Hypnosis has many benefits but one of the most important is that relieves or reduce pain and this makes it a more effective practice, since it is more effective than many prescription drugs, have no side effects, helps relieve symptoms and reduce the effects disorders: chronic, anxiety, psychosomatic and addiction.

Hypnosis is an extremely important component not only in psychology but also in medicine. The article mentioned previously served as a great benefit to understand the concept of hypnosis, because people often tend to misinterpret this therapy. Taking for example; people who are hypnotized do not lose control, they are aware of who they are and were they at, and they usually remember what happened during hypnosis and this do not force anyone to experience the suggestions but to facilitated. This therapy can be useful to achieve control of certain behaviors or emotions as well if you need relief from any pain. I remember previously seen a section of hypnosis in a movie called "The Forth Kind" and made me wonder about this practice, and how this helps not only to remember past events delving into the memory but also is very broad and complex in the world of psychology.

Why Psychology?

          I will like to start this entry giving the definition of this discipline. Psychology is a science, which studies human and animal behavior. This discipline is concerned with both the theoretical, performance and development of the mind as the study of biological, social and cultural aspects of behavior, socially and individually. It is widely diverse, full of sub-areas and branches field because in psychology you can apply the skills, knowledge and understanding of various activities undertaken by humans and this is reflected in your daily activities. These activities can be events, socialization, education, employment, personal relationships and even mental health treatments. The funny thing is that this discipline is like any other science that requires various other areas of study in which correlate such as: need of humanities, natural sciences, social sciences among others.

      Psychology is very interesting because it focuses on feelings, thoughts, adaptations in the environment in which people live and how this also defined, all conclusions product of the analysis and direct observation, lean them into theories that serve as guide to learn, explain and even predict future actions. The study of psychology teaches how humans think, their behavior and how they get to make decisions. The study of this field goes for a deeper understanding of the personal world. This study applied to other disciplines to give students more tools to understand the underlying behaviors in various fields of study. The application of knowledge of psychology to various spheres of human activity, including issues related to the daily life of the family, education, work and treatment of mental health problems.

          My first approach and study was the natural sciences, I had my ups and downs in this field but I realized that the road of medicine was not for me. The second option was psychology and until today there are no regrets. It is a broad and interesting field because everything you do has to do with the brain and mind. According to the branches of psychology I will incline towards clinical psychology. I consider this very interesting branch because is responsible for investigating, evaluating, diagnosing, predicting, rehabilitate, treat and prevent everything that affects mental health.

Introduction

       Hi my name is Geralisse Carrión Cruz, I’m at the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey and this is my blog. In this blog you will enter into the world of psychology, that is my current field of study and I am thrill to introduce a variety of topics, discussions among many other things in this blog. This will help me as a student of this field and to you to learn and understand a little bit about this discipline.  Each week a will be presenting a topic of this field that will be narrowed and discussed. In these topics I will develop and apply my skills and knowledge of writing and will express my thoughts. In addition you will find photos or videos on each topic, to help you visualize what I’m talking about. In this process I’ll realize already stated objective and present what I've learned.