Author: svg5744

Looking Back on Adolescence

 

Adolescence is the time period between childhood and adulthood, where adolescents begin to start thinking more deeply about life’s experiences. Beginning around puberty, the neurons in the adolescent brain begin forming more connections and speeding up neural pathways. As they go through more life experiences, they begin growing in social awareness and different levels of morality. For the first time, they begin to really think about what others think about them and how they are viewed from others. Adolescents typically go through 3 stages of morality: preconventional- showing morality to gain reward, conventional morality- following social laws and rules for own sake, and post conventional morality- the following of one’s own ethical principles. Adolescents typically begin to form an identity as well, after trying out different roles.

Learning and understanding about my own personal adolescence interests me. I realized the silly things I used to get upset over when I was a younger teen are most likely due to hormonal surges and the limbic system. Also, during adolescence I grew self conscious like my other teenagers, which can be due to the “imaginary audience” we perceive. Also, I went through many “phases” as an adolescent, until I became comfortable with who I was. I also realized how much I grew to depend on my friendships and grow closer to my peers.

Depression and the Use of Medication

A common mood disorder, known as depression, can have tolling effects on one’s life, preventing them from completing even the simplest daily tasks. Symptoms of depression from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) include: lethargy, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in family and friends, and loss of interest in activities that one used to enjoy. Depression can be caused by many factors including genetics, biology, painful events such as the loss of a loved one, self-defeating beliefs, and the different explanatory styles. Explanatory styles describe the way we explain unavoidable painful events to ourselves, and certain styles such as stable, global, and internal styles have a correlation to depression. Depression has the ability to slow us down, defuse aggression, and curbs risk taking. For many these extreme feelings can be debilitating in one’s life, causing them to seek professional help. 

Image result for explanatory styles

A few years ago my mother passed away. Quite obviously, I grew withdrawn from those close to her, lacked focus in school, didn’t really have the energy to care about anything, and rarely left the house. I then was convinced to go to therapy and after a few sessions, she explained I was showing signs of depression, but she could not diagnose it because she was not a psychiatrist. I then saw a psychiatrist who evaluated my symptoms, and diagnosed me with major depressive disorder. He prescribed medication to help alleviate the symptoms and make life a bit easier for me.

Now that I have taken Pysch 100, I understand what I went through much more clearly. Recalling from previous material, I learned why I needed to see a psychiatrist who had a MD in their field. Also, I recently learned how psychiatrists make their diagnoses based off the symptoms listed in the DSM, which is a national handbook for mental disorders . I also made the connection that depression is linked to a lack of norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain, which is why medications for depression often enhance those brain chemicals. Another connection I made  was the biological aspect of depression. Depression runs heavily on both sides of my family, which explains why I was at higher risk of depression. 

Using Encoding Smartly

When it comes to studying, understanding how encoding, working memory, and long term memory works is a key factor in learning to study smarter. Encoding, getting information into the memory system, has many forms, including automatic and effortful. Effortful processing requires mental effort, and involves working with the text to learn a concept. For me, I find using effortful processing to be a good way to understand material and retain it better. For instance, just reading over my notes (automatic) doesn’t usually help me when studying for tests because I just forget what I read soon after. However, with effortful processing, actively thinking information out and making connections to information enables me to better recall it because I’ve thought about it in a way I understand. Using visual imagery, creating mental pictures, is a useful form of effortful processing because A common way to study and learn information quickly involves maintenance rehearsal, repeating information over and over again. I do use this method to study for exams, but I often find that after the exam passes, I forget the information because it wasn’t stored in my long term memory. A better way to store information into LTM involves elaborative rehearsal, which is making information meaningful to convert it from STM into LTM. I find this the best way to study because I can relate the information to other information I already know, and make connections between them. For instance, when I’m studying for an exam, I’ll try to think of words or situations that interest me and relate to the information I’m studying. During exams, I can more easily recall information I made personal connections to through elaborative rehearsal rather than maintenance rehearsal. 

EEGs and MRIs in Measuring Seizures

Recently, we have learned about the different ways of measuring brain activity and brain waves- through EEGs and MRIs. EEGs use electrodes to amplify and record electrical waves as they go across the brain. This technology allows doctors to watch the electrical currents change over time, with great temporal resolution down the millisecond. MRIs are able to take it a step further, and localize the area of the brain where activity is occurring. While it lacks the temporal resolution of an EEG, it has great spacial resolution, and is able to identify the exact location of specific brain activity.

When I was around 13 years old, my uncle began to have seizures, uncontrolled electrical disturbances that basically cause you to lose complete control of movements and consciousness. As a college student, it was highly dangerous environment to be in while experiencing them. He was later diagnosed with epilepsy and began taking medication. This presented many difficulties to him; he could no longer drink or be in rooms with flashing lights, as they trigger seizures. His license was suspended until he had gone a year without a seizure. The following years he didn’t experience any seizures and thought to have been fine. However, in December 2017, he drove me and a friend to get food. I started to notice the car shaking and turned to see him having a seizure, convulsing and uttering sounds that seemed to be him trying to form words. He woke from the state about 5 minutes later confused and unaware of what had happened. Although the car was totaled, we were all safe and without major injuries.

I had always had a general understanding of what EEG and MRIs do, but I never actually knew how they could measure seizures. I now know the EEGs help diagnose epilepsy by measuring brain waves, and MRIs are able to locate the site of his seizures.