It is all coming together for me.  Wonder if I can combine the practice  Health and Environmental Psychology under the  Humanistic and Positive Psychology Perspective.  I can help people, animals and  the environment. 

Something I found in the reading this week that was very interesting and I felt a connection with was the body’s clock. In chapter 4 it discusses how the clock is made up “of neurons called the suprachiasmatic nucleus”. (Hockenbury 2014) The suprachiasmatic nucleus helps time the sleep-wake cycle. Sunlight throughout the day helps balance our sleep-wake cycle. When the sun starts to go down the lack of sunlight causes the hormone in the brain, melatonin to crank up which makes you tired. Then before the sun comes up the hormone goes away letting yourself come out of the deep sleep and get ready to wake. 

              As a child I always had trouble sleeping at night, but I would be able to nap during the day. My parents could never just have go without a nap and sleep well at night. It was kind of like my brain could not shut off at night and I couldn’t get my favorite songs to stop playing in my head. Eventually my doctor had me take melatonin at night to help me sleep. This was great, and I never struggled with going to bed at night. Although I was able to fall asleep I often talk and walk in my sleep.

Hockenbury, Don H., and Sandra E. Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology. Sixth ed., Worth Publishers, 2014.

Brantz, Loryn. “18 Jokes About Not Being Able To Sleep That Are Too Real.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 22 Jan. 2017, www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/comics-only-people-who-cant-sleep-will-understa?utm_term=.eyoMrxkBOP#.gy01OGrXBo.

 I have a genetic disorder called Chromosome Translocation where #3 and #5 have broken off and taken part of each other. With this, having a child was very difficult for me. I never knew much about genetic makeup or genetic glitches that result in physical or mental illnesses. While autism is not a mental illness, but a neurological disability, I feel my genetic "glitch" contributed to my son's autism. 
A. Constant

My professional trajectory is to become a Child Advocate. One topic I found interesting that correlated with my professional path was the discussion about gender development. It is clear that developmentally, children are wired from birth, an addition to gender labels, to determine their born gender. Our book discusses how over childhood years gender becomes more definitive as boys will be boys and girls will be girls. In opposition, the book also discusses how transgender individuals are born "normal", male or female and conflict with their identity. 
This topic stood out to me because if I go into Human Services, this may be a characteristic of some clients and to understand them better will help me better serve them in my line of work. 

2.  The research method Naturalistic Observation is also known as the science of people and animal watching.  This method records observations in their natural environment enabling the researcher to detect patterns in behavior that they may not see in a laboratory setting.

3.  Pseudoscience or “fake science” is the practice of claiming something works in a scientific way however there is little to no evidence that it actually works.  Often used to sell something to the general public such as magnet therapy.

4.  The Hypothalamus is a peanut sized part of the brain involved in tasks such as regulating the autonomic nervous system, heart rate, blood pressure and connecting the brain to the endocrine system to regulate hunger, thirst and sleep.  Because it is involved with so much it is also called the “brain within the brain”.  

5.  Within the Hypothalamus are a tiny group of neurons called the Suprachiasmatic nucleus also known as our body’s clock or internal pacemaker.  The suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates our circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycle.

6.  Amygdala plays an important role in our emotions and memories as well as producing behaviors based on the emotions.

7.  Health psychology studies how our overall health and how we respond to treatments are influenced by things like biology and behavior.

8.  Everyone has their own way of handling stress.  There are individual factors that influence that response such as psychological factors, personal control, negative emotions, positive emotions and if you see things through the eyes of optimism or pessimism.

9.  Types of therapies can combine to provide a new treatment option such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy as well as Mindfulness-Based Therapies that involve group discussions, meditation, yoga and mindfulness.

10.  Many cultures involve meditation practices such as Tai Chi to aid in focusing attention and awareness. But what makes it even more amazing is that there are MRI scans showing thicker cortical areas and increased gray-matter density with those who meditate,  improving memory, emotions and awareness.  This is all in addition to helping reduce stress and lower blood pressure.

Tracy Young

1.Everyone in the world should take a psychology class

2.Connection seems to be the antidote to most negatives of the human condition.

3. Thanks to Carl Rogers, I will aim to be as genuine as possible and offer people as much unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding as I can. 

Thanks Professor and everyone for contributing to a semester of growth and learning for me! 

2     There are four stages of phobias:

a.    Particular situations

b.    Natural environment

c.    Injury or blood

d.    Animals and insects

3     There are seven factors of the likelihood of helping:

a.    The “feel good, do good” effect

b.    Feeling guilty

c.    Seeing others who are willing to help

d.    Perceiving the other person as deserving help

e.    Knowing how to hep

f.     A personalized relationship

g.    A dangerous situation

4     In order to expand the 20-second short-term memory span the maintenance rehearsal is the mental and verbal recurrence of information.

5     Finding out that Chunking means grouping items that are alike in your short-term memory to help make them a single unit.

6     Knowing that 7% of people have major depressive disorders. 

7     Another, type of bipolar disorder is called cyclothymic disorder

8     I always knew there were different disorders, but never realized how many there really were. 

9     Most people that have major depressive disorder have multiple suicidal thoughts. About 10% of people who have major depression disorder have tried to commit suicide.

10  You can relapse in two years if you have major depressive disorder without getting help or taking medication for it. 

 

Thank you so much for this semester. There is so much I have learned and I really enjoyed taking this class. This class is just what I needed to help me with learning more about how the human brain works when it comes to thinking and emotions. This is going to help the profession I want once I am finished with school. Again, thank you so much!!!

2     There are four stages of phobias:

a.    Particular situations

b.    Natural environment

c.    Injury or blood

d.    Animals and insects

3     There are seven factors of the likelihood of helping:

a.    The “feel good, do good” effect

b.    Feeling guilty

c.    Seeing others who are willing to help

d.    Perceiving the other person as deserving help

e.    Knowing how to hep

f.     A personalized relationship

g.    A dangerous situation

4     In order to expand the 20-second short-term memory span the maintenance rehearsal is the mental and verbal recurrence of information.

5     Finding out that Chunking means grouping items that are alike in your short-term memory to help make them a single unit.

6     Knowing that 7% of people have major depressive disorders. 

7     Another, type of bipolar disorder is called cyclothymic disorder

8     I always knew there were different disorders, but never realized how many there really were. 

9     Most people that have major depressive disorder have multiple suicidal thoughts. About 10% of people who have major depression disorder have tried to commit suicide.

10  You can relapse in two years if you have major depressive disorder without getting help or taking medication for it. 

 

Thank you so much for this semester. There is so much I have learned and I really enjoyed taking this class. This class is just what I needed to help me with learning more about how the human brain works when it comes to thinking and emotions. This is going to help the profession I want once I am finished with school. Again, thank you so much!!! T. Liberty