Has ADHD a Gray Area?
Could it be that the Neanderthal once had the capability to tap into the minds of their game? An ability that was a logical event in the evolution of the human brain in order to survive rough environments.
Perhaps we are still having this behaviour or ‘viewing’ ability, but is today seen as e.g. ADHD or, symptoms which might indicate someone is dealing with ADHD. An ability what might be considered as the ‘original language’ of the human species. But, by means of a modern unified/global behaviour and speech system, medication is seen, by many, as the best advise. On the latter, personally, I am not convinced.
* Please keep in mind that this is just a personal theory as well as this topic has a wide ground to cover. Meaning, in this video I walk very quickly through the matter leaving out a huge amount of details which are for another video.
The Reality and Non-Reality of Pre, Post and Complex-PTSD
By Maria Anna van Driel
Scenario: You find yourself in a private or business situation in where mental and/or physical abuse is the order of the day for a very, very long time. It took you a while but slowly an awareness is rising with you that this situation is far from being normal and healthy. You try to make sense of everything that has happened in the past years, what is happening in the present and, without you wanting it, you feel this fear rising for future events. How in the heck am I going to survive this? Who can I talk to without sounding insane?! Will they believe me? What will be the reprisals when I speak up? After some time you start to surf the internet seeking answers and, perhaps, the right platform to share your story.
After you have dug deep inside yourself and gathered the courage to contact a therapist in your near with the request for help, you receive an automatic email with the message that is beyond any expectation, deplorable! Your email is categorized as ‘spam’!
Receiving such an email literally happened to me last year after contacting a German website that claims to be there for those who are dealing with the manipulations, lies and delusions of a narcissist on a daily basis. Why did I received this robotic reply? Perhaps my email signature has caused this. Perhaps it is an electronic error and they don’t know that their system is sending out these kind of automatic replies. Perhaps the content of my email was too objective, written too much in a clinical form, what made them think that I am nothing more than an ‘attention seeker’. (with an attention seeker I mean someone who has to take the center stage in each situation. Someone who is demanding that all eyes have to be on him or her. And if not, they put up a dramatic show to bring the attention back to them)
Either way, receiving an email containing the message that your story is not to be found credible is far from what you want to read and, can create an incredibly deep dent in ones self-confidence. These kind of robotic reactions, intended or not, do have the power of creating another psychological blow, a new invisible injury people can add to the ones they already have gathered over time. It show that some, who are practicing in the field of modern psychology, have yet to take the journey through the mind of those who have a strong sense of ‘self’ and are able to use ‘reflective thinking’.
Now, it is very easy to criticize people and only pinpoint in a negative direction saying, “You are doing it wrong!” But let’s be honest, it is often very difficult recognizing the difference between someone who is voicing his/her thoughts and emotions spawn from a real trauma experienced and, the fantasies (perhaps gathered from watching too many movies or, heard from others speaking about their experiences) of someone who is only seeking the attention for the wrong purposes.
What has even a higher level of difficulty is, detecting the moment a master manipulator (e.g. a narcissist) is providing you the right material for you to believe their delusional mind and become their prop. These, and many more, ‘ingredients’ are inside that person but you don’t necessarily see it right up front. These individuals can cover-up their true intentions for quite some time when they engage with people. But, sooner or later, you will find out that those characteristics have been there for the duration. And so you are over there thinking why didn’t I see it?
So, how can we determine the foggy line between what is ‘real’ and what is downright a mirrored behavior? Straightforward, those who are truly dealing with the nasty effects of PTSD and/or CPTSD will speak with you about possibilities while recalling the event(s) and use reflective thinking. Those who are wearing the ‘victim badge’ will speak to you with what they believe are facts while blaming and criticizing others for everything that has gone wrong in their life.
Read the full article on Medium
PTSD: It might Not be the Cause for People to Harm Themselves Psychologically or Physically
By Maria Anna van Driel
Even though one of the most revealing discoveries researchers in Complex PTSD have found is that emotional neglect can be as damaging as domestic violence, our advanced society should equip itself with the necessary knowledge in distinguishing PTSD and CPTSD in order to anticipate to the, still unknown to modern psychology, behaviours the invisible injuries create.
A frequently asked question, “What is the cause of people harming themselves?” From a personal but psychological point of view, I think that PTSD is not causing people to commit suicide but them hiding the emotions and scares caused by the mental abused aka CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
From a clinical point of view: PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition officially recognized in 1980 to describe exposure to one or two relatively brief but devastating events. Complex PTSD, recognized in 1994, describes an exposure to something equally devastating but contains a myriad psychic blows occurring for a very long time which simply do not seem to stop. On the latter, this can be emotional neglect, humiliation, (cyber) bullying, physical violence, criticism, among others, what can cause a disrupted attachment with someone.
But when we pour it more in a personal bowl it suddenly becomes more chaotic and sometimes even surrealistic because ones thoughts and emotions do not always seem to communicating with each other in a coherent manner. Not that someone is unable to glue an emotion to a memory, on the contrary. Sometimes it simply feels more like as if ones emotions and thoughts do not correlate with the images from the past. It might even feel as if someone is watching a movie while experiencing the synthetic emotions described by the reviews. This can be highly confusing but can be simply explained as, your brain experiencing a form of ‘cognitive distancing’.
But why does your brain do this?
Read the full article on Medium.
Or, download this article as an interactive PDF via Independent Academia
PTSD: Your Condition is Not Your Conclusion
You have no clue when or how but, somehow you have slid into this odd air bubble filled with millions and millions of thoughts still, a deafening silence is what you hear when focusing on these thoughts. Dozens of familiar and uncontrolled memories are flashing by still, somehow you do not quite recognize them. Even though you know that these thoughts and images are yours, being your past, it feels as if you hear and view someone else’s memories of which some even look as if they are written by an award-winning scriptwriter of the latest horror movie Netflix is broadcasting.
Against your better judgment, you try to get a grip on yourself but, whatever you do, your emotions and thoughts are one big mess! Where you once felt super excited you now feel numb. You are constantly alert, you lose your focus, and have trouble sleeping, “What the heck is going on, am I going nuts?!” Shame and anxiety start kicking in! “What will my surroundings think of me? Will they think that I am batshit crazy?”
And so, you crawl into that, metaphorically speaking, ‘dark corner’, keep it all to yourself in silence because you feel that no one will ever understand what you are going through. “How do I explain this vivid effect that seems to have a tremendous impact on my thinking and behavior?” And, after a while, you retreat while trying to make sense of your emotions experiencing a bumpy roller coaster ride.
Do you recognize these, surface scraping, symptoms? If so, it might be that you, like me, are experiencing a form of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) what, according to many psychologists, is a mental illness and can be treated by you taking a huge amount of medications after they have been categorized you and, labeled you with a grim sounding disorder.
Even though the common thought of PTSD is involving the exposure of the frightening, stressful, and overwhelming experiences like being in a serious accident, being physically assaulted, being involved in a war – either as a civilian or as part of military operations, being involved in a natural disaster, such as a bushfire, flood or cyclone, being sexually assaulted or abused, it also involves the personal experiences of, among others, military personal, police officers, fireman/woman who are working under huge pressure and in unusual situations. Stories no civilian will hear…officially.
There is no doubt that almost everyone who experiences trauma will be emotionally affected, and there are many different ways in which people will respond. For some, the effects can last for years – or longer. Luckily most people will recover quite quickly with the help of family and friends. Meaning, the symptoms of PTSD do not always have to last forever and can be reduced even without treatment from a therapist.
There was a time when I was in a really dark place
To unpack my story so that you have an idea of who I am and, why I speak with the passion that I speak with… as many know, I am the founder and owner of two scientific magazines with which I try to make science more accessible in a fun way and for all ages. But I wasn’t always the publisher and editor of The Next Truth. In my early 20ths, I was an armed, un-uniformed police officer arresting the scumbags. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like a failure. I actually felt successful and worthy. I felt like I was good enough.
But, as with everything in life, things have a run-up consisting of several little moments that accumulate day after day, week after week, year after year, and, ultimately, affect your behavior, thinking, and thus decisions. Oh, don’t get me wrong, even though I have witnessed some of the grimmest and gory moments life has to offer, joining the force wasn’t a bad decision. At least, that’s what I realize today.
So, how did I, as a sensitive and empathic kid, end up in an invisible but armed team that was focused on arresting and interrogating, among others, drug dealers, human traffickers, psychopathic killers, (potential) bombers?
To read the full article visit CPTSD Foundation
Suck it Up and Get Over it Princes!
By Maria Anna van Driel, www.nexttruth.com
Let me shock you here for a brief moment! Modern psychology is in the need to restudy and understand the invisible injuries of both PTSD and CPTSD. Because that is exactly what it is…an emotional injury and not a mental illness what has to be suppressed with brain foggy creating medication in the moment one is capable of making a clear distinction between the past and the present. Not to mention this magical antidote, aka forgiveness.
Say, a police officer has experienced a kidnapping. I mean, their own. He/she has been kept in prison for a certain period of time by a psychopathic criminal, being threatened, being insecure if he/she will survive the situation. Most cops will have these thoughts of ‘Shit, why didn’t I saw this coming? I have been trained for these kind of situations!’
Some therapists will say ‘Hurry, hurry, you have to forgive yourself so that you can move on’. Or what about those people who have experienced sexual abuse as a child or, during their adult years? There are therapist who say, ‘You have to start to forgive, it will give you peace’.
My personal opinion straightforward? F*ck them! If you do not want to forgive the one who has wracked your life, than that is perfectly fine. You should not be forced to do this at all.
What a therapist can do, together with their client, is working towards letting it go. I mean, for the client to start feel comfortable with the fact that it has happened and that it is okay to be angry about it…among others. It is okay not to forgive these sadistic predators…and some people never will.
There are a myriad brilliant therapists who are practicing for years already and their clients are tremendously happy with their listening ear and the treatments provided. They feel comfortable while voicing their minds, experiences and emotions to the therapist. But, unfortunately, when it comes down to 1st responders a huge amount of these therapists are missing the point…big time!
9 out of 10 known and accepted treatments many therapists are familiar with, are not even reaching the first level of PTSD and/or CPTSD 1st responders are dealing with. (regardless if they are retired or still working in the field)
Why? Straightforward, drawing a happy rainbow while bringing up mom not sticking a bandage on one’s knee after a fall on the kindergarten playground, is simply not relating to the mind-set of someone who has experienced, for instance, a shootout, called in a KIA, collected body-parts a psychopathic (serial) killer left behind or have watched a child die. (regardless recently or (…) years ago)
Read the full article on Medium.
Gay conversion therapy: proposed ban is a positive step but the battle remains to be won
Stella Coyle, Keele University
Conversion therapy – sometimes known as “reparative therapy” or “gay cure therapy” – claims to alter a person’s sexual orientation from gay to straight. The practice is based on the mistaken idea that gay people suffer a traumatic experience early in life that has damages them and that homosexuality is a “reparative drive” to overcome this early trauma.
In the UK, practitioners are legally allowed to promote and provide conversion therapy. But, hopefully, not for much longer. The UK government has announced plans to ban conversion therapy as part of its LGBT action plan.
Attempts to “cure” homosexuality were not always couched in the language of therapy. In the early 20th century, medical professionals believed that homosexuality was a birth defect. One “treatment” involved replacing a testicle of a homosexual man with one from a heterosexual man. Later methods included lobotomies and chemical castration – a method used on Alan Turing, the Enigma codebreaker.
Homosexuality later came to be seen as a condition that could be “treated” psychologically – although this doesn’t mean that the methods used were any more humane.
In the 1950s and 60s, when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, the NHS routinely used aversion therapy on men convicted of homosexuality in an attempt to turn them straight. If they volunteered for this treatment, they could avoid a prison sentence. Volunteers – if they can be called that – were shown pictures of naked men and given either electric shocks or drugs that induced vomiting. The aim was to make them respond negatively to their homosexuality and thus to be “cured”.
Not a psychiatric condition
Homosexuality was removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual in 1987 and from the World Health Organisation’s classification of mental disorders in 1992. Progress in this area has been slow.
In 2015, a memorandum of understanding stating that conversion therapy is unethical and potentially harmful was signed by representatives from the NHS, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the major counselling and psychotherapy organisations in the UK.
Being gay is not a disease and there is no sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed by “conversion therapy”. Also, “treating” homosexuality sustains the prejudice and discrimination that gay people already face in society.
Gay people who seek to change their sexuality do so because of internalised homophobia and because of the dangers and pressures arising from this external prejudice and discrimination. An example of the potential harm is seen in a 2002 study
of 202 men, which found that the practice had led 34 of them to attempt suicide either during or after “conversion therapy”.
Co-opting the language of sexual fluidity
These days “conversion therapy” is generally advocated by religious groups, such the Core Issues Trust, a UK organisation that “works with people who seek to change from a ‘gay’ lifestyle to a gender-affirming one”.
In common with National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality in the US (an organisation that advocates the use of conversion therapy in the US), the Core Issues Trust advocates for the right of people to have access to this service if they want it. They use the language of rights, autonomy and client choice, arguing that a ban would deny them a “human right to treatment intended to help them shape their lives as they wish”.
They have also co-opted the language of sexual fluidity as justification for their assertion that the practice works. This misunderstands what is meant by sexual fluidity.
People are born with both a sexual orientation and a degree of sexual flexibility that varies from person to person. Some people are fixedly gay or straight, but others are more fluid and can experience attractions that run outside of their general sexual orientation. Sexual fluidity is the capacity to experience sexual attraction that runs counter to your orientation.
There is now mounting evidence that gay people are born gay, as a clear link has been found between sexual orientation – at least in men – with two regions of the human genome.
Which way now?
After years of campaigning and legal pressure, the UK government is finally going to follow the example of some other European countries and states in Canada, Australia and the US, and ban the practice of “conversion therapy”. It will be interesting to see how the debate develops as the legislation proceeds through parliament.
The NHS and the major psychiatric, counselling and psychotherapy organisations are already opposed to the practice. But if the counselling profession remains unregulated – meaning anyone, including religious groups and individuals, can offer “counselling” – how will the ban be enforced? The battle is not yet won.
Stella Coyle, Teaching Fellow in Law, Keele University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
[Top]The Legend of ‘Lapis Philosophorum’ aka the Philosopher Stone
By Maria Anna van Driel, www.medium.com
The concept of being able to turn metals into gold attracted the attention of many who saw the legend of the stone as a chance to make a fortune. And so, many of the world’s brilliant minds searched for the Philosopher’s Stone over the centuries including Robert Boyle who is considered the father of modern day chemistry.
There are many descriptions of the stones appearance. The most well-known being a red stone but it was also referred to as an orange stone. When the stone is in its solid form it often appears as a transparent and glass-like object in the shape of an egg. But there are many sources that believe the Philosopher’s Stone may not have even been a stone at all.
When searching for the stone, alchemists examined countless substances what has build the base knowledge for fields we know today as chemistry and pharmacology.
When discussing the philosopher’s stone the one name you will not miss is Nicolas Flamel. Flamel was a French scribe and manuscript-seller who lived in Paris during the 14th and 15th century and, in 1382, claimed to have transformed lead into gold after decoding an ancient book of alchemy. We most likely will never know if this was true. However the historical record show that Flamel did come into considerable wealth around the time he made his claim but donated all of his riches to charity.
The medieval kitchen of alchemy aka ‘Physical chemistry’
The commencement of deciphering this ‘key’ is the dismembering of the word ALCHEMY; Al-Khemet means ‘From Egypt’, Khemet means ‘Black’, Khem means ‘chem’ or ‘chemical’
Later in history this ancient Egyptian word Al-Khemet has been translated into ‘the black art through Alchemy’ a term many might know today as the medieval and dangerous ‘black magic’. Even it is being thought by some that a Pagan mystery as such is spawned by the devil’s hand, less is true in this legend of the stone of the ancients.
Click here to read the full article via medium.com
Brave Young Women Who are Changing the World With Ones and Zeros
There is a problem in the world and that is… the bravery deficit and it leads to an unequal representation of women and men in STEM and STE(A)M fields.
I believe this battle of this ‘stereo-typing’ is a solvable problem but solving this thorny issue requires the efforts of many mentors (including parents) of empowering more young women to get involved in STEM subjects…not only because a balanced number of male and female scientists is providing scientific problems and questions to be viewed from several different angles also because that is one of the fastest areas in which young woman can gain economic independence.
I am of the opinion that it is time for us mentors to take that step forward into the world and voice our thoughts and experiences for young people to realize that this narrow vision of boys being better in any scientific field then girls, is no fact at all.
I am your host Maria Anna van Driel and you are listening to “The Next Truth; Where Science and Myth Meet”. This week I am speaking with the Marketing Content Manager of CoderZ, an innovative online learning environment where kids learn how to program real and virtual robots using a 3D robotics simulation, Ashlynn Schindler-Kota, who is a driven leader with experience in education administration, grants management and an Expert in STEM Education.
Young People Science Sept/Oct 2021
There is a problem in the world and that is… the bravery deficit and it leads to an unequal representation of women and men in STEM and STE(A)M fields.
This battle of this ‘stereo-typing’ is a solvable problem but solving this thorny issue requires the efforts of many mentors (including parents) of empowering more young women to get involved in STEM subjects…not only because a balanced number of male and female scientists is providing scientific problems and questions to be viewed from several different angles also because that is one of the fastest areas in which young woman can gain economic independence.
I am of the opinion that it is time for us mentors to take that step forward into the world and voice our thoughts and experiences for young people to realize that this narrow vision of boys being better in any scientific field then girls, is no fact at all.
Download your free copy of “The Next Truth” via acedemia.edu
