Recently in Psychology Category

I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does - so much that it is driving me to create a blog posting about it. Seriously.

Okay, here's the thing: most people out there are aware of the existence of the disorder called ADHD, or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Most people also seem to prefer calling it "ADD." Well sure, that was all find and dandy 20 years ago, but ever since the DSM-III-R was published back in 1987, ADD as a distinct disorder stopped existing. That is not to say, of course, that we stopped paying attention to it; we simply made it a subtype of ADHD.

I know, it doesn't necessarily make too much sense. It's essentially ADHD, hold the 'H'. Why have the letter in there in the first place if you're just going to take it out? But yet, that's the way it is. Maybe I'm a stickler for following rules and standards, but damn it, if we didn't follow standards and rules, our society will fall into chaos and anarchy. So tell me this: is it worth it to risk chaos and anarchy for the sake of one little letter? Is it?

So repeat after me - "ADD is not correct terminology. From now on, I will use the only correct and proper name ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Subtype. I will be a better person for it."

Knowing that you're working for the Greater Good, it's worth the extra few seconds. Seriously.

Out of curiosity this evening, I browsed a couple online sites relating to eating disorders. Specifically, these sites were gathering places for people with eating disorders to support each other. Here is a snippet from one conversation that I found particularly disturbing, but probably quite representative:

im 5'8" and 97lbs currently, my lowest is 89 those were the good old days, i wanna be nothing but skin and bones also, i think bones are so beautiful, and thats what i want to be, beautiful.

In treating eating disorders, a big goal is to realign irrational views of body image. But this girl's perception does not seem to be that she's fat per se, but that "skin and bones" is the ultimate in beauty. Can perception of beauty ever be considered irrational? A reflex answer would be "of course," but how is the appreciation of beauty different from the appreciation of art? So the question one should ultimately ask then is whether these abnormal perceptions of beauty can be justified through the "eye of the beholder" or whether they are actually a result of some sort of cognitive dissonance where the perceiver has effectively tricked herself into seeing beauty in a distorted and dangerous way. Regardless, we have here one of the most difficult roadblocks to psychological treatment. You're trying to change a person who does not want to be changed; you're trying to help someone who whole-heartedly believes that nothing is wrong. There are some parallels here to helping someone who is attempting suicide. But at least that person actually knows that she's trying to kill herself.

As long as we're on the topic of Calvin and Hobbes, I think that this one pretty well sums up where much of my inspiration in school comes from:

I came across an amusing Calvin and Hobbes strip today with a school psychology reference. You know, it's probably true - encourage creativity, but too much creativity can lead to people thinking you're wacko. Eh.