michelle crowley

Interesting article and an obvious research gap for those interested in psychometrics. Thanks for sharing!

Breathe deep and long and then take a reflective pause before taking considered action.

They were still using electric shock therapy in the 90s but to treat Major Depression and what was then called Manic Depression that did not respond to pharmaceuticals. My grandfather was subjected to it in the 60s (Major depression with paranoid delusions) and afterwards could not remember his last daughter being born.

I would have thought marijuana would be on that list.

For me, the question is, "Should one put one's feelings aside?" If one accepts the usefulness of interrogating one's own counter-transferences, which can occur even in a brief assessment, for example, for me the sense when sitting with someone with schizophrenia the sense that their psyche has been turned inside out, one's own feelings towards the client can prove diagnostically useful. In other words, I wonder (a) if objectivity is possible when dealing with people, and (b) if it is in fact useful when it comes to assessing and helping people.

That's an interesting observation, Dan. Perhaps rather than having the opposing legal teams appoint forensic psychologists, the Court itself should appoint forensic psychologists.

@ayesha naymat You make a good point. Just about every authentic shift in human consciousness gets hijacked by our consumer culture and is turned into a product for sale. But I like the emphasis on how self-care is a daily practice. It is not something one does once and moves on.

Well, I live in a country that until 40 years ago institutionalized racism, which I always found rather strange given that even back in the day, if your family had spent more that three generations on the southernmost tip of Africa, you would inevitably have the blood of other "races" coursing through your veins. Twenty years later, I do not think "racism" is as prevalent it is was among individuals, but the institutions sure still hold to it. For example, when some light-fingered locals stole my stuff, the police officers asked me what my race is (I am a so-called White living in a so-called Colored community). I really had to laugh. Forty years of a Rainbow nation and the government is still categorizing others according to their miniscule genetic differences? For statistical purposes, the police officers responded. So while the vast majority of ordinary people no longer apply race as a criterion for judgement, the government (ironically black) does. On a global scale, I suspect thousands of psychological assessments and social and market surveys the world over categorize people by race and make assumptions about those categories based on a stereotype. How is that not racist?

That is quite an interesting question. I come from a family of late-stage diabetes, and one of the realizations that I came to is that those diagnosed with diabetes struggle to process the joy of life. If my grandmother laughed, it looked like she was crying. It kind of resonates that those with diabetes would struggle to savor the sweetness of life, or have depressed disposition.

I am also guilty of using "suffering" but I wonder if we should not just speak the truth, for example, a person "diagnosed" with schizophrenia is honest about the imposition of a category, which is not to say that people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia are not suffering.

Yes, I see he "won," and predictably, Amber will appeal. That in itself is crazy, to entertain the idea of going through what has been very public scrutiny yet again. It is like she just cannot let go of him.

Thank you Daniel Summer. It is a question I have been asking, although I am more inclined to toss between Narcissistic PD and Psychopathic PD. Like in that list, I would consider the first two appropriate for someone with an actor/actress skillset, but my feeling is earnest but shallow, as if she is trying to pull off emotions she is not really feeling. Histrionics usually exaggerate about what they are feeling.

@ViktorijaT It sure does show how ugly things can get. In my considered opinion, if Johnny Depp did lash out, it was probably out pain in response to something said that cut to the quick, and personally, I do not think emotional abuse should be taken any more lightly. There is often a dynamic in abusive relationships where the abused almost baits the abuser by doing or saying things that would leave a Saint wanting to commit murder, and I guess the sane thing would be to walk away. So my question is, given that Depp clearly does not want for admirers, why he did not just walk away? Does his substance abuse hide a deeper dependency that trapped him in the relationship? Ultimately, I am not sure either of them should win because it is, in fact, the relationship between them that is on trial, and to have a relationship, both must have contributed to the alchemy that developed between them. Of course, Amber does seem to have gone out of her way to destroy Johnny's reputation, and the charge is defamation, and maybe that is what will swing the jury in his favor. He, on the other hand, has been impeccable. He has also very carefully just described what happened rather than trashed her.

Nina, personally, I think the two of them should be in their own individual therapies so that they are less likely to engage in such toxic relationships again. It is like there is Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and then the relationship between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and who and what they are in relationship to each other, and maybe all of those "entities" need to be evaluated.

You make a good ViktorijaT. Once upon a time there was just stress, and then people realized that the only people who are not stressed are those lying six foot under, so it became continuous stress, and I see much the same happening with PTSD. As you say, traumatic and dangerous events are happening all the time and social media exposes us to more and more of them, and soon, I believe, we will have to accept that the vast majority of human beings are (and have been) continually traumatized. Five years ago being locked down in one's home for for weeks and sometimes months on end would have been considered beyond the range of normal human experience.

@erajshahzad99 Spoke with the supervisor--he is expecting the external examiner to return the dissertation in about three weeks. I guess it then goes through the arduous process of conferral through a variety of committees, but I will ask that once the dissertation is passed by the external examiner, if I can at least send you the References list so that you can get on with your research. Once the degree is formally conferred, you can then access the dissertation via the university website.

@erajshahzad99 Hey there! I was (only) the editor of the work, but I will contact the supervisor who referred the student, see where in the evaluation process the Master's thesis is, and once it is approved, provide the details so that you can access it and boost your References list.

I would have thought anxiety would have been acknowledged as central to grief of all types because the loss of someone through death reminds us about our own finitude, and as Heidegger suggested, the angst about being finite is a part of the human condition and a fundamental driving force in human consciousness. Imagine if we lived forever: There would be no need to do anything today because we can always reach our goals in an infinite number of tomorrows.

The struggle explains why when diagnosing a patient, it is important to include differential diagnoses, and then also remember why we diagnose patients. It is not so much about putting them is a box for medical insurance purposes as much as about determining what treatments might work best for them.

How interesting! I am too old to participate, but I recently completed editing a master's thesis about the use of filters for #MelaninMagic on Instagram among darker-skinned South African Indians. The work is probably still in the process of being evaluated, but once it is approved, you might find it useful for your literature review.