All posts filed under: Mental Disorders

How do you know you’re in psychosis?

How does someone know if they are in psychosis? As it turns out, this is precisely the correct question to ask. There is a simple and interesting answer to this question. But first, let’s begin with how NAMI (National Alliance On Mental Illness), an authority on mental illness, defines psychosis: “Most people think of psychosis as a break with reality. In a way it is. Psychosis is characterized as disruptions to a person’s thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn’t. These disruptions are often experienced as seeing, hearing and believing things that aren’t real or having strange, persistent thoughts, behaviors and emotions. While everyone’s experience is different, most people say psychosis is frightening and confusing.” –nami.org, emphasis mine Many people associate psychosis with its dramatic symptoms of hallucinations and bizarre beliefs. Disorganized thinking is another unmistakable sign of psychosis. These are not wrong associations. However, the defining feature of psychosis is a lack of insight. In other words, a true psychosis is one where the …

Why Your Out-of-Control Sex Drive Could Be a Product of Trauma

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

I recently came across a study that established interconnections between trauma, the self-conscious emotions (i.e., guilt and shame), and hypersexuality. The tendency towards hypersexuality appears especially strong among male trauma survivors. A summary of the findings from the study can be found here. The study’s findings stirred up a few interesting questions in me. First, what is it about experiences of trauma that evoke guilt and shame–emotions that make us question the stability of our social bonds and membership? Second, what is an easy way to tell that certain expressions of sexuality may be unhealthy responses to trauma? And third, why would hypersexuality be a common way of coping with the guilt and shame associated with trauma? Why Guilt and Shame The fact that guilt and shame are so closely linked to trauma is a bit of a head scratcher at first glance. For one, traumatic experiences are so varied. Each “type” of traumatic experience has its own emotional nuances so it seems a bit odd that guilt and shame would be so consistently linked …

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How can I be happy when others are suffering?

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

We live in an interconnected world–a world where the 24-hour news cycle and social media confronts us with the most extreme ends of human experience. One hour, we might be watching the Kardashians vacation or unwind in their multimillion-dollar mansion. The next hour (or perhaps even the same hour!) we could be scrolling through instagram seeing haunting images of oppression, invasion, illness, destruction, and other powerful stories of the most profound levels of human suffering. Whether we find ourselves more engaged with those we envy or those we pity, our voyeurism is sure to leave us in a darker place than where we started. It’s true that we would be better off if we simply disengaged. Stop doomscrolling. Stop engaging with trolls. Stop watching the news. Stop immersing yourself in the lives of the rich, beautiful, and overindulged. But that advice might be skirting a very rational question: how can we be happy when others are suffering through no fault of their own? The first question: do you really want to not suffer? If you’re …

Am I Depressed or Just Lazy?

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

How can I figure out if I’m depressed or just lazy? What is depression? There are many ways to define depression. The DSM and ICD take descriptive approaches, outlining a set of symptom criteria that coincide with depressive episodes. Psychodynamic therapists formulations explain it in theoretical terms, summarized simply as “anger turned inward.” Behaviorists posited that depression results from a lack of reinforcement, whether positive or negative, in one’s environment. And patriarch of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, created depression in a laboratory using dogs by applying behavioral principles. He called named is lab-induced depression “learned helplessness.” I’ll do my best here to make my own definition combining the merits of all three definitions. Let’s start with the core components. They are: Depression is an emotional and physiological state. Depression emotionally feels like resignation, giving up, hopelessness and despair. On top of the experience of giving up, depression also registers emotionally as guilt over not being good enough and/or having failed to live up to what’s expected of him/her. Guilt results from self-consciousness, self-critique, and what …

Mindsplain Book Review: “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog”

Published by Martyna Bobek

What’s “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” About? The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog is a series of stories from a child psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce Perry, who applies his brain development and neuroscience expertise to study how traumatic experiences shape children’s behavior. Each chapter utilizes vivid yet straightforward illustrations to describe his former patients who have endured violence, abuse, and neglect. Simultaneously, Dr. Perry engages his readers to join him on a journey in understanding exactly what happens to the brain if a child is exposed to extreme stress. Readers will find their hearts swelled with compassion, empathy, and ultimately, hope. Key Takeaways from The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog The brain is capable of change despite severe trauma. In other words, healing is possible. Understanding this can provide even the smallest glimmer of hope throughout the darkest of times. The responses of traumatized children are frequently misunderstood. Dr. Perry shares stories in which family homes experience a similar theme-chaos and unpredictability. Given so, kids may respond with fear …

Can Trauma Affect Your Voice? An Interview with Elisa Monti, PhD

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

In this Interview with experimental psychologist Elisa Monti, PhD, we examine the relationship between traumatic experiences and the human voice.

Adolf the Cat: A Story About Trauma

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

Below is an excerpt from the article entitled: “Something Wicked This Way Comes: Trauma, Dissociation, and Conflict: The Space Where Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience Overlap” by Philip Bromberg, a leading figure in the world of trauma and psychoanalysis. I share it to add texture and depth to the term trauma–a term often tossed around without precision or a shared understanding. I’ll present some takeaways at the end of the post. However, the story stands alone as a parable about trauma. When I was a kid, an endless source of fascination was looking out of my bedroom window at our backyard garden to silently observe the mysterious interactions between the animals, birds, trees, bushes and flowers. But like the Garden of Eden, it received periodic visits from an infamous inhabitant of our neighborhood: A cat who was referred to by everyone in the vicinity as Adolf (I was a World War II kid). Adolf was an aggressive, predatory, seemingly fearless animal, whose viciousness and mean-temperedness terrorized the other neighborhood cats as well as most of …

6 Existential Anxieties That Could Be the Cause of Your Panic Attacks

Published by Michael Kinsey, Ph.D.

Panic attacks are among the most common and most distressing symptoms I see as a therapist. Not only do people encounter some of their most primitive existential fears, such as feeling like they are dying or going crazy, panic sufferers also have to deal with the repetitive (and often unpredictable) nature of panic, and the fact that others cannot fully appreciate the intensity of the experience. Search the web and you’ll find a ton of strategies to deal with panic attacks. In my opinion, very few (none in fact that I have found) adequately address different types of panic attacks. While I do not explicitly address tips for dealing with panic here, I believe we can optimize our coping strategies for anxiety attacks by first identifying what the panic is and what it is signifying. I identify six types of panic that I have observed in clinical practice below. I do not accept that panic attacks “come out of nowhere.” While cues may not be easily identifiable, experience has taught me that there is ALWAYS …