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Table of Contents
Letter from the Editor ……. page 2
Credits …………………...….page 3
Table of Contents
Graduate Corner Choosing a Graduate School
By: Sara Babad.…………………...………...page 35
So You Want to be a Clinical Researcher?
By: Samuel Salomon…………………..….page 37
Interview with a Graduate Student: Kevonte M. Mitchell
By: Irena Pergjika………………………......page 39
Poetry Corner Saddest Reflection
By: Rodshel Ustayev……………...……….page 56
Therapist’s Corner A Neuropsychological Case Study: Test Your Diag-
nostic Skills………………………………………………..page 42
Diagnose a TV Character: Michael Scott from The Office
By: Zaki Akam…………………………….….page 43
Movie Review A Beautiful Mind: A Plot Analysis through the Lens
of Schizophrenia
By: Miriam Feintuch……………………….page 45
Personal Reflections Meltdown on the Subway Train
By: Yaakov Bressler…………………...…..page 48
Achy Breaky Heart
By: Albert A. Mitta……………………..….page 51
Diary of a Sufferer
By: Rivkah Rosenberger…………...…...page 52
Articles Psychological Trauma
Bullying: The Cruel and Dangerous Harassment
By: Amanda Lanter …………………………..page 4
The Psychoanalysis of a Tyrant
By: Rodshel Ustayev ………………………..page 9
War and Its Psychological Impact on Children
By: Isabella Poloes ……………………...…….page 11
Hurricane Sandy: A Social psychologist’s Point of
View
By: George Abadeer ………………………...page 13
Depression
By: Irena Pergjika ………………………...….page 15
Self in Society
Effect of Sibling Relationship on Childhood Develop-
ment
By: Amanda Stavruch………………….…...page 17
Introverts VS. Extroverts
By: Judy Tan………………………………….….page 23
The Psyche of Being a Bulldog
By: Geena Bell…………………………………..page 25
Experimental Research
Effects of Alcohol Withdrawal on Brain Reward
Function and Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rats
By: Joey Bukai……………………………..…..page 27
Letter from the Editor
Page 2
Dear Readers,
Trauma, a blow to the psyche—a shattering of what we thought we knew with the painful realization that we
are human and therefore vulnerable. A realization that life is unfair and that people can be cruel.
In this issue, some of our articles explore the different forms of trauma—from bullying to Hurricane Sandy—
to the trauma children who are raised amidst armed conflict experience—our writers inform us of the psycho-
logical, social, and political effects of trauma.
While no one should ever have to undergo trauma of any kind, it is often the resulting pain and brokenness
that serves as the impetus for growth. A renewed strength, a deeper awareness about life and an increased
empathy for others emerges.
If you are ever broken, rebuild; if wounded, heal. The scars are there to remind you that no matter what you
have been through, you are alive. So, dream big, love, and be kind.
This is the third issue of Lying on the Couch. The threefold growth over the past year is beautiful. We are
glad students are taking to these pages as we thought they should. We have many more writers from different
disciplines and backgrounds who offer a unique and interdisciplinary perspective to psychology—from an
article on the psychology of sports to an article exploring the psychoanalytic underpinnings of politics—we
marvel at how psychology underlies everything.
Eclectic submissions line these pages such as a neuropsychological case study, the diary of a young man who
suffers from a mental illness and an article where a student diagnoses a popular TV character, Michael Scott,
from The Office.
Featured in this issue is "the Graduate Corner” which gives you inside information regarding graduate pro-
grams, the application process, and the ins and outs of graduate school.
Lastly, our cover addresses the different paths one can take in psychology. It is difficult to make a decision
with all the different pros and cons; but, again, follow your dreams, follow your passion. As Steve Jobs said,
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to
become. Everything else is secondary”.
To rebuilding and following your dreams,
Batya Weinstein Editor-in-Chief
Page 3
Editorial Board:
Editor in Chief: Batya Weinstein
Managing Editor: Sara Babad
Assistant Editors: Deborah Borlam, Ronit Deutsch, Joey Bukai
Layout and Design: Sarah Babad, Ariella Nagel, Lauren Fink, Geena Bell
Marketing: Albert Abraham Mitta
Contributing Writers:
Yaacov Bressler, Adina Stavrach, Geena Bell, Judy Tan, Joey Bukai, Rodshel Ustayev, Amanda Lanter, Isa-
bella Poloes, Zaki Azam, Miriam Feintuch, Irena Pergjika, Rivkah Rosenberger, Samuel Salamon, Sarah Ba-
bad, George Abadeer, Albert Abraham Mitta
Contributing Artwork: Jessie Siobahn Lamprecht & Rivkah Rosenberger
Cover: Rivkah Rosenberger
Faculty Advisor: Aaron Kozbelt
Club Liaison: Michelle Vargas
Executive Board:
President: Batya Weinstein
Vice President: Sarah Babad
Secretary: Deborah Borlam
Treasurer: Yaacov Y Weinstein
Contact us: [email protected]
Check us out on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LyingontheCouchBC
Brooklyn College Psychology Magazine
Fall 2013
Volume 2, Issue 1
Lying on the Couch
Magazine Credits
Bullying is an extremely challenging and
important issue facing our nation today. Bullying is
defined as an aggressive behavior caused by an im-
balance of power. At first
glance, the signs of being bul-
lied may not be apparent. They
can happen to all types of indi-
viduals in all different stages
of life. Bullying even occurs
on our own college campus.
There are different types of
bullying: verbal, physical, and
mental abuse that occurs either
in person or via technology.
Many people neglect to see the
importance of ending this
problem and often overlook
outstanding signs of bully-
ing. An effective first step is
to alter peoples’ perception on
bullying by enlightening them
on the horrific psychological
effects and demonstrating that
these effects caused by the
trauma are everlasting. Not
only should people be aware,
they should also become active
in the anti-bullying cause and
try to significantly reduce the
problem.
Bullying is a major issue that appears in several
different forms such as physical, emotional, verbal,
social, and cyber bullying. Each form of bullying
has its own unique characteristics. While in
school, on the playgrounds, or in the hallways,
some people use physical
bullying tactics to harass
those that they feel are in-
ferior to them. Physical
bullying causes pain to the
victim through human
contact. Hitting, kicking,
biting, and taking
someone’s belongings are
different types of physical
bullying. Another aspect
of physical bullying is sex-
ual harassment. Nancy
DeLaney, author of Ag-
gressive Behaviors, writes,
“Pubertal changes that oc-
cur as students enter the
middle school years bring
changes in aggressive be-
havior with the emergence
of various forms of bully-
ing, including sexual har-
assment” (271). In young
children, physical bullying
may consist of biting and
pulling each other’s
hair. However, as children mature and reach pu-
berty the physical bullying becomes more aggres-
sive.
Bullying: The Cruel and Dangerous Harassment
Page 4
Lying on the Couch
“Not only should people be aware, they should also become
active in the anti-bullying cause and try to significantly reduce the
problem..”
By: Amanda Lanter
Artwork by: Jessie Siobahn Lamprecht
Emotional, social, and verbal bullying, other-
wise known as psychological bullying, is a problem
starting from a very young age, but can continue
throughout someone’s life. Verbal abuse can take
the form of teasing, nasty remarks, and gossip. Psy-
chological bullying is very popular in high school
and may continue in college. Students make fun of
other students’ fashion styles, school grades, and
family values. Since these forms of bullying are not
physical, they are harder to detect. This form of
bullying crosses different ages as it may also occur
between adults in the work place. Emotional, so-
cial, and verbal bullying usually takes place face to
face. There is also indirect bullying that involves
spreading rumors and not letting individuals be part
of their desired clique/ club in school. Each type of
bullying causes pain and suffering in its own way to
the victim.
Cyber bullying, the newest form of bullying,
does not require any contact between the bully and
the person being bullied. The Internet is an essential
source of information needed for everyone especial-
ly college students. The bully can use various
means such as the Internet or cell phones to harass
the victim. The bully can post nasty and insulting
comments on social media sites for the public to
see. Once something goes on the Internet, it has the
potential to go viral. These victims are suffering,
sometimes without even knowing who is causing
them this pain. Some studies suggest that
“Perpetrators may feel reduced responsibility and
accountability when online compared with face-to-
face situations. These features suggest that youths
who may not be vulnerable to school bullying
could, in fact, be targeted online through covert
methods” (Coulter). All the advances in technolo-
gy make it possible for more people to become
victims, even those who you may not ex-
pect. Bullies may feel less guilty about bullying
when they use cyber bullying. With the growth of
technology, comes an increase in problems and
the creation of more sources of trouble.
In order to correct the problem we must
first discover the basis of the bullying epidemic—
why do people bully? Although the answer to this
question is not clear, psychologists have suggested
that a possible reason for bullying is the need for
the bullies to feel better about themselves. Most
people say that bullying occurs when the bully is
insecure and feel the need to hurt some-
one. However, it may be the case that some bul-
lies have very high self-esteem and think that they
are better than other people. People, especially
teens and college students, feel a strong need to be
accepted. Many psychological studies indicate
that people conform to their friends. This means
that people change their behavior and attitude to
follow with what others are doing. Normative in-
fluence is based on a person’s desires to fulfill
other people’s expectations, usually to gain ac-
ceptance (Myers 683). These bullies do not know
how to deal with their issues so instead of request-
ing help, they cast their aggression onto someone
else. None of these reasons go far enough to justi-
fy bullying as acceptable behavior.
As adults, victims of bullying feel that
they do not belong and that they are outcasts. This
insecurity underlies many of the other psychologi-
cal effects caused by the bullying. One of the
most severe psychological effects that bullying
All the advances in technology
make it possible for more people
to become victims, even those who
you may not expect.
Page 5
Volume 2, Issue 1
“Why do people bully?”
can cause is depression. Several factors can affect the
chances of becoming depressed such as gender and
family social support (Stansfeld). The European
Journal Of Public Health published a study of Dan-
ish men in 1953. The researchers were trying to
measure the correlation between bullying at school
and depression in adulthood. The study shows that
bullied victims have a higher frequency of develop-
ing depression later in life. It is also proven that men
who are bullied at higher frequencies and for longer
periods of time developed more severe cases of de-
pression (Christensen). The stress of being bullied as
a child is credited with causing some of the emotion-
al traumas of adulthood.
One of the most severe effects of being
bullied is suicide. Bullying has been linked to sui-
cides in both children, as well as adults. There are a
number of news stories about teenagers who were
bullied and felt that taking their own lives was the
only solution. An incident that made the news in
2010 was concerning Tyler Clementi’s Sui-
cide. Clementi was a freshman at Rutgers College.
He decided to jump off of the George Washington
Bridge after his roommate “outed him” for being gay
and videotaping intimate mo-
ments of his private life
(Michaelson). Suicide is
one of the effects that not
only hurts the victims, but
also their friends and fami-
lies. Several researchers have
studied the correlation be-
tween having been bullied
and suicidal thoughts and
behaviors. Some have found
that bullying is not the direct
cause of suicide; rather it just
aggravates the already existing problem. Doctor
Klomek, in her article “Bullying and Suicide,” dis-
cusses various aspects of suicide including its
prevalence in a specific gender. The doctor
writes, “Among girls, victimization at any fre-
quency increased the risk of depression, suicidal
ideation, and suicide attempts.” Suicide and de-
pression are cries for help. This should be a wake
up call for people get involved to reduce the bully-
ing problem.
Even though we cannot prevent bullying,
there are some ways to handle the situa-
tion. Since bullying has been on the news, cam-
paigns have been started to reduce the epidemic. It
is difficult to help the victims since no one can
understand what it is like for them. Bystanders
who watch the bullying take place are responsible
to take action. According to the Journal of Adoles-
cence:
Bullying is a group phenomenon; by-
standers can have an important impact
on the trajectory that the bullying takes
by either assisting the bully, not getting
involved or by intervening. In most cas-
“Suicide is one of the effects that not only hurts the victims, but
also their friends and families.”
Page 6
Lying on the Couch
es bystanders will remain uninvolved, which
enables the bully to continue. It has been
shown, however, that if bystanders do try to
stop the bullying, it usually ceases.
(Stansfeld 581)
Just like with professors, when people who watch the
bullying take place do not take action, it empowers the
bully to harass more people, more often. The first step
in reducing the bullying epidemic is to teach people
about bullying and what it means to be bullied. No
person should feel like he or she does not belong or is
an outcast just because bullies get away with teasing
their targets. People and organizations have recently
been trying to reduce the bullying epidemic and help
victims who are suffering from bullying. Susan Bu-
chanan, a certified life skills coach with a counseling
certificate from Dalhousie University, travels from
school to school trying to promote her Anti-
Bullying and Social Education Skills curriculum. She
feels that bullying occurs because people are not
taught the social skills that that they need for life.
She does not only work with the students, but has
a "whole community approach" (Lee). Buchanan
has a list of seventy-two social skills that can be
taught to students by parents and teachers. The
results from Buchanan’s workshop at Sister Glo-
ria School were impressive. Janice Franklin,
principle of Sister Gloria School, said, “I saw a 75
percent decrease in teasing, hitting, and bully-
ing within the first week, and most of our teachers
now follow the program, so the children have
maintained the social skills they learned during
their workshops" (Lee). This proves that a suc-
cessful step to reducing the amount of bullying
taking place is to teach parents, teachers, and chil-
dren important skills needed for life. This is proof
that involvement of the whole community is a key
step in reducing the bullying problem.
In order to prevent the victims of bullying
Page 7
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 8
from suffering long-term effects from the trauma, the
victims should be screened for psychiatric prob-
lems. These screenings consist of visiting a psychia-
trist and undergoing psychological tests and observa-
tion. If the psychiatrist observes that the victims are
suffering from any psychological or physical effects,
they are likely to suggest a course of treatment in-
cluding therapy. Even if bullying is not a hundred
percent preventable, we should try to minimize the
long-term effects caused by the trauma.
It is very important when dealing with victims
of bullying that they receive the maximum amount of
support. It is equally essential that the bullies receive
attention since one of the reasons that people bully is
because they are seeking power and attention. It does
not matter which form of harassment the bully choos-
es to use, whether physical, verbal, or indirect, the
victims always suffer. Parents, professors, and the
public must work together to reduce the bullying
problem. The effects of being bullied have reached
extremes like suicide and long-term depression. It is
time for the bullies’ actions to stop being justified
and finally be treated for what it is, cruel and danger-
ous harassment.
Work Cited
Brunstein Klomek, Anat. "Bullying and Suicide." Psychiatric Times. UBM
Medica LLC, 10 Feb. 2011. Web. 04 May 2012
Lee, Tanya. "Anti-Bullying Workshops Teach Vital Social Skills." Indian
Country Today: C1. Ethnic NewsWatch. Oct 04 2006. Web. 11 May 2012.
Michaelson, Jay. "Can Suicide Be A Hate Crime?." Newsweek 159.12
(2012): 17. Academic Search Complete.Web. 11 May 2012.
Myers, David G. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 2010. Print. 3
May 2012.
Nancy DeLaney, et al. "The Relationship Between Self-Perception Of Phys-
ical Attractiveness And Sexual Bullying In Early Adolescence." Aggressive
Behavior 36.5 (2010): 271-281. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 May
2012.
Robert W. S. Coulter, et al. "Cyberbullying, School Bullying, And Psy
Psychological Distress: A Regional Census Of High School Students."
American Journal Of Public Health 102.1 (2012): 171-177. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
Stephen Stansfeld, et al. "Can Social Support Protect Bullied Adolescents
From Adverse Outcomes? A Prospective Study On The Effects Of Bullying
On The Educational Achievement And Mental Health Of Adolescents At
Secondary Schools In East London." Journal Of Adolescence 34.3 (2011):
579-588. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
Ulla Christensen, et al. "Exposure To Bullying At School And Depression
In Adulthood: A Study Of Danish Men Born In 1953." European Journal
Of Public Health 19.1 (2009): 111-116. Academic Search Complete. Web.
12 Apr. 2012.
It is very important when
dealing with victims of bullying
that they receive the maximum
amount of support.
Lying on the Couch
Currently, over eighteen million children and
adolescents are being raised amidst armed conflict.
Children account for the majority of casualties in
some conflict areas. Humanitarian aid usually comes
in the form of tangible things like shelter, medica-
tions, food, and more. However, the psychological
impact of war and its detrimental effects on a child’s
psyche are intangible, yet influence much of a child’s
course of development and overall adulthood. It is
important to provide psychosocial treatment in order
to begin the process of emotional healing as well as
rehabilitation that is much needed for these young-
sters.
War’s Impact
War can affect a child both directly and indi-
rectly. It directly affects a child through traumatizing
events such as the loss of a loved one or displace-
ment. Indirectly, armed conflict could affect a
parent’s capacity for caring for their children either
economically or emotionally (Gibbs, 1989; Jensen &
Shaw, 1993). This loss of fundamental protective fac-
tors could seriously affect a child’s manner of coping
and have detrimental effects further on in the child’s
trajectory. "When parents are emotionally affected
“Children are dropping out of childhood.
We must envision a society free of conflict where chil-
by war, that alters their ability to care for their chil-
dren properly," explains Mike Wessells, PhD, a
Randolph-Macon College psychology professor,
"War stresses increase family violence, creating a
pattern that then gets passed on when the children
become parents" (APA, 2001). Continued exposure
to violence is also a great worry, as it may desensi-
tize and cause a normalization of violence in sug-
gestible children. Perceiving violent acts as a nor-
mal part of life can cause children to turn to vio-
lence as a solution to mundane problems when they
are adults.
Psychologically, children can suffer from a
myriad of symptoms that characterize depression
and anxiety disorders, most commonly post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, PTSD
is only one part of the spectrum; fear of recurrence,
guilt, worry, grief, speech delays and behavior prob-
lems are also extremely common in children who
have had to live through armed conflict. Feelings of
hopelessness can cause social withdrawal and little
motivation to survive.
Resiliency and Rehabilitation
The path to recovery and rehabilitation in-
volves providing children with a protective environ-
ment in which they are able to thrive and rebuild
social relationships. Psychosocial treatment empha-
sizes the interaction between the child’s psychologi-
cal development and the social world in which they
develop in order to “form attachments, acquire a
sense of belonging, and learn codes of pro-social
behavior” (Muller, 2013).
Conclusion
Children who experience prolonged events
War and its Psychological Impact on Children
“Currently, over eighteen
million children and adolescents
are being raised amidst armed
conflict.”
Page 9
Lying on the Couch
By: Isabella Poloes
of conflict and violence are highly susceptible to the
adverse effects of it, including multiple psycho-
pathological disorders and a destruction of the so-
cial and moral support previously held by the child
and family. These effects can last many years and
could influence future development and adulthood
course of life. Treatments are promising however,
with a majority of children gaining back the resili-
ency and empowerment that was taken from them
during the war. Psychosocial intervention is also
beneficial to the child and allows for a well-rounded
approach to the problem.
Page 10
Finally, it is important to emphasize and rec-
ognize that although there is treatment, very few ac-
tually receive it. War in itself is devastating and ex-
posing it to children only magnifies the problem.
Therefore, it is urgent that we seek out a better
course of actions that guarantees children the oppor-
tunity to receive treatment, and increase the number
of kids with positive outlooks on life, even after liv-
ing through a war.
Sources
Gibbs, M. S. (1989). Factors within the victim that mediate between disaster
and psychopathology: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2.
Jensen, P.S & Shaw, J (1993), Children as Victims of War: Current Knowledge
and Future Research Needs. Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 32.
Muller, T. Robert (2013). The Invisible Trauma of War Affected Children.
Psychology Today, 1.
Smith, Deborah (2001). Children in the Heat of War. American Psychological
Association. 29.
“Continued exposure to violence
is also a great worry, as it may
desensitize and cause a
normalization of violence in
suggestible children.”
Lying on the Couch
Over the course of history we can see how
a leader can control people through fear and death.
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are perhaps the
most prominent, egotistical, self-centered tyrants
of the 20th century. It is no secret that people in
general can be manipulated by a strong, loud, and
confident voice. Those are the precise skills both
Hitler and Stalin possessed which proved to be a
vulnerability of the masses. However, the psycho-
analytic components that worked on the people
were the media, propaganda, purges, and death.
Both of these tyrants were in power through psy-
chological means.
The interesting thing about Hitler and Sta-
lin is that they were nobodies and yet got the pow-
er they desired. They both come from a poor back-
ground. The relationships they had with their par-
ents were very negative and that may have played
a role in their rule. Both of them used one weapon
that was a key to their domination of power –
youth. Everyone says the youth is our future. That
statement is 100% true. Thus the youth were brain-
washed to serve them and die for them. The youth
began to rebel against parental authority. In the
case of Nazi Germany, there was an organization
called, Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth took children
from ages 10-18 and taught them how to fight and
how to get girls pregnant so they could pass along
the Nazi agenda. Hitler succeeded in his plans. He
literally had millions of youth at his feet. They
would die for him and only serve him.
Stalin used the same tactic, but with a fun-
damental difference. It is no secret that Stalin was
a very paranoid man. He killed people left and
right. He had no regard for family life. The only
important thing to him was his throne. When his
son shot himself and missed an inch of his heart
Stalin laughed and said, “My boy cant even do
that right.” The difference between Hitler and Sta-
lin was that Stalin started by isolating the parents
from the children. He sent special services to peo-
ple’s houses in order to capture the man of the
house in a “lie.” The man is presumably a traitor
to the USSR. Sometimes those men were generals
who were faithful to Stalin and USSR. Those men
would be publicly executed by way of firing
squad. The mother would be relocated to Siberia
to hard labor for life. The child, however, would
publicly denounce his parents and change his/her
name. Stalin would then be called their grandfa-
ther. By separating the children from the parents,
Stalin’s agenda sunk into the children and they
started to serve “grandfather” Stalin.
What strikes me the most about Stalin, is
the fact that he had power without having real
power over the military. Lavrentiy Beriya was the
The Psychoanalysis of a Tyrant
“The interesting thing about Hitler and Stalin
is that they were nobodies and yet got the
power they desired.”
Page 11
Lying on the Couch
By: Rodshel Ustayev
Page 12
Marshal, state security ad-
ministrator, and the leader
of the secret police under
Stalin. Many conspiracies
say that he was the one who
drugged and killed Stalin,
because he had the means to
do it. Either way the fact
remains that Stalin was the
true leader without any
means to military or the se-
cret police. This shows how
much people really feared
him.
In hindsight, it is
hard to imagine the pain
people must have gone
through. I am Russian and
not at all proud of what Sta-
lin did. Because of his stupidity, millions of Rus-
sians died in WW2. He would kill his own just to
keep his throne. Hitler on the other hand was very
clever, but did not expect such resistance from the
Russians. The Russians were not fighting for Stalin.
They were fighting for their mother country. But at
that time the purge was at an all time high. People
were afraid to breathe, yet alone talk. Even after
Stalin’s death, people were still afraid to speak up.
The amount of bloodshed, tears, and broken families
these monsters created his hard to accept. This was
the darkest part of world history. They were mental-
ly deranged individuals who were relentless in keep-
ing their throne. They did not care for their people.
In conclusion, the
key to a successful tyrant
reign is the people. The
people have to be psycho-
logically dismantled in
order for a particular
agenda to work. For ex-
ample, Anatoly Mikhailo-
vich Kashpirovsky the, so
-called Russian psycho-
therapist, was a controver-
sial figure in the collapse
of the USSR. Conspira-
cies state that his televised
hypnotic sessions affected
the people on such a level
that made the youth go
crazy. Murders and cor-
ruption was at an all time
high. This is all very well documented. Whether the
conspiracy is true or not, it does not change the fact
that people are easily hypnotized and their psycholo-
gy can be easily shattered. Psychology is behind the
everyday life of a normal person. We do things be-
cause of our psychological makeup. We learn from
each other during communications and leaders use
that tool in their arsenal to expose us in order to get a
vote. However, Hitler and Stalin took this psychoana-
lytical knowledge to a different level. I just hope that
monsters like them will never get to power.
“The key to a successful tyrant is the people. The people have to
be psychologically dismantled in order for a particular agenda to
work.”
Lying on the Couch
Page 13
In late October of 2012, a major hurricane
named Sandy hit the east coast of the United States
of America. As the media publicized and dramatized
its arrival, people started to develop negative
thoughts about it - the lives of hundreds to thousands
of people were suddenly in danger. Sandy impacted
society in many different areas, socially, economi-
cally and politically. An example representing these
effects of the hurricane is that those who lost their
homes – in addition to losing the value of the home
and a center for social activity - could not go to the
polls to vote for the new president in those states
where the hurricane hit.
From a social psychologist’s perspective, the
hurricane was the environmental stressor that caused
negative cognitive thoughts, aggression towards oth-
ers, and anxiety. However, since it hit at almost the
same time as the presidential elections, social psy-
chologists were more concerned with the political
impacts of the hurricane on the election process. In
the article, “How the Stress of Disaster Translates to
“I voted” " by Amy Hale, Hale suggests that in such
a disaster, the voting turnout depends less on the vot-
er’s rational evaluation of the President's manage-
ment of the crisis as it does on the emotional impact
of this acutely stressful event.
As a result of the emotionality exhibited by
people during a disaster, there was a tendency to in-
terpret different actions of officials in almost the
same way. When President Obama visited the people
who lost their properties in .
New Jersey, he cried and showed sympathy. People
in turn revealed their appreciation by giving him
their votes and thus boosted up the amount of votes
he would have originally had if a disaster didn’t hap-
pened.
The main concern of social psychologists is
to focus on the social effects of such a catastrophic
event. As such, they worked together with state and
federal governments to create therapy sessions
aimed at relieving the stress that people experienced
before and after the storm. As stated in the article,
“Super Storm Sandy’s Enduring Damage” by Rose-
mary K.M. Sword, a group of psychologists created
what they called TPT, or Time Perspective Therapy.
The main objective of this therapy was to focus on
remembering the positive aspects of the past rather
than only the negative. The therapy also aimed at
working with communities of the present to create a
brighter tomorrow.
TPT does not ignore or white-wash traumatic
memories by any means; psychologists in-
stead try avoiding entrapment in a traumatic,
negative past which may amplify its already
horrendous effects. In order to achieve this
goal with high efficiency, psychologists
gather other patients who are suffering from
a similar post- or pre- traumatic stress and
put them together with the people who were
affected by Sandy. Based on research done
by those psychologists, TPT turned out to be
the best method for treating them. This was a
result of the self-confidence that was gained
from sharing their stresses and experiences.
They felt that they were not the only ones
suffering from this trauma, and even saw are
other people around them who were in far
worse situations.
“The lives of hundreds to
thousands of people were
suddenly in danger.”
Lying on the Couch
Hurricane Sandy: A Social Psychologist’s Point of View By: George Abadeer
Page 14
Every patient
struggling with stress
dramatizes his/her cases
and thus may lie about
symptoms. In the post-
Sandy relief sessions, psy-
chologists found that the
people who thought that
this disaster would kill
them - a dramatization -
were in fact expressing
their feelings or symp-
toms in an extreme way.
For example, some of
them said that they
thought the water would
go inside their homes and
drown them. Those pa-
tients were less likely re-
ceiving effective treatment and thus did not com-
pletely recover. On the other hand, those patients
who expressed reasonably understandable feelings
were being treated effectively and as a result recov-
ered completely within a short time.
According to the article “Psychiatrists Scram-
ble Post-Sandy to Connect with Patients”, the hurri-
cane left psychiatrists struggling to connect with pa-
tients. In New Jersey, power and landline phones re-
mained out for several days and that affected com-
munications between patients and their doctors. Doc-
tor Charles Ciolino, chair of the New Jersey Psychi-
atric Association's Disaster Preparedness Committee,
said that due to this service blockage, there would be
people suffering from extreme PTSD who might be
in danger if they did not get help. He suggested that
psychiatrists should volunteer their time for educa-
tional talks in the community.
In conclusion, an environmental stressor such
as hurricane Sandy can cause much psychological
damage to the people it affects. Besides that, Sandy
also disturbed the political and social climate of those
states where it hit. As a consequence of that, doctors
and patients were isolated and that affected the
psychological health of those patients.
Work Cited:
Hale, A. (2012, 06). Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness +
Find a Therapist. How the Stress of Disaster Translates to “I Vot-
ed. Retrieved March 28, 2013
Rosemary , S., & Philip , Z. (2012, 03). Psychology Today: Health,
Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Super Storm Sandy’s Enduring
Damage | Psychology Today. Retrieved March 29, 2013
Sederer, L. (2012, 05). The 2×2 project. Mental Health and Hurri-
cane Sandy | the 2×2 project. Retrieved March 29, 2013
(2012, 01). Psychiatric News Alert. Psychiatric News Alert: Psy-
chiatrists Scramble Post-Sandy to Connect With Patients. Re-
trieved March 29, 2013
Lying on the Couch
“An environmental stressor such
as hurricane Sandy can cause
much psychological damage to the
people it affects.”
Artwork by: Rivkah Rosenberger
Page 15
We all have been happy and sad at some point
in our lives but it is important to realize the differ-
ence between mood changes that are normal and
those that are extreme. The list of disorders is a
lengthy one, with depression ranking as one of the
most common. I am sure you have heard more than
once someone saying that they are depressed, and
usually what they are describing are their current
emotions, not necessarily depression as defined from
a clinical standpoint. Sadness, anxiety and any other
negative emotion can cause a person to enter a de-
pressive state. Such feelings are most likely followed
after a traumatic event such as death in the family,
the end of a relationship, and/or the loss of a job. Alt-
hough it is normal to feel sadness after an occurrence
of a painful event, over time those feelings work
themselves out and mood stability is restored. Unfor-
tunately, that is just not the case for everyone. De-
pression comes in several forms and the DSM-IV-TR
(diagnostic manual) recognizes two categories: Major
depression and Dysthymic disorder.
Depression is a very sad state to be in. Not
only because the person feels constantly sad but also
because everything around them falls apart. Relation-
ships get destroyed, families fall apart and the world
is constantly moving but the individual with depres-
sion feels stuck in one place unable to do anything
but sit and wonder what's
next. The inability to function normally and the frus-
tration inside leads many people to have suicidal
thoughts, which many pursue. One of my close
friends after ending her four year relationship with
her boyfriend became very depressed. She had diffi-
culty sleeping, ate very little, lost interest in every-
thing around her, lost her job and eventually began
taking sleeping pills because she could not fall
asleep. After a year with continuous therapy sessions,
she was able to finally get her life on track and catch
up with the rest of the world. If you feel depressed
and unable to function after a very sad event, that is
normal, but if your depression last more than 3
months that’s when action should be taken.
Major depression VS Dysthymic Disorder
The diagnosis for major depression requires
that an individual experiences either a depressed
mood or loss of interest in daily activities, work,
friendships, and relationships. Also, aside from the
above listed, the individual must experience at least
four other symptoms of depression. In order to be
qualified as legitimate symptoms, they have to be se-
vere enough to interfere with the person’s ability to
function in everyday life. Dysthymic disorder is a
less severe form of depression, the only difference
being that it is chronic. To be diagnosed with dysthy-
mic disorder an individual has to experience at least
two other symptoms of depression, while at the same
time experiencing a depressed mood. As I mentioned
before, dysthymic disorder is chronic, and because of
that, in order to be diagnosed you must experience
the aforementioned symptoms for at least two years.
During those two years the person must have ongoing
symptoms of depression, and never have been with-
out them for more than two months.
An interesting case arises when both disorders
are diagnosed in the same patient at the same time.
Although the individual will be in the dysthymic
mood most of the time, they will also have times
when they fall into a major depression. However,
even if the major depression episodes will eventually
Lying on the Couch
Depression By: Irena Pergjika
Page 16
fade away, the individual will still continue to have
mild depression, which falls into the category of dys-
thymia. Moreover, the individual will never return
into a normal/stable state of mood.
Symptoms of a major depression & Dysthymic disorder:
1. Feeling intense hopelessness
2. Low self esteem
3. Worthlessness
4. Extreme fatigue
5. Dramatic changes in sleeping and eating
6. Loss of interest
7. Suicidal thoughts
The science The communication system is essential to all
of the brain's functions as the neurons are constantly
communicating with each other by exchanging neu-
rotransmitters. Depression is characterized by the im-
balance between three neurotransmitters: dopamine,
serotonin and norepinephrine. Serotonin and norepi-
nephrine regulate many important physiological
functions such as mood, sleep, eating, and sexual be-
havior. When these chemicals decrease and the com-
munication between the neurons is disrupted, the
message is not “passed on” properly which makes
people prone to depression. Think of this as a tele-
phone signal; when the signal is weak, you cannot
hear the other person well and when the signal is
strong, you can hear them perfectly fine.
Getting better There are two major types of therapy, bio-
chemical and psychological. Biochemical treatments
involve drugs that will help stabilize the neurotrans-
mitter imbalance, primarily with serotonin and nore-
pinephrine activity. Antidepressants are the most
common medication used to treat depression as they
help ease these imbalances. Psychological therapy
involves psychoanalysis, or what we call today the
“talk therapies”. A licensed psychologist has sessions
with the person who suffers from the disorder and
they discuss the problem and ways of overcoming it.
Uses of biochemical and psychological treatments
have proven to be more effective when combined to-
gether. While the patient takes medication to restore
the chemical balance in their brain, they can see a
therapist to talk things out so the patient is not over-
whelmed with different emotions thereby insuring
that the mind equilibrium is kept.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and sta-
tistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washing-
ton, DC: Author.
Ward, J. (2009). The student's guide to cognitive neuroscience. (2nd ed.). Psychology Press.
Lying on the Couch
“Think of it as a telephone signal;
when the signal is weak, you
cannot hear the other person well
and when the signal is strong, you
can hear them perfectly fine.”
Page 17
The study of siblings has been thoroughly
documented throughout the span of psychological
history. Many researchers have found that having a
sibling can increase the likelihood that a child will be
more developmentally well-off than a child who
doesn’t have any siblings. Research has proven that
growing up with siblings can heavily effect a child’s
emotional, social, cognitive, and mental develop-
ment. There has been research to prove that having a
sibling can be an advantage in terms of the develop-
ment of theory of mind and mental cognitions
(Lagatutta & Wellman, 2002; Lewis, Freeman, Kyri-
akidou, Maridaki-Kassataki, & Berridge, 1996;
McAlister &Peterson, 2006; Jenkins, J., Rasbash, J.,
Gass, K., & Dunn, J., 2009; Perner, Ruffman, &
Leekam, 1994), obtaining skills for peer relationships
(Youngblade & Dunn, 1995; Kitzmann, Cohen, &
Lockwood, 2002), and the development of emotional
situation knowledge (Garner, Jones, & Palmer,
1994). Sibling relationships can also provide comfort
during distressing circumstances and can have a posi-
tive impact on an aggressive child (Stormshak, Bel-
lanti, &Bierman, 1996).
My observations of my two nieces have al-
lowed me to see that the findings of those researchers
were correct. They are both around the age of 2-
years old, Caucasian, female, and have the same soci-
oeconomic status. They only differ from one another
in the fact that child A has an older brother, around 4
years of age, and child B is an only child. This differ-
ence had a great impact in the children’s lives and
has proven to be a developmental advantage to one of
the children. Child A had more intelligible and legi-
ble conversations with adults than child B and I have
also noticed that child B was much more aggressive
and troublesome to her parents than child A. I also
found that in the case of a distressing event, child A
would be comforted by her older brother, in order for
her to be mollified. Furthermore, my observations of
my two nieces and my research have allowed me to
see that sibling relationships can heavily impact a
child’s development.
How Siblings Can Provide Comfort in Dis-
tressing Circumstances
During early childhood, children spend more
time with their siblings than with their parents (Dunn,
1993). During these early stages of life or during any
stage for that matter, children typically face emotion-
ally distressing events that can cause a stage of dis-
comfort to the child. Having a sibling relationship
can lessen a child’s state of discomfort and act as a
protective barrier against emotionally distressing cir-
cumstances. For example, siblings can provide sup-
port in the face of a major life event such as the di-
vorce of their parents. There has been a study by
Deater-Deckard, Dunn, and Lussier (2002) which
proved that during the transition period of their par-
ents’ divorce, siblings’ warmth may operate as a pro-
tective factor for having a better adjustment to the
changes. It has also been found that a child, who has
a positive relationship with their older sibling, was
able to better adjust to living in a single mother
household or a complex stepfamily structure. In the
case of my two nieces, I have found that child A
would be comforted by her older brother when she
was distressed. The comfort that she received was
important in it’s own way since it can prove that the
sibling relationship is beneficial to both the child and
their older sibling.
Lying on the Couch
The Effect of Sibling Relationships in Child Development By: Adina Stavrach
Page 18
The Correlation Between Emotional Situa-
tion Knowledge and Positive Sibling Care-
giving
However, in order for the older sibling to be
able to provide support for the younger child, it has
to be assumed that the older sibling is able to pick
up on emotional cues. It is crucial for older siblings
to have the ability to focus on the emotional states of
others for their sibling caregiving behaviors to exist
(Garner, Jones, & Palmer, 1994). In order to be able
to test if emotional situation knowledge was corre-
lated to positive sibling caregiving, Garner et al.
(1994) mimicked a Strange Situation between a
mother and a sibling pair. Before the Strange Situa-
tion event started, they first had tested the older
child’s cognitive perspective-taking ability and their
emotional situation knowledge in order to prove
that there can be a correlation.
The Strange Situation session started with
the mother interacting with her children and then
having an interaction with each child separately.
Between the sessions, a stranger would walk into
the room while the mother was playing with her
children. The stranger would play with the sibling
pair while the mother was in the room. Then, the
mother would be instructed to leave the room and
the stranger would stay with her children. Before
the mother left, she would then instruct the older
child to “take care” of the younger sibling. The old-
er siblings’ “knowledge about how to care for a
younger child and emotional role-taking skills were
characteristics that [they] had to bring to the situa-
tion in order to enhance their responsiveness to the
Lying on the Couch
“This study has proved that there is, indeed,
a correlation between a younger sibling’s
distress, emotional role taking, and sibling
caregiving.”
distress of [their] younger sibling” (pg. 909). They
were able to measure the scores of the older sib-
ling’s positive caregiving by how often they provid-
ed physical comfort to the younger child and the
amount of time that the younger child was dis-
tressed. This study has proved that there is, indeed, a
correlation between a younger sibling’s distress,
emotional role taking, and sibling caregiving.
Having Older Siblings Can Advance a
Child’s Theory of Mind Development
Having an older sibling that is in tune with
emotional cues can greatly benefit the development
of the younger sibling’s understanding of emotional
and social cues as well. Through the frequent con-
text of shared pretend play, younger children with
older siblings are found to be more aware of other’s
feelings and inner states. It is also highly imperative
to note that such talk of inner states is much more
frequent between a sibling pair than between parent
and an only child (Brown, Donelan-McCall, &
Dunn, 1996). Talking about mental states can be one
of the reasons that children with older siblings show
an earlier advancement of theory of mind develop-
ment (Lewis, Freeman, Kyriakidou, Maridaki-
Kassataki, & Berridge, 1996). Theory of mind, a
theory of Piaget’s cognitive development, explains
Page 19
how young children understand that
“human behavior is guided by mental
states of belief, knowledge, memory,
and imagination that may conflict with
overt reality” (McAlister & Peterson,
2007, pg. 258). If a sibling pair were
to talk about their mental states to one
another, then the younger child would
be given the capability to understand
other’s emotional states that are differ-
ent from their own at an earlier age.
According to Piaget’s cogni-
tive development theory, most chil-
dren do not develop theory of mind
until they reach the age of 3.5-4 years
old (Shaffer, 2009, pg. 176). In order
to test if a child has theory of mind,
researchers have conducted the false belief test,
which would instruct the child to predict the behav-
ior of a protagonist in a story who have incorrect
thoughts that the other character might not have. A
study by Perner, Ruffman, and Leekam (1994) has
proven that the likelihood of passing the false belief
test can be doubled if the child has two or more sib-
lings. Another study by McAlister and Peterson
(2006) was correctly able to identify that there was
a significant correlation between children’s scores
on theory of mind tasks and the number of child-
aged siblings in their families. In addition to their
findings, they have found that “the absence of any
child siblings at all in the household is particularly
disadvantageous for theory of mind perfor-
mance” (pg. 265). Since only children do not have a
similar-aged sibling at home with them, their main
“Through sibling interactions, children
develop a sense of understanding about
themselves and relationships with others.”
Volume 2, Issue 1
locus of interaction would be with their parents.
However, they would be missing many instances of
false belief that could occur in sibling interactions
like fantasies, ignorance, disputes, and deception
(pg. 267) and the exposure to talk about feelings
and thoughts is much reduced (Jenkins et al., 2009).
Even in the event of conflict with a sibling, a young
child will still be at a developmental advantage
since conflicts call forth instructive mentalistic ex-
planations for the other’s mindset (Lagatutta &
Wellman, 2002).
How Sibling Relationships Have an Impact
on Children’s Peer Relationships
Through sibling interactions, children devel-
op a sense of understanding about themselves and
relationships with others (Brody, 1988). Through
the interactions with their siblings, these children
can gain practice of having peer relationships by
being able to gain perspective-taking skills and have
consideration of others’ feelings (Youngblade &
Dunn, 1995). There was a study conducted by Kitz-
mann, Cohen, and Lockwood (2002) to test if only
children differed from children with siblings in rela-
tion to group acceptance and friendship quality.
They measured their results by having all of the
children in the study provide information about their
siblings, group social preferences, acceptance rat-
ings amongst peers, number of friendships, friend-
ship quality, peer nominations for social behaviors,
their own self-concept, and if they considered them-
selves to be lonely. In their results, they found that
only children had significantly lower social prefer-
ence scores, lower social standing, as well as having
lower acceptance in the peer group than children
with siblings. They also found that only children’s
scores for aggressive-disruptive behaviors and pas-
sive-withdrawal were significantly higher than the
scores of children with siblings (pg. 308). To em-
phasize their point, they noted that warmth, engage-
ment, and conflict are all equally practice skills
which are relevant for being in a peer relationship.
How Sibling Relationships Have an Impact
on Aggressive Children
Page 20
Once it is acknowledged that having a sibling
can heavily impact a child’s development, it should
also be noted that the type of sibling relationship
that one has matters tremendously. There can be a
wide array of relationships which can be catego-
rized as conflictual, disinterested, supporting, or
warm. A study conducted by Stormshak, Bellanti,
and Bierman (1996) was able to pinpoint the effect
of several types of sibling relationships on aggres-
sive children. Their research brings to light that in
the case of isolated children, sibling relationships
can compensate for the decreased peer involvement.
They also have recognized that having a supportive
relationship with your sibling may increase those
children’s self-esteem, which can lead to more ef-
fective coping strategies, thus enhancing the child’s
behavioral and social competence.
They also have found that an aggressive
child in a positive sibling relationship may be able
to compensate for the lack of support from other
social stimuli, which is a significant finding because
it shows how important sibling relationships are for
those children. It should also be noted that even in a
conflictual but supportive sibling relationship, chil-
Lying on the Couch
dren are able to learn skills such as conflict negotia-
tion and pro-social skills that can be utilized in their
peer relationships. Whereas on the other hand, chil-
dren with warmer but non-conflictual relationships
with their siblings report lower levels of involve-
ment and fewer opportunities to learn negotiation
skills. They have concluded that any type of sup-
portive sibling relationship can provide “social skill
learning opportunities” which are similar to those
posited for friends (pg. 87).
How Older Siblings Can Act as Models for
Learning
In order for such pro-social skills to be ob-
tained, it is necessary for the older sibling to “teach”
their younger sibling by serving as a model for such
behavior (Whiteman et al., 2007). According to the
social learning theory, this notion of teaching is re-
ferred to as modeling and imitation. Imitation will
most likely happen when a role model possesses the
following three characteristics: power, support, and
similarity to the subject. It can be noted that an older
sibling possesses all three of those characteristics.
First, being chronologically older than a younger
sibling gives the older child a hierarchical advantage
to provide instructions for the younger child to fol-
low. Second, the older sibling is usually also sup-
portive of the younger child’s actions. Lastly, the
older sibling shares the similarity to the learner by
sharing the same environment and parents. This
Page 21
theory can explain why infants usually have learned
to carry out a simple action just by observation
without needing further instruction by their older
sibling (Barr et al., 2001). Instead of being told to
do a certain action, they learned how to imitate their
older sibling. Since younger children are able to
imitate the functions of their older siblings, they are
given a greater advantage of being successful and
better equipped for circumstances on their first try. I
have learned during my observations that the child
that grew up with an older brother, child A, appears
to be advanced in the fields of learning how to talk
and walk by the age of one whereas the child that
did not have a sibling, child B started to learn how
to talk and walk much later. It is possible to assume
that child A had learned through observation of her
older brother of how to walk and talk and by doing
so, she was able to learn through imitation; whereas
child B did not grow up with any siblings and so she
learned how to walk and talk much later.
During my observations of watching the sib-
ling pair (child A and her sibling) play, I have no-
ticed that child A would often follow what my
nephew did. She would watch him and then she
would join him. The reason why she watched him
first and then played could be that she was used to
watching him and he was used to being the older
and more dominant one. In fact, older siblings are
comfortable assuming the role of the teacher and the
younger ones are more comfortable to take on the
role as learner (Brody et al., 1982). This shows that
the two children reacted differently to the situation
because one was raised with a sibling. Even in the
situation where the teaching roles were reversed,
both first-born and second-born children found the
situation to be difficult (Recchia, Howe, & Alexan-
der, 2009).
Conclusion
It is given that many things can potentially
affect child development. When one is young, it is
easy to mold their behaviors and observations of the
“An older sibling can also
provide more opportunities for
the younger child to talk about
their mental states, thus giving
the younger child a better ad-
vantage to develop theory of
mind at an earlier age.”
Volume 2, Issue 1
world to the liking of other’s needs. If a child grew
up with a sibling, the younger sibling will most cer-
tainly follow the older sibling’s actions and doing
so will give them a greater advantage of being de-
velopmentally advanced. I have even been able to
use my observations of both a child that has sib-
lings and an only-child to determine the underlying
cause between the two different behaviors that each
child displays. It should be noted that sibling rela-
tionships have an impact on both the older child
and the younger child in the way that the older
child can strengthen their emotional cues so they
can demonstrate better caregiving skills. An older
sibling can also provide more opportunities for the
younger child to talk about his mental states, thus
giving the younger child a better advantage to de-
velop theory of mind at an earlier age. An older sib-
ling can also provide support during distressing cir-
cumstances and give the younger child a better op-
portunity to become resilient towards the upsetting
event and even subdue an aggressive child to be-
come submissive and peaceful. My observations
and what I learned from my research allowed me to
see that sibling relationships can heavily impact a
child’s development.
_________________________________________
Sources
Dunn, J. (1993). Young children’s close relationships: Beyond attachment.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Deater-Deckard, K., Dunn, J., & Lussier, G. (2002). Sibling Relationships
and Social-emotional Adjustment in Different Family Contexts. Social Devel-
opment, 11, 571-590.
Page 22
Garner, P., Jones, D., & Palmer, D. (1994). Social Cognitive Correlates of
Preschool Children’s Sibling Caregiving Behavior. Developmental Psycholo-
gy, 30, 905-911.
Brown, J., Donelan-McCall, N., & Dunn, J. (1996). Why talk about mental
states? The significance of children’s conversations with friends, siblings, and
mothers. Child Development, 67, 836-849.
Lewis, C., Freeman, N. H., Kyriakidou, C., Maridaki-Kassataki, K., & Ber-
ridge, M. D. (1996). Social influences on false belief access: Specific sibling
influences or general apprenticeship. Child Development, 67, 2930-2947.
McAlister, A., & Peterson, C. (2007). A longitudinal study of child siblings
and theory of mind development. Cognitive Development, 22, 258-270.
Shaffer, D. (2009). Social and Personality Development: Sixth Edition. Bel-
mont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Perner, J., Ruffman, T., & Leekam, S. R. (1994). Theory of mind is conta-
gious: You catch it from your sibs. Cognitive Development, 65, 1228-1238.
Jenkins, J., Rasbash, J., Gass, K., & Dunn, J. (2009). The multilevel dynamics
of sibling relationships: Influences over time. Manuscript submitted for publi-
cation.
Lagatutta, K., & Wellman, H. M. (2002). Differences in early parent-child
conversations about negative versus positive emotions. Developmental Psy-
chology, 32, 70-78.
Brody, G. (1988). Sibling relationship quality: Its causes and consequences.
Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 1-24.
Youngblade, L. M., & Dunn, J. (1995). Individual differences in young chil-
dren’s pretend play with mother and sibling: Links to relationships and under-
standing of other people’s feelings and beliefs. Child Development, 66, 1472-
1492.
Kitzmann, K. M., Cohen, R., & Lockwood, R. L. (2002). Are only children
missing out?: Comparison of the peer-related social competence of only chil-
dren and siblings. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 19, 299-316.
Stormshak, E. A., Bellanti, C. J., & Bierman, K. L. (1996). The quality of
sibling relationships and the development of social competence and behavioral
control in aggressive children. Developmental Psychology, 32, 79-89.
Whiteman, S., McHale, S., & Crouter, A. (2007). Competing processes of
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Development, 16, 642-661.
Barr, R., Hildreth, K., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2001). Making the train go: In-
fants learn from their siblings. Poster session presented at the Biennial Meet-
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Pictures:
Arbesman, Samuel. "Accidental Siblings." Wired Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 22
Nov. 2013. <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/ accidental-
siblings/>. Nicole O’Neil Photography
Shutterstock. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.shutterstock.com/
pic-56667106/stock-photo-aggression-concept-as-a-grunge-background-
art.html>.kentoh
“It should be noted that sibling
relationships have an impact on both
the older child and the younger
child...”
Lying on the Couch
Page 23
Introverts Vs. Extroverts By: Judy Tan
Personality is the core foundation defining
how one is perceived by others. Shy, outgoing,
quiet, and sociable are traits commonly used in de-
scribing others. One’s perception of another, how-
ever, may not be fully accurate, and may diverge
from the latter’s self-perception. One can predict
his or her own behavior later in life based on his or
her past behavior and reactions, which are, in part,
a product of personality. One of the more challeng-
ing personality dimensions for others to predict is
introversion vs. extroversion.
Differentiating between an introvert and an
extrovert is far more complicated than it appears.
Many do not grasp the conceptual meaning of these
opposite traits. While it is true that some demonstrate
behaviors of both introverts and extroverts, the an-
swer lies in determining which side of the spectrum
one leans more towards. Just because someone may
enjoy going to clubs or parties, he or she is not neces-
sarily an extrovert. A holistic perspective is necessary
in order to judge not only by one’s actions, but also
by how one behaves in other situations.
Extroverts enjoy social life. When meeting
new people or going out, they tend to be more interac-
tive and unafraid of communication. They are usually
the center of attention, and usually take the role of
being a leader.
Introverts, on the other hand, are on the oppo-
site end of the spectrum, at times appearing enigmatic
or extremely shy. Because introverts tend to keep to
themselves, their aura can be hard to crack. They pre-
fer being alone or with a group of close friends, and
“Some may find this rather sad, and feel
that introverts are lonely, but the reality is
that they are happier spending time by
themselves.”
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 24
Lying on the Couch
enjoy privacy. Hanging out with a large group of
people or going out to a party will usually tire an
introvert out; he or she will eventually succumb
to the urge to be alone. Some may find this ra-
ther sad, and feel that introverts are lonely, but
the reality is that they are happier spending time
by themselves. In daily interaction, introverts
stand back and observe rather than freely ex-
pressing their ideas, and usually think and re-
evaluate matters as a whole before acting.
From my own experiences speaking with
others, I know that many make the mistake of
automatically assuming they are introverts,
simply because they enjoy being alone. However,
that is not necessarily the case, and that is where
many get it wrong. Interacting with large groups of
people does not automatically make one an extro-
vert. In fact, many singers, actors, and teachers are
introverts, yet they seem to possess a grand power
performing and communicating in front of a large
audience. One may ask, how? Perhaps practice em-
powered these individuals to overcome their fear
of public speaking. I’ve heard stories from some of
my professors where they have declined a spouse’s
wish to travel simply because they
prefer staying home.
By now, I have perhaps sparked your curi-
osity; perhaps you would like to find out where
you fall on the introversion vs. extroversion spec-
trum?
If so, is a great resource to consider is the My-
ers Briggs Type Indicator, a well-known and com-
monly-used personality test.
—————————————————————--
References:
http://careergirlnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/
extrovert-v-introvert1.jpg
"My MBTI Personality Type - MBTI Basics - Extraversion or
Introversion." My MBTI Personality Type - MBTI Basics - Ex-
traversion or Introversion. The Myers Briggs Foundation, n.d.
Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
“Interacting with large groups of people does not automatically
make one an extrovert. .”
Page 25
Yogi Berra once said, “Baseball is ninety
percent mental. The other half is physical." For
those who don’t know, Yogi Berra was a major
league baseball player for the New York Yankees.
I think the famous aforementioned “Yogi-issm” is
applicable to every sport one can think of.
Now of course a major leaguer doesn’t
have to worry about such things as writing papers,
taking tests, or giving presentations like college
students. Imagine having to be preoccupied about
these things as well as playing a sport for one’s
college. A major league player just has to do one
thing, and that one thing is to perform well.
As a member of the Women’s Brooklyn Col-
lege Softball Team and as a liberal arts major, I can
attest to the fact that there’s a large psychological fac-
tor in playing a sport at a college level.
When a non-athlete observes a sporting event
such as a tennis match or a basketball game at a higher
level, it is difficult for them to truly appreciate the
physiological and psychological components that are
involved within an athlete performing a sport. Analo-
gous to Chess, an athlete must be two to three steps
literally and figuratively, ahead of their opponent. One
has to anticipate where to throw the ball to them or
how fast the runner is and which base to throw to. It’s
safe to say (pun intended) that athletes are dependent
on their ability to react to a stimulus in a minimal
Volume 2, Issue 1
The Psyche of Being a Bulldog
By: Geena Bell
Page 26
Lying on the Couch
amount of time (also known as reaction time).
Multitasking is an important element while playing
any sport. An athlete must be cognizant of what is
occurring at all times. Being able to do these things
simultaneously is vital and we have our frontal
lobe, specifically our orbitofrontal cortex to thank
for this.
Playing a sport is of a dual nature, having a
physical aspect (such as eye and hand coordina-
tion) and a psychological (mental) aspect. This
psychological aspect is just as, if not more im-
portant than it’s physical counterpart. Without our
parietal lobe (or “dorsal lobe”) we would have no
sense of sensory perception. Not only would our
judgments be impaired, an athlete would have no
awareness of their bodies. (Not to mention our oc-
cipital lobe, which allows us to see the actual ball!)
One would think that the mindset of an ath-
lete who plays on a team sport can be considered
somewhat different that that of an athlete who
plays an individual sport. Obviously, a more col-
lectivist approach exists within a team sport. Put-
ting on the same uninform as nine other people and
looking as part of a team makes a person feel im-
portant and have a sense of belonging. Not to men-
tion the fact that looking uniform and organized
can be intimidating to the other team. Appearance
plays a major role in athletics as well. Putting on
our uniforms with “Brooklyn” written across our
chest makes one feel proud of their school and
confident. As we know from Gestalt Psychology,
“the whole is greater than its parts.” A team is the
sum of its athletes, be it talent-wise or even person-
ality-wise. Likewise, a team is greater than just
each of its individual players. The strength of one
player is another player’s weakness. Each player
“The mind of an athlete at
the college level is constantly
in motion.”
on a team complements the next.
Although it may sound cliché, we must realize
that as college athletes, scholastics takes priority
over sports (as much as I hate to admit it). Sadly, I
know that my years of competitive fastpitch softball
are winding down. However, the competitive psyche
that I have retained from playing sports has helped me
in various ways. I feel that an athlete learns to be dis-
ciplined and to work hard, and eat right, and knows
that nothing comes easily. “You reap what you sow.”
For a college athlete, practice at 6:30 at night is
something to look forward to after a long day of
school. It’s nice to be able to give one’s “mind” a rest
and just forget about tomorrow's psychology test for
several hours. Don’t forget about those endorphins
too! Adrenaline (epinephrine) is secreted by the adren-
al medulla gland into the bloodstream , making an ath-
lete feel excited as they play.
In psychology, we are often taught about
memory, be it short term or long term memory. In
sports, when an athlete makes a mistake they are en-
couraged to let it go, or shake it off. Of course, making
a mistake that results in giving up the game winning
point, I would say, is a little hard to forget.
The mind of an athlete at the college level (or
higher) is constantly in motion. Being an athlete, play-
ing a sport entails much more than just being physical-
ly fit (although that is tremendously important as
well). I think athletes, especially young college ath-
letes, can learn a great deal from past players such as
Yogi Berra. This Yankee great was a real athlete who
had not only brawn, but brains as well.
In September of 2012, Brooklyn College
opened their new athletic field. Come watch your
Brooklyn Bulldogs compete on their brand new field!
See you there!
GO BULLDOGS!!
Page 27
Lying on the Couch
By: Joey Bukai
Introduction:
Alcohol addiction is a chronic disorder
characterized by the recurrent, uncontrollable con-
sumption of alcohol, development of tolerance,
symptoms of withdrawal, and relapse after periods
of withdrawal. Withdrawal from chronic and ex-
cessive alcohol consumption in humans is marked
by physical symptoms that include sweating, in-
creased heart rate, tremors, and fever, as well as by
emotional symptoms, including anxiety and de-
pression. Most symptoms are caused by an in-
creased presence of excitatory Glutamate neuro-
transmitters in the brain. The increased presence of
these excitatory neurotransmitters causes sensitivi-
ty in neurons relative to GABA neurotransmitters,
which inhibit the firing of neurons. The brain pro-
duces more Glutamate during alcohol withdrawal
in an effort to lessen the inhibitory effect of GABA
neurotransmitters, an effect consistently enhanced
during chronic alcohol consumption.
Rogers et al (1979) have utilized animal
models to more closely examine the negative ef-
fects associated with alcohol withdrawal. Findings
reveal that discontinuing exposure to addictive al-
cohol vapor causes elevations in brain-reward
thresholds in a discrete-trial intracranial self-
stimulation conducted on rats. In Intracranial self-
stimulation (ICSS), electrodes are implanted into
or near the nucleus accumbens, the area of the
brain responsible for initiating feelings of pleasure.
The rats in the study were able to activate the elec-
trodes through operation of an apparatus. The ap-
proximate number of Microamperes required to
induce responses which activate the electrodes is
called the brain-reward threshold. Elevations in the
brain-reward-threshold indicate a deficit in brain-
reward function. This deficit can be attributed to the
chronic stimulation of Dopamine receptors in the
brain activated by alcohol, known for producing feel-
ings of euphoria, as the brain develops a tolerance to
stimulation of the receptors.
The aforementioned study, however, only pro-
vides information about rats exposed to a vapor diet
of alcohol, and this study sought to examine the ef-
fects of withdrawal from a chronic liquid alcohol diet
on brain-reward function. Beside the neurobiological
effects illustrated, the emotional symptoms of with-
drawal have been shown to persist for as long as 10
years. Therefore the current study also sought to in-
vestigate this effect in rats exposed to a liquid alcohol
diet.
Materials and Methods:
Male Winstar rats were used in this experi-
ment in accordance with the NIH guidelines regarding
the principles of animal care. They were pair-matched
by weight to control for differences in weight, and
The Effects of Alcohol Withdrawal on Brain-Reward Function and
Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rats
Daria Rylkova, Hina P. Shah, Elysia Small and Adrie W. Bruinzeel
Page 28
Lying on the Couch
were fed equal amounts of calories whether they
were on the alcohol or the control diet in order to
control for variations in calorie consumption.
Brain-reward thresholds were tested for in
the experiment through the discrete-trial ICSS
threshold procedure. The procedure consisted of a
series of stimulations of varying current intensities
that were issued to test for responses by rats to re-
activate similar shocks. Thresholds for the proce-
dure were defined as the current intensity at which
the rat responded approximately 50% of the time.
Above this threshold intensity the rat would re-
spond and reactivate the stimulus more frequently,
and below it the rat would respond less frequently.
Response latencies were defined as the amount of
time it took a rat to respond, when it did.
The emotional symptoms of alcohol with-
drawal as exhibited by anxiety were examined us-
ing an elevated plus maze, an apparatus that con-
sisted of 4 “arms” produced by intersecting two
platforms just wide enough for a rat to walk on.
Two arms were walled and two arms were “open”.
The tested rat would be placed in the center, and
the number of entries - along with length of stay -
were recorded. “Anxious” rats would spend less
time on the open arms because rats feel more com-
fortable in walled spaces while less anxious rats
would stay longer.
In the first experiment, after all the rats
were trained on the ICSS procedure, the control
rats received the liquid control diet for 12 weeks
and the alcohol rats were gradually introduced to a
liquid alcohol diet of 6.2% (v/v) for the same
amount of time. However, at the end of weeks 3, 4,
5, and 12, all of the rats were put on the control diet
and ICSS thresholds with response latencies were as-
sessed. All rats were then tested on the ICSS proce-
dure again after the 12 week diet and response laten-
cies were recorded.
In the second experiment, the liquid diets were
maintained the same way, but there were no with-
drawal periods during the 12 weeks. Additionally,
ICSS thresholds and response latencies were tested
for after the 12 weeks from 6-72 hours when all rats
were on the control diet. All rats were tested in the
elevated plus maze during this period.
In the third experiment, the control rats re-
ceived the liquid control diet for 12 weeks and the
alcohol rats were gradually introduced to a liquid al-
cohol diet of 10.0% (v/v) for the same amount of
time. ICSS thresholds and response latencies were
assessed throughout the 12 weeks in order to monitor
changes in brain-reward function, and also after the
weeks from 6-72 hours when all rats were on the con-
trol diet. All rats were tested in the elevated plus maze
during this period. In order to investigate the effects
of history of alcohol addiction on the sensitivity to a
stressor, half of each group of rats was confined to a
small container and half wasn’t. After the restraint
stress was administered, all rats were tested in the ele-
vated plus maze. Following the elevated plus maze
tests, the alcohol liquid diet was reintroduced for
eight more weeks, after which it was withdrawn and
ICSS thresholds with response latencies were as-
sessed.
Results:
Experiment 1:
The first figure illustrates the average ICSS thresholds
for both the alcohol group and the control group.
. “Withdrawal from chronic and excessive alcohol consumption in humans is
marked by physical symptoms that include sweating, increased heart rate, tremors,
and fever, as well as by emotional symptoms, including anxiety and depression.”
Page 29
These thresholds, as the title indicates, mark the
“baseline” from which the brain-reward function of
the rats was examined in the following ICSS tests.
Elevated ICSS thresholds are indicative of de-
creased brain-reward function, as higher current
intensities are required to activate the reward path-
way in the rats’ brains in a pleasurable manner. In
this figure, it is apparent that the introduction of
liquid diets caused a slight but significant increase
in brain-reward thresholds. Overall, however, there
was no significant difference between the thresh-
olds of the two groups.
The second figure illustrates that there was
no significant difference between the response la-
tencies of the 2 groups as well. The third & fourth
figures respectively show after the withdrawal pe-
riod that brain-reward thresholds weren’t even
slightly different except for the last withdrawal pe-
riod and that response latencies remained similar.
Experiment #2:
The first figure shows that 12 hours after
withdrawal from the 12 weeks sustained liquid al-
cohol diet (6.2%), brain-reward thresholds of the
alcohol rats were nearly 20% higher than they were
the day before, as opposed to the control rats
whose thresholds stayed the same. This effect how-
ever, lessened with time. The second figures
demonstrates no difference in latencies (in %).
Experiment #3:
The first figure of this experiment depicts
the descent of brain reward-thresholds over the 12
week liquid diet (10.0%) period, yet shows that the
alcohol rats had significantly higher thresholds rel-
ative to the control rats. The second figure illus-
trates a similar trend with the response latencies.
The third and fourth figures respectively show that
reward thresholds and response latencies for the
alcohol rats were nearly 30% than those of the con-
trol rats. It is also apparent that the effect lasted
longer than it did in the first experiment. The fifth
histogram depicts the percentage of open arm entries,
time spent there, and number of unprotected/protected
head dips during the elevated plus maze test. The al-
cohol rats had a significantly lower percentage of all
The first figure illustrates the average ICSS thresholds for both the alcohol group and the control group. These thresholds, as the title indicates, mark the “baseline” from which the brain-reward function of the rats was examined in the following ICSS tests. Elevated ICSS thresholds are indicative of decreased brain-reward function, as higher current intensities are required to activate the reward pathway in the
rats’ brains in a pleasurable manner. In this figure, it is apparent that the introduction of liquid diets caused a slight but significant increase in brain-
reward thresholds Overall, however, there was no significant difference between the thresholds of the
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 30
Lying on the Couch
variables, especially when exposed to restraint
stress as illustrated in the sixth histogram. The fi-
nal figure shows an extreme, 40% difference be-
tween the thresholds of the alcohol rats after the 20
weeks of 10.0 % alcohol diet and a smaller differ-
ence when it came to response latencies.
Discussion:
The aim of the three experiments was to
investigate the effect of alcohol concentration in a
liquid diet and its duration of exposure on brain-
reward function and anxiety-like behavior. It was
found that withdrawal from the alcohol diets
caused a deficit in brain-reward function. Yet, this
result was present in relation to alcohol concentra-
tion and duration of administration. It is also wor-
thy to note that continual withdrawals may potenti-
ate anxiety-like behavior as demonstrated by Over-
street and colleagues, but apparently not in brain-
reward function as evidenced by figure three of the
first experiment.
In the first experiment, the alcohol group rats
were ultimately exposed to an intermittent 6.2% alco-
hol diet, and their ICSS thresholds were only margin-
ally (<10%) higher after the last withdrawal period,
indicating that a deficit in brain-reward function starts
to become apparent after prolonged exposure to an
alcohol liquid diet.
In the second experiment, the alcohol rats
were fed the same diet, but this time consistently for
the full 12-week period. As a result, the alcohol-fed
rats displayed a nearly twofold increase (<19%) in
percent elevation of brain-reward thresholds over the
control group 12 hours after withdrawal. However,
this deficit in brain-reward function almost disap-
peared over the following days, which suggests that
even with prolonged exposure to alcohol, brain-
The second figure illustrates that there was no significant difference between the re-
sponse latencies of the 2 groups as well.
The third & fourth figures respectively show after the withdrawal peri-
od that brain-reward thresholds weren’t even slightly different except for the
last withdrawal period and that response latencies remained similar.
Page 31
Volume 2, Issue 1
1. The first figure shows that 12 hours after
withdrawal from the 12 weeks sustained
liquid alcohol diet (6.2%), brain-reward
thresholds of the alcohol rats were nearly
20% higher than they were the day be-
fore, as opposed to the control rats whose
thresholds stayed the same. This effect
however, lessened with time.
2. The second figures demonstrates no dif-
ference in latencies (in %).
The first figure of this experiment depicts the de-
scent of brain reward-thresholds over the 12
week liquid diet (10.0%) period, yet shows that
the alcohol rats had significantly higher thresh-
olds relative to the control.
The second figure illustrates a similar trend with
the response latencies.
Page 32
The fifth histogram depicts the percent- age of open arm entries, time spent there, and num-ber of unprotected/protected head dips during the elevated plus maze test. The alcohol rats had a significant-ly lower percentage of all variables, especially when exposed to restraint stress as illustrated in the sixth histo-gram.
Figure 6
The third and fourth figures respectively show that reward thresholds and response latencies for the alcohol rats
were nearly 30% than those of the control rats. It is also apparent that the effect lasted longer than it did in the first
experiment.
Page 33
Volume 2, Issue 1
Lying on the Couch
reward function returns to normalcy over a short
amount of time. Response latencies and anxiety
levels were measured, but no real differences be-
tween the groups were observed.
The third experiment sought to examine the
effect of alcohol concentration on brain-reward
deficit through the administration of a 10.0% alco-
hol liquid diet, and it was found that severe deficits
developed in the alcohol-fed rats as opposed to the
control rats (Figure 1 in Exp. 3). Also, the differ-
ence between the two groups became markedly
steeper the longer the diet lasted, with the alcohol
rats exhibiting thresholds nearly 30% higher than
the control rats after 12 weeks, and almost 40%
higher after 20. These two findings indicate that
both duration of exposure and concentration of al-
cohol content in a liquid diet contribute to deficits
in brain-reward function, which can be explained
due to the constant and excessive stimulation of
Dopamine receptors in the brain. The alcohol rats
also displayed increased anxiety-lie behavior, and
even after they were withdrawn from the alcohol
diet for a while, showed increased sensitivity to
stressors. This can be explained by brain memory
which links stress to addiction in order to maintain
the addiction. Lastly, although the response laten-
cies did change markedly in the third experiment,
they weren’t related to reward thresholds, as some-
times thresholds were elevated while latencies were
not. The elevated latencies might also be due to the
sedative effects of constant alcohol consumption.
Conclusion:
The findings indicate that withdrawal from
prolonged exposure to an increased concentration of
10.0% (v/v) alcohol in a liquid diet leads to signifi-
cant deficit in brain-reward function, and immediate
and protracted anxiety-like behavior in rats. When the
concentration was lower (6.2%), the deficit in reward
was less pronounced and anxiety was barely in-
creased.
Works Cited:
Adrie Bruijnzeel, et al. "Deficit In Brain Reward Function And Acute And Protracted Anxiety-Like Behavior After Discontinuation Of A Chronic Alcohol Liquid Diet In Rats." Psychopharmacology 203.3
(2009): 629-640. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 May 2013.
Overstreet, David H., Darin J. Knapp, and George R. Breese. "Pharmacological Modulation Of Repeated Ethanol Withdrawal-Induced Anxiety-Like Behavior Differs In Alcohol-Preferring P And Sprague–Dawley Rats." Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior 81.1
(2005): 122-130. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 May 2013.
Rogers J, Wiener SG, Bloom FE (1979) Long-term ethanol ad-
ministration methods for rats: advantages of inhalation over intu-
bation or liquid diets. Behav Neural Biol 27:466–486
Page 34
Page 35
Introductory Thoughts: For those of you who are interested in a ca-
reer in psychology, the following brief overview
might be helpful. It’s heavily based on Professor
Miles’ bi-annual talk on graduate school options,
but I’ve noticed that even people who attended the
talk are still in need of clarification concerning the
graduate application process.
There are two aspects to the
field of psychology: research and appli-
cation. Put differently, it’s both the pro-
gressive research and the clinical aspect
of applying that research to patient care,
which constitutes the discipline. Within
the research domain, the topics of re-
search are extensive and varied. Some
that come to mind are creativity, cogni-
tion, behavior, emotion, memory, pathology, per-
ception, and many more. If you’re interested in the
research aspect, you would be spending your career
in a lab, generating and testing hypotheses. The
clinical component has many options as well; you
can work in a hospital, prison, school, or in a pri-
vate practice. Some graduate programs focus exclu-
sively on one aspect and some on both, to varying
degrees.
A Breakdown of the Broad Categories of Schooling Available:
What follows is a spectrum of programs
ranging from pure research to pure clinical work:
PhD Programs
PhD Programs are research-based and mul-
tifaceted. PhD students are expected to work in a
research lab, doing their own independent projects
that culminate in a dissertation which is presented
to a board. Only after
properly defending one’s dissertation can a student
“graduate” a PhD program. PhD programs also in-
clude a clinical component, but to varying degrees.
Some are equally focused on both research and pa-
tient care, but others hardly focus on the latter at
all. If you’re interested in attending a PhD pro-
gram, you will need to do a lot of research to find
the one that’s best for you. These pro-
grams typically take between 6 and 7
years to complete. Upon completion,
you are a Doctor of Psychology.
This does not mean that you are
a licensed psychologist who can see pa-
tients; it means you are qualified to con-
duct research. In order to become a psy-
chologist who can own a private prac-
tice, you would have to sit for the licens-
ing exam. If you passed, you would then be a psy-
chologist and a researcher. People often do not re-
alize that these are two entirely separate things.
So, what if you want to sit for the licensing
exam, but are not interested in the research aspect
at all. Can you just take the exam?
The simple answer is, no. The test is only
administered to those who are deemed to have had
adequate exposure to and possess knowledge of
practical psychology. So what can you do to quali-
fy and prepare yourself for the exam without hav-
ing to get a PhD? Fear not, for you have many op-
tions!
.PsyD Programs
The PsyD program was created to put a
stronger emphasis on clinical work than most PhD
programs have. To this end, PsyD programs are
shorter than PhD programs (only 5 years) and are
Lying on the Couch
Choosing a Graduate School By: Sara Babad
Page 36
heavily research-based, although there is some re-
search component. You are required to do an exten-
sive amount of supervised clinical work, but you do
not need to defend a dissertation on original re-
search if you get a PsyD. Additionally, you can sit
for the licensing exam and become a licensed psy-
chologist. If you’re interested in working with peo-
ple and not research, this is an excellent option. You
won’t get to have the title of doctor, but that’s the
only difference between PhD and PsyD when it
comes to being a psychologist. This option does in-
clude some research, so if you absolutely hate the
idea of research, read on because there are options
for you too!
MHC Programs
A Masters in Mental Health Counseling
(MHC) is a 2 year (roughly 60 credits) program that
focuses only on clinical work. You graduate with a
Masters in Mental Health Counseling, but are then
required to do 1-2 years of supervised work. After
that, you can prepare for the licensing exam that
would allow you to be a clinician who can own a
private practice and see patients. Clinically, there is
nothing a PhD or PsyD can do that a MHC can’t.
The drawback to this program is that you are not a
doctor of psychology. Also, you are not as well
trained to work with severely pathological popula-
tions as you would be if you were in a PsyD or PhD
program. Instead, you would mostly work with pa-
tients who have anxiety or depression.
MSW Programs
The third option for those interested in a ca-
reer in psychology is to become a licensed Social
Worker (LSW). It is comprised of a 2 year (45 cred-
its) Masters program, plus 1 year of supervised
work. After completion of courses, you sit for an
exam and can become a licensed social worker.
These programs are much easier to get into that
PhD, PsyD, or MHC programs. The drawbacks to
this kind of program are that you’re not a doctor, and
you aren’t going to be working with people who have
serious mental disorders. You will probably not even
be working with people with anxiety and depression.
You would be a caseworker dealing mostly with so-
cial issues, like foster care, adoption, and poverty.
However, this is only a technicality. If you’re very
good at what you do, people won’t really notice the
alphabet soup after your name (but don’t quote me on
that).
Concluding Thoughts: I hope this has been helpful in informing you
of your options. I’m an undergraduate student just
like you and therefore don’t know everything, but
this information has been helpful to me. It’s not all
there is to know though, so be sure to do more re-
search of your own.
There’s just one thing you need to keep in
mind. Before you start applying to graduate schools,
be it one with masters, PsyD, PhD, or social work
programs, it’s important to know what you are look-
ing to do after graduate school. Students often forget
that graduate school is only a means to an end, not an
end unto itself. The goal of graduate school is not to
be in graduate school for the rest of your life. The
goal is to prepare yourself for a career that will inter-
est and excite you. When you’re looking into pro-
grams, you need to ask yourself what you want to do
and if that particular program will help get you there.
To conclude, it’s important to consider where you
want to go after graduate school before you even ap-
ply.
—————————————————————
Special thanks to Professor Miles for her bi-annual
discussion on graduate school options and to Profes-
sor Hainline for her guidance.
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 37
Hello, my name is Samuel Salamon. I’m a
first-time contributor to Lying on the Couch, and a
long time (in student years) affiliate of our beloved
Brooklyn College. I graduated from Brooklyn Col-
lege in the February of 2013, with a Bachelor of Arts
in psychology. I have gone through the trials and
tribulations that are specially afforded to us students,
with the aim of attaining a doctoral degree in clinical
psychology. Now that I am closer to the end of the
application process, I have decided to reflect on the
admissions process as a whole in an effort to better
guide those who wish to pursue this particular spe-
cialization in the near future.
Before delving into the details of the process,
it is important to reflect on several important mat-
ters: 1) Do you really want to pursue a doctoral de-
gree in clinical psychology? I know that sounds
basic and trivial, but I think everyone would benefit
from giving a matter of such magnitude the courtesy
of serious thought. 2) Okay, so you want to pursue a
doctoral degree in psychology, but which sort of de-
gree is best suited for you? Are you strictly interest-
ed in applied clinical psychology, in which case a
PsyD may be more fitting? Or perhaps you are inter-
ested in both the research and applied components of
clinical psychology, in which
case the PhD route may be your best option? This
question too is important to reflect upon. 3) Lastly,
do you know which areas of practice and/or re-
search you are interested in pursuing? While this
question may be less pressing than the previous
two, it nonetheless needs to be determined before
the application process begins (for reasons that will
be specified later).
Okay, it’s time to take a breather. I perfectly
understand what it’s like to face these questions
head-on, and I also know of the anxiety that may
follow from the mere thought of these questions
alone. Hang in there. You’ll be fine.
Are you ready?
Let’s continue. Assuming that you are now
settled in which type of clinical program you would
like to attend (if any), you now have to consider the
supplementary materials that are necessary to have
on-hand for the application process. First and fore-
most, you must set aside for yourself a sizable
amount of time to study for the GRE general test,
and if applicable, the subject test as well (testing
requirements vary from program to program, so be
sure to ascertain this information as soon as you
know which programs you are interested in attend-
ing). The GRE’s should not be taken lightly, so
please plan accordingly.
The next annoyance that is critical to the ap-
plication process is the crafting of a well thought-
out and refined personal statement. One of the de-
tails that is not very well known before constructing
a personal statement is the necessity to research the
faculty profiles of the faculty members of the pro-
gram you would like to attend. This is especially
important when applying to PhD programs, as most
of them function on a mentorship model with a fac-
Lying on the Couch
So You Want to Be a Clinical Researcher/Psychologist? By: Samuel Salamon
ulty member who has similar clinical interests (PsyD
programs are far less oriented toward mentorship
models of training, so this bit is not very important if
that is your chosen route). It is also a prospective stu-
dent pro-tip to contact faculty members via email di-
rectly before writing your personal statement. This
way, you can determine as to whether your desired
mentor is accepting any students for your incoming
semester (again, a point more relevant for PhD pro-
grams than PsyD programs). If a professor that you
would like to work with is accepting students, then
be sure mention their names in your personal state-
ment. However, if it so happens that there are no fac-
ulty members who share your interests (or if there
are, but they are not accepting new students), then
you may want to seriously consider looking into oth-
er programs.
The final annoyance is finding three profes-
sors/research advisors/clinical supervisors to write
letters of recommendation for you. This should be
done as soon as possible, since the last thing you
want is a pissed-off professor who is pressed for time
to write a letter of recommendation on your behalf.
Be cordial. Provide your recommenders with all the
proper materials they may need, such as pre-
addressed envelopes (if the institution you are apply-
ing to still requires physical submissions, **cough**,
Yeshiva University), your CV, and even an unofficial
copy of your transcript(s). Also, be sure that the per-
sons you choose to request these letters from know
you in a relatively personal capacity, and can attest to
your ability to become a good clinician, researcher,
or both (program pending).
Okay, now for the easy (-ier) stuff. The final
component of the application process is to always
keep on top of your transcripts, online applications
(don’t forget your usernames and passwords!), and
GRE scores. Unfortunately, sending transcripts and
GRE scores can be costly, especially on top of appli-
cation fees. But alas, this is a necessary evil … or so
we’re told. This pretty much summarizes a large por-
tion of the process, but be sure to be wary of the
quirky requirements of some programs. On occasion,
you will encounter a program that requires infor-
mation or materials that aren’t required by others,
such as the need for two transcripts from every at-
tended institution (I don’t really understand this poli-
cy – perhaps they anticipate losing at least one copy
somewhere down the line), or the submission of other
program-specific documentation.
I do hope that this article serves to help my
fellow aspiring researchers and clinicians. If you
have any questions, or are interested in a template for
a CV, please feel free to contact me at:
_______________________________________ Sources:
Kaplan. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://gre.kaptest.com/2013/09/27/ gre
-social-media-round-up-what-you-might-be-missing/>.
Lying on the Couch
Page 38
“One of the details that is not very well
known before constructing a personal
statement is the necessity to research the
faculty profiles of the faculty members of
the program you would like to attend. “
Page 39
How did you prepare for graduate school? (Internships, volunteering, ex-aminations, etc.)
I took a fairly atypical path to Psychology
graduate school. My background, at first, was not in
Psychology, but rather in International Studies and
Public Relations. After working in the communica-
tions industry for three years, I came to the graduate
application process lacking the appropriate qualifica-
tions for the PhD programs of my choice. So, I en-
rolled in the necessary pre-requisites for the Masters
in Experimental Psychology program at Brooklyn
College. While I would caution anyone against jump-
ing into a Master’s degree just for the sake of staying
in school, I made the program work for me. The key
was to use the two-year period to update my GPA,
build relationships (read: recommendations) with
professors, refocus myself academically, and get re-
search experience, which is utterly necessary for
most PhD programs. Without having research experi-
ence your application is lightweight—traditional PhD
training is research training, so they want to know
that you at least know what it is you are getting your-
self into before they offer you free schooling and a
stipend for five years.
Reaching out to possible advisors and profes-
sors cannot be underestimated. Most of the time,
when you apply to PhD programs you are actually
applying to work with a professor who will serve as
your advisor. Having been told this fact, I reached
out via emails to the professors with whom I wanted
to work, asking them about their research, possible
future work, and whether or not they were actually
accepting graduate students for the year in which I
was applying. Their responses were helpful. I found
out that two professors were going on sabbatical that
year and that one already had his maximum of grad-
uate students. Knowing this information meant that I
could update my expectations about being accepted
into those programs: the professors you apply to lob-
by to get students when the acceptance committees
meet, so if they are away on sabbatical or have never
heard of you your chances of being considered grow
dimmer.
I also learned a few more pragmatic lessons
from my experience. First, I applied to too few
schools—only six—and was fortunate to gain admit-
tance to one of them; do not make my mistake. Sec-
ond, I found out how expensive the process was. Ap-
plications average around $75, and sending out 12-
15 of them plus transcripts, GREs, and visiting cam-
puses meant that the entire process could cost sever-
al thousand dollars. I have known people to take out
loans to afford this process; this is a steep initial in-
vestment so it is crucial to do it right the first time.
What is graduate school like? Graduate school is different for different peo-
ple, and I can only really speak about the experi-
mental PhD route; but on the whole, graduate school
requires you to manage yourself. Without a doubt
Lying on the Couch
Interview with a Graduate Student: Kevonte M. Mitchell in the
Doctoral Program: Cognition, Brain and Behavior at
The Graduate Center - CUNY By: Irena Pergjika
The CUNY Graduate Center is located at 365 Fifth Av-
enue, between 34th and 35th Streets.
Page 40
Lying on the Couch
advisors will vary, some are more overbearing, while
some more lax. But the work only gets done when
you do it, and unlike many 9-5 jobs, you really do not
have a manager hovering over you. So you could find
yourself wasting a whole semester without achieving
anything of substance if you are not vigilant.
There are three main components of a re-
search graduate program: academics, research, and
teaching. The academic part involves taking the re-
quired program courses. This part is challenging as
good graduate courses demand different skills from
those you may have thought were important in under-
grad. In undergrad many students drive themselves
insane devising ways to memorize facts and beat
tests and exams in a way that guarantees the holy
“A.” Good graduate programs are not about memo-
rizing facts, but about getting you to become a criti-
cal thinker. In science, that means understanding that
there are no right answers, only well-supported and
less-supported ideas. Learning how to think about the
world as a bundle of questions with uncertain an-
swers gets you in the correct mindset to be a scientist.
Graduate school course content matters for technical
classes such as statistics, but it is the practice in criti-
cal thinking that matters for all other classes. That is
to say, you will not learn how to be a cognitive psy-
chologist from a graduate Cognitive Psychology
course. You must do that on your own. That course
will, however, give you the opportunity to practice
your critical thinking skills using the topics of cogni-
tive psychology. The implication is nuanced, but in-
structive.
A passed down saying among professors is:
My advisor in grad school told me that if I was mak-
ing straight “A’s,” then I wasn’t doing enough re-
search. This saying illustrates the break from under-
graduate’s fixation on GPA and the graduate school
focus on research skills. Academic research training
sets the PhD apart from other degrees and is the foun-
dation of traditional programs. That means, in the
words of my advisor, if you did not do any research
this week, then what did you do?
Here is a hint, there is no acceptable answer;
you should always be doing research. Whether you
are improving your scholarly skills by reading fifty
papers in a topic, improving your writing skills by
typing up the method section of a possible publica-
tion, or brainstorming experiments for a theory that
you would like to test, you need to always be doing
research. Research gives you results. Results give
you something to interpret. Interpretations lead to
publications. Publications are the currency of aca-
demia..
However, an often overlooked and unappreci-
ated part of graduate school is teaching. My opinion
on the subject may jibe with others, but I find the
pedagogy aspect of graduate school as central to be-
ing a proper scholar. Different programs offer differ-
ent teaching requirements, but I suggest that every-
one experience teaching. Understanding how others
understand can not only teach you about yourself, but
can also contribute to the quality of intellectual de-
bate in any community. Doing research in your own
little corner of the world is nice, but if that
knowledge is not passed on to the next generations,
then it has done little to advance mankind. But do not
have any illusions about it, teaching is difficult, a lot
of work, and you will most likely be awful at it when
you start.
In the end, graduate school becomes a balance
between checking the administrative boxes (i.e., re-
quired courses, minimum GPA, theses), actually
learning how to do good science and maintaining the
“Learning how to think about the world as a bundle of questions with
uncertain answers gets you in the correct mindset to be a scientist.”
Page 41
pedagogical practice that built the higher learning
system.
What are your goals after your com-pletion of graduate school?
My professional goals after competing grad-
uate school are typical: gain employment using the
skills that I have acquired and making a difference
in both the academic and public communities.
Do you have any advice to pass on to undergraduate students? My advice would be to always keep in mind
the reality of life after graduate school. Graduate
school is not an end unto itself. It is training in skills
that are central to a few career paths. Getting a PhD
just so that you can call yourself a doctor, or simply
to avoid the workforce may turn out to be an expen-
sive decision. Getting a PhD usually means that you
have aims to join a specific work sector: academia
or research. If you are not interested in becoming a
professor or a full-time researcher, then you should
reconsider the PhD route. If you want to do psycho-
therapy, then understand that there are other, less
expensive and quicker routes to that practice. The
costs of obtaining a PhD should not be overlooked.
Most experimental PhD programs are covered by
your fellowship, but limited funds at public univer-
sities may mean that you are forced to take out
loans to supplement your stipend and maintain your
lifestyle. There are also opportunity costs. The five
to seven year period you spend attaining a PhD
means that many years fewer of professional-world
experience, earnings, and savings. You may very
well find yourself emerging from your program in
your mid- to late-twenties with increased education-
al debt, little savings, and no professional industry
experience.
Volume 2, Issue 1
This point about earnings flows directly into
another pragmatic point: keep in mind the difficulty
of making a PhD “pay off.” If you want to be a pro-
fessor, you should know that post-doctorate experi-
ence is usually required and that full-time professor
positions are in short supply. A post-doc is employ-
ment that you arrange after you have received your
PhD. These arrangements are contractual. They may
last for one year or just a few. The pay is competi-
tive with some mid-level jobs in industry and they
may provide health insurance, but they do not pay
into retirement plans. Key to understanding the func-
tion of the post-doc is knowing why most graduate
students need to do it—they do not have enough re-
search publications or experience to warrant a full-
time professorship. Some new graduates spend two
years at post-docs and then secure a position, others
may spend up to ten years hopping around between
contracts. Another common path to becoming a pro-
fessor is through adjunct work. Out of 1.5 million
higher education faculty in the United States, 1 mil-
lion of them are adjuncts. Adjuncts, as opposed to
full-time professors, are employed under short-term
contracts, usually with no retirement benefits and no
employer healthcare. These positions are teaching
posts where you may find that the work load makes it
difficult to do enough research to get enough publi-
cations to look competitive for full-time professor-
ships.
I do not want to sound bleak, but it is im-
portant that those considering graduate school—
especially a PhD—to do so with a clearer under-
standing of the decision they undertake.
_________________________________________
Sources:
Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Graduate_Center,_June_2013.jpg>.
“Understanding how others understand can not only teach you about yourself,
but can also contribute to the quality of intellectual debate in any community.”
Page 42
Lying on the Couch
Patient Description: Right handed; 55 year old
man; overweight; history of smoking; no regular
exercise.
Case History: Following a major snow storm, pa-
tient was shoveling his driveway while alone at
home on a Saturday morning. After an hour of
shoveling, he felt light-headed and fell to the
ground. The patient then stood up and walked to-
wards his house. His right leg was weak and he
had a difficult time walking. He realized that he
could not control his right leg or his right arm. The
patient made his way into the house, looked down,
and realized he was still gripping the shovel with
his right hand. The patient could not release the
shovel. He pulled the shovel out of his right hand
with his left hand, which he could control.
The patient fell to the ground again, and
then crawled to the bathroom. He lay on the floor
until his high school age son came home. He
could look up at his son, but he could not speak.
His son called for an ambulance and the patient
was taken to the hospital.
What neurological condition caused the problem?
What areas of his brain were affected and which
were not affected?
Hints:
- problems with right side of his body
- tried to move (conscious intention) but couldn't
voluntarily control movement
- still had strong grip strength with right hand
- couldn't talk
Answer:
Neurological condition: Stroke (reduced
blood supply to brain area, resulted in neural damage,
resulted in sudden onset of symptoms)
Affected brain areas:
- frontal lobe (execution and control of voluntary
movements).
- left side of brain (problems with right side of body,
problems with speech production)
- primary motor cortex not affected (still able to send
signals to hand to grip shovel)
- damage to the Supplementary Motor Area which
disrupts processing for internally generated move-
ment, and sequences of movements.
- Disrupted system for initiation of voluntary move-
ment: signals to striatum (caudate nucleus and puta-
men), to globus pallidus, to ventral lateral nucleus pars
oralis of thalamus (VLo), and back to frontal lobe.
To learn more about neuropsychology, take Human
Neuropsychology (PSYC 3680)
A Neuropsychological Case Study: Test your Diagnostic Skills
“What neurological condition
caused the problem?”
Page 43
Lying on the Couch
Diagnose a TV Character: Michael Scott from The Office By: Zaki Akam
Many of us know Steve Carrel as the one
and only Michael Scott of the television show,
“The Office.” In the show, Michael is the Regional
Manager at the Scranton Branch of a paper distri-
bution company called Dunder Mifflin. Michael
Scott comes from a childhood defined by loneli-
ness, exemplified at one point when he tells his ex-
lover’s child that she will be able to live without a
father figure because he did so as a child. At the
end of his stint on the show, Scott proposes to Hol-
ly Flax, a co-worker. His blend of bounce and spir-
it makes him one of the most entertaining and in-
teresting characters to follow on television. Yet,
what most people do not consider is the possibility
that Michael Scott suffers from an Axis II diagno-
sis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), Narcis-
sistic Personality Disorder is characterized by a re-
peated pattern of grandiosity in fantasy or in behavior,
a constant need for appreciation, and a lack of empa-
thy that has its onset early in adulthood and is present
in various contexts.
More specifically, to be diagnosed with Nar-
cissistic Personality Disorder, a person must exhibit
five or more of the following symptoms:
1) A grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. exag-
gerates achievements and talents or expects to be
recognized as superior without commensurate
achievements).
2) Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success,
power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3) A belief that he or she is “special” or unique and
can only be understood by, or should only associ-
ate with, other special or high-status people (or
institutions).
4) A need for excessive admiration.
5) A sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expecta-
tions of especially favorable treatment or automat-
ic compliance with his or her expectations.
6) Interpersonal exploitation (e.g. when one takes
advantage of others to achieve his or her own
ends).
7) A lack of empathy, i.e., the unwillingness to rec-
ognize or identify with the feelings and needs of
others.
“...what most people do not consider is the
possibility that Michael Scott suffers from an Axis
II diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.”
Page 44
Lying on the Couch
8) An envy of others or the belief that others are
envious of him or her.
9) Arrogant or haughty behavior.
Examining these criteria closely, it is not
hard to see that the case of Michael Scott meets at
least five of these symptoms. His grandiose per-
sonality is made explicit in everything from his
“World’s Best Boss” coffee mug to his general
manner around the office. Further, it is not difficult
to see Michael Scott persistently caught up in
thoughts of fantasy - whether they are about suc-
cess or having a perfect love for whomever his
love interest is at that time, most notably Holly
whom he leaves the show with. Next, Michael
Scott always looks for uncalled admiration from
others. A great example is when Angela’s cat,
Sprinkles, passes away and Scott pretends to cry
just to divert the office’s attention away from her
and towards him.
This example of behavior exhibits two ad-
ditional criteria. Scott pretends to cry to attract at-
tention to himself primarily because he cannot feel
others’ pain, or in other words, he lacks empathy. At
the same time, he makes it seem as if he is empathetic
towards Angela, thus displaying interpersonal exploi-
tation. Since the description of Narcissistic Personali-
ty Disorder is so relevant to him, Michael Scott may
be a candidate for the diagnosis of this Axis II disor-
der.
Relative to Axis I, which lists clinical disor-
ders rather than personality disorders or intellectual
disabilities as in Axis II, Michael Scott would be di-
agnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disor-
der. This disorder is characterized by his impulsive
inattention to detail, difficulty organizing tasks, for-
getfulness, careless blundering, and frequent distrac-
tion by external cues. Based on Axis II, however,
Narcissistic Personality Disorder would be diagnosed,
as described earlier. Relative to Axis III, Michael
Scott does not have any apparent medical conditions
that are potentially relevant. When it comes to Axis
IV, which lists environmental factors, stresses relating
to work with co-workers, such as Dwight, and the
stress of turning out successful earning reports to the
CEO are sometimes evident. Additionally, relation-
ship stress is apparent, such as when Scott has to do a
testimony for Jan, his boss. Looking at Axis V, Mi-
chael Scott’s Global Assessment of Functioning rat-
ing would be high, possibly around 85-90 out of 100,
since his everyday functioning is still relatively good.
—————————————————————--
Image References:
http://www.supercoloring.com/wp-content/main/2010_04/
looking-in-the-mirror-coloring-page.jpg
http://www-deadline-com.vimg.net/wp-content/
uploads/2011/08/steve-carell110825211915-275x275.jpg
“Scott pretends to cry to attract attention to himself primarily because he
cannot feel others’ pain, or in other words, lacks empathy.”
Page 45
Lying on the Couch
The film A Beautiful Mind (2001) is
a drama portraying the life of the American mathe-
matical genius, John Nash Junior, who was born in
1938. The film is loosely based on his biography
and focuses on John’s mathematical genius togeth-
er with his schizophrenia. At the start, John’s
struggles to come up with a truly original idea lead
him to discover many concepts regarding game
theory, or strategic decision making, as well as no-
tions involving other mathematical disciplines.
Later in his life, a chance code-breaking opportuni-
ty from the government engenders a developing
madness in John, leading him to become obsessive,
paranoid, and ultimately schizophrenic. The film
touches on John’s struggle to maintain dignity and
a sound logical mind throughout the battle with his
degenerative mental illness. His efforts are later
recognized when he wins the 1994 Nobel Memori-
al Prize in Economic Sciences.
The film begins as John, played by Russell
Crowe, attends a reception where it is revealed that
he is one of the two students who have won a pres-
tigious scholarship to Princeton University. At the re-
ception, he meets many fellow students, two of whom
are Martin Hansen (who also won the scholarship) and
Richard Sol. John later goes to his room and makes
acquaintance with his eccentric roommate, Charles
Herman.
John’s problems begin when he becomes
stressed over publishing a paper. Despite the urgency
of coming up with something, he is adamant about on-
ly publishing a truly original idea. He admits to
Charles that he does not have any close relationships
with anybody because people do not like him, claim-
ing that he would only feel like he mattered if he were
to distinguish himself by thinking up something origi-
nal. This was why, he explained, he had focused all of
his energy on his work instead of on building interper-
sonal relationships. While working tirelessly, he ob-
served and analyzed the movements of many different
things from a flock of birds to a mugging. After his
original idea got rejected, he reacted by hitting his
head on the glass window in a fit of rage and self-
loathing. Charles then helps John feel better by throw-
ing John’s desk out the window, letting the work pa-
pers fly and freeing him of the burden.
John finally came across an original idea while
at a bar. Martin Hansen had quoted Adam Smith’s,
“every man for himself”, while strategizing about how
to beat his friends in a competition to win over a
blonde girl. Inspiration then struck John while he was
arguing. He suddenly realized that a cooperative ap-
A Beautiful Mind: A Plot Analysis Through the Lens of
Schizophrenia
By: Miriam Feintuch
“Richard. Sol peeks his head out of
his door wondering whom John is
yelling at.. ”
Page 46
Lying on the Couch
proach would increase the chances of success. The
camera then shows the viewer that whenever John
would recognize mathematical patterns, as in this
instance, the patterns would light up. As a result of
his findings, he is offered a position at MIT. At
MIT, John is not stimulated and considers his
teaching job a waste of his own time as well as the
students’. He seems apathetic towards his students,
which is characterized by his missing classes and
giving his students unsolvable problems.
A few years later, John is invited to The
Pentagon to crack an encrypted enemy telecommu-
nication. He cracks the code mentally, with the
correct pattern illuminating in a huge board of
numbers. He notices a man standing above the
group and asks who “big brother” is, but nobody
answers because they do not see anyone there.
John later meets the man and is pleased to take on
assignments from “big brother” William Parcher.
His assignments include looking at magazines and
recognizing secret enemy codes hidden within
them. John saw random patterns that stood out to
him. He would map out the patterns in a disarray
of papers strewn around his office.
As John’s life progresses, he meets and
falls in love with his wife, Alicia, played by Jen-
nifer Connelly. He also meets Marcee, Charles’s
niece. Charles and Marcee never seem to interact
with anyone except John. On a night out with
Parcher, John becomes increasingly paranoid after
witnessing a shootout between Parcher and Soviet
agents. John experiences stress from this, but does
not open up to his wife, creating distance between
them. The next day, Parcher visits John and ex-
plains to him how it is normal to feel some fear of
everyday loud noises after a traumatic event like
that. John wants to quit but Parcher blackmails
him, threatening to rat him out to the Soviets. John
then calls out for Parcher, while Richard Sol peeks his
head out of his door, wondering whom John is yelling
at. The camera also shows that the security guard was
not aware that Parcher was there.
While giving a guest lecture at Harvard, a
group of foreign agents begin to chase him. John tries
to run away and punches Dr. Rosen, the psychiatrist
who is the leader of the group. John does this because
he is convinced that Dr. Rosen is a Soviet enemy. Dr.
Rosen then decides that John has schizophrenia.
The diagnosis of schizophrenia in this instance
makes sense because of a combination of different
characteristics John exhibited. The criteria for schizo-
phrenia in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Sta-
tistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) requires
two or more of the following symptoms persisting for
at least one month: “delusions, hallucinations, disor-
ganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic be-
havior, and or negative symptoms, with one of them
having to be of the first three.” The first signs of
John’s schizophrenia included his social withdrawal,
and his admission that he did not like people. He also
experienced the visual and auditory hallucinations of
Charles, Parcher, and Marcee. His lit-up visualization
of patterns could possibly be labeled as a hallucina-
tion, but it may also be a symptom of an attention defi-
ciency, as is demonstrated when he finds irrelevant
patters in the magazines for his assignments. John also
experiences aberrant thinking, with delusions of either
persecution or paranoia, when he thinks the Soviets
are out to get him. He does not seem to have episodes
of depression or mania, which consequently rules out
the diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar dis-
order with psychotic features, and major depression.
“The diagnosis of schizophrenia in this instance makes sense because of a
combination of different characteristics John exhibited.”
Page 47
For a diagnosis of schizophrenia, there has
to be a significant decrease in daily functioning
after its onset. This is especially demonstrated by
the events that happen after John is hospitalized. It
takes a lot of effort, but Alicia confronts John
about the unopened and unmoved confidential let-
ters that he sends the government for Parcher’s as-
signments. He is given a course of insulin shock
therapy and then released. He cannot go back to
work while the medications are keeping his hallu-
cinations at bay, because his mind is dulled and he
is not able to work on math. As a result of his in-
creasing unhappiness with the negative side effects
of the medication, he secretly stops taking them
and has a relapse. He is still convinced that Parch-
er, Charles, and Marcee are real. John believes that
his decrease in function at work was due to his
medication and not directly due to his schizophre-
nia. Unbeknownst to him, his schizophrenia would
cause far worse problems in the future.
After John accidentally endangers his son
and wife because of his hallucinations, Alicia be-
gins to drive away from him. This was his lowest
point, where he could not even function as a hus-
band or father. However, John runs outside and stops
her by saying,, “she never gets old”- referring to Mar-
cee, one of his delusions. This marks the first time that
John realizes that although he experiences Charles,
Marcee, and Parcher, they are not real. As a result of
his breakthrough, John decides against Dr. Rosen’s
advice to him that he be medicated. He does this in
order try to combat his schizophrenia through rational-
ization - by convincing himself that the hallucinations
are not real.
John attempts to integrate back into society
through library work and class auditing. He gets these
positions with the help of his old friend and rival,
Martin Hansen - the head of the Princeton Mathemat-
ics Department. As the years pass, John learns to ig-
nore the hallucinations and becomes a teacher, this
time enjoying the privilege after his humbling experi-
ences.
In 1994, John is honored by his fellow profes-
sors for his mathematical achievements and goes on to
win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. The
movie ends as John and Alicia leave the auditorium
while he sees Charles, Marcee, and Parcher watching
him.
“The first signs of John’s schizophrenia included his social
withdrawal, and his admission that he did not like people.”
“John learns to ignore the
hallucinations and becomes a
teacher, this time enjoying the
privilege after his humbling
experiences.”
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 48
Lying on the Couch
New York
City’s A subway-line is
not unfamiliar to me. I
grew up commuting via
the “A” from Brooklyn
to my high school in
the Bronx, and nowa-
days I take the train up
to the Columbia Uni-
versity Medical Center,
where I am a research
assistant. I always keep
my eyes half-focused
on passengers traveling
with me, as subway-
riders in New York
City are full of uninten-
tional idiosyncrasies.
It was 10:00am on a Monday morning, and
I crossed my right leg over my left knee, bringing
the book I was reading closer to my face; the light-
ing of the train was grimy – this train was one of
the old ones. The doors rang with their familiar
ding as they closed. A young African-American
man- he couldn’t be older than 23- entered the
train and immediately caught my attention. He re-
minded me of a party goer returning from an all-
night excursion in a downtown warehouse rave on
an early Sunday morning. He was dressed in a
flimsy Michael Jackson military-jacket which was
a size too small for him (the sleeves weren’t quite
long enough). His shabby wool pants and tattered
black dress shoes looked like he had found his “get
up” in a church choir’s dumpster. I caught a whiff
of stale body odor as he swept passed me.
I didn’t bother to raise my eyebrows, as he
was no more peculiar that the attractive, overtired
Mediterranean woman sleeping several seats from
where he sat. He began rummaging furiously
through a plastic bag
for (I listened closely
to his mumbled curs-
ing) his batteries. He
slid the low voltage D
batteries into a small
boom box and loos-
ened his shoulders. He
stood up and spun
around at us train rid-
ers.
“What time is it?” he
called out with luke-
warm enthusiasm.
“Show time.”
The A train is
not the best place to perform in the hopes of earning
cash: the weary travelers are interested only in exiting
the train as soon as possible. A performer, to them, is
as interesting as the “Gold for Cash” advertisements
that adorn the train-cars’ walls.
“Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough,” by Mi-
chael Jackson rang out from the boom box at an ambi-
ent volume. While most performers have a mixtape
with the exciting parts of the songs they want to
groove to, this guy began his song from 0:00. For
those who are unfamiliar with this MJ tune, the excit-
ing part of the song begins at 1:12. I raised my eye-
brows and gave a peculiar glare at the performer who
Melt Down on the Subway Train
By: Yaakov Bressler
“He began rummaging furiously
through a plastic bag for (I listened
closely to his mumbled cursing) his
batteries.”
Page 49
was violating the sanctity of my public space with-
out regarding the unwritten bylaws of train danc-
ing.
In addition to the previous violation, as
soon as his dance was done, he shut his music off.
This infraction left his performance in an awkward
silence, a poor approach to an audience of critical
judges.
His poor dancing and lack of enthusiasm
further detracted from his performance. MJ’s
famed moonwalk was also absent from his act.
Needless to say, the unimpressed audience be-
stowed him no cash. I searched my wallet, feeling
both guilty and empathetic; to my dismay, I had
only a $20 bill – and there was no way I would ask
this guy for change. He sulked his way around the
car, upset about his act’s poor earnings. Once he
returned to his start point, he slammed his foot
down dangerously close to his music machine. He
angrily cursed aloud. Twice.
“What a terrible performance,” he spat out
as he grabbed his belongings and dashed from the
train car. This was odd. How often did one see a
train performer so bad? One who realizes this dur-
ing his performance? How about one that gets an-
gry about it? Equipped with a cool subway story, I
reopened my book and carried on.
After a few minutes of uneventful travel-
ing, the familiar unpleasant smell of body odor was
upon me. “What time is it?!” asked a hyped up
train performer, a boom box held close in hand.
“Show time!” he cried out, a smile adorned his
face. MJ’s familiar tune rang out from the music
machine as he took a stand in the center of the train
car.
This was interesting! How often would a bad
performer, enraged with poor earnings, return for a
second shot? Would he redeem himself and earn a
spot in the unwelcoming hearts of his audience?
He danced energetically, but something was
off. His moves were lethargic, as if he were forcing
himself to dance. His act was slightly longer than be-
fore, a possible new approach to the hearts of his audi-
ence. But again, his act ended suddenly with sharp si-
lence – his music had been shut off. He may have
done a good job with his, now rehearsed, dance act.
But New Yorkers are not known for their gracing of
second chances and the performer was rewarded,
again, with nothing. Forced to the brink of humility,
he sat down and propped his head in his hands, a mel-
ancholic mood emanating from his seat, opposite
mine.
Within the next fifteen seconds, everything
changed. The performer sat up straight with tense rig-
idness. He clenched his teeth with angry despair, his
face contorted into a grimace, clawing the air with his
fingers.
I immediately snapped to attention, my New
York awareness a step ahead of my consciousness. A
slow hiss emerged from his lips; it was an infuriated
groan. Once his lungs were empty, he inhaled deeply
and yelled at the top of his lungs:
“RWOOAAAAWRHH!!” His body stiffened into a
rod as his voice bellowed throughout the subway car. I
blinked my eyes, and stared. This was becoming
frightening. He cursed again, his infuriation filling the
subway car with an unspoken threat. He roared again
“A ripple of fear resonated throughout the train – the man was on track for a
battery-induced attack at one of us!”
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 50
Lying on the Couch
and jumped to his feet! He swiveled a horrific glare
at a terrified audience, the veins on his neck bulging
with poisonous rage. He yelled as he jumped a full
vertical foot into the air and landed with a smash
atop his treasured music machine (which contained
his precious batteries)! His batteries – released from
their imprisoned device, rolled freely around the
floor of the subway train. “GIVE! MEEE! MYY!
BHAAA-TER-RIES!!”
A ripple of fear resonated throughout the train – the
man was on track for a battery-induced attack at one
of us! He shouted again and clawed his head with
his fingers; harsh red scratches formed on his face.
Goodness! He then bit down on his lip and spat,
smearing saliva and blood on his grimacing face. He
sneered and cursed as he dove with an outstretched
arm beneath the seat where the Mediterranean wom-
an was seating, and viciously grabbed his lost bat-
tery. Alarmed, she jumped to her feet to the other
side of the car, distancing herself from the man as
the crazed performer continued bellowing and claw-
ing his skin.
Before I knew it, the train doors opened with
an all-too-pleasant ding. I, along with the 25 other
passengers on the train car, fled the scene into neigh-
boring cars, calling out warnings to future travelers
as we made our ways. The Mediterranean woman
gave me a nod and said in her foreign voice, “He is
crazy – I am worried.” I nodded silently, my nerves
still shocked from the scene I had just witnessed.
A blink later, I found myself retelling this
episode to a friend, mentor, and boss of mine who
has a master’s degree in social work and has spent
several years working with the addict-population of
the South Bronx. After I had finished my story with
a note of distress, she assured me that leaving the
scene was the best course of action. “You have to
stay away from the crazy people. There’s nothing
you can do.” In response to my persistent demand-
ing as to what the public is doing to help such indi-
viduals, she replied in a perturbed tone, “On that
subway ride, between the stops he melted down on,
you passed over a dozen public assistant agencies
that are FREE that this guy could’ve gone to and re-
ceived immunization, HIV testing, help with his ad-
diction [his diagnoses was complete], a free meal, a
bed to sleep in AND a metro card with two free
rides! There is plenty of help he could’ve gotten!”
Feeling humbled, I asked, “So there’s nothing I
should’ve done?” This led into a detailed discussion
of the responsibilities of a license-holder.
I feel like the episode I witnessed needs to be
shared. Not for amusement purposes, because after
his second performance, the episode became violent-
ly horrid. Rather, it should be shared for the ethical
question it raises. Should I not have given the drug
crazed performer $5 once his fury subsided (or if I
knew it would begin – before he melted down) or
should I let him deal with the crushing reality of his
addiction?
“Alarmed, she jumped to her feet to
the other side of the car, distancing
herself from the man as the crazed
performer continued bellowing and
clawing his skin.”
Picture from: www.railfanwindow.com
Page 51
Lying on the Couch
Every drive alone in my car is an oppor-
tunity for a personal Karaoke session. I immediate-
ly turn on the radio, tune into my favorite station,
and sing along as if I
were a contestant on
American Idol about
to take home the
winning prize. Dur-
ing one October day
drive, “Give Your
Heart a Break” by
Demi Lovato began
to play. I immediate-
ly closed the win-
dows, turned the ra-
dio up, and began to
belt out the lyrics. I
was alone in my own
personal Karaoke
room and was the
only one who could
hear myself sing –
this gave me the utmost of confidence to sing my
heart out. In her song, Demi sings, “I don’t want to
break your heart.” I noticed, however, that instead
of singing the original lyrics as they were intended
to be, I sang, “I don’t want to ache your heart.”
Analyzing Demi’s lyrics carefully, one can-
not literally “break” another’s heart. Therefore in
the context of this song, Demi is using figurative
language when she specifically refers to the
“breaking” of ones heart. As I have learned in
PSYC 3540 (Psychology of Language), in the
“Non-Literal Language Processing” chapter, Demi
is in fact stating her point using an idiom– an ex-
pression, which exists in a certain language or cul-
ture, that one simply needs to have learned in order
to understand. It is stated by Psycholinguists that
idioms can either be learned in a decomposable or
non-decomposable manner. If an idiom is decom-
posable, one can learn it’s meaning by simply
breaking down the expression into its component
words and figuring it out from there. In contrast, if an
idiom is non-decomposable, breaking down the ex-
pression into its component words cannot learn the
meaning. Rather, this
meaning must be explic-
itly told to you. To
“break” a heart, as Demi
states, is an example of a
decomposable idiom
because anybody who
speaks the English lan-
guage can derive the
meaning just by break-
ing down the expression.
By imagining the non-
literal concept of a
“broken” heart, one can
assume the expression
has something to do
with emotional distress.
It is also stated by Psy-
cholinguists that unlike
non-decomposable idioms, decomposable idioms con-
tain an element of syntactic and lexical flexibility –
meaning that you can change the word order of the
idiom or substitute a certain word with its synonym,
respectively, and the meaning will still be understood
the same exact way as it was before.
When I said “I don’t want to ache your heart”
rather than “I don’t want to break your heart” when I
was belting out to Demi’s # 1 hit shows that I substi-
tuted the word “break” with a synonym, “ache.” In
this idiom, both words have a somewhat similar mean-
ing when combined with the word heart.
Whether you state, “I don’t want to ache your
heart” or I “don’t want to break your heart”, they both
mean that you don’t want to cause anybody any sad-
ness. This not only proves that Demi is using a decom-
posable idiom in her music but furthermore, my ut-
tered error reinforces the idea that decomposable idi-
oms are indeed lexically flexible..
By: Albert A. Mitta
Achy Breaky Heart:
A Psycholinguistic Interpretation
Page 52
Lying on the Couch
Disclaimer to reader: Everything in this piece is
verbatim to the writer’s diary. The subject wishes
to remain anonymous.
Patient was eighteen years old when these
entries were documented. Patient’s treating diagno-
ses in 2002 were, according to the DSM IV-TR:
Dysthymic Disorder (300.4), Social Phobia (Social
Anxiety Disorder) (300.23), Obsessive-
Compulsive Disorder (300.3) in a Borderline Per-
sonality Disorder (301.83) with a Learning Disa-
bility (Not otherwise Specified) (315.9)
(Generalized Anxiety Disorder).
Re Dysthymia: Depressed mood for 2+
years, irregular sleep, episodic anhedonia, and dif-
ficulty concentrating.
Re Anxiety: Obsessional pre-occupations,
and psychogenic headaches and pains.
Re BPD: Pre-occupied with death, suicidal
threatening, risk-taking behavior, poor affect toler-
ance, impaired reality testing under stress.
The purpose of this article is to present the
point of view of the patient in regards to psychothera-
py and life. Much of the time, articles are written by
researchers and the data collected somehow loses its
authenticity, caused by a gap created between suffer-
ers and researchers.
March, 2000 (Age 18) I am really ready to stab myself with that sharp
metal piece. I don’t care if I die right now. This is a
sick life I have. Why do I have to be different? No one
can accept that I am different.
Dr. M. and I talked about the time I listened to
a Metallica song, and I got a headache. Dr. M. said it’s
because I’m angry at the people who caused me to be
created and have required me to do the impossible
with keeping the religion.
I felt like blaming my mother and reminding
her that she shouldn’t have had such a big family. I
felt like taking it out on my mother, but my mother has
been working so hard in buying a new house. So then I
didn’t feel like blaming it on her.
Dr. M. said that I perpetuate my own depres-
sion by programming my mind to be that way. I mag-
nify my issues by obsessing about them and make
them a bigger deal than they are. The depression
comes as a result of my sickness, which is also why I
obsess. Dr. M. said that sometimes I use the depres-
sion as a cop-out to not do anything, besides for the
fact that when you’re depressed, you don’t feel like
doing anything. When I come to the point of killing
myself, during a depressed state, it’s because I allow
myself to become absorbed in the depression. If I
wouldn’t allow the depression to take over me, maybe
I wouldn’t come to want to kill myself.
Beyond the Mind: Diary of a Sufferer
By: Rivkah Rosenberger
Picture by: Rivkah Rosenberger
Page 53
There are three things that bring on my pri-
mary depression, said Dr. M. One: I get headaches
when I become absorbed in learning or excited
about something. Two: I can’t get control over my
sex life. I don’t have a girl and I don’t feel I could
have a relationship with a girl. Dr. M. suggested
this is because I am too scared that I won’t be able
to satisfy her and that she’s pretty and better than
me. Three: I can’t think clearly about religion.
Four: I obsess a lot because of my OCD, and when
I doubt things, my doubts make me frustrated and
hopeless because they take control of me. Five: I
start to doubt whether I am going through anything
at all and if I am sick.
All of these things cause me frustration
and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness; I
start to feel depressed. When I dwell on the depres-
sion by thinking about it, it’s secondary depression
that I bring on myself for self-pity. Whenever I
take it out on my mother- that’s secondary.
(Presently, I don’t think it’s profound of Dr. M. to
say these things.)
Is the reason I am so angry with my mother
because she goes around as if there’s nothing
wrong with me, and that I picked up on that kind of
behavior? All I want is for her to accept me and
respect me. I try to earn her respect. She keeps on
avoiding the negativity because it’s too painful for
her. She told me that she feels it’s too painful to
consider me sick. I keep feeling that she doesn’t
respect me. I guess it’s because she’s expecting me
to be like everyone else, like a normal person. I
was on the subway and I saw some people I knew.
They asked me what I was doing. I told them that I
have a learning disability that makes it hard for me
to process information. They said I didn’t seem to
have that problem when I spoke with them, since I
didn’t have that problem processing what they were
saying at the moment. They said everyone has trouble
processing info. So I saw that these people probably
have the same or similar problem as me, and they are
doing fine with their work in computer school. I start-
ed to obsess: Maybe I don’t really have these prob-
lems? Maybe I am slowing myself down with learning
in believing I have a learning disability and requiring
less of myself? Maybe I should require more of my-
self. (It’s hard to determine what I have because it’s
not like a strep test where it comes out positive or neg-
ative.)
Dr. M. said I do get more nervous than the av-
erage person. I think about the GED, and I worry I
might not pass it and might forget the material. So I
feel like I have to keep going over it or I’ll forget it.
It’s one thing to go over it, but to constantly feel I
must to go over it isn’t normal. My teacher tells me
that I should go over the material so that I won’t forget
it, because the test is three weeks away. But I can’t go
over everything. Thinking that I have to go over eve-
rything stresses me out and then I don’t know what to
do with myself. There are times I feel calm after feel-
ing nervous, and I don’t accept feeling calm because I
don’t feel like it’s the real me….so I revert to the
stressful thought process of worrying. Sometimes I
feel like I don’t feel like worrying, but I think it’s the
medication.
April, 2000 (Age 18) Today I felt like killing myself. I started pictur-
ing myself bleeding, and then imagined my father
found me. I was depressed because I am worrying so
“Compared to all of his patients and
friends, I have a really bad case of
anxiety disorder.”
“Psychotherapy has made me focus
too much on my problems and they
feel even harder to deal with, even
impossible.”
Volume 2, Issue 1
Lying on the Couch
great.
I read a book called “Obsessive Compulsive
Disorders”. It talks about how there are some people
for whom behavioral therapy might not work. For ex-
ample, someone who has low tolerance for frustration
and doesn’t have patience for the hard work involved
in the process of behavioral therapy, which can take
up to six to eight months. I don’t have the patience for
that, especially since I don’t see any progress. After a
week, if my anxiety has not decreased, I want to go
further. If I felt I could get some quicker relief, then I
would have the motivation to continue.
I can’t stand when a man loves a woman. They
want to have a family. Before you can blink they have
kids. The kids have to take responsibility for their
lives. Problem is: The kids didn’t ask for the responsi-
bility. Nobody asked them. It’s not a fair deal. I am
stuck because I don’t feel it’s fair that just because my
parents had me come into this world, I have to take
much about school and tests. I realize that the exer-
cises that Dr. M. gave me only help when I have
something else for my mind to focus on. In school,
I could ask myself: what does it matter if I fail the
test? Then I focus back on the work. But when I’m
bored, this cognitive exercise just doesn’t work.
I’m through with life. I get so frustrated
that I go crazy. When I start obsessing, I can’t take
it. Life is too freakin’ hard. It really is confusing
because Dr. M. said I have OCD and severe anxie-
ty disorder. All my friends don’t think it’s a big
deal, as my learning disability teacher said, “Take
your stress and put it on a shelf and forget about
it”. It seems as though I’m easily persuaded—I
start doubting my problem is real even though my
doctor said it is. When I start to believe I have a
problem, I get so angry about it, that I escape my
anger by doubting whether I have OCD at all.
September, 2000 (Age 18)
I went to Dr. M today. He clarified some-
thing about my OCD. Compared to all of his pa-
tients and friends, I have a really bad case of anxie-
ty disorder. My doubting results from my anger
over having OCD. I protect myself by doubting
whether I have this problem or not.
January, 2001 (Age 18) I feel that psychotherapy has really screwed
me over. My OCD is worse. My depression is
much worse. I’m even worrying that my suicidal
thinking was caused by psychotherapy. I think it
was. I didn’t have it before. Before, all I had was
depression. I don’t think I have been helped. If an-
ything, I am more into the anxiety and depression.
Psychotherapy has made me focus too much on my
problems and they feel even harder to deal with,
even impossible. I don’t know what to do. Now I
have a new worry. That’s freakin’
Page 54
“When I come to the point of killing myself, during a depressed state, it’s
because I allow myself to become absorbed in the depression.”
Image by: Joyce Vincent
Page 55
responsibility. I don’t want to because I didn’t ask
for it, and nobody asked me. And I am angry that I
have it against my will. I refuse to take responsibil-
ity for my life, but I won’t kill myself because I
don’t want my family to suffer. So instead, I will
start smoking and taking drugs to cut my life short.
I will get my money from my savings and I will
not go ahead and get myself a job or get all crazy
about it. I am in a big mess. I don’t want responsi-
bility and I have no tolerance for stress and will
never have, because I hate stress. I like to just re-
lax. Besides, I didn’t create the problem of me be-
ing in this world. I want to die now and nobody
has the right to stop me. I am miserable. I think I
will cut down my visits to Dr. M. to once a week
because I don’t want to work on myself at all.
I like the anger. It feels good. It gives me
pleasure. I guess that is its nature. It just makes you
feel good, and when you’re happy, you’d rather be
happy than sad. And when I’m upset, I’d rather
remain upset than happy. Whenever I’m feeling
happy, I realize it isn’t that great, because then I
have to worry about whether my pot smoking in-
terferes with my medication. I start to get anxious
whether it does. I’d rather not worry about it and
continue to enjoy myself.
If I decided to live life instead of being self
-destructive, it doesn’t mean I have to be involved
in a way that I have a job and decide to go through the
stress of getting a job. I could choose living without
stress. I could kill time by drumming, smoking and
bicycle-riding, all the things I enjoy doing besides for
working—which I don’t like. I wouldn’t enjoy the
benefits of working because I’d be too overwhelmed
with the associated stress. In general, I am reluctant to
relax. It’s as if I feel comfortable being anxious, so
that I could be excused from responsibility. But the
reason I want to be excused in the first place, was be-
cause it really was overwhelming when I considered
taking a job.
I feel it’s possible that there is a god in the
world but he’s out to get us to make our lives as miser-
able as possible. He must get a kick out of making our
existence hell on Earth. Not for everyone though.
Some people have it good. But a lot of people suffer.
All of my emotions skyrocket: anger, fear. All
my emotions reach a point where my mind cannot
handle it anymore. It gets too intense. I get a headache
or I wind up not feeling or being aware of these emo-
tional responses. I get too involved. I guess it’s the
OCD that renders me unable to regulate the intensity
of my emotions, overwhelming my mind. Whatever it
is that prevents emotions swinging to extremes seem
to not be functioning. My emotions are exaggerated to
a degree that I just can’t handle them.
I may not look like I’m overreacting, but I sure
do feel it.
“I can’t stand when a man loves
a woman. They want to have a
family. Before you can blink they
have kids. The kids have to take
responsibility for their lives. Prob-
lem is: The kids didn’t ask for the
responsibility.” “So instead, I will start smoking
and taking drugs to cut my life
short. I will get my money from my
savings and I will not go ahead and
get myself a job or get all crazy
about it..”
Volume 2, Issue 1
Page 56
Lying on the Couch
I have diminished the light inside of myself
Through all I have been through
Years of torture which kept my heart pris-
oner
Merely for hope and a brighter future
I have taken out the love from underneath
my feet
I am now an empty shell
Who forgot how to feel
As I look at my reflection I only see my
former humanity
The psychology behind fear is thin and
shallow
No body really understands where it comes
from
I just have a feeling that time is all it takes
To get back the one thing you will always
miss
Now, something has changed in me
I think I am starting to remember how to be
human again
Maybe one day I will find my way back
But that's the day I don't want to be apart
of, cause being human is the saddest reflec-
tion you can ever have
Saddest Reflection
By: Rodshel Ustayev
“I just have a feeling that time is all it
takes
To get back the one thing you
will always miss”
Picture by: Rivkah Rosenberger