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iNTRO

Many // 30+ years old

2nd: you/your/yours/yourself or yourselves

3rd: they+/them+/their+/theirs+/theirself+ or theirselves

3rd: xen/xeno/xenos/xenoself or xenoselves

ABOUT

We* are a schizogenic OSDD 1B “traumaendo” dreamway system. We* have SzPD, StPD and PPD and are here to help others by sharing our* own experience and knowledge with the years of research we* have done.

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Do you think it's correct to divide school shooters into two categorizes like Peter Langman has done? psychopathic and psychotic?

-🦑

hello, my squid friend 🦑 thank you for your question and your time.

i don’t think it’s necessarily incorrect to categorize. in psychology, we have a tendency to categorize behaviors into classes; i think it’s often for organizational purposes, but those classes are often based on human judgement and opinion, which is always biased (no matter how hard you try). even if you were to feed this information into a computer, a human still has to lay out the perimeters…therefore still making it biased. but the categorization helps us generalize behavioral patterns. the thing about personality and behavior is that it’s so fluid, it’s hard to “capture” them correctly.

with that being said, i think dr. langman is a powerful mind and i respect his opinions because he’s done the work. this does not mean i need to agree with him all the time!

his definition of “psychotic rampage”: “unlike the traumatized shooters, the psychotic shooter came from stable homes with no history of abuse. they had schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, including schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder.” he classifies dylan klebold in this categories…i highly, highly disagree with this. dylan, in my opinion, didn’t show any signs of schizotypy.

his thoughts on dylan, which i'll break down in two parts:

first, he states that the condition of this category is that the shooter did not come from an unstable home. i already struggle to accept sue as a reliable narrator; not because i think she is a bad person or anything, but because her perspective is obviously heavily biased. that's not something she can help. however, there were a few signs in her own book that point us toward the home being relatively unstable. they kicked out byron after he was caught with weed. sue and dylan had at least one physical confrontation that we know of. according to dylan's diversion documents, the family yells at each other when there's conflict and he's out of touch with his older brother, byron. dylan was never pushed to attend counseling or seek any sort of treatment when his family acknowledge he suffers with anger and loneliness.

peter langman remarks that these small traits in dylan's behavior mark him as "schizotypal," and therefore, a "psychotic" type. here's the thing: dylan's "neologisms" and words that don't exist, his poor grammer, etc. don't strike me as someone with borderline schizophrenia. dave claims that dylan was a bright young man but...he was literally a teenage boy with bad grammar. sure, he was in the gifted and talented program, but that never translated beyond his youth. he was more interested in working with his hands than putting numbers to paper. as he grew older, dylan stopped paying attention in class because he was not interested. he had no interest in trying or succeeding. i don't think he has any jumbled speech or weird narratives that say "SCHIZO!" no, to me, these are the writings of a mid-level intelligence teenage boy. no offense? furthermore, the "jumbled language" and neologisms are few and far between in his writings. the major reference dave makes is "being a god" or being "godlike"

here's a little gaming history tidbit: it was popularized by gamers in the 1990s to say "i'm feeling godlike" whenever they hit a winning streak. eric and dylan were both heavy video gamers. coincidence? maybe? just maybe?? i mean, they were known to adopt bits and pieces of things they enjoyed and apply it into their own lives ("going NBK" being a reference to their favorite movie, natural born killers, for example).

the other part that gets me:

how many times do i have to say it. how many times have i said it? dylan klebold more than likely suffered from ocd. here's another fun example.

"paranoia" is an anxiety-symptom, born out of ocd...which is, you guessed it, an anxiety-based disorder.

his fear of being persecuted by God is...whoa, whoa, whoa...A SYMPTOM OF OCD.

dylan was raised in a religious household. we do know that much. he actually went to church events with zack heckler from time to time, so we know he was involved with religion to some degree. dylan writes in his journal about masturbation and how he's trying to quit because he feels it will boost morally cleanse him:

"My humanity has a foot fetish & bondage extreme liking. I try to thwart it sometimes to no effect. Yet the masturbation has stopped."

i know, funny, foot fetish haha. but seriously. he references "his humanity," or the form of himself that he has disassociated from. he had gotten to the point that he was so upset, so disappointed with himself, that he was separating what he felt was him from the physical actions his body made every day. dissociation is a very common symptom of many emotional disorders. this does not mean he was schizotypal.

i'm just going to reiterate it: OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD.

i have preached it a million times over and over. the more we over look small behavioral patterns in favor of major, major diagnoses (psycopathy and schizotypy), the more we risk losing intervening at the right time.

read this post i made about why he's just plain wrong about eric being a psychopath. i don't want to keep rambling.

long story short: i see where he is coming from with categorizing dylan. he's a brilliant psychologist and i definitely can see, from his perspective, how he could theorize schizotypy for dylan. for myself, however, it just doesn't seem feasible.

so, to answer your question in short: i don't think categorizing behavior is wrong, but it's very difficult to do right because of the inherent biases we, as humans, researchers, and mental health professional, will always hold. i think it's correct in psychology to create these categories and conduct this kind of research but it is oh-so goddamn important that we do it right!

thank you again for your question. i am happy to serve here as our resident mental health professional. if you're ever curious about more, send me an ask! always happy to rant.

Okay, hi. So, I was scrolling through someone's blog (maybe yours?) and thought I needed to send them an ask but I forgot and now I'm not sure if you were the one I wanted to send the ask or not so maybe this ask will feel random? You can ignore it if you want.

Okay so, I speak a few languages. Most of the time they are well organized in my brain. My native language (french) comes first when I need to think or if I want to speak with someone who speaks french. Then, if I need to use English (I'm almost fluent) I can switch easily. But when my mental health is declining, when I going through a hard time, I'm losing some of my ability to speak french and english takes the power. It's almost like English becomes my native language. I think in English, I find it easier to speak in english than in french (sometimes I'm unable to speak in french, I can only speak English). Sometimes I don't notice that I'm not speaking in French but in English. Or I'm doing a mix of both languages. I'm speaking more than two languages but I'm keeping it simple because it's hard enough to explain what's goin' on with two languages. Anyway, I wanted to know if you ever heard of that and if you had articles about it? I've done some research but I can't find anything. Maybe it's because I can't formulate a correct request to Google. Thank you for your time.

Hi there! Sorry for the late response!

So first off, I want to say that I have had similar experiences. I think it's related to how different languages involve different pathways in the brain, and there can be physical or mental barriers involved in disorganization, that cause it to be easier to speak one language than another, or to mix them up. There was recently a discussion on the schizotypy discord I run, about how several people experience being more disorganized in one language than another, and so on.

Similarly, it's not an uncommon experience to be unable to speak while still being able to type/write, for example. So I think it comes down to how different ways of expressing yourself not only feel different, but sometimes use different pathways and parts of the brain.

I don't know if there's much in the ways of articles about different languages in relation to disorganization, but I know that the neurological community finds some interest in looking at how damage to the brain can affect different languages differently, and why that might be so. I found an article about it here if you're interested in that angle:

https://behavioralandbrainfunctions.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-9081-5-17

In any case, you are definitely not alone with this type of experience!

Edit: I thought this an ask to @schizosupport , that's why I immediately started talking about disorganisation. I'm sure it extends much beyond that, though. For instance, for a while as a youth when I was getting drunk regularly my different stages of drunk was accompanied by different languages. Native language - essentially sober. Then came English, which was cringe but at least mostly everyone understands. Then German, which was more cringe, more broken, and less understood. And if I got drunk enough I would be happily blabbering in Japanese as if others were supposed to know what I was saying. I don't know what was up with that.

Point of it all being, languages and how they are accessed and stored is pretty complex, and I think it makes sense that various mental health struggles or other effects on the brain/mind can influence how well we are accessing any which language at any which time.

Was wondering if you had anything on the crossover of ADHD - Schizotypal Personality Disoreder - Autism Spectrum Disorder?

I know you've posted those diagrams of adhd and autism, but I don't think I've seen Schizotypal stuff with the overlapping diagram. I'm curious because I almost got diagnosed with Schizotypal but my therapist was like "Nah she autistic" (maybe even with adhd but regardless) and I just wanna know what the overlaps are between shizotypal to ASD and shizotypal to ADHD

I could only find one study talking about this. But I’m not sure if it will make sense due to it being a professional scientific study. Here is the abstract:

Previous research has suggested that there may be overlap between schizophrenia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The relationship between schizotypal personality traits, ADHD features and polymorphisms was evaluated in dopamine-related genes. Thirty-one healthy, Caucasian men completed the Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cognitions (RISC) and the ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS). Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met, dopamine receptors of the D3 type (DRD3) Ser9Gly, DRD4 variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), and SLC6A3 VNTR polymorphisms were analyzed. RISC score was correlated with ASRS score (r = 0.54, P = 0.003). COMT Met homozygotes had higher ASRS scores than Val homozygotes (P = 0.005). These findings are consistent with evidence of overlap between schizophrenia and ADHD and support an involvement of COMT genotype in ADHD features.

I hope this makes some sense. There does seem to be a connection from what if read.

I hope this helps answer your question. Thank you for the inbox. Have a wonderful day/night. ♥️

The type of Schizotypy I have got going on could either be considered as having an odd amount of positive symptoms or as me having Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective Disorder (Pre-morbid Schizotypal Personality Disorder). But I personally have never seen anything informational about Schizophrenia with pre-morbid Schizotypal PD that doesn’t erase the interpersonal conflicts and whatnot that come with having a personality disorder, so I just go ahead and continue on with saying it’s Schizotypal Personality Disorder but with a lot of psychosis! Because that somehow makes more sense to my case and conveys a more correct image than saying Schizophrenia since Schizophrenia doesn’t come with personality disorder traits. IMHO, it appears to me like being on the borderline of accepting a Schizophrenia diagnosis. I’m walking on the shore and dodging the waves that would make it impossible to avoid that diagnosis being forced onto me. I do have 3 Schizophrenia diagnoses from hospitals, but I have multiple Schizotypal Personality Disorder diagnoses as well. I would nod if someone told me I had a less common presentation of Schizophrenia, and I would nod if someone told me that my Schizotypal Personality Disorder was on the severe end, starting to blur lines with Schizophrenia. Mild Schizophrenia with personality disorder symptoms or severe Schizotypal Personality Disorder or both or something we can’t really put a label on, being well-fitted for the subject? Take your pick.

finally bothered to look up exactly what alterhuman means and ohhhh thats really fucking cool. because like i have DID and the host + many other alters are some type of nonhuman, but we also wonder sometimes if it ind of overlaps into otherkin territory, but also theres a degree of schizotypy at play too with certain stuff (although so far im not seeing that included but i do whatever i want). so a label that can encompass all of that is very neat. gives a funny little mechanical v sign

Palbociclib-induced autophagy plays a new pro-survival role simply by boosting up-regulation of intra-cellular ferritin expression in intense lymphoblastic leukemia

METHODS: 14 cats presented regarding chronic bronchial illness along with full bronchoalveolar lavage liquid as well as barometric entire body plethysmography files ended up recognized. Pet cats have been retrospectively used on eosinophilic bronchitis as well as non-eosinophilic respiratory disease organizations judging by bronchoalveolar lavage water eosinophil portion (tolerance 17%). Throat responsiveness had been #Link# quantified through determining your energy carbachol-inducing bronchoconstriction (C-Penh-300), understood to be any 300% increase associated with basal superior temporarily halt (Penh). RESULTS: Firewood Penh ended up being significantly larger and C-Penh-300 considerably reduced eosinophilic respiratory disease felines in comparison to non-eosinophilic bronchitis #Link# felines (P=0.031 and also P=0.032, respectively). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid eosinophil portion had been somewhat associated along with firewood Penh (P=0.012, r=0.80) and also demonstrated an inadequate inverse correlation with C-Penh-300 (P=0.047, r=0.59). CLINICAL Relevance: This research provides loyal proof of a new connection among throat eosinophilic inflammation and also plethysmographic procedures associated with bronchoconstriction and throat responsiveness. Additional exploration in the utilization of barometric whole body plethysmography to tell apart among varieties of continual bronchial ailment throughout pet cats is suggested.The hyperbenthos regarding 2 saltmarsh streams in Fluff Tropical isle, Dublin, Munster had been experienced to measure their factor for the bigger trophic technique of the lagoon. Your brown shrimp Crangon crangon (M.) centered in terms of equally large quantity as well as bio-mass. Just about all types shown designated seasons along with spatial variability which has been shown within the quotations with regard to creation, especially from the vales pertaining to slow change in biomass (delta B) as well as fatality rate (Mirielle). The most important benefits to generation were by simply C. crangon along with the banks crab Carcinus maenas, (D.) and to a lesser extent by simply Palaeomonetes varians (Leach) although the true ratios varied in accordance with the method used to estimate generation. Overall method manufacturing by the hyperbenthos within the streams has been around 20 kJ michael(-2) b(-1). The particular info associated with hyperbenthic manufacturing was negligible regarding overall technique energy transfer in order to Dublin Bay, nevertheless it might enjoy an important role inside the saltmarsh creeks' baby's room perform and also trophic transfers.Patients using schizophrenia will often statement odd encounter illusions whenever looking at on their own within the reflection; such experiences have already been designed because anomalous self-experiences which can be familiar with any different a higher level depersonalization. Throughout adolescence, anomalous self-experiences can even be an indication of elevated danger to formulate schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Thus far even so, the particular Mirror-Gazing check (MGT), a great experimentally confirmed try things out to guage the particular inclination #Link# of peculiar deal with dreams within nonclinical along with scientific adults, offers not yet been investigated in an teen taste. The 1st purpose of the current examine would have been to take a look at experimentally caused self-face illusions in the nonclinical test involving young people, while using MGT. The second objective ended up being check out whether or not size of young feature schizotypy had been differentially linked to phenomena coming throughout the MGT. A hundred as well as ten local community adolescents (59 male) previous through 14 for you to Nineteen many years (mean age group Equates to 07.

Important Posts About Mental Illnesses & Disabilities:

if you want your post added or removed, please message me!

Redefining NPD words

Co-morbidities in disorders

Weaponizing empathy

About “NPD abuse”

About the word “sociopath”

Disability pride month PSA

Disabilities and “faking”

Important PSA about stigmatizing paranoia and psychosis

Support people with Cluster B PDs

Not having empathy/compassion is not a bad thing

“Narcissist abuse” and emotional abuse

Ways to distract yourself from a hallucination

Don’t encourage the delusion

Narcissists and healthy relationships

Casual ableism in posts

Stop using mental illnesses as adjectives

Things to say instead of “narcissist”

Respect disabled and mentally ill people

Define schizophrenia

Fighting for schizophrenia

Fun fact about NPD!

Doctors are ableist too

Hypersexuality is a trauma response

Ppl with mental illnesses and neurodivergencies always know better than professionals

Why we don’t equate “narcissistic” with “abusive”

NPD symptoms

Leave mentally ill people alone

About trauma

Disabled people deserve wheelchairs

Therapists can be shit

For psychotics who need to be sure people aren’t in their houses

reminder for narcissists

compulsive lying

About narcissists abuse

Neurodivergencies

What taking things literally is really like

Basic respect for cane users

Misusing the word “psychotic”

Put the “narcissistic abuse” thing to an end

Empathy explained

Fighting back when restrained

Do’s and Dont’s of designing for accessibility

Empath abuse

Neurodivergencies

Allyship to stigmatized mental illnesses

People with Cluster B disorders

ASPD Masterpost

NPD and feelings

Short list of DBT skills

Empath abuse

Spirituality and ableism

Escaping a building on fire when disabled

Purposefully triggering psychotic people

The violence of psych wards

Things no one warned me about using a cane for the first time

What’s TPA?

Reminder about ableism

ASPD and the capacity of feeling love

Types of seizures

DID is...

Online inhospiabilty for people with psychosis

Difference between  schizoidy and schizotypy

Some info about psychosis

Stand with psychotic people

P101. Schizoid Personality Disorder

Taken from the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual

Individuals with schizoid personalities exist on a range from high-functioning to deeply disturbed. They are highly sensitive and reactive to interpersonal stimulation, to which they tend to respond with defensive withdrawal. They easily feel in danger of being engulfed, enmeshed, controlled, intruded upon, and traumatized, dangers that they associate with becoming involved with other people. On the anaclitic-introjective dimension, they are firmly at the pole of introjection and self-definition. They may appear notably detached, or they may behave in a minimally socially appropriate way while privately attending more to their inner world than to the surrounding world of human beings. Some schizoid individuals withdraw physically into hermit-like reclusiveness; others retreat in more psychological ways, to the fantasy life in their minds.

Although seriously schizoid individuals may appear to be indifferent to social acceptance or rejection, to the extent of having quirky characteristics that serve to put others off, this putative indifference may have more to do with establishing a tolerable level of space between themselves and others than with ignorance of social expectations. The DSM distinguishes between schizoid and schizotypal personalities, indicating that the latter is characterized by cognitive or perceptual distortions and marked eccentricity or oddness. Research has not demonstrated that schizoid and schizotypal personalities are qualitatively different; schizotypy, or the combination of quirky qualities with rather magical thinking, seems to be a trait rather than a type of personality, one that can be associated with schizoid personality and also some other personality types (Shedler & Westen, 2004).

Schizoid individuals are often characterized as loners and tend to be more comfortable by themselves than with other people. At the same time, they may feel a deep yearning for closeness and have elaborate fantasies about emotional and sexual intimacy (Doidge, 2001; Guntrip, 1969; Seinfeld, 1991). They can be startlingly aware of features of their inner life that tend to be unconscious in individuals with other kinds of personality, and they consequently may be perplexed when they find that others seem to be unaware of aspects of themselves that to the schizoid person seem obvious. Contrary to appearances, clinical experience does not support the notion that some schizoid people are completely content in their isolation; in psychotherapy, even extremely withdrawn schizoid individuals have eventually revealed a longing for intimacy, and this observation has been borne out by empirical research (Shedler & Westen, 2004).

Nor does clinical literature support the DSM contention that schizoid individuals rarely experience strong emotions (Shedler & Westen, 2004, p. 638). Rather, they often feel pain at a level so excruciating as to require their defensive detachment in order to endure it. They do well in psychotherapies that both allow emotional intimacy and respect their need for sufficient interpersonal space. They may communicate their concerns most intimately and comfortably via metaphor and emotionally meaningful references to literature, music, and the arts.

Contributing constitutional-maturational patterns: Highly sensitive, shy, easily overstimulated

Central tension/preoccupation: Fear of closeness/longing for closeness

Central affects: General emotional pain when overstimulated, affects so powerful they feel they must suppress them

Characteristic pathogenic belief about self: Dependency and love are dangerous

Characteristic pathogenic belief about others: The social world is impinging, dangerously engulfing

Central ways of defending: Withdrawal, both physically and into fantasy and idiosyncratic preoccupations

I believe I may have the psychological picture of what causes me to approach and sometimes reach psychosis. Through a discussion I had with my partner while tripping, I have come to understand that my most recent delusion- which was in September, where I suspected and sometimes believed that the town I moved to at the end of July was fake and set up by some group for reasons I can't honestly remember but which were malicious- this was caused by my tendency toward self-annihilation, which my partner pointed out.

It goes like this:

I then thought about other ways I have developed delusional ideas and other psychotic symptoms, including negative/cognitive. These are through internal incoherence (just a sort of internal disorganization such that my sense of self is not entirely coherent and organized in an ego-syntonic way, and which partially corresponds I think to trait schizotypy) and through the related phenomenon of a weak sense of self. The specific ways are:

I'm hoping by sharing this that other people might be able to introspect and find their unique tendencies that lead them to paranoid places. I hope this means for myself and others that we can find a path for repair and not just feel like there are only damage control options available. My plan for myself is:

-To increase my sense of self through socialization, self-affirming words and actions, and working on self-esteem/respect

-To keep a sense of narrative self by recalling recent memories on a certain day of the week

-Working on my internal coherence through therapy and maybe introspective work inspired by Internal Family Systems therapy since my counselor doesn't use that

---

For the curious, this revelation was inspired by Leibniz' concept of monads and dominant monads, Thomas Metzinger's work on the nature of the self and mind, the Internal Family Systems type of therapy, Douglas Hofstadter's concepts of loops, Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems, the ipseity disturbance model of schizophrenia, information about dissociation and dissociative disorders, as well as a frankly unreasonable amount of research into schizophrenia, schizotypy, and schizotypal personality disorder.

The Single Most Important Thinking Skill Nobody Taught You

Being flexible and weighing the options you ultimately won’t take is more beneficial than you may realize.

Thomas Oppong

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

George Bernard Shaw said that.

And Einstein also said, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

Life is neither static nor unchanging, it’s fluid.

Nothing stays the same.

Elastic thinking (experts may call it cognitive flexibility) allows us to shift gears and think about something in more than one way.

Flexible thinkers consider a range of different possible consequences of their actions rather than only considering an optimistic view or only considering a pessimistic view.

A fixed mindset can sabotage your efforts to thrive in a changing environment.

Being flexible doesn’t always mean having to give in, or say yes.

What it means is you are looking at things from a different perspective first, and then making a choice that is best, this is flexibility. How Elastic Is Your Brain?

The ability to stretch beyond your core strengths when necessary and quickly rebound back to your core skills and discipline is a desirable trait.

Elasticity is essentially responsiveness to change in an ever-changing world.

To survive in an environment of constant stimulation and rapid change, elastic thinking is essential.

Elasticity is flexibility.

It’s the ability to adapt to new situations, break down complex tasks into bite-size chunks, improvise, and shift strategies to meet different types of challenges.

Flexibility gives the human brain the edge over computers is flexible thinking.

Elastic minds are people who reimagine new ways to solve existing problems and create tools make things better, easier, faster and smarter.

They can better balance long term and short term desires. When they’re in any situation, they can think about both long term and short term goals to make better decisions.

   The best innovators can quickly shift their perspective.

“Our new role as visionaries, decision makers, and strategic informants means we can’t rely on any rules. There are more stakeholders, more complicated products, and faster market cycles. In this environment, elasticity is more important than ever” explains Stuart Karten, the Founder and President of Los Angeles-based product innovation consultancy.

To thrive now and in the future, you have to be willing to rise above conventional mindsets and wisdom.

You become indispensable in the world by constantly outgrowing your existing roles.

The questions you asked today may not unravel the answers you seek tomorrow.

To stay competitive in life and business, you have to be open to new paradigms. You have to rely as much on your imagination as on logic.

   Elastic thinking is about stretching your mind and using ‘bottom up’ processing in the brain rather than the top down executive functions that drive analytical thinking. It encompasses a range of processes including, but not confined to, neophilia (an enthusiasm for novelty), schizotypy, imagination, idea generation and divergent thinking,” explains Dhruti Shah of BBC Capital.

Elastic thinking, in combination with rational or logical thought, and creative thinking will make you indispensable.

Elastic thinking endows us with the ability to solve novel problems and overcome the neural barriers that can impede us from looking beyond the status quo.

Solving problems and drawing better conclusions requires a blend of logical, analytical and elastic thinking.

“Logical analytical thinking is really good when you are trying to solve a problem you’ve seen before. You can use known methods and techniques to approach whatever issue you are dealing with. Elastic thinking is what you need when the circumstances change and you are dealing with something new. It’s not about following rules,” says Leonard Mlodinow, theoretical physicist, author of “Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change.”

John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

Flexible thinking means stretching what you know enough to make an educated guess that could be right (and if it’s not, that’s okay). The Elastic Mind of Leonardo

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day." — Einstein

Leonardo da Vinci maintained a passionate curiosity throughout life.

He simply wanted to know. He was an elastic thinker and a prolific creator.

His mind wandered merrily across the arts, sciences, engineering, and humanities.

More than 7,000 pages of Leonardo’s notebooks still exist.

His genius came from being wildly imaginative, quirkily curious and willfully observant.

His novelty was a product of his own will and effort, which makes his story inspiring for us and also more possible to emulate.

Da Vinci’s work paved the path for artists, scientists, and philosophers alike.

Most of the people we admire often have the gift of the elastic mind.

   Today, more than ever, we must embrace the elastic mindset.

In a stable world devoid of change, we can solve problems by applying the same old techniques, principles, and rules.

But the age of unprecedented technological change constantly challenges us to find new solutions.

Do you give in when faced with a problem you have not seen before, or are you driven by the determination to achieve?

How strongly are you driven to reach that “light” at the end of the tunnel?

Solving problems and drawing better conclusions within an existing framework requires a blend of analytical and elastic thinking.

In the right combination with other traits, elastic thinking is a crucial predictor of total well-being.

“Novelty-seeking is one of the traits that keeps you healthy and happy and fosters personality growth as you age,” says C. Robert Cloninger, a psychiatrist. How to Develop an Agile Mind

The good news is flexible thinking skills can be taught.

For those wishing to tap into elastic thinking, Mlodinow suggests carving out time for daydreaming, talking to people outside your social circle, absorbing great art out of your comfort zone, listening to ideas or concepts you actively disagree with before disregarding them.

Always try to look at everything from more than one angle.

Change the context or your environment and you’ll feel your mind shift.

Take a walk. Take a coffee break.

Exercise offers another great mental boost.

The more you can challenge yourself to be spontaneous and allow for some new experiences, the easier it will be to integrate flexibility into your everyday life!

Mental flexibility is aided by novelty, and that contributes to brain growth and development throughout a lifetime.

The next time you encounter the stress of change, remember that you can adapt to thrive and become indispensable in the ever-changing world.

Remember, flexibility is a choice and with practice, you will be making moves you never thought possible.

Thomas Oppong is the founder of AllTopStartups and writes on science-based answers to problems in life about creativity, productivity, and self-improvement.

This post originally appeared on Thomas Oppong and was published December 13, 2018.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-single-most-important-thinking-skill-nobody-taught-you?utm_source=pocket-newtab

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The Best Mentors Ask These 8 Questions

“Regardless of the word’s history, I as someone with ADHD think that ‘hyperfixation’ should be ADHD-only, since there are no ADHD-specific terms.”

... WHAT

oh my god, is this really where we are. like it’s some injustice to not prescriptively divvy out language on the basis of (obviously objective; obviously unchanging) diagnostic lines

at least in the realm of psychology, nothing is really springing to mind as “this term should only be reserved for those with this specific diagnosis, despite overwhelming similarities in experience with those diagnosed with this other thing”

(the closest that comes to mind is “structural dissociation” being only applicable to trauma, and thus traumagenic disorders, let’s push aside commonalities with nontraumagenic experiences. but even that’s not on the basis of diagnostic category so much as trying to unite previously-thought-of-as-distinct categories under shared mechanisms)

hell even the words for disorders themselves aren’t strictly kept to the categories. broad autism phenotype, normative schizotypal traits, “autism” still used in some descriptions of schizophrenia (which feels dumb but lmao we still see it), borderline traits. sometimes i see “should we use this same term for the experience when seen in non-clinical populations” (delusion vs. “fixed belief”; schizotypy vs. “Oddity”; part of the discussion around structural dissociation) but the discussion there becomes one of pathology vs. normality, and as we all know, few people on tumblr like to acknowledge that being a fuzzy, constructed, and contextually specific line.

Serpent once suggested that this specific line, hyperfixation vs. special interest -- because nobody gives solid definitions besides “this is ADHD; this is autism” and we’ve even seen shakily proposed definitions clash or fall apart (”hyperfixations tend to be shorter... but not always”) -- winds up with the impression that “well, special interest is just the autism version of a thing they really like a lot” because how else are you meant to describe it, if focusing on phenomenology leads to ~too much overlap~ with this ~super separate~ thing. 

just

oh my god

edit: (and the frustrating part is, i think there is some reason to say “hey there’s this particular phenomenon that involves a long-term, all-consuming interest and lens that you really don’t see much in ADHD without autism” -- but that’s not actually something people are trying to disentangle when they say “’special interest’ is autism-only”, because that lens-y stuff is only a type of special interest, the way most people use the term, and people are really only caring about the diagnostic labels here than the actual experiences. if any of that makes sense.)

- ace

Bezogenes Phantasieren

was du über Wertigkeit von Gedanken und Fantasien in einer zurückgezogenen und isolierten Welt eines schizotypen Menschen bedeuten.

Auch wenn scheinbar etwas fehlt dass mich in Panik versetzt es ist immer etwas da mit dem ich diesen Mangel ausgleichen kann. ich kann ohne weiteres das was ich mir vom anderen Wünsche von der Phantasie der Versorgung auch durch mich selbst herstellen. Habe ich jetzt stabil und sicher zuverlässig und zu jeder Zeit und bin ich von der Versorgung durch den anderen abhängig.

Versorgungs Fantasien also eingebildete Mängel eingebildete Mängel können so gut wie alle Bereiche erfasste von Essen Nahrung Kleidung Wohnung Aussehen geht die Körper Dinge die ich habe Geld und so weiter. * das phantasieren versetzt mich dann in eine Welt oder eine Band Zustand der alternativ ist und auf diese Dinge nicht angewiesen ist. Z.b. stelle ich mir vor ich bin ein Kind in einer fantasiewelt in einer Welt voller zauberkräfte und superkräfte in den ich auf diese primitiven Bedürfnisse in der normalen Welt Erwachsenen gar nicht angewiesen bin. * damit diese Welt funktioniert muss ich mich aber von der realen Welt zurückziehen ich muss mich sozusagen isolieren und vereinzeln ich muss den Kontakt mit erwachsenen Menschen und selbst fernbleiben denn die würden diese meine Fantasien die ich ja beschützen muss nicht akzeptieren.* Da ich nicht bereit bin diese Phantasien aufzugeben wähle ich die Isolation in welcher ich dann in Gedanken versunken in einem sicher gefüllten Zustand verbleibe.

Das versorgungs phantasieren dass überwertige fantasieren referenzieren und bezogen sein auf eine Person oder Sache kann sich bei allen psychischen darzustellen wie ich die Schizophrenie history schizotypie Paranoia ADHS ... einstellen..

Ich nenne es die über Wertigkeit Störung die bezogenheit Störung die Phantasie Störung und die Bedeutung Inflation die eine Sache oder Person beigemessen wird. Dies kann nur geschehen wenn das frontal lobe nicht zureichend eingebunden wird eventuell durch eine Hirn mäßige Störung.

.... Fällen und in der um wissenschaftlichen Zeit hat man für solche über bezogenen Zustände bitte denken verschwunden ist und die emotionelle auf Ruhe vorherrscht den Begriff des Exorzismus angewandt. Bzw den historischen Modus. Jedes Mal bleibt die Person unerreichbar hinter den Fluten des emotionalen Weges verborgen.

Verzerrte Gedanken verzerrte Kommunikation sind das Kennzeichen und dann über bezogenes über wertiges für andere normale wenn ein unerträgliches immer gleiches und nicht nachgeben des Begehren und verhalten sind die Regel.

Nur über den frontal lobe kann die emotionsstörung gegengesteuert werden und die beste Methode dazu ist die Sprache geredet mit einer anderen nicht bezogenen Person eben die Rede therapie.de Psychotherapie wobei dem Therapeuten aber klar sein muss dass dieser Mensch einbezogenheitsproblem hat eine über Wertigkeit in Denken auf gewisse betonen oder Drachen wäre weniger eine inflationäre Fantasie vorherrscht.

Wenn sich der Patient also isoliert zurückzieht verschweigt ist es natürlich schwierig mit einer Sprache die hatte sich behält mit ihm ins Gespräch rüber zu kommen und eine Evaluierung für ihn in Gang zu bringen. Das Schweigen bedeutet immer das behalten wollen der fantasiert da der Verlust der Fantasie bezogen auf diese Objekte größer erscheint als der Verlust des Objektes selbst. bzw hat der Verlust des Objektes bereits stattgefunden wirst Dolomiten Preis vermieden werden dass auch das fantasiert de Objekt zum Verschwinden gebracht wird. * Das Schweigen des schizotypen Menschen ist also seine Angst vor dem Verlust seiner Fantasie die den Ersatz seines verlorenen Objektes ausgleichen soll. * Schwäche sich ausgeliefert fühlen sich minderwertig fühlen krank oder untauglich herrschen dann in seinem Denken vor und bestimmen seine Handlung immer kommt der Satz heraus hilf mir versorge mich füttere mich gib mir zu essen gib mir lieber manchmal bezeichnet sich diese Menschen als die reine Liebe dahintersteckt aber nur der Anspruch lieber von anderen versorgt zu werden. Es heißt niemand liebt mich obwohl ich meine Liebe anbiete. Es geht darum durch liebe versorgt zu werden.

dieser aufrechterhalten der Phantasie ist ein sehr aufwendiger Zustand von der Energie und diese Energie fehlt in allen anderen Bereichen des Lebens zur Gestaltung des eigenen Erfolges. Durch die über Wertigkeit dieser fantasiert and Objekte werden die eigenen Stärken die zur Bewältigung der lebenssituation eingesetzt werden können überhaupt nicht mehr wahrgenommen. Somit bedarf es seitens des Therapeuten auch ein Auffinden der Stärken der Person welche als gegenkraft zur fantasiert and Abhängigkeit zum fantasieren Bedarf eingesetzt werden können. * Der Patient der fantasiert verweigert oft sogar das preisgeben oder einsetzen eigener Stärken da er sich Versorgung erhofft und dadurch immer wieder seine Schwächen und seine Abhängigkeit präsentieren wird.

Es ist ein Flehen um Aufmerksamkeit ein Jammern umversorgung ein betteln um verstehen und ein sich so präsentieren dass immer wieder Armut Bedürftigkeit unterversorgung ins Auge des Therapeuten einleuchten sollen. 

...  Zuhörer in den Therapeuten der Patienten dazu bringt seine Isolation aufzumachen und seine Fantasien Objekte loszulassen. Das ist eine Art genaues Monitoring im dem der Therapeut die Details und alle Aspekte der fantasiert and bezogenheit des Patienten erfassen muss und diese immer wieder im Laufe der Gespräche berühren muss um ihnen den Zauber der Fantasie zunehmen.

Das muss natürlich auch gesagt werden dass wir in einer inflationären Zeit leben in der Fake News die Medien bestimmen und über bezogenheit in allen Bereichen gang und gäbe ist um die Menschen zu manipulieren finanziell und wirtschaftlich auszubeuten oder für politische und wirtschaftliche Ziele zu gewinnen. somit werden selbst die kleinsten Bereiche des täglichen Lebens oft von einer über inflationären bezogenheit der Wichtigkeit der Bedeutung überschattet sei es nun die Ernährung die vegan sein müsse mit allen Aspekten des katastrophalen untergangs des Menschen durch fleischliche Ernährung seist die Gefahr von politische Abweichung die Möglichkeit von Verschwörungen besteuert zu werden die katastrophalen Auswirkungen uneinsehbarer technischer zusammenhänge auf unser Leben wie handystrahlungen Wolken am Himmel et cetera

es geht weniger darum den Patienten logisch nachzuweisen dass er sich irrt oder über bezogen denkt also ihm hin und stichfeste Einsichten zu vermitteln in eine andere Welt es geht mehr darum dass er sein bezogen sein und zudem oder zu dieser Person unter Kontrolle bekommt und dass er sich fragt wieso er diese ganzen Details immer wieder durch denken muss und was er eigentlich davon hat. Und Oma nicht bereit es einzusehen dass die Person auf dir referenziert selbst ein flatterhaft des dinis heute von ihrer Meinung morgen von einer anderen geprägt selbst von Bedürfnissen geschüttelt von Krisen und Abhängigkeiten definiert selbst um seine Versorgung kämpfend ihm mit Sicherheit nicht das geben kann was er sich wünscht. Und dass er Zeit die Möglichkeit hätte das gesuchte das vermisste bei sich selbst durch sich selbst in sich selbst herzustellen und Quelle sicherer versorgen jederzeit bei ihm selbst liegen könnte.

Kurzgefasst will der versorgungs fantasiert der über bezogene Mensch eine Versorgung durch einen anderen erreichen und reagiert in seiner Fantasie auf zurückweisung oder Scheitern dieser versorgungsansprüche über reaktiv mit Fantasien mehr weniger erpresst er damit eine Situation in der eine Versorgung wiederum möglich wäre wenn nur die Fakten oder die Umstände anders wären. Oft ist der Schütze type auch jederzeit bereit zum verlorenen Objekt zurückzukehren. * ich glaube auch dass wir uns für die Bedürftigkeit eigentlich schämen dass sie deswegen im Geschichten und Fantasien verdeckt ist und wir sie nicht bewusst wahrnehmen können dann würden wir das würden wir aufhören wie Kinder um etwas betteln dass uns in dieser Welt mit Sicherheit niemand geben wird. Wie man in dieser Welt zu Dingen kommt immer haben möchte ist eine Sache die das von dein Gehirn Regeln muss und nicht die emotionelle Aufruhr.

Ein kleiner fragenkatalog ein Leitfaden zur Abklärung könnte sein

Über welche Person über welche Sache über welchem Zustand fantasierst du referenzieren überwertig. Zu welcher tageszeit wie lange am Tag ca oder gibt es Gelegenheiten die diesen Zustand bei dir verstärkt auslösen?

ist dir klar dass durch dieses fantasieren dir Energie fehlt für andere Bereiche deines Lebens die vermutlich ungeordnet bleiben?

Hast du schon einmal gedacht über diese Person bei anderen Personen Auskünfte einzuholen im Internet nachzusehen oder nachzufragen die ähnliche Probleme haben aber dich nicht auf die Bedeutungen und die waren diese Menschen zu verlassen sondern in arbeitsgruppen zu gehen in selbsthilfegruppen oder mit einem Therapeuten darüber zu reden?

sind auch die Bücher die du liest eigentlich nur ein verlängertes Werkzeug deiner fantasieren das heißt bestätigen sie deine Bedürfnisse und geben sie dir die magische oder fantasiert die Möglichkeit zu immer neuen superkräften zu immer versteckte Rennen geheimtüren zu Erklärungen der Erklärungen der Bedeutungen Personen oder Sachen über die du fantasierst oder helfen sie die tatsächlich in deinem frontal Gehirn in eine logische und für dich geordnete von dir selbst steuerbare Welt zu gelangen in der Ruhe und Frieden von diesem Thema auf dich warten würde.

5. WORD ANALYSIS

                 The link between creativity and mental health

After reading this article, it became easier to begin to understand how creativity is connected to mental disorders. When looking at artists like Van Gogh and Edvard Munch is possible to notice a similar pattern of anxiety, depression, hallucinations, and delusions. Van Gogh once wrote: "(...) Now and then there are horrible fits of anxiety, apparently without cause, or otherwise a feeling of emptiness and fatigue in the head... At times I have attacks of melancholy and atrocious remorse."

The idea of the disturbed artist is very popular. They often represent their issues in an artistic form to create meaningful art. Creative people tend to be very unhappy. With the tortured artist character, is easy for them to believe that creativity is a form of healing and it is simpler to create a fantastical world in order to face the real one we live in.

Munch wrote in his diary: "My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art." Some artists may think that without their illness they would lose their sense of self and by that means their creativity. That ends up being a big obstacle to overcome because the pain is so unbearable and can result in even much more hurt and sometimes leading to suicide.

It is also noticed that creative people lead to be night owls. They are also more creative than early birds and may work into the early hours because it's when they can get even more blowouts of original ideas. However, there's a period between 10 p.m and 2 a.m that melatonin production which is the hormone that makes us feel sleepy is highest. And staying up instead of sleeping can easily drive people out of sync, which can potentially harm someone's body and mind. Late-night creative lifestyle can really affect someone's mental health status in a long way.

There's also a really good example of a possible link between creativity and mental health and that's called schizotypy, a less severe type of schizophrenia. Schizotypy and highly creative and original people have very similar minds.

Usually, when making a complex task, a part of the brain called the Precuneus will become less activated so the focus will be put in charge. Schizotypy and original people constantly have their Precuneus arousing away. Meaning that schizotypy people are unable to disregard irrelevant details because they're always taking in a lot of information and making mental connections other people might not perceive.

It’s A Conspiracy

Back in the late-1980s, when I finally settled on coming to West Texas A&M University, I started reading up on what would be my new home state. Other than learning that one cannot simply become a Texan by the mere act of moving there (you must be born there, you know), I discovered that the scene of one of the greatest (and saddest) crimes in US history happened only about five hours away, or six if you drove the old speed limit.

I’m talking about Dallas, and the John F. Kennedy assassination.

So I did like any person hungry to learn, and started buying every book I could find on the subject, plus made a couple of sojourns to Dealey Plaza, where the crime occurred. Through my intense yearning for knowledge, I came to conclude--just like the Warren Commission--that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and all the bluster about Cuba, Russia, the CIA, and the mob was just that--bluster.

This spawned a general interest in conspiracy theories, and before long, I was writing articles about them for Skeptic Magazine, where the mantra is “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” In other words, it’s kind of like being from Missouri. Show me. Oh, and I must say I am using the word “theory” in the loosest of conversational language, because in science, a theory is not something open for debate. It has failed to be disproven by repeated testing.

Through the years I wrote stories about the JFK assassination, Princess Di’s death, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, aliens in Roswell, and more, all of which produced many elaborate conspiracy theories, but none of which provided any legitimate evidence.

Which brings us to 2020, the year of the pandemic. Conspiracy theories are a nickel a dozen these days, ranging from 5G cell phone service to a Democratic effort to unseat President Trump (election year, remember?), an attempt by the Chinese to take over the world, and more. Nice stories, yo, but no Pulitzer Prize.

As Judge Wapner once said on The People’s Court, “the burden of proof is upon the plaintiff.” If you can’t prove it, you’ve got nothing. And there is no burden upon those of the status quo or official explanation, because we’re not making any claims.

So why are conspiracy theories so popular? Are there certain types of people, certain personality traits, that stand out among those who doubt authority? And by extension, are these people just a little more gullible than average? Professor Josh Hart (2018) took a long academic look at people and what makes them tick, what makes them adopt conspiratorial thoughts. Or, as some of us might say, what makes them don tin foil hats.

And the findings are not a whole lot different from what I had observed on my own, to say the least.

Turns out there are easy explanations, like political party affiliation, to justify this behavior. Rather than doubt their own belief system, it is easier to point the finger at others, and so these tales pop up as a form of confirmation bias to bolster our own stance.

Hart found that belief in conspiracy theories occurs as a result of “...a constellation of personality characteristics collectively referred to as 'schizotypy’,” and “distinct cognitive tendencies“ such as the proclivity to infer meaning and motive when there is none, as well as “judge nonsensical statements as profound.” In a somewhat less than profound elaboration, Hart called this “BS receptivity.”

Yep. A tendency to believe bullshit.

You have to decide where you stand on all of this. Do you distrust scientists and governments? Do you dismiss facts that contradict your religious or political leanings? Do you believe things that just sound a little too good to be true if you really think about it? Do you believe only things that bolster your position? And do you not want to hear about any other ideas that contradict your beliefs? If so, then you probably believe one or more conspiracy theories, and need to check yourself.

Put on your critical thinking hat. Seek out information on ultraviolet blood irradiation, which is what Trump supporters are now saying the President was really talking about last Thursday evening, which is just more confirmation bias, of course. For the record, ultraviolet blood irradiation is a procedure performed by naturopaths, not real doctors, and has not been approved by the FDA nor rigorously tested in double-blind experiments. Anything you hear about it is strictly anecdotal, and not scientific. But hey, if you want to shine a light through your veins, go right ahead. I’ll wait for science to catch up.

Meanwhile, please check out my good friend Dr. Michael Shermer, co-founder of the Skeptics Society, and watch his video on The Baloney Detection Kit. It’s all about science, not irrational tendencies, preconceived notions, and fanciful thought.

And I believe you will come away a better person in the process. A conspiracy of one. You. And you alone. Just like Oswald.

Dr “Prove It!“ Gerlich

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