Ways To Conquer Anxiety And Depression

Losing a job, death of a love one, going through a divorce and any life-changing event may lead a person to feel sad, lonely, anxious and even scared. Most of the people feel sad and low at times, while some other were unable to cope with these changes causing them to develop mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Depression

Around 264 million worldwide suffer from depression. 17.3 million of them are adults age 18 years old and above who had at least one major depressive episode in the last year. Depression more commonly occurs in women than men. According to Mayo Clinic, Depression is a “mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest and can interfere with daily functioning. The most commonly diagnosed form of it is Major Depressive Disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by having at least 5 or more of the following symptoms:

  • Low mood
  • Diminished interest or pleasure in activities (anhedonia)
  • Fatigue or loss of energy
  • Sleep changes
  • Diminished ability to think or concentrate or indecisiveness
  • Low self-confidence
  • Weight or appetite changes
  • Recurrent suicidal thought or ideations
  • Psychomotor agitation or retardation
  • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt.

Anxiety

40 million adults in the United States alone have anxiety disorders. Anxiety is a normal emotion or reaction of the body in response to possible stress or potential danger. We often experience occasional anxiety but when you experience constant and overwhelming anxiety and fear that’s when you should consider to sought consult.

The main symptom of Anxiety is excessive fear or worry. Other symptoms that may help in the diagnosis of Anxiety disorder are:

  • Intense fear and worry
  • Feelings of panic, doom or danger
  • Sleep problems
  • Cold, sweaty, numb feeling
  • Shortness of breath
  • Hyperventilation
  • Dry mouth, nausea, dizziness
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Intensely or obsessively avoiding feared objects or places

Difference Between Depression and Anxiety

Depression and Anxiety maybe different from each other but most people who were diagnosed with it experiences similar symptoms such as nervousness, irritability, problems sleeping and concentrating. Many people who were diagnosed with depression may have had a history of anxiety disorder in their life. On some occasions, you may have both depression and anxiety disorder.

How to Conquer Anxiety and Depression

1. Reach Out and Stay Connected

It may be exhausting to talk to someone when you have depression. It may be because you are ashamed of your current situation or you are feeling guilty for neglecting some important relationships that you have.  You need to know that this is a part of depression and it is not a weakness.

In people with anxiety, they may be overly anxious of people’s opinion towards them. This may also be the reason why they rarely talk to other people regarding their anxiousness.

Both anxiety and depression have their reasons why they do not reach out and talk to their loved ones. Reaching out is not a weakness but rather, a strength. You are not burdening others when sharing your worries. Instead, you are asking for their help and understanding. It makes everything so much better when you work together to improve your health status.

 2. Do things that you Enjoy

You may lose your will to do or perform your favorite things for a while as a symptom of depression and anxiety, but it does not mean that you can get back to it. You can never force yourself to something to have fun, but you can start slowly at things that you know you enjoy. May it be catching up on your favorite series, a day trip to a museum or practicing your favorite sport, it is never too late to start again.

3. Eat Healthy

In order to defeat any illness, whether physical or mental, you need to be healthy. Make a balance diet and stay away from caffeine, alcohol, preserved foods as this may affect the chemical balance of your brain. Do not skip your meals and minimize your intake of sugary foods. You may also incorporate some vitamin B and multivitamins to better support your body.

4. Take a Walk

The morning sunlight is rich in Vitamin D. It does not only make your skin healthier, but it boosts your serotonin level and improve your mood. If possible, take a walk in the nearby park for at least 15 minutes. While you are at it, you may also try hiking and playing a sport with a friend. Remember: The sun is your friend.

What’s Your Personality Type?

There are many kinds of personality test and I bet you’ve taken one yourself before. We’ll be discussing each one of the personality types and help you determine which one best describes you.

1. ISTJ or the “Inspector”

ISTJ stands for Introvert, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. People who have this personality type are often found intimidating by other people to approach especially if they weren’t friends previously. They appear to be more serious, formal and proper as they value traditions and rules. They are commonly reserved, quiet, calm and upright but are very patient, hardworking and social.

2. INFJ or the “Counselor”

INFJ stands for Introvert, intuitive, feeling and judging. People who belong to this personality type are warm, caring and approachable. They are passionate about their ideas and dreams and likes keeping things organized. They are visionaries and they love to create their own systems. They are the easiest to read and understand. Their best qualities are that they are tactful, helpful but they may become sensitive and cautious at times.

3. INTJ or the “Mastermind”

INTJ stands for introvert, intuitive, thinking and judging. People who have this personality type have string insights, intuitions and have very high standards of performance especially to themselves. They are complex individuals who values knowledge, efficiency and are extremely logical. They may be quite reserved and detached from other but definitely values their close friendship with other people.

4. ENFJ or the “Giver”

ENFJ stands for extravert, intuitive, feeling and judging. They are the most influential, loyal, reliable, passionate and genuinely kind people you’ll ever know. They are people pleaser due to their warm, caring and generous personality. They expressed themselves the best and are open-minded and highly accepting of other people. They are extremely organized with their task and life and have a hard time dealing with certain uncertainties.

5. ISTP or the “Craftsman”

ISTP stands for introvert, sensing, thinking and perceiving. These people love gathering the facts especially in their environment. They are risk takes, adventurous, highly practical, realistic and results oriented. They can easily solve problems and are great troubleshooters. They are usually independent and determined but are laid back and easy to deal with.

6. ESFJ or the “Provider”

EFJ stands for extravert, sensing, feeling and judging. They are the true extroverts because they are popular, well-liked by everyone and are social butterflies. They prefer to live in the real world, and they are always ready to listen with their warm and genuine sensitivity to other people. Although they are popular, they are very compassionate, empathetic and are extremely organized in their life. But they have a difficulty dealing with uncertainties.

7. INFP or the “Idealist”

INFP stands for introvert, intuitive, feeling and perceiving. They love life and all the good things that comes with it. They are very spontaneous and easily adapts with life or with any situations. They love to be around people, and they are naturally warm and compassionate. They are good mediators, avoid conflicts and as much as possible avoids hurting people’s feelings.

8. ESFP or the “Performer”

ESFP stands for extravert, sensing, feeling, and perceiving. They have strong interpersonal skills and enjoys being the center of attention. They love living in the now and are very warm, generous, sympathetic and concern with others. They have a talent for understanding the people around them and the world. Lastly, they have a detailed approach to life and appreciates the world around them very much.

9. ENFP or the “Champion”

ENFP stands for extravert, intuitive, feeling and perceiving. They enjoy being around people and are warm and genuinely interested in people. They can relate with other people and even think and feel like they do. They dislike performing boring, mundane and routine tasks. Lastly, they don’t like being controlled and directed by other people.

10. ESTP or the “Doer”

ESTP stands for extravert, sensing, thinking, and perceiving. People who have the ESTP personality has a strong flair for drama and style. They are fast-moving and fast-talking with a greater appreciation for the finer things in life. They have this uncanny ability to perceive people’s attitudes and motivations. They are adventurous and loves to take a risk.

Dealing With Depression

Having depression and knowing someone who has depression is very challenging. It affects all aspect of your life like going to work, socializing with friends or just even waking up and getting out of bed everyday. As much as it sounds bad, depression can be managed properly if you consult the right people.

Depression and Its Signs

According to Mayo Clinic, Depression is a “mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.” There are many types of depression but the most common of which is the Major Depressive Disorder. Major Depressive Disorder or MDD impacts greatly a person’s mood and behavior and sometimes, even one’s physical function like appetite and sleep.

In the United States, MDD is one of the most common mental health conditions. About 7% of adults were reported to have a major depressive episode in 2017. Most of the people never seek treatment and found themselves undiagnosed.

If you are wondering if you are suffering from depression, here are some of the most common symptoms experienced by people who suffers from depression according to the American Psychiatric Association:

  • Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness
  • Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports
  • Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
  • Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort
  • Reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain
  • Anxiety, agitation or restlessness
  • Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
  • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or self-blame
  • Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things
  • Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide
  • Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches

Treatment of Depression

Depression can be often treated when diagnosed correctly. Its treatment is a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Lifestyle modifications can play a role in treatment too. Most people who are undiagnosed and have the severe type may have thoughts of harming themselves. They may need to have treatment inside the hospital to stop their suicidal tendencies. Majority can be treated as outpatient until the symptoms improve.

Antidepressants

Anti-Depressants such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and tricyclic antidepressants are often prescribed to help inhibit the breakdown of serotonin in the brain, resulting in higher amount of neurotransmitter.

Psychotherapy

It is also known as psychological therapy or talk therapy. Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression, and it involves talking to a therapist to talk regarding the treatment. Psychotherapy helps by:

  • Helps adjust to different crisis and other stressful events that may trigger depression
  • Helps replace negative thinking or behaviors and transform them into a positive one.
  • Improve the communication skills
  • Identify your coping mechanism or find a better coping mechanism when solving challenges and problems
  • Increase the self esteem
  • Lastly, gain control over and satisfaction in your life

Lifestyle Changes

Aside from taking medication and undergoing psychotherapy, Lifestyle changes may also improve the symptoms of depression by changing some of your bad habits.

  • Balanced Diet – eating nutritious foods is not only making your body healthy but your mind too. There is no specific food that can cure depression but choosing and eating healthy foods will definitely benefit a person’s mental well-being. Foods that are rich in Omega 3-fatty acids such as fish are beneficial in improving brain function. While food that are rich in Vitamin B such as whole grains, improves one’s energy level, brain function and immune system.
  • Lessen Alcohol and Processed Food Intake – Alcohol may be relaxing when taken for normal people but for people who suffers from depression, Alcohol can aggravate their condition. Alcohol is a brain antidepressant and can actually trigger the symptoms even more. Processed foods often have harmful substances in them to prolong their shelf-life. They are also rich in Omega-6 fatty acids is an unhealthy fat.
  • Exercise – exercising is not only good for the body but also improves one’s physical and mental state. The sunlight and outdoors calms your mind and gives you a boost of your Vitamin D.
  • Good Sleep – Sleeping for people with depression is a luxury. They often have a hard time sleeping. Having at least 7-9 hours of sleep everyday will greatly help with a person’s mental state and will help them get by everyday.

Coping With Pandemic Anxiety

The whole world has dealt with so many pandemics in the previous decades but nothing like the present COVID-19. Many people were affected and a number of them have died from the virus. Shutdowns were implemented left and right to contain the virus and caused millions of dollars of losses for businesses and workers worldwide. 

What is COVID-19?

According to the World Health Organization (2020), Coronavirus disease or “COVID-19” is a newly discovered infectious disease within the coronavirus strain. It is from the family of coronaviruses that also caused the SARS and MERS virus which we’ve seen infected a lot of people in the previous years.

The COVID-19 virus is easily transmitted through air droplets and can infect you within several minutes to hours. You can also be infected by touching an infected surface and wiping it on your face without washing your hands. People who have poor immunity or have other diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, etc., has a higher risk of acquiring the disease with a notable poor outcome.

The symptoms of COVID-19 are flu-like and thus can confused some that they are only experiencing common colds. Most of the people infected develop mild to moderate illness while some recover without needing hospitalizations. Here are the common symptoms of patients who presented with COVID-19:

  • Fever
  • Dry Cough
  • Easy Fatigability
  • Body Malaise
  • Sore Throat
  • Diarrhea
  • Conjunctivitis
  • Headache
  • Rask on skin
  • Discoloration of fingers or toes
  • Loss of taste or smell
  • Difficulty of breathing or shortness of breath
  • Chest pain or pressure
  • Loss of speech or movement

If you found out that you were exposed on a possible COVID-19 patient and have any of the following symptoms it is advised to seek consultation with a medical doctor immediately.

Pandemic And Anxiety

An occurrence of a pandemic is definitely stressful for everyone especially in this case where countries underwent lockdowns, and many people were not allowed to go outside their house except when buying essential goods. Most of their day were spent at home, watching news at the Television regarding the pandemic and how everyone is trying to develop the vaccine as fast as they could.

This new disease is overwhelming and can bring out strong emotions from adults and children who were used to walking around town without wearing a mask. Also, the experts also advised people to maintain at least 2 to 3 meters apart for social distancing. Expert says that social distancing and wearing of mask decreases the chances of getting infected from COVID-19.

Managing such strong emotions during a time of need may be hard to do but is necessary to be able to go through this time. Coping with the stress caused by the pandemic, in a healthy way, will not only make you feel better but also other people who are concerned with you too. Other causes of stress during the outbreak are the following:

  • Fear of getting infected or health of a love one
  • Loss of job and financial situations
  • Changes in sleeping or eating patterns
  • Gets easily distracted
  • Difficulty on concentrating on certain tasks
  • Worsening chronic health problems
  • Challenging mental health problems
  • Diversion of stress through smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages 

Dealing with Anxiety

Focus on what you can Control

There are many things that are outside of our control like the current pandemic. We cannot control the effects it has on the economy and even on our community. We have to think that as much as we want to, we cannot control everything. Instead of thinking about these things, we should focus our mind and energy to what we can handle right now and make the most out of it.

Many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic and most of them are stressed because their bills are coming, and they don’t have enough money saved. Instead of thinking about these problems, why not think of a way to earn money while at home. The pandemic is a great opportunity to showcase your talent that could probably earn you some money. You may try to bake or sell goods online which you can easily deliver via couriers.

Worrying too much about a problem is not doing you any good physically, emotionally and financially. Having an effective problem-solving strategy is the key to be able to get over this kind of situation.

Let your Emotions out

People are scared out of their wits and many are constantly worrying that they might get infected. If you feel sad, overwhelmed, anxious or angry, let me remind you that your feelings are valid. Burnout is something can happen especially when you are constantly on that same situation and you are getting frustrated and just tired. It is brave to face your emotions and let it all out by crying or doing some activities rather than forcing yourself to be positive when you know deep in your heart you don’t feel it. Allow yourself to experience this uncertainty.

Do other Things

The most important part of dealing with stress and anxiety is to properly adapt to it. This can be done by taking a few steps to reduce the level of anxiety and reduce the negative thoughts that has been clouding your mind since the start of the pandemic.

  • Exercising is the best natural and effective stress-reliever and anti-anxiety treatment which is not expensive at all. Exercising not only makes your body fit and healthy but it also calms your mind relieving it of unwarranted thoughts.
  • Get plenty of sleep like you never did before. Too much worrying and thinking may disturb your sleep causing you to be grumpy and irritable all day. Try to improve your habits by relaxing and unwinding before bed to have a better sleep at night.
  • Eat healthy meals can maintain your energy level at its maximum and prevents you from having mood swings. Remove sugar and other processed food in your diet as much as possible and try to increase your intake of fish, nuts and the like to boost your mood.

Reverse Psychology: What It Is And Does It Work?

Who hasn’t tried practicing reverse psychology yet? You may not notice but you have done it more than once in your life too. We cannot deny that reverse psychology is really effective in certain situations (but not all).  Learn more about Reverse Psychology and how it is done.

Reverse Psychology

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary (2020), Reverse Psychology is “the principle or practice of subtly encouraging a behavior or belief by advocating the opposite.” It uses persuasion as a method to persuade a person to do the opposite of what they are thinking.

In psychology, reverse psychology is also called as “Reactance”. Reactance is an unpleasant motivational reaction which offers different ideas to somehow threaten an individual to do specific behavioral freedom. Reactance occurs when a person is being ordered to do something causing you to feel that your choices where limited and your freedom is being taken away. This causes you to fight back for that freedom not realizing that you were actually agreeing to what they are saying. An example of which is when you have a friend who’s always late and makes you wait every time you hang out. Instead of teasing her about being late, you will make a statement that will motivate them and condition their mindset to do the opposite of what they have been doing.

Reverse psychology is a form of manipulating a person into doing things that you want them to do unconsciously. This works most of the time but may also fail especially when the one you are trying to control has already set their mind on something.

Benefits of Reverse Psychology

Like any other thing in the world, practicing reverse psychology has its positive and negative effects too.

1. You’ll be able to easily persuade someone to unconsciously agree to your wishes and act according to how you want them to be. But it may also ruin some relationships especially if trust is involved.

2. It makes your thinking, feeling and perspectives flexible.

3. It can help manage stubborn individuals to learn new ways of maintaining relationships.

4. If the person caught you, they may feel embarrassed and insulted by how you tried to control their thoughts and decision.

5. As much as it helps, reverse psychology may backfire too. Not everything you wish for happens without problems.

5 Steps Of Effective Reverse Psychology

There are actually 5 steps to properly change someone’s mind with the use of reverse psychology. Here’s what you should do:

1. When talking to someone, always present them with different options. They may not immediately consider it but as you explain it to them, they will slowly understand why you were thinking like that.

2. In order for these options to be more enticing, you may need to find ways on how to make it desirable for them to agree with you. You may bring up some fun memories associated with it or the pros and cons of each option.

3. Use non-verbal cues as well by using a paper to draw or your phone to help them better visualize they options.

4. Once a person is considering one of your options, make them more even interested by discouraging them slightly and letting them argue with you a little. You will see them naturally push the option more.

5. While still negotiating, you can now push them to make a decision which they will think they made on their own. Let them take some time thinking and ask them politely about their final decision and what they would do. 

7 Types Of Love

According to Psychologists People always relate the word love to that of “Romantic Love”, but there are actually about 7 different types of love in the word that many of us don’t know about. Together, let’s discover love and how it differs from each other.

What is Love?

Love, as defined in the Dictionary, is an “intense feeling of deep affection” or “a great interest and pleasure on something”. Love is a favorite topic of philosophers and writers where they relate it to the nature of human. Until today, the concept of love is still an interesting subject of researchers.

There are many definitions of love and most of which were made popular by writers, philosophers and even psychologists. We’ve listed down a few of these notable definitions where you could get inspiration from:

  • “Any general aspiration towards the good things and to happiness, that’s Love.” – Plato
  • “Love has always based on the renunciation of individual property” – Tolstoy
  • ” Love is a passion that can arise in us without in any way we could see if the object that causes it is good or bad” – Descartes
  • “If music be the food of love, play on.” – William Shakespeare
  • “We loved with a love that was more than love.” – Edgar Allan Poe 
  • “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss
  • “Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind. It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard. To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover’s privilege.” – J.M. Barrie
  • “Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.”- Nicholas Sparks

7 Types of Love

1. Eros or Passionate Love

Eros is a Greek concept that refers to sensual or passionate love. In the Greek mythology, Eros is a form of madness that was caused by Cupid’s Arrows. Once the arrow breaches a person, it falls in love then. Like how Helen captured Paris’ heart, causing the start of Trojan War.

This type of love is a combination of intimacy and passion towards each other. It is when you feel butterflies in your stomach whenever you see your loved one. The passion is emanating within you and intimacy is just another factor of showing your love.

2. Philia or Friendship

Philia is born out of eros and its goal is to strengthen it. Friendship is good in itself and is concerned not only on its mutual benefits. It is also a form of companionship, dependability and trust towards each other. It is said that the best kind of friendship is that exists between lovers towards each other.

Friendship is a wonderful thing. True and real friendship seeks to teach each other about life and become each other’s personal therapist. In friendship, there is an unmeasurable amount of openness towards each other.

3. Storge or Familial Love

Familial love is distinct to other types of lovesas it is born out of familiarity and dependency on each other as a family.  Through many experiences and time, you get to be closer together creating that familial love.

4. Agape or Universal Love

This is a type of love that can be given to everyone: strangers, environment and even to God. Dependency, intimacy, passion and familiarity does not play a role in this type of live. Agape is not selfish and encompasses concern for everyone and everything. It does not expect anything and just gives.

5. Ludus or Uncommitted Love

Even players, Love too. Ludus or Uncommitted love is the type of love that one gives when they are trying to flirt or seduce someone without commitment. It is a playful kind of love between two mature adults who understand the type of relationship they are in. Ludus may become Eros depending on the people in this type of love.

6. Pragma or Practical Love

Practical Love that is often seen in arranged marriages. It focuses on the reason and duty of love rather than the passion or intimacy. Its goal is usually long-term.

7. Philautia or Self-Love

Self-love may either be healthy or unhealthy. It might make you arrogant, but it may also increase your self-confidence or self-esteem. It depends on the person on which path they want to take. People with healthy self-love found themselves invested in different ideas that were either successful or not. Setbacks do not scare them, instead it makes them even stronger.   

How Psychology Is Considered A Science

Psychology is a branch of science – we all know that. Still, we are curious on the a field is considered as a branch of science. Let’s find out more about Psychology as a science:

What is Science?

For starters, let us define the word “Science”. It is defined as “any systems of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experimentation.” (Britannica, 2020). Science has a broad meaning, but its overall purpose is to uncover the general truths about life, the operations of fundamental laws and lastly, the pursuit for greater knowledge.

There are 3 major groups that comprises Science: Formal science, Natural Science and Social Science. To have a brief understanding of the 3 main branches, here are its definition:

Formal Science – from the name itself, it is concerned with the formal systems. Under this branch are those that involves calculations and intelligence like logic, mathematics, theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, information theory and even linguistics. It more focused on the quantitative side of science.

Natural Science – This branch is more about the curiosity of a person. It is more focused on the qualitative side of science and experimentations. Physics, chemistry, biology, zoology are the most popular subjects under natural sciences. It incorporates nature through the use of scientific methods or experiments.

Social Science – Lastly, social sciences are more focused on the society, relationships, behaviors and the wonders of the mind. Social Science explains the relationship between the society and the social behaviors around us. Like natural sciences, this branch of science is more focused on the qualitative experiments. Psychology, Anthropology, Economics, History, Political sciences and Sociology falls under this branch of Science.

What is Psychology?

Psychology has been defined as the “scientific study of the mind and behavior” (American Psychological Association, 2020). Psychology is considered as a new science as it has been discovered over the past hundred couple of years unlike the others. As a new science, many has not been known about it and researches are continuous to increase the knowledge regarding the human mind.

Psychology can be traced back to the Greeks, who might have studied and practiced it without truly defining or considering it as a branch of science. It is not until the 1800, when Wilhelm Wundt was able to name it officially as a branch of science and continued his studies regarding the mental processes of the humans. Since then, many more followed his footsteps and many theories were made.

The most popular theories were Piaget’s Theory of Development, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development and Freud’s Psychoanalytical Theory. These theories were studied, practiced and applied not only by psychologist and psychiatrists, but also by teachers, health professionals and even the layperson.

You may be applying psychology without you knowing. Here are some advantages you will get from understanding and studying psychology:

  • Improve your communication skills.

From the gestures, habits, stance and even a person talks, you will get a lot of idea on how to talk or what your approach to a person should be. Psychology help you think better when having conversations with other people. It also allows you to avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication.

  • Handle stress better.

Getting an insight on the best ways to cope with everyday problems is not only health for your mind but also helps lessen the stress that you have. Psychology developed coping mechanism that are proven to help you cope with certain situations that are unavoidable.

  • A good career.

Psychologists has a bright future ahead of them. Studying psychology is a good tool to pursue a career than involves socialization or communicating with the community like criminal psychologists, school counselor, politician and many more.

  • Understanding more about yourself.

We have to admit that we don’t know ourselves all too well. Studying psychology may help you find out your qualities that you never knew and hone them

  • Enhance your memory.

This maybe the most popular use of psychology that everyone would want to know is how to enhance someone’s memory. There are many teaching centers who’s specializes in memory techniques that can be used at school. It is amazing how our brain works and how it is able to store so much knowledge and information for a long time.

Psychology as a Science

We previously discussed about science and psychology. We now know that Psychology is under the umbrella of Social Sciences, a branch of science that focus on the social processes and human mind.

Psychology is said to follow the empirical method of research. In this method, one should have an objective and quantitative observation in a systematically controlled environment. This can be seen on researches done by known psychologist like Freud, Kohlberg and the Piaget where they create a controlled situation and applied a stimulus where they observed the effects of that stimuli on the persons in the situation. The data from these experiments were gathered and discussed.

Psychology is considered as a science because of its use of the scientific process in order to prove the hypothesis that they have. It is not easy to study the behavior and mental processes of a person. Psychology proved that it was hard but never impossible.

Why Psychology Is Important In The Modern World

Many people do not realize it, but psychology has been a contributor to our everyday life. With the use of psychology, we get to understand how a person acts and behaves, how to handle stress and problems, and lastly, how to make everyday decisions. Psychology is used more often than we thought. It is a great part of our modern world.

Psychology

According to the American Psychological Association, Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. It is a broad field which study the fields of human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior, and neurocognitive processes. The goal of psychology is to be able to describe, explain, predict and change a person’s behavior through observation, understanding and research. In many ways, Psychology is used daily in our everyday lives without us realizing it.

In the recent years, Psychology has evolved through science and research. There were many discoveries regarding different types of mental disorders and also the possibilities of treating them through therapeutic and non-medical regimens. Psychology is applied more broadly as it did before in the early 20th century.

How Psychology Help People?

You may be wondering why we dedicated an entire article just for you to appreciate and understand that Psychology is needed in our everyday lives. We listed down 5 ways in which psychology can be applicable to your everyday life:

1. Improves communication skills – Did you know that psychology helps us interact with people? Our life involves interaction with people everyday. Whether we like it our not, we are born to think, behave and communicate. Communication makes people understand our thoughts and feelings. It has also the ability of bringing people together. Through psychology, we are able to read the gesture and actions of the other person which helps in making communication easier.

2. Builds relationship – You are done communicating. The next step is for you to build your relationship with other people. Psychology has its way of letting you know who are the people you have connections with. Better understanding of the other person leads to building of strong relationships.

3. Promotes careers – Psychology has a role in making you successful too. Aside from your drive and passion at work, psychology makes you the person you want yourself to be. By working hard and attracting it, your goal will come sooner than you expected it to be.

4. Boosts self-confidence – The ability to communicate is innate to us humans. Self-confidence is earned and learned through time and practice. Psychology boosts one’s self confidence by knowing more about oneself – your abilities and your personality. Believing in yourself is the best way to become confident – and psychology just lets you do that.

5. Understand people’s behavior – When you are able to understand another person’s behavior, you are able to know what words you should tell them or actions to be done in front of them. Psychology helps you understand what a person’s behavior means and how you should probably react to them when they are showing these things to you.

Modern Psychology Careers

With Psychology gaining popularity and people’s understanding, many may consider it as a future career. The careers involving modern psychology may vary from research up to be a community counselor. We listed down a few careers that you may enjoy if you ended up taking a Bachelor of Science in psychology course:

Teacher or Professor

This maybe one of the most fulfilling jobs in the world, being an educator. Teachers or Professors are responsible in bringing and giving knowledge to their students true effective teaching modalities. Because of psychology, many teachers were able to share their knowledge through proper channels and students are able to comprehend their lectures well because of it. Teachers has a big part in a person’s growth which is very rewarding when you see your students be successful in their chosen careers.

Healthcare worker

More than ever, this is the time when we needed the healthcare workers the most. The nurses, doctors, medical technologist, radiologists, assistants and many more has taken a great role in the current pandemic. They are the ones who sacrifice themselves in the name of their duty and oath. Psychologists can also work at the hospital where they help patients and co-workers who are having a difficult time due to previous trauma or is unable to adapt to a big change in their lives. Psychologists are the one who takes care of this people and help them find the right therapy that they could do in order to improve a person’s mental health.

Government Agencies

Psychologists can actually work on government agencies too! Their role varies from being a correctional counselor, military psychologist, criminal profilers, veteran counselor and others. Since Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior of people, their jobs usually includes understanding and observing behaviors and action of people that can help solve crimes or give leads.

School counselor

This is what we commonly hear, the school counselor. Some psychologists prefer to work at schools because their expertise may involve dealing with some learning difficulties or emotional problems that led the student to have problems at school. Psychologists at school is important because they become a part of the child’s life.

Conclusion

Unlike before, psychology in the modern world has many benefits. We are able to see that psychology is not just used by the experts but us, ordinary people can use it too. The numerous researches and studies about the science of Psychology led to new discoveries which is currently helpful and will help a lot more still in the future. 

What Psychology Is Not

There are many misconceptions and myths that surrounds the word ‘Psychology’. This is because of the lack of knowledge and experience of people regarding this branch of science. Most people are only able to know about it when had an introductory course during high school or as part of the general education in college.

Myths and Misconceptions

Myths are symbolic narrative that plays a fundamental role in the society. It often relates to actual events and is associated with religious belief. Here are the common myths that is going around about psychology;

1. People learn more using their preferred “Learning Style”

Many people believed that they learn better when they are taught using their preferred learning style. A research in psychology debunked this myth. It was found that people do not learn better using their preferred strategies, but they are able to learn more when an effective teaching modality is used. There are also inaccuracies in the definition of learning style and the ability to measure them is often unreliable.

2. The Human Memory is like a Recorder

People think that every day, when they wake up, their minds are constantly recording everything that is happening around them. When we try to recall some of our memories, most of them are shorten or distorted version of the actual memory. This myth is commonly used in eye-witness testimonies where the witness is asked of his or her memory during the event. Most of the time the police and the judge trust their memory and that it is accurate especially when one confidently recalls the event. Current researches begs to disagree as they found out that confidence and accuracy are not correlated or only weakly correlated.

3. Violent offenders have Mental Illnesses

When you hear a certain act of vile crime on the television, I bet you think that the man who performed the crime surely has a mental illness. People often related mental illness with a person’s violence but this is not the case. Psychologist conducted a study and they found out that about 90% of people with mental illnesses can’t actually commit violent act and majority of the violent offenders do not have any mental illness at all. Of course, the remaining 10% are those people who experiencing hallucinations, illusion and delusions that tells or causes them to commit those acts.

4. Crowds turns everyone Crazy

Whenever there is a state of emergency like an earthquake, tsunami or flash floods, we often hear the reports that “stampedes” happen because of the extreme panic of the people. Many people say that desperate moments call for desperate measure. Psychologists do not agree with this as they believe that moments of panic are rare. People are mostly good, and they tend to stop and help other people in need. When people feel a shared identity, they build a cooperation that only them understands.

5. Broken Mirror Autism Hypothesis

The broken mirror hypothesis believes that the “Mirror neurons”, which responds when we do certain actions, when broken causes the occurrence of autism. Many journals and writers first believed in this hypothesis, but it was debunked in 2013, where they found no evidences at all to support this hypothesis and provided counter evidences why it is not the case.

6. Vision depends on the Eye Signals emitted

Ever watched a sci-fi movie where the eyes are shown to be emitting some rays while scanning a book, computer or anything else. Well, this misconception was popular during the ancient times.  They thought that the reason we are able to see is because there are rays in our eyes that comes out and the brain gets the signal. This misconception is still present until now but has evolved to people feeling like they are being stared. A research was done about this and they found out thet people who thinks that someone might be staring out them can’t actually point out who this person is.

7. Wrong situation causes a person to be Bad

In the 1970s, there was an experiment done at the prison, where students worked as prison guards for some time and as days go by, they became abusive. Because of this, many people believed that bad situations can affect the person and cause them to become bad too. Later on, other researchers tried the same experiment and found out that the same situation can also lead to a cooperative behavior rather than abusive. There are incidents in our life where we are forced in a situation and we have 2 choices: to become the change or to follow the trend. It is up to us which one we’ll chose to be.

8. Domestic violence is always caused by Men

There is a certain notion that men are the ones who commits domestic violence and the females are often the victims. We cannot deny the fact that males are much bigger and stronger than females, but it is wrong to say that they are the only ones capable of such act. In a recent study in the US, they found out that one out of four males had previously experienced rape, assault, and even stalking. It was shocking also to find that about 83% of the violence that the males reported are done by women or their partner.

9. Chemical imbalance in the brain causes Mental Illness

Many people believed that the chemicals in the brain is responsible for one’s sanity. For years until today, they think that the imbalance of these chemicals actually caused the occurrence of the mental illnesses. Psychologist, Psychiatrist or any brain specialist will say that no one will ever know the exact balance of the brain’s chemicals.

10. Psychology is all about Common Sense

Well, there are self-proclaimed “psychologists” who mock the science as if it was easy to understand to begin with. They spread out the “folk wisdom” they learned when growing up. They are the reason for the existence of the myths and misconceptions about psychology. But believe me or not, there is a reason why people study psychology and it takes years for one to get the degree. It is because Psychology is more than just about the common sense and the hearsays.

HOW CAN PSYCHOLOGY HELP ME?

Aside from being a known branch of science, Psychology has become a discipline and a practice of people in their daily lives. In what ways does Psychology help and affect our everyday lives?

Importance of Psychology

Psychology as a science, studies and observes people. It focuses on the people’s behaviors, attitude, and mind processes. Aside from being a science, it may also be applied to help understand certain situations, reactions to such situations, understanding mental health conditions, and even with relationships with other people. We don’t notice it, but we tend to use Psychology in our everyday lives. Just by interacting with our co-workers, solving problems at work and even choosing what food to eat involves psychology. It is much more useful than we thought.

How Could Psychology Help People?

When people experience problems in their life, they try to deal with it or find means to cope-up with it. Some people are not lucky enough to have found the coping mechanisms appropriate for them and sometimes these results to a mental health problem. People seek help from therapists such as psychologists and psychiatrist to guide them in solving their problems and at the same time lessen the symptoms that they are experiencing. Here we listed down how psychology can assist our lives for the better:

Coping with loss

 Bereavement happens to each one of us at some point in our lives and it affects people differently. Different emotions can be felt when accepting this kind of news such as anger, numbness, despair, shock, disbelief, anxiety, relief and sometimes disbelief. These variety of emotions are overwhelming and is hard to put into words. Psychology was able to determine the process a bereaved person is undergoing and until when it is totally normal to experience this. It helps people to recognize what they are going to and give themselves time to heal from the loss that occur in their lives.

Dealing with trauma

Sadly, there are certain traumatic events that happens every day. Distress is a common reaction to such exposure at first, but it may also be accompanied by difficulty in sleeping, helplessness, irritability, flashbacks and irritability. Psychology has counseling and therapy that is specially designed for people who experienced major trauma in their life. It assists people in getting back to their old routine and have a sense of normalcy in their life.

Overcoming depression, stress and anxiety

The best prevention for any form of mental problems like depression, stress and anxiety is having someone who will talk to you and listen to your problems. You only need one person that will understand you and put himself on your shoes. This is what Psychologists and Psychiatrists specialized in doing. They have conversations as treatment and sometimes gives advice to their clients.

Psychologist Vs. Psychiatrist

When you have mental health concerns, there are 2 people that you can go to – Psychologist and Psychiatrist. These 2 are different types of doctors who were trained specially to deal with mental health issues. A Psychiatrist are licensed medical doctors who trained for chose to specialize in psychiatry. They are the ones who are able to assess, admit and even give medications to patients when needed. While Psychologists are graduates of a doctoral degree in psychology.  They focus more on the clinical and psychological counseling. The goal of both of them is to help you cope with your problems while still functioning in the society.

When to Ask For Help?

We listed down some sure signs that will help you determine if you need to see a therapist or not. Don’t hesitate to ask for help, they mean better.

Stress And Anxiety

Did you have a recent situation that unexpectedly has a great impact on your life? Like a loss of a loved one, a break-up, or even unpleasant happenings at school that causes you to stress so much can be anxious. Anxiety and stress are part of our everyday lives, but it has an extent to which it is considered normal. If you noticed that your previous coping mechanism is not effective anymore and you are not able to concentrate at school or at work like you did before, this is a sign that you need to ask for help immediately.

Relationship Issues

Every relationship has its ups and downs. They may give you the best feelings that you’ll ever have in life, but it may also be the reason of your problems and stress. If these problems constantly make you feel helpless, restless and makes you even more hopeless. This might be a sign that you are having depression. A visit to a therapist will be greatly helpful in alleviating these symptoms.

Abusing People Or Something

When life gets tough, the first thing that people think of is to relax and by doing so, some people drink to their heart’s content while some may result to physical abuse to alleviate the heavy feeling they are experiencing. They will not notice it but this habit of theirs becomes a cycle or a pattern. This a clear sign that you need to seek help now.

Sudden Change In You

Change is good but not all the time. You may have noticed that people pointed-out good or bad things that have change in you the past few days and you didn’t really know until they pointed it out. For example, you suddenly became anti-social or you are too happy even if nothing is funny. These changes may be your way of coping to the problems at hand, but this is not a healthy way especially when it is far from your real personality.