Can Oxytocin Improves Autism Emotion Recognition?

Every culture varies in experience, but one thing that is shared between humans is facial expressions that reveal specific emotions (i.e. happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, and fear). Studies have been conducted by anthropologists and scientists that provide support for this universal experience; the greatest agreement being the identification of happiness and the least agreement being in the identification of anger or fear, however, individuals who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are unable to decipher, understand, or reciprocate something as simplistic as a smile or a furrowed brow. However, this does not mean that researchers have given up on finding away to treat such deficits; on the contrary, studies are continuously pursued in the hope to better and improve the lives of such individuals.

One study in particular revolves around a hormone known as oxytocin, which has effects on brain functioning and is associated with facilitating labour, delivery, and breast-feeding, it is also important in promoting trust, love, and social recognition. This study which was published in Biological Psychiatry by Elsevier and highlighted, Australian autism experts who recruited adolescents with ASDs. Using a rigorous study design, they administered a single dose each of oxytocin and placebo via a nasal spray, which was received one week apart. Both times, the subjects were asked to complete a facial expression task that measures emotion recognition.Compared to administration of the placebo spray, the subjects' performance on the task was improved when they received the oxytocin spray (Elsevier, 2008).

These findings provide the first evidence that "a brief and simple intervention can improve emotion understanding in autism, or in fact any clinical disorder associated with social dysfunction. It is also the first to show the benefits of oxytocin nasal spray in young people, suggesting potential for earlier intervention where there may be greater opportunity to improve development," explained author Dr. Adam Guastella. "This study, therefore, makes an important advance with the longer-term hope that oxytocin could be used to improve social function in everyday settings for clinical disorders associated with social dysfunction" (Elsevier, 2008).

Note: Since this was a relatively small study, additional research is still needed to confirm these promising findings and further evaluate oxytocin as a potential treatment.

We need Motivation

Motivation is what alters are behaviors to achieve certain goals. But what happens when there is no more motivation in one’s life? While everyone at some point suffers from a hard time in their life, it is important to take adequate care and measures to make sure that your back to being yourself as soon as possible. For those who are less fortunate to bounce back into a happier self and who do not seek medical or emotional health, depression or loss of motivation may occur.

Those who suffer the most from losing their motivation are teenagers. The majority of teenagers who have a lack of motivation and drive to achieve an important role in life usually take the wrong path of life. With a lack of motivation, a teenager will typically suffer with relationships with their parents, friends, and other people close to them. School work will also suffer, and when grades go down, the ability to graduate and move into a higher education or work field is very difficult. When they lack motivation the majority of these people will turn to the use of drinking and drugs. Due to the fact that drugs are easily accessible nowadays and alcohol found even in their own home, the use of these drugs will increase.

Math and drive

We all have embedded needs for survival included hunger; thirst, shelter, and the avoidance of harm and pain against one self. These special needs are also called primary reinforces. Clark Hull believed in the 1930’s in the concept of homeostasis, in regards to having the balance of body parts and how they work and react with one another. His theory was that these homeostatic reactions and parts may have the scientific explanation for motivation:

Excitation potential = S H R [D x K x J x V]...where....

S H R was the number of reinforced training trials

D was the amount of biological deprivation or drive

K was the size or magnitude of the goal

J was the delay before the animal was allowed to pursue the goal

V was the intensity of the stimulus that set off the behavior

While this mathematical equation is intense and complicated to those who are not math experts. In a simpler form, he believes that they are based upon your needs. An example of this is when you are sweating and when you’re hot; your motivation will let you remove your sweatshirt or a cooler place to regulate your body temperature. This drive of energy was powered by behavior. His idea of these drives (to get cooler when body temperature is hot) you would repeat any behavior to reduce that drive. This theory is thus explained as the drive-reduction theory of motivation.

http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch09_motivation/hulls_theory.html

Hull's Drive Theory

S.A.T. - is - Faction

Preparing for College

We go to school to get good grades, because higher grades represent a hard working student. Most of us did well in high school to attend an accredited college, Right?

Perhaps the ability to continue to do well at any particular College or University?

Standardized test-taking classifies and evaluates students upon their academic ability. And yes, the S.A.T. ( of satisfaction) above is a typical 4 hour long test for prospective college students. Some Community Colleges don't accept them but four year Universities will. It's usually given on any given SATURDAY!

Get off YouTube.com

And learn on
www.edutopia.org

We can relate our motives to do well in school in a variety of ways. But first, we must learn the core concepts of our bodies drive to satisfy a goal or incentive. There will always be stimuli in the environment that causes an internal drive.

According to the Hull's Drive Theory, our drive energizes behavior towards need satisfaction. In YES's case, the acceptance letters would resemble an external incentive for students. This school has great success rates because of their ability to meet the needs of each student. These students spend extra long hours preparing to meet application requirements. The families role is big to YES, because they understand that the students studying atmosphere at home can impact their ability to achieve.

In the end of the YES clip, I enjoyed the unique poster speeches. This allowed each YES High School graduate to prove to the younger students that their hard work paid off. These feelings of achievement can be extremely rewarding, hence, our vase growth in Education.

Incentive Value of Task Success

A few semesters ago when browsing through the list of classes, I was trying decide what professor I wanted to take for a particular class I needed for major to graduate. Many people told me one professor is really easy and to take them because I would definitely get an A but probably not learn much. The other teacher who taught the class was known as being more difficult, which meant I wouldn't be receiving that "Easy A." I decided to take the harder professor because I obviously needed this course and wanted to really understand what was being taught to me. I worked really hard and ended up finishing with an "A" but now looking back, I realized how high the incentive level was. I knew I could have finished with an "A" in the other class but chose to challenge myself and give myself some type of incentive to actually work toward the grade I deserve and actually process what was being taught.

Many times in school I have come across many situations similar to this one. I have always struggled with receiving good grades in school and always worked very hard for what I have received. I love giving myself a challenge and working towards the goal. Losing weight is also another huge challenge. I know a lot of people who do crash diets and drop 10 pounds in a week. I love having the incentive to work towards something over a long period of time and actually achieving what I really want. Sometimes that means that I can't eat or drink something I want, but when I am motivated towards achievement, I give my absolute best. I do this because I know how strong the reward is in the end.

Stress and illness

Everyone experiences some form of stress at some point through out their lives. The typical college student has a mountain of stress. Most students are dealing with work, deadlines, studying,papers,tests. Not to mention the stress of figuring out your future, bills, a career,living on your own, and any other personal issues in addition to everything else. According to research done in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, a significant amount of stress can cause your immune system to weaken. Stress can cause many things to occur in a person's body, such as, hormone responses, nervous system responses, and behavioral responses. All of these responses can affect the immune system, which will make a person more susceptible to illness, cold, flu, or disease. I recently became sick with an upper respiratory infection and found out that a lot of people have been getting sick lately. Considering that the last couple weeks were midterms for most people, I wonder if everyone's immune system was down by the stress?

Mindfulness and Motivation

The practice of mindfulness is the training of the mind to focus on the present. Many studies have shown the positive effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in helping patients with ADHD, OCD, and depression.These disorders have a profound negative impact on ones motivation, and can be transformed with simple meditation techniques.

John Teasdale hypothesized that teaching mindfulness to patients with depression would decrease susceptibility to relapse. To test the theory scientists John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Mark Williams randomly assigned half a sample of 145 depressed patients to receive mindfulness based therapy with the other half of depressed patients to receive usual care. Teasdale, Segal, and Williams developed a program in which depressed patients would meet weekly for eight two hour sessions of mindfulness training. The training included a technique in which the patients were taught to focus intently on sensations of various parts of the body. They then learned to focus on the breath without becoming frustrated by the minds tendency to wander. They were taught to view despairing thoughts as transient mental events that did not reflect reality.

After a year of observing both groups of depressed patients, it was reported that 34% of the usual care patients remained relapse free while 66% of the patients taught mindfulness remained relapse free. Surprisingly the preventive effect of mindfulness was only effective on the most serious cases of depression in which the patients had suffered three or more past episodes of depression.This among other studies show the plasticity of the brain in dealing with stress.

Source: Begly, S. (2007). Train your mind mind change your brain how a new science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves. United States: The Random House Publishing Group.

Reaching the Top

Self actualization is something that not many people achieve. Perhaps the difficulty with achieving self actualization is the fact that most people have a difficult time achieving self esteem. In the society we live in today we are constantly told we are not good enough which makes having self esteem difficult. If we can not reach this level then reaching self actualization which comes after self esteem is impossible. People who are totally self actualized are usually people we would admire because they are steadfast in their beliefs and know what they want out of life and where they want to go. Someone I think is self actualized is my Aunt. She knows her life, she understands where she wants to be and go. She believes in herself which means she has realized her self esteem and self worth. I hope that one day I will be self actualized and know what I want to do with my life.

Predictability and Controllability

Throughout my life I have never been a fan of surprises. After reading about predictability and controllability I learned that most other people aren't fans of negative surprises either. Badia's experiment about this subject showed that most people like to know what is coming. Most people avoided the shock and were also more comfortable when they knew that it was coming. This experiment is usually tested on animals like rats, who also prefer knowing when they will be shocked. This experiment reminds me of scary movies. I like watching a scary movie much better the second time because I can prepare myself for when the parts where things jump out at you. Once the "shock" part happens I am fine but I am very uncomfortable when I do not know when it is coming.

The preparatory response hypothesis says that a signal preceding a biologically relevant event allows the organism to prepare for that event. This shows that even our bodies prefer to be prepared for a shock. By knowing when the event is coming we can avoid it and if we cannot avoid it we could at least prepare for it and reduce the stress that incurs. The book uses an example about exams as the exam being the stress. The days that we do not have exams are considered "safe" days because we do not have to worry about these stressors.

Self-Actualization: At Work And At Play

I, like countless other people, hate my job. I abhor it. A lot of my hatred for my job stems not only from being overworked and underpaid, but comes from the fact that I can almost feel any intelligent thoughts that were in my head prior to work melting out from my brain and dripping into an abyss where I will never again find my thoughts. I work at Walmart as a supervisor, but there is a single aspect of my job that I find challenging, and when there is no psychological challenge, there is no psychological reward.

Maslow's definition of self-actualization states that everyone has a need to "fulfill and utilize abilities and talents". There is no way I can achieve this working at Walmart, or working in any field in which there is no struggle. At least this is how I would define self-actualization in terms of the workplace; if I am confronted with challenges, overcome them and learn from them to better myself, I feel as though I would begin to experience self-actualization at work. This is precisely why I am going to school, so one day I will have a job I can thrive in, and have a career I am proud of. There is no pride, challenge, or reward in where I work now. In fact, often times I feel like Peter Gibbons in the movie "Office Space".

However, my hobby is music, and I love playing guitar. I play with a couple bands and whenever I play a show, no matter where or for how long, I am elated. Through playing music, I not only use my abilities and talents to their fullest potential, but through doing so I get to perform and interact with other people using their talents as well. Playing music virtually my whole life has developed my skills enough to the point where I feel comfortable playing almost any style with any group of people. I'm not nervous or afraid, and I try to be ready for just about anything. When I'm playing, I feel I have achieved self-actualization, because at that point, I am using my talents to the fullest.

Can we all really achieve it?

     According to Maslow and his pyramid of psychological needs I feel that he was right on target when it comes to the end and the ultimate feeling of self actualization. It seems to me that many people never reach the top of the pyramid at all in their lifetime. Many people may feel they are on the right track with getting all their 'ducks in a row' persay but then something always seems to happen. Catastrophes, I feel is a good way to put it when your whole view of the world falls apart and you are knocked down to picking up from the bottom again.

     Things causing this big set back could be a death in the family, job loss, rejection-resulting in low self esteem, cancer, a loss of house, and so on. There surely is a multitude of things that could take place. As I previously mentioned with the fact of few people ever reaching the self actualization mark at the top of the pyramid, I even feel that those who reach it had set backs in their lifetime at different points in time. Whichever the case for setbacks in life it seems appropriate to say that it takes a lot of motivation to strive for the top.

     I am wondering if many people stick to the bottom of the pyramid in the world in the sense that they can never really get out of that bottom tier. For some people it can be very hard to be able to have food and water every day. Those two features alone are important for our bodies to run. With the tier of belongingness I wonder also if many people move on from here with the respect of not being able to form good bonds and relations with friends and family. It seems like everyones world is different and it would be nice if everyone is able to move throughout the pyramid and reach the top at some point.

   OR

  

Self-Actualization

Self-actualization. Do you have it? I feel I do! Don't know what it is? Well, I'll tell you. Self-actualization is to fullfill and utilize one's abilities and talents to the fullest in the area one chooses.

How do you fullfil self-actualization? Well Abraham Maslow has all the answers in his hierarchy of needs pyramid. What is his hierarchy on needs pyramid, you ask? Maslow created a pyramid with five different levels with the top having the most strength.

What are these levels you ask? The lowest level contains physiological needs. Physiological needs include food, water, sleep, and sex. Once you are able to maintain physiological satisfaction, its time to move on up to the next stage of the pyramid: safety needs. To fullfil safety needs, one must not have fear and anxiety. After safety needs are met, the next step to reaching self-actualization is belongingness. How do you establish belongness? By building strong relationships with with friends, family, and lovers. Next step is the need for esteem. This need can be met by respecting one self and others. Once you have complete all four stages, you are then ready to fullfil the ultimate goal of self-actualization. Now that you know the stages of the hierarchy, there is one question that has not been answered. How do you self-actualize? Well Carl Rogers has an answer. He believed that self-actualization can be reached through being genuine, accepting, and empathetic. So once you are ready to self-actualize, take those three qualities into mind.


If you want to find out how self-actualized you are, go to the following site:
http://similarminds.com/cgi-bin/maslow.pl

Stress at Work

This YouTube video is based on stress at work. It exemplifies some of the physiological and behavioral symptoms of stress. In the video the man shows anxiety when he is told he must complete hundreds of tasks within a certain time period and must also attend a meeting. He feels he cannot handle all the work that is laid out for him and so the symptoms appear. Because of this the man is irritable. He fills some time from the meeting by consuming alcohol and nicotine. In the end his feelings of hopelessness and helplessness lead him to jump out of a window. It is inconclusive if the man dies or just injures himself because of his distress.

Need for Affiliation and Intimacy

The need for affiliation and intimacy motive deal with responses to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).  While taking the TAT a participant can respond in one of three ways, depending on their specific situation, in reguards to the need for affiliation.  Those three situations could be the person who is currently in a social relationship, they are desiring a relationship, or are feeling bad following the termination of a social relationship.  In specific, the need for affiliation regers to the motive to establish, maintain, or restore positive social relationships with other individuals or groups.  Also, the need for affiliation is latent until relevant environmental conditions arouse it.  An example of this type of arousal would be the presence of something or the availability of other individuals.  People with a need for affiliation do what the need suggests.  The person affiliates in order to satisfy that need.  Students who have a high need for affiliation tend to work harder and reiceve higher grades then students with a lower need for affiliatin.  Next, there is the intimacy motive postulated by McAdams.  The intimacy motive is used to emphasize the positive feelings that exist between the individuals in a social relationship.  The intimacy motive refers to a readiness for experiences of warm, close, and communicative interactions with other persons.  TAT pictures may also be used to explain and/or display the intimacy motive.  An example of this would be two people sharing an encounter that involved feelings of love, friendship, happiness, or peace of tender behavior.  Differences in the intimacy motive among individuals show up in terms of differences in their social behavior.  People who have a higher intimacy motive tend to experience a greater positive affect during their social interactions compared to those with a low intimacy motive.  Also, people with higher intimacy motives enjoy social interactions more than people with a low intimacy motive.  Higher intimacy motivation is associated with a greater frequency of interactions with friends, greater levels of self-disclosure, and higher levels of listening during conversations.  I agree with both the need for affiliation and the intimacy motive.  I agree with them because I have personally experienced both.  In reguards to my personal experience, what the book had stated was right on target. 

Coping and The importance of Social Support

When life becomes complicated and hectic what are the most efficient ways of adjusting? According to the text there are two main ways people cope with situations. One way is very healthy, but the other way some times is not. The two different ways of coping are Problem-Focused and Emotion-Focused. Problem-Focused is when one concentrates more on the issue to come up with a solution. Emotion-Focused may involve wishing the problem away, isolating oneself, blaming one self, or using optimism. Emotion-Focused can be a debilitating form of coping because it can often lead to substance abuse, or a tendency to over eat.

Social support can also be used as a coping mechanism. Personally, when I become overwhelmed, or upset I will always turn to my parents or my boyfriend. Even if no advice is given, I still feel better after explaining my feelings to someone close who I know will not be judgmental. The book also explains a study done by Cohen and Hoberman explains that students who had more social support were less stressed at college. Also, the book discusses a link of social support to the immune system. When I become anxious and stressed, I get the feeling of having a pit in my stomach and cannot relax. After talking to someone, my anxiety eases and I feel better.

The Genetics of Addiction

I was curious about how genetic could influence or contribute to drug addiction, so I did some research on this topic. Some people are more vulnerable to drugs and susceptible to drug addiction than others. Everyone could have access to addictive substances, but people who have the opportunity may not always take that risk. Biological differences can make a person more or less vulnerable to addiction. People with certain genes may have a more difficult time quitting when they start than others. When trying to quit, some people may experience severe symptoms of withdrawal than others. However a person's genetic makeup is not the only factor of addiction. Just because a person is susceptible to addiction, does not necessarily mean they will become addicted. Experience and a person's environment can play a large part in addiction. Susceptibility to addiction is the result of the interaction of many genes, not just a single gene. Research on the role of genetics in addiction linked the D2 dopamine receptor(DRD2 gene) to alcoholism. Studies that have been done on the brain showed that those with the A1 allele of the dopamine receptor, DRD2 have fewer dopamine receptors in the pleasure centers of the brain. Those individuals that become addicted to drugs that increase dopamine levels, become addicted easily because of that deficiency. Other studies have also shown that those with the A1 allele of the DRD2 gene are also addicted to cocaine, heroin, amphetamine and nicotine. These studies suggest that those with this genetic trait and more likely to have severe forms of addiction.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genetics/

Laughing is the best medicine

Stress, it happens to us all! It can be caused by so many different outside forces of life such as work, school, money, family, etc. I feel that it is inevitable not to be stressed at least once a month. Last week by far was one of the most stressful weeks this semester. On top of having to study for midterms, I got stuck working, packing, moving, and doing my service learning hours. There was not a minute out of the day that I had time for myself. One night I even broke down, cried, and ended up sleeping fifteen hours, which was greatly needed.

When it comes to stress I feel the best little medicine you can give yourself is laughter. Usually I will try to talk to someone who always makes me laugh or watch a funny movie while going to bed. Anything to just stop the anxiety feelings I get. What also works if you have just five minutes is look up funny youtube videos. Last week I found one that had me laughing so hard my worries went away for just a few minutes. (below is the video) Other ways people release stress is by taking a walk. That little excise will help you organize your priorities and think of different ways to handle your stress, or it can even help you take your mind off everything is your seeing something peaceful while walking.

If being a student is not stressful enough adding everyday life to it is no help. Hopefully though I gave someone a new way to help them release the pressures of everyday life by making a smile on their face. : )

Music and Your Mood

Music is very well known for evoking emotions out of people. Our textbook explains how these emotions are usually poisitive feelings, but I think I would have to disagree and say that music can evoke all different kinds of emotions. Music has the ability to alleviate bad moods and push you towards more positive feelings such as love, or you could be listening to a song that reminds you of a bad time in your life. The more you listen to the radio or your preferred artist, you start to realize that a majority of songs are about a longing for love, missing the one you loved, hurting the one you love or expressing how much you actually love someone. Maybe its not necessarily about the lyrics to the music that are so happy, but the beat of the song can change your mood and the ability to relate to the lyrics makes you like that song even more.

The fact that music can enhance your mood so rapidly has been taken into consideration and is now being used for therapy. Well, according to the website below, music therapy has been around for 60 years, but it is kind of a new concept for me.


http://www.musictherapy.org/

Another aspect of music that has become very popular is for learning aspects. Women who are pregnant will play music for their unborn child because it is said that the unborn child will react to music by moving in the womb. Fetuses will also breathe in time to music that they find enjoyable. It is pretty incredible that even unborn children react to music.

Stress and Coping

It seems that stress is a never ending pile of anxieties, one after the other. Over the summer, I took a Positive Psychology course and found that the materials studied became truly helpful when coping with stress. One of the greatest parts of that course, was that stress was identified as inexistant. I for one could not believe that. How could stress not exist if I can actually feel the headaches, the dizziness and frustration? However, when I took a second glance, stress really is what we make it. In life, having to get things done by a particular deadline, accidents, emergencies, school and work all take place in everyone's agenda. It is unfortunate, but there are ways to prepare one's self for coping with these nuances. For me, stress can become accumalated with cleaning. In order for my day to even move forward, I have to have my home in mint perfect condition. Everything for me is on a schedule, including my cleaning. Every part of my home must be bleached and disinfected every week, or else I feel as if everything is dirty. The rational part of me knows that this is untrue, however, the irrational part, or obsessiveness, can not be controlled. I have, however, been working on alleviating this obsessive nature of cleaning, ever since this positive psychology course. One way that I try to rationalize this, is by recognizing that this is a problem. It causes me to be late, which in turn can affect the rest of the day. Another way of coping, is by trying to make sense that if that bathrooms are not cleaned by a certain day, or the carpets are not vaccuumed, my house is not going to become infested with germs. Germs are always going to be apart of daily life and recognizing that it is okay, is one way I try to deal with this. Although stress can take a toll on one's overall health, it is important to know that there are ways of coping. When it comes to the daily stresses of work and school, I make sure to stay active, go running or make time for myself at the park or beach. Just being outdoors, with fresh air, can help to let the stress melt away and know that everything always gets done. On top of that, stress truly is what you make of it. You do not have to let stress affect you, if you do not want it to. Realizing that stress is inexistant, may help to better cope with the curveballs that life throws at us all.

Am I Going the Right Way

I don’t know how well you are at doing things for the first time. I, for one, am terrible. I am all fidgety, antsy and usually don’t function very well. I can call up so many events where I just feel out control and inactive just because it’s my first time doing it. Or maybe I haven’t done that particular activity in a long time. For instance, I use to live in DC and at first I could not navigate very well through the city. There were plenty of times for everything while I was there: I took the wrong Metro. I got lost so many times searching for places. I walked at a slow pace, in comparison to the Washingtonians.

During those first weeks of living in DC, I found it very complex to take the Metro. There are different station color lines, different ways of direction, different street exits. Overall, I was walking with a map in my hand to avoid getting lost. I always second guessed myself, and didn’t think I will arrive to my destination until I actually saw it before my eyes.

During the whole experience I was aroused and alert to all the things around me. Due to the complexity of the activity, and having to travel by Metro I was performing poorly. My zone of optimal level did not kick in until about four weeks. Until it became automatic and I was able to maneuver myself through the city smoothly. In the beginning, I was not familiar with riding the Metro, or with walking those streets. However, after some practice it was no longer new for me. I was in the Zone. The funny thing in all this is, I was in DC for the weekend, and I was taking the Metro. Many times I noticed that I was not in my optimal zone because I hadn’t been on the Metro in so long. Even then I had high arousal but since the activity was not simple my performance was not at its best. Fortunately , I did not get lost, but I was not in the zone.