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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
We will discuss "voodoo death" first. Voodoo death is a term coined by Walter Cannon in 1942, also known as psychogenic death or psychosomatic death. It is a phenomenon of sudden death caused by a strong emotional shock, such as fear of some external force. Voodoo death is particularly noted in indigenous societies, but also in concentration camps or prison camps, and the situation is not specific to a certain culture. [W.B. Cannon, "Voodoo" Death, American Anthropologist, 44, pp. 169–181, 1942]. Leach, in an interview with Medscape Medical News, noted that these people usually go through five distinct stages that include: withdrawal, apathy, abulia [loss of willpower], mental akinesia [motor immobility] and psychogenic death.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
The concept of cognitive dissonance was first proposed by the psychologist Leon Festinger in 1956. It is a situation of discrepancy between attitudes or between an attitude and an action derived from conflicting attitude. Cognitive dissonance expresses an inconsistency between any elements of knowledge, attitude, emotion, belief, or value, as well as a goal, plan, or interest. The theory of cognitive dissonance holds that conflicting cognitions serve as a driving force that forces the human mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to change existing beliefs, in order to minimize the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions [see Wikipedia entry on cognitive dissonance]. In other words, the theory is based on the idea that people strive for internal consistency and harmony in their beliefs and attitudes. When there is inconsistency or conflict, they experience discomfort, and this discomfort motivates them to resolve the inconsistency by changing their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.
Leon Festinger [1919-1989]
Although reducing cognitive dissonance may make it easier for a person, some of the ways to reduce cognitive dissonance involve distorting the truth, which can lead to wrong decisions. Festinger suggests that the dissonance can sometimes be resolved by finding and adding a third piece of information relevant to both beliefs. Ways to deal with the dissonance include:
Changing Beliefs: People may change one or more of their beliefs to make them consistent with each other or with their behavior.
Acquisition of new information: People may seek new information that supports their existing beliefs or helps justify their behavior.
Minimization: People may downplay the importance of the conflicting beliefs or behaviors, actually convincing themselves that the inconsistency is insignificant.
Seeking social support: People may seek support from others who share similar beliefs or engage in behaviors consistent with their own, providing a sense of validation.
Behavioral change: Changing a person's behavior to conform to their beliefs or attitudes is another way to reduce cognitive dissonance.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
First, let's mention again that in the model we propose for the "self", one must first differentiate between the primary self, which is actually the basic biological core consisting of several innate structures and which is subject to development during life. and the "social self" [consisting of "secondary selves"], which is a structure that develops during a person's exposure to social influence, and consists of internalizations of figures significant to a person, originating either from external groups or from imaginary groups (related, for example, to a story, a myth, a movie, etc.) that were having a considerable effect on the person). We will note here that at birth there are innate patterns for most parts of the self such as the "social self" and its parts that form nuclei for a possible future development of these structures.
The "secondary selves" included in the "social self" comprise: 1] the variety of representations of the "Me" that originate from attitudes and feelings towards the self and its representations in different periods of life 2] the representations of internalized figures that often originate from significant figures that the person is exposed to during his life but as mentioned may also be imaginary characters represented in books, films, etc. that have had a considerable influence on man. 3] The person’s representations of the "subculture" [subculture refers to social influences in the milieu [environment] in which the person lives and are not necessarily related to a specific person],
We call the social self metaphorically the "directory of characters" or more specifically the "directory of internalized characters."
We note that, as we mentioned before, in this board there is usually a hierarchy in which there are more influential and dominant figures that we metaphorically called "Dictator Self or Selves" and these set the tone and even censor what content, attitudes and behaviors cannot be contained in the board of figures. We note that the person as a whole is not aware of the influence of the board of characters and recognizes the influence as coming from himself and his own will and positions. We will also note that, as a rule, the board of directors is very dynamic and there are constant struggles and power relations between the internalized characters that make it up over the positions that will be expressed when the internal “dictator or dictators” dictate the tone.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings,
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association revised the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]—also called post-traumatic stress disorder—in the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM-5]. PTSD is included in a new category in the DSM-5, Trauma and Stress Disorders. All the conditions included in this classification require exposure to a traumatic or stressful event as a diagnostic criterion.
It should be noted that DSM-5 introduced a subtype of preschool PTSD for children aged six years and younger. The criteria below are specific to adults, adolescents and children over the age of six.
Below are the criteria required for a PTSD diagnosis.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
We are currently [October 2023] in the midst of a war. This war poses a considerable survival threat.
Let's examine the question, which is what does an existential threat and uncertainty related to war do to the individual.
The University of Utah in the United States published an article authored by Dr. Steve Sugden, [a colonel in the US Army Reserve and a psychiatrist at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI)] about the psychological impact of total war on civilians who contract it through the media. Bellow are the highlights of this article:
"Thousands of kilometers away from the conflict, you may be watching the war in Ukraine in real time through a screen. Images of destruction, people in shelters, injured Ukrainian citizens and many other disturbing and tragic events.
The events in Ukraine, dubbed the first "social media war", are broadcast live not only on traditional media but also on apps like Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at a rate never seen before. Violent images and videos are spreading like wildfire. Some of the videos tagged with #UkraineWar have been viewed 600 million times in a matter of days. These images, videos and audio clips can be triggers with a huge psychological impact.
Global conflicts have always been problematic. Still, with the recent civil unrest in Syria, the instability in Iraq, conflicts in other countries, and the coronavirus pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine is yet another in an already long list of traumatic events that can negatively impact our mental health”.
"The long-term effects of trauma are significant," says Dr. Steve Sugden. Sugden knows firsthand what it's like to be on the battlefield and how trauma can affect our mental health. Sugden claims that there are some common effects of war on mental health and that those who watch Traumatic content are also at risk.
"Civilians, soldiers and those who consume the sights and sounds of war through social media can develop a typical psychological profile of trauma."
And here the question arises, how does the war affect our mental health?
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Hello everyone, in this short conversation we will discuss the effect of the board of internalized characters on compliance with drug treatment.
First, we will mention that in the model we propose for the "self", one must first differentiate between the primary self, which is actually the basic biological nucleus consisting of several innate structures and which is subject to development during life. and the "social self" [consisting of "secondary selves"], which is a structure that develops during a person's exposure to social influence, and consists of internalizations of figures significant to a person, originating either from external groups or from imaginary groups (related, for example, in the form of a story, from a myth, from a movie, etc.) that were having a considerable effect on the person). We will note here that we assume that at birth there are innate patterns for most parts of the self such as the "social self" and its parts that form nuclei for a possible future development of these structures.
The "secondary selves" included in the "social self" include 1] the variety of representations of the "I" that originate from attitudes and feelings towards the self and its representations in different periods of life 2] the representations of internalized figures that often originate from significant figures that the person is exposed to during his life but as mentioned may also be imaginary characters represented in books, films, etc. that have had a considerable influence on man. 3] My representations of the "subculture" [subculture refers to social influences in the milieu [environment] in which the person lives and are not necessarily related to a specific person].
We call the social self metaphorically the "directory of characters" or more specifically the "directory of internalized characters." We note that, as we mentioned before, in this board there is usually a hierarchy in which there are more influential and dominant figures that we metaphorically called "the dictator self or selves" and these set the tone and even impose censorship on what content, attitudes and behaviors cannot be contained in the board of figures. We note that the person as a whole is not aware of the influence of the directorate of visualizations and recognizes the influence as coming from him, from himself and his own will and attitudes.
How, then, do these internalized significant secondary figures influence medication compliance?
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
We will once again remind those who join the blog that in the model we propose for the "self", one must first differentiate between the primary self, which is actually the basic biological core consisting of a number of innate structures and which is subject to development during life. and the secondary social self, which is a structure that develops during a person's exposure to social influence, and consists of internalization of figures significant to the person [we will call them secondary selves], originating either from external groups or from imaginary groups related, for example, in the form of a character from a story, from a myth, from a movie, etc. that had a considerable influence on the person.
We will note here that at birth there are innate patterns for most parts of the self such as the "social self" and its parts that are nuclei for a possible future development of these structures.
The "secondary selves" include:
1] the variety of representations of the "I" that originate from attitudes and feelings towards the self and its representations in different periods of life.
2] The representations of the internalized characters that usually originate from significant characters that the person was exposed to during his life, but as mentioned, there may also be imaginary characters represented in books, movies, etc. that had a considerable influence on the person.
3] The person’s representations of the "subculture" [subculture refers to social influences within the milieu [environment] in which the person lives and are not necessarily related to a specific person or group.
These secondary selves that build the social self usually demonstrate a hierarchy and there may be one or more internalized characters that are more dominant in the hierarchy and these dictate the person's positions and perceptions as well as impose censorship on contents and their internalization as well as the internalization of certain characters that do not fit and even contradict the positions of the dominant character or characters. For convenience we call the collection of internalized characters in the social self the "board of internalized characters" and some have called it the "internalized jury." The person is usually not aware of the composition of the social self, which consists of internalized significant figures that activate him in quasi "automatic" behavior patterns, unless he has undergone treatment that brought this to his awareness.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings,
This time we will open this conversation with an example of an imaginary character taken from literature and go back to its origins in the second half of the 18th century. The subject of the example is the imaginary character of Werther.
"The Sorrows of Young Werther" is a novel from letters written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and which was published in the second half of the 18th century [1774].
The book was published in the fall of 1774 at the Leipzig Book Fair and is one of the representative works of the German "Sturm und Drang" stream.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)
The book consists mainly of letters written by the hero Werther to his friend Wilhelm. At the ball, Werther meets Lotte, the daughter of a clerk who takes care of her eight siblings. Werther knows she is engaged, and yet falls desperately in love with her. and spends time with her often.
But when Albert, Lotte's fiancé, returned, Werther felt the hopelessness of his love for Lotte. Later Lotte marries Albert. And after a meeting in which the emotion overwhelms Lota, she kisses him with feelings of guilt and runs away. Werther sinks into despair, hopelessness and endless mental darkness. He writes a farewell letter and shoots himself to death.
With the publication of the book, according to one version, Werther's character became a role model for many young people who probably internalized his character and identified with it and perhaps for some of them he became the dominant character in the "board of internalized characters" that build their "social self". There was even a clothing fashion inspired by the character of yellow vest pants and a blue jacket and even other products mentioned in the book. Some talk about it as mass hysteria or the "Werther phenomenon". And there are reports that a wave of suicides or at least a number of suicides was observed following the book, a phenomenon called the "Werther effect".
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by a variety of fantasies and grandiose behaviors, a great need for admiration and a lack of empathic ability [the ability to step into the other's shoes]. Figures in history who are mentioned in this context are Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Henry VIII alongside many others.
For example, many historians and biographers claim that Napoleon Bonaparte: the French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and related wars exhibited characteristics consistent with narcissistic disorder: he had a grand and grandiose vision for himself, he was preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, and he believed that he was special and unique.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)
According to the American DSM-5 classification approach, the disorder is diagnosed in early adulthood after adolescence and manifests itself in five or more of the following characteristics:
1. A sense of grandiose self-importance: such as a tendency to overestimate skills and achievements, expecting those around to recognize one's superiority even though he has no corresponding achievements and skills.
2. Preoccupation with fantasies about success, beauty, extraordinary abilities, or ideal love.
3. The person believes that he is special or unique, and feels that only special and unusual people like him will be able to understand him.
4. Man needs a lot of admiration for the environment.
5. The person has a feeling that he is entitled to special privileges (the person has an unrealistic expectation of preferential treatment and that others must pay attention and immediately fulfill his expectations).
6. Man uses others to achieve personal goals within his interpersonal relationships.
7. Lacks empathy (a person lacks or is unable or unwilling to recognize the feelings of others).
8. Often a person is jealous of others or he believes that he is the object of others' jealousy.
9. The person often tends to demonstrate an arrogant attitude or behavior.
It seems that many of those with narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by unstable, incomplete and insecure attachment characteristics due to their experience with significant relationships in their early past that were unstable or ambivalent and did not provide sufficient security and left the person hurt without the ability to develop defenses [defense mechanisms].
The cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT] understanding of the disorder speaks of a thought and emotional system characterized by systems of perception of excessive and "inflated" self-importance, great difficulty in identifying with and developing empathy for others, and a great emphasis on one's position and status.
Interestingly, for narcissistic personality disorder, CBT can be helpful in preventing and mitigating behaviors that cause stress in their relationships. CBT can also help narcissists challenge distorted, internalized beliefs about themselves that can trigger emotional outbursts and narcissistic rage. In addition to subculture characteristics, research suggests that childhood experiences can play an important role in causing this personality disorder. Negative childhood experiences, such as rejection or criticism by parents, may contribute to the disorder in adulthood. At the same time, on the other hand, too much unrealistic praise and admiration from parents and the environment can lead to this.
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By Prof. Levine & Dr. Salganik
Greetings
Below is our article about socialization among non-human primates. For this purpose, we critically used GPT 4 and reviewed literature in PUBMED, and from that we focused on one article that we considered important. In light of the abundance of observations and research, we did not include in the review reports by well-known researchers about their lives with the great apes or studies that reported excellent immediate working memory in chimpanzees or interesting works that reveal a variety of human stigmas about the characteristics of alpha males and more.
1. Group life: Most primates live in social groups whose size can range from a few individuals to dozens and even hundreds. These groups offer protection from predators, help find food, and provide opportunities for learning and social interaction.
2. Hierarchies: Many primate groups operate under a social hierarchy, often dictated by factors such as age, sex, and physical strength. Dominant individuals usually have access to the best resources and the best mating opportunities.
3. Communication: Primates communicate using a wide variety of methods, including vocalizations, facial expressions, body postures, and physical contact. Some species also use albeit simple tools and display other forms of complex behavior.
4. Grooming: This is a common behavior among primates and serves not only a hygienic purpose but also a social purpose. Grooming can help strengthen social ties and maintain group harmony.
5. Mating and Parenting: Primates' mating systems are diverse and include monogamy, polygyny (one male, multiple females) and polyandry (one female, multiple males). In many primate species, parenting is largely the role of the mother, but in some, such as marmosets, males play a significant role, and in others, such as siamangs and gibbons, parental care is shared equally.
6. Cooperation and altruism: Primates often cooperate in tasks such as hunting or caring for young. Some primates have even been observed to exhibit altruistic behavior, such as distributing food or helping other group members in need.
7. Learning and Culture: Primates are able to learn by observing others, allowing behaviors to be passed down from generation to generation. This transfer of knowledge and behaviors can be considered a form of culture.
Each primate species has its own unique behaviors and social structures. For example, baboons live in large groups with complex hierarchies, while orangutans are mostly solitary. Chimpanzees and bonobos are known for their sophisticated social structures and behaviors, including their use of tools and displays of empathy. Gorillas live in groups led by a dominant silverback male. Lesser known species, such as lemurs and tarsiers, also have interesting social lives, but are less studied than their larger relatives.
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Prof. Joseph Levine, M.D. is an emeritus associate professor in the Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University in Israel. Prof. Levine is a certified psychiatrist with clinical experience in controlled trials of adult psychiatric disorders and in psychotherapy. He was awarded a NRSAD independent investigator grant for the study of Creatine Monohydrate in psychiatric disorders -- mainly Schizophrenia. He resides and treats patients in Tel Aviv and all of central Israel.
