[X] My Assistant

1 am. Heat is suffocating, ergo can't sleep.

what to do when for reasons beyond your control you can't do anything except to be bored?

addendum: the following are out as options to use:
Fapping, reading, drawing, hearing music, web surfing, forum activities, videogames, t.v., or calling/texting the significant other.

ideas?

When I'm bored, I post on random threads. All of your options sound good but will exhaust you. I don't know. Got ice cream ? Also, infusions. And milk. Next, sleeping pills. And knocking yourself out as a last resort.

When I can't sleep, which happens quite often, I just keep doing whatever I'm doing until I feel clear symptoms of exhaustion - sore eyes, paralysis, dizziness, etc. Then I just empty my mind and go to bed (and try not to trip and fall on the way).

EDIT : Wait, calling your significant other at 1 AM isn't a good idea. That might worsen your relationship.

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 10:08

its just that, Mika, if i could do that stuff i would eventually fall asleep but i can't atm, by playing HV the whole day hunting for feathers i'm pretty much fed up with the web, games and stuff, but the damn heat wont let me fall asleep.

for example i was drinking water upside down, drop by drop while waiting for a reply...

You're right perhaps drugs is the right way, i think i've got some painkillers that cause sleep. If i wake up I'll karm you up for the advice.

Sleep well.


P.s/ regarding my gf whe are good we can call each other at any time, if we answer that's another story. XD

Often it looks to me like psychology is a lot of scientifically sounding names thought up for various very vague concepts, to enable speakers to sound serious while talking about nothing at all. Much like politics.

Often it looks to me like psychology is a lot of scientifically sounding names thought up for various very vague concepts, to enable speakers to sound serious while talking about nothing at all. Much like politics.

... Yeah...

Often it looks to me like psychology is a lot of scientifically sounding names thought up for various very vague concepts, to enable speakers to sound serious while talking about nothing at all. Much like politics.

Damn straight.

Politics is about power. Psychology is about weakness of mind. Both have the money abuse scheme in common.

Protip: Leave headshrinking to the professionals.

Yes, please. This is one field that everyone in the world thinks they know inside and out but are grossly misinformed because it is such an easy science to speculate on. Myself included.

Sorry, but I have to call bullshit.

The professionals themselves don't even know what they are talking about. All they do is take notes and prescribe drugs.

ALERT : Huge wall of text with unnecessary information about myself (USI) starts here. Stop reading unless you are bored.

Spoiler text - Highlight to read...

I am officially diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) and an Internet addiction, and I was already aware of both. And to be honest, that's not even remotely correct. That's closer to an OCD since I grow addictions to pretty much everything I enjoy doing and keep doing beyond the limit - in other words, the point where you don't have fun anymore, and actually force yourself to do things - which should define an OCD. APD and GID ? Got both. Never been told about them either.

Now, don't take me wrong, I have never been forced to see a shrink. Nobody ever told me I should see one because I looked healthy. I made the decision on my own because I felt like I needed it and couldn't cope with my life anymore. I told my mother she should see a shrink as well because we share the same situation. I ended up with the above diagnosis and my mother ended up getting pissed at her shrink since he failed hard at trying to gain her trust and made her give up on her very first try. I'm still trying to convince her it's worth another try with another one.

I still see a shrink as of now. She is cool and actually listens to her patients, but isn't suited to my actual needs and we both share that opinion. She still said we could see each other and talk every month if I felt like it - but that's like running in circles and going back to square one, only using different paths.

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 11:32

1) I don't get what you're really trying to argue.

2) If you think that one experience alone dictates a tangible truth at the general level and debunks an entire field of science, then you are incredibly ignorant of the ways of the world.

I can understand your first statement. I generally suck at making points.

However, as for your second statement, this is not solely based on my own experience, as that would indeed be incredibly stupid. If you went through the trouble of reading the spoiler part, that makes at least two, and the actual number of experiences is well over 100. I have met and shared my views with a lot of people diagnosed with mental disorders, including several people from this forum. I'm not trying to diss professionals who are into this business, I am merely stating observations shared by multiple people.

Drug therapy is not a solution except as a last resort. At least, that's what I think. I believe taking care of the cause of the problems rather than trying to "tone down the effects" is the first priority.

I'm not trying to change how things work. I merely disagree with how they are done. Ah well, enough of this shit because I might end up being against the rules (personal information). And no worries, I still like you. :3

Last thing I thought :

According to [www.wolframalpha.com] Wolfram Alpha, spinach contains just about as much iron as ground beef. Well, I guess I won't have to eat that shit, then, and it seems that's the highest amount of iron you can get from food. And I also need proteins.

I'll just keep eating ground beef, then. And end up with CJD.

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 12:56

Well in that case you're actually arguing for something I also agree with, but there is a whole greater problem with diagnosis that goes behind the curtains of... money. Yep. The medical industry (at least in the U.S.) runs all its practices in tight fashion. It's too much to get into in a forum so I'll try to summarize: licensed therapists have guidelines set upon them by the medical industry, much like teachers have their curriculum set by the state education board. There is a great restriction on time/cost efficiency demanded of their performance. Majority of the times therapists are hounded into submission by their superiors (who are rarely ever therapists themselves) into finding a label to diagnose with quickly in order to get the medical insurance companies off of their backs (a health insurance won't start paying for therapy until they can find a label to put on that insurance claim form, and then they can start therapy), since money talks and well over 95% of clients across the country are using some sort of medical insurance for these services. Even in private practices, if a client goes in seeking help using a medical insurance its going to guarantee the process gets complicated. According to two of my professors, both who have private practices, both of who are tenured, both of who have been in the field for over 40 years, have told me that one hour of therapy for a client results in about two to three hours of paperwork and phone calls and at least half that time is spent dealing with the insurance companies and the other half in structuring a therapy plan. As bureaucratic as even this institution has become, it becomes another clash of ideals versus reality.

Then there is the fact that I have no clue how therapeutic practices work in France, who controls them, what (if any) is the licensing procedure, how your country's healthcare treats diagnosis and labels, or even how many years of studying must be completed before being licensed.

I get a feeling that in the future I'm gonna get fired for being idealistic and talking back to a doctor at some point. Psychologists and psychiatrists don't generally get along, as psychologists are more about therapy and psychiatrists are quick to write a prescription, which causes a clash of ideals between the two, but ultimately the psychiatrists are an MD and they supersede a psychologist, who is only a Ph.D., in medical power. Psychiatrists hate that psychologists aren't doctors but practice therapy, and psychologists hate that psychiatrists are elitist assholes with prescription writing power. I'm gonna have so much fun in the future...

I agree with pretty much everything you said above, and I think I start to understand a bit more.

If that's because they have to fill a lot of paperwork for each person they meet, then yeah, I guess there's no other option. Still sucks, though.

Here is how it works in France :
- psychologists go through 5 years of university studies ;
- psychiatrists (aka shrinks) go through 10 years of university studies ;
- psychoanalysts don't require any kind of diploma ;
- psychotherapists don't require any kind of diploma either, but since 2003, they can only have their patients redirected to them upon a psychiatrist and/or psychologist's decision.

Also, yes, these are like four different classes (just like in RPG) that don't get along very well because they have different views on how the system works, which is pretty much common sense. If your current condition completely prevents you from talking to anyone, shrinks and psychoanalysts are your best bet, whereas if you can still talk but are stuck with a problem and would like to open up to someone, psychologists and psychotherapists usually work better.

I'm also aware we have different health care systems. Those four classes also cause a lot of trouble because most of them usually overcharge their patients and this ends up in a lot of expenses.

But getting a small refund still is better than nothing, I guess.

EDIT : Fuck, a few typos and grammar failure. I'm sorry :C

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 13:50

Here is how it works in France :
- psychologists go through 5 years of university studies ;
- psychiatrists (aka shrinks) go through 10 years of university studies ;
- psychoanalysts don't require any kind of diploma ;
- psychotherapists don't require any kind of diploma either, but since 2003, they can only have their patients redirected to them upon a psychiatrist and/or psychologist's decision.

Wow, just five years to become a psychologist? I'd be halfway done already. Then again you guys probably don't have so many worthless general education credits to get out of the way before moving on to the good stuff.

Here in the states there's only two overall 'classes', if you want to use RPG analogies.
There are psychologists, who have a Ph.D. and that usually means about 4 years for a bachelors, two years for a masters, and anywhere between 4 and 6 years for a Ph.D, and that's all highly dependent on numerous factors like money, time, work experience (thousands of hours of work in a clinical setting must be completed as well as a dissertation in a specialized field in order to attain a Ph.D.) and other things. If you're someone who worked your entire way through college and graduate studies then your studies will drag out. There are a few who skip the masters altogether and move on to a Ph.D program but it requires time and money, plus great proficiency in the field. These types are rare to encounter but they may end up with a Ph.D in their mid 20s. On average I would say by the time someone becomes a psychologist they've been in school for well over 12 years. There are two sub-classes of psychologists who can claim the title of 'psychologist' without a Ph.D and those two are the Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) and the School Psychologist. Both of these can use the title of 'Psychologist', since they follow a strictly specialized field of practice after obtaining their bachelors, but when they finish the program they can only provide therapy for their qualified areas, whereas a full psychologist with a Ph.D. would be able to legally provide therapy for just about anything, but of course these people specialize in certain fields so they will work best with certain types of clients. One of my professors, for example, has worked almost exclusively with bipolar, DID (aka split personality), and the entire spectrum of mood disorders. Meanwhile another one of my professors prefers to work with children, as her specialty is towards children's psychology. I'm hoping to specialize in trauma therapy myself, since I have some lived experience with the subject and I honestly hate the mood disorders (especially depression).

Then there are the psychiatrists. These guys do their pre-med studies just like any other college student, more than likely specializing in something like biology, anatomy, or chemistry, and after finishing that degree they get to med school. After four years of med school they have to complete their residency (another two or three years) working with psychologists and learning from therapists how to practice their trade. Though they learn their therapeutic practice from the psychologists themselves,they inevitably end up higher on the chain of command because they are, after all, MDs. Kinda reminds me of how officers get trained by enlisted personnel at OCS (officer candidate school) and they learn from the experience of those they are about to command. Kinda screwy, but whatever.

In the US we don't really make a distinction between a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. The way we see it, psychotherapy IS performed by a psychoanalyst. The two essentially go hand in hand. I find it strange that your country would even differentiate it as such, but hey, I've only been looking at this situation through American eyes. Psychotherapy/psychoanalysis itself is merely a method of therapy that can be employed by both the psychologist and the psychiatrist. Though, if I remember correctly (I read a nice little career outlook book for 2011 in the field of psychology and psychiatry) psychiatrists don't ever use psychoanalysis, since it is the least scientific of the therapies available. Not to mention it is extremely long and it takes forever to see progress, and why would a doctor do that if he can just write a prescription? You may have to look around a bit here for a psychologist who uses psychoanalysis, but they can still be found. Psychoanalysis as a whole has fallen to the wayside in the entire field because it isn't very scientific.

That seems much more complicated than it is here. Also, you guys get some serious training at least.

I'm hoping to specialize in trauma therapy myself, since I have some lived experience with the subject and I honestly hate the mood disorders (especially depression).

If you ever move to France, forget about Foreign Legion. I'll give you a call. :3

Pretty sure my depression is a post-traumatic one, as is my mother's. We don't go through moody phases like most depressed people do.

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 14:18

Till now, I didn't even know that there was an upvoting system already. Actually, I still don't... ._.

Also:
This is how I process the argument between MiiKu and Psu Edo, does that make me crazy?

That's some crazy shit and this couple is insane. I lol'd hard.

That seems much more complicated than it is here. Also, you guys get some serious training at least.

I don't personally know how efficient these studies are in practical application, but we do certainly require a lot of time to even earn the title of 'psychologist'. I expect I'll be working for a while after my masters, trying to save up money for a Ph.D. program. I don't want to completely rely on student loans at that stage.

If you ever move to France, forget about Foreign Legion. I'll give you a call. :3.

I seriously will move to either France or Italy if this country ends up burning to the ground. I'd go to Mexico, but that place is even worse. Whether I move in pursuit of studies or military excursions, is still up in the air. Not sure which I'm more comfortable with yet; warrior or scientist.

Pretty sure my depression is a post-traumatic one, as is my mother's. We don't go through moody phases like most depressed people do.

Traumatic experiences often impart depression, its common enough. THIS type of depression I understand, and this type I can sympathize with. To me this is like a validated form of depression.

It's The type of depression where a person leads a relatively stress free life with no real reason to feel crushed that I can't comprehend. Maybe its wrong that I see it as a personal weakness, as every teacher has preached to me these mood disorders are not weaknesses of morality or character, but that is one issue where I will just have to disagree on until I change my mind over time. I'm probably just being childish and remorseful that I suffered more than most who I see are depressed but instead of sadness I turned to anger.

This is how I process the argument between MiiKu and Psu Edo, does that make me crazy?

You'll always hold a special heart in my place. Yes, I said that right.

This post has been edited by Pseudoshy: Apr 7 2012, 14:39

Science. ALWAYS.

No, seriously, it's all up to you ; but seeing as you have a high sense of empathy for others and are very understanding, I think it'd be wasted in the military, unless you work as a psychologist for the army or something.

This post has been edited by Mika Kurogane: Apr 7 2012, 14:41

No, seriously, it's all up to you ; but seeing as you have a high sense of empathy for others and are very understanding, I think it'd be wasted in the military, unless you work as a psychologist for the army or something.

There is that option as well. Apparently psychologists get paid a buttload to deploy with military units and provide services on foreign bases. And all tax-free to boot! This may sound slightly dreadful for a regular psychologist but for one who has been outside of that fence of safety it will seem like a vacation. A paid, tax-free, vacation.

And yeah, I've had close friends from the Corps tell me they are glad I am pursuing an education because I have more to offer to society than to just be another bullet sponge. Not dissing on my prior occupation, I would never dream of it, but I do see the sense in their words.

This post has been edited by Pseudoshy: Apr 7 2012, 14:48

Then I suggest you go for this. You have experience in the military so that's probably the best option.

Well, I'm finally feeling sleepy so this will likely be my last post of the night. Then again, I always find it hard to shut my mind up once I lay down, so who knows... Either way, I'm gonna try for now. I bid you all adieu.

Sweet dreams, little filly.