solidsquid

I'm most interested in biological psychology/neuroscience. I hope to get my Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience after I finish my masters.

I don't know of any online courses but here's a couple of resources: http://www.epjournal.net/ http://home1.gte.net/ericjw1/sociobiology.html http://www.hbes.com/

Some studies have said they've found morphological differences between those with panic disorder and control groups using brain imaging such as CT scans. As well as some findings on differences in neurochemistry.

My two cents - not completely for how things are and not completely against how things are. Point 1 - Drug Companies Good and Bad: Without any drug companies at all - many people are screwed. Someone has to manufacture the drugs who have helped millions of people live normal lives - the Parkison's patient on L-Dopa (actually one widely used drug is a mixture of L-Dopa and carbidopa); the schizophrenic who utilizes Risperidone to control the positive symptoms; the unipolar depressed - who have newer atypical antidepressants to thank where older typical or just SSRIs didn't work so well. Are many of these drugs expensive? Yes. Do many of the people that need them, get them? No. Is it entirely a company's fault, no our mental health and medical system is extremely flawed but it's intimately tied to our form of society so it is resistant to change. I could go on and on about what needs to be changed but the fact remains - without someone to manufacture and test these medications, where would we be? This isn't however, to say I condone some of the practices done for a company's benefit - such as giving kickbacks to physicians who utilize their drug over another which I consider unethical - IMHO. Point 2 Psychiatrists - all of 'em are quacks?: I think when some people think of psychiatry they instantly activate these concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis; some of the weirder "therapies" like "rebirthing" or do not have sufficient knowledge of why some procedures are performed - ECT - which they see as barbaric and useless. This isn't to say that all psychiatrists are great physicians - some of them are quacks but so are many neurologists, pathologists, proctologists, pediatricians et al. It's not something exclusive to one sub-division of medicine. Also, don't confuse many of the self-help idiots with mental health professionals - just because they put Dr. before they're name doesn't necessarily mean they're legit. I've picked up self help books written by "Dr." So and So - some with seemingly legit credentials and then I read things like "...we only use 10% of our brains and I'll teach you how to tap into the other 90%..." and become exceedingly disgusted. The market in saturated with this crap - infomercials, TV shows, magazine ads, internet ads and so forth. It's no wonder people are skeptical of the mental health field. I also hear many people refer to things done in the past - experiments that were "inhuman". Well, many of those were very, very long ago and some were simply people's misunderstanding of the experiment like Stanley Milgram's studies on obedience. I read an article in a magazine where they claimed Milgram forced people to be shocked - no on was actually shocked in his studies, the participants thought they were shocking people. Point 3 - Psychiatry/Psychology is all guess work?: I hear this a lot that both the field of psychology and the sub-division of medicine - psychiatry are not scientific at all and psychiatrists/psychologists simply make up whatever they want and create crazy treatments just to mess with people and get their money. Do some people do this? Yes they do. But it may be your own damn fault for going to a "life coach" or "hypnotherapist" instead of a certified psychology or psychiatrist. I've seen TV shows that use "life" coaches with no formal education in psychology and they "help" people by using ridiculous symbolic "therapies" like having them lay in mud and then washing it off while they describe the mud as their "problems". This isn't to say that professionals don't make mistakes, they do - they're human too, they screw up just like everyone else. Which is where the role of the good patient comes in. If you're concerned about a loved one who has been diagnosed with a disorder - learn about it, ask the doctor questions about their conclusions - go to the library and look at the DSM for yourself, visit websites of societies which offer information and support for those disorders and read the scientific literature - do a pubmed search. Learn what you can to help. If you don't think your kid needs medication or even has a disorder - discuss it with your doctor, it's part of they're job to keep you informed. You can always get a second opinion as well. Those are just a few quick points I thought I'd add to the discussion. I'm sure many will not agree with much of what I've said. Many have had bad experiences with mental health professionals or those claiming to be professionals. It is most likely something such as that which fueled L. Ron Hubbard's hatred for psychiatry. Also keep in mind that the prinicpal, teacher or guidance counselor at your child's school is not a mental health professional.

Welcome RM, I am a bit partial to psychology myself. Hope this section of the boards gets some stimulation in discussion.

Define "mental energy".

Introspection is an old practice and is defined as: Source - Lundin, R. (1996). Theories and systems of psychology. (5th ed.). Lexington: D. C. Heath. Some more from Lundin: A bit more detail: This was a major item in the late 1800's in psychology, so much so that the structuralism system was often called Introspectionism. It was also seen in later systems and found in other's work like Tichener and James. With the behaviorism, introspection and subjective appraisals were rejected. However, Gestalt psychologists wishing to take into account the whole person, not simply stimulus-response focal points, utilized introspection heavily. It can also be seen in psychoanalysis too. The wikipedia article on introspection- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection PubMed search for 'introspection': http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

Source - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/part1-4.html Quote mining is an intellectually dishonest pursuit, you should avoid it. Yet to use outright fabricated material is to destroy your credibility to be taken seriously.

That's what I thought too, felt like I knew what was about to happen and there was an overwhelming feeling I "saw" it in a dream. My was usually accompanied with a small hot flash and some stomach queeziness afterwards. After talking to my neurologist I found out that this was normal. I had some papers over the subject somewhere, if I find them I can send them to you...that's a big if with the pile I'd have to sift through - but I shall try. If this is something that is persistent for you and has gone on for some time, it might not be a bad idea to see a neurologist or even a visit to a GP might help. I was put on Dilantin, 100mg twice a day and I haven't had an bouts since then.

I experienced the same thing. The deja vu (specifically deja vecu) was all part of my epilepsy. I wasn't predicting an future events even though my faculties implied so, it was but an illusion. If you'd like to learn a bit more, I'd recommend typing 'Deja Vu' or 'Deja Vecu' into PubMed for some papers on the subject or even into Google Scholar. Or, you can do it old school style and hit the local library.

I'd recommend a basic Neuroscience text - a couple that I own and would recommend are: Nueroscience (3rd ed.) by Purves et al. Biological Psychology (8th ed) by Kalat You can also find some earlier editions at much cheaper prices if that is a concern for you. When you get a good undertanding of those you can move onto other areas and find more detailed works such as on say, neuroanatomy: The Human Brain (5th ed). by Nolte In the mean time try looking around these sites: Neuroscience for Kids The Whole Brain Atlas Digital Anatomist Project Also, I would highly recommend going to this site: http://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html Just register on the site, it's free and click on the "VoD" buttons to view each module. They are about 20 or so minutes long each and very, very informative. That site has many different subjects from elementary to collegiate level.

I've seen many people associate the Big Bang with evolution simply from a misunderstanding of what evolution covers, not being able to separate the colloquial term from the specific term. This type of thinking also is why people confuse evolution with the origin of life.