Emily Jorgenson

PSY1010
Hansen

Unit 4 Report

PART I
For the first part of my report, I read a passage assigned to us from 50 Great
Myths of Popular Psychology by Scott Lilienfeld. In the passage Lilienfeld (Lynn,
Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2009) discussed the stigma of mental illness--whether it comes
from diagnoses of the illnesses themselves or the behaviors representative of the
illnesses--and pondered if we should keep using diagnostic labels. While he recognized
the strengths and faults in each argument, he stated that he thought professionals
should still use diagnostic labels so that patients can attribute a reason to their suffering.
For the most part I agree with his stance, and have personal experience as to
why. In 2017 something traumatic happened to me, and in the months afterward I
dissociated heavily. At the time I didn’t know what dissociation was, and I felt like I was
going crazy because I didn’t understand what was happening to me. In a desperate
attempt to find answers, I googled my symptoms and found a website that defined what
dissociation was and the why behind it. I remember immediately feeling so relieved that
what I was experiencing was a condition that many other people also experience, and
because there was a name to it there were also treatment options. I eventually saw a
therapist and she confirmed what I was experiencing was indeed dissociation, and from
there we were able to treat the after-effects of trauma including the dissociation. If there
wasn’t a name for what I experienced, I may not have gotten the treatment I needed;
that could be the case for many if it weren’t for diagnostic labels. I do believe that
stigmas accompany labels, however through continual public education about various
mental illnesses we can break those down over time and make labels more and more
helpful rather than hurtful.

PART II
Link 1: The first article was about how early humans evolved to sleep on the
ground, have a more integrated sleep period, and slowly got more REM sleep (Coolidge
& Wynn, 2013). If I were to use this article in a research paper, I would write the paper
on a subject such as why we need REM sleep. I would choose this topic because in
addition to talking about our sleep evolution, the article also entailed possible reasons
why we evolved to dream so much, and why we now spend about 25% of our time
sleeping in REM sleep.
 Link 2: This article was mostly about the bystander effect, and why we don’t feel
compelled to help someone or get involved in a situation while we are in a group
(Cherry, 2019). I would probably use this article in a research paper about behavior in
groups. We covered behavior in groups in Chapter 11 of our textbook, and it talked
about the bystander effect as well as a few other things the article named, such as
social loafing and diffusion of responsibility.
Link 3: This article was from Mayo Clinic, which would make it a good article to
use in a research paper because they are well-renowned and provide accurate
information. This article specifically was about OCD; getting diagnosed, treatment
options, and coping with the illness (Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 2020). If I
were to use it in a research paper I would write my paper on treating OCD, because
most of the information it provided was on treatment and it included a variety of ways
one could be treated for OCD. I think it could be interesting to dive into each method of
treatment further.
Link 4: This article discussed bipolar disorder, how patients’ different families’
attitudes and criticisms can affect their probability of relapsing, and a newer treatment of
family-focused therapy (Miklowitz, 2007). This would be a great article to use in a
research paper because it’s very credible; it was written by someone from the University
of Colorado, it is detailed and lengthy with topic-specific terms, and the author cited all
of his sources. I would use this article in a research paper about the treatment of bipolar
disorder, and I would include this as one of the treatments. Because the article is so
detailed, I could give a great (but likely less lengthy) description of what the treatment
entails, and what kind of patient this treatment might benefit most.
Link 5: This link took me to the Quizlet website, where there was a set of
flashcards defining terms specific to Trait Theory (Trait Theories). If I had to choose, out
of all of the links I’ve visited I would be least likely to include this in a research paper
because there is so little information, and it’s difficult to tell where the information came
from. I don’t think it’s credible. If I had to include it in a research paper, I would write my
paper on the main different personality theories, because trait theory happens to be one
of those and the definitions it provides may be helpful in explaining what the theory
entails.

PART III
For this part of my report, I used Google Scholar and found a scholarly article on
altered states of consciousness, specifically during meditation. Some of the article’s
main points were that the feeling of time is subjective, especially during meditation
when according to different studies people can feel time passing fast, slow, or a sense
of timelessness (relative to the actual amount of time passing). It also discussed how
our sense of self plays into meditation, and concluded that our sense of time and sense
of self are very much interwoven (Wittmann, 2020).
 I picked this particular article because I wanted to know more about meditation, it
was mentioned in our last unit as being an altered state of consciousness but it was
never discussed in depth. I have taken up meditation myself within the last year or two
and it has been a really cool experience for me, I specifically wanted to know more
about how the process works inside our brains but the article was still very informative
on how each person experiences meditation.
Here’s the link to the article I found:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/62525701/WittmannIJStudyChanBuddhismHumCiv
202020200329-26384-2pibtr.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename
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1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200503T221700Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-
SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Security-
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Signature=52a60e6ae6e93e546f6e9e209639506365ae2dde033e27a60dc88ae0a77c1789
(I’m sorry the link is so long!)
 Sources Cited

Cherry, K. (2019, September 30). The Diffusion of Responsibility Concept in

Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-diffusion-of-
responsibility-2795095

Coolidge, F. L., & Wynn, T. (2013, October 14). How Dreaming Changed Human
Evolution. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-think-
neandertal/201310/how-dreaming-changed-human-evolution

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. (2009). 50 Great Myths of
Popular Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell.

Miklowitz, D. J. (2007). The Role of the Family in the Course and Treatment of Bipolar
Disorder. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(4), 192–196.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). (2020, March 11). Retrieved from

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obsessive-compulsive-
disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20354438

Shannon, L. (n.d.). Trait Theories of Personality. Retrieved from

https://quizlet.com/23014594/trait-theories-of-personality-flash-cards/

Wittmann, M. (2020). Altered States of Conscious Self and Time During Meditation.
International Journal for the Study of Chan Buddhism and Human Civilization,
(7), 27–39.