HUB Psychology | Education

HUB Psychology

Phone: +61 7 3277 2010

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Businesses
• Education

25.01.2022 Announcing a non-drug cure for schizophrenia by online messaging!

23.01.2022 Fundamentals of a Therapeutic Interview 1. Maintain eye contact 2. Listen empathetically... 3. Give good advice 4. Do not pathologise behaviour 5. Ask about drug side-effects 6. Minimise drug use 7. Avoid surgery 8. Ask about music and taste 9. Ask about stressors 10. Teach relaxation techniques 11. Give sensible solutions 12. Be emotionally intelligent 13. Be mindful 14. Be logical 15. Challenge delusions with evidence 16. Be self-aware 17. Do not implant negative suggestions 18. Encourage rather than frighten 19. Encourage health literacy 20. Make sure the person feels better after the interview

20.01.2022 Disdiagnosis - a new term I have coined a neologism, in full knowledge that coming up with neologisms is described as a symptom of schizophrenia. The term is 'd...isdiagnosis' meaning deliberate malicious application of illness diagnoses particularly in psychiatry. The application of labels of madness have been used maliciously for a long time (before the development of the Western psychiatry discipline). Calling ones enemies mad has a long tradition, but modern psychiatry has developed new terms to demonise ones enemies. Disdiagnosis is to misdiagnosis as disinformation is to misinformation. Misinformation is unintentional, while disinformation is intentional. Misdiagnosis is much more common than disdiagnosis but the difference is important in the areas of human rights and justice.

20.01.2022 Dopamine and Chemical Warfare 2019-10-25 Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Arya Chakravarti (MD) [email protected] The chemical dopamine was discover...ed by the British pharmaceutical industry many decades before its important role as a neurotransmitter in the brain was. Dopamine is a catecholamine, a group of biogenic amines derived from the amino acids tyrosine and phenyl alanine. It is a precursor molecule for noradrenalin (norepinephrine) which also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain as well as in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Noradrenalin is converted to adrenaline (epinephrine) in the adrenal glands, endocrine glands located above the kidneys, under influence of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Noradrenalin is also one of the neurotransmitters of the Reticular Activating System (RAS), a network of neurons that connects the brain stem and midbrain with the thalamus, limbic system and cortex. The RAS is involved in sleep cycles between REM (active) and non-REM (quiet) sleep as well as state of consciousness. This was discovered in the 1950s through cruel experimentation on cats. Cats were also the experimental animals used by James Papez, an American anatomist who developed a theory about mammalian emotional circuits in the 1930s, which was still taught in medical schools in the 1980s as the Papez Circuit, the first desciption of what is commonly known as the Limbic System. They usually failed to mention that Papez developed his theory by killing cats at various stages of illness after injecting the lethal rabies virus into their brains and studying the distribution of Negri Bodies postmortem. His conclusions were flawed as were his methods. Dopamine was discovered by chemists working for Wellcome pharmaceuticals in the 1910. It was found to be a neurotransmitter only in the 1950s. This was followed closely by the development of neurotoxins that targeted dopamine receptors, beginning with chlorpromazine (Largactil/Thorazine) which were promoted as a liquid lobotomy producing similar effects to a lobotomy. The French naval surgeon who developed chlorpromazine described its effects in making people lose interest in their surroundings. This was regarded as potentially therapeutic, and used to treat ‘psychoses’ by psychiatrists despite the fact that losing interest in ones surroundings can be interpreted as being out of touch with reality. Blocking dopamine activity also causes problems with movement (Parkisnonism) due to its effects on the basal ganglia and anhedonia (lack of pleasure) due to its effects on the limbic system (and nucleus accumbens in particular). Lack of motivation and flattening of 'affect' (mood and emotional reactions) are listed as signs of 'chronic schizophrenia' despite the fact that they are the predictable effects of blocking dopamine activity in the basal ganglia and limbic system. Dopamine-blocking drugs also cause a range of metabolic problems including diabetes and obesity with attendant ill health and need for further medication. This means more profits for the drug companies and treatment services as well as pathology companies that profit from the screening tests for diabetes that are ordered for people prescribed dopamine-blocking drugs. It also became evident that in addition to crippling side-effects, blocking dopamine receptors in the brain causes permanent damage to the brain in the form of tardive dyskinesia (TD) and tardive dystonia. It also shortens rather than lengthening the life. These drugs should be classed as chemical warfare agents but the World Health Organization (WHO) classes them as essential medicines.

18.01.2022 The Real Causes of STIGMA in Psychiatry The banner on one of Manaan Kar Ray's Facebook sites reads "Knowledge Conquers Stigma". He says that "stigma is part of ...the illness". The truth is that the psychiatry creates the stigma that people accused of being "mentally ill" suffer. The injections Kar Ray promotes cause people to dribble and drool saliva. This makes them look insane and subject to accusations of "self-neglect" if their clothes are stained from the saliva falling from their mouth. They also cause obesity which is also stigmatising. Even worse, they cause permanent brain damage in the form of Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) a horribly stigmatising condition of involuntary grimacing movements of the face, involuntary protrusion of the tongue and writhing movements of the arms, hands and legs. TD is caused by long-term damage to neurones in the Basal Ganglia from sustained blockade of dopamine receptors and has been studied since the 1960s when it first appeared in people on the dopamine-blocking phenothiazines (like chlorpromazine) and butyrophenones (like haloperidol). It is hard to think of a more stigmatising condition than TD. People look like stereotypical images of mad people. The labels of 'schizophrenia' (split mind) and 'personality disorder' are also stigmatising as are accusations that people "lack insight and judgement" because they disagree that they are mentally ill. Together with the trauma of the boredom of the hospital environment, force and coercion by staff, a punitive culture in the hospitals, seclusion, restraint, abusive injections and ECT together with indoctrination into the belief that they have incurable, progressive brain diseases (in the case of 'schizophrenia') are among the real causes of the high rate of suicide in people diagnosed with 'schizophrenia'. Blocking dopamine receptors also causes depression and anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) as well as flattened affect, which are routinely blamed on the "illness" rather than the treatment.

17.01.2022 It was the British wartime leader Winston Churchill who first called his depression 'the Black Dog'. Churchill was a racist and elitist and the first vice-president of the Eugenics Society founded by Francis Galton and Leonard Darwin (the son of Charles Darwin the famous biologist). Churchill was also an influential Freemason and propagandist for the British Empire. He was opposed to independence for the British colonies refused to meet Mohandas Gandhi saying he would not mee...t a "naked Indian fakir". He may have said "fucker" - that was the sort of man Churchill was. He liked playing with the English language and double-entendres. SmithKline Beecham used a similar cartoon version as this WHO presentation in the promotion of their antidepressant "Aropax" (an SSRI drug) titled "Taming the Black Dog". This was in the 1990s. I have been called a 'Black Dog" in Australia because of my skin colour. Black dogs are nice animals disliked by racists like Churchill because they were black. Depression is multifactorial and can be effectively treated with psychological counselling and change in activities and focus. This is the thin end of the wedge for the drug companies, which have long been in cahoots with the WHO, as is evident by the 1990s series "The Management of Mental Disorders" by Professor Gavin Andrews of the University of New South Wales and the World Health Organisation's Training and Reference Centre for CIDI. The WHO produces the International Classification of Disease (ICD) which is very similar to the American Psychiatric Association's DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and stigmatises a bigger and bigger section of the population as "mentally ill" (in other words, having 'sick minds'). The drug companies make the most of this and many prominent psychiatrists have an unhealthy relationship with drug companies.

14.01.2022 The Pineal Gland and the 'Third Eye' The pineal organ or gland in the brain has been known about for a very long time. 2500 years ago, the ancient Greek physici...ans believed that it acted as a 'valve' controlling the 'humours' as they travelled through the ventricles of the brain. This was taken up by the French philosopher Rene Descartes during the Renaissance. Descartes is famous for his statement that the pineal is the "seat of the soul" (though he wrote that the soul cannot be confined by any part of the body). During most of the 20th century, though, the pineal was thought, by medical science, to be a useless vestige. In the 1890s a German physician by the name of Heubner descibed several cases of precocious puberty in children whose pineals were damaged by brain tumours. The reason for this became evident many decades later, in the 1970s, when it was established that melatonin from the pineal suppresses the sex hormones (gonadotrophins) Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which are secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Damage to the pineal gland by the tumours resulted in increases in FSH and LH, causing the children to develop precocious puberty. Around the same time as Huebner's discoveries the Theosophist Helena Blavatsky wrote, in The Secret Doctrine, that the 'third eye" of Hindu and Buddhist mythology and iconography referred to the pineal, and that this corresponded with the agna or brow chakra. This belief was promoted in the West with the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s and again by the New Age Movement in the 1990s. Interestingly, in the 1960s, during a period of intense research into the gland/organ following the discovery of melatonin in 1958, it was discovered that the pineal is, in fact, connected to the visual system in humans and other mammals, and functions as a light-sensitive third (or parietal) eye in certain reptiles and amphibians. In these animals the pineal is closer to the surface of the skull, rather than deep in the middle of the brain as in humans and other mammals. It was also hypothesised that in birds the pineal functions as a magnetic sense organ, involved in their sense of direction and migrations. It was also discovered that the pineal has a high blood circulation and complex vasculature. This went against the vestigial theory, which was completely disproved with the discovery that the gland secretes the hormone melatonin and other substances. Prior to the discovery of melatonin by the dermatologist Aaron Lerner at Yale University in 1958, it was taught, in medical schools and science courses that the pineal is a useless vestigial organ, the primitive remains of the "reptilian brain". The idea that it had no function in humans was reinforced by the observation that the gland calcifies with age (though not equally in different people). This calcification was named "brain sand" and presented as evidence to support the incorrect vestigial theory. This all changed in 1958 with the discovery of the chemical structure of melatonin, the main hormone secreted by the pineal. Professor Lerner was looking for a skin-lightening factor in frogs and discovered that the melatonin molecule caused clumping of the pigment granules (chromatophores) in the frog skin. He identified the chemical as an indole amine, synthesised from the dietary amino acid tryptophan via 5-hydroxy tryptamine (5HT), better known these days as serotonin. Studies in the 1960s established that melatonin has no effect on skin pigmentation in humans. It was discovered that serotonin, which is also produced in other parts of the brain and acts as a neurotransmitter (chemical messenger released from nerve endings) is concentrated in the pineal. Serotonin is also produced in the intestines, but the intestinal serotonin does not cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain. The enzymes involved in the metabolism of serotonin and melatonin were discovered and named in the 1960s, and it was found that synthesis of melatonin, which occurs mainly at night and in darkness, is suppressed by light shone into the eyes in rats and in primates. It was also found that melatonin synthesis from serotonin is modulated by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (the so-called flight or fight system) via the neurotransmitter noradrenaline (norepinephrin). Subsequent research showed the pineal to have effects on a range of pituitary hormones - the 1980 edition of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine described it as a "neuroendocrine transducer" modulating between the nervous system (brain) and endocrine system (hormones). It has also been established that melatonin is a powerful antioxidant (active against free radicals) and also has effects on mood, blood temperature, the immune system (and development of cancer) and sleep. In the 1990s it was marketed as a treatment for jetlag, with the claim that it "reset the body clock" and it was also promoted as a mild sleeping tablet. It was discovered, in the early 1970s, that the extent of pineal calcification varies geographically. Researchers found that this is much less common in Japan, Africa and India than in the USA or Europe. Noting this, researchers in the 1970s compared pineal calcification in "black" and "white" Americans and found that the "blacks" had significantly less calcification than the "whites", though the incidence was not as low as in Japan or Africa. This suggests a combination of genetic and environmental factors in pineal calcification. Pineal calcification had first been described on autopsy specimens 300 years ago, and on X-ray in 1918. Studies, mainly on Caucasians, showed that calcification increased with age - from 2% in children aged 3 to 12, 46% from 13 to 40 and 69% after the age of 40, according to a 974 review by Adelola Adeloye and Benjamin Franklin at the Cincinnati Hospital in Ohio. These researchers reported that others had found much lower incidences in Japan (9.9%), Fiji (15.6%) and India (19-24 %) with even lower incidences reported from Nigeria and West Africa (Nigeria - 5%) and East Africa (Uganda - 2%). Their studies comparing the skull X-rays at of 500 patients seen at the Cincinnati Hospital who were categorised as "black" or "white" showed a statistically significant difference of 1:1.6 in "blacks" and "whites". It should be pointed out that pineal calcification does not correlate well with the amount of melatonin that is produced by the gland, though there is a gradual decrease in melatonin production with age. In recent years there have been efforts to market melatonin as a "nutritional supplement" to extend life. This may not be wise, since as a general principle, taking an exogenous hormone supresses ones natural production of the hormone. This is seen in people who take cortisone or thyroxine, and may also occur with melatonin. It is also known that melatonin levels are affected by a range of drugs, especially psychiatric drugs (dopamine blockers and antidepressants). The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs can cause both increase and decrease in melatonin levels. The significance of this to health is uncertain and there is a dearth of studies that expose the negaive effects of drugs generally, due to the funding of the studies and the publications. The pineal also secretes other chemicals in addition to melatonin. There is still a lot to learn about this fascinating gland,and how to naturally optimise its function. Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Arya Chakravarti (MD)

11.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQamynwxl_Q

09.01.2022 Holistic Multidirectional Learning strategies for preventing dementia 2019-12-02 Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam [email protected] It has been sa...id that the brain is a use it or lose it organ. Could active learning in many different areas can be used to prevent and treat depression and dementia? Keeping the mind active requires exertion of will - the will to keep learning throughout life. And there are many things to learn, for all of us. The Internet provides a valuable tool for learning. Unlike the established university system the tendency of the Net is to integrate, establish links and break down barriers between disciplines. However knowledge true knowledge is more than information. It needs to be factually accurate knowledge. It requires analytical ability on the part of the reader/learner to sort fact from fiction. In my analysis, these are some of the social and psychological factors that impede active learning: 1. Negative preconceptions 2. Poverty 3. Lack of education 4. Narrow interests 5. Limitations in taste 6. Unhealthy distractions 7. Information overload 8. Brainwashing and indoctrination 9. Deficient senses 10. Anxiety 11. Lack of aesthetic development Negative preconceptions The beliefs that one is too old to learn or too old to change are deeply embedded in society. Such beliefs impede possible learning of new skills and knowledge. It is true, however, that children learn faster and with more ease than adults, especially when it comes to languages. However our educational system tends to be both splintered and anti-creative as well as discouraging original thinking and arguments from first principles. Poverty Poverty makes technology such as computers unaffordable, and also limits opportunities for learning basic literacy. Poor nutrition impedes learning hungry children are distracted by their hunger. They cannot afford musical instruments, books, paper and pens which are essential tools for continued learning throughout life. Lack of education Both lack of education and bad education are problems in the modern world. You can only teach what you know and teachers are often not as knowledgeable about the subjects that they teach as they need to be. There are good and bad teachers, and the students of bad teachers suffer from boredom. These bored children are liable to labels of ADHD and learning disorders. This is not to say that some students are not slower learners than others and their abilities and interests differ. Good teachers strive to make their lessons interesting and are not afraid to admit that they don’t know or are wrong. This is the case in all levels of the educational system. The focus of Holistic Multidirectional Learning is on self-directed, self-motivated learning using the Internet, books and Nature, with an emphasis on Nature. We are part of the natural world and can play a key role in nourishing and enriching Nature as well as human society. Narrow interests The Western educational system has long tended to favour people with narrow fields of interest and expertise. This is seen in the adages Jack of all trades, master of none and a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Many people are multi-skilled and a little bit of knowledge is only a dangerous thing if you think it to be a lot of knowledge. A little bit of knowledge can be expanded and is better than no knowledge at all. The divisions of academia have led to a plethora of disciplines, sub-disciplines and specialities that defended their territory and communicated in jargon understandable only to other members of the specialty. Specialists were honoured and promoted more than generalists, though it was recognised that there was a need to break down interdisciplinary boundaries. This has become easier with the Internet and tools such as Wikipedia, YouTube and LinkedIn. Limitations in taste It has been said since the 1880s in Britain, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder meaning that perception of beauty is subjective. However, there are universal aspects of taste in all the senses. Holistic Multidirectional Learning focuses on the auditory and visual senses and the development of aesthetic appreciation in art, architecture, literature and music. Taste, or aesthetic appreciation, develops with exposure to variety. The broader ones taste, the more pleasure can be derived from the senses, and this pleasure provides a motivational drive we seek pleasurable experiences which have the effect of making us happy and improving our mood. Improving the mood by paying attention to what comes into our brains through our eyes and ears is a cost-free, risk-free strategy for the treatment of depression and also may play a role in preventing dementia. Many people suffer from limitations in appreciation of unfamiliar music, art and literature. It is common for taste in music to fossilise in adolescence, when music is felt particularly powerfully. YouTube provides a free antidote to this narrowness and also allows one to explore music that one already has developed an appreciation of. It has been shown that learning a musical instrument and learning a new language can provide protection against the development of dementia. This makes sense, since new connections in the brain are being formed with these activities. Unhealthy distractions Effective learning requires attention, focus and concentration. There are many factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic, that affect concentration and divert the attention. Intrinsic factors include physical and mental discomfort. This requires a holistic approach to movement, rest, ergonomics and posture as well as learning how to physically and mentally relax while also concentrating the mind. Extrinsic distractions vary considerably with the environment in which one is learning. Learning from screens is valuable, but it has its dangers, including damage to the eyes from not focusing on objects in the distance. Watching naturally moving animals (including butterflies and insects in flight) and birds helps develop visual acuity and so does looking at the sun (while taking care to blink when you feel like it). It helps to appreciate the beauty of Nature and have interest in it. Information overload We are subjected to information overload in the modern world. Much of the information we are inundated with through the media seeks our attention in order to sell something or entertain us. When advertisers are trying to sell a product they maximise their benefits and show them in a good light (literally) and make the small print so small you can’t read it without glasses. They use techniques developed over decades by hypnotists and psychologists to create an impression and implant suggestions in the mind of the viewer. People are induced to gamble away their savings and become consumers rather than creators and producers. Brainwashing and indoctrination Doctrine, or what is taught, is not a problem unless what is taught is false and incorrect. In brainwashing there is a systematic, calculated effort to remove previous beliefs and implant new ones. There are many techniques for doing this which were studied under the MK Programs of the 1950s and 1960s. The term ‘propaganda’ initially meant the doctrines that were propagated by the Catholic Church and the term did not have the negative connotations it has today. Different religions and denominations as well as corporations and political parties produce propaganda that is not the objective truth. Governments around the world sponsor and produce propaganda, some more influentially than others. Wikipedia, though more trustworthy than the Encyclopaedia Britannica, has incorrect information too. However, it remains a valuable tool for finding out about things and events. Deficient senses Learning through the senses requires functional sense organs and respective areas of the brain. Blind people cannot learn through vision, but their auditory acuity and discrimination is often heightened. Likewise deaf people cannot learn from what they hear. Most people, though, are neither blind nor deaf but many do not fully appreciate the visual and auditory stimuli they experience. You can train yourself to appreciate music and art and do it though self-directed learning. There are many people all over the world and of all ages that can inspire and educate through their art. Focusing too much on screens, books and objects close to you can lead to short-sightedness requiring corrective lenses. These corrective lenses put distant objects out of focus. To correct this they used to make ‘bifocal lenses’ but the problem has been rectified by contact lenses. There are two fundamentally different types of eye movements searching and following. Television tends to favour following movements with a fixed focal length (the distance from the eyes to the screen). Watching the birds in your neighbourhood exercises both searching and following movements and also gives an opportunity for counting and numeracy as well as identification and zoological (ornithological) study. Learning about the local birds is a valuable exercise for children to be introduced to biology. Learning the names of birds and animals in different languages is fun and interesting and tools like Wikipedia and Google translate are invaluable for this. Anxiety Anxiety makes it difficult to concentrate and learn. It impedes both concentration and memory and has many causes. I have developed strategies to alleviate anxiety under Holistic Psychological Counselling. Lack of aesthetic development Aesthetic appreciation develops throughout life, given adequate stimulation. One can develop appreciation of the elements of harmony, tone (timbre), melody and rhythm in music from completely different cultures pointing to cross-cultural aspects of music appreciation. It is common for change to occur in musical preferences with age and experience. YouTube provides a wonderful opportunity to revisit the favourite music of ones past and build on it. Listening to pleasurable music has the benefit of elevating the mood and distracting from worries and anxieties, allowing the subconscious to work on solutions. In art cultures around the world appreciate line, form, colour and composition despite a plethora of styles and traditions. By looking at good art from different cultures one can develop an appreciation of them and get ideas that stimulate ones own creativity. What is Holistic Multidirectional Learning? Holistic education aims to look at the whole rather than just the parts. It does not preclude from studying things in great detail, but aims to maintain a perspective on the ‘big picture’. There is truth in the adage of not seeing the forest for the trees. Some suggestions are: 1. Identify biases and vested interests 2. Reinforce memories by writing things down and going over them in your mind 3. Read the small print 4. Be aware of hypnosis 5. Learn to direct and control ones attention and focus 6. Seek to integrate information 7. Analyse for the ‘ring of truth’ 8. Trust in commonsense 9. Be logical 10. Make your home an interesting place 11. Appreciate beauty 12. Seek truth and facts 13. Look for the Big Picture 14. Aim for self-improvement rather than beating others 15. Moderate competitive instincts 16. Develop healthy curiosity 17. Develop listening ability, aesthetic and discrimination 18. Develop observational skills 19. Break down barriers between disciplines and areas of knowledge 20. Identify areas to improve in 21. Value a well-rounded, balanced education 22. Be creative 23. Think deeply and contemplate 24. Acknowledge mistakes 25. Correct mistakes 26. Develop wisdom More details can be found on the HUB Psychology and Wise Owl Learning (WOL) Facebook pages

03.01.2022 https://www.scribd.com//On-the-Evolution-of-Musical-Instin

03.01.2022 Improvised monologue by Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam about 'insight' and the abuse of the concept and term by the psychiatry profession. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcLEnzmI1NA