петък, 24 юни 2011 г.

E. Kretschmer's typology

E. Kretschmer's main idea is that people with certain type of body have certain mental characteristics. He allocates four basic types:

1. Asthenic-they are slim, thin, usually tall with long legs and arms, flat chest, the shoulders are narrow, the lower limbs -long and thin. They have shiztotimik temperament. That means that they are closed, tend to fluctuations in emotions, stubborn,  change of attitudes and beliefs is very hard to them,they have difficulty in
adapting to the environment.

2. Picnic-a man with severe adipose tissue, excessive fat. characterized by small or medium growth, deliquescent torso with big belly and a round head on a short neck.Piknic figure has tsiklotimik temperament, his emotions fluctuate between joy and sorrow, it is easy for him to contact with people and he has  realistic inviews .

3. Athletic-man with a muscular, strong physique,characterized by a high or medium height, broad shoulders, narrow hips.  He has iksotimik temperament -restrained gestures and facial expressions. They are quiet with a low flexibility of thinking,

4. Dysplastic - people with an amorphous, irregular structure. Individuals of this type are characterized by different strains physique

We must always remember that pure types are rare and it is more likely to find a mixture of two types in one individual.

Famous schizofrenics

John Nash- Mathematician/Nobel Prize Winner

Nash began to show signs of extreme paranoia and his wife later described his behavior as erratic, as he began speaking of characters like Charles Herman and William Parcher who were putting him in danger. Nash seemed to believe that all men who wore red ties were part of a communist conspiracy against him. Nash mailed letters to embassies in Washington, D.C., declaring that they were establishing a government.
He was admitted to the McLean Hospital, April–May 1959, where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The clinical picture is dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic, usually accompanied by experiences of seemingly real perception of something not actually present — particularly auditory and perceptional disturbances, a lack of motivation for life, and mild clinical depression. Upon his release, Nash resigned from MIT, withdrew his pension, and went to Europe, unsuccessfully seeking political asylum in France and East Germany. He tried to renounce his U.S. citizenship. After a problematic stay in Paris and Geneva, he was arrested by the French police and deported back to the United States at the request of the U.S. government.
In 1961, Nash was committed to the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton. Over the next nine years, he spent periods in psychiatric hospitals, where, aside from receiving antipsychotic medications, he was administered insulin shock therapy.
Although he took prescribed medication, Nash wrote later that he only took it under pressure. After 1970, he was never committed to the hospital again and refused any medication
Syd Barrett- Guitarist and painter (Pink Floyd)


There has been much speculation concerning Barrett's psychological well-being. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder has also been considered. Some even suggested (though without any known certainty) that Barrett might have had Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism.
Barrett's use of psychedelic drugs, especially LSD during the 1960s is well documented. In an article published in 2006, in response to notions that Barrett's problems were the result of such, Gilmour was quoted as saying: "In my opinion, his nervous breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it."
Many stories of Barrett's erratic behaviour off stage as well as on are also well-documented. In Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey.






Eduard Einstein-son of Alber Einstein


Eduard was a good student and had musical talent. He started to study medicine to become a psychiatrist, but by the age of twenty he was afflicted with schizophrenia and institutionalized two years later for the first of several times. Many people believe he was overdosed with drugs and harmed by the many "cures" that were used at the time.According to his brother Hans Albert Einstein, the thing that ruined him were the electric shock treatments.
After his illness struck, Eduard told his father that he hated him. Einstein never saw his son again for the rest of his life.
His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at the psychiatric clinic Burghölzli in Zürich, where he died of a stroke at age 55. He is buried at Hönggerberg-Cemetery in Zurich. His family lineage has been used to raise public awareness of schizophrenia

LSD

LSD is the most common hallucinogen and is one of the most potent mood-changing chemicals. It is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.
LSD short term effects start  between 20 minutes to two hours after ingestion. The first signs are a sense of euphoria and expectation, along with a tingling body feeling.Once started, the effects usually take between 30-45 minutes to reach their peak. The peak effect lasts from two to five hours. A clear symptom is rich visual hallucinations. Colors seem more vibrant. Surfaces may ripple and shimmer. You may notice tiny details on objects. Music sounds richer and louder.Delusions are another effect of LSD use.
Long term effects can include flashbacks. If you had "bad trip" you can you can feel down for days even weeks.

Clinical vampirism

Clinical vampirism or so called Renfield's syndrome is a rare mental disorder. This condition is characterized by obsesive and compulsive need for blood. People who suffer from this condition are primarily male, but a good and vivid example for behaviour typical for this disorder is Elizabeth Bathory.According to Noll, the condition starts with a key event in childhood that causes the experience of blood injury or the ingestion of blood to be exciting. After puberty, the excitement is experienced as sexual arousal. Throughout adolescence and adulthood, blood, its presence, and its consumption can also stimulate a sense of power and control. Noll explains that Renfield's syndrome begins with aoutovampirism and then progresses to the consumption of the blood of other creatures.
Most of the cases of Renfield's syndrome can be found in the criminal chronicles Today the vampires are very popular. We see them on the TV, we read about them in the big books and we admire them. This may be the reason why the vampire psychosis is expanding. Currently Renfield's syndrome is not listed like an individual disorder in the DSM4. That is because very few cases of the syndrome have been described, and the published reports that do exist refer to what has been proposed as Renfield's syndrome through the use of official psychiatric diagnostic categories such as schizophrenia or as a variety of paraphilia.