Psyc 315-3, Assignment 1: Reflecting on Psychology and Mental Health

This psychology assignment is a reflective essay that explores various aspects of the field. The student delves into topics such as ADHD, mental health treatment through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and the impact of brain scans on therapeutic approaches. The essay highlights the importance of research in understanding human psychology, discussing different research methods and their applications. The author reflects on the evolution of psychology, including historical unethical experiments like MKUltra, and the current focus on harnessing human potential through brain implants and advanced technologies. The assignment also touches upon the role of music in creativity and the diverse nature of human psychology, emphasizing the need for personalized approaches. The student integrates insights from various sources, including articles, videos, and podcasts, to provide a comprehensive overview and personal reflections on the subject matter.

Running Head: REVIEW
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Psychology is a subject that is all immersive. It is connected with humanity on a
mental level, which is the very basis of intelligence and the factor that makes us very
different from every other creature on the face of this earth. Though this assignment, I will
reflect on the various kinds of information I have gathered through books, articles and videos
and talk about their relation to me and interpret them from my perspective.
Mental health and psychological development is a major part of psychology and it
also studies the glitches in the same. ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder is
witnessed in almost all classrooms with 1 in 20 children being afflicted with the same
(Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 2017, February 16). It was the same for a
child during my school years, who went through countless warning for his behavioral issues
until the diagnosis of the same. Treatment of Mental Health is done through counselling,
psychologist nowadays are a few steps away from being benefited by brain scans that can
reveal who may or may not be benefitted by CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to break
patterns of negative thinking (Jarett, 2015). This is an advancement that will help a lot of
people overcome a lot of issues that may be holding them back, especially in this world
where mental health issues are rising in an epidemic scale. The psychology of human
existence revolves around the brain which self regulates itself on a regular basis. The brain
has various fascinating functions unknown to us, like how it notices even more than we will
ever know, like how the brain senses actions when the human is blind, and how it cleans
itself during sleep. Disorders are a large part of psychology, they have various factors that are
governing them and can be tracked in various environments in various ways (DiSalvo, 2013).
These disorders cause a lot of stress to the people who have them and they require a lot of
psychological help to help them lead lives that are much more normal in nature. In these
cases, I believe that psychology should work hand in hand with psychiatry dn medical
science to help people afflicted with the same and even cure the, as science hurtles towards

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miraculous advancement in recent times
(http://media.wwnorton.com/college/psych8/audiopodcast/Chapter16.mp3, 2019)
Psychology has clearly come way from something that is unethical given the kinds of
researches that was done, like the MKultra by the CIA that tried to mind control people and
the research for Nature vs nurture that believed that people can be nurtured to believe
something that is completely different form their nature and this caused a lot of pain to
various kinds of people (Top5s, 2015). Psychologists were extremely focused on how the
brain can be molded and made to do more work or made to think in a way that can be
beneficial to the person or to the people willing to harness that capability but with lack of
techniques, the research resorted to methods that was torturous in nature unknowingly, as the
infinite impact of deviating from the normal for the brain is quite a lot. Psychology was
apparently limited to controlling humans but the brain is too complicated it is not easy to
control it. The brain works differently for everyone and to observe the natural course of
action for the brain in various cases various research methods are required, with various
samples suing case studies, researches and naturalistic observation (Crashcourse, 2014). The
brain works with various chemical responses to various kinds of stimulus, with various
neurotransmitters (Crashcourse, 2014). However, the brain is not even used completely, thus
it is a challenge for psychology. Psychologists now look at brain implants to boost the general
intelligence quotient of the people, by allowing the implants to unlock abilities which are
locked away in the brain (Fw: Thinking, 2014). If the near cortex is integrated with non-
biological devices that can amplify the function it serves for humans (TED, 2014). It is
evident that humans are largely focused on harnessing the ultimate capability of the people
but with techniques that may be based on enhancement through distortion but only on
positive distortion. With enhanced capabilities, humans will be able to integrate themselves to
the systems of the world containing infinite knowledge.

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As discussed, research has is an important aspect of psychology because it is really
difficult to dwell on general assumptions when it comes to human psychology and mental
differences because how diverse humans tend to be. Research can be done in various ways, it
can be done with general resources like qualitative resources on the internet or by social
research. Survey research is also an important method of research. Research topics provide a
hands on understanding of various psychological issues as this subject works on countless
hypotheses that is largely has practical application (Teaching, 2019). The very objective of
research is to come to viable conclusions about the different mental states of people and the
functions of the brain. This will naturally help future counsellors and people who are willing
to conduct further research into human psychology.
Psychology has various interesting aspects like music helping creativity as a whole.
Divergent thinking is already being researched upon to challenge the fact the music affects
the attention and therefor creativity of the people but I think the people talking against is
focused more on the aspect of attention than on the aspect of creativity (University of
California Television (UCTV), 2019). Music with all the various it presents with the various
kinds of notes are not only pleasing to the ears but also it is highly affective for the cognition
of a human as it not only helps in improving it but it also amplifying it in a positive way.
In conclusion it is evident that psychology is focusing on understanding human
psychology through research and amplifying it through various methods. Lots of factors are
included within this subject like disorders and counselling which walk hand in hand.

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References
Crashcourse. (2014). Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2 [Image].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV71QPvX2I
Crashcourse. (2014). The Chemical Mind: Crash Course Psychology #3 [Image]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4N-7AlzK7s
DiSalvo, D. (2013). The Top Ten Brain Science And Psychology Studies Of 2013. Retrieved
5 September 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/12/29/the-
top-ten-brain-science-and-psychology-studies-of-2013/#fd9b79b7fb96
Fw: Thinking. (2014). Can Brain Implants Make Us Smarter? [Image]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpb_eTZIpkY
http://media.wwnorton.com/college/psych8/audiopodcast/Chapter16.mp3 (2019). [Podcast].
Retrieved 5 September 2019, from
http://media.wwnorton.com/college/psych8/audiopodcast/Chapter16.mp3
Jarett, C. (2015). In the Future, Brain Scans Might Be Able to Predict Who Will Benefit
From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Retrieved 5 September 2019, from
https://www.thecut.com/2015/12/can-brain-scans-predict-who-therapy-will-
help.html#
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. (2017, February 16). Brain differences in
ADHD. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 4, 2019 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170216105919.htm
Research Methods and Statistics Links by Subtopic. (2019). Retrieved 5 September 2019,
from https://www.socialpsychology.org/methods.htm#generalresources

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Teaching. (2019). Retrieved 5 September 2019, from
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/topics/teaching
TED. (2014). Ray Kurzweil: Get ready for hybrid thinking [Image]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVXQUItNEDQ
Top5s. (2015). 5 Most Disturbing & Unethical Human Experiments [Image]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7brxo3QfKg
University of California Television (UCTV). (2019). Creative Brains: Music Art and
Emotion [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6txK8LXg1o