Food, Obesity, and Psychology

"Your child will live a life ten years younger than you because of the landscape of food that we’ve built around them.”    -Jamie Oliver

     Food is something that is essential to our health and our life in general, but sometimes food becomes a problem. When food becomes a desire or compulsion, it is the start of a serious problem. Everyone has heard that the number one cause of death in the States is heart disease, which is then followed by diabetes, and a whole list of things that could have been prevented.  I know people often talk abouy how they believe that this is the year to get in shape or eat healthy, I think it is necessary to start now before the pounds become harder to shed. 
      Everyone has their comfort foods, which they need when they don't feel so great and are under stress. Even though we may think that it may not interefere with our health, it does have an impact. Comfort foods and eating out of boredom are unhealty and are do to the neurotransmitter Dopamine, which is a receiver of pleasure.  The same receptors that dopamine excites also give pleasure by means of drug use, sex, and food.  When you get food, or even engage in those other activites, your brain sends a message and tells you that this feels good.  Because it feels good, it is something that will likely occur again.  Things that give us pleasure are ones that we want to keep doing because we want to maintain that "high". Your belly enjoys eating popcorn, not necessary for the taste, but because it makes you feel good, so then you do it again and again. It can become a vicious cycle, and I think it's essential for each individual to be aware of what they eat. Too much of a food high can lead not only to weight problems, but to disease and to eventual death because of those diseases.  If you were ever told you are what you, it is true, so make sure to respect it.
     I know this post is a bit different from what usually may be written, but it does have a psychological aspect. Also, I was inspired by the TED Talk that is available below. Please watch and at least skip through the articles below. I hope you enjoyed this post of Psych Knowledge. Stay tuned for even more info, thank you!

 (I do not own the rights to any of the links below)

Jamie Oliver's TED Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jamie_oliver.html

Two helpful online articles:

• Article 1
• Article 2

Schizophrenia

   

(This image is from here!)

    These days when most people think of this mental disorder would probably jump to the movie "A Beautiful Mind", which was directed by Ron Howard.  The movie tells of a brilliant man who has hallucinations and delusions, which are two of the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia.

    Individuals that are diagnosed with this mental disorder can be be thought to have acute or chronic Schizophrenia. Acute Schizophrenia is mostly associated with positive symptoms, which I will list below, and is usually a one time thing.  An individual may have a psychotic break in their early twenties, and then show no other signs. With chronic Schizophrenia, the individual faces this disorder throughout their life and it is associated with negative symptoms.  

    The most common positive symptoms of schizophrenia are delusion, hallucination, and thought disorder, and others are uncommunicative and socially withdrawn. There are various types of delusions. Thought broadcasting is when the individual believes that someone else can read their mind.  Thought insertion is when they think that someone has put a specific thought into their mind.  Thought of control is when the individual believes that something that they do will have a consequence on the world. Delusion of persecution is when they think that someone is trying to kill them, which is obviously rational to a normal person.  Another rare delusion is one of grandeur, which is when the person thinks that they are Jesus, or anything related with religion.  The definition for a  delusion is a profoundly, invalid belief.  A hallucination is almost never visual; quite often it is a voice which can be linked to the delusion.  This hallucination does not come out of nowhere, but rather it seems as though it is a message and you are being told something.  In addition to the auditory sense of the hallucination, there is also a tactile sensation. An example of these are bugs on the skin, snakes in your stomach, and so on. Someone with schizophrenia can cycle in and out of episodes of delusion and hallucination. Thought Disorder seems to have a poetic feel to it. The individual is able to talk and speak, but what they say may not always make sense. It is as though they have a word salad and these thoughts seem to be 'off track'.
     Negative symptoms are things that are absent in this individual compared to a "normal" person. They are socially withdrawn, have a poverty of speech, flat affect, and they do not initiate goal-oriented behavior. If the schizophrenic person is aware of them self, then they would be able to tell that they are not connecting with the people that are around them.  These negative symptoms can be associated with loss of brain tissue and frontal lobe damage.  The positive symptoms are not associated with frontal lobe damage, but an increase in the neurotransmitter Dopamine.
    There is so much more that can be written about Schizophrenia, but I thought that I would give a somewhat brief introduction to this mental disorder. Hope that you enjoyed the Psych Knowledge that is within this post. Feel free to comment and stay tuned for even more great topics coming up. Thanks again for reading!!! Take care!