Burnout

Oh God! I’m so tired writing this post right now!! Wish I could sleep but I can’t!!I have to finish this f***g paper on time! Have you ever said any of these words?Do you have headaches more often? Are you not that cheerful these days? Do you wanna sleep but all that you can think of is work?Are you frustrated??Well, Sorry to be the first to tell you but you may suffer from Burnout!! Don’t worry. It’s something really common. Let’s look at this picture.  She is obviously not well. She could be you!!And she needs vacation.NOW.Burnout is that state after a long long period of stress and exhaustion, physical and emotional. You are continuously tired, with no mood, frustrated , sleepy, but somehow you keep working. You dont’ see your friends, apathy is all over you. All  these symptoms could mean nothing or something else. But it could be quite possible that burnout is at your door. It is more common in certain professions like doctors, nurses, drivers, moms with 5 kids and a selfish husband or a sexton.

 

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So take a look at the mirror. If you look like the guy here then do something. Call your friends, stop taking work at home, go for a trip , sleep!!! And quit drinking coffees. At least drink less than 5 a day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Luck!! And remember   superman is just a comic hero. Does not exist!!! It’s ok not be able to do everything perfect.

 

 

 

Christmas Blues

Have you ever felt like throwing the Christmas tree down? Have you ever wished that Wham had never written that silly song ” Last christmas I gave you my heart”?. Do you feel Christmas is the worst period of the year? Don’t take it personally but you may experience Christmas Depression. Many people feel it. Christmas Depression appears simply because there are the christmas rules that some people cannot follow. These rules say that you have to give and get presents. That you need to go out with your friends, have fun, eat dinner with your family. But what about the people who don’t have friends or have a death in their family or they cannot afford presents!! Well, my guess is that these people will have  a mild christmas depression.

 

 

 

Here are some tips so you won’t break the Silent Night Holy Night CD. Have realistic expectations and goals. It ‘s just holidays! Talk to friends that you haven’t heard from for long time.Buy small presents or make your own. Be creative anyway.Try to enjoy each day.Have in mind that after holidays you will get back to your reality and they won’t be anylights in the office. You won’t be arrested if you have fun. Besides you have to fight for your right to party like the song says. And don’t worry it’s just Christmas.

 

Hello Dr. Freud (part 6)

Our dear friend with the white beard (not Santa!Freud!! focus!!!!) has  introduced many many many more things and theories for discussion.He  has  stressed the importance of childhood in one’s development , he talked about  sex and libido and death instincts and dreams and all these wonderful things .He  wasn’t always right but he opened a whole new chapter about a  person’s  personality.

Of course , there are criticisms.Freud was obsessed with his psychosexual  development stages and he forgot about societal influences. He talked too  much about sex. Sex sex sex ok Sigmund we got it!! But there are other things  too you know!          

 

He developed his theories while examining and talking  mostly with women of the high class society. They could afford the psychoanalytical sessions with the famous Austrian Dr. Can you imagine people of that period of time who faced hunger, plague, death to think ” oh! i feel hysteric , i don’t have anything to eat and i have fever but why not visiting Feud to talk about my childhood?” So you see the sample was not representative and reliable.

However we love Freud for his own little neuroses and for the ideas he introduced.

The End.

Hello Dr. Freud (part 5)

More on Defence Mechanisms…

Regression. How many times haven’t you thought that  life was much simpler when we were kids? How many times  in the case of an anxiety  haven’t you dreamt of your old  bedroom and homemade cookies? No worries. Nothing ‘s  wrong with you. It is just regression.Our fear to act like  adults and our wish to return to our childhood where  everything was taking care of magically.

 

 

 

 

Repression. Don’t get confused! It’s a P not a G like above. Some experiences and emotions are quite painful  we don’t want them around us. So, we involuntarily exclude them from our memory awareness. Think of women or children  who have been abused for example. That’s hard. We decide that such images do not exist nowhere inside our head.

 

 

 

Suppression. Ok. You are in the middle of an exam. Too much pressure. But tomorrow there will be this great party. No not now! Don’t think about the party now.Concentrate on the exam. Suppress it!!! It is a kind of voluntary repression.It is a way to control yourself and reduce the anxiety by pushing away any thoughts .

 

 

Our dear Dr. Freud talked about the types of Defence Mechanisms Like Reaction Formation, where we kind of  say the exact opposite of what we believe just because it makes less anxious. Perhaps Humor is a nice type of defence mechanism. It doesn’t hurt it’s easy . you can impress other people and it actually works.

to be continued…

Hello Dr. Freud (part 4)

Our self  is not an idiot.( Don’t listen to other people.They’re just saying it out of jealousy!)  We don’t wanna get hurt or feel sad. We need to have balance and be happy all the time. And  there is another way for this besides alcohol and hallucinogens (don’t do it!!)

It’s called Defence mechanisms.

Freud believed that a person can cope with stress, either real or not, by performing certain actions. These actions are Defence Mechanisms that keep our Ego safe.We all do it and we all have our favourite ones either we realise it or not. Because most of the times our defence alarm goes on and off unconsciously.( we are talking about master Freud here. unconscious is everywhere )

There are quite a few types of defence mechanisms.but lets start with the basics.

Denial. The king of defence mechanisms.  We refuse to accept reality because it   hurts, or we don’t like it,it doesn’t suit us.So , we low our stress levels simply by refusing the situation. It is the most common reaction in case of illness. ” I don’t have cancer. You gave me the wrong results. that’s not me”.  However, when the denial is over, and we accept reality no matter what, we are closer to solve the problems.

Displacement. It usually starts from the office and ends in  the house. It occurs when we cannot deal directly with  whatever or whoever threatens us an we express ou anxiety  to someone less threatening. For example,It is easier for us  to be angry to our child who is younger, innocent than to deal our problems with our boss who is just pissing off every day.

Rationalization. We do it often when we convince ourselves that it’s ok when it’s not and  we use false reasoning. Simply, it’s making excuses. ” Oh, it’s ok!! I really hate this place  that my friends brought me but it is a new experience actually. I like it”.

Sublimation. It’s when we transform our negative emotions or instincts, mainly,  to  acceptable behavior and positive actions. For example we all know that Dexter’s  death instinct is a bit more intense but he became a blood expert and he helps the  police to solve murders. Good job Dexter!

Projection. Sometimes the anxiety is great and it all comes from our behaviour, our actions. But it sucks to admit it. So, we project our failure or thoughts to the external world. ” It ‘s not my fault, you made me  do it !”.

to be continued…

Hello Dr. Freud (part 3)

 

Freud continued seeing patients with all kinds of problems and situations, insomnia, hysteria,                  phobias, anxieties, dark secrets and all these lovely things for wich he gave a psychological                          interpretation. And then, the next big revolution came.

The unconscious. Freud suggested that the mind should be thought as having different levels of        consciousness, giving emphasis on the unconscious (that was actually his favourite!!).He said that we  have our unconscious level. This is the state that  cannot be controlled by the consciousness or by reason. Then, we have the subconscious where we hide  our darkest wishes and fears. It is not necessary that our secrets will come into light , that we are conscious about them. No. they can stay there hidden forever, although some time small bits of sin will pop out in our behaviour.This is the phase that subconscious becomes conscious and we are fully aware of the painful feelings and traumatic memories that we tried so hard to keep them deep in our minds but we did an awful job. Sometimes we can pull them out using techniques such as hypnosis.

 

This theory of the mind and consciousness having three levels bla bla bla… created         our three best friends. Id  , Ego  , Superego! We knew them when we were young, we         love them, we carry them , and even if sometimes they break our nerves we cant’ get       rid of them simply because they are us. Our personality.  Freud said that our                       personality is consisted by these three fellows  that can shape our behaviour to a  great extend.

ID is the nasty one. The part that all our wishes, needs and desires exist and they have    to be fulfilled no matter what!I want it i have to have it, simple as that.

SUPEREGO. How beautiful our life would be if only had we Id. But there is superego.  The  part of our personality that includes all we have learnt from school , family,  society,  rules, morals. Superego lets say is the nerd  one. The little bell that rings  inside our heads when  we have something immoral or bad thing to do or something that we just are not allowed to do.

EGO. This is actually us, A combination of Id and Superego, the face that we actually show . We know our needs but we also know that there is a certain  way to satisfy them. And so we achieve balance.

At this moment, my Id craves for chocolate. And i really don’t care about what my Superego says.

to be continued…

Hello Dr. Freud (part 2)

When thinking of Freud’s theory there are many concepts that need  to be explained. Let us refer to  the basic ones. Freud is linked to Psychoanalysis which he started  developing around 1896.  Psychoanalysis is the ” talking cure”  It is the investigation of subconscious which leads to therapy.He  used to put his patients lie on the famous sofa, performing  free association,

the technique where the patient  is talking about whatever he/she   wants  with no specific order.

Another significant part of Freud’s theory is his idea of how a person developes through life. (too many concepts.no wonder he used cocaine!).Our dear Dr.Freud presented the Psychosexual stages  of development , so all you future neurotics have hope.

The idea is that from the moment we are born until our death we pass through different stages,  each having different characteristics. If we successfully complete these phases we are normal  and useless for any psychologist. If we get stuck (Freud calls this fixation)to any of this stage ,  then we need to  save money, find a good doctor because problems are on their way!!!

 

For example, the most famous fixation is when you get stuck on the phallic stage and then  there is great possibility that as you grow older you will have the Oedipus Complex.( named after the greek tragedy Oedipus by Sophocles). What Freud claims is that children of this stage (4-7 years old)have a really rough time. Boys like their mother and hate their father because he can have her. So, the  boy dreams to kill his father and marry his mother.

 

The same remarkable imagination have girls, too (Electra Complex.) They hate their father and they are attached to their father. Great Greek plays inspire great thinkers and we cannot enjoy our neurosis without guilt!

to be continued…

Hello Dr. Freud (part 1)

Sigmund Freud. The professor, the psychoanalyst, the man with the beard and the  cigar, the man who made the couch part of a therapeutic process, the man who is either  loved or hated, either way , the man who is surely widely recognized. Let’s discuss a  little bit more about him.

Freud was born on 6 May 1856, in Freiburg, Moravia.He was the first child of eight. His  mother , Amalia, was his father’s, Jacob, second wife and she was 21 years old when she gave birth to Sigmund. Sigmund had also 6 younger sisters and two older brothers from his father’s first wife. 

 

Quite a complicated family! A good explanation for why Freud came up with psychoanalysis later on!

In 1860 they move to Vienna. In 1873 Freud begins his medical studies at the University of Vienna and he will be studying there until 1881.He is very much interested in histology, neurophysiology and the nervous system.

It was about that time that Freud meets Martha Bernays and they fall in love (at last!  Freud at the age of 26 he falls in love with a woman). They were engaged for four  years(although Martha’s mother didn’t really appreciated Freud’s ambitions to become a  scientist.

During 1884-7 Freud studies the cocaine’s consequences.He did that on himself and he was  actually in favor of using it, pushing his friends to try it when in pain (don’t try it!! we are  talking about different eras!!).

At 1885-6 Freud spent 19 weeks at Paris with Charcot making a research on hyteria. It was at about  that time where Freud started making  thoughts on psychology and its role on sickness and disease.

to be continued…