Tag: Psychology

Psychopaths/Sociopaths: A Scientific Point of View

“Psychopaths” are very popular in modern and movies. When mentioned they usually are referring to characters such as Patrick Bateman played by Christian Bale in the movie “American Psychopath”. In this movie, he is a psychotic killer who rapes, murders, and dismembers strangers and acquaintances without provocation or purpose. However, the actual disorder of psychopathy…


Lycanthropy

The word lycanthropy is derived from the Greek words lykoi (wolf) and anthropos (man).  Lycanthropic disorder is a mental state of a man or woman where he or she thinks that he or she is an animal. This person cannot actually change from human to animal form. According to myths, the defining characteristic of lycanthropy…


Hallucinations

Did you know that there is more than one type of hallucination? Some complex visual hallucinations can be caused by a condition known as Charles Bonnet syndrome. People who have Charles Bonnet syndrome experience hallucinations because of a visual impairment. They may be blind, have some sort of other visual limitation such as near-sightedness, or…


Faces In The Mirror

Have you ever wondered what could have inspired ghost stories about mirrors? I remember a game while I was growing up called Bloody Mary. In this game you would have to go into a bathroom, flush the toilet 3 times, flick the lights on and off 3 times, then turn off all of the lights…


Gestalt, Ninja Principles In Nature

Gestalt psychology was based on the work of 3 psychologists, Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kӧhler, and Kurt Koffka. It is based on the observation that we often experience things that are not part of our simple sensations. Wertheimer pointed out that we perceive motion where there is nothing more than a sequence of rapid sensory events,…


The Voices In My Head

This is an excellent video about a lady’s (Eleanor Longden’s) experiences with schizophrenia. She has some good advice for people suffering from this illness or people who are coping with hearing voices, grotesque visions, suffering from delusions, or experiencing hallucinations in general.  I really like how she explains that her voices were a meaningful response…