Schizophrenia

Edit I found this quote quite amusing. It's at Religious Tolerance/Atheist
George H.W. Bush, as presidential nominee for the Republican party; 1987-AUG-27: "No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."
/Edit

According to my text book (Psychology Eight edition by David G. Myers), schizophrenia affects 1 in 100 people. That's a ridiculous amount of people...

Symptoms:

• Delusions


• Hallucinations


• Disorganized speech


• Gross disorganized or catonic behavior


• Negative symptoms

Source

It has to be noted that schizophrenia is different from Dissociative Identity Disorder, though they are often mixed up. People with DID do not experience hallucination, and regard the "voices" in their head as a different identity of themselves. People with schizophrenia, on the other hand, hear and see things that do not exist, and usually hear "voices," but they do not regard them as "their own."

National Institute of Mental Health: Schizophrenia


I spent the whole night doing my psychology homework, answering 2 AP essay questions from last year. One had to do with schizophrenia (if you haven't realized already). So I looked up everything about schizophrenia. But as much as I love psychology and the way the mind works, and the mental disorders... I realized that not doing these things just because I want to, and the fact that I need to answer questions is quite irritating.

I've already gotten so much homework, including quite a few pages of Spanish as well as 16 pages to read in the psychology textbook (aside from the essays). Differential Equations class at community college last night was alright, I guess. But I'm not too sure if the teacher really knew what he was doing. But it was a class reunion after 4 years. We all took an accelerated GT math class together in 7th and 8th grade (the top 3% of the county?), but if we went to different high schools, we hadn't seen eachother since.

I'm taking a week off cross country in hopes that my knee gets better. But because the stairs in the school are really long, I get pain when I walk down it...

A click if you like this entry?

School- The Worst Six-Letter Word Ever...

I had to count to see how many letters "school" had. Lol.

Anyways, school starts tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly this summer has gone by. It's ridiculous. And I'm not even close to being done with my college essays and things... Whatever.
My procrastination days are going to start again. And I don't really think that's a good thing.

I have no openings in the afternoons this year!!! This is pathetic!
Monday: Cross Country, then Differential Equations at Community College
Tuesday: Cross Country, then Tennis Clinic
Wednesday: Cross Country, then Differential Equations at Community College
Thursday: Cross Country, then Violin Lesson
Friday: Cross Country

Then, in the spring, the Cross Country changes to Tennis... I am already feeling tired...

Thanks for the words about my "injury." I'm taking those joint pain meds that my mom has, and some advil (though they were making my stomach bad so I stopped taking them). Hopefully, it won't get too bad. Especially since I play tennis as well as run cross country. ><
There seems to be something wrong with my throat. I'm always tired, so that's nothing new, but I keep on coughing, and my voice is raspy... I hope I don't have bronchitis or anything... It's too early in the school year... (That hasn't even started yet...)

We have a 4 day week, and then a 4 day weekend. :)

Injured... And more pets

I've successfully injured my knee... Apparently there's something about IT-band irritation. Yeah. I'm assuming it's not a big deal since she didn't tell me to go to a doctor. But my mom is freaking out and she might take me there... My knee suddenly buckles (doesn't matter if I'm walking or running... Usually running though.) and stops moving. It happened every 3~5 minutes when we were doing the 2-mile course. So the coach told me to go to the trainer and I didn't have to do hills or Indian run. :O
I'll go back tomorrow, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do without looking like an idiot, almost falling every 5 minutes.

The picture is of Momo, facing this way, as I promised. I called her name and she faced me, and let me take a picture of her. She's so cute. ♥

School starts next Monday. It's ridiculous. Where has my summer gone?!


This one is of Roxie, our neighbor's dog and Momo, chewing their raw-hide bones. Roxie is a funny little thing, and comes over to our house during the day, randomly, and starts banging down our door to be let in. And we let her in, feed her with Momo, and her mom or dad calls at something like 9 or 10, asking us to kick her out of our house. She runs away from home, once or twice a day, and comes over. It's totally dull when she doesn't come over for a few days. And she hasn't come over for a few days. D:


This is of her facing this way again. With most of her stuffed white stuff. She is so spoiled... She has like 7 of those stuffed balls... And she keeps a collection of it in the computer room. When my mom puts them away, she goes right on back into her cage and gets them out.


This is my black cat. On her little perch that she's too big for. Or too heavy, more like. I'm wondering if we should get her a new one that doesn't tilt when she's on top... I wonder when this one will finally give out and fall over...

More pictures of other pets next time... We have a black lab, a black cat, a black and white cat, and a snapping turtle. A lot of animals. :)

Momo Delux

Edit: (8/20) I made a new Momo Photo Manipulation. :)



The picture is of Momo (my labrador retriever) with her stuffed animal lamb. She loves stuffed animals. She sticks them in her mouth and just sits there, gasping for breath with her nose (no idea why she doesn't just stop doing it when she's suffocating herself), staying that way for long long time while everyone else sits in the room playing with computers.
She loves staying where everyone else is, and she brings in stuffed balls and animals from her cage and lies there, on her little couch.


The orange is Momo with one of her halloween costumes. She's a pumpkin. :D One of my dad's coworkers sent the costumes to us last year, and she wore them for Halloween. She's going to be stuck with it this halloween too!
She hated the little pumpkin hat, and tried to take it off. But when we asked her sternly to keep it on for a little bit more, she let us put it on her. And after taking her pictures, she took it off again.


The green is her Dog-Zilla costume. It was a little tight for her, but she managed.
Because it was a little tight, and the orange one gave her much more freedom, I put the orange one on her for the Halloween night.


I found a red ribbon on something, so I put it on her. Doesn't she look cute? Why is she always looking the other way when I'm taking pictures? I'll have to put some pictures of her looking this way later...

This was my Momo-ful post. :) I'm going to see if I can put a picture or two on every entry from now on. :D
Momo is 4 and a half female black lab. And I ♥ her to pieces!

Are You Depressed?

"Depression" hits everyone at one time or another. Mind you, I'm talking about the word "depression." People say, "OMG, I'm sooo depressed..." "I got a C on this test. God I'm depressed now." etc. etc.
But there are quite a large number of people now that are clinically depressed. Which means they need therapy and sometimes even medications to stablize their moods and emotions.
Depression is defined as mental state characterized by feelings of sadness, loneliness, despair, low self-esteem, and self-reproach; accompanying signs include psychomotor retardation or at times agitation, withdrawal from interpersonal contact, and vegetative symptoms such as insomnia and loss of appetite. The term refers either to a mood that is so characterized or to a mood disorder. (Source)

It's not temporary, and it doesn't just go away on its own. Many people still seem to think that people should just pull themselves together, and that it's their fault that they are depressed. And that they should be able to "fix" it. "Stop acting so emo." It's just pure ignorance to think so.

But it is true that sometimes, people do things to get attention. Or to feel special. It's not always, and if it's truely a sign, then it's dangerous. Someone has to stop them.
For example, cutting. I know a girl who was "cutting" because she was "depressed." But in reality, she just wanted to show off the fact that she can, and that she was depressed. She wanted the attention.
But some people seem to think that that's what everyone wants. That's why they do it. That they cut, have suicide attempts for attention. Some people do, but if someone really is in that kind of state of mind, someone has to walk into their life, and not pretend that everything will be okay, and that "she's just going through a phase."


One of my schoolmates committed suicide last year. Even though he was picked on, no one thought he'd actually do it. Had someone actually talked with him, and tried to understand him, maybe he wouldn't have done it.

My friend's friend committed suicide a while ago. In the obituaries, they said nothing of how he died. Because in America, you can't make it public that someone committed suicide. You can't go in a Christian grave. In Japan, it makes national news, and schools get complaints and accusations from around the country. They are forced to give press conferences and apologize for their worthlessness. And parts of the notes explaining why they are going to commit suicide are released to the newspapers. It's really sad. And there was an epidemic a couple of months ago, of elementary school (!!!) and middle school kids in Japan committing suicide because of bullying. It raised awareness. It's all good and dandy. They did something they couldn't do when they were alive. But I don't know if it was worth their death.

Abridged Test "Are you depressed?"
There are many of these tests around.
You've got to understand that these tests aren't "for real." They may be able to "detect" something, but you have to go to your doctor to be really diganosed. And to a psychology to be really sure. (Or a psychiatrist.)

• Sadness throughout the day, nearly every day


• Loss of interest in or enjoyment of your favorite activities


• Feeling of worthlessness


• Excessive or inappropriate feelings of guilt


• Thoughts of death or suicide


• Trouble making decisions


• Fatigue or lack of energy


• Sleeping too much or too little


• Change in appetite or weight


• Trouble concentrating


• Aches and pains


• Restlessness

(Source)


Psychology has always fascinated me. Especially things about depression and mental disorders. -is going to take psychology AP-

It's All Over! -whines-

Cross Country practices start tomorrow at 7AM. And that is when my summer vacation will end. The woes. I am depressed now. -goes to hide in a corner-

I had to get the last of the HPV shots yesterday, and this morning, after getting my physicals done, I have to get a meningitis shot. I hate shots.

Because my mom complained about my sleeping habits and whatnot, and after some questions, the doctor wanted me to get tested for thyroid problems. So now I need to get a blood test. I hate blood... I mean, little blood is fun and all, but I have a tendency to stare at the thing while it's drawing blood out of me...
But my mom doesn't think I have any thyroid problems because according to her, if I do have it, then I should be super thin like my cat (she has thyroid problems...). And obviously, since I'm so fat, I don't have it. Thanks, mom. You make me feel so much better about myself.

As for the Cross Country, I am going tomorrow, and then not going back until Tuesday. I have to get my blood test done on Thursday first thing in the morning, and then go into guidance about my college applications. On Friday, I am going to go on a college visit to Bucknell. And then on Monday, to McDaniel.
Then, on Tuesday, I go back. The next Monday, I start school. Woeful.

Almost Over...

The summer is almost over. Two more weeks left. It's quite disheartening.
I have two more days left for my volunteer work for autism camp, and then next Wednesday, cross country season starts. I'm totally not looking forward to it.

I'm starting my college applications. It's really annoying. And Shippensburg University is proving to be annoying. It's site doesn't give me any of the information that I want... I'm applying to about 10 schools. So that runs quite a bill for me just for the application money.
It's so complicated. And too complicated. I'm not looking forward at all to its procedures.
I have to go to college visits, send in application forms, write essays, send in more stuff, check up on them... totally not something I want to be doing.

I got my schedules... It's what I expected it to be, but I still don't really like it. (I don't have a math because I finished every course for math that there is in my school [calc bc ap], so I have to go to a community college after school this year to take differential equations.)


Advanced Composition
String Orchestra 4
Foundation of Curriculum & Instruction
Psychology AP GT
Spanish 5 AP GT
Physics AP GT
English Honors


I hope this year isn't going to be too bad...