"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." C. S. Lewis
It’s Saturday! Hope everyone is having an enjoyable day. I found myself drawn back to the office again today to do some additional week-end research and also plan to finish up this book by Frances Tustin entitled, The Protective Shell in Children and Adults. I have found the book fascinating. That’s a mouthful considering my prejudice toward anyone interested in Freud’s work after learning that he called religion a “compulsive neurosis” in his 1927 book, regarded girls as “missing” their penises, and several other ideas that just seem completely bizarre to me.
However, I haven’t studied Freud in any depth yet either. It is time to lay down my preconceived ideas.
This has been a fascinating week of research.
Happy Saturday - T
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Faith, Science, and Educational Resources (A shorter post during a busy day)
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C.S. Lewis
Faith and Science: Being a psychology major may seem in contrast to believing in Christ, but it is not. The Lord made everything and provides everything. In learning about the world around us and our selves, we have the opportunity to witness the infinite detail of His work and to share it with others. However, I couldn’t imagine getting this degree anywhere else because I need to be reminded, at every step, that everything is His doing, not ours (or mine). The perception of what knowledge is and its contents can become intoxicating and misleading without the Lord to guide us.
Regent gives me the education I want along with supporting my faith. I just can’t stress enough how important this can be. We recently had the opportunity to listen to Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the Claremont Graduate University, and visiting professor Harvard Divinity School. He gave a one hour lecture at Regent University (streamed live to those of us off campus) entitled, "Beyond the Battlelines: Why Christians Need to Engage with Science and How We Can Do It Successfully" during part two of the Forum for Science, Technology, and Renewal. It was very interesting. Thank you, Regent and Professor Clayton.
Free Online Educational Resources: Speaking of live streaming and web lectures....There are two really good resources I would like to recommend to anyone interested in free online learning: Berkeley has free webcasts at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/index.php and MIT has free open course ware at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm. (I used the Berkeley webcasts last year to go through their nutrition course. The textbook only cost a few dollars from Amazon.)
Well, it is time to continue working on the research.
In Christ, Tammy
Faith and Science: Being a psychology major may seem in contrast to believing in Christ, but it is not. The Lord made everything and provides everything. In learning about the world around us and our selves, we have the opportunity to witness the infinite detail of His work and to share it with others. However, I couldn’t imagine getting this degree anywhere else because I need to be reminded, at every step, that everything is His doing, not ours (or mine). The perception of what knowledge is and its contents can become intoxicating and misleading without the Lord to guide us.
Regent gives me the education I want along with supporting my faith. I just can’t stress enough how important this can be. We recently had the opportunity to listen to Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the Claremont Graduate University, and visiting professor Harvard Divinity School. He gave a one hour lecture at Regent University (streamed live to those of us off campus) entitled, "Beyond the Battlelines: Why Christians Need to Engage with Science and How We Can Do It Successfully" during part two of the Forum for Science, Technology, and Renewal. It was very interesting. Thank you, Regent and Professor Clayton.
Free Online Educational Resources: Speaking of live streaming and web lectures....There are two really good resources I would like to recommend to anyone interested in free online learning: Berkeley has free webcasts at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/index.php and MIT has free open course ware at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm. (I used the Berkeley webcasts last year to go through their nutrition course. The textbook only cost a few dollars from Amazon.)
Well, it is time to continue working on the research.
In Christ, Tammy
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
HAPPY WEDNESDAY!
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.” H. G. Wells
MY INTERESTS: If you don’t know me - My interest and research is in autism. It seemed only right to start with the H.G. Wells quote this morning. His words may hold much truth for children with autism.
WHERE AUTISM STANDS: There are MANY theories on what is actually occurring in children with autism, why is it occurring, why some start to develop typically and then regress into it, and why some seem to “grow out” of it while many do not.
TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 1: One of the many interesting theories I have been reading about is the idea that autism is not so much a biological malfunction (although there may be specific biological or environmental components that predispose it) as an adaptation occurring from trauma at birth or while still in the womb.
This idea does not involve physical trauma, but primitive brain trauma that somehow sets the stage for fear as a kind of first response. The autistic behaviors that typical people view as strange (flapping, staring, unresponsiveness to visual and audio stimuli, over responsiveness to being touched by material or people, etc.) might be considered just coping mechanisms for a child with autism. They do these things (consciously or not) as an adaptation response to allow them to survive (“not perish”) with specific stimuli viewed as overwhelming stress. Hence, if one thinks about it in such a fashion we can give consideration to the fact that autistic behaviors might actually be a positive (temporary) means of survival to an overwhelmed child. One author associated it with the likes of PTSD. Beyond PTSD is the outcome of post traumatic growth. Could there not also be ASD growth too? I believe so.
TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 2: I don’t agree with much of Freud’s work or psychoanalysis, but want to read every considered cause of autism to properly do my research. With that said, another book I am currently reading is written by a British psychotherapist who talks about more than just the idea of auto-generated encapsulation and other psychoanalytic findings. While I disagree with the specific terms used to describe possible causes of the traumas suggested, I do like and agree with the fact that this author also considers trauma and fear as the motivation for autistic behaviors.
MY CONCLUSION ABOUT THESE TWO THEORIES: I do not agree with either of these authors about the cause, but the association with fear and possible trauma is important. My experiences lead me to believe people exhibiting autistic behaviors are coping with something that we have yet to understand and that the preconception of fear is atleast a part of it.
I do NOT believe that autism equals brain damage! In fact, quite the contrary, it seems that even the “low functioning” people I know with autism have quite a remarkable way of thinking and manipulating the situations around them if observers are smart enough to catch onto it. I believe that all people with autism (even those deemed low functioning) are of equal intelligence with us people deemed “typical”, but it doesn't show up on our current intelligence tests. I also believe that some people with autism have greater and lesser intelligence too, but do not actually have mental retardation, MR, unless it is a concomitant disorder.
THE MEANING OF “AUTISM” AND WHEN IT BEGAN: It is important to understand the origins of the “autism” label we are so widely using today. Leo Kanner wrote the first paper describing early infantile autism in 1943 after observing several children and Asperger's syndrome, currently considered a subtype of autism, was originally described by an Austrian psychiatrist, Hans Asperger, in 1944.
However, Kanner did not invent the word. The word autistic was used to describe schizophrenic thought patterns in patients with schizophrenia. The word is derived from a Greek word "authos", meaning self. Autistic thinking has been defined as "self-centered" or thinking which is intelligent but only to the self. Autism has also been defined as a “barrier” in some neurotic patients.
Furthermore, since scientists consider empirical evidence, we might also consider a paper wrote by Melanie Klein in 1930 that describes what would now be considered an autistic child but was then diagnosed as “dementia praecox” (schizophrenia). This was fourteen years before Kanner's paper. By the way, Schizophrenia was first described by Emil Kraepelin in 1896. However, dates do not mean that these disorders did not exist before the given date. The date is only when the label (or mislabel) was created or given for a specific group of symptoms. Autism, schizophrenia, and many other disorders may have been with us for many centuries. We don’t know how long autism has been around.
Since there is no world or national database for who is diagnosed with what and who isn't, people have varied opinions on if autism is increasing or if it is just being diagnosed more and more as our labels for the autistic spectrum disorders, ASD, become more clear and refined. The media has also given ASD alot of attention in the last few years. When we become aware of something, we are able to notice it more. I know I am noticing ASD alot more, but like everyone else - is it because I've been made aware of it or because it is on the uprise in the world? We've also got to consider that such conditions in the U.S. would have been a one way ticket to an institution in the not so long ago past, but today's movement is for support and community involvement, not institutionalizing. We may have opportunites for more encounters with people with ASD than the U.S. generations did before us.
My gut feeling is that ASD is on the uprise, but I have no proof.
In Christ, T
P.S. Psychology is a relatively new (less than 150 years) academic discipline. If you are curious, here is a time line of psychology from psycholpedia.
MY INTERESTS: If you don’t know me - My interest and research is in autism. It seemed only right to start with the H.G. Wells quote this morning. His words may hold much truth for children with autism.
WHERE AUTISM STANDS: There are MANY theories on what is actually occurring in children with autism, why is it occurring, why some start to develop typically and then regress into it, and why some seem to “grow out” of it while many do not.
TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 1: One of the many interesting theories I have been reading about is the idea that autism is not so much a biological malfunction (although there may be specific biological or environmental components that predispose it) as an adaptation occurring from trauma at birth or while still in the womb.
This idea does not involve physical trauma, but primitive brain trauma that somehow sets the stage for fear as a kind of first response. The autistic behaviors that typical people view as strange (flapping, staring, unresponsiveness to visual and audio stimuli, over responsiveness to being touched by material or people, etc.) might be considered just coping mechanisms for a child with autism. They do these things (consciously or not) as an adaptation response to allow them to survive (“not perish”) with specific stimuli viewed as overwhelming stress. Hence, if one thinks about it in such a fashion we can give consideration to the fact that autistic behaviors might actually be a positive (temporary) means of survival to an overwhelmed child. One author associated it with the likes of PTSD. Beyond PTSD is the outcome of post traumatic growth. Could there not also be ASD growth too? I believe so.
TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 2: I don’t agree with much of Freud’s work or psychoanalysis, but want to read every considered cause of autism to properly do my research. With that said, another book I am currently reading is written by a British psychotherapist who talks about more than just the idea of auto-generated encapsulation and other psychoanalytic findings. While I disagree with the specific terms used to describe possible causes of the traumas suggested, I do like and agree with the fact that this author also considers trauma and fear as the motivation for autistic behaviors.
MY CONCLUSION ABOUT THESE TWO THEORIES: I do not agree with either of these authors about the cause, but the association with fear and possible trauma is important. My experiences lead me to believe people exhibiting autistic behaviors are coping with something that we have yet to understand and that the preconception of fear is atleast a part of it.
I do NOT believe that autism equals brain damage! In fact, quite the contrary, it seems that even the “low functioning” people I know with autism have quite a remarkable way of thinking and manipulating the situations around them if observers are smart enough to catch onto it. I believe that all people with autism (even those deemed low functioning) are of equal intelligence with us people deemed “typical”, but it doesn't show up on our current intelligence tests. I also believe that some people with autism have greater and lesser intelligence too, but do not actually have mental retardation, MR, unless it is a concomitant disorder.
THE MEANING OF “AUTISM” AND WHEN IT BEGAN: It is important to understand the origins of the “autism” label we are so widely using today. Leo Kanner wrote the first paper describing early infantile autism in 1943 after observing several children and Asperger's syndrome, currently considered a subtype of autism, was originally described by an Austrian psychiatrist, Hans Asperger, in 1944.
However, Kanner did not invent the word. The word autistic was used to describe schizophrenic thought patterns in patients with schizophrenia. The word is derived from a Greek word "authos", meaning self. Autistic thinking has been defined as "self-centered" or thinking which is intelligent but only to the self. Autism has also been defined as a “barrier” in some neurotic patients.
Furthermore, since scientists consider empirical evidence, we might also consider a paper wrote by Melanie Klein in 1930 that describes what would now be considered an autistic child but was then diagnosed as “dementia praecox” (schizophrenia). This was fourteen years before Kanner's paper. By the way, Schizophrenia was first described by Emil Kraepelin in 1896. However, dates do not mean that these disorders did not exist before the given date. The date is only when the label (or mislabel) was created or given for a specific group of symptoms. Autism, schizophrenia, and many other disorders may have been with us for many centuries. We don’t know how long autism has been around.
Since there is no world or national database for who is diagnosed with what and who isn't, people have varied opinions on if autism is increasing or if it is just being diagnosed more and more as our labels for the autistic spectrum disorders, ASD, become more clear and refined. The media has also given ASD alot of attention in the last few years. When we become aware of something, we are able to notice it more. I know I am noticing ASD alot more, but like everyone else - is it because I've been made aware of it or because it is on the uprise in the world? We've also got to consider that such conditions in the U.S. would have been a one way ticket to an institution in the not so long ago past, but today's movement is for support and community involvement, not institutionalizing. We may have opportunites for more encounters with people with ASD than the U.S. generations did before us.
My gut feeling is that ASD is on the uprise, but I have no proof.
In Christ, T
P.S. Psychology is a relatively new (less than 150 years) academic discipline. If you are curious, here is a time line of psychology from psycholpedia.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Hello All!
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." C. S. Lewis
I am excited to begin blogging today! My friend, Nancy, has been blogging for quite some time and suggested (last year) that I try my hand at it.
CURRENT HAPPENINGS: Right now I am spending eight weeks on the campus of the University of Georgia doing my first undergraduate research project in the department of educational psychology. My husband and I are using this time to "date" again and making the separation as fun as possible. It is a real blessing to be here and an honor to have this opportunity. However, I miss my classmates at Regent University and the Christian atmosphere and am also looking forward to returning to classes there in the fall.
MY SCHOOL: Regent is the most awesome University. I don't go on campus there, but am an online student. Yet, the distance doesn't even seem to exist. I've made fantastic friends, have wonderful professors, and love being the president of the psychology club and on the student council. It has really strengthened my walk with the Lord.
PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE: Prayer is very important in my life. I would love to hear your prayer requests or praises. Also, I may ask if you would pray for me or different people at times. My life today is SO MUCH BETTER than the years before I knew the Lord! Isn't it amazing to have a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father? And, WOW, what a family He gives to us! I have a big and wonderful Christian family by marriage, a fantastic church family, many dear friends, and two very special Aunts and some cousins in NY that I communicate with on a regular basis even though we are far apart. I am so glad to be in the Lord's grace and mercy. However, some my closest "kin" in my biological family do not enjoy the Lord's blessings and understand His love and mercy. It is for these that I pray the most. It is hard to be estranged from the ones I would like to love, but my presence is not wanted at this time in their lives.
RECIPES: Does anyone else like recipes???!!! My dear Aunt just sent me several old cookbooks from 1910-1950. (I enjoy collecting and trying new recipes) Do you have any recipes you would like to share? It would be fun to trade!
It's time to return to researching. The blogging today has been fun. I look forward to meeting each of you all and making new friends from this adventure. In Christ, T
I am excited to begin blogging today! My friend, Nancy, has been blogging for quite some time and suggested (last year) that I try my hand at it.
CURRENT HAPPENINGS: Right now I am spending eight weeks on the campus of the University of Georgia doing my first undergraduate research project in the department of educational psychology. My husband and I are using this time to "date" again and making the separation as fun as possible. It is a real blessing to be here and an honor to have this opportunity. However, I miss my classmates at Regent University and the Christian atmosphere and am also looking forward to returning to classes there in the fall.
MY SCHOOL: Regent is the most awesome University. I don't go on campus there, but am an online student. Yet, the distance doesn't even seem to exist. I've made fantastic friends, have wonderful professors, and love being the president of the psychology club and on the student council. It has really strengthened my walk with the Lord.
PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE: Prayer is very important in my life. I would love to hear your prayer requests or praises. Also, I may ask if you would pray for me or different people at times. My life today is SO MUCH BETTER than the years before I knew the Lord! Isn't it amazing to have a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father? And, WOW, what a family He gives to us! I have a big and wonderful Christian family by marriage, a fantastic church family, many dear friends, and two very special Aunts and some cousins in NY that I communicate with on a regular basis even though we are far apart. I am so glad to be in the Lord's grace and mercy. However, some my closest "kin" in my biological family do not enjoy the Lord's blessings and understand His love and mercy. It is for these that I pray the most. It is hard to be estranged from the ones I would like to love, but my presence is not wanted at this time in their lives.
RECIPES: Does anyone else like recipes???!!! My dear Aunt just sent me several old cookbooks from 1910-1950. (I enjoy collecting and trying new recipes) Do you have any recipes you would like to share? It would be fun to trade!
It's time to return to researching. The blogging today has been fun. I look forward to meeting each of you all and making new friends from this adventure. In Christ, T
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