BETSHY

Tag: Mental Health

  • PM-cube: The Best Android Mental Health App for Academics

    PM-cube: The Best Android Mental Health App for Academics

    Cubisma website

    For a while, I had been looking for an app that immediately had a foundational, cognitively constructive effect on my experience. I must say this is not an app to go to if you are having a mental health crisis. Instead, it is an app that works wonders for anyone with a workload. Since human memory can be so unreliable as demonstrated by Loftus’ work on eyewitness and episodic memory, and being a student of Forensic Psychology, I wanted an app that soothed the academic in me, and that helped me successfully make sense of my thoughts, which are many; I mean, let’s be honest, I am a student, and I am an artist; and I have to think a lot about my future because I am trying to implement my plan of action to upgrade my quality of life, and to improve my mental health in the evergreen way. And well, that entails absorbing a lot of information. This is why I would like to recommend the app PM-cube. Every single time I use the app, there are immediate constructive results. 

    Relevant Questions & Answers

    Here are some questions you might be wondering in relation to what I mean about academic mental health.

    Is this a ‘relax and meditate’ app?

    No, at least not in the conventional way. I am a university student, I don’t have the time, money or luxury to relax. If I relax for too long, I freak out. The only thing that gives me inner peace is to learn more about lifeology, and to develop the skills necessary to sustain myself in peace with people and the environment. If you, like me, have been feeling stuck in uncertain times; then this app might help you premeditate, and boost your executive functions.

    But, is this app designed for mental health?

    I don’t know at this stage what the intent was with the creation of the app; however, I assume that it was designed to help people manage their lives and projects better. I have found it very helpful when I am feeling stuck. It makes a difference, and gets me out of the cognitive paralysis that can happen when I have 99 problems and finding an app that works for me is just 1 of them.

    Will it work for every academic?

    Probably not, although I assume that most academics are very busy people , so maybe it will soothe them.

    What is an academic?

    Funny you ask. According to the Macquarie Dictionary (2017), an academic is a person who is “a teacher or a researcher in a university or college”. For instance, Professor Loftus is an academic who is very much loved and respected internationally for all of her contributions to psychology and criminology (and who gave expert testimony for Ted Bundy‘s defence in court).

    Should I meditate?

    Meditation does not work for me, but premeditation does. Nevertheless, just because it does not work for me, it does not mean that it will not work for you.  However, if meditation apps are NOT what you are looking for, then you should defo try PM-CUBE (Marxer, 2015).

    Are you okay?

    Absolutely. Thanks for asking. Life is going relatively steady, and PM-Cube really helps me make it better. 

    Is this an ad? 

    No. I actually think this app is truly helpful. Hopefully you will find it helpful too. 

    References

    Butler, S. (2017) ‘Academic’, In Macquarie Dictionary, 7th ed [Online].Available at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/macqdict/academic/0?institutionId=292  (Accessed 2 February 2020).

    Loftus, E. (2020) Professional Profile, UCI School of Social Ecology [Online]. Available at https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/eloftus/ (Accessed 2 February 2020). 

    Marxer, C. G. (2015) The Project Management Cube [Android App]. Available at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.cubisma.thepm_cube (Accessed 2 February 2020). 

  • Smoking: A Mental Health Problem?

    Smoking: A Mental Health Problem?

    Smoking has been romanticized by the creative, television, and film industries. Smokers are often portrayed as good looking individuals who are charming, intelligent, and independent. Little is ever shown when it comes to chest imaging, the real repercussions of addiction and substance dependency; and the potential health complications such lifestyles could have. When it comes to forensic mental health, nicotine addiction can be considered as a form of self-harm. With a tremendous number of anti-smoking campaigns taking place globally, through which the effects of smoking are disseminated to nicotine consumers through the packaging of the product and through health services; it is understandable why smoking is now seen as a mental health problem and a maladaptive manifestation where the smokers, despite having awareness of the fact that tobacco has over 70 substances known to cause respiratory complications as well as cancer; exhibit addiction determinism when they choose to self-poison.

    Doctors have found themselves in difficult positions when it comes to this particular form of self-harm and morbid maladjustment. “Pressures must be placed on governments […] Also, initiatives to make smoking an antisocial, unacceptable activity must be pursued to reduce the likelihood that smoking will be adopted by those predisposed to nicotine addiction, as well as those not predisposed […] With knowledge about the addictive potential of nicotine and the genetic predisposition to become addicted to nicotine, we can now be confident that the days of the authoritarian doctor are over. It is now no longer acceptable that a doctor simply demands that patients stop smoking before they receive further treatment. Smoking, and attempts to quit smoking, need to be regarded as conditions that require specific treatment. Not only do we have to ask all of our patients whether they smoke, and not only do we have to encourage all our smokers to quit smoking, we have to do it with the same clinical care and skill that we use to treat all diseases and health complaints in our patients” (Worsnop, 2003, p. 1339 )

    As someone who understands nicotine addiction, I have at times wondered why the product itself remains legal. Surely, that’s a truly genocidal industry which profits from the death and lack of self-control of its consumers. Furthermore, considering the fact that smokers are often people who do not understand the theoretical implications of smoking, and the potential respiratory prognosis of such habit; it can be said that all smokers are vulnerable individuals who are being neglected by the legislature and the jurisdiction they are a part of, and that such ignorance can easily become their funeral.

    Reference:

    Worsnop, C. J. (2003) ‘Smoking’, Chest, 123(5), pp. 1338–1340. doi: 10.1378/chest.123.5.1338.

    Download:

    Smoking (PDF)

  • Madness & Human Rights

    Madness & Human Rights

    Play

    About:

     A podcast by The Open Society Foundation.

    “The Open Society Public Health Program hosts an evening event with John Trainor in honor of his years of service on the Public Health Program Advisory Board. The event features a presentation by John Trainor on his work examining how society reacts to the phenomenon of mental illness and the impact of that reaction on how people with mental illness are treated. He looks at examples from the past, reflect on how social acceptance and treatment have changed, and makes suggestions for the future of mental health care.”

    You can download the PODCAST and the TRANSCRIPT.