Schizophrenia here is different than schizophrenia there — why?

Most diseases don't differ depending on where you're from. Schizophrenia, however, is heavily dependent on your culture.

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  • Since schizophrenia is a disease of the mind, the cultural context it occurs in can have a serious impact on how it manifests.
  • Cultures in which the family is more important will have delusions centered around their family, cultures in which religion is important often have religious delusions, and so on.
  • This growing understanding of the cultural sensitivity of schizophrenia highlights how much our identities are dependent on the cultures we grow up in.
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Mind & Brain

Early usage of schadenfreude in English and literature

Schadenfreude has always been with us.

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  • Aristotle spoke of the emotion over two thousand years ago.
  • The first appearance of the word in English speaking countries gave speakers a new way to express themselves.
  • To this day, there is still some unease around the feeling.
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Culture & Religion

Porn arouses women and men in same neuronal way, review finds

The results contradict the popular assumption that men react far more strongly to pornography.

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  • The review examined the results of 61 brain-scanning studies that involved 1,850 people.
  • The results of the review found no significant differences in how male and female brains respond to viewing visual erotic stimuli.
  • Still, one of the researchers noted that there are sex-specific differences in sexual behavior.
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Sex & Relationships

Should people really pursue self-actualization?

It's a popular buzzword among the self-help community, but does trying to become self-actualized do any good?

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  • Abraham Maslow first came up with the hierarchy of needs many decades ago.
  • At the top of this hierarchy was the idea of self-actualization, a human need to become all that we can possibly be.
  • It's struck a chord outside of academic circles, but both pursuing this goal and the concept itself are a little problematic.
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Personal Growth

Want a shortcut to better living? Psychedelics may be it.

LSD may help us change our lives by spurring perspective shifts.

  • Psilocybin trip may turn banal insights into "sticky" and "revealed truths" that change the way we live our lives.
  • For instance, LSD may be able to help smokers cut their addiction. How so? By allowing them to have a perspective shift on its effects.
  • Sometimes the insights made during psychotherapy, after years of counseling, can be made with an LSD trip in a single afternoon.
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