Category: Proposals

For my research topic, I am choosing to talk about the lack of realization within the Self Help community when it comes to Self Care for those in lower classes. The reason why I’m choosing this topic is that coming from a lower-income area, I’ve witnessed, and grown up with great people who end up making not the best choices, and I can only think about the difference self-care could have made to help their mental health, which would lead them to make better decisions. 

      I’ve found four articles to help me expand on this topic. The first article I found is called “What Happens When You Can’t Afford Self-Care”, in this article Stephanie Land speaks on her personal experience being of a lower income and trying to practice self-care. Within the article, she speaks about how she doesn’t have the ability to practice self-care because all her time is spent trying to survive. She also speaks on how after working all the time to support her and her family, she is left exhausted with no energy left to practice these luxurious practices of self-care. And even with how much she works, she simply can’t afford to “see a therapist” or “pay for a massage” to treat her scoliosis

      The next article is “Prioritising Your Mental Health Is A Privilege That Many Can’t Afford” by Marianne Eloise. In this article, Eloise speaks on how much better her mental health has gotten due to her now being able to afford to take care of it. She speaks on her journey of mental disorders and how her coming from a low-income house and spending most of her time as a young adult working and in school, left her no time or money to practice self-care.

     This next article I love because the author first starts off describing how “abstract” the world of self-care was to them, growing up in a Latinx family. In “Self-Care Is A Privilege That Shouldn’t Be One”, Ren Aguilara” speaks on the lack of accessibility of self-care practices. And how self-help is presented as this one size fits all thing, but the views typically come from those of privilege and do not take into account the responsibilities and the lack of resources within marginalized communities. 

      The last article “White People, We Need to Talk About ‘Self-Care” by Anna Borges, specifically speaks about how those in Privilege, and in this case specifically white people, might use Self Care, as an excuse to tune out of important social issues. This article was written last year not only during the pandemic but during the BLM protest. Writer Borges, seen a lot of tweets from privileged individuals speaking about how stressful all the news is, and how taking a break from it and practicing self-care is important. While Borges acknowledges that, that may be true, she also acknowledges that even the ability for those in privileged positions to take a “step back” from these issues, is a great indicator of their privilege. And how with taking their mental health into consideration they should not simply ignore the issues and should not only practice self-care but also community care.

Works Cited

Aguilera, Ren. “Self-Care Is A Privilege That Shouldn’t Be One.” Medium, Medium, 9 June 2020, renaguilar-5151.medium.com/self-care-is-a-privilege-that-shouldnt-be-one-460f83fab3a4.

Borges, Anna. “White People, We Need to Talk About ‘Self-Care’.” SELF, 10 June 2020, www.self.com/story/white-people-self-care. 

Eloise, Marianne. “Prioritising Your Mental Health Is A Privilege That Many Can’t Afford.” Self Care Is A Privilege, 21 Oct. 2019, www.refinery29.com/en-gb/privilege-mental-health-therapy. 

Land, Stephanie. “What Happens When You Can’t Afford Self-Care.” Talk Poverty, 13 June 2016, talkpoverty.org/2016/06/13/when-you-cant-afford-self-care/. 

Research Topic/Title-

            The topic I would like to explore is the negative effects of using meditation as a treatment for schizophrenia. Is it a viable treatment option? The negative side affects documented in several trials as well as personal accounts will allow me to come to a consensus. The title I would like to use is  “The Aftermath of Schizophrenia and Meditation Meeting”. By looking at the side effects from both schizophrenia and meditation then going deeper will show me the bigger picture. 

Background

1. Schizophrenia 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)  “Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality, which causes significant distress for the individual, their family members, and friends. If left untreated, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be persistent and disabling. However, effective treatments are available. When delivered in a timely, coordinated, and sustained manner, treatment can help affected individuals to engage in school or work, achieve independence, and enjoy personal relationships.”    NIMH » Schizophrenia (nih.gov)

Possible side effects are but not limited to the following according the Mayo Clinic;

• Delusions. These are false beliefs that are not based in reality. For example, you think that you’re being harmed or harassed; certain gestures or comments are directed at you; you have exceptional ability or fame; another person is in love with you; or a major catastrophe is about to occur. Delusions occur in most people with schizophrenia.
• Hallucinations. These usually involve seeing or hearing things that don’t exist. Yet for the person with schizophrenia, they have the full force and impact of a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices is the most common hallucination.
• Disorganized thinking (speech). Disorganized thinking is inferred from disorganized speech. Effective communication can be impaired, and answers to questions may be partially or completely unrelated. Rarely, speech may include putting together meaningless words that can’t be understood, sometimes known as word salad.
• Extremely disorganized or abnormal motor behavior. This may show in a number of ways, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. Behavior isn’t focused on a goal, so it’s hard to do tasks. Behavior can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.
• Negative symptoms. This refers to reduced or lack of ability to function normally. For example, the person may neglect personal hygiene or appear to lack emotion (doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t change facial expressions or speaks in a monotone). Also, the person may lose interest in everyday activities, socially withdraw or lack the ability to experience pleasure.
• In men, schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid-20s. In women, symptoms typically begin in the late 20s. It’s uncommon for children to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and rare for those older than age 45.

Schizophrenia – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic

Meditation Side effects

Not specifically limited to individuals with mental health issues, but is known to happen in anyone is the following;

9 Meditation Side Effects So Dangerous You Cannot Ignore Them (thedailymeditation.com)

• Anxiety-Research shows that some methods may, in fact, harm people with a history of anxiety and depression.

  Such people may feel increased anxiety, fear, stress, panic and low moods when meditating. Research conducted by Brown University neuroscientist Dr Willoughby Britton showed that feelings of fear and anxiety are a common negative effect of meditation.

  Dr. Britton has stated that during a retreat she felt like she “was having a nervous breakdown.” She later learned that intense practices could lead to symptoms severe enough to warrant a psychiatric diagnosis (1).

  Sarah Bowen, a researcher at the University of Washington, suggests that people who have a history of depression or anxiety should only meditate under expert guidance in case stressful, painful or upsetting thoughts do arise.

  Neurobiologist Dr Nancy Hayes, states that “Patients with emotional disorders may have adverse reactions to meditation.”

• Seizures-Neuroscientist Dr. Michael Persinger at Leurentian University of Canada researched the relationship between seizures and meditation. In 1993 he studied 1,018 meditators. The results of his research show that meditation can lead to symptoms of partial epilepsy, including hearing voices, feeling vibrations and experiencing visual abnormalities. Epileptic patients suffer from auditory and visual hallucinations, with many believing that they have spiritual experiences, including speaking with God.

  Persinger has subsequently researched the experience of so-called “spiritual events.” In his tests, Persinger had patients wear helmets through which were passed electrical signals that led to magnetically induced seizures. Four out of every five of his test subjects stated that they had experienced a spiritual event.

• Hypersensitivity To Light And Sound and Movement Problems

Brown University researchers recently interviewed 100 meditators and teachers and asked them about the side effects that they had experienced. A significant portion of the interviewees stated that they had been experiencing hypersensitivity to light and sound, as well as insomnia, occasional involuntary movements, and feelings of fear, anxiety and panic.

Newberg observed that blood flow to the posterior superior parietal lobe decreased during meditation (10). This is the part of the brain involved with navigating our environment. “Patients with damaged posterior superior parietal lobes often cannot move without falling,” he tells us. He also states that oneness (the state in which we feel we are one with our surroundings) could have hidden negative side effects. By blocking blood flow to the posterior superior parietal lobe, you “lose the boundary between yourself and the rest of the world.” This can lead to disorientation and falls.

• It Brings Up Painful Memories

  When you meditate, your mind relaxes more than usual. Many people who are new to the practice have never experienced such a deep level of inner stillness. Because of this calmness, you become more aware of your mind and your thoughts. Some of those thoughts are unpleasant. For instance, you may notice painful memories. And this might make you feel upset. However, although this can seem like a negative, it is an opportunity to change the way you think and feel.

• Mental atrophy

  Another study into the negative side effects of meditation was conducted by Arthur Chappell, a former Maharaj devotee. He states that the practice “Deprives the mind of stimulus”, leading to sensory deprivation.

 

 

 Meditation side effects

Sources: 

3:Meditation May Predispose to Epilepsy https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15617849

4: Dark Side of Meditation http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/17/aaron-alexis-and-the-dark-side-of-meditation/

5: Effects of meditation https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288468969_Effects_of_meditation_on_brain_electrical_activity

6: Mental Health And Intense Meditation Retreats https://zensydney.com/Mental-Health-and-Intensive-Meditation-Retreats

7:Study documents range of challenging meditation experiences https://www.brown.edu/news/2017-05-24/experiences

8: Meditation may cause negative side effects https://www.today.com/health/meditation-may-cause-negative-effects-some-study-finds-t111957

 

My research topic will be on self Esteem

What-is-self-esteem-2795868

Self esteem can be described as how you view your own personal value. The article states different factors that can contribute to the idea. Self esteem can be lowest in your adolescence and could possibly carry on through adulthood. Self esteem can impact your everyday life resulting in decision making, your emotional health, relationship, as well as motivation.

Low self esteem can lead to feeling down on sunny days. They might not feel motivated to do everyday activities (you would buy more and more just to fill that void of affection that is missing from yourself). Certain issues with relationships and their personal goals can affect their self worth as well as simple things such as feeling loved.

High self esteem can be considered as overestimating yourself, (you might think you are better than you are, full of yourself). They could as well struggle, or block themselves from self growth because they think they are “perfect” already so no need for growth.

Factors that can affect self esteem:
-Body weight
-Disability
-Family’s genes (genetics),history
-Social/economic status
-Education status
-Job
-Career
-Life
-Relationship
-Sexual orientation

I will be able to compare and contrast the different modes of self esteem.