Amygdala

I became conscious of gender in a societal sense at seventeen when I was first introduced to the Bechdel Test which asks the listener to think of a time in a movie or book when two named women are speaking about something other than men. At the time, I was reading The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. Though maybe I was drawn to the book because I had delusions of living adrenally running from bulls or being “hard boiled” in the day time, I began to make passing mental annotations about the movies…

In society, love and hate are known to be two of the most powerful emotions that humans can experience. They are known to be very controlling, yet tend to be considered as polar opposites. There are no clear definitions for these terms, as they can be very complex in nature. Whether in fiction or in real life, these two emotions are often set to conflict with each other, causing the question to arise: Which is more powerful? Love or hate? Hate and love are equal in power because they both have…

Cocaine is a psychoactive drug affects the limbic system of the body, which controls pleasure and motivation. In 1859 Albert Niemann, German Chemist, isolated cocaine from the leaves of the Coca plant which is located in the Andes Mountains of South America. It is the second oldest psychoactive drug and in the Medical field it is classified as a Schedule II Drug; meaning it can be used in a controlled medical setting but it is highly addictive. When cocaine is used as a recreational drug it…

Epic fail I have a crazy, but I have unique imperfect memory. When I used to be in my high school soccer team. It was raining cats and dogs, I couldn't open my eyes all the way. I drenched in water and it was crazy how we were playing. There was 12 minutes left till halftime. All I can recall is that I was sprinting towards the ball and l kicked the ball with all my strength, and then I was trucked by this huge girl. I got the wind kicked out me, everyone was screaming their heads off and then…

Aggression is a complex and intriguing phenomenon. What causes a person to want to intentionally harm someone? What motivates and drives them to this? How does it affect a person? Aggression comes in many forms and be triggered by various factors. It can impact the lives of all parties involved. Aggression usually refers to certain behaviors that can result in harm to oneself or another. It deals with malicious, unfriendly, and forceful behavior. Even if harm is not achieved, the intention is…

Figure 1 (ageonics medical, 2002) shows the sympathetic Nervous system is part of the autonomic nervous system which is what activates the fight, flight or freeze response. The body’s response to stress involves two major systems for acute and chronic stressors. Acute stressors lead to rapid changes in the body, chronic stressors can lead to real health problems. The body can have different ways of responding to stress which includes the Sympathomedullary Pathway (for short term responses)…

Anxiety disorders are on the rise in our country, because of the multifarious etiological influences surrounding this mental illness, anxiety is often misdiagnosed: are we causing an anxiety epidemic? The interconnection of the biological, psychological and environmental influences of this disorder is often debated, questioning the true origin; is anxiety predetermined by our genetic makeup or do social and cognitive influences shape the severity of the disease. I believe all these factors play…

Trauma can be described as experiences or situations that cause physical, emotional or mental pain, that one cannot control. For children and adolescents, the most common trauma is interpersonal trauma which affects their biological, cognitive, psychological and social developments. (D’Andrea, Ford, Stolbach, Spinazzola, & Van der Kolk, 2012). When someone experiences trauma they experience negative results throughout their body, there is an increased level of cortisol and catecholamine that…

In modern times there is almost no way to avoid the internet. With all of the technology constantly surrounding humanity it is a wonder that human interaction still exists. With technology being such a massive factor in everyday life it must have effects on the brain. UCLA scientists have found that key centers of the brain that control decision- making and complex reasoning are triggered while using technology, the results suggest that web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve…

A post that I initiated on the effects on nature (or surrounding environments) on our bodily stress was probably the most interesting discussion that I initiated. In this post, I talked about how "green environments" can lead to a decrease in stress and beneficial effects on our body, whereas environments convoluted with massive skyscrapers and industrial zones can actually have detrimental effects on the body. I think that this article was very relevant to students at the University of McMaster…