Author Archives: Shervan K Shahhian, LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, The Most Comprehensive Online Library Regarding Mental Health, Psychology and Parapsychology in the World.

Doctored Degree in Clinical Psychology (PSYD) (ABD) All But Dissertation, a Masters (M.A.) in Clinical Psychology, a Bachelor's Degree (B.A.) in Psychology, a Associate Degree (AA) in Liberal Arts with an emphases in Psychology, Certification in Anger Management, Certification in MRT-Moral Reconation Therapy®, Certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy, and Certification in Advanced Hypnotherapy.

Concussion Symptoms, what are they:

Concussion Symptoms, what are they:

Concussion symptoms can vary from person to person but generally fall into four main categories: physical, cognitive, emotional, and sleep-related.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common symptoms:

Physical Symptoms

Headache

Dizziness or balance problems

Nausea or vomiting

Blurred or double vision

Sensitivity to light or noise

Fatigue or drowsiness

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

Temporary loss of consciousness (not always present)

Cognitive Symptoms

Confusion or feeling “foggy”

Difficulty concentrating or remembering

Slowed thinking or response times

Disorientation (not knowing where you are or what time it is)

Emotional and Mood Symptoms

Irritability

Sadness or depression

Anxiety or nervousness

Mood swings

Sleep-Related Symptoms

Sleeping more or less than usual

Difficulty falling asleep

Trouble staying asleep

Symptoms may appear immediately or take hours to days to show up. In some cases, people may not even realize they have a concussion right away.

Shervan K Shahhian

How can we protect our Memory:

How can we protect our Memory:

Protecting memory involves a combination of lifestyle choices, mental stimulation, physical health, and sometimes targeted interventions.

Here are key strategies to help preserve and enhance memory:

1. Mental Stimulation

Keep learning: Engage in new skills, puzzles, languages, reading, or hobbies.

Challenge your brain: Strategy games, chess, or memory games build cognitive resilience.

2. Nutrition for Brain Health

Eat a brain-healthy diet: Focus on the Mediterranean or MIND diet — rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and healthy fats (like olive oil).

Stay hydrated: Even mild dehydration can affect memory.

3. Prioritize Sleep

7–9 hours per night: Memory consolidation occurs during deep sleep stages.

Good sleep hygiene: Regular schedule, no screens before bed, and a calm environment.

4. Physical Activity

Exercise regularly: Aerobic activity increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates growth factors that aid memory.

Even walking helps: 30 minutes a day can make a difference.

5. Manage Stress and Emotions

Chronic stress harms memory: Cortisol interferes with memory consolidation and retrieval.

Practice relaxation techniques: Meditation, yoga, breathing exercises.

6. Avoid Brain Hazards

Limit alcohol and avoid smoking: Both can accelerate memory decline.

Watch medications: CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL DOCTOR.

7. Stay Socially Active

Engage with people: Conversations, shared activities, and emotional bonds help maintain cognitive function.

8. Monitor Health Conditions

Control blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes: These affect brain health. CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL DOCTOR.

Treat depression: Untreated depression often mimics or worsens memory loss.

Shervan K Shahhian

Understanding Self-Harm or Self-Mutilation:

Understanding Self-Harm or Self-Mutilation:

Understanding self-harm or self-mutilation requires compassion, psychological insight, and awareness of the deeper emotional pain driving these behaviors.

Definition
Self-harm (also known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) refers to the deliberate infliction of physical harm on one’s own body, often without suicidal intent. Common methods include cutting, burning, hitting, or scratching oneself.

Why People Self-Harm
Self-harm is typically a coping mechanism for intense emotional distress. People may hurt themselves to:

Regain a sense of control when they feel overwhelmed.

Release emotional pain that feels unmanageable.

Punish themselves due to feelings of guilt or self-loathing.

Feel something physical when they are emotionally numb or dissociated.

Communicate distress when words feel inadequate or unavailable.

Underlying Psychological Factors
Self-harming behaviors are not a diagnosis on their own, but they often co-occur with:

Depression

Anxiety disorders

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Borderline personality disorder (BPD)

Dissociation or trauma histories

Low self-esteem or self-hatred

Warning Signs
Unexplained cuts, bruises, or burns

Wearing long sleeves in hot weather

Frequent isolation or withdrawal

Emotional volatility or numbness

A preoccupation with self-punishment or self-hatred

What Self-Harm Is Not
It’s not just attention-seeking—it’s often a silent cry for help.

It’s not a suicide attempt, though the two can be related.

It’s not limited to teens or one gender—people of all ages and backgrounds can be affected.

Support and Healing
Helping someone who self-harms involves:

Listening without judgment

Encouraging professional help (psychotherapy, especially DBT or CBT)

Providing emotional safety and understanding

Helping them find healthier coping strategies (journaling, exercise, art, mindfulness, etc.)

Therapeutic Approaches
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Especially effective for those with BPD or emotional regulation issues.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Helps reframe harmful thoughts and develop new coping mechanisms.

Trauma-informed care: Vital for those with abuse or PTSD backgrounds.

Shervan K Shahhian

Understanding Non-Suicidal Self-Injury or NSSI:

Understanding non-suicidal self-injury or NSSI:

Non-suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) refers to the intentional, direct harm to one’s own body tissue without suicidal intent. It’s a psychological behavior often used as a coping mechanism, not an attempt to end life. Understanding it involves examining emotional, psychological, and social dimensions.

Key Aspects of NSSI:

1. Common Forms:

Cutting (most prevalent)

Burning

Scratching

Hitting or banging body parts

Interfering with wound healing

Hair pulling (can overlap with trichotillomania)

2. Psychological Function:

People may engage in NSSI for various emotional reasons, including:

Emotion regulation: Relief from intense emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety, or emptiness.

Self-punishment: Due to guilt, shame, or low self-esteem.

To feel something: Counteracting emotional numbness or dissociation.

Communication or expression: As a cry for help or a way to express internal pain non-verbally.

Control: Gaining a sense of control in chaotic situations.

3. Risk Factors:

Childhood trauma or abuse

Emotional dysregulation (often seen in borderline personality disorder)

Depression or anxiety disorders

Bullying, social rejection, or peer pressure

Lack of social support or emotional expression tools

4. Who Is Affected?

Most common among adolescents and young adults

Can occur in any gender, though females often report cutting more and males report hitting or burning more

Increasingly seen across cultural and socio-economic groups

5. Clinical Recognition:

Included in the DSM-5 as a condition requiring further study

Often co-occurs with other mental health issues like depression, PTSD, eating disorders, or BPD

6. Treatment Approaches:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Helps restructure negative thought patterns and develop healthy coping skills.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Particularly effective for emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.

Trauma-informed care: When history of abuse or trauma is involved.

Medication: If there’s a co-occurring mood or anxiety disorder.

Family therapy or support groups: To address relational dynamics and isolation.

Important Distinctions:

NSSI ≠ Suicide Attempt: NSSI is not intended to be fatal, though it can increase the risk of future suicide attempts if underlying issues remain untreated.

It is a signal of distress, not attention-seeking behavior — compassionate, nonjudgmental support is key to helping those who engage in it.

Supporting someone who engages in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and understanding how it is assessed clinically are both critical for effective care and intervention. Here’s a breakdown of both:

How to Support Someone Engaging in NSSI

1. Respond with Empathy, Not Judgment

Avoid saying things like “Why would you do that?” or “You just want attention.”

Instead: “That must be really hard for you. I’m here if you want to talk.”

2. Stay Calm and Grounded

Seeing injuries can be shocking, but reacting with panic may make the person feel ashamed or retreat.

Keep your voice calm, and focus on understanding rather than controlling.

3. Open Non-Confrontational Conversations

Ask gently: “I noticed you’ve been hurting yourself. Do you want to talk about what’s been going on?”

Validate their pain even if you don’t understand the behavior: “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I want to help.”

4. Encourage Professional Help

Suggest they speak with a therapist or counselor trained in trauma, emotion regulation, or adolescent mental health.

Offer to help them find resources or go with them if they’re afraid.

5. Promote Safe Alternatives

Help them identify replacement behaviors like:

Snapping a rubber band on the wrist

Drawing on skin with red markers

Holding ice cubes

Journaling or art

Exercise or grounding techniques

These don’t solve the core issue but can reduce harm as they transition to healthier coping.

6. Be Patient

Stopping NSSI is a process, not a single decision.

Relapses can happen; continue offering nonjudgmental support.

How NSSI is Assessed Clinically

1. Clinical Interviews

Mental health professionals conduct structured or semi-structured interviews that cover:

Frequency, methods, and severity of self-injury

Triggers and emotional states before and after

Intent (e.g., suicidal vs. non-suicidal)

History of trauma, abuse, or neglect

Co-occurring symptoms: depression, anxiety, dissociation

2. Assessment Tools and Questionnaires

Some standardized tools used include:

Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation (FASM)

Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI)

Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI)

3. Differential Diagnosis

Clinicians assess whether NSSI is:

A symptom of a broader condition (e.g., Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, PTSD)

Occurring independently, possibly as a primary coping mechanism.

4. Risk Assessment

Even though NSSI isn’t suicidal, it’s linked to higher suicide risk over time.

Clinicians assess for suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and impulsivity.

5. Treatment Planning

Based on the assessment, the clinician develops a personalized care plan that may involve:

Therapy (DBT, CBT, EMDR)

Medication SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE FROM A MEDICAL DOCTOR.

Family involvement, if appropriate

Shervan K Shahhian

Self-Injury, why:

Self-Injury, why:

Self-injury (also known as non-suicidal self-injury or NSSI) is the act of deliberately harming one’s body without suicidal intent. It’s usually a way for someone to cope with intense emotional pain, stress, or psychological distress.

The reasons people self-injure vary, but common motivations include:

Emotional Regulation: To relieve overwhelming negative emotions like sadness, anger, anxiety, or numbness. The physical pain can momentarily distract from emotional suffering or provide a sense of control.

Self-Punishment: For some, self-injury serves as a form of self-directed anger or guilt. They may feel they “deserve” pain due to low self-esteem or unresolved trauma.

Feeling Real or Grounded: People who feel dissociated or emotionally numb may use pain to reconnect with their body and emotions.

Communication: Although not always conscious, some use self-injury as a way to signal distress or get help when they struggle to express it verbally.

Relief from Tension: The act of self-injury can cause the release of endorphins, which temporarily reduce stress or anxiety.

It’s important to note that self-injury is a sign of underlying emotional pain — not always attention-seeking or manipulation, as is sometimes misperceived. Compassion, understanding, and professional support are essential in helping someone who self-injures.

Shervan K Shahhian

Cutters and those who Self-Harm, why:

Cutters and those who Self-Harm, why:

Self-harm, including cutting, is a complex and often misunderstood behavior. People who engage in self-harm are usually not trying to end their lives but are instead trying to cope with overwhelming emotional pain, regulate intense feelings, or feel something when feeling numb. It’s a maladaptive coping mechanism that can temporarily relieve distress but often leads to shame, isolation, and increased suffering.

Common Reasons People Self-Harm:

Emotional regulation: To release feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration.
Self-punishment: Due to feelings of guilt, shame, or self-hatred.
Numbness or dissociation: To feel real or break through emotional numbness.
A cry for help or communication: When words feel insufficient to express inner turmoil.
Sense of control: When life feels chaotic or out of their hands.

Important Points:

It affects people across all ages, genders, and backgrounds.
It is not necessarily linked to suicidal intent, though it does increase risk.
Shame and stigma often keep people from seeking help.
Therapy (especially Dialectical Behavior Therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) can be very effective.
Supportive relationships and environments are critical for healing.

Would you like insights on how to support someone who self-harms or explore psychological approaches to treatment?

Explore Psychological approaches to treatment:

Psychological approaches to treating self-harm focus on understanding the underlying emotional drivers and helping individuals build healthier coping strategies.

Here’s an overview of the most effective evidence-based treatments:

1. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Best for: Individuals with emotional dysregulation, especially those with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), though it’s helpful beyond that.

Core Skills Taught:

Mindfulness: Staying present and aware of emotions.

Distress Tolerance: Surviving emotional crises without self-harming.

Emotion Regulation: Identifying and managing intense emotions.

Interpersonal Effectiveness: Navigating relationships in a healthy way.

Why it works: DBT teaches concrete skills to replace self-harm with more adaptive behaviors.

2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Best for: Understanding and challenging the thoughts and beliefs that lead to self-harming behaviors.

Focuses on the cognitive distortions (e.g., “I deserve pain”) and maladaptive behavior patterns.

Encourages behavioral experiments to try safer alternatives.

Teaches problem-solving and coping skills.

3. Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)

Best for: People who struggle to understand their own and others’ mental states (common in BPD or attachment trauma).

Helps the person recognize the thoughts and feelings behind their actions.

Builds the capacity to reflect rather than react.

4. Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)

Best for: Individuals with high self-criticism or shame.

Aims to increase self-compassion and soothe the inner critic.

Replaces self-harm used as self-punishment with nurturing internal dialogues.

5. Psychodynamic Therapy

Best for: Exploring unresolved emotional conflicts, early attachment issues, or trauma.

Uncovers the root psychological causes behind the need to self-harm.

Can be helpful for those who want to understand the deeper meaning of their behavior.

6. Trauma-Informed Therapy (e.g., EMDR, Somatic Experiencing)

Best for: Those with a history of abuse, neglect, or PTSD.

Recognizes self-harm as a survival response to trauma.

Helps process traumatic memories and reduce dysregulation at the nervous system level.

Additional Support Approaches:

Art therapy or music therapy to express pain non-verbally.

Group therapy for peer support and skill-building.

Medication may be helpful for co-occurring depression, anxiety, or mood disorders.

Treatment is most effective when non-judgmental, empathetic, and collaborative, focusing on safety planning, trust, and empowerment.

Shervan K Shahhian

If your Brain is never quiet, how to cope:

If your brain is never quiet — constantly thinking, worrying, analyzing, replaying, planning — it can feel like you’re living in a storm that never lets up. Coping with that kind of mental noise is about finding small ways to create pauses, grounding points, or even just turning down the volume a bit.

Here are some approaches that might help, depending on what you’re dealing with:

1. Understand the “why”

If you’re a deep thinker, intuitive, sensitive, or highly analytical, your brain may be wired for constant processing. Knowing that can actually reduce resistance and anxiety about it.Sometimes, it’s not about silencing the brain, but learning how to ride the waves.

2. Micro-meditations (not the traditional kind)

If full meditation feels impossible, try:

Box breathing (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4)

Name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear…

Focus on the feeling of your feet on the floor for 30 seconds.

These reset your nervous system just enough to shift gears.

3. Mind dumps

Try journaling, voice notes, or stream-of-consciousness writing. Get it out of your head and onto something. Even 5 minutes can help:

Write without censoring

No need to reread — this isn’t for reflection, it’s for release

4. Sound as a companion

Sometimes the mind is loud because it hates silence. Try:

Brown noise (deeper than white noise — great for overthinkers)

Binaural beats (theta or alpha for calm)

Lo-fi, ambient, or classical music — whatever quiets your inner narrator

5. Move the body

Walking (especially in nature), dancing, stretching, yoga, even pacing — can unstick loops of thought.

Movement grounds you in the body when your mind is floating away.

6. Give it a job

An active brain often just wants something to do:

Try puzzles, crosswords, a complex novel, or a niche research topic

Controlled Remote Viewing or meditation with a target might even give it a useful outlet

7. Mental health check

If your thoughts are invasive, obsessive, or causing distress, you might be dealing with anxiety, ADHD, OCD, or trauma-related hypervigilance. Getting support (therapy, mindfulness training, and even medical treatment) is completely valid.

Shervan K Shahhian

Neurological Response to Stress, why:

Neurological Response to Stress, why:

The neurological response to stress refers to how the brain and nervous system react when you perceive a threat, challenge, or pressure — basically when you’re under stress. This reaction is automatic and deeply wired into us for survival.

(Consult a Medical Doctor if you have any Medical questions.)

Here’s how it works in simple terms:

1. Perception of Stress (Triggering the Response)
It all starts in the amygdala, a part of your brain involved in processing emotions like fear and anxiety.

When the amygdala detects a potential threat, it sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus, the brain’s command center for managing stress responses.

2. Fight-or-Flight Activation (Sympathetic Nervous System)
The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system.

This triggers the adrenal glands (on top of your kidneys) to release adrenaline (epinephrine).

Effects of adrenaline:

Increased heart rate

Faster breathing

Pupil dilation

Energy boost (glucose released into bloodstream)

Heightened alertness

This is your classic “fight-or-flight” mode.

3. Sustained Stress Response (HPA Axis)
If the stress continues, your brain activates the HPA axis (Hypothalamus–Pituitary–Adrenal axis).

This leads to the release of cortisol, the primary stress hormone.

Cortisol helps keep you alert and gives your body more energy — but long-term, high levels can be damaging.

4. Return to Balance (Parasympathetic Nervous System)
Once the threat passes, the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” system) kicks in to calm you down.

Heart rate slows, cortisol levels drop, and the body goes back to normal.

When Stress Becomes Chronic
If this system is constantly activated (due to chronic stress), it can lead to problems like:

Anxiety and depression

Memory issues (especially in the hippocampus, which is sensitive to cortisol)

Weakened immune system

Digestive problems

Heart disease

(Consult a Medical Doctor if you have any Medical questions.)

Shervan K Shahhian

Writing an in-depth personal essay, why:

Writing an in-depth personal essay, why:

Writing an in-depth personal essay can serve a variety of powerful purposes — intellectually, emotionally, creatively, and even spiritually.

Here are some layered reasons why one might write a personal essay:

1. To Understand Yourself More Deeply
Writing forces clarity. When you try to put your experiences into words, you begin to see patterns, connect events, and uncover meanings you might have missed. It’s a tool for self-analysis.

“I write to know what I think.” — Joan Didion

Your own story, when explored deeply, becomes a mirror. It reveals not just what happened, but how you were shaped by it — and how you’ve shaped yourself since.

2. To Heal and Transform
An in-depth personal essay can be a healing act. Putting painful or complex experiences into language can be cathartic, even liberating. In psychology, this is similar to the therapeutic process of narrative therapy — rewriting the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Writing gives you authorship over your life’s narrative, helping you move from being a character in the story to becoming its conscious narrator.

3. To Make Meaning of the Human Experience
What seems personal often resonates universally. Your specific struggles, insights, and transformations might echo in someone else’s life. An in-depth essay can be a bridge — between your inner world and the collective human experience.

Personal becomes universal when it’s written honestly and insightfully.

4. To Preserve a Moment in Time
Our memories fade, our perspectives shift. Writing a personal essay is like freezing a piece of your life in amber. It preserves not just the facts, but the emotions, the questions, and the state of being that surrounded a moment in your life.

5. To Share Wisdom or Inspire Others
Sometimes, your story contains hard-won truths, spiritual insights, or lived wisdom that others might benefit from. A personal essay can be an offering — a kind of soul-to-soul transmission.

Especially if you’re someone walking a path of exploration, healing, or awakening, your words can be a light for others navigating similar terrain.

6. To Develop as a Writer and Thinker
Writing a personal essay hones your craft: it builds voice, style, structure, and perspective. It’s where the memoirist meets the philosopher, the storyteller meets the investigator.

It asks:

What is really going on with me?

What does this say about the world?

How can I express this with beauty, honesty, and precision?

Shervan K Shahhian

The problem with diagnosing each other with Autism and ADHD:

The problem with diagnosing each other with Autism and ADHD:

Great question — and a really important one in our current cultural moment where self-diagnosis and peer-diagnosis are common online and in everyday conversations.

There are several issues that come up when people start diagnosing each other (or themselves) with Autism or ADHD without professional training:

1. Oversimplification of Complex Conditions

Autism and ADHD are neurodevelopmental disorders with wide spectrums. The DSM-5 criteria involve more than just being “quirky” or “hyper.” These conditions affect multiple areas of life: social functioning, sensory processing, executive function, attention regulation, and more. Reducing them to a few relatable traits does a disservice to people who are significantly impacted.

2. Pathologizing Normal Behavior

It’s easy to mistake normal human variation — such as introversion, distractibility under stress, or high energy — for a disorder. Diagnosing someone casually risks turning everyday personality traits into medical labels.

3. Self-fulfilling Labels & Identity Fusion

Labels can stick. When someone is told “you seem autistic” or “you’re so ADHD,” they may internalize that identity — especially in formative years or moments of vulnerability. This can narrow their self-concept, change their behavior, or even increase symptoms through confirmation bias.

4. Misinformation & TikTok Psychology

On social media, complex conditions are often turned into bite-sized symptom lists like:

“If you like organizing your bookshelf a certain way — you might be

autistic!”

These oversimplified “tests” can be misleading and feed into a culture of misdiagnosis or trivialization of real challenges people face.

5. Stigma and Harm to Real Diagnosis

When the language of diagnosis becomes casual, it can lead to people not taking actual diagnoses seriously, and also marginalizes individuals who truly need accommodations and support. It can also lead to skepticism from professionals, making it harder for legitimately neurodivergent individuals to be believed or supported.

6. Missed Alternative Explanations

A person might struggle with focus not because of ADHD, but because of anxiety, trauma, poor sleep, thyroid issues, or stress. Assuming a diagnosis without a full assessment can cause someone to miss the real root of their difficulties.

Better Alternatives:

Psychoeducation: Learn about neurodivergence from reputable sources.

Encourage professional assessment rather than labeling others.

Be supportive and validating without trying to “name” what someone is going through.

Use descriptive language (“You seem overwhelmed in loud places”) instead of diagnostic labels.

Shervan K Shahhian