Tag Archives: mental-health

Dissociative Amnesia is a psychological condition:

Dissociative Amnesia is a psychological condition in which a person is unable to recall important personal information, usually related to traumatic or highly stressful experiences. The memory loss is more extensive than ordinary forgetting and it might not be explained by a physical condition, substance use, or typical memory problems.

Key Features

  • Inability to remember important autobiographical information.
  • May be linked to trauma, abuse, accidents, disasters, combat, or overwhelming stress.
  • Memory loss may involve specific events, certain time periods, or, in rare cases, a person’s entire life history.
  • The forgotten information is stored in memory but becomes temporarily inaccessible to conscious awareness.

Types of Dissociative Amnesia

  1. Localized Amnesia
    • Inability to remember events during a specific period of time.
    • Most common type.
  2. Selective Amnesia
    • May recall some, but not all, aspects of a traumatic event.
  3. Generalized Amnesia
    • Loss of memory for one’s entire life history or identity.
    • Rare.
  4. Systematized Amnesia
    • Memory loss related to a particular person, place, or category of information.
  5. Continuous Amnesia
    • Inability to form conscious memories for ongoing events from a certain point forward.

Possible Symptoms

  • Memory gaps concerning personal history.
  • Confusion or distress about missing memories.
  • Difficulty recalling traumatic experiences.
  • Feeling detached from oneself or reality (sometimes occurring alongside other dissociative symptoms).

Dissociative Fugue

A rare subtype in which a person:

  • Suddenly travels away from home or work.
  • Becomes confused about their identity.
  • May assume a new identity temporarily.

Possible Causes

  • Severe trauma or overwhelming stress.
  • Childhood abuse or neglect.
  • Combat experiences.
  • Natural disasters.
  • Interpersonal violence.
  • Major emotional conflicts.

Possible Treatment

Treatment may focus on safety, stabilization, and gradual processing of underlying trauma:

  • Psychotherapy (the primary treatment)
  • Trauma-focused therapies
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Clinical hypnosis (when appropriate and conducted by trained professionals)
  • Stress management and grounding techniques

Shervan K Shahhian

Stress Induced Dissociated Behavior:

Stress Induced Dissociated Behavior may refer to dissociative symptoms or behaviors that emerge when a person is overwhelmed by acute or chronic stress.

What Is Dissociation?

Dissociation may be a disruption in the normal integration of:

  • Awareness
  • Memory
  • Identity
  • Emotion
  • Perception
  • Body sensation

It may exist on a spectrum, from mild spacing out to more severe fragmentation.

How Stress Triggers Dissociation

When stress becomes overwhelming, especially if it feels inescapable, unpredictable, or threatening, the nervous system may shift from:

PLEASE, CONSULT WITH A MEDICAL DOCTOR

  • Fight or flight: sympathetic activation
    to
  • Freeze / shutdown: parasympathetic dorsal vagal dominance

This shutdown response may produce dissociative phenomena.

From a trauma framework, dissociation is understood as a survival adaptation when active defense fails.

Common Stress Induced Dissociative Behaviors

1. Depersonalization

Feeling detached from oneself

  • “I feel like I’m watching myself.”
  • Emotional numbness
  • Robotic functioning

2. Derealization

Feeling detached from surroundings

  • World feels unreal, foggy, dreamlike
  • Sensory distortions

3. Dissociative Amnesia

  • Memory gaps during stressful events
  • “I don’t remember parts of what happened.”

4. Behavioral Auto Pilot

  • Functioning competently but with reduced awareness
  • Emotional disconnection while performing tasks

5. Identity Shifts Under Stress

  • Sudden personality changes
  • Childlike states under overwhelm
  • Regression patterns

Neurobiological View

“CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST”

Under extreme stress:

  • Amygdala: hyperactivation: consult with a Neurologist
  • Prefrontal cortex: reduced regulation: consult with a Neurologist
  • Hippocampus: memory fragmentation: consult with a Neurologist
  • Opioid system: emotional numbing: consult with a Neurologist

This creates a protective analgesic state, emotional and sometimes physical: consult with a Neurologist.

Acute vs. Chronic Patterns

Acute stress dissociation

  • During accidents
  • During conflict
  • During panic episodes

Chronic stress dissociation

  • Trauma history
  • Attachment disruptions
  • Prolonged relational threat
  • Complex trauma patterns

Chronic forms may evolve into clinical conditions such as:

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Dissociative Identity Disorder
  • Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder

Why the System Does This

Dissociation is adaptive when:

  • The threat cannot be escaped
  • The person cannot fight
  • Emotional pain is overwhelming

It reduces subjective suffering, but long term it impairs integration and embodied presence.

Clinical Markers to Watch For

  • Flat affect during intense material
  • Sudden cognitive fog
  • Rapid shifts in eye focus
  • Voice tone change
  • Time distortion reports
  • Memory inconsistencies

Treatment Considerations

  1. Nervous system regulation (bottom-up): consult with a Neurologist
  2. Somatic grounding
  3. Trauma processing (carefully titrated)
  4. Attachment repair
  5. Strengthening executive functioning before deep trauma work

Premature trauma exposure without stabilization may increase dissociation.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: After-Death Communications (ADCs) are experiences,…

After-Death Communications (ADCs) are experiences in which a person feels they have had contact or communication with someone who has died. These experiences are commonly reported by bereaved individuals and may occur spontaneously, often during periods of grief.

Common Types of ADCs

People report a variety of experiences, including:

Sensing a presence of the deceased nearby.

Hearing a voice or receiving a message.

Seeing an apparition or visual image of the deceased.

Dream visitations that feel unusually vivid, meaningful, or real.

Feeling a touch, such as a hand on the shoulder or a hug.

Receiving symbolic signs, such as meaningful coincidences, specific songs, scents, animals, or objects associated with the deceased.

Inner communication, where a message seems to arise in the mind unexpectedly.

How Common Are They?

Research suggests that ADCs are relatively common among bereaved individuals. Some studies have found that a significant percentage of people who have lost a loved one report at least one such experience during the grieving process.

Psychological Perspectives

Psychologists and grief researchers offer several possible explanations:

A normal part of the grieving process.

The mind’s way of maintaining a continuing bond with the deceased.

Memory, emotion, and attachment systems creating vivid experiences.

Meaning making during bereavement.

Importantly, ADCs are not automatically considered signs of mental illness. Many mentally healthy individuals report them.

Parapsychological Perspectives

Researchers in parapsychology have explored whether some ADCs might represent genuine communication from a deceased person. Evidence remains controversial, and there is no scientific consensus that survival of consciousness after death has been proven.

Characteristics Often Reported

Many experiencers describe ADCs as:

Comforting and reassuring.

Clear and vivid.

Different from ordinary imagination.

Accompanied by feelings of peace, love, or certainty.

Example

A widow may suddenly smell her late husband’s distinctive cologne when no source is present, or dream of him appearing healthy and saying, “I’m okay.” She may interpret this as an ADC.

Clinical View

Some grief counselors and mental health professionals may view ADCs as potentially meaningful experiences for the bereaved. Unless they are causing significant distress, impairment, or are accompanied by other symptoms of psychosis, they are generally not treated as pathological.

In grief counseling, ADCs may be discussed within the framework of continuing bonds, a theory suggesting that maintaining an ongoing psychological connection with a deceased loved one may be a healthy part of adapting to loss.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Audio Apparition (sometimes called an auditory apparition):

An audio apparition (sometimes called an auditory apparition) is an experience in which a person hears a voice, sound, music, knocking, footsteps, or other auditory phenomenon that seems to originate from a source that is not physically present.

In psychical research and parapsychology, audio apparitions may be classified as a type of apparitional experience, similar to visual apparitions but involving hearing rather than seeing.

Common Types of Audio Apparitions

  • Hearing the voice of a deceased loved one call your name.
  • Hearing footsteps in an empty room.
  • Hearing knocks, bells, or door sounds with no identifiable source.
  • Hearing music, singing, or conversations that others cannot hear.
  • Receiving a spoken message that appears meaningful or relevant to a current situation.

Psychological Explanations

Many audio apparition experiences may be explained by:

  • Misinterpretation of ordinary sounds.
  • Stress, fatigue, grief, or sleep deprivation.
  • Hypnagogic or hypnopompic states (between sleeping and waking).
  • Memory and expectation effects.
  • Certain medical or neurological conditions: Please, Consult with a Medical Doctor.

Bereavement Experiences

Research has found that some grieving individuals report hearing the voice of a deceased loved one. These experiences are often called after-death communications (ADCs) or bereavement related anomalous experiences. They are relatively common and do not necessarily indicate mental illness.

Parapsychological Perspective

Some parapsychologists have suggested that certain audio apparitions may represent:

  • Survival related phenomena (communication from deceased persons).
  • Telepathic impressions.
  • Crisis related experiences occurring around the time of a person’s death or emergency.
  • Other unexplained forms of consciousness related phenomena.

Example

A person suddenly hears their mother’s voice clearly say, “I’m okay,” shortly after learning of her death. A psychologist might explore grief related processes, while a parapsychologist might consider whether the experience could represent an anomalous communication. Both perspectives acknowledge that the experience may feel very real and emotionally significant to the experiencer.

The interpretation of audio apparitions remains controversial, with psychological explanations generally favored in mainstream science and paranormal explanations explored primarily within psychical research and parapsychology.

Shervan K Shahhian

Podcast Episode: Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), also known as Metta Meditation:

Pip: Liberty Psychological Association covers territory that most of us quietly need a map for — the inner kind.

Mara: Today we're looking at a contemplative practice with deep roots and measurable effects, courtesy of Shervan K Shahhian at Liberty Psychological Association, The Most Comprehensive Online Library Regarding Mental Health, Psychology and Parapsychology in the World. Let's start with Loving-Kindness Meditation — what it is, how it works, and why the research behind it is worth taking seriously.

Loving-Kindness Meditation: Training the Heart and Mind

Pip: The premise here is straightforward but easy to underestimate — that you can deliberately practice goodwill the way you practice anything else, and that doing so actually changes something.

Mara: The post frames it clearly from the start: "Loving-Kindness Meditation is a contemplative practice that involves intentionally cultivating feelings of goodwill, compassion, warmth, and kindness toward yourself and others."

Pip: Intentionally cultivating. That word choice matters — this isn't passive mood management. It's structured repetition with a direction.

Mara: The structure is quite specific. You begin with phrases directed at yourself — "May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be safe. May I live with ease." — then extend those same wishes outward, moving from a loved one to a friend, a neutral person, a difficult person, and eventually all beings.

Pip: The difficult person step is the one that earns its keep. Anyone can wish a friend well on a Tuesday.

Mara: The post is careful to define what loving-kindness is not — it doesn't mean approving harmful behavior, ignoring personal boundaries, or forcing yourself to like everyone. The phrase used is "recognizing the shared humanity of all people while maintaining healthy boundaries."

Pip: Which is a useful clarification, because the practice could easily be misread as emotional bypass.

Mara: From a psychological standpoint, the post explains that repeated practice may strengthen neural pathways associated with empathy, emotional regulation, and social connection. Research suggests it can increase positive emotions, reduce self-criticism, lower stress and anger, and support overall psychological well-being.

Pip: So the upshot is: this is less about feeling warmly toward the universe and more about retraining a threat-detection system that runs a little hot by default.

Mara: That's exactly how the post frames the mechanism — counteracting the mind's tendency toward threat detection and negative mental commentary. Modern therapies including mindfulness-based interventions and compassion-focused approaches already incorporate it for exactly that reason.

Pip: Goodwill as a trainable skill — that reframe does some work.

Mara: It does. The inner architecture turns out to be more malleable than most of us assume. More on that next time.

Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), also known as Metta Meditation:

Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), also known as Metta Meditation, is a contemplative practice that involves intentionally cultivating feelings of goodwill, compassion, warmth, and kindness toward yourself and others.

The word “Metta” comes from the ancient Pali language and means loving-kindness, benevolence, or unconditional friendliness.

How It Works

During Loving-Kindness Meditation, you silently repeat phrases such as:

  • May I be happy.
  • May I be healthy.
  • May I be safe.
  • May I live with ease.

You then gradually extend these wishes to others:

  1. Yourself
  2. A loved one
  3. A friend
  4. A neutral person
  5. A difficult person
  6. All beings everywhere

Example Practice

Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and repeat slowly:

May I be safe.

May I be healthy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be happy.

After a few minutes, bring someone you care about to mind:

May you be safe.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be happy.

Continue extending these wishes outward.

Benefits

Research suggests Loving-Kindness Meditation may help:

  • Increase positive emotions
  • Enhance empathy and compassion
  • Reduce self-criticism
  • Improve social connection
  • Lower stress and anger
  • Increase emotional resilience
  • Support overall psychological well-being

What Loving-Kindness Is Not

Loving-kindness does not mean:

  • Approving harmful behavior
  • Ignoring personal boundaries
  • Suppressing anger or hurt
  • Forcing yourself to like everyone

Instead, it involves recognizing the shared humanity of all people while maintaining healthy boundaries.

A Psychological Perspective

From a psychological standpoint, Loving-Kindness Meditation can help counteract the mind’s tendency toward threat detection, self-criticism, and negative mental commentary. By repeatedly practicing goodwill and compassion, individuals may gradually strengthen neural pathways associated with empathy, emotional regulation, and social connection.

Some modern therapies, including mindfulness-based interventions and compassion-focused approaches, incorporate elements of Loving-Kindness Meditation as a way to promote emotional well-being and resilience.

In simple terms, Loving-Kindness Meditation is the practice of training the heart and mind to relate to oneself and others with greater kindness, compassion, and goodwill.

Shervan K Shahhian

Controlling Behavior refers to actions used to dominate, direct, or excessively,…

Controlling behavior refers to actions used to dominate, direct, or excessively influence another person’s thoughts, feelings, choices, or activities. It often stems from a need for power, certainty, security, or fear of losing control.

Common Signs of Controlling Behavior

  • Constantly telling others what they should do.
  • Monitoring or checking up on people excessively.
  • Making decisions for others without their input.
  • Criticizing or micromanaging how others do things.
  • Using guilt, threats, intimidation, or manipulation to get compliance.
  • Isolating someone from friends, family, or support systems.
  • Demanding excessive reassurance, loyalty, or obedience.
  • Refusing to respect personal boundaries.

Examples

  • A partner insists on knowing where their spouse is at all times.
  • A parent makes major life decisions for an adult child without considering their wishes.
  • A manager micromanages every detail and allows no autonomy.
  • A friend uses guilt to pressure someone into doing what they want.

Why People Become Controlling

Controlling behavior may develop from:

  • Anxiety and fear of uncertainty.
  • Insecurity or low self-esteem.
  • Fear of abandonment or rejection.
  • Perfectionism.
  • Learned behavior from family or past relationships.
  • A desire for power and dominance.

Healthy Influence vs. Controlling Behavior

Healthy influence:

  • Respects autonomy.
  • Encourages discussion and collaboration.
  • Accepts disagreement.
  • Honors boundaries.

Controlling behavior:

  • Seeks compliance rather than cooperation.
  • Uses pressure, manipulation, or intimidation.
  • Disregards boundaries.
  • Punishes disagreement.

Impact on Others

People subjected to controlling behavior may experience:

  • Reduced self-confidence.
  • Anxiety and stress.
  • Resentment and anger.
  • Difficulty making independent decisions.
  • Feelings of being trapped or powerless.

What Helps

  • Recognize and clearly define boundaries.
  • Communicate needs assertively.
  • Encourage mutual respect and autonomy.
  • Address underlying fears or insecurities.
  • Consider counseling if the pattern is persistent or damaging.

When controlling behavior becomes severe and involves intimidation, isolation, threats, surveillance, or coercion, it may be considered coercive control, a form of psychological and emotional abuse that may seriously affect a person’s well-being.

Shervan K Shahhian

In Psychology, Mental Commentary refers to an ongoing internal stream of thoughts, interpretations, judgments,…

In psychology, mental commentary refers to an ongoing internal stream of thoughts, interpretations, judgments, or self-talk about what is happening around you or inside your mind. It is part of normal human cognition and self-awareness.

Examples may include:

  • “I probably sounded awkward.”
  • “That person seems upset.”
  • “I need to remember this later.”
  • “Why did I do that?”
  • “This situation feels dangerous.”

Mental commentary may be:

Neutral

Simple observation or reflection:

  • “I’m tired.”
  • “Traffic is heavy today.”

Positive

Supportive or encouraging self-talk:

  • “I handled that well.”
  • “I can figure this out.”

Negative

Critical, fearful, or pessimistic thinking:

  • “I always fail.”
  • “Everyone is judging me.”

Automatic

Many thoughts arise quickly and automatically without conscious intention. In cognitive psychology, these are often called automatic thoughts.

Mental Commentary vs. Reality

A key concept in therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment

Therapy is that:

Thoughts are interpretations, not necessarily facts.

Mental commentary can sometimes become distorted through cognitive biases such as:

  • catastrophizing
  • mind reading
  • overgeneralization
  • black and white thinking

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Mental Commentary

Healthy

  • Reflective
  • Flexible
  • Reality-based
  • Self-correcting
  • Helps problem solving

Unhealthy

  • Constant self-criticism
  • Rumination
  • Obsessive replaying
  • Fear based prediction
  • Harsh internal attacks

Excessive negative commentary may be associated with anxiety, depression, trauma-related conditions, and obsessive thinking patterns.

Mental Commentary and Psychosis

Most people experience internal self-talk. However, mental commentary becomes clinically important when a person:

  • cannot distinguish thoughts from external reality,
  • experiences voices as externally generated,
  • or develops highly fixed delusional interpretations.

“Running commentary” may describe a type of auditory hallucination where voices narrate a person’s actions continuously. This may occur in conditions like Schizophrenia, though hallucinations may also appear in other medical: Consult With a Medical Doctor, or psychological conditions.

Reducing Distressing Mental Commentary

Helpful approaches may include:

  • mindfulness
  • cognitive restructuring
  • thought labeling
  • grounding techniques
  • journaling
  • therapy
  • sleep regulation and stress reduction

For example:

  • Instead of “I’m doomed,” noticing: “I’m having an anxious thought.”

That creates psychological distance between the thinker and the thought.

Shervan K Shahhian

Unquestioned Beliefs are ideas, assumptions, or “truths” that,…

Unquestioned beliefs are ideas, assumptions, or “truths” that a person accepts automatically without examining, testing, or critically reflecting on them.

These beliefs often operate in the background of thinking and may shape emotions, behavior, identity, and relationships without the person fully realizing it.

Common Examples

  • “If I fail, I am worthless.”
  • “People cannot be trusted.”
  • “Strong people never ask for help.”
  • “My thoughts must be true.”
  • “Success equals happiness.”
  • “Everyone is judging me.”

Some unquestioned beliefs come from:

  • Family upbringing
  • Culture or religion
  • Trauma or painful experiences
  • Social conditioning
  • Repeated messages from authority figures
  • Personal interpretations formed early in life

In Psychology

Unquestioned beliefs may be closely related to:

  • Core beliefs
  • Cognitive schemas
  • Assumptions
  • Implicit biases

For example, in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, therapists may help people identify beliefs they have never challenged, especially beliefs connected to anxiety, depression, shame, or self worth.

A person might believe:

“Because I feel rejected, I am rejected.”

The belief feels factual because it has gone unexamined.

Why They Matter

Unquestioned beliefs may:

  • Distort perception
  • Increase emotional suffering
  • Create rigid thinking
  • Reinforce fear or avoidance
  • Influence decision-making unconsciously

But not all unquestioned beliefs are harmful. Some provide stability, meaning, or moral structure.

Signs a Belief May Be “Unquestioned”

  • It feels “obviously true.”
  • You react emotionally when it is challenged.
  • You rarely ask, “Where did this belief come from?”
  • You assume everyone sees the world the same way.
  • Contradictory evidence is ignored or dismissed.

Healthy Examination of Beliefs

Questioning beliefs may not mean rejecting everything. It means becoming more aware and reflective.

Helpful questions include:

  • “What evidence supports this belief?”
  • “Where did I learn this?”
  • “Is this always true?”
  • “Could there be another interpretation?”
  • “Does this belief help or harm me?”

This process is connected to metacognition, thinking about one’s own thinking, and psychological flexibility.

Shervan K Shahhian

Managing Stress Effectively is not about eliminating all stress:

Managing stress effectively is not about eliminating all stress. It is about responding to challenges in ways that protect your physical and psychological well being.

1. Identify the Source of Stress

Ask yourself:

  • What is causing the stress?
  • Is it a current problem, a future worry, or something I cannot control?
  • What aspects can I influence?

Sometimes simply naming the stressor reduces its intensity.

2. Regulate Your Body

Stress may affect the nervous system: (please, consult with a Psychiatrist), so physical regulation is important:

  • Get adequate sleep.
  • Exercise regularly, even a daily walk: Please, Consult with a Medical Doctor).
  • Eat balanced meals.
  • Limit excessive caffeine, alcohol, and other substances.
  • Practice slow breathing exercises.

When the body calms, the mind might follow.

3. Challenge Unhelpful Thinking

Stress may increase:

  • Catastrophic thinking (“Everything will go wrong.”)
  • Negative fortune telling (“I know this will end badly.”)
  • All or nothing thinking (“If it’s not perfect, it’s a failure.”)

Ask:

  • What evidence supports this thought?
  • What evidence contradicts it?
  • What would I tell a friend in the same situation?

4. Focus on What You Can Control

A useful strategy is to separate:

  • Things you can control (actions, decisions, effort)
  • Things you cannot control (other people’s choices, the past, uncertainty)

Direct your energy toward the first category.

5. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness involves paying attention to the present moment without judgment.

Simple exercise:

  1. Notice 5 things you can see.
  2. Notice 4 things you can feel.
  3. Notice 3 things you can hear.
  4. Notice 2 things you can smell.
  5. Notice 1 thing you can taste.

This may interrupt stress spirals and bring attention back to the present.

6. Maintain Social Connections

Talking with trusted friends, family members, support groups, or professionals may:

  • Reduce feelings of isolation.
  • Provide perspective.
  • Increase emotional resilience.

Social support may be one of the strongest buffers against stress.

7. Create Recovery Time

Schedule activities that help you recharge:

  • Listening to music
  • Spending time in nature
  • Reading
  • Hobbies
  • Prayer or meditation
  • Creative activities

Recovery is not a luxury; it is part of stress management.

8. Develop Realistic Hope

Stress may reduce when you combine:

  • Clear eyed awareness of challenges
  • Confidence in your ability to cope

This is sometimes called realistic hope, acknowledging difficulties while recognizing your strengths and available resources.

9. Know When to Seek Professional Help

Consider professional support if stress:

  • Persists for weeks or months.
  • Interferes with work or relationships.
  • Causes significant anxiety or depression.
  • Leads to substance misuse or unhealthy coping behaviors.

A mental health professional may provide individualized strategies and support.

A Simple Formula

Notice…Pause…Breathe…Evaluate…Act

Instead of reacting automatically to stress, create a brief space between the stressor and your response. That small pause often leads to better decisions and greater emotional balance.

Shervan K Shahhian