Pride and Progress: How the DSM Came to Celebrate Diversity

 

June is Pride Month to celebrate the LGBT+ community and the ongoing fight for equality. While significant strides have been made, it's important to remember the long journey towards acceptance. Today, the thought of homosexuality being listed as a mental illness seems absurd. But for much of history, the battle for LGBT+ rights included a fierce fight within the medical field.

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  This post explores the changing views of homosexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the most widely used psychiatric guidebook.

From Pathology to Normal Variation: A History of Theories

Throughout history, various theories have attempted to explain homosexuality. Some, like Richard Von Krafft-Ebing's, viewed it as a disease. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud saw it as a stage in development, a theory categorized as " immaturity." Thankfully, others like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Karl Maria Kertbeny recognized homosexuality as a natural variation within human sexuality.  (Drescher 2015)

 The Pendulum Swings: Homosexuality in the DSM

The mid-20th century saw a back-and-forth struggle within the DSM, and in 1952, homosexuality was labeled a sociopathic personality disturbance, followed by a reclassification as a sexual deviation in 1968 (Drescher 2015a).

The Fight for Liberation and the Power of Protest

A turning point came in the early 1970s. Galvanized by the Stonewall Riots and other LGBT+ activism, gay rights advocates disrupted the American Psychiatric Association (APA) meetings in 1970 and 1971. This powerful act of protest finally led to the removal of homosexuality as a diagnosis in 1973.

A Step Forward, But Not a Finish Line

• However, the fight wasn't quite over. While removed as a diagnosis, homosexuality was replaced with sexual orientation disturbance in 1973. This terminology still pathologized same-sex attraction, allowing insurance companies to endorse harmful conversion therapies designed to change someone's sexual orientation.
• Finally, in 1987, with the publication of the DSM-III-R, the term sexual orientation disturbance was removed entirely. Homosexuality was no longer considered a mental illness.

Pride Month: Celebrating Progress and Looking Forward

The story of homosexuality and the DSM is one of progress, fueled by activism and a growing understanding of human diversity. Pride Month is a time to celebrate this progress and remember the ongoing fight for full equality. We must continue to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and ensure mental health services are inclusive and affirming of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

References

Drescher, J. (2015a). Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality. Behavioral Sciences, 5(4), 565–575. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.3390/bs5040565

Antrum and the Uncanny: A Dive into Semantic Priming

 

The 2018 horror film "Antrum" thrives on a unique, unsettling atmosphere. It weaves a narrative of a lost film, supposedly cursed, that unleashes misfortune upon those who view it. But what truly makes "Antrum" so effective is its use of a psychological phenomenon called semantic priming.

What is Semantic Priming?

Semantic priming is a subconscious mental process where exposure to a word or concept influences how you respond to related words later. Imagine reading the word bed, followed by the word sleep. The first word primes your brain to respond faster to the second word because they are semantically linked.

Antrum and the Power of Suggestion

Antrum utilizes semantic priming throughout the film. From the beginning, viewers are bombarded with disturbing imagery and unsettling rumors surrounding the lost film. Words like death, curse, and madness are interwoven into the narrative, priming the audience to associate the movie with negativity.

As the characters delve deeper into the mystery of Antrum, the film bombards them and the audience with increasingly disturbing imagery. This constant priming creates a sense of unease and dread, even if the imagery itself isn't inherently scary. Our brains, primed by the continual barrage of negativity, begin to fill in the gaps and create their horror.

The Uncanny Valley and Semantic Priming

The film's use of a fictional, decades-old film adds another layer of unease. The grainy quality and distorted visuals within the uncanny valley create a psychological effect where things that appear almost human elicit feelings of discomfort. This uncanny effect, combined with the semantic priming caused by the film's narrative, creates a powerful sense of wrongness and dread.

The Power of Perception

"Antrum" is a fascinating example of how filmmakers can manipulate our subconscious to create a sense of horror. Using semantic priming and the uncanny valley, the film primes the audience to perceive the fictional film as inherently evil, even though the content may be ambiguous. It's a testament to the power of suggestion and how our brains can be tricked into creating their horror.

So, the next time you watch a horror film, notice the subtle cues and how they might influence your perception. You might be surprised at how much your mind is being primed for fear.

Scrolling Through Sadness? How Social Media Might Be Affecting Your Mood

 

College is a whirlwind of new experiences, but with all the excitement can come feelings of isolation and loneliness. Social media is a perfect solution, a way to connect and stay informed. But what is all that scrolling is making you feel worse? Recent studies suggest a link between heavy mobile social media use and depression, especially among young adults. This is concerning, considering how much time we spend glued to our phones (Yan et al., 2024).

Today's blog post discusses a new study that explores this connection. Yan and colleagues (2024) examined how college students use mobile social media intensively and how this relates to their depressive moods. They also looked at two factors that might explain this link: upward social comparison, constantly comparing yourself to others who seem to have it all, and cognitive overload(feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of information and interactions).

The Study Breakdown:

1. Over 600 college students from various universities participated, with a good mix of freshmen, sophomores, and even master's students. There were roughly equal numbers of men and women and students from urban and rural areas.
2. Researchers used questionnaires to measure how much time students spent on social media, how often they compared themselves to others online, and how overwhelmed they felt by social media. They also assessed symptoms of depression.

The study found a clear connection: the more time students spent glued to their phones using social media, the more likely they were to experience depressive symptoms. But here's the exciting part: this link needed to be more direct. It seems that two other factors played a role (Yan et al., 2024):

1. Upward Social Comparison: The study suggests that constantly comparing yourself to others who seem to have it all together on social media can contribute to feelings of depression.
2. Cognitive Overload: Feeling overwhelmed by the constant barrage of information and interactions on social media can also be a downer.

The strongest effect came from a combination of these two factors, according to Yan and colleagues (2024). In other words, spending a lot of time comparing yourself to others online, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed, can ultimately contribute to depression

References

• Yan, Ne & Long, Ying & Yuan, Huiling & Zhou, Xiaofei & Xie, Bin & Wang, Ying. (2024). The Impact of Mobile Social Media Use on Depressive Mood Among College Students: A Chain Mediating Effect of Upward Social Comparison and Cognitive Overload. Psychology Research and Behavior Management. 17. 2111-2120. 10.2147/PRBM.S447372

Lost in Translation: Why We Don't Speak the Same Language as AI Yet

 Have you ever felt like your AI assistant doesn't get you? You ask for a playlist to unwind, and it plays upbeat dance music. You tell your smart speaker to remind you to buy milk, and it adds everything from cheese to yogurt to your grocery list. The reality is that communication between humans and AI could be better.

Here is the glitch in the system: while AI can be unique at predicting our preferences and completing tasks, it often struggles to grasp the nuances of human intention. On the other hand, we need a more comprehensive understanding of how these complex algorithms work, making it difficult to adjust our expectations.

The secret weapon for smoother human-AI interaction might lie in a well-known psychological concept called the Theory of Mind (Wang &Ashok, 2022). Our ability to understand others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions allows us to navigate conversations and social interactions effectively. 

Imagine conversing with a virtual a
ssistant or chatbot that can answer your questions and understand how you perceive them. Researchers are working on that future, and a new study shows it's closer than we might think!

Wang and Ashok (2022) introduce the framework for a concept called Mutual Theory of Mind (MToM) and state that the mutual theory of mind framework is a way to improve communication between humans and AI systems, and it emphasizes how humans and AI can develop a shared understanding of each other throughout a conversation.  The researcher gave their MToM framework a spin.

The Study: Chatting with Jill Watson

Wang and Ashok (2022) placed a question-answering AI named Jill Watson in an online student discussion forum. Over a 10-week semester, students interacted with Jill Watson, asking questions and getting answers. The researchers tracked how the students perceived Jill Watson through surveys.

The Future of AI Communication

The big takeaway?  Wang and Ashok (2022
) concluded that with their MToM AI, Jill could pick up on clues in our communication to understand how we perceive it.

This study paves the way for AI to understand our questions and requests
and how we communicate them. This can lead to more natural and productive interactions between humans and AI in the future.

References

Wang, Qiaosi & Goel, Ashok. (2022). Mutual Theory of Mind for Human-AI Communication. 10.48550/arXiv.2210.03842