A Friendly Reminder From The Campaign For Southern Equality.

The One World Trade Center in New York lights up in rainbow colors in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 50 dead and 53 injured.

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Empathy for others’ pain rooted in cognition rather than sensation

The ability to understand and empathize with others’ pain is grounded in cognitive neural processes rather than sensory ones, according to the results of a new study led by University of Colorado Boulder researchers.

The findings show that the act of perceiving others’ pain (i.e., empathy for others’ pain) does not appear to involve the same neural circuitry as experiencing pain in one’s own body, suggesting that they are different interactions within the brain.

“The research suggests that empathy is a deliberative process that requires taking another person’s perspective rather than being an instinctive, automatic process,” said Tor Wager, the senior author of the study, director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU-Boulder.

A study detailing the results was published online today in the journal eLife.

Empathy is a key cornerstone of human social behavior, but the complex neural interactions underlying this behavior are not yet fully understood. Previous hypotheses have suggested that the same brain regions that allow humans to feel pain in their own bodies might activate when perceiving the pain of others.

To test this idea, the researchers compared patterns of brain activity in human volunteers as they experienced moderate pain directly (via heat, shock, or pressure) in one experimental session, and watched images of others’ hands or feet being injured in another experimental session. When volunteers watched images, they were asked to try to imagine that the injuries were happening to their own bodies.

The researchers found that the brain patterns when the volunteers observed pain did not overlap with the brain patterns when the volunteers experienced pain themselves. Instead, while observing pain, the volunteers showed brain patterns consistent with mentalizing, which involves imagining another person’s thoughts and intentions.

The results suggest that within the brain, the experience of observing someone else in pain is neurologically distinct from that of experiencing physical pain oneself.

“Most previous studies focused only on the points of similarity between these two distinct experiences in a few isolated brain regions while ignoring dissimilarities. Our new study used a more granular analysis method,” said Anjali Krishnan, the lead author of the study and a post-doctoral research associate in the Institute of Cognitive Science at CU-Boulder while the research was conducted. She is currently an assistant professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

This new analysis method identified an empathy-predictive brain pattern that can be applied to new individuals to obtain a brain-related ‘vicarious pain score,’ opening new possibilities for measuring the strength of activity in brain systems that contribute to empathy.

The results may open new avenues of inquiry into how the brain regions involved in empathy help humans to relate to others when they experience different types of pain. Future studies may also explore the factors that influence one’s ability to adopt another’s perspective and whether it might be possible to improve this ability.

5 Ways to Challenge Mental Health Stigma

By Palmer Hipp–May is Mental Health Month, and even though school is winding down, it’s the perfect time to learn about mental health and ways to fight stigma.

If you are experiencing or have a history of mental illness, what are comments you’ve received from your family or friends?        

           “Why can’t you just be happy?”

           “She’s just looking for attention.”

If you are experiencing or have a history of mental illness, what are comments you’ve told yourself?

           “Why try? I’m not good enough.”

           “No one will love me looking like this.”

These are just a few examples that came to mind. Individuals experience negative stereotypes because others perceive them as “different.” Stigma is the process of distinguishing and labeling group differences, stereotyping and separating “us” vs. “them,” as well as status loss and discrimination.

In America, 1 in 5 adults will have a mental illness during their lifetime. Nearly 60% of adults with mental illnesses do not receive treatment in a given year. Stigma generates shame, hopelessness, exclusion, lack of social support and low self-esteem. Those impacted by stigma are less likely to seek help and accept help if offered.

So how do we fight stigma? I have been a member as well as president of the Active Minds chapter on my university’s campus, and if anyone is familiar with the organization, you’ll easily recognize the phrase “Stigma Fighter.” It’s a name I proudly call myself, and it adequately describes the battle needed to challenge mental health stigma. I encourage you to become an advocate and fight the stigma surrounding mental health.

Here are five ways to challenge mental health stigma:

1. Learn the facts

Educate yourself about mental health and mental illness. If you learn the facts, you can teach others.

2. Speak up

Assist your friends or family members any time they display false beliefs or say stigmatizing and hurtful comments. Use this as a chance to educate and challenge. Many times people are misinformed and do not know that what they believe to be true is really just stereotypes and misconceptions. Test any false and stigmatizing comments and images portrayed in the media.

3. Language matters

Become aware of the language you use. Generic labels like “crazy” can be disrespectful and further increase stigma. Put people first, not their conditions. For example say, “person with anorexia” rather than “anorexic." [Ed note: while this is a good practice for eating disorders, please keep in mind that some people with other disorders (e.g., autism) may prefer identity-first language. When in doubt, ask (respectfully)!]

4. Show empathy

Show respect, compassion and love toward others. Don’t label or judge. People are more than their diagnoses. Recognize that mental illnesses are treatable and very common—break the stigma with attitudes and behaviors.

5. Talk

Share your story if you experience or have a history of mental illness. The best way to help others realize they are not alone is to talk openly about your struggles and triumphs. Mental health should not be a secret. The more people talk openly, the more likely someone else will be to seek help and remove the perception surrounding mental health.

Richard Feynman (above) included a poem in his address to the National Academy of Sciences:

I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think. 

There are the rushing waves mountains of molecules each stupidly minding its own business trillions apart yet forming white surf in unison Ages on ages before any eyes could see year after year thunderously pounding the shore as now. For whom, for what? On a dead planet with no life to entertain. Never at rest tortured by energy wasted prodigiously by the Sun poured into space. A mite makes the sea roar. Deep in the sea all molecules repeat the patterns of one another till complex new ones are formed. They make others like themselves and a new dance starts. Growing in size and complexity living things masses of atoms DNA, protein dancing a pattern ever more intricate. Out of the cradle onto dry land here it is standing: atoms with consciousness; matter with curiosity. Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering: I a universe of atoms an atom in the Universe.

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Read the full story here.

Quick Facts: The Palestinian Nakba.

The Surprising And Varying Kinds Of Intelligence- Which One Is Yours?

In our modern day society we find that the educational system has a very narrow perspective of intelligence, mostly linguistics and logical knowledge. The groups who fall within the parameter of these intelligence sectors, can prize themselves  as lucky.

What happens when our schooling system mostly focuses on these sectors? Well,  a very big percentage of the people gets left out. By doing so, there is a big possibility that this group gets labeled as less intelligent, while the truth can be very much the opposite. Their intelligence may just lie in a different category.

The theory of multiple intelligence was first published by Howard Gardner in 1983. In his book called Frames of mind, he describes seven different intelligence categories. Over the years a couple additional categories has been added, with the latest suggestion for an addition in the beginning of this year.

With this theory Gardner wants to show that the norm of what is called ‘intelligence’ in our society is too narrow. People can be highly intelligent in other areas.  Which one of the next categories applies to you?

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