November 2022 – Allison Biel

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Antisocial Personality Disorder

I wrote recently about toxic relationships and narcissism and how to recognise a healthy relationship. It’s my view that any form of physical abuse in a relationship is unacceptable. But emotionally abuse is more subtle and those who perpetrate it can be devious and deceptive. The next type of personality disorder I would like to explore is the sociopath.

The terms sociopathy and psychopathy are often used interchangeably and while there is some overlap, they are not the same. Psychopathy has a specific meaning and describes a set of personality traits:

Arrogant and deceitful interpersonal style. Superficial charm, inflated and grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying / deceit and manipulation of others for personal gain.
Deficient affective experience. Lack of remorse or guilt, coldness / lacking emotionality, callousness and lacking empathy and failure to accept responsibility for their actions.
Impulsive and irresponsible lifestyle. Impulsivity, sensation-seeking and risk-taking, irresponsible and unreliable behaviour, financially parasitic lifestyle and lack of realistic, long-term goals.

Strictly speaking, ‘Sociopath’ is not a medical term but is used to describe a person who has Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). ASPD and psychopathy do share some similar traits, including aggression and a lack of remorse. Also, both can be caused by genetic and environmental factors.

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is an ingrained and rigid dysfunctional thought process that exhibits social irresponsibility with exploitive, delinquent (and sometimes) criminal behaviour with no remorse. It can also include disregard for and the violation of others’ rights and symptoms that include unwillingness to conform to the law, inability to maintain consistent employment, deception / manipulation for personal gain and, as a result, inability to form stable relationships.

The American You Tuber, Shane Dawson, has an interesting theory about such disorders. He said, “I’ve been wanting to do some type of video about the idea that YouTubers have to have some kind of personality disorder, something right, to do what we do. Putting ourselves on camera all the time, being so open on camera all the time, having conventions with our name in it. There has to be something”.

One major factor that contributes to the development of ASPD include adverse / traumatic childhood experiences. These can include physical and sexual abuse, as well as neglect. Other studies stress the importance of a wider set of factors including both family dynamics and peer relations on the development of ASPD.

Being well informed about ASPD can help us to recognise these behaviours and manipulations in others. This can allow us to take steps to limit our engagement with them and to be realistic about how interactions with them are likely to turn out. Always believe in you right to be happy and stand up for your right to be happy and treated with respect and compassion. Also, having a good support network who you can share your experiences with can be very valuable.

Hypnotherapy can help with break unwanted habits and routines as well as help to support good mental health and healthy relationships. So, if you think it could help you, then contact me.

Doom scrolling

Doom scrolling or doom surfing is spending a lot of screen time devoted to the reading and absorbing negative news. Consumption of predominantly negative news can result in poor mental health such as depression, despair and anxiety.

It is in many ways a modern version of the Mean World Syndrome. Coined by Professor George Gerbner (Temple University, Villanova University and the University of Pennsylvania) in the 1970s, viewers who are exposed to violence-related content can experience increased fear, anxiety, pessimism and heightened state of alert in response to perceived threats.

With doom scrolling, seeing or reading upsetting news leads people to seek out more information on the subject or related topics, thus, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. And sadly, there has been a lot of upsetting news recently – the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, the US election crises of 2020 and 2021, Climate change, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, cost of living crisis, energy bills rising and associated job insecurity.

I wrote recently about the nature of memory and how this can create a negativity bias. Essentially, you remember and retain bad news, as it can include important information and lessons. But good news, which does not include usually lessons, is often forgotten.

Social media algorithms use the content users view and search for to display posts similar in nature, which can facilitate doom scrolling. Being aware of this and realising you are doom scrolling is an important skill to develop. As Sanam Saeed (Pakistani Actress, Singer and former model) said “We need to start identifying the triggers that aggravate mental health issues in our society – bullying, social media negativity and anxiety, gender based violence, substance abuse, stigma around issues such as maternal issues, etc., and we need to speak up about these more and get to the source of the problems”.

Health professionals have observed that doom scrolling will negatively impact existing mental health issues. While the impact that it has may vary from person to person, studies have revealed a connection between frequent consumption of bad news with higher levels of anxiety, depression, stress, and even symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Raheem DeVaughn (American singer and songwriter) put the problem quite well when he said, “Whenever I am faced with someone spreading negativity in my relationship, I remember the old saying, ‘Misery loves company.’ I am also reminded to be mindful of the company you keep. Sometimes you cannot see a hater until you are happy. It is then that they demonstrate their negativity”.

So, what can you do? Well, limiting the amount of time you spend reading about an issue can help. If you are looking for information about a particular issue or new story, once you have that information, stop and do something else. Other tips include having social media breaks or limiting the amount of time you spend on it. Also, consider getting out of your head for a while and perhaps spend some time in nature, reading a book or just doing something you will enjoy. A little self-love can go a long way.

Hypnotherapy can help with break unwanted habits and routines as well as help to support good mental health. So, if you think it could help you, then contact me.

World Diabetes Day

14 November is World Diabetes Day (WDD). It was created in 1991 by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to growing concerns about the global health threat of diabetes. It is marked on 14 November each year as this was the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.

Diabetes, Hyperglycaemia, is a disorder characterised by prolonged high blood sugar levels. And it’s more common than you might think – 1 in 14 people in the UK have some form of diabetes. It is caused by either the pancreas not producing enough insulin, or the body not responding properly to insulin. Insulin is the hormone which is responsible for regulating glucose and helping the body extract sugar from food and getting it into cells to be used for energy.

There are two main types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes results from the pancreas not producing enough insulin. This is caused by an autoimmune response that attacks the cells that produce insulin. Why this happens is not clear. Symptoms typically appear in childhood or adolescence, although it can develop in later life. It is not lifestyle and diet related.

Type 2 diabetes starts with insulin resistance, a condition in which the body doesn’t respond properly to insulin. As it progresses, a lack of enough insulin can also develop. It is more common in older adults. However, there has been a significant increase in obesity among children and this has led to more cases in younger people. The most common cause is a combination of being overweight and a lack of exercise.

WDD is the world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign and draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and aims to keep diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight. At the moment the campaign is in the middle of a three year period that is focusing on improving access to diabetes care. Millions of people around the world with diabetes lack access to effective care. It’s important that people with diabetes get ongoing care and support to manage their condition and avoid deterioration and complications.

I wrote very recently about awareness of sugar in our diets and in processed foods. Being aware of this and diabetes will help you avoid potentially serious health problems in later life. As Tom Hanks (American Actor) said, “I have high blood sugars, and Type 2 diabetes is not going to kill me. But I just have to eat right, and exercise, and lose weight, and watch what I eat, and I will be fine for the rest of my life”.

Hypnotherapy can help you manage your sugar intake, improve your diet and help you to be motivated to take more exercise. All these will help you avoid diabetes and other conditions. This is such a powerful tool to fight type 2 diabetes that I have made a short film to illustrate it. If you think hypnotherapy can help with your diabetes or to make lifestyle changes then contact me.

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Creativity – Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison (1847 to 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. With 1,093 US patents, as well as numerous patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American, if not world, history. If you work in any job that requires some element of creativity then you may have wondered how he did it. He certainly valued the mind over the body and this is best illustrated by the quote, “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around”.

Well he used a form of self-hypnosis to problem solve, come up with ideas and inventions. When you are awake your conscious mind is fully in control and you are producing beta brain waves. By lowering the brainwave frequency into alpha and even theta wave lengths you are more relaxed. This allows you conscious mind to loosen its control and allow your subconscious to be more dominant. As he said, “The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil”.

He also reportedly slept only three to four hours at night and was said to have regarded sleep as a waste of time and a heritage from our cave days. I am not sure that wasn’t just bravado or a trick to try to hamper his rivals such as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. He did in fact value sleep and seems to have understood its importance. We now know that sleep is essential for good mental health and is useful for overcoming creative blocks.

So while he used his apparent lack of sleep as a badge of honour he frequently power napped. He had numerous cots located throughout his home and workplace. And there are many photos of him taking a nap in these cots in various locations. And he may well have been onto something. Increasingly today we realise that sleeping for one long period is a relatively new thing. There are many references to ‘first sleep’, ‘second sleep’ and ‘morning sleep’ in older legal documents, literature and other archival information from pre-Industrial times. Meaning that sleeping for a shorter time, but more frequently was common.

As anyone who has meditated, used self-hypnosis or tried deep relaxation techniques knows, there is a risk that you fall asleep. In this day and age we set an alarm on our phone to make sure we don’t over sleep. But Edison would hold marbles in his hands so that if he fell asleep they would fall to the ground and wake him.

Now, there is an irony that Edison seemed to really understand how to use sleep to his advantage, while at the same time invented the electric light bulb. As it was the light bulb, and the industrial revolution, that disrupted our internal clocks, our sleeping habits and sparked numerous cases on insomnia.

If you are struggling with a lack of creativity or sleep then hypnotherapy can help. Contact me for more details.

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Summer’s Gone

With the clocks changing and the days getting shorter, it’s clear that summer is long gone. In the UK we have had a warm, if wet, autumn but winter can’t be far away. The weather can affect your mood and in winter that can mean a lack of energy and poor mood. Indeed, that is why we have festivals in the winter to raise people spirits such as Diwali and Christmas.

Having spent my childhood in southern Africa I do struggle with winters in the UK. But I realise that there are worse places to spend the winter. As Morgan Freeman (American Actor) once said, “Some places you been before are so great that you don’t ever mind going back. Some places you been before you don’t ever want to go back, you know, like Montreal in the Winter”.

In a recent UK survey about winter 77% people reported lower energy levels and 71% reported a poorer mood. You may have experienced this yourself – the winter blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD is a type of seasonal depression like condition and the symptoms include

Persistent low mood
Loss of interest in normal activities
Irritability
Feelings of despair and worthlessness
Lacking energy and feeling sleepy
Sleeping for longer than normal and finding it hard to get up in the morning
Craving carbohydrates and gaining weight
Lowered immune system

The causes of SAD are not fully understood, but it’s thought to be caused by reduced exposure to sunlight. It is thought that the lack of sunlight stops the brain from producing the right amount of several key substances. These are:

Melatonin. A hormone that makes you feel sleepy. SAD sufferers produce more than normal levels.

Serotonin. A hormone that affects your mood, appetite and sleep. Reduced levels are linked to feelings of depression.

Vitamin D. This vital vitamin boosts the immune system and ensure healthy bones, teeth and muscles.

So, as Dwayne Johnson (American Actor and Wrestler) said, “I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realise is that you’re not alone”. So if you struggle at this time of year, then Hypnotherapy can help. Contact me for more information.