See one, do one, teach one

A lesson from Medical School

Monkey see, monkey do

It may seem strange that one of the most valuable lessons I learned in Medical School was not how to save lives, but how to save the living. In my own point of view all life is sacred, but what's the use of saving a life when living has such a limited value?

Ethics has always been one of my favorite subjects, and the example of what do you do in the case of a suicidal emergency probably still feature as one of the classical questions that young medical students are required to answer to them self.   

The "rules" that govern conscious awareness haven't changed much over the last 3000 years, and then as now it is known that when you have to act in an emergency, ethical questions cloud your ability to think clearly, which compromise your ability to perform, and has a negative effect on the outcome.   

When your intention is clear, then saving the lives that has been placed in your care demand clear thought, a sharp mind, and sure action. Making judgement calls about quality of living, living standards or life choices make our actions inefficient, our decisions questionable, and our performance incompetent. 

Strong emotions makes people's brains 'tick together'

Human emotions are highly contagious. Seeing others' emotional expressions such as smiles triggers often the corresponding emotional response in the observer. Such synchronization of emotional states across individuals may support social interaction: When all group members share a common emotional state, their brains and bodies process the environment in a similar fashion.

Researchers at Aalto University and Turku PET Centre have now found that feeling strong emotions makes different individuals' brain activity literally synchronous.

Learn more at: Synchronized Brain

Rapid-fire Media May Confuse Your Moral Compass, Study Suggests

“For some kinds of thought, especially moral decision-making about other people’s social and psychological situations, we need to allow for adequate time and reflection,” said first author Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Rossier School of Education. Humans can sort information very quickly and can respond in fractions of seconds to signs of physical pain in others.

Admiration and compassion - two of the social emotions that define humanity - take much longer, Damasio’s group found. Their study appeared online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more at: Science Daily

Haunted by a memory?

Thinking over and over about how unsafe the world is after you’ve been victimized might ultimately do your head more harm than good. Finding something positive to think about–for example, how you were able to think and act under stress, or how people supported you afterwards–can help you fit the memory into your life in a positive way. Post-traumatic growth, they call it.

In addition, it appears that writing about the thoughts and emotions connected to an event can help post-traumatic growth. (The “thoughts” part is important. Just writing about emotions attached to it is not as helpful.)

Find out more about it: PsychCentral

Do more by talking about it!