scholarly journals The Self and Its Nature: A Psychopathological Perspective on the Risk-Reducing Effects of Environmental Green Space for Psychosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sjoerd J. H. Ebisch

Epidemiological studies have shown that environmental green space contributes to the reduction of psychosis incidence in the population. Clarifying the psychological and neuro-functional mechanisms underlying the risk-decreasing effects of green surroundings could help optimize preventive environmental interventions. This perspective article specifically aims to open a new window on the link between environmental green space and psychosis by considering its core psychopathological features. Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, are essentially characterized by self-disturbances. The psychological structure of the self has been described as a multidimensional phenomenon that emerges from the reciprocal interaction with the environment through intrinsic and extrinsic self-processes. The intrinsic self refers to the experience of mental activity and environmental information as inherently related to one’s own person, which involves self-referential processing, self-reflection, memory, interoception, and emotional evaluation. The extrinsic self refers to sensorimotor interactions with the environment and the sense of agency, that is, the experience of being the source of one’s own actions and the multisensory consequences thereof. In psychosis, anomalous self-processing has been related to a functional fragmentation of intrinsic and extrinsic self-processes and related brain networks. Moreover, evidence from cognitive neuroscience suggests that green space could have beneficial effects on self-related processing. Based on the literature, it could be hypothesized that self-processing is involved in mediating the beneficial effects of green space for psychosis. Considering the multidimensionality of the self, it is proposed that urban green space design aimed at improving mental health ideally impacts the complexity of self-facets and thus restores the individual’s self.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sjoerd Ebisch

Epidemiological studies have shown that environmental green space contributes to the reduction of psychosis incidence in the population. Clarifying the psychological and neuro-functional mechanisms underlying the risk-decreasing effects of green surroundings could help optimize preventive environmental interventions. This perspective article specifically aims to open a new window on the link between environmental green space and psychosis by considering its core psychopathological features. Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, are essentially characterized by self-disturbances. The psychological structure of the self has been described as a multidimensional phenomenon that emerges from the reciprocal interaction with the environment through intrinsic and extrinsic self-processes. The intrinsic self refers to the experience of mental activity and environmental information as inherently related to one’s own person, which involves self-referential processing, self-reflection, memory, interoception, and emotional evaluation. The extrinsic self refers to sensorimotor interactions with the environment and the sense of agency, that is, the experience of being the source of one’s own actions and the multisensory consequences thereof. In psychosis, anomalous self-processing has been related to a functional fragmentation of intrinsic and extrinsic self-processes and related brain networks. Moreover, evidence from cognitive neuroscience suggests that green space could have beneficial effects on self-related processing. Based on the literature, it could be hypothesized that self-processing is involved in mediating the beneficial effects of green space for psychosis. Considering the multidimensionality of the self, it is proposed that urban green space design aimed at improving mental health ideally impacts the complexity of self-facets and thus restores the individual’s self.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S44-S45
Author(s):  
A. Aleman

ObjectiveTwo factors of negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been consistently described based on factor analysis, “expressive deficits” and “social amotivation”. We aimed to investigate the putatively differential involvement of self-related networks, as measured with BOLD fMRI during a self-evaluation task, in two dimensions of negative symptoms in schizophrenia (reduced expression and social amotivation).MethodForty-five patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia participated in an fMRI study in which they performed a self-evaluation task. The task comprised a self-reflection, close other-reflection, and a semantic (baseline) condition. We compared correlates of Expressive versus Social amotivation factors (summed items from the PANSS interview) for the contrasts self-baseline and self-other. Significance threshold was set at P < 0.05 family-wise error (FEW) corrected.ResultsSocial amotivation correlated significantly with self-evaluation vs. baseline in right and left ACC, and in the sulcus of frontal lateral lobe between inferior frontal triangularis and middle frontal gyrus. This was also significant, but less pronounced, in the direct comparison of social amotivation vs. expressive deficits scores (for the self-baseline contrast). No activation differences survived critical thresholds for the self-other contrast.ConclusionDifferential neural correlates for the two dimensions of negative symptoms support the validity of this distinction based on factor analyses. Intact functioning of brain circuitry for self-referential processing may be of relevance to actively seek social interaction.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Sholeha Rosalia ◽  
Yosi Wulandari

Alif means the first, saying the Supreme Life and is Sturdy and has the element of fire and Alif is formed from Ulfah (closeness) ta'lif (formation). With this letter Allah mementa'lif (unite) His creation with the foundation of monotheism and ma'rifah belief in appreciation of faith and monotheism. Therefore, Alif opens certain meanings and definitions of shapes and colors that are in other letters. Then be Alif as "Kiswah" (clothes) for different messages. That is a will. "IQRO" is a revelation that was first passed down to the Prophet Muhammad. Saw. Read it, which starts with the letter Alif and ends with the letter Alif. The creation of a poem is influenced by the environment and the self-reflection of a poet where according to the poet's origin, in comparing in particular Alif's poetry from the two poets. The object of this research is the poetry of Zikir by D. Zawawi Imron and Sajak Alif by Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda. This study uses a comparative method and sociology of literature. Through a comparative study of literature between the poetry of Zikir D. Zawawi Imron and Sajak Alif Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda, it is hoped that the public can know the meaning of Alif according to the poet's view. With this research, the Indonesian people can accept different views on the meaning of Alif in accordance with their respective understanding without having to look for what is right and wrong. The purpose in Alif is like a life, in the form of letters like a body, a tree that is cut to the root, from the heart is split to the seeds, then from the seeds are split so that nothing is the essence of life. So, it is clear that Alif is the most important and Supreme letter. Talking about the meaning of Alif as the first letter revealed on earth. After the letter Alif was revealed, 28 other Hijaiyah letters were born. The letter Alif is made the beginning of His book and the opening letter. Other letters are from Alif and appear on him.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097133362199044
Author(s):  
James H. Liu

Psychology has a pervasive but shallow engagement with Confucian philosophy, mainly referencing its popular form as a part of Chinese tradition. This special issue takes a more systematic view of Confucianism as comprehensive philosophy. Drawing from New Confucianism, it is argued that the signal contribution of Confucianism to psychology as human (rather than natural) science is an ontology of the moral mind (heaven and humanity in union). This holistic ontology makes the cultivation of benevolence (仁) a lifelong mission for Confucianists. Practices of self-cultivation are exemplified by a case study of Zeng Guofan, a Qing Dynasty official and scholar, who combined academics, calligraphy, meditation, diary writing and self-reflection to refine his character, nurture and educate his family, and be of service to society. Second, Confucianism’s traditional lack of interest in epistemology is addressed through the complementary (dialectical) principle of ‘one principle, many manifestations’, where methods of Western science can be incorporated into the investigation of practices such as brush calligraphy that are shown to have beneficial effects on mental and physical health. Confucianism can also be treated as an object of scientific inquiry: We find that even among highly educated Chinese people, understanding of Confucianism today is mostly fragmented and abstract. Confucian Psychology can be summarised as a psychology of aspirations for bettering the condition of humanity through character development and greater awareness of the situation to realise the endowment of moral mind. Finally, there are deep connections between Confucian and Indian psychology—both involve height psychology, a psychology of aspirations and for spiritual transformation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Mele

John Christman, in ‘Autonomy and Personal History,’ advances a novel genetic or historical account of individual autonomy. He formulates ‘the conditions of the [i.e., his] new model of autonomy’ as follows:(i) A person P is autonomous relative to some desire D if it is the case that P did not resist the development of D when attending to this process of development, or P would not have resisted that development had P attended to the process;(ii) The lack of resistance to the development of D did not take place (or would not have) under the influence of factors that inhibit self-reflection;and(iii) The self-reflection involved in condition (i) [sic] is (minimally) rational and involves no self-deception. (11)


2021 ◽  
pp. 089692052110441
Author(s):  
Eran Fisher

This article explores the ontology of personal knowledge that algorithms on digital media create by locating it on two axes: historical and theoretical. Digital platforms continue a long history of epistemic media—media forms and practices, which not only communicate knowledge, but also create knowledge. As epistemic media allowed a new way to know the world, they also facilitated a new way of knowing the self. This historical perspective also underscores a key difference of digital platforms from previous epistemic media: their exclusion of self-reflection from the creation of knowledge about the self. To evaluate the ramifications of that omission, I use Habermas’s theory of knowledge, which distinguishes critical knowledge from other types of knowledge, and sees it as corresponding with a human interest in emancipation. Critical knowledge about the self, as exemplified by psychoanalysis, must involve self-reflection. As the self gains critical knowledge, deciphering the conditions under which positivist and hermeneutic knowledges are valid, it is also able to transform them and expand its realm of freedom, or subjectivity. As digital media subverts this process by demoting self-reflection, it also undermines subjectivity.


2017 ◽  
Vol Volume 113 (Number 1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Cowden ◽  
◽  

Abstract This study examined the relationship between mental toughness (MT) and self-awareness in a sample of 175 male and 158 female South African tennis athletes (mean age = 29.09 years, s.d. = 14.00). The participants completed the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire and the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale to assess MT (confidence, constancy, control) and self-awareness (self-reflection and self-insight) dimensions, respectively. Linear regression indicated that self-insight (β=0.49), but not self-reflection (β=0.02), predicted global MT. Multivariate regression analyses were significant for self-reflection (ηp²=0.11) and self-insight (ηp²=0.24). Self-reflection predicted confidence and constancy (ηp²=0.05 and 0.06, respectively), whereas self-insight predicted all three MT subcomponents (ηp²=0.12 to 0.14). The findings extend prior qualitative research evidence supporting the relevance of self-awareness to the MT of competitive tennis athletes, with self-reflection and insight forming prospective routes through which athletes’ MT may be developed.


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