Costa Oh-Maya Goodness

Now that I am not sitting on my couch counting the number of things I should be doing: grading papers, studying for finals, cleaning our apartment, etc. I can sit on my parent's couch in Ohio with Sel doing nothing but being super happy that we dominated all of the things I normally think about doing when in P-town. Also, we got to go to Chi town for the past two days with my family and it was fantastic! We also got to go to the Ukranian village because my parents have replaced me with a beautiful Eastern European high schooler. I (take a deep breath) even ate some red meat so I wouldn't offend the kind Ukranians who prepared a scrumptious meal for us while we were there.

I now have found time to relay one of my favorite stories from our honeymoon. Our first port on our cruise was Costa Maya, Mexico. Sel and I got all geared up with the fancy red mom pouch we purchased in Florida and our pounds of sunscreen. After a beautiful snorkeling adventure, we had to decide whether to join the throng of overweight tourists wearing swimsuits two sizes too small

at the beach bar (there was a Fat Tuesdays at EVERY port we went to) or invent our own cultural excursion. Since we had a coupon for a free non-alcoholic drink at Señor Frogs, of course we had to do that. It was free, right? And if there is anything my sweet husband has to use, it is something that is free. Another defining thing about Sel, he is fantastic at saving money. He hates spending something he knows he could save. Sometimes this is great, sometimes it is not so great. Unfortunately, that day was a day that it was not so great. We decided to not pay for a taxi and walk the three miles into town. In the 100 F+ weather. As we started our walk, we were confronted with none other than a fleet of Mexican machine guns and 50 or so armed solders. I panicked and told Sel we should just go back to the boat and gain some more weight. Sel looked down at the coupon and shook his head, "Everything is fine. It is just an award ceremony. This will be fun". As we weaved our way around the machine guns, I looked up and meet eyes with a sniper hiding behind some fourth floor curtains. He stealthily slide back behind the curtains just as I tugged on Sel's hand in an attempt to get him to look at the disturbing sight. Sel shrugged and pulled me forward. We finally found the complex where Señor Frogs was, but everything was shut down because Mexico does this wonderful thing called Siesta (America NEEDS to adopt this pronto). Señor Frogs was open though. We ordered some truly nasty sugary drinks that made our dehydrated selves more thirsty. I also made the mistake of ruining the "freeness" of the drinks by tipping the bartender. Whoops.

Since we were super parched, we decided to go to one of the grocery stores we saw on our walk into town. We had a grand total of 10 pesos, which we used almost all of buying fun Mexican drinks. This was actually one of my favorite parts. No one spoke English and I didn't recognize most of the food on the shelves.

We left feeling much better and not so unhappy about our 2 mile journey in the scorching sun. We were almost to the port when a feeling of utter terror washed over me. One huge ship sat gleaming in the sun ahead of us and it wasn't ours. No other ships were in sight. Hit L's Panic Mode.

L: OHMY! OHMY! Sel where is our ship?! What time is it?

Sel: 4:00PM

L: We were supposed to be back at 3:00PM. It left us. We are stuck in Mexico. We don't speak Spanish! We don't have our passports! We don't have our phones! We have one peso! ONE PESO! That won't get us ANYTHING! We are going to die. Right here. On this sidewalk next to that humongous Iguana. When will our parents know we are gone? In 5 days? 6? We're going to die. We are pretty much already dead. I feel dead.

Sel: Our ship is behind that big one.

L: No it isn't. How could you possibly know that? Why aren't you freaking out? We have been married for ONE WEEK and we are already going to die. Why aren't you panicking?! Are you not understanding how hopeless this situation is?

Sel: Take five more steps and five deep breaths.

L: (Wringing my hands & hyperventilating) I can't. I can't. I only know four words in Spanish. None of those are "Can we please borrow your phone?" or "Where is the American Embassy?" Or "Please don't kill us and don't bother raiding our mom pouch because we just spent the little money we had with us on some really good mango juice"

Sel: L. Walk to me.

I took five shaky steps forward and saw what Sel wanted me to. Our ship. Nestled sneakily and oh so sweetly behind the huge Royal Caribbean ship.

We're still married. Can you believe that? He stuck with me even after my melt down. Know what else? That hasn't been the only time my panic button has been triggered. Sel is the best, most patient human I know. Turns out I have the best husband in the entire universe :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Flabby Arm Girl Strikes Back!

I have been sitting on the couch for the past half of an hour trying to tell myself I really need to study for finals. The only thing I have studied is the cool picture on the front of my abnormal psych book. I have decided to talk about a recent life victory that will hopefully get me into my conquer all mood.

If you regularly read this blog, you will remember a few weeks ago when my exercise physiology TA mortified me in front of my entire class. It was a grand old time. Our last lab was designed to test our VO2 max (aka the best way to determine your cardiovascular health). My awesome partner and I ran an easy mile and then did the ASU treadmill test. Essentially, you run naked on a treadmill in front of your class and they take a vote on whether you are fat or not.

Okay, not true. But maybe a test like that does exist somewhere...I could see Greece doing something like that.

Moving on. You increase the grade 1.5% at 6mph every minute. You just keep increasing the grade until you collapse. Guess what the average of my three tests was?

51.56 mL/kg/min.

Guess what the class average for the girls in my class was?

44.32 ml/kg/min. The high: 51.56 (Me suckas)

The boys?

51.25 mL/kg/min. The high: 53.12 mL/kg/min (only this dude and another dude beat me)

Oh, I'm sorry. Did I see that correctly?

Did the girl with the flabby arms, the hole in her heart and a passing out issue beat the whole fetching average of my BYU athlete filled class?

Hahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha. Hope my tricep fat doesn't smack you too hard in the face while I pass you during my next marathon! SUCKAS!!!!!

Tom Riddle and Antisocial Personality Disorder (Sociopathy)

I LOVE my abnormal psych class. Easily my favorite one this semester if not my entire college career. I just finished one of our assignments and decided to share a snippet or two of it here. It certainly isn't my best written paper, but it was easily one of my favorite to ever write. The lovely paper was nine pages long, but I digested a bunch of it for your reading pleasure. You're welcome.

Patient Profile

Full Name: Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr.

Birth Date: December 31, 1928

Eye Color: Blue/Red

Hair Color: Bald

Weight: 190

Height 6' 3''

Referral

The reasons for Tom’s referral are almost innumerable. His continual murders are the most prominent characteristic of concern. Tom has illegally controlled, tortured and killed countless wizards and muggles using the three unforgivable curses. He shows a complete lack of remorse for his actions and seems to actually derive an intense pleasure from killing. He has admitted to killing muggles in particular for the sole purpose of amusement. Another characteristic of concern is his grandiose sense of self-worth and his exaltation of himself in all aspects (Lykkan 2006). Tom believes he is the most powerful and most important wizard to ever live. This belief instills a sense of entitlement for anything he desires whether it is legal or not. Tom commands a small band of followers known as the Death Eaters who he demands refer to him as “Lord Voldemort” or any other title of superiority. He tortures those in the group who do not treat him with the upmost reverence. Should one of his Death Eaters displease him in anyway, Tom will mercilessly kill them. He tends to kill the displeasing Death Eaters in front of the others in the group as means of reinforcing his superiority and terrifying his followers into complete submission. His continual and extreme disregard for the law and more importantly, humanity, are areas of serious concern.

Diagnosis

Tom Riddle meets all of the criterions of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) for Antisocial Personality Disorder. The first criterion consists of a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others indicated by meeting three of the seven outlined personality patterns. Tom definitively meets five of the listed seven patterns: (1) Tom consistently shows a failure to adhere to lawful behaviors through his numerous murders and use of illegal curses. (2) He repeatedly lies to not only those closest to him, the Death Eaters, but to anyone he desires to manipulate. (3) He uses aggression and terror as tactics to attain his desire for power. He also shows no remorse for “having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another” (DSM-IV-TR). (4) Tom is easily irritated by the minutest things, such as an individual laughing, and responds aggressively by torturing or killing the one causing him annoyance. (5) Tom’s only concern is for his own well being, but he shows a complete disregard for the safety of both those he knows personally and strangers alike.

The second and third criterion for antisocial personality disorder are that the individual is at least 18 years old and there is evidence of conduct disorder before the age of 15. As Tom is roughly 71-years-old, he far exceeds the necessary age limit to be diagnosed with this disorder. Knowledge of his past aggression, cruelty, superficial charm, and deceitfulness while in the orphanage indicates he likely had conduct disorder before entering Hogwarts at age eleven.

Reviewing the stories known of his childhood, it appears he had conduct disorder opposed to oppositional defiant disorder. While still at the orphanage, the workers described Tom as extremely odd and frightening at times and at others the most polite little boy one could ever encounter. There are no known instances of Tom purposely defying the workers other or arguing with them (Czunder 2005). As previously mentioned, Tom often stole possessions from the other children and hoarded them like trophies. Tom usually initiated fights and after getting into one with a fellow orphan boy, he hung the boy’s rabbit from the rafters in the boy’s bedroom. Another occasion indicating Tom’s having conduct disorder occurred a year before he left the orphanage for Hogwarts. He took two orphans, Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson, into a cave while on a field trip. The worker, Mrs. Anne Cole, who was with the children during the field trip said Tom did something so horrifying to Amy and Dennis while in the cave that the children were unable to speak for months afterward.

Tom does not have schizophrenia or manic episodes characteristic of bi-polar disorder. There is no record of him having delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or lack of motivation. On the contrary, Tom has excessive motivation in achieving any and all of his plans. Though Tom has an inflated sense of self-worth, he shows no signs of a flight of ideas, distractibility, or decreased need for sleep.

Another unlisted characteristic in the DSM-TR-IV, but included in the Hare’s Revised Psychopathy Checklist is superficial glibness or charm (Hare & Neumann 2006). “People with this disorder appear to be charming at times, and makes relationships, but to them, these are relationships in name only. They are ended whenever necessary or when it suits them…. They seem to have an innate ability to find weakness in people, and are ready to use these weaknesses to their own ends through deceit, manipulation, or intimidation and gain pleasure from doing so” (Blais, Smallwood, and Groves 2008). The previous mentioned instances of Tom killing his most faithful followers meet the criterion of ending relationships whenever it suits the individual. Tom has also shown instances of being able to perfectly pinpoint weakness in others and play upon those for his purposes.

Treatment

There are only a few options for treatment of this disorder. “A combination of firm but fair programming that emphasizes teaching individuals skills that can be used to live independently and productively within the rules and limits of society” (Sheil 2011) has been shown to be effective. Medications to help treat some of the comorbid conditions, anxiety and depression, should they exist, have also proven to be effective. Tom, however, shows no sign of anxiety or depression. With Tom’s numerous murders on his record, he will likely be sentenced to the forensic unit of the newly renovated Azkaban Mental Hospital for life. Treatment options should focus on helping Tom adjust to life in prison specifically focusing on teaching him interpersonal skills to reduce incidents with fellow patients and staff.