Saturday, September 14, 2013

Could it be that most practiced psychology is just pseudoscience?

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Dirt


Don't feel attacked.

Shouldn't we see beyond it, and just ignore what they say is wrong with us? DSMIV is very negative in its descriptions. It has also been proven that most psychologists don't really know how to diagnose a 'disease'. Isn't it sometimes ok to feel bad. Happiness seems so narrowly defined: as if only the winner matters (at least in our western civilisation, it seems)

Some clarification:
I have a girlfriend who is a kinesist. She basically gives people exercises to strengthen their muscles. But do people do the exercises? No. Do people believe these exercises work? No. Only when she does some sort of massage/heat therapy, people claim they feel better. When in reality, this is mostly a hoax and isn't scientificly proven. (kinesists do this just because people want it, and if it has an effect it is mostly just placebo). The exercises on the other hand do have a positive effect.

Same thing with psychology, but even worse. I have a feeling as a patient you have to follow first 'their' story about what is wrong with you. And then the treatment can begin. Instead of all this I think that most of the time it is the other way around: there is nothing wrong with me or you. Every person with my/your genetic/human make up, would react in the same way. I believe that our society is the true culprit.

Some examples that might clarify what I mean:
- tabaco: sigarets, big companies invest in publicity, people get addicted, people (smokers) get blamed for second hand smoke.
- cars can drive more than 200km/h while most places in europe wont allow speeds to exceed 120km/h, people get blamed for driving too fast, when in reality car companies could limit how fast cars drive.
- fat people get blamed for being fat: 1. publicity by sportsmen for mcdonalds or pizzahut, 2. 'more food is cheaper' 3. coaches who promote a healthy life style by excessive sporting, etc...
- global warming gets blamed on individuals, while the greater issues are left unhandled

They make you feel guilty, while most of it is out of your hands. It's like the hidden agenda from the 'Holy Church' all over again.

I'm sorry if my ideas seem somewhat disconnected, but there is a line running between blaming the common man and companies doing the most damage all be it subtle.



Answer
Pseudoscience? Hmmm. This is what I was told most psychologist "evolved" from- yes for a long time there has been followers of old Frued and then every one that came after. How ever, neuropsychology is what I have read, that psycholgist came from. That back during the the spooky 1950s they where "mapping" the brain in a different way. The neuropsychologist were suposed to be able to say what part of the brian was damaged by having the person answer questions or complete certain task. They were also doing greusome animal testing like finding out that electrical stimulation of the pituitary gland produced instant rage. Thus, they would conclude the pituitary gland was at least one affected part of the brain during mental diseases that included rage .

Then, one fine day in 1973, the MRI was invented. Bye bye. So the majority of them had to find something else to do. (No not really, but the job they used to function in is now filled by MRI.) It does a better job or course. And I think the majority will be phased out if not already happening. When I say phased out I mean function in a talk therapy setting only.We do still have neuropsychologist but they function as psychologist most of the time. People use them to discover learning disorders and some vague symptoms of brain damage.

My thing about psychology is this: a human is used to test another human. Humans are prone to mistakes, distractions,bad days, misunderstandings, memory, boredom etc. Also I have seen and heard many people say either a new psychologist (or even the same one) had changed the diagnosis. So we use an imperfect 'tool' to make a diagnosis. And it ends up in the end to be an opinion. Until there is some reliable test, I will remain a skeptic.

See how I slipped in calling them toools? LoL

And the 1973 thing is true. If your not too old then they came into somewhat regular use in select hospitals by around 1980. Even in 1990, when most large hospitals owned one they were used selectively. Now we can look up a cheap MRI on the net and get one at any radiology center for $650. Report included.

I don't and never have liked the idea of a person who could diagnose a person with a disorder and have all his peers still agree his education is still not good enough to prescribe medicine. If they can talk to some one and make them feel better, fine. I don't think they should be able to diagnose.

At what temperature does magnesium react with nitrogen to form magnesium nitride?




Robert di


3Mg + N2 --> Mg3N2
I know that the enthalpy of formation is -461kJ/mol, but can I just rub them together at room temperature, or do they need a certain temperature to initiate the reaction? My guess is pretty hot, but I do not know where to find out exactly / accurately what temperature.



Answer
We'd be in trouble if Mg reacted with N2 (in air) at anywhere near RT. The mag wheels on your sports car would fall off! Although extremely reactive (redox potential) Mg doesn't corrode because it has an oxide skin (MgO) much like Al. It is predicted that now the Chinese have found a cheap way to extract Mg (it has a funny name:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgeon_process found it!) it may well replace Al in many applications (it is less dense and as I recall just as strong and in limitless supply from seawater).

You don't have enough thermodynamic data to calculate equilibrium constants and besides that does not tell you the rate the rxn will occur even if it is favored.

I consulted my secret data base and a temp of ⥠900 °C is used. Not enough to boil the Mg (1091 °C) but high enough to give a significant vap pressure of Mg. The refs are dated in the 1950s and I think most are patents or not written in English, but all had roughly the same T. Here's one:
cf. C.A. 50, 13688a (1957). The industrial production of Mg3N2 was studied; optimum conditions of prepn. were detd. by observing the reaction between Mg and N. The size of Mg, the outflow velocity of N, the heating temp., and the heating time were detd. Mg3N2 was prepd. most efficiently by introducing 100 cc. of N/min. on fine filings or rough lathe-turnings of a Mg-contg. iron boat at 900° for 1 hr. Increased velocity of N inflow caused shorter reaction time between Mg and N, and increased size of Mg caused a higher reaction temp. The purity of the nitride formed from coarse lathe-scraps of Mg was higher than from fine filings. The nitride contained small amts. of MgO and Mg(OH)2. Mg3N2 heated in dry air was oxidized at 460-600°.




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