Week 6 Psychoanalysis Testing

  

After reading the article, Criminal Minds (Fischman, 2011), I feel like there is a lot of potential in the idea of identifying individuals at a young age who may have mental disorders then attempting to correct the problems the individual might have. However, I feel even with all of the thorough data and tests it is still somewhat subjective; it isn't a concrete objective process/method due to many potential variables/identifiers. It's also good to point out that the use of a polygraph test isn't the best tool to use to identify objective answers/data. One should note that Adrian Raine used a polygraph device for some of his data/theory when he studied incarcerated individuals; The American Psychological Association [A.P.A.] doesn't believe polygraph testing is accurate (A.P.A., 2004). I would be interested to find out what my PET scan results would be, but I wouldn't want the rest of the world to know regardless of the conclusion! I have many antisocial tendencies, but that doesn’t/shouldn’t insinuate that I’m a psychopath. I test out as an INTJ (“The Architect”) from multiple Myers-Briggs tests, and my O.C.E.A.N. score is Openness-68%, Concienciousness-91%, Extraversion-1%, Agreeableness-36%, Natural Reactions-86%.   

I believe society struggles with misinformation, and ignorance when talking about mental illnesses or mental health in general currently. "Labeling" or classifying people in this way would do greater harm than good. For example, a large majority of people do not know the difference between a sociopath and psychopath. People who struggle with depression, bi-polar disorder, and anxiety are generally classified as weak and a drag on society. I also think applying this concept to a clinical approach would give us more research data to identify mental abnormalities, and likelihood of creating better treatments for individuals. From a previous post I said I fear potentially creating a monster raising a child, I'd definitely have my child tested with a preventative health care approach to correct potential psychological complications.

References

American Psychological Association [A.P.A.]. (2004, August 5). The Truth About Lie Detectors (aka Polygraph Tests) . Retrieved from American Psychological Association Web site: https://www.apa.org/research/action/polygraph

Fischman, J. (2011, June 12). Criminal Minds. Retrieved from The Chronicle of Higher Education Web site: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Can-This-Man-Predict-Whether/127792/