Introduction
Psychological health is the basic element of overall wellness, and it has a great influence on our everyday lives. It includes a wide range of mental capabilities such as sleep, memorizing, and dealing with past trauma. This paper delves into three crucial topics within the realm of psychology: sleep disorders, memory retention complications, and the relationship between trauma and addiction. The above-mentioned areas, apart from affecting individual health, also have wider social impacts. Sleep disorders jam the basic rhythm of life, affecting from cognitive function to emotional stability. Likewise, memory problems can hinder learning and personal development, which can have a negative impact on work and personal life. Ultimately, the interaction between trauma and addiction highlights how past pains can influence the development of destructive behaviours that can impact not only the individual but also their community. However, through the examination of these interconnected issues, this paper intends to demonstrate the complexity of the issue of psychological health and its relevance to a better society.
Overview of sleep disorders
Sleep disorders, a category of ill-health that makes it difficult to keep a regular sleep pattern, are becoming more common in the present-day world, which is full of hectic schedules. Such diseases can hugely compromise the health and quality of life experience of an individual. Among their most numerous types are insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Insomnia is a condition in which falling and staying asleep is hard; by contrast, sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing gets interrupted during sleep. Narcolepsy, although much less common but also devastating, is associated with irresistible and uncontrolled sleep during the day. As shown by the latest information from the American Sleep Association, around 50-70 million Americans have at least one or more sleep disorder issues (American Heart Association, pg. 1). Such studies reveal that around 30% of adults have insomnia and some 26% from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, the probability being higher among the elderly and male population.
From a personal standpoint, witnessing a close family member suffer from insomnia for an extended period has really shown me how sleep disorders can affect people. This experience revealed how such disturbances in my sleep may not only be in the form of discomfort during the night but also affect my functioning during the daytime and possibly my mental health. It accounts for the concentration and productivity loss, markedly during their working itself hours. It became manifest that they could not do activities, including safety and efficiency, without enough sleep. This first-hand experience is undoubtedly a demonstration of the need to take sleep problems seriously, not just for health’s sake but also for maintaining professional performance and overall quality of life. Diagnosing and treating sleep disorders is beneficial because they are not only a human health problem but also a social one which has a great impact on work efficiency and personal welfare.
Why is it so hard to remember now
Memory is a function of multiple complex processes of encoding, storing, and retrieving information, which various distractions may disrupt. Cognitive psychologists consider that for memory to be effective, first, information must be perfectly encoded and later stored across the brain’s networks. Retrieval might be the most challenging process, where factors like age, stress, and specific health conditions may impair the ability to recall information (D’Esposito, pg. 15). For example, the hippocampus, which is associated with the formation and the retrieval of the memories is greatly affected by the stress. With age besides changes in the brain structure and function, older people may also have different changes in memory. An additional impact of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease is that it makes the process of storing and retrieving memories difficult in a way that leads to severe memory loss.
My experience with memory retention problems, particularly during the exams, points out the connection between stress and memory. I experienced that my capacity to remember the information I had previously understood was dramatically low during periods of high stress, especially during finals week. This finding is in line with cognitive models which correlate stress with lower cognitive ability, such as memory retrieval. One of the methods that I have found to be very effective is review sessions on a regular basis, elaborative rehearsal by linking new information to what is known, and meditation for stress reduction. These strategies essentially strengthen such neural connections, allowing for easy recall during important situations. Insights into the cognitive underpinnings of memory can pave the way for the development of useful strategies to improve memory performance rather than just theoretical knowledge.
Trauma & Addiction
The connection between trauma and addiction is a complex phenomenon that psychological theory and neurosciences have tried to put into a logical framework. Trauma may rewire the brain chemistry and function, especially in the regions of the brain that pertain to the stress response, emotion regulation, and reward processing. As elucidated by the Self-Medication Theory, trauma victims may tend to resort to addictive substances as a means of dealing with the psychological distress associated with the post-trauma symptoms. Through the studies of the brain, it is known that trauma can effectively change the systems based on dopamine, which is responsible for the reward and pleasure sensation, increasing the attractiveness of addictive substances (National Institute on Drug Abuse, pg. 6). Moreover, the stress-vulnerability model says that trauma may lead to increased vulnerability to substance abuse through the disruption in an individual’s ability to manage stress. These models are strengthened by the empirical findings of a high prevalence of substance use disorders among those with histories of trauma, for example, military veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or people who went through distressful childhood experiences.
In my community, one of the things I have seen is that persons who have experienced negative life events often turn to substance use as a way of coping. It was a close friend who had demonstrated the effects of neglect during childhood in her turn to drinking as a coping mechanism. The situation is suggestive of the self-medication hypothesis because alcohol was the initial means of escaping the emotional pain triggered by the early experiences in his life. Seeing him fight and win later stresses the relevance of specific programs like trauma-informed care that acknowledge trauma’s contribution to addiction impairments and include trauma healing as an indispensable aspect of addiction care. Combining psychological support with addiction treatment can deal with the primary trauma, get rid of the addiction as an emotional release mechanism, and hence come up with a more conducive recovery program. The lived experiences of these people are in parallel with the theoretical perspectives, which tend to emphasize the importance of addressing the issues that lie deep within addictive behaviours.
Conclusion
Through the blending of research with personal experience, it is clear that psychological consequences, such as sleep disorders, memory disorders, and trauma-addiction nexus, have significant effects on the individual’s overall well-being and the health of society at large. Through the exploration of the fundamental aspects that cause these problems and the way they influence each other, we can make sure that society as a whole is well. Future research should be pursued to devise better combination therapy and pragmatic psychotherapy should be combined with traditional medicine for the successful treatment of sleep disorders and memory difficulties. Trauma treatment, being an essential element of substance abuse treatment, can intensify the recovery success of individuals involved by providing a more holistic and successful treatment experience. Preventive actions must be tailored to early detection and targeting of individuals at risk, as well as to increase awareness about mental health and coping strategies for people at risk. These efforts that are given the top priority will pave the way for a better future where psychological health is prioritized, and this will ensure improved overall well-being and functioning of society.
Works Cited
American Heart Association “Sleep Plays an Important Role in Heart Health.” Www.heart.org, (2023) https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/sleep-disorders/sleep-and-heart-health
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Why Is There Comorbidity between Substance Use Disorders and Mental Illnesses?” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020, https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/common-comorbidities-substance-use-disorders/why-there-comorbidity-between-substance-use-disorders-mental-illnesses
D’Esposito, Mark, and Bradley R. Postle. “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory.” Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 66, no. 1, 2024, pp. 115–42,
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015031.
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