WILTIMS #143: No phobias? We can fix that.

Today's lectures were rather different from the usual dry science. The first of our two behavioral science lectures was on death and bereavement. Though it was a fairly well done presentation and the short documentary on a young doctor who died of terminal cancer was riveting, my biggest personal takeaway was of how stoic I've already become when dealing with end of life issues.

Whereas several of my classmates were clearly emotionally affected by the stories, my already plentiful experiences around the dying and grieving have given me great practice feeling sincere empathy without becoming distraught.

My first clinical experience over 5 years ago (is that all?) was in an ICU, the unit where it's said patients go to die. Watching a child die and the parents grieve in the PICU was one of the most impactful experiences of my life. Then during treatment for cancer and while subsequently volunteering in an oncology office, I saw another side of death. I watched a friend's personality slip slowly away while their significant other had to grieve far before the funeral. Death can be both tragic and a relief.

I don't look forward to having to deal with patients inevitably dying under my care, but I take solace in the knowledge that I won't be going into that situation blind to the emotional impact.

The other topic of the day was cognitive and behavioral psychology. We spend much of our time discussing old researchers, their theories, and the dubious ways they tested them. The most interesting (and horrifying) was the story of Little Albert. That was the name of a baby boy who was conditioned to have generalized phobias.

Essentially, they showed him a whole slew of animals and objects, none of which he was fearful of initially. They then made a scary noise whenever he was shown a white rat. The kid then became fearful of not just rats but other animals and animal-like masks as well. Needless to say, this experimental setup would never EVER be approved nowadays.

TIL: A lateral cerebellar lesion can cause an intentional tremor. Intentional tremors differ from the non-intentional tremors seen in Parkinson's, because they are associated with the planning and coordination of movements rather than the initiation of said movements.

The habenular nucleus of the epithalamus is located between the pineal gland and posterior commissure.