Learned Optimism

[October]

LOL October -
Way to set me straight.  I am a reforming pessimist aiming for optimist, now hyjacked towards realist. - Gaining Strength

 

I have ptsd, which sometimes manifests in a desire to run away, which in turn sometimes leads to me actually leaving a potentially traumatic situation (although I tend to walk quietly, which is invisible, rather than running, which is visible).  Good friends know this, and allow for it.  I apologised to one friend, and said how awful it is to run like this, and she said, when you are faced with a tiger, sometimes running is the best thing to do.

No good being an optimist, in such a situation.    

[Stormchild]

Hey... score another point for realism, and considering the 'worst-case scenario' as part of any planning exercise.

I picked up the latest copy of "Prevention" magazine, and found a short blurb there about a recent study performed at Wake Forest U.

75 subjects were given a placebo treatment for motion sickness, then given a whirligig-type ride calculated to induce nausea. Here's the kicker: there were THREE test groups.
One was told the placebo was a placebo;
one was told it was an effective motion sickness treatment;
the THIRD group was told that the placebo would INCREASE THEIR SENSITIVITY TO MOTION and that they should prepare for severe symptoms...

Guess which group had the least discomfort? The PESSIMISTS! -- the ones who were told they should prepare to expect the worst! According to the report, they had 30% LESS incidence of nausea etc., and the intensity of their discomfort was rated 2.5 times LESS, than the other two groups. So - using the worst case scenario actually took the 'drama' out of Dramamine!

The researchers didn't generalize extensively from this; they're focusing on the implication that nausea may be easier to deal with if people are prepared in advance; but you don't have to be Nobel Prize material to know that might be true of a lot more things than just nausea.

Here's a link: http://www1.wfubmc.edu/News/NewsARticle.htm?ArticleID=1870