common parasite that can alter your mind, personality and psychomotor performance

[INTP]

http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/3/757.full

this is the bastard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

and this is the disease that it gives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis


so in short its that men turn to more of this(score significantly more of this sort of behavior in Cattell's 16-personality factor (16PF) tests) Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent, Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional. funny thing is that women turn into almost opposite; Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kindly, easy-going, participating, likes people, Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound.
both men and women score higher on these: Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming.

also it has and effect on Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) on novelty seeking trait, by lowering it. novelty seeking trait is associated with low dopaminergic activity(dopamine stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopaminergic) and high novelty seeking means this sort of traits: Exploratory excitability, Impulsiveness, Extravagance, Disorderliness. but because those traits come from low dopamine, and this parasite turns up the dopamine, you will lack from those traits.

oh and once you get it, it never goes away and it seems that its effects on these changes in personality get bigger over time.

but not only this, it also effects your psychomotor performance. people with this infection are 2.5 times more prone to car accidents than people without it.

oh and not only that, it can also cause depression, anxiety, schizophrenia(people with schizophrenia have much higher infection rates than people with no schizophrenia), psychotic symptoms not unlike schizophrenia and last but not least a shorter attention span.

Toxoplasma infection causes damage to astrocytes( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrocyte ) in the brain, and such damage is also seen in schizophrenia.

acute infection can cause flu like symptoms, but they arent usually dangerous, but can be lethal to unborn babies and people with AIDS or other diseases lowering their immune system.

oh and this is the worlds most common parasite, if i remember right from one program, about 60% of people are infected . luckily you cant get it from other people

 

[Such Irony]

Some of the personality changes actually sound positive depending on how you look at it. Would they ever use Toxoplasma as a form of therapy?

 

[INTP]

well but if you look at it from perspective of the whole thing, you can see that its definitely not positive, as it fucks up your dopamine system..

"both men and women score higher on these: Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming."

also since its like small changes that might happen over time to some people, it doesent really work as a therapy, also since it has so many bad side effects, it would be highly unethical to try to "heal" anyone with it. psychologists have their codes of ethnicity you know..

 

[Such Irony]

If you're a female and aren't very warm or conscientious to begin with it could be a good thing.

If you're a male and overly conforming to start with it could be a good thing.

If you have a very low dopamine level and as a result you're overly impulsive and excitable, the Toxoplasmosis, could calm down these traits somewhat.


I agree that you may be trading some not so good traits for some other not so good traits. It depends on the person and the severity of the traits they started with.

 

[INTP]

If you're a female and aren't very warm or conscientious to begin with it could be a good thing.

If you're a male and overly conforming to start with it could be a good thing.

If you have a very low dopamine level and as a result you're overly impulsive and excitable, the Toxoplasmosis, could calm down these traits somewhat.


I agree that you may be trading some not so good traits for some other not so good traits. It depends on the person and the severity of the traits they started with.

its against ethical rules in medical field to do something like that(treat people or even do experimental research on people(and statistics wont give you what you would need as outcome from the study)) as it can cause schizophrenia, depression etc.

also i think this part: "both men and women score higher on these: Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming." might be the source of other traits, but men and females just have different ways on coping to guilt, insecurity, self blaming, worrying etc. human psychology doesent work like math, that you could remove something by inducing its negative side to it, like in math 3 + -3 = 0. that sort of stuff needs to be treated so that your brains can modify themselves back to normal state(see neuroplasticity).

 

[dhirenmulani]

Personality is what we are and behaviour is what we do. Simply put, personality, besides having affect on the personal front, also impacts workplace behaviour.

It is crucial to understand the role of individual’s personality that helps in identifying development needs.

16pf® identifies and measures the 16 traits that individuals generally display. These 16 traits usually reflect in more than one of the five global factors, and the grouping is called the 16PF5.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

This is the one commonly transmitted via cat shit.
Yeah I caught this a long time ago, I think.

 

[Elegiac]

That is disturbing... I wish I didn't know about it.

However, I do at the same time now...

 

[Maou]

Its not the only one of these parasites that has a dramatic effect on your health/personality. I forget what its called, but I was reading something about another common parasite that might actually be the cause of a multitude of diseases. If I find it again, I'll post it here.

 

[Frosty]

I was never around

http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/3/757.full

this is the bastard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

and this is the disease that it gives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis


so in short its that men turn to more of this(score significantly more of this sort of behavior in Cattell's 16-personality factor (16PF) tests) Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent, Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional. funny thing is that women turn into almost opposite; Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kindly, easy-going, participating, likes people, Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound.
both men and women score higher on these: Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming.

also it has and effect on Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) on novelty seeking trait, by lowering it. novelty seeking trait is associated with low dopaminergic activity(dopamine stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopaminergic) and high novelty seeking means this sort of traits: Exploratory excitability, Impulsiveness, Extravagance, Disorderliness. but because those traits come from low dopamine, and this parasite turns up the dopamine, you will lack from those traits.

oh and once you get it, it never goes away and it seems that its effects on these changes in personality get bigger over time.

but not only this, it also effects your psychomotor performance. people with this infection are 2.5 times more prone to car accidents than people without it.

oh and not only that, it can also cause depression, anxiety, schizophrenia(people with schizophrenia have much higher infection rates than people with no schizophrenia), psychotic symptoms not unlike schizophrenia and last but not least a shorter attention span.

Toxoplasma infection causes damage to astrocytes( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrocyte ) in the brain, and such damage is also seen in schizophrenia.

acute infection can cause flu like symptoms, but they arent usually dangerous, but can be lethal to unborn babies and people with AIDS or other diseases lowering their immune system.

oh and this is the worlds most common parasite, if i remember right from one program, about 60% of people are infected . luckily you cant get it from other people

so basically everyone has this? So… how would you even go about comparing such a huge sample size to the “norm”? You would have to randomly screen a large group of people for this, likely people who already have an interest in this research (and would perhaps therefore be more likely to be effected by these problems?- selection bias maybe idk) and then you would have to eliminate any confounding factors- (like alternative reasons for being involved in a study like this).

idk. Idk. I probably sound like an idiot but this seems like a ton of bullshit, no offense. If a disease effects the majority of the population then it can’t be said to “cause” a very specific illness. Maybe it could contribute to some of those symptoms, but the process of ruling out other causes, getting consistent and clear results across multiple populations, and just… fuck man.

anyways. I guess not to argue with you but it’s like saying Diet Coke causes cancer. Maybe sooooome vague correlation, but something like this would be very difficult to prove

 

[Indigo Rodent]

well but if you look at it from perspective of the whole thing, you can see that its definitely not positive, as it fucks up your dopamine system..

"both men and women score higher on these: Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming."

also since its like small changes that might happen over time to some people, it doesent really work as a therapy, also since it has so many bad side effects, it would be highly unethical to try to "heal" anyone with it. psychologists have their codes of ethnicity you know..

Wouldn't this type of people prefer to have a cute purring critter at home? Like cat-owners are a biased sample, IMO.