The goal of Satoshi Nakamoto's invention of Bitcoin was to enable two willing parties to transact directly without needing a trusted third party.   The reason is that modern banks have flaws and disadvantages to the consumer. Due to their centralized nature, they can be unreliable, vulnerable to security threats, charging fees and even biased. This is why cryptocurrencies will pave the way for a better banking and payments experience in the future.

Why cryptocurrencies exist

You entrust your money to banks, and in turn, they become gatekeepers of your finances. If you use mobile banking and their servers are down, you can't access your finances unless you go to the local ATM and withdraw cash. Cryptocurrencies never go out of service as they use automated systems and are always accessible.  Cryptocurrencies are bought through crypto exchange platforms and stored in safe and secure crypto-wallets. They are decentralized and operate very securely.

Unreliability of traditional centralized banks

Banks make over $15 billion a year in overdraft fees. But fees can take many other forms, including late penalties, returns, using an out-of-network ATM, money transfers, inactivity, international remittances fees, and customer support. Cryptocurrencies don't charge you so many fees for transactions. The most common fees for crypto transactions are called gas fees, a reward given to miners for entering transactions on the blockchain or executing the transactions.

Crazy banking fees

With centralized banks, large amounts of cash or international payments can take a week or more. Cryptocurrency transactions are quick and can handle more daily transactions than traditional banking systems. The financial service issuing officer can deliberately delay transactions or even freeze your assets. Thousands of people have their life savings frozen by banks and exchanges every month.

Transactions can take a long time

Bank transactions depend on account numbers and personal information, making them open to biases.  Cryptocurrencies don’t judge or profile you. The decentralized nature minimizes human interactions, which makes them free from biases.

Bank transactions and financial services are open to biases

Many platforms today share your data with third parties.  Centralized banks can share your personal and sensitive data, such as passport or ID information, residence address, SSN, and employment information with their affiliates or partners or third-party buyers,

Data collection

According to a survey by Accenture, banks suffer an average of 85 attempted serious cyber attacks a year, and one-third are successful. As a result, some people lose large sums of cash from their accounts or get scammed. The systems are also prone to fraud and especially money embezzlement. Crypto relies on a distributed network of computers all over the world. Crypto is more secure and reliable because it uses anonymous ID numbers in transactions and is tamper-resistant.

Security Issues

Banks make over $15 billion a year in overdraft fees according to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

crypto

Cryptocurrency

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

The Real Problem With Centralized Banks And Why Crypto Is Inevitable

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">People with facial anomalies, such as scars and birthmarks, are assumed to bear negative personal characteristics.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">This “anomalous-is-bad” facial bias could arise from an evolved pathogen avoidance mechanism or it could be learned by culture.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">The “anomalous-is-bad” bias appears to be learned culturally and can presumably be unlearned.</li></ul>

Key Points: People Who Look Different Than Us

Faces confer social benefits and costs. People imbue attractive faces with desirable characteristics, like being more trustworthy. These inferences have real-world consequences. For instance, people are more willing to borrow money from lenders with trustworthy faces. Dominance, judged from the faces of West Point cadets, has been linked to the promotions those military personnel would receive decades later.

Your Face Matters

Taken together, the “right” kinds of facial features can make one appear more trustworthy, can facilitate the pursuit of their <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/career">career</a> <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/motivation">goals</a>, and can even bear on life-or-death situations. If having the “right” kinds of facial features is a good thing, what does this mean for people with the “wrong” kinds of facial features—those that deviate from the norm?

The Face Bias

People whose faces have anomalous features—like scars, cleft lip and palate, or paralysis—suffer social penalties for looking different. People with anomalous faces are seen as less attractive and less trustworthy than people whose faces lack such features. They provoke implicit and explicit biases and even mistreatment by some viewers, and they trigger brain responses linked to those biases and behaviours.We call this suite of negative beliefs, biases, brain states, and behaviors the “anomalous-is-bad” stereotype.

Penalty For Looking Different

We avoid interacting with people whose faces have anomalous features because those features signal the presence of a contagious disease. Since not all facial anomalies are signs of contagion, the anomalous-is-bad stereotype could be the overgeneralization of a mechanism that evolved to keep humans healthy.Even though most people don’t often interact with individuals whose faces are visibly different, negative cultural messages about facial anomalies could instead be the source of the anomalous-is-bad stereotype.

The Source Of The Bias

Using facial anomalies to signify moral corruption remains a popular device in Western storytelling.  Anakin Skywalker’s physical and moral transformation into Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels, the pockmarked face of the latest James Bond villain, and the Joker’s menacing smile that is quite literally carved into his face represent only a handful of examples. In the movie The Lion King, the baddest bad guy is even named “Scar.” Although the average person probably doesn’t have much firsthand experience with facial anomalies, negative tropes about anomalies permeate Western culture.

The Effect Of Western Culture

Both potential routes to the anomalous-is-bad stereotype—as a byproduct of an adaptation for avoiding pathogens, or as a byproduct of cultural learning—are plausible.How can we tell which one is right? This isn’t just a problem for researchers interested in facial differences—an overreliance on research volunteers from populations that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) threatens the generalizability of research in psychology and allied disciplines more generally. Even the face photographs researchers use in their studies are often overly-WEIRD.

WEIRD People

The Hadza hunter-gatherers’ lives are very different from that of the average person in a materially developed culture. They typically live with 20-30 other Hadza in camps that move location every six to eight weeks as local resources are depleted. The Hadza vary in their exposure to non-Hadza culture, with some having had little to no exposure to the world outside of Hadza land.A study was conducted in this domain of people, to off-set the effects of WEIRD(research volunteers that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic

The Hadza Hunter-Gatherers

In contrast to those Hadza with the most exposure to non-Hadza culture, those with the least exposure were equally likely to choose scarred faces as they were to choose typical ones when judging moral character. Since only Hadza with exposure to non-Hadza culture showed evidence of the anomalous-is-bad stereotype, our study suggests that this bias is learned.Support for the cultural origin of the insidious anomalous-face-is-bad stereotype begets optimism: if the stereotype is learned, then it can also be unlearned.

The Study Findings

Sources for the “anomalous is bad” facial stereotype.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

Why Do We Look Down on People Who Look Different?

Exhibiting signs of anxiety may make people respond better to you.Visible signs of stress are often appealing, leaving others predisposed to like us and treat us warmly.One possibility is that these behaviors help smooth over social interactions within the group.

Feeling Stressed? There's No Need to Hide It

Producing stress behaviours may elicit a more co-operative response, which may in turn allow that individual to recover from stress much more quickly.Our mindset about stress can determine its consequences: people who see <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000893">anxiety as energising tend to perform better in difficult tasks</a> than those who fear the feelings and assume that they are inherently debilitating. A recognition of its social value could just be one more reason to view our discomfort a little more positively.

Stress Behaviours And Perception

Feeling stressed? There’s no need to hide it. New research shows that exhibiting signs of anxiety may make people respond better to you.

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Why showing stress can make people more likeable

Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders is a quiet, introverted character but also highly charismatic.  We can learn eight habits from him to instantly command more respect from the people around us.

Commanding respect

Don't be in a rush. It instantly gives the sense that you're above feeling daunted. Moving slowly and comfortably in a situation where people would be stressed shows you don't feel intimidated or pressured.

Use slow, relaxed movements

Holding eye contact all the time during conflict can be a mistake as it can escalate the tension if neither of you is willing to break.  The goal isn't to never break eye contact but to know what your behaviour signals to other people. <ul><li>Hold eye contact if your priority is to show you're not intimidated.</li><li>Look down if your focus is to de-escalate and defuse the situation. </li><li>You can hold eye contact for three to five seconds, then break to the side instead of down.</li></ul>

Comfortable holding eye contact

You can project confidence without speaking. Being non-reactive in situations where most people would lose it shows you feel confident in your ability to handle whatever is happening.  The goal here isn't to fake that you're okay while freaking out on the inside. It's to cultivate a genuine deep internal confidence.

Don't be reactive to hostility

Gail up your hand gestures when you're speaking to more people.

Be as big as your audience

Show conviction with your words. When you speak about your plans for the future, don't say "I hope" or "I want" but "I will". Show conviction with your tone. Turning your tone upward makes statements sound like questions. This gives the impression that you're unsure of yourself.

Focus on how you speak

<ul><li>Take a pause when people most want to hear what you have to say.</li><li>You may worry that speaking slowly and pausing a lot will lead to people cutting you off. You can prevent this by continuing to speak in that same slow-speaking cadence until you're finished with your sentence.</li><li>Don't shout. Quiet words can carry massive weight.</li></ul>

Speak slowly and use pauses between words to hold attention

For example, focussing on "I" is not very persuasive if you want a raise or promotion from work. So instead, focus on the value you can add to the company by playing at a higher level. Work with your boss to create a concrete list. At the same time, go out and get other job offers. Then, if they want to back out from the agreement, you can tell them that you want to stay, but you have other offers that pay more.

Use a carrot-stick motivation

Join Over 13,000 Members At Charisma University: https://bit.ly/3Nondse Subscribe to Charisma On Command’s YouTube Account: http://bit.ly/COC-Subscribe People love Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders. He’s a quiet, introverted character, and at the same time extremely charismatic. While you don’t want to be like Tommy in every way, there are 8 habits you can learn from him to instantly command respect from the people around you. ⏰TIMESTAMPS⏰ 0:00 - Intro 0:21 - #1: Have slow, relaxed movements 0:57 - #2: Hold eye contact, even during conflict 1:57 - #3: Be non-reactive to hostility 3:00 - #4: Be as big as your audience 3:33 - #5: Show conviction with your words 3:56 - #6: Show conviction with your tone 4:26 - #7: Speak slowly and use pauses between words 6:23 - #8: Use carrot / stick motivation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #PeakyBlinders #ThomasShelby #CharismaOnCommand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with us further: Website: http://www.charismaoncommand.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/charismaoncommand Instagram: @CharismaOnCommand

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

communication

Communication

videos

Videos

Join Over 13,000 Members At Charisma University:
https://bit.ly/3Nondse

Subscribe to Charisma On Command’s YouTube Account: 
http://bit.ly/COC-Subscribe


People love Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders.  He’s a quiet, introverted character, and at the same time extremely charismatic.

While you don’t want to be like Tommy in every way, there are 8 habits you can learn from him to instantly command respect from the people around you.


⏰TIMESTAMPS⏰ 

0:00 - Intro
0:21 - #1: Have slow, relaxed movements
0:57 - #2: Hold eye contact, even during conflict
1:57 - #3: Be non-reactive to hostility
3:00 - #4: Be as big as your audience
3:33 - #5: Show conviction with your words
3:56 - #6: Show conviction with your tone
4:26 - #7: Speak slowly and use pauses between words
6:23 - #8: Use carrot / stick motivation


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #PeakyBlinders #ThomasShelby #CharismaOnCommand
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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Instagram: @CharismaOnCommand

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Charisma on Command

How To Make People Respect You If You're Quiet

How To Command Respect If You’re Quiet

Financial literacy - the ability to understand how money works in your life - is considered the secret to taking control of your financesMost of our decisions around money are emotional; no amount of nitty-gritty knowledge about interest rates will change that.

Spending Behaviours Are Driven by Emotions and Not Logic

We know we should spend less than we earn and save for the future, but many people find it really hard to do thatAn individual's relationship to money and the emotions it brings up starts when we're young.Exercise: Think about how money makes you feel.Document how you feel when you're shopping online,  sending digital cash to a friend for drinks, opening bills, or getting your paycheck.

The Way Money Makes Us Feel

<ul><li>Traditional wisdom in the world of personal finance dictates that no one should spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.</li><li>However, in high-cost-of-living areas, spending 30 percent or less on housing is laughable</li><li>Not only are these budgeting categories outdated and unrealistic, they also don't make room for the reality that people want to enjoy life.</li></ul>

No Money To Enjoy Life

<ul><li>Self-compassion is about extending grace to yourself using three elements: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness</li><li>Unlike personal finance advice that chides individuals for messing up, this helps folks be easier on themselves</li><li>To see how it works in practice, imagine you were late on a credit card bill. Take a deep breath and realize it's okay.</li></ul>

Practice Financial Self-Compassion

When we experience financial shame, it can make it hard to ask for help, learn about money, or take necessary steps to improve financial well-being.Four things that help alleviate shame: personal vulnerability, critical awareness, reaching out, and speaking shame.

Don’t Let Shame Stop You from Asking for Help

<ul><li>When you are working on creating a healthy relationship with money, don’t forget to pause and give yourself credit.</li><li>Research has found that the more frequently we experience a sense of progress, like a "small win," the more likely we are to continue that positive behaviour.</li><li>The more we celebrate those kinds of wins, the more it confirms that we can all be good with money.</li></ul>

Creating A Holistic Life Using Your Money

The emotional aspect of money is never discussed in financial planning.

A financial therapist on how emotion, not logic, drives most decision-making.

Money is emotional — but personal finance advice rarely accounts for that

Wherever you are in the world, food is used to influence affective states – whether it’s a soothing bowl of congee or chicken soup when you are unwell, or a piece of chocolate when you are feeling miserable. The question is, how deep is food’s potential to affect how people feel? Can food improve your mood in a significant or lasting way – and, if so, how? Might we eventually be able to prescribe nutritional interventions to help people feel better?

Food And Your Mood

Emerging and accumulating evidence indicates that modifiable features of our lifestyles that influence our immune systems - including nutrition - are important factors in our vulnerability to, severity, and recovery from depression.

The Right Diet To Help With Depression

<ul><li>We tend to eat habitually, choosing foods and flavour profiles that are familiar.</li><li>We need to approach changes to your eating with openness and patience</li><li>It's best to try new foods when you are in a good mood and to approach them with a sense of curiosity.</li><li>Prepare to form some new, manageable habits.</li><li>The most important factor when it comes to building new eating habits is repetition.</li><li>To make repetition achievable, your new behaviours should be small enough that they are manageable even at your most tired.</li></ul>

Changing Your Eating Habits

<ul><li>A whole-food, plant-heavy, fibre-rich diet might reduce depression risk through its anti-inflammatory qualities, through its effects on gut microbes and via other pathways.</li><li>Approach changes to your eating with openness and patience. Give healthy new additions to your diet a few chances if needed, and experiment with different ways of preparing the food. Prepare to form some new, manageable habits.</li></ul>

Eat Real Food, Unpolished and Unprocessed

<ul><li>In the context of an overall healthy diet, there are limits to the health benefits of supplementation.</li><li>Therefore, it would be best to try to increase our consumption of plant foods, whole grains and oily fish.</li><li>There might be a role for the targeted use of supplements to help protect brain health and support mood.</li></ul>

Those Supplements Pills Don't Work As Thought

Supporting a healthy and diverse gut microbiome is likely to be beneficial to mood regulation. The primary food for the population of gut microbes is fibre, acquired by the consumption of a broad range of wholegrains and plant foods – nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, legumes, fruits and vegetables.If we consume insufficient dietary fibre, the balance of microbes becomes perturbed and the protective mucus lining of the gut is depleted, leaving the gut cells vulnerable. In this condition, the junctions of the gut lining can slacken, permitting the transfer of gut bacteria into the bloodstream.

Focus on Fibre, a Key Food for Gut Microbes

Your gut microbiome benefits from a diverse range of plant foods. While there are 300,000 edible plants on the planet, we eat just a tiny fraction of these, around 200. Recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5954204/">research</a> suggests it would be good to aim for 30 different plant foods per week. This might sound daunting, but remember that fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, wholegrains, herbs, and spices count as plant foods. And yet more than half of our calories come from just three plants: corn, rice and wheat. Clearly, there is some work to do.

Mix a Variety of Plant Foods Into Your Diet

There is an even faster way to increase the diversity of your gut inhabitants: fermented foods. Fermented products – foods and drinks that have undergone bacterial fermentation – have been a feature of traditional diets around the world for thousands of years. They include kimchi, kombucha, kvass, boza, togwa, kefir,  cheese, yogurt and dozens more. Originating as ways to preserve the harvest and supply nourishment through long, cold winters, these foods are now understood to play a beneficial role in gut-microbial diversity and, by extension, our health.

Eat Fermented Foods

A Western-style diet – high in added sugars, refined carbohydrates, processed meat, fried/fast foods and saturated fats – is associated with increased depression risk in adults and more inflammation and depression in adolescents. There is also evidence that a Western-style diet can impair memory function and appetite control within just a week.Adolescents are prime consumers of sugar-sweetened soft drink, which is of concern in light of research showing that, within just three weeks, moderate consumption of these products increased inflammation in healthy males.

Beware Of The Burger And Coke Diet

Alcoholic beverages can, in excess, be detrimental to mood, and research <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21382111/">indicates</a> a relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and major depression. Try to stay within or below national recommendations for healthy consumption. If you struggle to control your alcohol intake, contact your GP to find out about support services in your area.

Limit Your Alcohol Intake

Your mood and the food you eat are connected.

Depression and low mood are not separate from the rest of your bodily health: the right diet can help reduce your risk

food

Food

How to use food to help your mood | Psyche Guides

Most of us prefer to avoid feeling angry at work (and, really, in any other area of life, such as relationships, family, sports, and even social media). However, this doesn’t help us in achieving that goal. In fact, unless you are not human, you will find that there are many situations that can trigger your anger, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12214">including some</a> that seem absolutely justified: unfairness, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419302167">provocation</a>, the realization that people are trying to take advantage of us; not to mention incompetent drivers, <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/03/how-to-spot-an-incompetent-leader">bad bosses</a>, annoying work colleagues, and, of course, a slow internet connection.

Anger At Work: The Premise

Psychologists have studied anger for over 100 years. Like any universal behavior, it is clear that there must be at least some rational reasons, and even justifications, for anger to be so pervasive and dominant in every society, and across all walks of life. From an evolutionary perspective, anger is best understood as a neuro-cognitive adaptation <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513821000908">“designed to bargain for better treatment.”</a> In other words, anger is a demand for help, change, and action.

Studying Anger

Anger is both a common defense tactic, as well as a universal offense strategy. We get angry to show power, status, and to intimidate, even if this also shows we are unable to manage a situation well. In many ways, anger is an attempt to gain control when we have lost self-control.

Functions Of Anger: Showing Status or Strength to Others

Anger is cathartic, which is why repressing or suppressing it has <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-61519-001">been linked</a> to a wide range of psychological and physical well-being deficits. As Mark Twain famously noted, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

Functions Of Anger: Venting

Anger is a signal that the status quo must be changed, and it can fuel moral outrage, which is often a force for good.And yet, there’s no question that anger is also corrosive.

Functions Of Anger: A Force For Change

Everybody can learn to manage their anger more effectively, and that there are clear benefits to doing so. Here are some tools and approaches that can with anger management:<ul><li>Cognitive behavioral therapy.</li><li>Mindfulness.</li><li>Empathy.</li><li>Rational compassion.</li><li>Reducing exposure to stressful situations.</li></ul>

Anger Management

There are many ways to self-coach and get better at managing our anger, and they will generally pay off. The point is not to eliminate it from our lives, which would not make us human, but to learn to control it and even display it in strategic ways, so as to mitigate its downside and leverage its upside. Ultimately, the best way to judge anger is by its particular effects, both on ourselves and others.

The Bottom Line

The point is not to eliminate it from our lives, which would not make us human, but to learn to control it and even display it in strategic ways.


Science explains that anger at work has a bright side. Here’s how to manage it

<ul><li>The term “affect” refers to your ability to express emotions. </li><li>Beyond your facial expression, your affect also includes your hand gestures, body language, and even your tone of voice.</li><li>A flat affect refers to low or lack of an emotional expression when the situation may merit a more evident reaction. For example, smiling or laughing at a good joke.</li><li>A flat affect isn’t a condition on its own. It can be a symptom of a mental health condition, although this isn’t always the case.</li></ul>

Flat Affect

While researchers don’t know the exact cause of a flat affect, it may be related to brain chemistry.More specifically, certain parts of your brain, like the sensorimotor system or the amygdala, may be underactive compared with people who don’t have a flat affect.While a flat affect is most commonly associated with symptoms of schizophrenia, this isn’t the only explanation for it. Here are some other potential causes.

Causes of A Flat Affect

Certain medications, like antidepressants, can cause a flat affect.In a 2017 study that examined 3,243 user reviews of antidepressants from three health websites, 41% of reviews reported negative emotional and behavioral effects, including a flat affect.In this case, the reviewers were taking either:<ul><li>escitalopram (Lexapro)</li><li>duloxetine (Cymbalta)</li><li>vilazodone (Viibryd)</li><li>vortioxetine (Trintellix)</li></ul>

Antidepressant Medications

Research shows an overlap in symptoms between schizophrenia and autism. This may sometimes include a flat affect, which has confused experts for decades because the two conditions are very different.Some autistic people may have a hard time expressing emotions or responding to social interactions, which can present as a flat affect.For example, in a small 2019 study, researchers found that autistic people had more muted muscle movements in their faces when watching films designed to stimulate emotions than a control group.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Some forms of dementia can cause changes to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which can sometimes manifest behaviorally as a flat affect.Although not always the rule, symptoms of dementia may include progressive aphasia (the inability to communicate) and a loss of facial expression, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Dementia

As you may know, depression exists on a spectrum.In some cases, a flat affect may be present along with related symptoms, like anhedonia, or the inability to feel pleasure. This isn’t always the case, though.Flat affect can result from a decreased emotional response to events around you.

Depression

<ul><li>Facial paralysis, such as after a stroke or from other muscle disorders, can give someone the appearance of a flat affect.</li><li>People with Parkinson’s disease may experience hypomimia, more commonly known as a “masked face.” This refers to a progressive decline in facial expression, which can manifest as a flat affect.</li><li>A flat affect is considered a “negative” symptom of <a href="https://psychcentral.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-overview">schizophrenia</a>, which means there’s an absence of a certain emotion or behavior.</li></ul>

Muscle Disorders And Other Causes

People who live with schizoid personality disorder may sometimes have some symptoms that overlap with schizophrenia.According to the diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), this includes avoiding social interactions and displaying emotional coldness, detachment, or a flat affect toward others.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Having a flat affect doesn’t mean that you don’t feel emotions. Rather, it means that your reactions on the outside don’t necessarily match what you’re feeling on the inside.Some telltale signs of a flat affect include:<ul><li>appearing to lack interest</li><li>avoiding eye contact</li><li>apathetic body language or nonverbal cues</li><li>neutral facial expressions</li><li>monotone or flat voice</li><li>lack of hand gestures</li></ul>

Signs and Symptoms of Flat Affect

If you have a flat affect, you may consider treating it. With the appropriate treatment plan in place, this symptom may be treatable and recovery is possible.It’s highly advisable to reach out to a doctor, neurologist, or mental healthcare professional. A trained professional will be able to determine the underlying cause of your flat affect and provide treatment options.Treatment will vary according to what caused the flat affect.

Treatment Of Flat Affect

MedicationsIf a medication is causing your flat affect, your doctor may change the type of medication you’re taking or the dosage. PsychotherapyTherapy is considered a first-line treatment in many of the conditions associated with a flat affect. Social skills trainingFor people living with schizophrenia, social skills training can teach you how to express your emotions and body language appropriately for social situations.Speech therapySince a monotone voice is often a sign of a flat affect, this type of training can help you express more emotion using different tones of voice.

Kinds Of Treatments For The Flat Affect

No facial or voice expressions? Flat affect can be the result of a personality trait or a few mental health conditions. Here's what to know.

Showing No Emotion? It Could Be Flat Affect

As we juggle the demands of this ongoing pandemic, friendships have shifted in all sorts of unexpected ways. Many people now seem to have less stamina for socializing.People became used to having smaller social circles, and some realized they prefer keeping it that way. As a result, these people might be more choosy about the friendships they do invest time in. That’s mostly a good thing, but it can be painful for the people who are hurt that they are no longer a priority.

Fewer Friends For All

A lopsided friendship happens when one friend is more active in maintaining contact and the other friend is more passive about keeping the connection going. It’s understandable to be sad or upset if you’re the one constantly reaching out, sending thoughtful messages and asking if you can schedule brunch or happy hour together.We live longer if we feel connected and supported. So when someone expresses that they’re perhaps not as interested in being friends with us or they need a break or whatever, that can trigger this innate fear inside of us that we’re going to be alone or unvalued.

Lopsided Friendships

It’s easy to jump to conclusions and assume that if we don’t hear from someone as often as we’d like to, that means they don’t like us, or they don’t value our friendship. More likely: The other person is just busy — it’s not that deep.The solution for baseless assumptions? Challenge these beliefs, which are likely way off-base. Are these negative thoughts based in reality, or is this your insecurity speaking?

Resist the Urge to Make Assumptions

People often wait to alert their friend to an issue until it’s boiled over from annoyance to full-on anger. The best time to address the issue is when you begin feeling that distance or imbalance in the relationship.You might be tempted to blurt out, “Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a while. What gives?” But that could put your friend on the defence. Instead, let them know you’re reaching out to them out of a desire for their company, and not accusing them of what they’re failing to do.

Invite, Don’t Accuse

Your friend may be feeling like this is more of a logistics problem, and isn’t aware that you’re open to changing your established routine. So the next time you reach out, you could say something like:<ul><li>Would you want to try something different the next time we meet? Maybe we can grab tea instead of cocktails?</li><li>Instead of meeting up for brunch, maybe we could grab a coffee or go for a walk in the park?</li><li>Maybe we can go on a double date so we can include our significant others?</li></ul>

Be Flexible

Your friend also might prefer to change the mode and frequency of communication. Maybe texting is better for them instead of taking phone calls. Or they might want to talk on the phone once a week instead of exchanging DMs on a social platform they’re no longer using. Ask!

Changing The Medium

Lots of people may find themselves on the opposite side of the spectrum: They’re the ones who are too snowed under to invest in their friendships. In this case, it is your responsibility, as a friend, to let the other person know about what they can expect from you for the foreseeable future. It saves a lot of heartache for everyone if you tell them the truth about what is going on with you.

If You’re the One Who Can’t Prioritize Your Friendships, Be Upfront About It

If you need to let a friend know you won’t be as available in the future try saying this:<ul><li>I know we tend to talk on the phone for hours, but I probably have an hour max on Sundays before I have to prepare for the week.</li><li>It’s been really hard for me to talk on the phone lately, so texting is the best way to reach me these next few weeks.</li><li>Hey, I know we usually talk every week. In this season of work, I’m swamped. I’ll drop you a line when things calm down.</li></ul>

Giving The Signal

If you think a pal is way less (or way more) invested than you are, here’s what to do.

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

How to handle a lopsided friendship

<ul><li>Many emotionally neglectful families aren’t able to teach their children how to soothe themselves</li><li>Self-soothing can get you through some of the most challenging days or moments of your life by helping you manage feelings of hurt, anger, sadness, or grief.</li><li>It can make you more resilient as a person.</li></ul>

Most people don’t give much thought to self-soothing

Fortunately, self-soothing is not complex or difficult to learn. In fact, for most people, it’s mostly a process of self-discovery, trying different ideas, and observing the outcome. As you go through the process of learning self-soothing, an added benefit is getting to know yourself better on an emotional level.Since every human being is unique, the things that will be soothing to you will be specific to you.

Self-soothing is a learnable skill

<ol><li>Make a list of possible activities that you think might be soothing for you. You will have this initial group of possible strategies ready to try when you need them.</li><li>Watch for strong feelings of anger, hurt, sadness, or any other feeling that is too sharp or painful to manage. These are your chances to try out your list.</li><li>Try different strategies at different times, since different strategies may work in different situations and with different feelings. Try one strategy and if it doesn’t work, try another.</li><li>If one of your strategies isn't good, mark it off. Add new ones as they occur to you.</li></ol>

Steps to learn self-soothing

<ul><li>Self-talk: Talk to yourself in your own head about what you’re feeling or its cause</li><li>Cry: Crying helps you maintain biological homeostasis and regulates your heart rate when you are upset</li><li>Exercise: Cook something creative or healthy</li><li>Play with a child</li><li>Call a friend</li><li>Sit quietly and look out the window</li><li>Meditate.</li></ul>

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