Personality Trait
Personality traits are stable aspects of one’s personality that differentiate people from each other. Personality traits exist on a spectrum, meaning that every person exhibits certain aspects of a trait in different amounts. Modern psychological research has led to the creation of the OCEAN model, an acronym for the “Big Five” personality traits. OCEAN stands for openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These traits are the five most influential categories of personal expression according to psychological researchers.
Here’s a breakdown of the Big Five personality traits and what they mean. Openness is the general quality of curiosity, creativity, and imagination. Conscientiousness refers to the ability to be thoughtful and organized. Extraversion (also spelt extroversion) measures a person’s sociability, expressiveness, and excitability. Agreeableness is similar to extraversion, but focuses more on empathy and altruism. Finally, neuroticism relates to a person’s mood, with high neuroticism correlating with sadness, anxiety, and irritability.
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a medical condition unique to mothers directly after having a baby. While being overwhelmed, anxious or stressed after having a baby is normal, PPD is characterized by extreme sadness, anxiety or irritability right after birth. The condition could take anywhere from a couple weeks to several months to subside. It is relatively uncommon, with around 14% of new mothers being diagnosed with the condition. Treatment for PPD includes psychotherapy and antidepressant medication.
There are other postpartum mood disorders that vary in severity and rarity. Postpartum blues, commonly referred to as “baby blues”, is a tamer version of PPD that affects 50-75% of new mothers. It is characterized by random bouts of crying, sadness, and anxiety. Postpartum blues normally last for a week or two and require little to no medical attention. In contrast, postpartum psychosis (PPP) is much rarer than PPD, affecting 1 in 1000 new mothers, and represents the opposite end of the postpartum mood disorder spectrum. Mothers with postpartum psychosis experience insomnia, confusion, intense irritability, delusions and hallucinations as a result of giving birth. The condition requires immediate medical attention as mothers with PPP can harm themselves or others around them in this vulnerable state.
Pretty or Desirability Privilege
Pretty or desirable privilege consists of advantages given to people who meet their culture’s beauty standards. People with attractive features are more likely to be treated better by strangers, considered for jobs during interviews, or given promotions at their workplace. Furthermore, attractive people are less likely to be found guilty in court and statistically face lighter sentences when they are. Pretty privilege benefits both attractive men and women, but women uniquely have to grapple with the objectification that comes with it.
In previous centuries, that which is considered “conventionally attractive” was reliant on the culture, environment, and history of the country or nation one resided in. Due to globalization and colonialism, beauty standards all over the world have shifted to idealize proximity to whiteness, thinness, cisgenderness, and able-bodiedness. This comes from a cultural association of “prettiness” and “light skin” which formed from the white majority in places like the U.S. exporting their preferences to the places they colonized, which tied cisgender men and women that have fit bodies, light skin, and symmetrical faces to wealth and affluence, and therefore desirability.
Psychosis
Psychosis is the term used to describe the state of being disconnected from reality. It is important to note that psychosis is not a medical condition, but rather a term used to describe multiple symptoms. People undergoing a psychotic episode may have difficulties determining what is real and what is not. They may also experience ‘delusions’, beliefs with no basis in reality, or ‘hallucinations’, audio or visuals that others cannot perceive.
Psychosis does not have a single, absolute cause. It can arise from a combination of factors, including genetic predispositions, traumatic experiences, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Psychosis can also result from drug or alcohol abuse, in a similar fashion to how certain drugs can induce schizophrenia in those predisposed to it.