March 2016 Edition
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Know IFMSA Messages Behaviourism Personality Disorders When Ambition Speaks Out UJ-LC+JUST-LC Local Projects Stress, is it a Friend or Foe? Inheritance of Fear Curse of Brilliance HU-LC+MU-LC Local Projects MedLabs Consultancy Group هل تؤثر الشوكوالته على حالتنا النفسية ؟ Nocebo Effect YU-LC Local Project Students' Talents! National Projects Attention Dreamers When Science Fiction Turns Into Reality Synesthesia A Look Back - an IMFSA alumnus One more reason to head to the gym Invisible wounds Science of the hidden An EMR experience
IFMSA - International For more than 60 years, IFMSA has existed and been led by medical students worldwide. The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) was founded in 1951. It is the world’s oldest and largest independent organization representing associations of medical students internationally. It currently maintains 123 National Member Organizations from more than 100 countries across six continents with over 1.2 million students represented worldwide. IFMSA is recognized as a non-governmental organization within the United Nations’ system and the World Health Organization and as well, it works with the World Medical Association.
- Standing Committee on Professional Exchange (SCOPE): promotes the cultural understanding and the cooperation among medical students and other health professionals, through international exchanges.
The Executive Board governs the organization, the liaison officers build external relations, and the standing committees, initiatives, support divisions and regions lead the programming of the organization. The national member organizations (NMOs) are the official decision making body, where members from each national member organization meet bi-annually to vote on IFMSA’s policies and elect the team of officials.
- Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP): To educate students and professionals in the health care system about refugees, internally displaced people’s and other vulnerable populations’ health.
IFMSA was created to impact the world and to empower its members in taking their vision and ideas, and making them a reality. IFMSA has inspired generations of medical students to develop the leadership abilities and skills to take on challenges and to improve the world around them in a crucial period of their career. Engaging in IFMSA encourages both professional and personal collaborations irrespective of geographical, social, cultural, religious, racial, sexual and political differences. As a result, future doctors are becoming more culturally aware and sensitive physicians.
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Standing Committee on Research Exchange (SCORE): to develop both culturally sensitive students and skilled researchers intent on shaping the world of science in the upcoming future.
Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME): to implement an optimal learning environment for all medical students around the world and promote modern medical education.
IFMSA unites medical students worldwide to lead initiatives that impact positively the communities we serve. And, IFMSA represents the opinions and ideas of future health professionals in the field of global health, and works in collaboration with external partners.
“A world in which all medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally” is the global vision of IFMSA, and this vision is carried out through six standing committees: - Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including Aids (SCORA): Within SCORA, medical students from all over the world work on issues concerning Reproductive and Sexual health, whether that be through advocacy work, projects, or through peer education. - Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH): Works towards ensuring a healthy global society that is empowered through its knowledge, skills and opportunities to live a life of complete physical, mental and social well-being. IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 2
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IFMSA - Jordan It was 2006 when the Jordanian National Member Organization joined the IFMSA global entity. Ever since then, IFMSA-Jordan has committed to the service of our community through public health and medical awareness campaigns, serving orphans, the elderly and even tending to the environment. In addition, there is a focus on students in different schools of medicine in Jordan guiding them to a path of community contribution and voluntarism through several projects and campaigns that are based on honesty, transparency and mutual respect. The local committees of IFMSA-Jordan are currently well established at Jordan University of Science and Technology, University of Jordan, Hashemite University and Mutah University, and involve more than 3000 medical students. All of the four aforementioned committees are active in IFMSA-Jordan with a major focus on students, awareness campaigns, international exchange programs, conferences, workshops and assemblies. Furthermore, Yarmourk University are currently under way to becoming another established local committee in IFMSAJordan.
national or any other forms of discrimination. We aim to promote humanitarian ideals among medical students which will contribute to the creation of responsible future physicians. All members of IFMSA-Jordan are provided with the opportunity to discover the world of IFMSA and medicine from endless exchange and research programs that guarantee exposure to different cultures and societies, to promoting and facilitating professional and scientific exchanges that enhance medical knowledge and expand clinical concepts. Also, our members have the chance to represent Jordan through attending the global biannual general assemblies of IFMSA which are considered a cocktail of cultures and resemble the dynamics of the modern world. Development and advancement of the health in Jordan, spreading medical awareness across the country, and raising the standards of our medical education are the targets through our scope, and IFMSA-Jordan is known for its passionate, motivated and inspiring members that work on accomplishing all the missions and reach the targets needed to leap with our medical system to a whole new era.
The goal of IFMSA-Jordan is to serve the society and medical students in Jordan by empowering its members in using their knowledge and capacities for the benefit of society, and providing a link between members, medical students’ associations and international organizations to encourage the cooperation between them for the ultimate establishment of a well-educated community. The IFMSA community creates a pool of ideas, opinions and beliefs that are discussed, evaluated and exchanged, thus enhancing the overall skills of its members to better serve the healthcare system of Jordan. IFMSAJordan makes sure to achieve these goals without political, religious, social, racial,
www.ifmsa-jo.org
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Meet the Team of Officials Executive Board
Batool Wahdani
Mohammad Yousef
Haya Hayek
President
Secretary General
Vice President on External Affairs
Lamees Zyoud
Zaid Al-Dabbagh
Vice President on Internal
National Treasurer
Affairs
Support Division
Ahmad Mustafa
Ahmad Abbadi
Salameh Al-Habashneh
New Technology Support
Projects Support Division
Training Support Division
Division Director
Director
Director
Adel Nesheiwat
Bilal Mustafa
Farah Abdullah
National Officer on Research
National Officer on
National Officer on
Exchange
Professional Exchange
Reproductive Health & AIDs
Lubna Al-Abdallat
Mohammad Smadi
Yahya Mazari
National Officer on Human
National Public Health
National Officer on Medical
Rights & Peace
Officer
Education
Zakaria Shkoukani
Publications Support Division Director
National Officers
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www.ifmsa-jo.org
Zakaria Shkoukani Publications Support Division Director
Once again, the publications division returns to show you all the hard work IFMSA-Jo has been putting up over the past 6 months! Only this time, we decided it would be a good idea to integrate between the theme of the magazine, and that of the upcoming NGA’s. Psychology it is! ‘Beyond Synapses’, the 3rd edition of the IFMSA-Jo biannual magazine, consists of a variety of interesting and professionally written articles on different psychological diseases, phenomena, and facts! In addition, the latest campaigns both locally and nationally are highlighted to help show the public how hard us IFMSAians are constantly working to help make a better tomorrow. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the publications team, who helped make this possible. And I hope you all enjoy this issue of our awesome magazine!
Ala'a Alkhatib Chief Writer
Exciting! We have new faces on the team which always makes it an amazing experience - especially that they are all motivated to take publications to a whole new level. I loved how cooperative and creative everyone was, and I'm definitely looking forward to working on the next issue.
Inspiring! Being a member of a highly enthusiastic team is so thrilling. With every meeting I learnt new things, both in the academic and social aspects of life. Having different characteristics, we all share the same goal, providing you with the best IFMSAJo magazine.
Refreshing! Joining the Publications Division is one of the best decisions I have made so far. The past few months have been exhilarating to say the least. New friendships, experiences, and skills were gained and I honestly cannot wait for the ones to come.
Remarkable! Joining the social media team made me realize how important it is to upload all progress happening in IFMSA JO as it would make people interact more, by also trying to be diverse on the media. With all the accomplishments, I think there’s still much more to do!
Fun! I have always had a passion for working in any team related to social media, so this time the publications division recruited me as one of their media members and I must admit I’m enjoying the work!
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Zeina Abu Orabi Chief Editor
Legen ... wait for it ... dary! Legendary! The publications team is one of a kind, and working with them to produce this magazine was an unimaginable experience. Every single step was a new challenge. I've never developed such passion to work and I hope we keep up the good work.
Nijmeh Alsaadi Chief Writer
Tamer Salhab Chief Editor
Describe your journey in the Publications division so far in one word, and explain?
Jawad Nahar Social Media Team
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Message from the Publications Team
“Wait... what? Me? Publications director? Haha”, that was my reaction the first time I was approached by one of the members in the publications team last term (2014/15).. little did I know that half a year later I would be sitting on a cold winter night writing up a message for the next IFMSA-Jo magazine, as director.
Rama Soudi Social Media Team
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Messages..
IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March 16' Edition) 5
Batool Wahdani President of IFMSA-Jo
Messages..
Message from the President
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently”.
journey and to fight for our vision.
During the past three years, I was lucky enough to meet such people, to work with them, to travel with them, to organize events with them, to fight and argue with them. Although they may seem as misfits or troublemakers, they are the kindest, most dedicated, the change makers and the future life saviours. I call them crazy rebels; others call them IFMSA-Jo members.
I consider myself lucky, and even one of the luckiest, to be the president of this organization in a time when it’s reaching the uttermost of its success and achievements. And I also consider myself proud, and even of the proudest, to belong to an entity that actually has an impact on our community, who can save lives and protect them.
Here in IFMSA-Jo we “do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking”. We developed ourselves from being medical students overwhelmed with a huge amount of studies, into a group of organized professional people who work even better than employees in the biggest companies. Through every day, IFMSA Jo is growing bigger and better. From small events, to huge campaigns, to international conferences; it was never an easy job to do, or a simple commitment to keep, yet IFMSA Jo members never hesitated for a second not to continue the
From local to national team of officials, from members to volunteers to organizers, I can assure you that not only IFMSA Jo will always be in safe hands, but also our community, our country and our future will definitely be in safe hands. Although they may seem like crazy rebels, but “the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do”.
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Zeina Abu Orabi JUST-LC,Chief Editor of Publications Team
Articles..
It is quite mind-boggling to think that we can control the people around us, and raise our children to who and what we want them to be using a few theories of behaviorism. However, do we ever stop to think if someone has done the same for us? This someone shouldn't have to be a specific person; it can be a community. Let's take smoking as an example. Do you ever wonder why smoking indoors in Jordan is considered a norm, whereas if you go to London and smoke inside a public building, you will undoubtedly be fined? And it's not just about the government implementing a law, it's about how people perceive smoking in Jordan as "manly" or "adult-like". When a child tries to reach out for a cigarette (out of curiosity), people usually respond with, ̏No, sweetie, this is for adults." Henceforth, this child's brain associates smoking as a sign of adulthood.
We Weren′t Actually Born This Way dear, this might kill you" and we throw it away. The new generation of adults will be more aware of the serious complications smoking has on our health, and will be less tolerant to seeing people smoke indoors. In the 1960s, Robert Zanjonc published a paper that was revolutionary in the psychology field called Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure where he demonstrated that the more you see something (although a little scary at the beginning), the more you start accepting it, liking it and feeling comfortable with it. The fact that we were born and raised into a lifestyle where people smoke in hospitals, at weddings, in the workplace, at home and even socialize at cafés for the mere goal of smoking might just explain why we as a society cannot now accept it as a stigma, and continue to smoke even after modern research has continuously proved its health risks. Food for thought, don't you agree?
John B. Watson, a psychologist who worked on the classical behaviorism theory back in the 1910s, proved this with his famous experiment: Little Albert. His experiment is now considered unethical, but at the time was acceptable and ground-breaking. He basically conducted a series of experiments on a nine-month-old baby called Albert where he introduced several animals to Albert and the baby responded by reaching out to pat them. The next step was to find something that would make baby Albert scared, so Watson struck a metal bar with a hammer, making the baby cry out of fear and agitation. After that, Watson re-introduced the animals to Albert, and made this loud noise every time Albert came near them, thus creating a fear of these animals that wasn't there in the first place. Imagine the next time a child reaches out for a cigarette and our response becomes "Don't,
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Mohammad Abu Zaid HU-LC, General Delegate
Articles..
"It's a disorder not a disease"
I have been struggling all day. This is hardly uncommon for me, but previous struggles mostly involved "How many chocolate chips can I eat and still weigh 93 pounds?". But this struggle is different, unfamiliar, and possibly more difficult, because I’m trying to convince you that I’m not a monster. I was first diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) at the age of nineteen, and I remember running from my therapist’s office to my dorm room and looking it up online. The results were not promising: severe mental illness, considered untreatable by many, completed suicide rate approximately ten percent. Being borderline (type of PD) is something you hide and hide carefully. Personality disorders represent "an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the individual who exhibits it", according to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual on Mental Disorders. These patterns tend to be fixed and consistent across situations and are typically perceived to be appropriate by the individual even though they may markedly affect their day-to-day life in negative ways. PDs are common, and are associated with co-morbid medical and psychiatric conditions and increased utilization of health care resources. Having a basic understanding of these patterns of thinking and behaving can help family physicians (FPs) identify specific PD diagnosis, ensure appropriate treatment, and reduce the frustration that arises when an individual is viewed as a “difficult patient”.
personality disorder struggles to relate to others. As a result, they show patterns of behaviour most would regard as dramatic, erratic and threatening or disturbing, the main personality disorders in this category are Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic and Narcissistic personality disorder. Cluster C personality disorders: Someone with a cluster C personality disorder fears personal relationships and shows patterns of anxious and fearful behaviour around other people. Others may be withdrawn and reluctant to socialise, the main personality disorders in this category are: Avoidant, Dependent and Obsessive compulsive personality disorder. Talking to Someone With a Personality Disorder. Mental health advocate Julie K. Hersch describes the five-stage process of acceptance that someone with mental personality issues typically goes through :Unaware; the majority of people living with a personality disorder don’t realize they have one,
The different types of personality disorder that might need treatment can be broadly grouped into one of three clusters, called A, B or C. Cluster A personality disorders: a person with a cluster A personality disorder tends to have difficulty relating to others and usually shows patterns of behaviour most people would regard as odd and eccentric, the main personality disorders in this category are Paranoid, Schizoid and Schizotypal personality disorder. Cluster B personality disorders: Someone with a cluster B IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 8
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even if they realize they aren’t easy to live with. It’s best to share your concern by giving someone specific examples of problem behaviors and follow up by offering the resources needed to find a doctor. Denial; most people who are told they have a personality disorder don’t believe it. It isn’t uncommon for them to get angry or defensive. Keep trying to share your concerns if someone is refusing help. Hersch says, "Be consistent and persistent. Enlist the help of family and friends". Resistance; when people first begin to accept there’s a problem, they fight the belief that it’s serious. They resist getting medical treatment and believe they can change their behaviors on their own. At this stage, encourage a family member or friend to make medical help a part of their personal treatment plan, however, in order to avoid future problems. Flakiness; once they start therapy or medication, people with personality disorders often skip or stop treatment without warning. Be there to remind them that no one is perfect, no one is always at the top of their game, and that tomorrow offers new chances to make healthier choices. Acceptance; after receiving the support needed to overcome denial, resistance and struggles with staying in treatment, patients with these disorders may come to a place of acceptance. In these situations, treatments are seen as a top priority and appreciated as tools for healthy living.
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Dr.Laith Abbadi
Interviews..
When Ambition Speaks Out
It has been said that “the most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity”, yet for some, making life changing decisions isn’t that intimidating. A perfect example of whom is Dr. Laith Abbadi, an embodiment of great will for being one of the two first psychiatric interns at the University of Jordan, and one of the most amusing stand-up comedians. We sat down with Dr. Laith and got to know him a little better Please introduce yourself. I graduated from the Hashemite University Medical School in 2015, and now I’m a first year intern at the Jordanian University Hospital psychiatric department. I have stand-up comedy as my hobby since my second year of college. How would you describe your medical school life, and how did your side-career as a comedian affect you and your personality throughout med school? My med school life was amazing. I didn’t allow life to take control of me, I was the one in control. I set my priorities ahead and worked accordingly. I don’t believe in the saying that “you should work hard today to relax in the future”, I have everything in my life running simultaneously, I work hard and enjoy my life. Regarding my hobby, it vastly affected my personality. It helped me considerably to break the ice with people in a smoother way and to be more socially intelligent, and that, for the most part, came from performing live shows, as we directly get in contact with the audience which gets bigger with every show, as do my presentation skills. How did you first find out about the new psychiatry program at UJ? And what made you go into this field? Ironically, by accident. I worked three months at Al-Rashid Hospital Center, which is a great hospital for psychiatric diseases in Jordan attracting patients from all over the region, then I quit, as I didn’t find myself there or what I’m looking for. My plan was either to continue with psychiatry in the USA or to specialize in dermatology at JU. When I came to apply for the dermatology program, IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 10
I came across psychiatry positions, and immediately I applied to it. Why psychiatry in particular? Firstly, our society doesn’t know anything about it. Secondly, I saw that I can utilize my social skills in this field much more than in any other fields. Thirdly, I realized that people need awareness regarding this field, which I can help raise through my work in the social media. This interchangeable employment between my two life careers, where I can use my social skills in treating patients and use the social media to aware people about their health doesn’t exist in other specialties. Don’t you think it’s risky being one of two students to try out a new program? Well, generally, I love to be the first to try anything new, and it is an advantage, because it allows you to add your own touch. For example, when I first started, I made a special admission form for the psychiatry department, and helped in setting the policies for the new psychiatry in-patient unit, which was founded in 2014 and accommodates around 10 patients with its excellent yet inexpensive services. Moreover, being the first resident means I learn directly from the specialists as there are no other residents, and we help the specialists in teaching medical and PharmD students. In addition, I have the privilege of being the first graduate from JU with its qualifications. Do you think the younger generations will follow in your steps? Well, it depends on the people themselves. Not everybody likes psychiatry, and not everybody is suitable for psychiatry, as it requires specific personality skills to www.ifmsa-jo.org
deal with the patients. You should have a dynamic personality, knowing when to laugh with the patient from when to be strict, but generally speaking, I think yes, they would follow. When I applied, I was one among twenty applicants, so in the upcoming years I believe there will be double the number of applicants.
Do you have any recommendations to current medical students? Always keep the psychological aspects of the patient on mind and never neglect any indicator of the his psychological health, and refer him to the appropriate unit as needed.
How do you hope to contribute to the psychiatry field in Jordan? AWARENESS!! People have to realize that these are diseases and are curable. Regarding the general populations’ misconception and bad picture about psychiatry, what should be done to change this mentality in Jordan? And what is your opinion on this matter? Yes, there is a huge misconception about psychiatry that must be corrected. There are two types of patients visiting psychiatry department these days. One, are the highly educated patients who tend to come at the beginning of the problem, and the others with little education, they come when the disease is way too progressed. The good news is this problem is being solved day by day and people are now becoming more educated regarding this issue, however complete resolution demands our time and hard effort.
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University of Jordan Local Committee
Local Activities..
University of Jordan Local Projects
UJ-LC Profile - Date of establishment: 2007. - Number of active members: 900 - Number of projects done: 84 - Number of NGAs done by the LC: 2 - Facebook group link: www.facebook.com/groups/31724979534/ - Official contact email: President.ifmsa.uj@gmail.com Start with your health campaign: “Start with your health Campaign”, is a medical campaign organized by IFMSA-Jo/ University of Jordan Local Committee and Basmitak Hata’llem campaign, targeting the residents of Gaza Camp - Jerash. It has many steps each concerned with a specific health issue. Step 1: Providing Eyeglasses and eye medical examinations for all those who need it in cooperation with AlShami Optics. This step was conducted in two days, a day for men and another one for women and children. More than 500 people were benefited and around 300 eyeglasses were given, and more than 30 transferred surgical cases for surgeries. Step 2: Fundraising event (wonder fight), which was held in Seilgarten Amman. Step 3: It was concerned about nutrition and general health. In cooperation with Al Hikma Pharmaceutical company and a group of doctors including: Dr. Mohammad Sallam, Dr. Ahmad Toumar, Dr. Mira Al jabi and Dr. Zaid Wakeeleh. A free medical day was held to the people of the camp; in addition those who needed any medication prescribed after the screening were provided with it immediately.
كرﻡ ﻭكراﻣة: This campaign targeted Altalbieh Refugee Camp for Syrian and Palestinian refugees which lies 30 minutes away from Amman. After several visits to the camp it was found that most basic needs for life are missing, the children there are starving, education is diminishing and diseases are spreading. So this campaign aimed to help those refugees in as many aspects as possible, focusing on: 1- Family planning 2- Psychology 3- Medical aspect and free clinics 4- Social Aspects
Step 4: Two open days were held to educate kids in the camp about dental health and good food. Volunteers held awareness workshops about dental health for kids and then in collaboration with dental students in JUH, kids were examined and all the needed cases were transferred to JUH for free. 300 toothbrushes and toothpastes were distributed given by Dawacom and Doctor Niqola Barghouth. IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 12
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Jordan University of Science and Technology Local Committee
Local Activities..
JUST-LC Profile - Date of establishment: 2006 - Number of Registered members: 2400 (Around 600 active members) - Number of NGAs done by the LC: 2 - Facebook page link: www.facebook.com/ groups/ifmsa.jo.just - Official contact email: president.ifmsa. jo.just@gmail.com HOSPITALS 101 Hospitals are considered one of the most crowded places and it might be an underestimated source of transmitted diseases that might be resistant and more dangerous than the common strains in the community. Problems related to hospitalized patients’ visitors are increasing and have become a troublesome matter to both doctors and patients themselves in many hospitals, due to that issue it was a must to hold such an awareness campaign in order to provide an adequate education about the appropriate behavior of visiting and to protect the visitors and their families from nosocomial infections. The campaign took place at King Abdullah University Hospital in addition to Princess Basma Hospital and outpatient clinics during the month of September, 2015.
Jordan University of Science and Technology Local Projects اﻃفالنا حياتنا The littlest feet make the biggest footprints in our hearts. Because babies are a blessing and the parent’s precious gems and the reason behind their smiles, and because SCORA at JUST-LC always aims to deliver the best awareness, “ "أطفالنا حياتناcampaign was established to bring the attention of these parents to the most common mistakes, the best and finest ways in dealing with babies to provide them with the optimum living environment that ensures their health and well being. This big-scale campaign took off in Irbid's camp as a workshop for mothers given by a specialist that included CPR training. After that, it embarked on a series of awareness campaigns that targeted a large number of people in malls and public parks with the participation of over 45 student volunteers. These campaigns consisted of multiple stations that included an awareness booth on the best ways to take care of babies, a CPR training booth to teach the parents how to deal with situations of cardiac arrest and choking, and finally, a growth parameters booth to check babies and little children's growth. And this is not all of it, " "أطفالنا حياتناis ongoing and plans to take it to another level with several schools and hospitals visits to spread awareness to the teachers and new mothers and check the growth of the young students.
Hospitals 101 distributed more than 1400 brochures that contain advises regarding patients room visits, personal hygiene and the appropriate precautions for diseases, helped to identify the main sections within the hospitals. Moreover it contributed in a routine checkup for more than 750 visitors, including blood pressure and blood glucose levels by the medical volunteers, distribution of 500 vouchers for free vision screening, distribution of 700 vouchers of free laboratory examination of blood and urine and it also involved more than 50 volunteers from different years of medical school. www.ifmsa-jo.org
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Baha Alshraideh UJ-LC, General Delegate
Articles..
Stress: is it a Friend or Foe?
It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat; stress makes you ill. It increases the risk of everything from the common cold to cardiovascular disease and also makes us more vulnerable to memory loss and many psychological disorders. However, recently, I changed my mind about stress and I want to change yours too. I would like to start with the study that made me rethink my whole approach to stress. This study tracked 30,000 adults in the United States for eight years, and they started by asking people, "How much stress have you experienced in the last year?" They also asked, "Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health?" And then they used public death records to find out who died.
and more confident, but the most fascinating finding was how their physical stress response changed. From now on, Stress is a friend that gets us out of the worst cases, as a response which is protective and even life-giving, because hopefully the next time you're stressed out, you're going to remember this article and think to yourself: This is my body helping me rise to the challenge.
As expected people who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43% increased risk of dying, but that was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful for your health! People who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful, had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including people who had relatively little stress. So this study got me wondering: Can changing one’s point of view about stress makes them healthier? Science says yes! When you change your mind about stress, your body's response to stress also changes. We all went through it, at least one time in our lives, stress from work, worrying about the house bills or even a hard stressful exam where we sweated, and felt our hearts pound. Normally, we interpret these physical changes as anxiety or signs that we aren't coping very well with the pressure. Then again, what if you viewed them instead as signs that your body was energized, preparing you to meet this challenge? That is exactly what participants were told in a study conducted at Harvard University. Before going through a stress test, they were taught to rethink their stress response as helpful. That pounding heart is preparing you for action. If you're breathing faster, it's no problem - more oxygen to your brain. Participants who learned to view the stress response as helpful for their performance, were less anxious IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 14
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Nijmeh Alsaadi UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Articles..
Important concepts Learning could be defined as a long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience. There are many different types of learning, and although different from behavior, it has been agreed upon that learning can best be measured through changes in behavior. People and animals can learn to associate neutral stimuli with stimuli that produces reflexive, involuntary responses and will learn to respond similarly to the new stimulus as they did to the old one. This is known as classical conditioning, which is brought about by repeated pairings of the neutral stimulus with the potent stimulus. What did they do? Kerry Ressler, a neurobiologist and psychiatrist at Emory University, and Brian Dias trained mice to fear the smell of acetophenone, a chemical with a scent similar to those of cherries and almonds. They wafted the scent around a small chamber, while giving small electric shocks to male mice. The animals eventually learned to associate the scent with pain, shuddering in the presence of acetophenone even without a shock.
Inheritance of Fear Despite never having encountered acetophenone in their lives, the offspring exhibited increased sensitivity when introduced to its smell, shuddering more markedly in its presence compared with the descendants of mice that had been conditioned to be startled by a different smell or that had gone through no such conditioning. A third generation of mice — the ‘grandchildren’ — also inherited this reaction, as did mice conceived through in vitro fertilization with sperm from males sensitized to acetophenone. These responses were paired with changes to the brain structures that process odors. The mice sensitized to acetophenone, as well as their descendants, had more neurons that produce a receptor protein known to detect the odor compared with control mice and their progeny. Structures that receive signals from the acetophenonedetecting neurons and send smell signals to other parts of the brain (such as those involved in processing fear) were also bigger. What does this mean? Certain fears can be inherited through the generations. The authors suggest that a similar phenomenon could influence anxiety and addiction in humans. But some researchers are skeptical of the findings because a biological mechanism that explains the phenomenon has not been identified. According to convention, the genetic sequences contained in DNA are the only way to transmit biological information across generations. Random DNA mutations, when beneficial, enable organisms to adapt to changing conditions, but this process typically occurs slowly over many generations. Yet some studies have hinted that environmental factors can influence biology more rapidly but their role in the inheritance of behavior is still controversial. The researchers propose that DNA methylation — a reversible chemical modification to DNA that typically blocks transcription of a gene without altering its sequence — explains the inherited effect. In the fearful mice, the acetophenonesensing gene of sperm cells had fewer methylation marks, which could have led to greater expression of the odorantreceptor gene during development. But how the association of smell with pain influences sperm remains a mystery.
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Aya Naim UJ-LC, General Delegate
Articles..
The curse of brilliance: creativity and mental illness
“Men have called me mad;” writes Edgar Allan Poe in his short story Eleonora, which is often regarded as autobiographical, “but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence.” The idea of the ‘tortured artist’ roots all the way back to ancient Greece, when Aristotle noted: “Those who have been eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry, and the arts have all had tendencies toward melancholia.” But is it just another dramatic ancient myth, or is there a scientifically proven genetic link between mental illness and creativity? Is creativity a side effect of suffering, or is mental illness the price creative people have to pay for their unique abilities or is the relationship between the two a lot more complex? From Virginia Woolf’s suicide note to Van Gogh chopping off his own ear, Sylvia Plath placing her head in an oven to Leo Tolstoy’s diary of depression, the painful pages of history offer no shortage of evidence linking mental illness to creativity, bringing the myth to life. Numerous studies have conclusively found correlations
between creativity and mental illness, especially bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes extreme and drastic shifts in mood and energy that include mania (or hypomania, a less severe form) and depression. During a manic episode, one feels euphoric and has very high self-esteem and an exaggerated sense of importance and skills; the world seems full of possibilities, causing them to make choices they’ll later regret, and take very dangerous risks. They need very little sleep, their minds are racing and they’re usually very productive. During a depressive episode one feels worthless, hopeless, drained, and sad or even devoid of emotion, their ability to think and concentrate is hugely diminished and they just have a loss of pleasure even when something good happens. But what exactly is creativity? An article published by King’s College London in 2015 describes a creative person as “Someone who takes novel approaches requiring cognitive processes that are different from prevailing modes of thought or expression.” Nancy Andreasen, a neuroscientist and neuropsychiatrist who was declared a genius after taking an IQ test in kindergarten, has shown huge interest in this subject. She conducted a study in which she interviewed and tested 30 gifted and distinguished writers from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; a famous creative-writing program in the University of Iowa where she had completed her residency in psychiatry, and compared them with 30 educationally matched control subjects. The results of this study bewildered Nancy herself, what she found is summarized in the table below. She found that rates of mood disorder were extremely high in the writers; 80% had some type of mood disorder, a rate significantly different from the control subjects.
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www.ifmsa-jo.org
Surprisingly, writers she interviewed made it quite clear that their altered mood states affected their creativity, and that they were unable to be creative when either depressed or manic. Another study tested the intelligence of 700,000 Swedish 16-year-olds who were followed up a decade later. Results published in 2010 showed that those who were outstanding when they were 16 years old were four times as likely to develop bipolar disorder. The list of studies and researchers searching for a link goes on and on, but what do the results mean? How do they even make sense? When someone is at rest and not focused on a certain task, such as during day-dreaming, fantasizing, thinking about the past, picturing the future or just allowing their minds to wander, a network in the brain called the default mode network is automatically activated. In most people, this network is also suppressed by default when one is focusing on a task involving attention. Hikaru Takeuchi and his colleagues mapped the brain activity of mentally healthy individuals while they engaged in difficult working memory tasks. They found that as creativity of the participant increased, their ability to suppress and deactivate the precuneus www.ifmsa-jo.org
(an area of the default mode network) decreased. The ability to come up with novel ideas has been linked to the inability of individuals to suppress the precuneus during creative thinking. The researchers noted that “Such an inability to suppress seemingly unnecessary cognitive activity may actually help creative subjects in associating two ideas represented in different networks.” Those scoring high in schizotypy, a less intense form if schizophrenia, also had difficulty suppressing the precuneus. It’s important to note that although the idea of the ‘mad genius’ or the ‘tortured artist’ might be charming or fascinating, it shouldn’t be. As Nancy Andreasen emphasized, “These women and men had become successful writers not because of their tortuous mental health but despite it.” Mental illness does not make you creative, and great creativity can indeed exist without mental illness. They are just likely to exist together, hinting at an indirect genetic link that remains to this day somewhat vague. When certain risk factors like abuse or severe stress are present, creativity genes may express themselves as mental illness. Which has always made so much sense seeing as creative people are a lot more vulnerable in many aspects; they see connections other people don’t, they think outside the box, they are always open to new ideas and experiences, and as Andreasen says, “Their inner world is complex, ambiguous, and filled with shades of gray rather than black and white. Too much openness means living on the edge. Sometimes the person may drop over the edge… into depression, mania, or perhaps schizophrenia.” IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March 16' Edition) 17
Hashemite University Local Committee
Local Activities..
HU-LC Profile - Date of establishment: 2013 - Number of active members: 825 - Number of projects done: 105 - Number of NGAs done by the LC: 2 - Facebook group link: www.facebook.com/groups/hulcjo/ - Official contact email: president.ifmsa.jo.hulc@gmail.com The Challenge 7.7% of households in Jordan have at least one person with a disability, yet people in our community up till now can’t receive the required level of awareness regarding disabled people. Consequently, disabled people still face several obstacles which make their lifestyles no easier than it actually is today. Our vision in this SCORP project was to make sure that everyone knew about the successful stories disabled people had to go through in order to make them face the challenge. That was through a lecture which was given by doctor San’a Abood in the Islamic Educational College and an awareness campaign to raise awareness for disabled people between university students.
Hashemite University Local Projects and time that is an obstacle for that to occur, so what we aimed for in this project was to make a meeting for all committees in order to draw the most enthusiastic ideas to implement throughout the term. This EB project was held in the Islamic Educational College, local committee sessions to discuss project ideas and creative ways of approaching the society were the most important aspect of the project. We took the chance of having that amount of members to give them a training session as well. The whole aim of the project was to involve all members, induce capacity building, underlie members and officers feedback and add more enthusiasm to the local committee. Pre-OSCE simulation The first OSCE for 4th year students is always the hardest and most challenging, since it was their first OSCE experience we thought they might need a little guidance on how the exam would turn out. This SCOME project was held in Prince Hamza Hospital on the 21st of November 2015, there were 3 stations and students were examined by the 6th year graduates. The aim of this project was to get rid of any vagueness or misconceptions before the actual exam was held and the outcomes were certainly met.
Local General Assembly (LGA) Officers and members need to meet and discuss new project ideas every other month, but it’s always the place IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 18
www.ifmsa-jo.org
Mutah University Local Committee
Local Activities..
MU-LC Profile - Date of establishment: 2014 - Number of active members: 350 - Number of projects done: 55 - Number of NGAs done by the LC: 1 - Facebook group link: www.facebook.com/ groups/ifmsajo.mu/ - Official contact email: president.ifmsajo. mu@gmail.com Stroke Campaign: The Stroke campaign is a medical campaign organized by Mutah University Local Committee, it was planned to cover the south region of Jordan starting from Mutah University, school students, and the governorates: Ma’an , Tafela and Aqaba. According to the Ministry of Health statistics; 38% of deaths in Jordan are caused by stroke and according to the National Stroke Association, up to 80% of them are preventable. It could be caused by many issues such as smoking, diabetes, or even an unhealthy diet. As medical students, SCOPHeroes and part of our beloved community, it’s our responsibility to help and save as many lives as we can by spreading awareness and knowledge about this issue .
Mutah University Local Projects ● Step two :We aimed to raise the medical awareness level in Aqaba, it was held in the middle of Aqaba City. In cooperation with Vitas Group and several of local doctors. During the campaign, volunteers screened for high blood pressure, diabetes, body mass index and provided well-studied nutritional programs for a healthy lifestyle. ● Step three: Stroke Video. It was about personal interviews with old stroke patients or their parents to share their experience integrated with medical advice in order to share it on social media since this helped us reach a higher number of people. ● Step four: In Mutah University, it was planned to introduce to the students of Mutah information about the importance of screening for disease and providing them with awareness brochures about common illnesses. ● Step five: Maan, Hussein University which was a totally new thing that never happened In Maan particularly. It was also an awareness campaign that was one of its kind in Maan. ● Step six: Tafila Hospital, brochures and awareness spots for communicating with the patients in the hospital.
It had many steps, each concerned with a specific target group: ● Step one: We started with an awareness day in the Model School in Al-Karak. It tackled common issues that school students suffer from: poor diets and smoking. The aim of the school event was to help the younger students to build their lifestyle in a perfect way where they should avoid smoking and non-nutritious food and educate them about the importance of sport. www.ifmsa-jo.org
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MedLabs Consultancy Group
Interviews..
MedLabs - Medical Laboratories to Trust In
Established in 1993, MedLabs Consultancy Group is a pioneering Jordanian Company in the field of laboratory medicine that has become the fastest growing network of private medical laboratories in the region and the only one to have achieved American (CAP) and European (ISO 15189 & ISO 9001:2008) quality accreditations as well as the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence (2011).We met and conducted an interview with Zeina Sahyoun, the Chief Marketing Officer, and Dr. Nashat Dahabreh the Chief Scientific Officer. Could you tell us a little about MedLabs? In 1992, MedLabs consisted of only 3 labs founded by a group of friends. We then decided to establish a chain of labs, which was the first of its kind here in Jordan. Since then, MedLabs has flourished as a medical institution, leading in all the fields it has to offer. MedLabs deploys leading-edge technology and computerization in its services and offers a wide range of over 700 routine and advanced laboratory tests. MedLabs’ regional Reference Laboratory receives hundreds of samples daily from smaller laboratories both locally and regionally. The group operates through 46 branches in Jordan, Palestine, Sudan and Northern Iraq.
What is the biggest challenge currently facing MedLabs? There are two challenges currently facing MedLabs. One is external and involves the unfortunate trend in our medical field towards unethical behavior and unfair competition. By this we mean the trend of some physicians asking for ‘kick backs’ or commissions for referring their patients to certain laboratories and the willingness of labs to offer up to 30% of their income to these doctors. MedLabs is a strictly non-commission based company and we believe that the decision to refer a patient to a laboratory should be based solely on the quality and reliability of the lab results and the patient care and services offered to the patient. To this end, we maintain excellent working relationships with all doctors but draw a red line at the issue of commissions.
What sort of departments does MedLabs have? Our departments are divided into those that deal with surgical pathology, and those that deal with clinical pathology. Surgical pathology includes the histopathology and the cytology of the specimens. While clinical pathology is divided into many branches: clinical biochemistry, immunology, serology, molecular biology, microbiology, and hematology. What is the most important thing that you are currently working on? At MedLabs we run an annual continuous medical education (CME) program for all our staff that is designed and delivered in-house. This year all our laboratory staff will be registering online to the College of American Pathologists continuous education program. This will expose them to the best practices in CME and their performance can be benchmarked with top Medical Technologists worldwide. For our patients, we are working on increasing health awareness in general and specifically about the importance of preventive medical check-ups and gender and age-specific tests. IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 20
www.ifmsa-jo.org
The second challenge is our internal project for 2016 which is to ensure 100% alignment between all our lab branches. MedLabs Quality & Safety Department and MedLabs Referral Department already ensure alignment when it comes to result quality consistency. What we are focusing on through the Marketing Department is increased alignment of the physical locations, the personalized patient services and the experience patients get at any of our branches or through our free house call service. What is your latest test in MedLabs? Our latest test is the Panorama test. It is a simple, safe and highly accurate noninvasive prenatal screening for specific chromosomal abnormalities. Panorama analyzes fetal DNA that is circulating in the maternal blood via a blood sample and can be offered as early as 9 weeks of pregnancy. Results are available within 10-14 days. Do you have a ‘signature’ test? ‘Sehtak bil Denia’ is what you can call our “signature test”. It is a preventive medicine program divided into four basic and three customized check-ups depending on the age and sex of the patient. They include liver function tests, kidney function tests, glucose levels, lipid profiles, tumor markers, vitamins D and B12, CRP, and thyroid profiles. The most commonly carried out tests in Jordan are the lipid profile and HbA1c tests in addition to our ‘Hair Loss’ profile.
Does MedLabs do any humanitarian projects? MedLabs has a very active Corporate Social Responsibility agenda every year. Since 2013, we have run numerous free medical days. In addition, we have numerous partnerships with various NGOs, such as our 5-year partnership with the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) through whom we adopted 4 schools under the ‘Healthy Schools Program’ to ensure they meet the minimum WHO requirements for safety and hygiene. MedLabs also has a long-term partnership with ‘Save the Children’ to test women and children free of charge in underprivileged areas and refugee camps for iron deficiency anemia, and yearly we support the King Hussein Cancer Foundation in its breast cancer awareness month activities. Overall, MedLabs laboratories are extremely active in offering humanitarian support to the communities in which we work across the Kingdom as well as across the region. Do you offer research opportunities for doctors and/or medical students or fund any form of scientific research? According to the Ministry of Health rules and regulations, we are not permitted to conduct or fund pure research. What we do at MedLabs is offer student internships at our laboratories and even our management offices that familiarize students with the work that is conducted in a diagnostic medical laboratory. Do you have any recommendations for us as medical students and aspiring doctors? Your success is dependent on quality and ethics. You also should never claim to know everything, keep up with science and consult your colleagues at all times. Group practice is of extreme significance and necessity. Look for labs that deliver quality and have the patients’ best interests at heart, since a large part of your decisions will be dependent on accurate lab results.
www.ifmsa-jo.org
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Articles..
Abdalla Houri, UJ-LC, General Delegate
هل تؤثر الشوكوالته على حالتنا النفسية
هل تعلم كيف تؤثر الشكوالته على احلالة النفسية؟؟؟
وهنا السؤال يطرح نفسه كيف للشوكوالته أن تؤثر على حالتنا النفسية؟
في كثير من االحيان عندما نشعر باحلزن أو التوتر, فإننا قد نلجأ الى تناول الشكوالته! فهل حقا ً تناول الشكوالته من شأنه أن يجعل حالتنا النفسية أفضل ,أم ان تعزيز احلالة النفسية بواسطة الشكوالته عباره عن مجرد أوهام و خرافة؟
إن مذاق الشوكوالته بحد ذاته يجعلك تشعر بالسرور و السبب وراء ذلك أن الشوكوالته تنبه إفراز هرمون اإلندورفني وهو عبارة عن هرمون يفرز من الدماغ و الذي بدوره يجعل اإلنسان يشعر بالفرح و السرور .حتى ان الشوكوالته حتتوي على نسبة عالية من السكر و الذي بدوره يعمل على تنبيه املهاد .واملهاد هو اجلزء املسؤول عن أحاسيس السرور.
لقد مت اجراء دراسة عن تأثير الشوكوالتة على مجموعة من 30شخص مت اعطائهم جرعة يومية 20جم من الشوكوالتة مرتني في اليوم ملدة أسبوعني .وكانت النتيجة أن شعروا جميعا بتحسن في املزاج وأيضا تناقص مستوى الهرمونات الناجتة عن الضغط النفسي واإلجهاد مثل الكورتيزول .مما يشير إلى أن تناول الشوكوالتة يساعد على حتسني املزاج والشعور بالسعادة.
وحتتوي الشوكوالتة على كميات قليلة من الكافيني والثيوبرومني ويعمل كالهما على التخلص من آثار اإلجهاد والتعب وحتسني احلالة املزاجية بشكل مؤقت .كما أنها حتتوي أيضا على التربتوفان الذي يساعد على رفع مستويات السيروتونني وهو الناقل العصبي الذي يرتبط مبعدالت احلد من االكتئاب لذلك فإن تناول الشوكوالتة يؤثر على مستوى الناقالت العصبية املرتبطة باحلالة املزاجية في الدماغ .
و هناك دراسة أخرى أجريت على املتطوعني األصحاء أظهرت أن 5أيام من اإلستهالك األعلى للكاكاو حتسن تدفق الدم إلى الدماغ و باالتالي حتسني عمله. املكونات الكيميائية: تُصنع الشكوالتة من بذور الكاكاو التي يتم حصدها من أشجار الكاكاو ,متد اجلسم بالعديد من الفوائد الصحية املذهلة. والبد لي أن أذكر أن الشوكوالته الداكنة أو اخلام التي تخلو من أي إضافات مثل احلليب أو السكر توفر فائده أكثر مقارنة مع الشكوالته املمزوجة بااإلضافات .
وتعد الشوكوالتة من أهم عوامل الرومانسية واحلب فغالبا ما ترتبط املناسبات و االفراح بصندوق من الشكوالته ,فكما أدرجت سابقا ً أن الشكوالته حتتوي على التربتوفان الذي يحفز إفراز مادة السيروتونني في املخ ,وكلما زادت نسبة السروتونني زاد اإلحساس بالسعادة. ت قليلة من مادة الفينيل ايثيل امني كما أن الشوكوالتة حتتوي على كميا ٍ وهو من الناقالت العصبية التي تعمل على زيادة اإلحساس باجلاذبية واإلثارة في مركز االستمتاع داخل املخ. إن تناول الشوكوالتة الداكنة ايضا ً من شأنه أن يحسن ضعف اإلدراك و تقول الدراسة أن الشوكوالتة حتتوي على مادة تدعى بالفالفانول ,وهي من املواد املضادة لألكسدة ,و التي توجد في أنواع مختلفة من الطعام طبيعيا, و منها الشوكوالته ,و يعتقد الباحثون أنه هذه املادة هي املسؤولة عن حماية اخلاليا العصبية ,و حتسني التمثيل الغذائي ليتفاعل مع التركيب اجلزيئي للخاليا املسؤولة عن الذاكرة ,مما يعطي الشوكوالتة هذه القدرة الكبيرة في حتسني الذاكرة و اإلدراك املعرفي و الذاكرة. إجابي على احلالة النفسية إال أن االكثار منها مع أن للشوكوالته تأثير ٌ ً ميكن أن يكون له أثار ٌ سلبية متاما ،حيث تؤدي إلى الشعور باالكتئاب واخلمول البدني والذهني .لذلك البد من تناول الشكوالته بشكل متزن لنحصل على الفائدة و لنتجنب الضرر.
www.ifmsa-jo.org
IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 22
Tamer Salhab UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Articles..
A pill that contains starch, sugar or saline is what’s given to the control group during an experimental drug therapy for clinical trials. Now, depending on several factors, these patients will undergo one of three phenomena. The first one is that they do not have any effect from such drugs. The second one is the placebo effect which has been under extensive research for the beneficial components that are introduced to the control groups of trials. The third and most underestimated one is the nocebo effect which literally means “I shall harm” in Latin. In a simple definition: A harmless thing that causes harm because you believe it’s harmful. Does that ring a bill? It’s the counterpart of the placebo effect. Now let’s imagine this pill that can cause actual improvements or deterioration in the person’s conditions. You must be wondering what would cause or trigger this huge variance in effects of a dummy pill and I will be explaining each one of them. Psychology: The greatest of them all! Being stressed out, anxious or depressed can increase the susceptibility of the nocebo effect. So, negative thoughts and expectations about a drug will actually worsen your current status.
Nocebo Effect “This article will harm you”
associated with stimulation and arousal. While darker colors such as blue and green are associated with sedation and patients taking these pills are more likely to say that they feel sleepy in comparison with those who take pink placebo pills. The Power of Suggestion: Now that’s when your perspective of the doctor comes in mind, thus, he has to be careful about what he says and how he says it because his words can strongly influence the patient’s expectations. Patients view their doctors as authoritative experts. What a doctor may suggest as a possible outcome, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for the patient, so warning patients about side effects of drugs can contribute to the causation of such effects, whether the drug is real or not. Language: Strong words such as danger, burn and damage can actually increase the subjective feeling of pain. Literally, words can hurt or heal. Unfortunately, the exact mechanism of the nocebo response is still unknown, but few studies have shown that it is possible that nocebo activates the receptors in the brain that stimulate the production of stress hormones, which influence the perception of pain and giving a psychoactive drug actually relieves this pain. On the contrary, placebo activates endorphins in the brain to provide pain relief. Both effects are unconscious and both can produce biological changes. In conclusion, be careful of what you say to others, for that it may become true.
Conditioning: Being treated with a drug or a medical procedure and developing negative experiences and side effects from it. For example, some cancer patients experience nausea or even vomit when they enter a room where they have recently had a chemotherapy. Context: Packaging of the medication can also influence the outcome. Bright colors such as red, orange, and yellow are www.ifmsa-jo.org
IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March 16' Edition) 23
Yarmouk University Local Committee
Local Activities..
Yarmouk University Local Projects
YU –LC’s profile - Date of establishment: 2015 - Number of active members: 468 - Number of projects done: 6 - Number of NGAs done by the LC: 0 - Facebook group link: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/636742873054692/ - Official contact E-mail : president.ifmsajo.yu@gmail.com Hayat Campaign Hayat Campaign is a cancer awareness campaign about lung cancer and leukemia which consisted of three steps. The first one was held at our beloved Yarmouk University (YU) campus in which the volunteers talked to YU students about the causes, symptoms, how to prevent having them and their treatment. We also partnered with the Blood Bank - Irbid; for which more than 50 students donated their blood during that day. In the upcoming steps, we will visit King Hussein Cancer Center, and hold a day at the mall to reach the maximum number of families possible.
THE NAMELESS The bullet that started it all in SCORP! In cooperation with the Autism Association of Jordan, YU/LC’s SCORP department initiated a project called “The Nameless", with the sole intention of raising awareness about autistic kids and defending their rights in the society, how to deal with those affected by autism, and to ensure that the
IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 24
kids affected by autism have their rightful respected positions in the society as active members of it. “The Nameless” first started in October 2015, with the first step being a lecture about autism, entitled “In your world I am autistic, in mine I am artistic”, given by Dr. Samah Abu Rahma, a neuropediatrician from King Abdullah University Hospital. The project is still in progress, with many action-packed steps yet to come!
Fena El 5eir One of SCORP’s greatest projects, where a group of YU LC’s members organized a visit to the Dar Al Deyaafa infirmary in order to help and support the elderly medically, and mentally, with the help of cooperative associations and charities, and the dedication to spread out joy and happiness among the seniors of our society. The event included giving presents, distributing food to the infirmary, providing mobile clinic services, singing performances, and a fun party to re-energize the spirits of the seniors!
www.ifmsa-jo.org
Tareq Wahbi UJ-LC, General Delegate
Arts..
www.ifmsa-jo.org
Students′ Talents “The Anatomist”
IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March 16' Edition) 25
National Activities..
Exchange
Professional
Committee on
Standing
The Jordanian exchange experience has been a top hit amongst those in the regions. We at IFMSA-Jo strive to provide a memorable period for our incomings, yearlong, engulfed with trips and activities that will satisfy the various interests of all our visitors. Whether you are an adrenaline junky or a calm nature loving person, there is always something that fits you somewhere in our beloved country. The National Promotional video is a twelve month long IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 26
Public Health
The plan was to have a single day event, where we need to make use of our facilities wisely and in a time efficient manner. The acceptance and help of the administration of hospitals and deanship was needed to aid in turning the hospital into a festive scene with posters and banners everywhere, volunteers were spread around the hospital to get the staff to sign up on the spot. At the end of the day, we counted the number of pledges from all the LCs. More than 600 pledges were made by IFMSA-Jo members and hospital staff. Eleven motivated members of IFMSA-Jo started to work until we had 7 events in 6 different places. In our first year we gathered more than 11,000 pledges from across Jordan. In 2016 we are confidently aiming to collect more pledges by introducing Change Day 2 and beat last year’s results. We hope your pledge will be one of those.
The project launched last August is scheduled to be fully released and screened during August of 2016 at the August Meeting in Mexico. The production team composed of ten members from all the Local Committees are working hard to create a video that will surely surpass everyone’s expectations.
Standing
Change Day is a social movement that invites the health and community care workforce across Jordan to make a pledge to do one thing to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals; communities and the Jordanian health and community care system as a whole.
project that was launched last August aiming to grasp as much of the IFMSAJo’s incredible exchange experience. The video aims to capture the social, intercultural and academic aspects that our incomings live day by day during their stay amongst us. This will help provide a glimpse of what any incoming student, interested in paying us a visit, will expect during their month of clerkship here in Jordan.
Committee on
Medical Education
Committee on
Standing
IFMSA-Jo National Projects
IFMSA-Jo National Projects
National Diabetes awareness campaign. Diabetes awareness project aims to aware diabetic patients and healthy people about the disease; we are encouraging diabetic patients to do lifestyle modifications and have regular visits to diabetic clinics to keep their blood glucose level within the optimal level and to avoid any possible complications that may happen, while tackling healthy individuals and educating them about its risk factors, disease, progression and complications. At first, we did this project at each university hospital (University of Jordan Hospital, Jordan University of Science and Technology Hospital, Karak Governmental Hospital, Zarqa Governmental Hospital) www.ifmsa-jo.org
Research Exchange
Standing
Committee on
Peace
Human Rights and
Standing
National Pink for October Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign The biggest SCORA project in cooperation with the jordan breast cancer program & Princess Dina Mired. The principle of this project is to help the Jordanian community in various ways. The idea that the public needs to receive is that the early detection of breast cancer is useful since it makes the treatment easier, cost less, and have better chances of survival. Raising awareness concerning this issue is highly needed. We need to work on reducing the number of breast cancer patients who get examined late, and hopefully eradicate this problem with time. This project not only targeted women, but also men of all ages. Men play a big role in convincing women to get examined so spreading awareness was among men and women of this community. The campaign took place from October 1st, 2015 until October 31st, 2015. Different areas across Jordan were covered: Amman, Irbid, Al Karak, Al Zarqa, Al Mafraq, Ajloun... etc. In each area health centres were visited, and organizations for women with disabilities were covered. Organizations that gather women were covered as well. Schools, malls, and universities took part of the project as well.
National Annual Research Workshop held every year. We organized the first research workshop throughout October-December 2013 and the second workshop in February 2015, both at the Arab Medical Center, Amman. The workshop involves 30 students from 4 different local committees who eagerly engage with pioneering medical professors and researchers over the course of several days. The workshop tackles many aspects of medical research, including research writing, literature review, IRB regulations, research ethics, difference between basic and clinical research, and other topics. The workshops had immediate impact on the students who considered them to be extremely valuable. Many of the students reached out to their professors and sought research opportunities while others found the workshops greatly useful while on their exchange programs. We are eager to hold the workshop again for a third time this upcoming April to reach out to even more students and help them understand the fundamentals and importance of research in the ever so evolving field that is medicine. Committee on
and AIDS
Reproductive Health
Standing
Committee on
to focus on diabetic patients, then we expanded the project to reach the greater community by holding booths in different governorates in Jordan (Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Karak and Mafraq). Finally, we focused on schools in cooperation with Royal Health Awareness Society. Diabetes at least doubles a person’s risk of death so we need to fight for the disease to decrease it’s prevalence by increasing awareness and lifestyle modifications.
“Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give” Out of the ruination of the houses, out of the ruthless war flames, out of the lost memories shone a lamp of hope. A lamp lit by medical students in “Qendil Amal” Project organized by SCORP during January 2016. The project sparked the dreams and revived the souls of hundreds of refugee families in Gaza Camp and Almafraq scattered camps. The project started with training medical students from different medical schools in Jordan how to interact with refugees to help them overcome the trauma and stressful obstacles in their lives in order to adopt with their new community. Training was based on a community resiliency model workshop. Trainees were able to help some refugee families recently coming to Jordan. The project also included the biggest donations campaign in IFMSA-Jo where tons of food items, wood, clothes and other items were distributed on the needy families along with repairing 13 roof tops of houses in Gaza Camp and initiating an educational facility in one of the scattered camps in Almafraq. They said it is hard to live here, we said we see hope everywhere!
Stemming from our belief in the importance of research and its crucial role in the advancement of medicine, one of IFMSA-Jo SCORE's most important national projects is none other than the
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Muna Rommaneh JUST-LC, General Delegate
Articles..
ATTENTION DREAMERS: Become #1 Using Wings of Excellence
“I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky”. Many generations grew up listening to this song playing over and over on the radio. Flying comes in handy when you’re flying high above the clouds to reach a place where no one else has ever been to. Flying means breaking all the records and setting new standards. The melody of that song takes our imagination to a whole new dimension. Just by closing your eyes, you can imagine yourself in a fancy hall with a dim light. You look around and all you can see is a formally-dressed man standing in the spotlight on a stage; announcing the first three award winners. As a nominee you sit there crossing your fingers; simply hoping for the best. Your name doesn’t come in third place, nor second. In a matter of seconds, the winner of the first place will be announced. Few seconds of silence are enough to make a huge amount of adrenaline run through your veins. Everyone is waiting impatiently to hear the winner’s name. Sometimes silence can seem so loud. “May the odds be in my favor” few words make a
hearable echo inside your head. The room gets darker and darker until everyone around you disappears. You’re alone in a room that amplifies the sound of your own heartbeats. All of a sudden, everyone around you is giving a standing ovation. Your pupil is shocked by the sudden shine of light that is shed on you. What happened? Did you miss something? A beautiful round of applause is given. The winner of the first place has been awarded for their extraordinary performance! Everyone is shouting the winner’s name. Everyone is proud; you can see it in their eyes! Hold on a second, I am not describing the Oscars. Matter of fact, this is exactly what happened during the Eastern Mediterranean Region Regional Meeting (EMR12) held in Jordan this year. The IFMSA-Jo presented by the National Breast Cancer Awareness Project participated in the activities fair during the EMR12. The project that exceeded all expectations made it to the EMR12 to compete with other successful projects on a regional level. After months of preparation for the project, and a beautiful collaboration with the Jordan Breast Cancer Program which is a part of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation, the project became one of the best leading projects in IFMSA-Jo. Not only that, but it also got the support of HRH Princess Dina Mired, as well as many famous characters including comedians and journalists. It certainly made a huge impact on other NGOs as well. The project attracted national and international media attention. 27 creative events were done across the country during October. Thousands of people were reached, thousands of brochures and fliers were given to the public, thousands
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were examined and screened, hundreds of volunteers participated, and hundreds of associations and organizations helped. SCORA is well known for its creativity. Only this time the creativity was taken to a whole new level with the aim of reducing the taboo and stigma surrounding breast cancer. Going from schools, universities, hospitals, health centers, malls and institutions, to villages, the project was aiming at increasing the knowledge about breast cancer among people. “This is your captain speaking, fasten your pink ribbons; we’re flying towards excellence.” Those were my own words when we were preparing for the fair. We went from day dreaming to number 1 in a matter of seconds, seconds which cost us months of long sleepless nights. The National Breast Cancer Awareness Project won FIRST place in the activities fair held during EMR12.Together we can make a difference. I strongly believe that if we feed our faith, then our fears will starve to death. Always remember that no one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to do so. As the coordinator of the project, and its presenter at the EMR12 and soon at the March Meeting General Assembly held in Malta (MM16) as well, I want to send a huge thank you wrapped in pink to the professional national officer of SCORA at the time the project was held, Ghaith AlDairy, who guided us through the way and to the hard working organizing committee who were behind all this success. Congratulations to the team, NORA, IFMSA-Jo, and I. Winning isn’t everything; unless you’re fighting breast cancer. We dedicate this to every soul lost to breast cancer, to every survivor of breast cancer, and of course to everyone who is still fighting it. This isn’t the end, it’s only the beginning. By the time you are reading this, we will be presenting the project on an international level. To every dreamer out there, IFMSA-Jo is the gateway to beauty. You’re not a bird; you are a free human being with an independent will. Use your own wings to reach your goal...use your own wings to achieve excellence.
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Nijmeh Alsaadi UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Articles..
When Science Fiction Turns into Reality
Mary (Kirsten Dunst), the receptionist who falls in love with the doctor who invented the memory-erasing procedure, quotes Nietzsche in a scene from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. “Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.” Friedrich Nietzsche The story of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless could be summarized in two sentences, sparing you all the spoilers. Clementine (Kate Winslet) erases all memories of the relationship she had with Joel (Jim Carrey) after their relationship turns bitter. When Joel finds out, he undergoes the same procedure to forget her. Up until now, the movie was listed under the science fiction genre. What changed? According to “Memory Hackers”, a new documentary from PBS’s NOVA documentary strand, which premiered in the US last month, scientists have discovered how to erase memories. “For much of human history, memory has been seen as a tape recorder that faithfully registers information and replays it intact,” say the film’s makers. “But now, researchers are discovering that memory is far more malleable, always being written and rewritten, not just by us but by others. We are discovering the precise mechanisms that can explain and even control our memories.” The documentary looks at innovative research on the nature of memory, and how it might be manipulated for the benefit of mankind. The team of scientists is trying new mechanisms such as medication that can influence memories.
false memories, and has successfully convinced subjects they’ve committed crimes that never took place. This research has massive ethical implications. As Shaw explains, “After three interviews, 70% of participants were classified as having false memories of committing a crime (theft, assault, or assault with a weapon) that led to police contact in early adolescence and volunteered a detailed false account. These reported false memories of crime were similar to false memories of noncriminal events and to true memory accounts, having the same kinds of complex descriptive and multi-sensory components”. “Forgetting is probably one of the most important things that brains will do,” says André Fenton, a prominent neuroscientist who is currently working on a technique to erase painful memories. One of the questions Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind poses is whether we are merely the sum of our memories or if there is more to us than a summation of past experiences. Is ignorance indeed bliss? The movie ultimately arrives at the conclusion that no, having a spotless mind does not bring eternal sunshine. However, what answer real-life outcomes would give us is still unknown.
Merel Kindt, a clinical psychologist, is one of the doctors in the documentary. Kindt discovered a medication that can remove the negative associations of a specific memory. For example, a person with arachnophobia would be calm around spiders with that medication. Julia Shaw, a psychology professor at London South Bank University, is also one of the doctors conducting the experiments. She has designed a system for implanting IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 30
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Ala’a Alkhatib UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Articles..
Imagine a world where you can see sounds or hear colors! Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Well, to be more surprised, for some people it isn’t just an imagination, it is an actual feeling. Synesthesia (derived from the Greek words “syn” which means “together”, and “aesthesis” which means “sensation”) is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with synesthesia, known as synesthetes, might not only hear sounds, but also see them or taste them! Making a piece of music a very visual or tasteful experience! Little is known about what causes synesthesia, some suggests that it has a genetic link, where synesthetes inherit a biological propensity of hyper-connected brain neurons, which in part could explain why having a form of synesthesia increases your odds of having other forms.
Synesthesia people don’t have them. Simply because synesthesia is blending of sensations, theoretically, it can couple any two sensations, giving us different forms of synesthesia, of which the most common are: grapheme-color synesthesia, where individual letters and numbers tend to have colors; chromesthesia, where sounds produce colors; spatial sequence synesthesia, in which numbers are visualized as points in the space, some close and some far away; auditory-tactile synesthesia, hearing certain sounds can induce tactile sensations in some part of the body; and misophonia, which literally means “hatred of sound”, in which some negative emotions (anger, fright, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific sounds. Finally, it is worth mentioning that synesthesia is a trait rather than a disorder, having its pros and cons. For example, synesthetes might make use of their abilities to memorize things through linking numbers or words with colors or shapes, they most likely are better writers, as they seem to have much better metaphorical ability than do normal people, and comparatively speaking they are better musicians. On the other hand, they might get distracted easily and sometimes have it hard to focus, and they can be met with confusion and disbelief from their closest people and ridicule at the hands of their peers, leaving them feeling strange and weird.
There are two types of synesthetes: projectors and associators. Projectors will see actual colors, forms, or shapes on the outside world when stimulated, whereas associators will feel a very strong connection between the stimulus and the sense that it triggers but without seeing things on the outside. As synesthesia starts early in life, some synesthetes are unaware their experiences are unusual until they realize that other www.ifmsa-jo.org
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Dr. Omar Abu Qamar
Interviews..
A look back – an IFMSA Alumnus
Every IFMSA-Jo Magazine issue, we sit down and talk to a previous IFMSA-Jo member who made this organization one of his/her priorities during medical school. This issue, we sat down with someone who still makes it a habit of visiting national events, and calling current members to check up on IFMSA-Jo. Dr. Omar Abu Qamar, a University of Jordan graduate, was kind enough to take us on a walk down memory lane of his experience in IFMSA-Jo. Omar, tell us a little about how you started off in IFMSAJo. “I joined IFMSA-Jo relatively late; I was in my 4th year. There was a stem cell conference for the Jordan University Stem Cell Initiative. I applied for the Social Program Coordinator position and was happy to be chosen since I was relatively new. You see, at the time there wasn’t even a National Executive Board for IFMSA-Jo, it was only UJ/LC and JUST/LC. Anyway, it was an amazing conference where I met a lot of people from several different nationalities (who I’m still in touch with) and that basically kicked off my journey. I was a SCOPE member, but we all worked for all six standing committees. “I still didn’t realize what IFMSA was really about until I attended the GA in Denmark. We were four delegates and the older ones who were supposed to guide us through the meeting didn’t get their visas - so we had to handle everything ourselves: the Presidential Session, the Contract Fair, and even the presentation for hosting EMR8! All we knew about EMR8 was that the theme would be Women’s Empowerment. We didn’t have a venue nor a financial file at the very least, but we gave the presentation and the other NMOs believed in us. So, in January 2011, we hosted the 8th EMR! After that, I was elected President of UJ/LC after several people recommended I run. It really was a great term thanks to the wonderful team who worked with me. Our aim was to raise awareness about IFMSA, so when it was IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 32
our turn to host the 2nd National General Assembly (NGA), we really pushed the standards beyond expectations for NGAs. From sponsors to getting new members to join, it was all about introducing IFMSA-Jo to our community. By the time it was the 6th NGA, I was part of the Supervising Council, which was the last position I held in IFMSA-Jo.” How did IFMSA-Jo change who you are? “Well, for starters I gained numerous life lessons. Medicine is easy, you study, do exams and you graduate a doctor. IFMSA on the other hand taught me how to be human. It burst my bubble of belief that life was confined to myself and my country, and made me realize that the world is a lot different. It developed in me the spirit of voluntarism and wanting to give back to society. Finally, it changed me into a community-oriented person who is capable of discussing and debating my opinions, rights and obligations to people responsible for decision-making.” What do you think is missing from our NMO? “An alumni division! I think this would have so much potential, and many would love to join exchange programs along different projects.” Do you have any advice for current members? “The best thing about IFMSA is that you don’t have to hold a position to make a difference. A delegate who just joined 5 minutes ago and a president can both take advantage of the IFMSA infrastructure to lead a project that benefits society. If you have good intentions, then there are no limits. www.ifmsa-jo.org
“Also, learn how to balance your studies and your voluntary work. IFMSA makes your journey at medical school bearable and fun. Prioritize, don’t fall into a vicious cycle of losing grades and motivation to work until you end up burned out.” What do you see in the near future of IFMSA-Jo? “A GA! We have a beautiful country that everyone would love to visit, extremely energetic and fully motivated people to make it happen. All we really need is the money, which can be raised, too.” What was one unforgettable experience you had in IFMSA? “That would definitely be the GA in India. Any GA is exciting because you get to meet 1,000 students from all around the world. We arrived at the hotel and there was an ongoing meeting between the International Executive Board and the organizers in India. The meeting ended with the organizers quitting and
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leaving! I was the head of delegation and felt immense responsibility that we had nowhere to sleep basically! It was very stressful but that was really when the IFMSA spirit came to life. The EB and Regional Directors met up with the heads of delegations, we contacted our embassies, and there was a perfect division of labor to make the meeting happen. We used the IFMSA Reserve Fund to secure rooms and halls for the meetings to go on, and as for the social programs, different delegations got creative! We really were one big family right there and then.” So, what are you currently doing? “It was during my 5th year as a student when I realized that I found passion in the eyes. Ever since, I have been committed to this field. I believe that -biased as this might sound- one of the noblest tasks a physician can achieve is the preservation of vision. I am currently investing in the field of research before starting a residency program, as I believe research is the tool that will enable me to achieve my ultimate goal of adding to humans and humanity. I am currently involved in multiple research projects and trainings ranging from bench-side stem cells projects to clinical observational studies, all related to Ophthalmology.”
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Ala’a Alkhatib UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Articles..
We have all felt it, sometimes it can be a positive force motivating you to perform well, but often - like when you are stuck in traffic - it is a negative force. Stress, or what is more inferior, chronic stress, has become a major part of our overloaded busy lives. Stemming from its devastating effects, scientists were struggling to find out ways to minimize our daily life’s stresses, from getting good sleep to meditation and breathing techniques, and from having close supportive relationships to following a healthy diet or listening to music. But what about exercising? Throughout the last decades people have been exercising to achieve different goals, some to live a healthy happy life, others to enjoy that chiseled or curvy physique, and for few, it is their life career. Well, today I’m sharing with you another motive to exercise, that is, reducing stress. Psychological studies have shown that physically active people are less stressed, but why? New researches revealed that exercise helps rewiring your brain cells, and when you exercise your brain reorganizes itself to handle stress better. It does that by promoting the growth of neurons in the ventral hippocampus, the area that regulates anxiety, and releasing more amounts of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma aminobuteric acid, which helps your brain calm down and reduces anxiety. And that makes sense, because if you are in a better physical shape, your body doesn’t need to go into overdrive to give you the strength you need to get out of trouble, but if you are in a bad
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One More Reason to Head to the Gym shape, your body wants to get you into the most worked up state you can so you have better chances of getting out of trouble safely. Apart from anxiety, exercising helps in many other aspects, like depression and paying attention. It also makes our emotions better overall. In addition, when we exercise we turn on our prefrontal cortex, which some consider the CEO of the brain, and that will increase our executive functions, like planning, organization and learning from mistakes. Moreover, it induces the production of the neurotransmitter brainderived neurotrophic factor, which keeps our brain cells young and perky, one of the reasons why exercise is one of the best ways to delay the onset of cognition decline and Alzheimer. To sum up, for you doctors out there it is time to start to prescribe exercise as part of the treatment regimen. And for you people, next time you feel stressed out or a bit anxious, rather than releasing your stress through unhealthy irresponsible ways, such as smoking, binge eating, drinking, or taking it out on others, simply just carry your bag and head to the gym.
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Rama Soudi HU-LC, Social Media Team
Articles..
“When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers” - African proverb So too, people living in terrorized environments experience the horrors of destruction of their homes and the death of their beloved ones. Many live in circumstances where they make critical survival decisions to hide under deceased remains of others, to kill or be killed and probably end up as a refugee in another country. One of the most challenging aspects of war is the invisible wounds they leave behind. There are no specific blood tests or specific medical tests that identify psychological illnesses, it is based on a checklist of criteria or an evaluation that is done through a series of assessments often known as neuro-psychological evaluations. Traumatic stress can be seen as part of a normal human response to intense experiences. In the majority of people, the symptoms reduce or disappear over the first few months, particularly with the help of caring family members and friends. In a significant minority, however, the symptoms do not seem to resolve quickly and, in some cases, may continue to cause problems for the rest of one’s life. It is also common for symptoms to vary in intensity over time. Some people go for long periods without any significant problems, only to relapse when they have to deal with any other major life stress. This problem is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Invisible Wounds problems in PTSD are those related to anxiety, depression, and alcohol or drug abuse. These can be very disabling to the person suffering from them and may affect the people around them. Children at a young age, having had more years exposed to violent conflict, struggle to recover from years of compounding traumas. Interviews within refugee camps reveal pervasive feelings of depression, anxiety, hopelessness, grief, resentment, anger, and fear among war-affected children. Without the support of the international community, most of these children will carry these heavy emotional burdens into adulthood. Humanitarian aid generally focuses on the concrete, what we can see, measure and build: food, medicine, bricks, and mortars. Psychological trauma is invisible. So what can the international community do to improve post-conflict recovery? Giving young refugees information about the effects of trauma and educating them about PTSD; they can then see that others too have experienced the symptoms they are struggling with. Once the experiences are identified and named they can start to be treated. Along with providing a mix of financial aid and economic incentives to keep the peace, psychological counselling for the victims is a necessity. Counselling is being done but not enough psychiatrists are involved and more work needs to be done to design programs that channel the “positive” effect of post-traumatic growth while minimizing its negative externalities.
PTSD is not the only psychological response to trauma. People may develop a range of other problems that can affect their quality of life, their ability to relate to other people and their capacity for work. Overall, the most commonly associated
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Lama Salameh JUST-LC, General Delegate
Articles..
The Science of the Hidden
Most people define consciousness as having one’s eyes open or shut. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines consciousness as: “a state of being aware especially of oneself”. Psychologist and philosopher William James believed that consciousness consisted of a steady stream of thoughts, emotions, and perception. States of consciousness are a subjective perceptual experience, and thus consciousness can be quite hard to define.The study of the intricate connection between consciousness, unconsciousness, and the subconscious explained a lot of phenomena such as hypnosis, dreams, sleep, and introduced many tactics for psychotherapy. In psychology, hypnosis is a technique used in therapy that involves the patient drifting into a deep state of relaxation. It provides treatment for many mental, emotional, and physical conditions, such as: phobias, smoking cessation, addiction, grief, and depression.
up having three chocolate bars by noon. In addition to playing an important role in hypnosis, the interaction between the conscious and subconscious holds a prominent position in the process of dreaming. In the simplest terms, dreams are defined as thoughts, emotions, and images one experiences during sleep. In psychology, dreams have always been a controversial topic to touch upon, with many theories and ideas surrounding it. Psychologists and scientists still haven’t quite pinpointed what is the purpose of dreams, or why sleeping is necessary in the first place!
During therapy, the conscious mind is completely subdued and the subconscious mind is accessed. The subconscious mind is where a person stores emotions, habits, beliefs, and permanent memory. It accounts for about 90% of one’s mind. Whereas the conscious mind consists of the present awareness and accounts for the other 10%. For instance, in reading this, the reader is aware of the words on this page, but not of the background noise of cars and the hum of machinery, or the color of the chair he or she is sitting on. In order for hypnotherapy to work, the subconscious mind must be reprogrammed to bring about positive effective changes. The “critical factor” is a part of the subconscious mind that can be seen as the door connecting the conscious and subconscious. It is responsible for the safety and protection of the nervous system, and it has the power of accepting and rejecting ‘new programming’ of the subconscious. Since the nervous system sees change as a threat – even if it was a positive one – the change ends up being rejected by the critical factor in the name of guardianship. This explains why a person might wake up every single day, wanting to start eating healthy and exercise, yet end
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In his psychology book, Psych101: A Crash Course into the Science of the Mind, Paul Keilnman discusses the various theories throughout the history of psychology concerning dreams and sleep. He states that: Sigmund Freud believed that the contents of our dreams were associated with the purpose of fulfillment, and that our dreams represented the thoughts, motivations, and desires of our unconscious. (Keilnman 184) Psychologist Carl Jung also believed in much of what Freud was stating when it came to dreams. Jung thought of dreams not only as “expressions of repressed desires” (Keilnamn 185), but “they also compensated for those parts of the psyche that were underdeveloped in the waking life” (Keilnman 185). Moreover, he thought that the dreams exposed the unconscious emotions and held themes and symbols for those thoughts and ideas. There are several common manifestations of thoughts that are incorporated into dreams. For example: taking a test when one is not prepared for it. This type of dreams deals with the feeling of being exposed, and the test symbolizes being evaluated or judged. Another common
manifestation of emotions in dreams is falling. Dreams involving falling can represent the feeling of being overwhelmed in a certain situation a person is going through and having the sense of loss of control over it. After studying sleep and dreams under Calvin Hall, psychologist G.William Domhoff came to the conclusion that dreams were only reflections of thoughts and concerns that happen in an individual’s waking life. Therefore, dreams were results of neurological processes. In conclusion, it can be said that dreams are caused by emotional arousal of the individual during his or her waking conscious life. These arousals are taken into the subconscious, and are then reflected or manifested into symbolic themes and images. Thus, dreams can be seen as a way of purging this emotional arousal and relieving the subconscious mind. This allows the person to wake up fresh, and relieved of stress keeping the nervous system healthy. Hypnotherapy has served great successful benefits for a lot of people, such as a patient named Jim suffering from anxiety who took part in hypnotherapy at the “Caroline Brown Therapy”. In his feedback about his experience, he implies that hypnosis allowed him to experience great sense of relaxation, he says: “Now, if I ever experience “panicky” feelings in a real life situation, these emotions will not be perceived to be as powerful or frightening as they once were.” Simple phenomena occurring in our daily lives hold a lot of mysteries and methods to be utilized in psychotherapy. Throughout history of psychology, the web of interaction between states of consciousness proved to be a prominent part of psychology and treatment. ‘Small’ neglected sides of our existence that seemed to always be enigmatically obscure, continue to perplex our wondering minds, that remain curious by the science of the ‘hidden’.
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IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March 16' Edition) 37
Ahmed Reda
Interviews..
An EMR Experience!
1. Tell us a little about yourself. Who is Ahmed Reda? Well, I am a person who simply loves traveling, fun, friends and everything about IFMSA. I have just finished my 6 years of medical school and right now I’m waiting to start my internship year. Throughout these 6 years I have learned a lot from IFMSA, a lot that will last forever and build upon the coming paths in my life. 2. How did you first join IFMSA? It was a funny story, I remember leaving an anatomy class in 1st year and finding a bunch of amazing people shouting in the hall and recruiting a lot of new members asking them to join something called SCOME where you can work on the quality of medical education in Egypt and the whole world, I was tempted to talk to these guys because they looked knowledgeable, so I approached them, signed up and travelled to a city in Egypt to receive a training on “Medical Education Curricula and Designing” for 3 days, where my whole life changed and a lot of new scopes opened in front of me. 3. What made you want to become Regional Director? My first international event was the August Meeting in India, 2012, I remember attending the EMR Regional Sessions moderated by Dr.Lujain Al-Qodamani from Kuwait, I was so surprised how these people talk, present, love and respect each other and how the atmosphere was so welcoming that you don’t want the session to come to an end. I decided to attend the next EMR in Tunisia, where I made sure that this region has a lot of potential and amazing souls that can enforce a real change into the healthcare world. I have never missed an EMR since then till I found the ignition inside to run and serve the EMR members and that was it. 4. Was this your first time in Jordan? How did you find EMR12? How does it compare to your previous EMR experiences? Yes it was. Well, describing Jordanians and their hospitality is impossible! I loved every single part and story of my stay there, every morning I was picked up by 2 amazing people, till the moment I left and was dropped IFMSA - Jordan Magazine (March '16 Edition) 38
off by the same amazing people, it was just perfect; the food, the people, the members, the streets and, definitely, the snow!! This EMR Meeting was very different for me, it was the one I was very responsible in, I was a bit worried about how the responsibility would be like but guess what? It was so much fun, I didn’t feel stress nor tiredness, the Organizing Committee were so supportive, the members, and everyone was smiling, it was completely perfect. 5. What do you think needs to be improved in the EMR region when it comes to healthcare? We definitely need a big change, not only in the laws and the education, but in the way we react as healthcare leaders as well. We definitely need to believe in our ability to change the system, we have a lot of untapped potentials because we are always waiting for others, as they always say, be the change that you need to see in the world. Our medical curricula needs a huge revolution to catch up with the other medical curricula in the world, the healthcare system in our region is so competitive. According to the last WHO report, a lot of Arab countries have been named of the highest, pride goes to Oman coming in the 6th spot. What we need is commitment in everything we do and to be equipped with the skills needed to compete with the international world, medicine is not only about studying, medicine is a life that needs a lot of skills that cannot be acquired in schools.
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6. What makes the perfect delegate in IFMSA in your opinion? A perfect delegate is a delegate who attends a morning session, then has some rest before attending a training session to gain new skills, then attends the theme event to discuss the healthcare challenges that are currently going on in the world, then meets with his delegation to share all of this, merges with all other delegations to listen, socialize, interact and learn, and finally sleeps to start a new day and repeat the process. And definitely a good delegate shares everything he discovered in that meeting with his colleagues who didn’t have the chance to attend the meeting when he comes back to his NMO. The perfect delegate is you, just be the person you are and enjoy the show! 7. What does it take to hold an international position in IFMSA, in your opinion? It takes persistence, then commitment, then knowledge. You will have the chance to learn a lot, but motivation to work comes first, to be motivated to work for me is very important with –of course- the skills needed for the position you want to hold. Know the description of the job you want to hold, work on the skills needed for it, learn from everyone and everything around you, and then shoot your goal, and always remember what they say, shoot to the moon, even if you missed it, you will find yourself between the stars. 8. Where do you see IFMSA in the EMR region in the next 5 years? I see that it is inspiring the medical students in the region as it always does, even more, medical students are inflicting positive change in a tremendous way. IFMSA helps and will help all the dreamers in this career and definitely in 5 years, I would love to be there, watching the endeavors of some other amazing medical students and remember my colleagues when we used to work there. Only one thing connects us all: that we all believed in the real change and that we all have the same vision, mission and aims.
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Meet the Writers Abdalla Houri
Ala'a Alkhatib
UJ-LC , General Delegate
UJ-LC, Chief Writer of Publications Team
Aya Naim
Baha Alshraideh
UJ-LC, General Delegate
UJ-LC , General Delegate
Lama Salameh
Mohammad Abu Zaid
JUST-LC , General Delegate
HU-LC , General Delegate
Muna Rommaneh
Nijmeh Alsaadi
JUST-LC , Local Officer of SCORA
UJ-LC , Chief Writer of Publications Team
Rama Soudi
Tamer Salhab
HU-LC, Social Media Manager of Publications Team
UJ-LC , Chief Editor of Publications Team
Zeina Abu Orabi JUST-LC, Chief Editor of Publications Team
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