Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Adult Career/taking control of my life at 26

Finally, I found the time!


Me too, and somehow I feel like, at least in the middle-European, middle-class culture I have been exposed to, you would find more cultural objects (books, movies) telling stories of trauma than stories of resilience.
Telling stories of trauma might help in uncovering what's not functioning well in our society, but they might also simply be an eternal echo chamber that humans keep perpetuating.

I am still uncertain to which extent this applies to clinically relevant cases of trauma though (or where to draw the line there).

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Yes and it's actually pretty impressive how whole generations can be influenced by some ideas that turn out to be wrong in the end. (Good) scientists are aware of the fundamental incertitude of their work but there still seems to be some difficulty in embracing it, and lots of scientists, as well as lots of non-scientist humans, seem to have this innate need to cling to some "certitudes". Which can make it difficult to truly advance knowledge.


I am not sure if I am right here or if my brain is weirdly associating, but I had a social psychology class where we touched upon the "system justification theory". That is, the idea that endorsing system-justifying beliefs can serve a palliative function. (If I am "low status", it is less distressing to tell myself "pah, it's okay if things are unfair" then constantly trying and fighting against unfair things. We could not conclude whether this is detrimental (by hindering social change) or actually a helpful mechanism like in your example (because it might focus your attention back to truly fundamental things (?), things that you actually feel like you have control over (?)).


Haha . It's been a while I haven't been thinking about philosophy, and I have had too few classes in the subject (unfortunately) but I would freely argue just for fun: while debauchery is probably not the best way to live your life, I still think that there is some inherent value in pursuing pleasure or enjoyment, and that you might miss some important part of human experience if you are too abstinent. There is a whole continuum/range of hedonic experiences (sex orgies every week vs. the occasional glass of wine), a part of the range is probably "too much" to be experienced by everyone at high frequency, but people are so widespread on the continuum that I think more about individual differences than about some kind of universal law when I think about the subject - and accept that some doing it that way, some the other. But that might just be 2020 postmodern, individualistic stupid me, and I might have to rethink my ethical concepts .


That's a really nice way to look at it :-).


Yes that's true .

I was a bit unclear; by "getting stuff done properly" I was thinking more about the days/times where I was so out of focus/in my thoughts that I would barely make it to get some food, let alone be capable to truly focus on some kind of work or skill. I was so lost in convoluted thoughts about whether I was actually understanding university classes or not, that I went back 3 times to some classes in university, losing probably one or two years of being simply caught in a giant thought loop.
But then yes, maybe also here these were perfectionistic expectations (I could have just thought: "whatever, just get through the class"). But more deeply, there also was a genuine hope to learn something, that was not really fulfilled.
Until today I wake up every morning angry at the educational system, and at myself to not understand that I was not the flaw, but that maybe there was just a mismatch between my needs/expectations and what I had at my disposal.
But I guess that will also fade away with time (or end up in me doing hardcore educational research and try to improve the system all my life :D).

Seems to be quite the story! I might want to try and get that book soon .

That's really interesting and ever since I read this part of your post I thought about it most of the days. Very helpful thought!
Then to me your thought is somehow an extension of the theory: you still find meaningfulness in relationships - it's just that unilaterally looking for this meaningfulness can be harmful if you don't take boundaries into account

Again, well said . I will just briefly add that CBASP might be a useful tool in, like you say, learning just these skills, for some people who are too wounded to learn on their own - a lot of them might have experienced just what you are describing, during their childhood.

Hello everyone,
I am still struggling with my MS thesis especially with assessing how thoroughly I need to go about a subject.
Subject: a statistical method
Thorough examination: it is being misunderstood, used in wrong or suboptimal ways
My idea: design a new statistical method

Problem: not enough math background. I would need to catch up some background and it might take some time before I get there. The alternative is to produce a "suboptimal" piece of paper.

PRO going all in:
- I am tired of doing stuff the "stupid" way and pretending I don't see what could be done better. It takes a toll on my mental health after a time.
- I could "prove" with the thesis my interest in math. Would help for PhDs in related fields.
- I have a problem with my scientific honor/ethic contributing to work I believe is misleading. (In other words: I believe I know enough about a field to know which is the right direction to steer it into, and which not).
- I am honestly afraid of my perspectives with the degree, especially considering the positions I am eyeing require the math background I didn't get with the degree


CONTRA
- financially irresponsible. I need a job.
- on the paper, I am not doing anything wrong by completing requirements for a degree solely with the knowledge that is being transmitted in the degree
- I might simply be impatient. Maybe sometimes it is okay to keep ideas in the back of your head and take them out at the right moment

Maybe someone to be a reasonable voice to me?
I am still feeling devoid of social support mostly except with you here which is why I am asking

It’s true that selecting appropriate method(s) for statistical data analysis, based on a thorough understanding of how various factors produce measured outcomes, is vital to reaching correct research conclusions. I have had frustrating discussions with statisticians who did not understand biological mechanisms and with scientists who had very little experience with data analyses, but before attempting to develop your own statistical analysis tool (which would probably require multiple data sets to validate), have you met together with your supervisors and statisticians to jointly review your project data?

From your answer, I understand that I was overzealous.

As you say, developing a new tool takes quite some effort (before it reaches a point where it is truly convincing). Maybe this would be more for a PhD project. Especially given that the data I currently have is not suited for my idea, I would need to go look for other data sets..

Thanks for answering!

I have a meeting appointed with a supervisor on monday so I can discuss further things

I guess this will not be the only time where I will need to be patient

Apologies for the delay before my response.

I don’t think you’re overzealous at all. I think it would be fantastic if your research were to lead you to branch out successfully into new areas of statistics.

My comment was to urge you to evaluate your findings with whatever appropriate statistics tools are currently available, because if you do find a tool that is appropriate but not optimal, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush and it may be a better path to publish findings and interpretations (if you believe the conclusions are valid) and then return later to this area, with the perspective of validating your new statistical tool (which may take a while if you have to negotiate with other researchers to obtain their raw data sets). Then you could eventually have several birds securely in hand.

From your previous exchanges in this thread, I think one of the themes which definitely apply is ‘done is better than perfect’.

How did your meeting go?

Apologies myself, I am way worse, a month late!

The meeting went well in that my advisors helped me narrow down the focus of my thesis. This was very helpful as I was a bit overwhelmed with the breadth of the field I am entering.

The current result of my research is that, inferring from the extant literature, the tool I am investigating might not even be appropriate (some quite contradictory findings), let alone optimal.

I might therefore shift the focus of my thesis from "use of the statistical tool" to "critical examination of the statistical tool".

(Which of course, I enjoy doing more anyways :D).

Final decision coming in the next days.

Thank you for asking!

It’s good that your meeting has helped you narrow down your focus. I hope that since then, you’ve gained even greater clarity wrt your path.

I must apologise (again) as I had not realised that your research was primarily focused on a statistical tool. From your earlier posts, it was clear you were interested in bioinformatics as a career, but I had not realised that in your area of psychology research, you have already taken significant steps in that direction. Quite possibly, you have even taken a better pathway as it is always advantageous to understand cause and effect underlying the relationships between variables, when analysing research data. Too many biostatisticians work in silos, reducing the value & impact of their work.

Hello everyone,
I wanted to express my thankfulness for all the great answers that I've received in the process. I feel like I got steered in the right direction at a moment where this definitely was not the only possible outcome. I feel way more balanced now, as many of my doubts have been adressed.
As you might have noticed throughout the thread, this was all a somehow turbulent time for me; I believe I have been quite emotional and therefore sometimes expressing doubts, ideas, thoughts in a possibly chaotic, unfiltered, manner. I hope this was not too strenuous to anyone.
I have gotten many helpful answers on my particular case, as well as a range of wisdoms that still resonate with me today. I do not take it for granted that I can simply "show up" at a place like this forum, articulate a multitude of questions, and get a range of helpful answers within hours.
In particular, I wish to reflect on the fact that a lot of the wisdoms that have been shared here, might have been not as easy to obtain in that abundance and diversity, not so long ago, as roaming around the Internet was not such commonplace. For some of you, it might have taken months, years or decades more, whilst I could basically open my laptop, write a few sentences, and immediately get such response. Therefore, I feel truly blessed, and I sincerely hope I will know how to be helpful here to anyone, from time to time and therefore perpetuate, and give back what I’ve received.
I did mention my idea to make a post about giftedness and mental health, as the latter subject has been one of the foci of my studies, and personal thoughts so far. I have started something but am still quite busy at the moment, so completion might still take a while.
In the meantime, I wish the best to all of you in your endeavours!

PS: for anyone who is interested, and as an answer to @Eagle Mum: the class of statistical models I am investigating is useful not only in psychology, but also in other fields, notably also bioinformatics; in the end, I also chose this subject as it felt like it might leave open doors for transitions, or no transition . I also feel that data-savy people are going to be demanded in the years or possibly decades to come, so engaging on that path, without being completely set on the area of application, might be a good choice for now; it allows me to combine personal interest, and pragmatic considerations.

Welcome back, raphael!

This especially resonated with me... as I had an exceptionally wise grandfather who shared many wonderful thoughts, experiences, analogies, and true-isms with me... and similar to gathering ideas from this forum... filled me with gratitude and an eye toward looking out for others along life's road, who may also be seeking a few thoughts from their elders.