All-American Rejects

That's why it's best to evolve into your own person.

One part of this reserach I'd be curious to know more about is how this translates to job seekers. Let alone the feelings associated with being laid off, either as part of a mass layoff or not, the increased compeition for fewer jobs across the country is going to lead to many more opportunities for rejections for job seekers.

Bloggers are losers. Wait! Doh!

Regular rejection can give people a better BS filter, but only to a point. If someone starts to identify with being rejected, rather than learning from it, not only do they usually not become more perceptive, they develop some very weird mental filters that make them much less so.

I read another article a couple of months ago that said people who had gone through rejection throughout their lives were much more adept at detecting sincerity and lies in others. In the reverse, people who are always accepted tend to be more gullible.

Some people with mental instabillities exhibit an exagerrated form of this reaction. A key feature of Borderline Personality Disorder is extreme sensitivity to perceived slight. People with BPD misinterpret social and verbal cues and conclude that they're being criticized or rejected (abandoned). This can result in aggression, anger, and self-destructive behaviors, as well as disordered interaction with others and manipulation. Symptoms of BPD can overlap those of Bipollar III, depression, antisocial personality disorder, and addictive behaviors, including binge eating and self-mutilation. Treatment with antidepressant medications, along with intensive counseling and therapy, can reduce the level of anxiety these people experience, but it's often a long and difficult process.

It is my hypothesis that all drugs of addiction produce their effects by first stimulating a part of the brain. This, in turn, stimulates DHEA for use by that part of the brain. When the DHEA declines, that part of the brain signals for more DHEA. This causes the re-use of the drug.

I suggest that human interaction will produce DHEA or cortisol or not change their ratio. DHEA produces positive effects in the brain; cortisol produces negative effects. Therefore, I suggest interactions with people, especially of the opposite sex, increase DHEA levels which connects us to those people. Interactions which increase cortisol stimulates avoidance of people.

Those people who really "move" us, stimulate parts of the brain which stimulates DHEA. This is the same effect as drugs produce. When we are rejected by "significant others," this produces a withdrawal effect just like drugs.

James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas

It is my hypothesis that all drugs of addiction produce their effects by first stimulating a part of the brain. This, in turn, stimulates DHEA for use by that part of the brain. When the DHEA declines, that part of the brain signals for more DHEA. This causes the re-use of the drug.

I suggest that human interaction will produce DHEA or cortisol or not change their ratio. DHEA produces positive effects in the brain; cortisol produces negative effects. Therefore, I suggest interactions with people, especially of the opposite sex, increase DHEA levels which connects us to those people. Interactions which increase cortisol stimulates avoidance of people.

Those people who really "move" us, stimulate parts of the brain which stimulates DHEA. This is the same effect as drugs produce. When we are rejected by "significant others," this produces a withdrawal effect just like drugs.

James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas