The Psychology On Why People Buy Toilet Paper In An Emergency

The mighty claw will win you a TOILET ROLL #UK #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/qTgBtaSrKw

— RT (@RT_com) March 14, 2020

CNN: The psychology behind why toilet paper, of all things, is the latest coronavirus panic buy

Now, novel coronavirus panic buyers are snatching up ... toilet paper?

Retailers in the US and Canada have started limiting the number of toilet paper packs customers can buy in one trip. Some supermarkets in the UK are sold out. Grocery stores in Australia have hired security guards to patrol customers.
An Australian newspaper went so far as printing eight extra pages in a recent edition -- emergency toilet paper, the newspaper said, should Aussies run out.

Why? Toilet paper does not offer special protection against the virus. It's not considered a staple of impending emergencies, like milk and bread are.

So why are people buying up rolls more quickly than they can be restocked?

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WNU Editor: I experienced this more than once in the former Soviet Union. Lines would form in front a store because there is a rumour that it has something to sell at a good price. And yes, that experience in the Soviet Union scarred me. As a rule I always make sure that I have a two to 3 month supply of food and essentials in my home in Montreal, my chalet north of Montreal, and in my home in Moscow. And as for toilet paper. Toilet paper in the Soviet Union was cardboard crap, and everyone hated it. That is why today I always make it a rule to have a case of toilet rolls (50 rolls/case) on reserve in my home in Montreal and in Moscow. I never, never, never want to go through the experience of running out of toilet paper that I had 35 years ago. And trust me on this. Neither will you.

Update: The next rush will be on dog and cat food. I asked the GF yesterday on how much dog food that she had left for her rottweiler. She had about a week left. Rushed to the store, and there were only two bags of the brand that she uses left. She bought it right away. The shelves were almost empty for the other brands.

A Look At How A Soldier's Brain And Body Responds Before, During, And After Combat

Adam Linehan, Task & Purpose: This Is Your Brain On War

Task & Purpose teamed up with combat psychologist and author Lt. Col. Dave Grossman to produce this visual guide to what happens to the mind and body before, during, and after combat.

In 2012, legendary BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon 24 miles above the Earth to set the record for highest ever free-fall. Red Bull, the sponsor, had poured more than $65 million into the project and employed some of the world’s most eminent scientists and engineers to see it through, but the mission was nearly a complete failure — not because of any technical issues, but because in the months leading up to the jump, Baumgartner had developed a crippling fear of his space suit.

Even under the most extreme circumstances, undesirable emotions can be managed. The sports world realized that a long time ago, which is why today mental training is incorporated into nearly every professional sport. When Baumgartner tried to back out of the jump, Red Bull called in their secret weapon: a renowned performance psychologist named Dr. Michael Gervais, who quickly got the 43-year-old athlete’s anxiety under control. Baumgartner’s fall, which broke the sound barrier, was flawless.

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WNU Editor: The "scientist" in me found this article a fascinating read, and for soldiers who have been in combat .... probably doubly so. This is a must read.

A New Discovery To Conquer Fear?

New York Times: A Drug to Cure Fear

WHO among us hasn’t wanted to let go of anxiety or forget about fear? Phobias, panic attacks and disorders like post-traumatic stress are extremely common: 29 percent of American adults will suffer from anxiety at some point in their lives.

Sitting at the heart of much anxiety and fear is emotional memory — all the associations that you have between various stimuli and experiences and your emotional response to them. Whether it’s the fear of being embarrassed while talking to strangers (typical of social phobia) or the dread of being attacked while walking down a dark street after you’ve been assaulted (a symptom of PTSD), you have learned that a previously harmless situation predicts something dangerous.

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WNU Editor: The applications for the military are endless .... and I will not be surprised if we will soon these advances being applied to military personnel.

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Employ Therapists To Help Analysts Deal With The Emotional Trauma From Watching Jihadist Executions And Their Abuse Of Children

The analysts watch graphic content and look at violent photos to gain clues about the actions of terrorists. Daily Mail

Shane Harris, Daily Beast: The Shrinks Who Only See CIA Officers

Some U.S. intelligence analysts spend days scouring ISIS beheading videos and jihadists’ porn. When it gets to be too much, there’s a cadre of therapists on call.

Given the choice, most of us would probably turn away in revulsion from the beheading videos and other images of depravity that are the propaganda hallmarks of ISIS and its terrorist brethren.

But for some, watching this graphic material is all in a day’s work. Imagery analysts and terrorism experts at U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the NSA, and the National Counterterrorism Center, sit in banal warrens of cubicles or in closed rooms in top-secret facilities scrutinizing the details of a nightmarish gallery of prisoner beheadings, attacks on U.S. military forces, and sexual abuse of children. It’s their job to find clues in the material that might indicate how an attack was carried out, when another might be coming, and where terrorists are holding their hostages.

Update #1: CIA and NSA analysts who spend all day watching ISIS beheadings, brutal attacks and hard core child pornography are treated by specialist psychologists -- Daily Mail
Update #2: CIA Analysts Must Watch Videos Of ISIS Beheadings, Horrific Attacks, And Child Abuse -- Inquisitr

WNU Editor: As a rule I stay away from this stuff .... years ago I accidentally saw an execution video posted by Chechens on a Russian soldier .... that image is still in my mind. The fact that people are employed to see everyday .... I can never be paid enough to do that job.

How U.S. Soldiers Learn To Kill

U.S. Department of Defense

Timothy Kudo, New York Times: How We Learned to Kill

THE voice on the other end of the radio said: “There are two people digging by the side of the road. Can we shoot them?”

It was the middle of the night during my first week in Afghanistan in 2010, on the northern edge of American operations in Helmand Province, and they were directing the question to me. Were the men in their sights irrigating their farmland or planting a roadside bomb? The Marines reported seeing them digging and what appeared to be packages in their possession. Farmers in the valley work from sunrise to sundown, and seeing anyone out after dark was largely unheard-of.

WNU Editor: This is a sobering essay on a topic that many soldiers rarely talk about.

Is Lying In The Military Common?

CNN: Study: 'U.S. Army officers lie' routinely

Washington (CNN)U.S. Army officers often resort to "evasion and deception," and everyone at the Pentagon knows it, according to a new study conducted by the U.S. Army War College.

"In other words, in the routine performance of their duties as leaders and commanders, U.S. Army officers lie," reads the study, which was conducted by the War College's Strategic Studies Institute.

The 33-page report, compiled following interviews with officers across the Army, concluded that the Army's culture is rife with "dishonesty and deception" at all levels of the institution -- from the most junior members to senior Army officials.

Update #1: Lying in the military is common, Army War College study says -- Washington Post
Update #2: Report: Army officers admit to (and defend) their lying -- Army Times

WNU Editor: The study is here.

A Look At The CIA's Secret Psychological Profiles Of Dictators And World Leaders

Davie Gilson, Mother Jones: The CIA's Secret Psychological Profiles of Dictators and World Leaders Are Amazing

Psychoanalyzing strongmen, from Castro to Saddam.

Last week, Politico and USA Today reported about a secret 2008 Pentagon study which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin's defining characteristic is…autism. The Office of Net Assessment's Body Leads project asserted that scrutinizing hours of Putin footage revealed "that the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality…identified by leading neuroscientists as Asperger's Syndrome, an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions."

Putin's spokesman dismissed the claim as "stupidity not worthy of comment." But it was far from the first time the intelligence community has tried to diagnose foreign leaders from afar on behalf of American politicians and diplomats. The CIA has a long history of crafting psychological and political profiles of international figures, with varying degrees of depth and accuracy. A sampling of these attempts to get inside the heads of heads of state:

WNU Editor: Forget about the CIA's analysis of the world's leaders and dictators .... I would love to know what do the world's intelligence agencies think of President Obama .... and what are their psych profiles of him.

Chronic Insomnia Is A Continuing Problem For U.S. Soldiers Who Have Served In War Zones

An infrared light illuminates U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Bobby M. Scharton, a platoon sergeant with 17th Fires Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, during a sleep study at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Nov. 22, 2013. Physicians use data from the studies to diagnose severe sleep disorders like sleep apnea and insomnia. U.S. Army

Soldiers Lost A Lot Of Sleep In Iraq, Afghanistan -- Stars and Stripes/San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO (MCT) — A new medical study has determined that the Army had the highest rate of chronic insomnia among the armed services over a long decade of war.

The study showed a sharp increase among men and women as the U.S. fought in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2005 to 2013 and found those veterans were more likely to have high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.

“Insomnia is a common complaint in active-duty service members,” the authors of the study wrote in a report issued by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. “Of those returning from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, 41 percent reported problems sleeping.”

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My Comment: I suspect that for most (if not all) U.S. soldiers who have served on the front lines .... this is a huge problem, and the impact on health is long lasting and probably very damaging.

Can The Pentagon Predict Human Behavior?

Could A Brain Scan Protect U.S. Troops From Insider Attacks? -- Patrick Tucker, Defense One

A Pentagon report, revealed by The New York Times over the weekend, showed that the American troops working alongside Iraqi forces were at risk of harm from Sunni extremists who had infiltrated the Iraqi Army (and, perhaps, from the pro-Iranian Shiite militias that effectively are the Army.) On Monday, Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters that “it would be imprudent, irresponsible not to think about the insider threat.” The threat is real in Afghanistan as well where insider threats, so-called “green-on-blue” attacks, have killed several U.S. troops in recent years.

So, if you’re a U.S. soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan today, how do you determine whether or not the Iraqi or Afghan soldier next to you is going to give up your location to the enemy at the first chance? One solution, developed by a former Army counterintelligence agent, is scanning the brains of Iraqi troops for signs of potential betrayal.

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My Comment: Forget about using this technology on the military .... one can see how such technology can be applied to the civilian population as a whole. The possibilities are truly frightening .... your loyalty to the government (or your level of support) can now be assessed using science.

Report To FDA Links Malaria Drug To U.S. Soldier's Killing Spree In Afghanistan

Report To FDA Links Malaria Drug To U.S. Soldier's Brutal Rampage In Afghanistan That Left 16 Civilians Dead -- Daily Mail

* 'There is no good reason for why I did the horrible things I did': In June, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales pleaded guilty to the rampage
* Antimalarial drug mefloquin has been linked to neurological events in 5 to 10 percent of users
* A 2012 report refers to an 'adverse event' where an unnamed soldier killed civilians in Afghanistan after taking the drug
* Bales also admitted to previous steroid use

The American soldier who entered a village and murdered 16 civilians in Afghanistan may now have documents that directly link his alleged crimes to use of the antimalarial drug mefloquine.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales pleaded guilty last month of slaughtering village people in the country’s Kandahar province in March 2012. It has since been suggested that Bales’ previous head injury, paired with use of the common drug, contributed to his homicidal actions but no direct link had previously been uncovered.

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My Comment: I suspect that there were/are many other reasons on why Sgt. Bales snapped and commited this massacre. But the impact of this drug on the behavior on some U.S. soldiers and now this linkage to this massacre is disturbing.

Inside The Mind Of A Jihadist

Inside The Twisted Mind Of A Jihadist: He's Addicted To Al Qaeda Websites, And Loathes Decadent Non-Believers -- Michael Burleigh, Daily Maily

MI5 believes there are 2,000 potential terrorists in the UK who pose a threat to national security and the great majority are radicalised Muslims. Here, terror expert and historian MICHAEL BURLEIGH imagines the mindset of such an extremist in Britain.

He was already exhausted when he woke at 11am, for, as a devout Muslim, he had prayed as dawn broke, eating some bread and fruit by way of breakfast, and had then fallen asleep again while reciting favourite passages from the Holy Quran.

The rest of the day stretched ahead, as there was no need to work in a society that subsidised idleness.

But his mind was always busy and time was punctuated by the ritual of prayers, though he had not yet developed the bump on his forehead that praying put on the heads of the pious from bowing to Mecca.

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My Comment: An interesting take from Michael Burleigh. As to what is mine .... when religion is exploited by fanatics .... anything becomes possible. Christianity had it's "dark ages" centuries ago .... and Islam is having it's period right now .... especially for those who fiercely believe in Jihad. I can also throw in the Hindu - Muslim conflict that has occurred (on and off) in the past century on the Indian subcontinent and the Muslim - Bhuddist battles in Burma of today.

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Has Become A 'Teen Hearthrob'

The 'Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent' Facebook page has quickly grown to include 11,250 members who offer a mixture of constructive support for the accused Boston bomber and conspiracy theories that paint him as an innocent man

Boston Suspect Becomes Teen Hearthrob: Thousands Of Girls Express Their Love For Bomber In Worrying Online Forums -- Daily Mail

A startling number of teen girls have admitted to having a schoolgirl crush on bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, proclaiming their love for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect on social media.

Its a disturbing trend on sites like Twitter and Facebook, where girls have admitted to finding Tsarnaev attractive, and herald him in the ranks of Justin Bieber and One Direction singer Harry Styles.

One Twitter user, a waitress who goes by the name Keepitblunted, has said she is looking to get a tattoo of a Tsarnaev quote. 'If you have the knowledge and the inspiration all that's left is to take action.'

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My Comment: Talk about a lost generation. On a side note .... here is Tamerlan Tsarnaev's death certificate that states bluntly that his "teen heartthrob' brother ran over him and dragged him in a stolen car.

Humor Is A Battlefield Weapon

Humor Can Be The Best Battlefield Weapon A Marine Ever Had -- Garrett Anderson, Business Insider

Happy Marines could be found throughout the Battle of Fallujah.

They would usually start at it early in the morning when their dirty faces could get away with it, a smile and a laugh, usually at some other Marine’s expense, the energy was strong in the morning, and everyone could only be happy before an operation. After that the smiles appeared only in brief short bursts, behind the gunfire and fire, the smoke that choked the young men with their black lungs.

I met Paul Stewgots during his first day assigned to our Infantry unit; he had transferred over from security forces and the Marine Corps’ elite fleet anti-terrorism force (Fast Company). I was mopping the floor in the Alpha Company office.

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My Comment: These men were lucky .... they lived to tell the tale. Humor is everyone's defense mechanism when things go terribly wrong .... especially for soldiers. I rarely saw my father laugh .... but his war buddies (at least those who survived) told me at his funeral that during the war he was a regular joker .... always making everyone laugh .... especially when times were rough and horrible. I never saw that in my dad .... I guess in the end the war took that away from him ....

The Psychological Toll Of The Iraq And Afghan Wars

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Psychological Toll Of Wars In Afghanistan And Iraq Mounts As Veterans Return Home -- NBC 

Sergeant Louis Loftus first noticed something was wrong when a simple picture brought him to tears. “I came home on mid-tour leave and I was showing some family members pictures of my deployment,” said the veteran, 24, who served in Afghanistan. “And just from seeing a picture that reminded me of something where someone had been killed...right there I just started crying.” By the time he was home from his second deployment he was plagued by a sleep disorder and nightmares, followed by anxiety and the impulse to isolate himself from his loved ones. Eventually he was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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My Comment:  I call this the "hidden cost" of war. Unfortunately .... these emotional and psychological scars are going to be with us for a lifetime.

Al Qaeda Terrorists Actually 'Just Want To Defend Themselves'

Al Qaeda Terrorists Actually 'Just Want To Defend Themselves' Claims Controversial New Study -- Daily Mail

* Controversial study claims Qur'an quotes 'prove' Al Qaeda are 'defenders'
* Islamists are not bent on world domination, claim controversial academics
* 'Verse of the sword' quote used only three times in 2000 texts
* Unclear how this fits with extremists violent and unprovoked attacks

Al Qaeda terrorists do not want to destroy Western civilisation - and in fact aim to defend themselves, a provocative study has argued.

The study is certain to cause anger among relatives of victims of extremist groups, which often unleash violent and unprovoked attacks.

The academics claim, however, that the goals of such groups are broadly 'defensive'.

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My Comment: I am positive that Al Qaeda's goals are defensive .... just like Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union was defensive, bombing Pearl Harbor was defensive, beheading innocent hostages is defensive, etc. etc. etc.

Soldier's Photos Show The Effects Of War

Second Lieutenant Adam Petzsch, 25

Afghanistan Soldier Photos 'Show Effect Of War' -- BBC

The heavy toll of fighting in Afghanistan can be seen in a set of photos showing UK soldiers before, during and after their tour of duty.

They were taken by photographer Lalage Snow who met the soldiers from 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland during their training.

She says the time she spent with them helped win their trust and get them comfortable in front of the camera.

The idea for the 'We Are The Not Dead' project came when she met them again in Helmand province three months later.

"I was really shocked at how different they looked: Red-rimmed eyes, beards, really gaunt and thin, brown, and full of sand.

"It really shocked me," she admits.

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Update #1: We Are Not The Dead: soldiers' faces before, during and after serving in Afghanistan -- The Telegraph
Update #2: Faces of war: Britain's brave soldiers reveal the suffering and fortitude etched into every line -- Daily Mail
Update #3: Faces that show war’s grim toll -- The Sun

My Comment: Apparently a picture says a thousand words .... hmmm .... these pictures say a million.

U.S. Military's New Mental Fitness Program Prepares Soldiers For The Horrors And Stresses Of War

Photo: Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program Aims To Equip Troops Mentally -- L.A. Times

Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum of Gulf War fame has been deployed to lead the military's new program to prepare soldiers for the psychic trauma of war and its aftermath.

Reporting from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.—Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum found out what combat stress was in the back of a pickup during the first Gulf War in 1991 when one of her Iraqi captors unzipped her flight suit and, as she lay there with two broken arms and an injured eye, sexually assaulted her.

The reed-thin Army physician, whose Black Hawk helicopter had been shot down, became a symbol of everything America was worried about in sending women to war. Her successful return home — sane and not that much the worse for her ordeal — became a powerful argument for the irrelevance of gender in conditions of indiscriminate violence.

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My Comment: If there is anyone who knows what stresses and horrors a soldier may experience in war time .... she is the one.

Will We Be Able To Control Fear In Our Soldiers?

A) Schematic cross-section of a mouse brain showing the distribution of CRHR1 gene activity and the associated neurotransmitter specificity. B) Glutamatergic neuron of the hippocampus. (Credit: © MPI of Psychiatry)

Control of Fear in the Brain Decoded: Emotional Balance Is Regulated by Molecular Factors Behind Stress Response, Study Finds -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2011) — When healthy people are faced with threatening situations, they react with a suitable behavioural response and do not descend into a state of either panic or indifference, as is the case, for example, with patients who suffer from anxiety.

With the help of genetic studies on mice, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry have discovered two opposing neuronal regulatory circuits for the generation and elimination of fear.

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My Comment: Will soldiers be more effective and deadlier if they have no fear. I am sure that some in the military are now taking notice of this science.

Is Killing An Addiction For Some Veterans?

Killing 'Really Addictive:' Veteran's Essay Leads to Ban From Campus -- ABC News

College Bars Iraq Veteran Pending Psychological Evaluation.

In an essay for a college English class, Charles Whittington Jr. opened up about his feelings about his time in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Killing becomes a drug, and it is really addictive. I had a really hard time with this problem when I returned to the United States, because turning this addiction off was impossible," Whittington wrote in the essay for his class at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Md.

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My Comment: Fortunately .... while it may be addictive .... returning vets are able to turn this type of behavior off (with very rare exceptions). As for the College banning this vet from attending class .... this is a bit overboard. There should be an open discussion on this issue instead of punishing those who want to talk about it .... unfortunately, it appears that certain biases and judgments are being made before an examination of the facts are made.

Navy SEALs Recognize Anger More Quickly

From Live Science:

The brains of elite soldiers can respond faster to signs of anger than normal, which could help them detect threats and make the difference between life and death when under fire.

The differences in the brains of those who excel in extreme circumstances are poorly understood. Such research might help improve military performance, explained neuroscientist Alan Simmons at the University of California at San Diego.

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My Comment: There is a lot of truth to this. In my more younger days, I worked as a security guard at ICAO (the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization building in Montreal). I could always sense who was going to be a problem .... and who was not. I chalked this up as instinct, and being sensitive to my surroundings. My father who fought in the Second World War once mentioned to me that after 6 months on the front, he could always instinctively know that if he went in a certain direction, problems will arise.

For elite soldiers, I suspect that they are super sensitive of their surroundings. If we can find out why they are like this, the impact of this advantage on any battlefield will be sizable.