\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Entropy\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/messydesksample.jpg\")
<\/a>Entropy as a mental health concept can help explain that if we don\u2019t actively work to keep things organized, they will revert into a state of disorganization.<\/p><\/div>\n
On the theme that scientific principles and theories have <\/a><\/span>mental health correlates<\/a> that we should pay attention to, I woul<\/span>d<\/span> like to add another scientific principle that can help us with police psychology called \u201centropy.\u201d Let me pu<\/span>t<\/span> this second law of thermodynamics<\/em> in a simpler form for us to und<\/span>erstand.<\/span><\/p>\n Entropy<\/span><\/strong> is a measure of disorder or randomness<\/a>. Th<\/span>e principle says that a closed organism or system will look to reach <\/span>its most disorganized state unless energy is provided to keep it in line. Essentially, unless we apply work to keep something organized in the fashion we want it organized, entropy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> will look to undo the organization and make it more random. We are doomed to live a life of disorder unless we work to make it orderly. A real shocker there I bet you are saying. This science principle has been applied to information theory, business theory and even to explain aging when the body starts to deteriorate and fall apart. I believe we can look to our own lives to see the explanation of entropy<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Go no further than your desk to realize that entropy can affect you. If you haven\u2019t worked to keep everything in line, your desk will look like mine with papers and pens all over the place. I admit, I like having some disorganization on my desk, but where is the level when I am willing to clean up or apply work? My desk quickly goes over the level I want it to be, in fact it may only take a day sometimes to get to be a mess. Ever notice how life is so much harder when you have to look for everything all the time? How about your teenager\u2019s room if you\u2019re like most parents of kids. Don\u2019t be surprised to have the argument: \u201dClean your room, Suzy\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t touch anything dad, I am studying entropy in school.\u201d Maybe not, but if they are a very bright quick thinking kid, they can get you to think with that for a second or two.<\/span><\/p>\n But let\u2019s hit closer to home. Careers have \u201centropy\u201d also. If you don\u2019t do the work on your career, you end up in the same places for a long while without any direction. Now you can be working, but without applying work to advance yourself, not just doing your job, entropy will take over. You may have to send a memo to tell someone you are doing a good job, or let people know in other ways you are accomplishing something. There is more to work than the task of doing a job. If you want to advance, you must keep people aware of your good deeds.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about your relationships. Want to know what entropy looks like in marriage? Divorce! If you are not doing the work to compliment your spouse, bring home a flower or other gift occasionally, make a special evening, or whatever your spouse likes, entropy will take over and that is not good for anyone. People don\u2019t stay when there is few rewards. (So send me a cookie sometime so I keep writing).<\/span><\/p>\n So exorcise entropy from your life and you will move forward more productively in the future, and maybe you won\u2019t have as much to complain about. But then again, maybe you like to complain. We\u2019ll get to that in another blog.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0If you enjoyed this stress tip, sign up to receive updates for more posts on police psychology and stress management.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n To follow me on this blog click at the bottom of the page at www.policepsychologyblog.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n For books by Dr. Gary S. Aumiller got to http:\/\/www.myherodad.com<\/a> or http:\/\/www.myheromom.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Join me on Facebook or Linkedin (see sidebar).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 The Principle of Entropy \u00a0 On the theme that scientific principles and theories have mental health correlates that we should pay attention to, I would like to add another scientific principle that can help us with police psychology called \u201centropy.\u201d Let me put this second law of thermodynamics in a simpler form for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168886],"tags":[17168819,17168800,17168797,17168817,17168816],"class_list":["post-121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-priorities","tag-entropy","tag-mental-health","tag-police-psychology","tag-stress-management","tag-stress-tip"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":112,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=112","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | The Principle of Relativity (or something like that)","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"March 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Principle of Relativity (or something like that) \u00a0 I like to teach that scientific principles and theories have mental health correlates that we should pay attention to in both police psychology and all denominations of the mental health field. Scientific theory is highly dependent on observation (both inside and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motives and Opportunity"","block_context":{"text":"Motives and Opportunity","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168884"},"img":{"alt_text":"jet plane","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/jet-plane.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":317,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=317","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | Keeping It Simple","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"May 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Keeping It Simple \u00a0 Police Psychology has many facets.\u00a0 This is one I learned quickly working with officers. I sat and dutifully listened to a story I had heard many times from my parents and now from my friend's Brooklyn relatives. It seems that people who were children of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"ice-truck1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ice-truck1-300x172.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":229,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=229","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | Psychological Shot-Peening","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"April 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Psychological\u00a0 Shot-Peening Let\u2019s talk about an often overlooked police psychology concept \u2013 shot-peening. Now, I know shot peening isn\u2019t a top 10 on anyone\u2019s choice of psychological technique, but before you click on that little \u201cx\u201d button, hear me out. We\u2019ve been discussing how scientific theories can extend to your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"controlled-shot-peening","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/controlled-shot-peening-235x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":672,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=672","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | Make Up (of) Your Mind","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Make Up (of) Your Mind \u00a0 Police stress can sometimes originate from cops who are thrust into a work situation where supervisors don\u2019t understand how they think and process information. This is an area where police psychology can be of tremendous help to departmental leaders. The police\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"fluffy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/fluffy-300x198.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":549,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=549","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | You Change Your Underwear, Don\u2019t You","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"August 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | You Change Your Underwear, Don\u2019t You \u00a0 Police psychology is about change (and police stress\u00a0is often about dealing with change). It could be changing an officer\u2019s life, changing the behavior of a perpetrator, or choosing the officer who will go into an academy and have to deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Change"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Change","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168881"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police Psychology Change 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Police-Psychology-Change-2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":376,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=376","url_meta":{"origin":121,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | Get Your Butt Moving","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Get Your Butt Moving \u00a0 You don\u2019t normally think of Isaac Newton or Galileo Galilei when you think about police psychology, but that is a mistake. These two weird-looking men while daydreaming under that apple tree or looking up at the stars came up with a theory that explains much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Effort"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Effort","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168880"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police psychology: inertia ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/train-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Entropy in your Life<\/h2>\n
Remove Stress by Fighting Entropy<\/h3>\n
<\/a>How do you fix it? I teach the concept of entropy very simply then ask, \u201cwhat is the work you have to do to make your marriage work,\u201d or \u201cto make your boss like you\u201d or \u201cto be happy<\/a>?\u201d People will come up with some bizarre things, so you have to act as their filter. I might tell them how to reward their spouse or let the boss know when you\u2019ve accomplished something. We all have different levels of disorder and we have disorder in different areas, so I ask \u201cwhere does entropy work hardest on you?\u201d As people get the insight of entropy, they start thinking about what is NEXT<\/span><\/strong> for them to do rather than living in the problem. That is always useful in therapy or in self-development.<\/span><\/p>\n