Whitney Young

Ap American History Whitney Young Whitney young was a civil rights activist born on July 31, 1921 in Lincoln ridge, Kentucky. He graduated from Kentucky State College at 18 and he studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After his discharge, he received an MSW from the University of Minnesota in 1947. Mr. Young has many accomplishments from being head of many social worker companies to being advisors to president. But his overall goal was to bridge the gap between white political and business leaders and poor blacks and militants. Mr.Young was involved in many social worked companies including National Urban League. He was President of National Urban League in 1961. In just four years, he revitalized the relatively passive civil rights organization and turned it into an aggressive fighter for civil rights and justice. He expanded the organization from 38 employees to 1,600 employees and from an annual budget of $325,000 to more than $6. 1 million. Under his d irection the organization grew from 60 to 98 chapters. He was also in other social worker companies like National Conference on Social Welfare in 1965 and NASW in 1969.With these companies he did many things like secured jobs and training for African-Americans in areas traditionally closed to them. An also he helped bridge the gap between white political and business leaders and poor blacks and militants. Whitney Young did many things He pioneered the development of social work in industrial settings with both union and management. He was an advisor on race relations to Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon and his innovative â€Å"Marshall Plan† was considered a major inspiration for the â€Å"War on Poverty† of the Johnson Administration.In 1968 Johnson bestowed upon Young the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Whitney is a true inspiration in 1960’s showing that African American’s can be on top of corporate industries and le ad Americas economy. He was credited with almost singlehandedly persuading corporate America and major foundations to aid the civil rights movement. Whitney Young was a true civil rights activist and deserves to be called a civil rights pioneer. This is my report on Whitney Young and how he is a pioneer or social workers all over the United States of America. Bibliography â€Å"National Association of Social Workers. † National Association of Social Workers. NASW, 20 Feb. 2003. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Whitney Moore Young, Jr. from Encyclopedia of World Biography.  ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved. â€Å"Whitney Young Jr. † 2013. The Biography Channel website. Feb 28 2013, 01:09 http://www. biography. com/people/whitney-young-jr-9539757

Sociology – Nature Versus Nurture

The roles of nature (what we genetically inherit) and or nurture (what we learn) in making us what we are have long been argued. The idea that humans are determined by these two influences dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Protagorus who in the fifth century BC compared physics (nature) and nomos (tradition). It is however difficult to unravel the separate influences of nature and nurture. If the children of musically talented parents are themselves musically talent, is it because of genetic inheritance (nature) or because of a musical environment at home where they grow up(nurture)? The nature versus nurture debate concentrates on the question of how far our behavior is determined by nature at birth or by nurture after birth. In seventeenth century philosopher John Locke claimed that the mind of a child was like a Tabula Rasa (blank slate). People became what they were taught to be. By the second half of nineteenth century many social scientists started to argue that human behavior is determined by nature. Charles Darwin’s theory came up with the idea that humans and other animals have descended ultimately from the same ancestors.  Read also  Sociology and Social Integration. Animals are governed by instincts (fixed traits that are inherited and shared by all members of a species). These inherited mechanisms enable members of the species to perform complex tasks. For example twice a year the New Zealand cuckoo travel 4000 miles between New Zealand and Islands off the coast of New Guinea. The adults’ leave New Zealand before their eggs are hatched. The young cuckoos later on travel 4000 miles and join their par4ents-without ever having made the journey and with no one to guide them. Experiments have indicated that other birds also seem to have some inborn sense that guides their migration. Because animals are governed by instincts and human are also animals, some scholars reasoned that human behavior must also be governed by instincts. As a result many social scientists searched for the supposed instants that would explain all kinds of human behavior when they saw a mother feeding her baby they attributed it to the maternal instinct, when they were asked to explain war, they explained it was the aggressive instinct. They eventually discovered more that 14000 instincts, ranging from laughing instinct to a religious instinct. But these ideas of instinct have many short comings. Firstly the concept of instinct was tautological. (i. e. the explanation was true by definition. The instinct that was discovered was just another name for what was to be explained. For example the aggressive instinct was just another way of saying that they engage in warfare, in the same way that high temperature is another way of saying hot weather. Secondary the same instinct was used to explain contradictory actions for example the acquisitive instinct was used to explain both hard honest work and bank robbery. Thirdly, instincts are supposed to be in all human but human behavior around the world varies greatly. For example Arapesh of New Guinea or the Tasaday of Philippines do not have aggressive, nature in their behavior, if human have self preservative instinct then they would not have committed suicides. In 1969, An American psychologist Jensen claimed that only to percent of the variation between peoples intelligence is due to their social environment while 80 percent is fixed from birth by genetic inheritance. Another American psychologist, Professor Thomas Bouchard of Minnesota University carried out an experiment on Jim Twins which also help to argue that human behavior is determined more bye nature than by nurture. For example, James Lewis and James Springer were identical twins who were separated in the first year of life and brought up separately. He discovered an amazing number of coincidences about Jim Twins: †¢ Both had married women called Linda. †¢ Both had been divorced and had then married women called Betty. †¢ One of them had named his son James Allan and the other as James Alan. †¢ Both had had a dog called Toy †¢ Both had spent these holidays on the same beach in Florida. †¢ Both drove a blue Chevrolet. †¢ Both built white benches round the trunk of a tree in their gardens. †¢ Both had a habit of biting their fingernails. Both were chain smokers of same brand of cigarettes †¢ Their temperaments, voice patterns and nervous habits were also similar. Thus the case of Jim Twins might lead us towards the idea that nature determines our human behavior. Sociobiology (the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior) was devel oped by E. O. Wilson in 1980 s. According to sociobiology’s human behavior is determined naturally just like animal behavior. According to sociobiologist Steven Gavlin and Alice Schlegel (1980) individuals act in order to maximize their genes in future generations. Thus the tendency of man to have sexual relationship with beautiful women is to maximize his genes. Similarly behavior of both men and women is thus guided by genetic factors. These above mentioned evidences shows that human behavior is determined by nature or genetic influences. Our race (color of the skin and other bodily features (sex, certain diseases, flood groups, are no doubt inherited. Human beings are directly influenced by nature. For example, hunger, thirst, physical fatigue, gradual but in exorable degeneration human body all constrain our human life, shaping what we can do and can be. For example vigorous physical exercise is beyond the capacities of virtually all 70 year olds. Similarly we are still subject to and contained by ecological or climatic conditions. Human communities, no matter how advanced or developed are powerless in the face of elemental forces of earthquakes hurricanes or snowfall. On the other hand, as the twentieth century began, the concept of instinct lost its strength. The idea that human behavior is determined by nurture or learning began to gain favor. For example Russian Psychologist Ivan Pavlov had shown that human beings like dogs can be trained or conditioned. American psychologist John Watson extended Pavlov’s experiment on dogs to human infants. For example Watson could make a little boy called Albert afraid of a white rat that had previously delighted him. He concluded that all emotions, and behaviors are learned through such associations and social environment make us who we are. He further added that learning by itself determines human personality. Although social scientists accepted the influence of biological factors they considered nurture to be more influence than heredity. Even the habits that seem very basic and essential to human nature also appear to depend on nurture i. . socialization. Evidence of the far reaching significance of socialization comes both from case studies of children who are deprived from socialization and those rose in the mild. Since the fourteenth century there have been mor4e than 50 recorded cases of feral children (children supposedly raised by animals) one of the most famous is mild boy of Avey ron-Victor. In 1979 he was captured in the woods by hunter in Southern France. He was about 11, completely naked, ran on all fours, could not speak, speechless, preferred uncooked food, could not do most of the simple things done by young children. Jean Itard a physician ried to train the boy. After 3 months he seemed little more human. He more clothes learned to sit at a table, and eat wit6h utensils. He started to show human emotions such as joy, gratitude and remorse. He lived for about 40 years but he never learned to speak nor ever become a normal person. Similarly in one orphanage Spit found that infants who were about 18 months old were left lying on their backs in small cubical most of the day without any human contact. Within a year all had become physically mentally, emotionally and socially retarded. Two years later more than a third of the children had died. Those who survived could not speak, they could not walk, they could not dress up and they could not use spoon. This shows that children who received little attention/socialization suffered very noticeable effects. Various cases of unsocialized children also indicate that human behavior is something that has to be learned. Humans do not simply become able to do all things instinctually. For example Anna, from Pennsylvania, USA was an illegitimate child. Anna was kept hidden from the public in the attic. She was just fed enough to keep her alive, she was neither touched nor bathed, and she simply lay still in her own filth. She was discovered in 1938 at the age of six. She looked like a skeleton. She was couldn’t talk nor walk. She did nothing but lay quietly in the ground her eyes vacant and expressionless. She was attempted to socialize. Eventually she could walk, feed herself. Brush her teeth and follow simple directions. But she never learned to speak and was far from normal. Isabella was also an illegitimate child. She was founding Ohio, USA in 1938 at the age 6. Her grandfather had kept her and her deaf-mute mother secluded in a dark room. She could however interact with mother. When discovered however she showed great fear and hostility towards people and made a strange croaking sound, when examined she was found to be feebleminded and uneducable, she was put on a systematic skillful training, after a slow start she began to talk. In nine months she could read and write within two years she was attending school, she had become a very bright cheerful and energetic girl. All these examples clearly show that human behavior is not some thing which is fixed at birth and which unfolds step by step naturally. Human behavior has to be learned therefore social environment actually determines human behavior. Sociologists use the following evidence to support the claim that human behavior is socially determined. Jack Yufe and Oscar Stohr are identical twins born in 1932. They were separated as babies after their parents divorced. Oscar was reared in Czechoslovakia by his mothers and Jack was reared in Trinidad by his father, social scientists at the University of Minnesota Observed them but this time they found many differences between the two twins:-

Exploiting the Network: Synergy, Product Placement

The media industries have a suggestive and coercive power on society, embodied within the artifacts, images, and brands we consume. As these industries diversify, so do the products and the avenues in which they are offered. Synergy allows corporations the power to maximize advertising through a variety of cross-market promotional mechanisms, proliferating their products or logos exponentially. Initially, this essay requires an explanation of the use of synergy and cross-market advertising. Subsequently, I will illustrate how television shows such as Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and MTV’s The Osbournes and Total Live Request (TRL), use the vast internal synergistic network of their parent company Viacom. Such programming appears to exploit its viewer-ship through commodification – product placement, branding, and celebrity endorsements. Synergy: The True Meaning of Cross-Market Advertising â€Å"We are reaching a position where the challenge for the 1990s should be to seek a greater understanding of the best ways, creatively, to exploit the potential for media synergy†(Confer, 10) The concept of synergy is not new, however evidence suggests it has only been fully realized and exploited over the last decade. Synergy is created through the integration or combination of different but complimentary business interests, each feeding off the other. Ultimately, large corporations or conglomerates are diversifying their market interests rather than specializing. This diversification benefits the company by offering a new strata of opportunities thereby complimenting its existing functionality. An example of this is a movie production company allying or buying out a major video game provider. The synergy created from such a merger allows for a film and a video game to use the same characters, story line or premise. Synergy works for two reasons. Primarily, synergy is an engine that provides cross-marketing and cross-selling opportunities, which would allow for greater sales, exceeding what would be possible from each division separately. (Hesmondhalgh, 141). Secondly, corporations also â€Å"plan and design texts, in order to encourage subsidiary spin-off texts† (Hesmondhalgh, 239). Even if these texts or preplanned products are not of great quality or a commercial success, they will still sell thus generating profit. This is because there is a pre-existing, underlying product network that has already been established through the fan base. If synergy can be classified as the â€Å"the ability to keep cash flows inside a corporate family† (Klein, 148), through its internal use of cross-market production, promotion, and sales; Sumner Redstone’s Viacom is a perfect example of synergy at work. The Viacom Empire has tapped into many markets throughout the entertainment and media industry. Viacom’s major subsidiaries include: Nickelodeon – children’s cartoon network; MTV – music network; NBC – television network; and Paramount – movie production company, which also runs numerous theme parks all over North America. Klein, 2000, comments on this phenomenon as â€Å"synergy nirvana† (160). According to Klein, ‘synergy nirvana’ is attained when a conglomerate works internally to â€Å"successfully†¦churn out related versions of the same product, like molded Play-Doh, into different shapes: toys, books, theme parks, magazines, television specials, movies, candies, CDs, CD-ROMs, superstores, comics, and mega-musicals† (161). Basically, ‘synergy nirvana’ is the proliferation of standardized products in different packaging, through a preexisting framework of cross-market advertising; which is done on a vast scale through the exploitation of many different mediums and industries in the name of profit. ‘Synergy’ is Viacom’s number one marketing tool for it allows them to link the vastness of their empire together, into a culmination, dissemination and consumption of products, images, ideals, and brands. Furthermore, ‘synergy’ in programming, such as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Osbournes, has evident implications for the viewer-ship. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Future of Product Placement â€Å"Nickelodeon has more children between the ages of two to eleven watching than the four major networks combined†¦ This is significant in the competition for the children’s advertising market, which averages about $500 million a year† (Roman, 223). SpongeBob SquarePants is a lovable, animated sea sponge that manages to find himself in undersea trouble during every episode. The â€Å"cartoon† (Mittell, 18) runs every â€Å"Saturday morning† (Mittell, 18) on Nickelodeon and is syndicated to most major television networks due to its incredible popularity among children viewers. What started out in 1999, as a comical concept for a children’s television program, has grown seemingly overnight into a ‘juggernaut’. Nickelodeon cannot only boast that it is â€Å"the number one rated program among children 2-11†, but according to Nielson ratings, â€Å"53. 7 million viewers tune into the show each month†¦including 22. 1 million kids 2-11, [and] 12. 7 million between 9-14† (Olson, blogcritics. rg). With such commercial success and an immense viewer ship, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants uses synergistic principals of massive product placement to have free rein and ‘seep into every pore’ of consumer culture. SpongeBob employs Viacom’s cross platform synergies to network and gain access to most children’s homes. The motivation is a given when children between the ages of 2 – 11 are not only watching between 24 – 28 hours of television a week (Roman, 74), but are â€Å"responsible for either spending or influencing the spending of $100 billion annually† (Roman, 74). This is clearly an influential and lucrative market. SpongeBob SquarePants should be the archetype for synergistic corporate product placement. With SpongeBob’s insurgence into popular culture, there have been similar synergistic trends of product placement. Support for this notion is found through looking back to 2004, days before the premier of the SpongeBob SquarePants movie in New York. Paramount, another Viacom subsidiary, launched a brand new SpongeBob SquarePants amusement park theme ride to coincide with the movie launch. Additionally, Burger King (also owned by Viacom), released a SpongeBob SquarePants value meal that comes with SpongeBob SquarePants plastic figurines from the movie – ‘collect all 42. ’ Nickelodeon, the Viacom subsidiary that operates SpongeBob must not be ignored. Nickelodeon aired a 24-hour SpongeBob SquarePants Marathon that hyped up kids for the movie and forced unsuspecting parents to shell out $12 a ticket. Furthermore, during the Marathon’s commercial breaks, SpongeBob advised the viewers to eat SpongeBob value meals, collect all 67 figurines, and go to Paramount Theme Parks to try his new ride. SpongeBob has saturated the market with his yellow sponginess, which must be overpowering to any parent; he can be found everywhere, in every nuance of daily life. Since the movie, product placements and cross-promotional marketing have skyrocketed. SpongeBob now has a line of clothing, DVD box sets, bed linens, and bowling balls with a real tenpin set. Of course a 5 year old needs a bowling ball and set of bowling pins with SpongeBob SquarePants on them – SpongeBob said so! MTV: Branding a Nation â€Å"MTV is associated with the forces of freedom and democracy around the world. When the Berlin Wall came down, there were East German guards holding MTV umbrellas† – Sumner Redstone, CEO of Viacom MTV is known for hosting different music video programs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 1998, MTV was watched in â€Å"273. 5 million household worldwide† (Klein, 120), where it was reported, â€Å"85% of them watched everyday† (Klein, 120). The station offers a host television shows, including TRL and The Osbournes, that entrance its youthful audience through flashy music videos and the celebrities portrayed. MTV’s popularity, since its inception in the early 1980s, is as a self-perpetuating â€Å"fully branded media integration† (Klein, 44). Klein, 2000, writes: From the beginning, MTV has not been just a marketing machine for products it advertises around the clock; it has also been a twenty-four-hour advertisement for MTV itself†¦[where] viewers didn’t watch individual shows, they simply watched MTV†¦Advertisers didn’t want to just advertise on MTV, they wanted to co-brand with the station (44). Today, advertiser branding can be seen throughout MTV. As MTV endeavors to diversify in a changing market place, video shows like TRL are coupled with reality-based television shows intimately linked to ‘celerity’ including The Anna Nichol Smith Show or The Osbournes’. Beyond these shows lack of merit, their entire function is product branding and celebrity endorsements. Even though The Osbournes’ are a revival to the â€Å"original early 1950s format of the American sitcom† (Gillan, 55), I cannot fathom that product branding, product placement, and celebrity endorsements were as prevalent on national television in the 1950s as they are in modern programming. Within the first ten minutes of the show, the audience can blatantly see a mansion full of expensive electronics, furniture, and cars – at a closer look, the brand names facing the camera and are a part of the Viacom conglomerate in a myriad of ways. All The Osbournes offer the predominately teen audience (other than a few less brain cells) is copious amounts of product branding though celebrity endorsement. Product branding on MTV is a big issue. Much like the red carpet on Oscar night, where the predominant question on everyone’s lips is ‘who are you wearing? ’ MTV offers its audience the same intellectual stimulation, especially when all that its audience sees are ‘hella-cool’ rock stars and all the ‘bling’ they wear throughout their music videos, interviews, and award ceremonies. No wonder the Y generation is all about over consumption and bad taste. As we have entered the 21st Century, multi-media conglomerates have risen to great power in our society. They offer the consumer the media and entertainment that they desire. However through internal synergistic networks, these companies, such as Viacom, can link the lucrative children’s market or the 24-hour advertising nature of MTV, to all other aspects of their company. As consumers, we neglect what these companies are telling us to do – to consume – in order to watch our favourite programs. We refuse to witness how the realities of consumerism, and sickening nature that these corporations control the very artifacts and images that we relate to and enjoy for their own personal profit.

Human growth and developement summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human growth and developement summary - Essay Example A lot of things are unsaid in this relationship between the parents and children, yet both parents and children are still sure that they love each other. I like authoritative parenting because it seems to be the most useful style of parenting in the present age. As the technology is advancing, children are gaining more expertise in its use as compared to their parents since the children are the latest generation. Children require a certain level of freedom in order to equip themselves with those skills that are required for success in academics and profession in the present age. Authoritative parenting allows the children this freedom to explore their world without breaking connection with the parents. In addition, authoritative parents are more like friends to the children. This is very important for good psychological development of the children as they can reach out for the parents to discuss any kind of issue, and get the required help in

Literary elements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary elements - Essay Example The story revolves around the picture of the white elephant, which indirectly puts the situation of the girl into a simpler picture. A white elephant means that something is too expensive or too costly to keep up that it becomes a nuisance. The girl keeps mentioning the white elephant over and over the story, emphasizing that there is something that burdens them. But as can be seen throughout the story, hesitation can be seen in her voice when she talks about the simple operation that her partner is suggesting. This shows that the girl is torn between keeping the white elephant, or going through with the operation to get rid of it. The white elephants, then, becomes the symbolism for keeping the baby, which is obviously what the partner is trying to rid of. Throughout the story, we can see that the exchange of statements between the girl and the man is full of tension. The reader can feel that the girl is torn between going through the operation and not going through with it. We cann ot feel that she is scared but more that she is worried that the plan will not go through as simply as the man puts it. The man is insistent, almost sounds too pushy, when he mentions that the operations is just simple, just letting air in through and everything will be alright again.

Perfect Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Perfect Competition - Essay Example According to the research findings the market with perfect competition is characterized by many small buyers and sellers such that none can influence market conditions; all firms are price takers. The products sold are identical and have close substitutes and this makes it hard for such a condition to be met for in reality, a market has differentiated products due to technological innovations. An example of such products includes agricultural products such as a bushel of wheat. Firms are free to enter or exit the market without any problem and also the factors of production are mobile. The market is also based on the assumption that all the participants have perfect information regarding the prices and quality of products. The buyers thus are able to make choices of the products they want to buy and the producers are aware of what the buyers want hence it is easy to decide on the quantity to produce. Since the participants have perfect information regarding the market and are free to enter and exit at any time, there are no transaction costs incurred in the exchange of goods. The profit maximization of the firms occurs where marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost and the market price is equal to marginal cost. Due to these conditions, it is very rare to have perfect competition although technological advancements are driving markets towards such a situation. For example, the trade in currency or money markets where participants are assumed to have perfect information and currency is same regardless of where it is being traded. Another characteristic of such a market is non-existence of externalities. According to Nicholson (2005), perfect competition ensures optimum allocation of resources in the economy. Since price is equal to the marginal cost, consumer and producer surplus can be maximized. If a producer finds that the output is not bring in revenue, he/she can top producing the product and put the resources into more profitable use especially because t here are no barriers to entry or exit. In this situation, no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off. For example, if production of wheat is not profitable, the producer can shift to production of other grains and in the process may lay off some staff and recruit others with the required skills. Competition also pushes prices down and makes the producers to find ways of producing at minimum cost hence productive efficiency is achieved (Geoff, 2006). The supply curve of a perfect market is the marginal cost curve and the demand curve is the price line which is equal to average revenue and marginal revenue. Since the price remains the same regardless of quantity produced, the demand curve is horizontal. In the short run, firms make abnormal profits as total revenue is greater than total costs thus attracting entry of new firms into the market especially due to lack of entry barriers. As firms enter the market, the market supply curve shifts outwards pushing th e prices down consequently lowering the profits by firms. Since each firm earns sufficient revenue to cover variable costs, some firms may shut down to avoid paying variable costs as revenue is low but they still continue paying fixed costs (Mankiw, 2011). The fixed costs

Diplomatic negotiation and conflict resolution in the Asian Essay

Diplomatic negotiation and conflict resolution in the Asian multilateral arena - Essay Example One of the first such associations to come into existence was the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), which still symbolizes the earliest notions of multilateralism in the region. Earlier, nations in Southeast Asia had formed the ASEAN (Association of South east Asian nations), which was however limited in terms of influence, thereby falling short of addressing economic and political issues from a broader Asian perspective (Kent Calder, 2008). During the recent years, political events in the former Soviet Union resulted in dramatic changes and the formation of new republics that made up the larger part of Central Asia. All these countries along with Russia and China as the other Asian partners make up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The amount of diplomacy that has gone into creating associations such as the APEC and SCO has been unprecedented and have thus helped bring cast and diverse parts of Asia into a common fold. Such associations have little to do with any kind of pedigree. Further, there are no weak instincts whatsoever that have resulted in any surrender of sovereignty on the part of member states in achieving the much need foothold in multilateralism (Stewart Patrick, 2002). Further, there have been several areas of friction among members states in such associations such as in the case of China and Taiwan. However, most of these gatherings have had to do a lot with economic ambitions and as such have endured the test of time. Taiwan and China, which are viewed as foes, continue to remain members of APEC on a common platform, which has been one of the ways of preventing both from indulging in diplomatic standoffs with each other. Although the final mandate of the APEC, ASEAN and SCO is largely limited to fighting terrorism and liberalization of trade, many have mutually created opportunities for bilateral negotiations at a lower level. This is also one of the reasons due to which countries try to resolve differences on

Sustainability in global business-Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Essay

Sustainability in global business-Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Business - Essay Example The human interactions that are pre-industrial with the natural system and the social system usually cause changes to the short-term and local scale. The present socio-ecological interactions are generating a wide spread in the global changes with changes that are temporary and far into the future. The harmful consequences that we face because of human forcing on the ecological and social systems may never find the solution required through single issues like solving the global poverty or resource efficiency (Blowfield, 2012, p. 18). The current processes and the societal structures are structured in a manner that they contribute systematically to the current directions that are unsustainable and causing the people to face the difficulty to inspire global unity around safeguarding the probabilities of the future options. The development of sustainability signifies the increase of the people’s room for maneuver. This requires an approach that is systematic in solving of problems and the strategic planning by identifying control for restoration in both ecological and human (Stoner and Wankel, 2010, p. 32). Many organizations are adopting policies and practices that are sustainable and they integrate them with the strategies in their organizations for the purpose of organization development (Schmidheiny, 1992, p. 214). Research has indicated that that most of the changes in the organizations efforts plateau after the initial period Research has of passion and was not able to become an integrated and sustained approach to the planning strategies and development. It is determined that changes that are unstained can be related to the current disclosure on the developments that are sustainable and focuses on the establishment of the evolving technology and instrumental policies such as what to do (Blowfield, 2012, p. 58). A complementary research

Comparative Literature Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Comparative Literature Paper - Essay Example People from all over the world wish to embark the â€Å"land of milk and honey†, only to find out that there are still enormous challenges they have to face to obtain that elusive â€Å"milk and honey†. More than stories about poverty, their ugly house and their families, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros are similar in many ways as these weave tales about strong women (both immigrant women of color) as they confront their lives in the US together with their families. They will show their courage and forge enormous strength to conquer the challenges they have to face. They will have to prove something, not just for themselves, but for their families as well. Comparing the two essays, we could almost smell the characters’ well-being as they are bound to resolve the various conflicts that they face. In the past twenty five years, the field of women’s immigration history in the United States has transformed itself from a minor disciplinary field to a major way of understanding one of the largest 20th century topics for the social sciences in general: the mobility of people and its impact upon the relationship of genders. In fact, the study of women immigrants has also served as a major connector between traditional disciplines and fields of inquiry in the United States (Schneider, 2003). The two stories by Hansberry and Cisneros, incidentally by women too, weaves a showcase of what immigrant women have to face living in the US. The common thread that binds these tales is the challenges they face as minority women in America as they look for their own place in an unknown country; and seek the liberation and freedom from lives slowed down by bondage. Not only these women demonstrate the assorted hostilities many women face as they are viewed as the inferior sex, but they also seek to supersede the discrimination caused by the color of their

Changinng Life Style Essay Example for Free

Changinng Life Style Essay Indian Culture is time tested and represented the progressively refined way of life, that had unfortunately suffered a set back, a sub culture process as it were, drifting from its salutary ways of living. Did not Lord Mecaulay say in the UK parliament how the Indians had such a perfect social harmony and faith in their way of life, that they can not be subdued unless they were weaned from their prestige and made to adore the alien way of life, to feel subordinated to a superior culture, wherefore they could be easily subdued and dominated for the best advantage of the colonial rule! That was perfectly achieved and Indians forgot their own merits in a strange infatuation with alien culture! Foreign culture was best for them, unique to them, deserved respect, but not fit for absorption into our own way of life! Apart from an initiation into new unfolding findings of secular science and technology which was absent in our nation under colonial subjugation we had gained least in other spheres, particularly in the social and ethical qualities. We became divided, in the names of religion and castes losing the force of harmony that united us under the princely states! The increasing divorce culture, night clubs and pub culture, promiscuity and desertions etc among youth, the divide and rule policy among the politicians, the aggressive conversions (against more benign missionary activities a century ago) are the only major impacts in the social domain. So except the technological inputs, even economic exploitations under free trade or repressive regimentation under socialist govts that came from the west, have least served the society to achieve equality. Social impacts have been worse. The break down of joint family system due to new life styles, uncontrolled deviancies in the name of liberty etc have made youth defy control of society and family in a big way. In a chapter on Consequences of Innovations in the book by Rogers and Shoemaker entitled, Diffusion and  Adoption of Innovations, it is discussed how any change made in any aspect of social sphere agriculture or medicine or arts or whatever may end up in unexpected side effects as well. The chaos in the aborigins of Australia after replacement of traditional stone tool etc make interesting reading! In India itself, the introduction of rural TV programme for education of people in modern agricultre, health care etc was studied in UP state when Indiraji was Minister of Broadcasting, in 100 villages. The study revealed significant increase in knowledge and attitude of people in modern techniques and the project was cleared for large scale introdcution across the country. After govt project was ended, many behavioural scientists took up studies in change of life pattern in the villages. They came across many critical adverse changes traceable to exposure of untreated entertainment programmes given by TV apart from the educatinal inputs! Like that our adoration for the modern knowledge gained from the west, had made us adopt their other life styles as well to the detriment of society. So the demerits have been devastating as we see from the increase of family courts to deal with increasing divorce cases, the skewed development of trade and industy at the cost of other primary enterprises, policy of social divide by politicians for vote bank advantage etc! In my opinion, we had paid a heavy price for all the technological good we received from the west, by our own unwise emulation of their social perceptions and political strategies as well! have a good day! TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND MODERNIZATION R. BALASUBRAMANIAN BACKGROUND This paper focuses upon three issues. First, I want to show that the perennial elements in traditional cultures like those of India and China are  relevant even today as they play an important role in the achievement, on the one hand, of harmony between the individual and society at the social level, and, on the other hand, of harmony of spirit, mind, and body at the individual level. Second, we should not lose sight of the distinction between knowledge and information, between wisdom and knowledge, and more importantly between life and living. The perennial elements in the traditional culture have helped us to care for life, knowledge, and wisdom, which are essential for spiritual development. Third, modernization as interpreted by the West has a narrow connotation and is, therefore, a distorted concept. Through science, it brings in the colonial attitude, the imperialism of the West. It is possible for one to be modern without accepting all that is implied by modernization. Culture, which comprises philosophy and religion, art and literature, science and technology, social organization and political administration, is the mirror of the theory and practice of a people. It is originated, developed and sustained by the people over a period of time. In turn, the perennial elements which constitute its core inspire and sustain the posterity to whom it is transmitted from time to time. Traditional cultures like those of China and India are undoubtedly ancient, but not antiquated; their ideals and practices, which are relevant in any situation, help the people to meet the new challenges which surface from time to time. As a result they not only survive, but are admired, adored, and accepted by the people. There cannot be a better explanation of the way a culture is able to hold the people and sustain them than the one given by Sri Aurobindo: The culture of a people may be roughly described as the expression of a consciousness of life which formulates itself in three aspects. There is a side of thought, of ideal, of upward will and the soul’s aspiration; there is a side of creative self-expression and appreciative aesthesis, intelligence, and imagination; and there is a side of practical and outward formulation. A people’s philosophy and higher thinking give us its mind’s purest, largest, and most general formulation of its consciousness of life and its dynamic view of existence. Its religion formulates the most intense form of its upward will and the soul’s aspirations towards the fulfillment of its highest ideal and impulse. Its art, poetry, literature provide for us the creative expression and impression of its intuition, imagination, vital turn and creative  intelligence. Its society and politics provide in their forms an outward frame in which the more external life works out what it can of its inspiring ideal and of its special character and nature under the difficulties of the environment. We can see how much it has taken of the crude material of living, what it has done with it, how it has shaped as much of it as possible into some reflection of its guarding consciousness and deeper spirit. None of them express the whole spirit behind, but they derive from it their main ideas and their cultural character. Together they make up its soul, mind, and body.1 Of the various components of culture the role of philosophy and religion is significant. Philosophy and religion can never be separated though they can be distinguished. It may be that in a particular culture, philosophy is in the forefront and religion in the background. It can also be the other way with religion at the surface and philosophy in the background. The point to be noted here is that philosophy and religion interact with, and influence each other. Philosophy is made dynamic by religion, and religion is enlightened by philosophy. If it is admitted that there is the need for a unity of theory and practice, p hilosophy cannot remain merely as a view of life; it must also be a way of life. In other words, philosophy has to become religious if it is to mold, organize and regulate life. Religion is not an untouchable; its need for life can neither be ignored nor underestimated. It will be helpful to contrast the pursuit of philosophy in Europe with that in India and China. Unlike the Europe of the Enlightenment where philosophy did not touch life at all, there was a tremendous impact of philosophy on life both in India and China. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: Philosophy has been pursued in Europe with great and noble intellectual results by the highest minds, but very much as a pursuit apart from life, a thing high and splendid, but ineffective. It is remarkable that, while in India and China philosophy has seized hold on life, has had an enormous practical effect on the civilization and got into the very bones of current thought and action, it has never at all succeeded in achieving this importance in Europe. In the days of the Stoics and Epicureans it got a grip, but only among the highly cultured; at the present day, too, we have some renewed tendency of the kind. Nietzsche has had his influence, certain French thinkers also in France, the philosophies of James and Bergson have attracted some amount of public interest; but it is a mere  nothing compared with the effective power of Asiatic philosophy.2 There is no doubt that the average European who draws his guidance not from the philosophic, but from positive and practical reason, puts the philosophical treatises on the highest shelf in the library of civilization. The situation is entirely different in India. Sri Aurobindo says: The Indian mind holds . . . that the Rishi, the thinker, the seer of spiritual truth is the best guide not only of the religious and moral, but [also of] the practical life. The seer, the Rishi is the natural director of society; to the Rishis he attributes the ideals and guiding intuitions of his civilizati on. Even today he is very ready to give the name to anyone who can give a spiritual truth which helps his life or a formative idea and inspiration which influences religion, ethics, society, even politics.3 The phenomenon known as modernization is a product of the one-sided pursuit of both philosophy and science — philosophy purely as an intellectual affair without any bearing on life and science as the most effective instrument for the possession of unlimited power, eliminating the sacred. I shall take up the problem of modernization later. It may be added here that what is said about the Indian mind is equally true of the Chinese mind. Confucius, Mencius, and others are the great Rishis of China, the seers who exhibited the most uncommon insight into men and matters, into the moral and social problems of human beings. Drawing a distinction between two kinds of philosophers, systematic and edifying, Richard Rorty characterizes Wittgenstein as an edifying philosopher, like Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and others. In a brief analysis of the spirit of Western civilization which is fully manifest in the industry, architecture, and music of our time, in its fascism and socialism, Wittgenstein openly admits that he has no sympathy for the current of European civilization, that he does not understand its goals, if it has any, and that it is alien and uncongenial to him.4 He goes on to say: A culture is like a big organization which assigns each of its members a place where he can work in the spirit of the whole; and it is perfectly fair for his power to be measured by the contribution he succeeds in making to the whole enterprise.5 Wittgenstein’s brief explanation of culture requires some elucidation. He says that culture is a whole, that every individual has a place in it, that every individual has to function as a member of the whole, and that what he does is significant socially as well  as morally. The two traditional cultures, Chinese and Indian, have recognized the importance of the ideas embedded in Wittgenstein’s explanation of culture. While the Indian culture appears to be predominantly spiritual and religious, the Chinese culture seems to be basically humanistic, with a clear emphasis on the moral and social dimensions of life. It must be pointed out in this connection that the difference between these two traditional cultures is only at the surface. Since the traditional culture comprehends the total life of a person, it provides a place for the different dimensions of life — spiritual, religious, moral, and social — which can be distinguished, but not separated. The spiritual and religious dimension of life presupposes the moral and social realm ; and the moral and social sphere of life points to the religious and spiritual goals. That the two realms, ethico-social and religio-spiritual, are complementary, has been recognized by both these cultures, even though the Indian culture lays emphasis on the spiritual and religious side of man while the Chinese culture focusses on the ethical and social side of man. The motif of the two cultures is the harmony of spirit, mind, and body; and it is to achieve this harmony that they take care of both realms of life. Once again what Sri Aurobindo says in this connection is worth quoting: A true happiness in this world is the right terrestrial aim of man, and true happiness lies in the finding and maintenance of a natural harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A culture is to be valued to the extent to which it has discovered the right key of this harmony and organized its expressive motives and movements. And a civilization must be judged by the manner in which all its principles, ideas, forms, ways of living work to bring that harmony out, manage its rhythmic play, and secure its continuance or the development of its motives.6 There is need to harmonize the eternal and the temporal, for the spirit works through mind and body, which belong to the temporal; and this is what every great culture has aimed at. There are four components in the traditional culture associated with India and China. They are: (1) the primal Spirit which is the source and support of the universe may be viewed both as transcendent to, and as immanent in, the universe; (2) this Spirit which is immanent in all human beings can be realized by every human being; (3) it lays down a discipline which is both moral and spiritual for realizing the Spirit; and (4) it has provided an organization of the  individual and collective life not only for the sake of the harmony between the individual and society, but also for the sake of the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. Each one of these components needs some explanation in the context of these two cultures. INDIAN CULTURE Though Indian culture as it is today is composite in character, comprising Hindu, Jaina, Buddha, Islamic, and Christian elements, it can be characterized as Vedic culture since not only Hinduism, which is predominant, but also Jainism and Buddhism, which originated in protest against Vedic ritualism, have been influenced by the Vedas, the basic and oldest scriptural text in the world. Islam and Christianity entered the Indian soil consequent on the invasion of India by the foreigners — by the Moghuls in the former case, and by the English, French, and Portuguese in the latter case. Though they try to retain their identity, the followers of these two religious traditions have been influenced by the Vedic culture. Kabir (1398-1518 AD), for example, who is a greatly respected personality in the religious history of India, is a product of both Hinduism and Islam. In recent times, Indian Christians talk about and practice inculturization, which is a new and growing phenomenon. The predominant Hindu culture which has a long and continuous history is the Vedic culture; and the Vedic culture, which has its beginning round about 2500 BC, may be characterized as primal culture, since it traces everything in the universe to the primal Spirit, which is variously called Brahman, Ä€tman, Being, and so on. Spirit or Being is the primal reality. It is that from which all beings arise; being supported by it, they exist; and all of them move towards it as their destination. In the language of T.S. Eliot, the beginning is the end. The Upanisad says: That, verily, from which these beings are born, that by which, when born, they live, that into which, when departing, they enter. That, seek to know. That is Brahman.7 Spirit or Brahman is primal in the sense that it is foundational. It is the sole reality; it is one and non-dual; and there is nothing else beside it. It is spoken of as the First Cause, Unmoved Mover, of the entire manifest universe. With a view to bring o ut the independent nature of the primal Spirit on which the manifest universe is dependent, it is referred to as the Ground. That which is independent is real; what is dependent is an appearance. The ground-grounded  relation brings out the reality of Spirit and the appearance of the universe. Ordinarily we distinguish the material cause from the efficient cause; the one is different from the other. The wood from which a table is made is the material cause; and the carpenter who works on the wood and makes a table according to a certain design is the efficient cause. The carpenter is different from the wood. What makes the primal Spirit unique is that it is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, because it alone existed in the beginning and nothing else beside it. Like wood, it is the material cause of the world; and like a carpenter, it is the efficient cause of the world. So, the Vedic culture traces all beings, living as well as non-living, to one source, viz. Spirit or Being. It may be pointed out here that in recent times quantum physics attempts to trace everything in the manifest universe to one source which is non-material or spiritual. Einstein declared: Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the Laws of the Universe — a Spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble.8 That Spirit or Brahman is the source, support, and end of everything in the universe, is the major premise of the Vedic culture. Derived from the major premise are two minor premises, one relating to living beings called jÄ «va and the other, to non-living beings called jagat. Since Spirit or Brahman is immanent in jÄ «va and jagat, neither jÄ «va nor jagat is isolated from the primal Spirit. It means that all living beings, whatever the y may be — humans, animals, birds, reptiles, and so on — are spiritual or divine. Non-living beings which are material constitute the physical universe. They are the products of the five elements — ether, air, fire, water and earth — which are material. The divine principle is present not only in living beings, but also in non-living beings, and so they are also divine. Characterizing Brahman as the indwelling Spirit (antaryÄ min), the BrhadÄ nrayaka Upanisad says that Brahman is present in all beings — the sun, the moon, and the stars, the elements which constitute the physical universe, and the organs of the jÄ «vas. Just as our body does not know the Spirit inside it, even so the beings, whatever they may be, do not know Brahman, the indwelling Spirit in them. The following text is relevant here: He [Brahman or Spirit] who dwells in all beings, yet is within all beings, whom no beings know, whose body is  all beings, who controls all beings from within, he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal.9 That which dwells in material objects and controls them also dwells in all living beings and contr ols them. Just as all living beings are essentially divine, even so the entire physical universe is essentially divine. Whatever may be the differences among the species and within the individual members of a species, all are essentially one, because one and the same divine Spirit is present in all of them. The message conveyed by these two minor premises of the traditional culture deserves careful consideration. First of all, if the land and the water and the sky of the physical universe are divine, then we should take care of them in the same way as we take care of our body. The claim that human beings are rational, that they are superior to the physical world, and that they are, in the words of Descartes, the masters and possessors of nature resulted in the unscrupulous, cruel, and destructive despoliation of nature in the name of the quest for knowledge, scientific development, and technological progress. It is not nature that is red in tooth and claw, but the human being who is unabashedl y selfish and blatantly aggressive and makes nature bleed and scorch. Fortunately for us, there is a global awakening to the significance of the earth and the water and the sky as sources of sustenance and nourishment. Secondly, the application of this principle of the oneness to the human realm is of great consequence. The understanding that all human beings are essentially one and that differences of color and caste, of gender and race, of sharpness and dullness of mind, and so on are due to the mind-sense-body adjunct by which the Spirit is enclosed will help us to tackle the universally rampant problem of discrimination of all kinds — social, religious, economic, and political. VedÄ ntic philosophy, which is an important component of culture, tells us what a human being is, does, and should do in order to achieve the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A human being (jÄ «va) is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. The term used in VedÄ nta for Spirit is the Self or Ä€tman. Matter which is totally different from the Self i s referred to as not-Self, as other-than-the-Self. According to VedÄ nta, the not-Self, which is the material outfit of the human being, is made up of the mind, the senses, and the body. The Self in the human being requires a physical medium for its involvement in the day-to-day life as the subject of knowledge, the  agent of action, and the enjoyer of the consequences of action. The mind and the senses are the cognitive instruments. With the help of the mind, the five senses give us knowledge of the things of the external world. The work of the mind does not stop with the cognitive support it gives to the senses. As the internal organ (antahkaraa), the mind generates the knowledge of the subjective states such as pleasure and pain. It also does something more, which is very important from the moral and spiritual perspectives. It gives us knowledge of the right and the wrong, dharma and adharma as they are called. When chastened by the moral and spiritual discipline, it is the mind which helps us to realize the primal Spirit or Brahman. So the work of the mind is manifold. The mind is the most marvelous instrument that a human being possesses. The emergence of the mind has not only accelerated the evolutionary process in its upward movement, but also has given enormous powers to the human being, making him/her the crown of creation, unique among all living beings. In the course of his commentary on the scriptural account of the creation of the world, Sankara raises the question about the preeminence of the human being among all creatures and answers it by saying that the human being is preeminent because he alone is qualified for knowledge and the performance of prescribed duties (jnÄ na-karma-adhikÄ rah).10 Why is it that he alone has this competence? Sankara justifies the supremacy of the human on three grounds. First, he has the ability for acquiring knowledge not only of the things of the world, but also of the supreme Being, the primal reality. This is because he is equipped with the mind which, being inspired by the Self or Spirit in him is capable of comprehending everything including the highest reality. Secondly, he has the distinctive quality of desiring certain ends as a result of discrimination, deliberation, and choice. Thirdly, when he has consciously chosen an end, he is earnest about it, finds the right means for achieving the end, and persists in it till he reaches the goal. A scriptural text which is quoted by Sankara in this connection says: In man alone is the Self most manifest for he is the best endowed with knowledge. He speaks what he knows; he sees what he knows; he knows what will happen tomorrow; he knows the higher and the lower worlds; he aspires to achieve immortality through perishable things. He is thus endowed (with discrimination) while other beings have consc iousness of hunger and thirst only.11 According to  VedÄ nta, the Self in the human being is eternal, whereas his material outfit, the mind-sense-body complex, is temporal. The birth and death of a human being are connected with, and because of, the body. They are illicitly transferred to the Self with the result that we think of it as perishable and finite. The human being is caught in the cycle of birth and death because of ignorance (avidyÄ ) whose beginning is not known. The empirical journey of the Self through its association with the material adjunct is due to avidyÄ . It is avidyÄ  that pulls down the trans-empirical Self into the empirical realm, superimposes on it, which is non-relational, a relation with matter, and is thus responsible for the fall of the Self. What is above categorization is now categorized and made an object of knowledge; what transcends relation is now explained through the logic of relation; and what is beyond the scope of language is now brought within the grammar of language. Thus, just as a tree and a table are known through perception and other means of knowledge, even so Brahman or the Self, we claim, is known through the scriptural text called Sruti. The trans-relational reality is viewed as characterized by omniscience and other qualities and also as the cause of the world. What is trans-linguistic is now spoken of as real, knowledge, infinite, and so on. In other words, we employ the categories of substance and attribute, cause and effect, whole and parts for the purpose of understanding the highest reality. It will be of interest in this connection to refer to the views of two influential thinkers from the West — one belonging to the pre-sixth century and the other our own contemporary. Pseudo-Dionysius, who occupies an important place in the history of Western spirituality, observes: [The supreme reality] is neither perceived nor is it perceptible. It suffers neither disorder nor disturbance and is overwhelmed by no earthly passion. . . . It endures no deprivation of light. It passes through no change, decay, division, loss, no ebb and flow, nothing of which the senses may be aware. None of all this can either be identified with it nor attributed to it.12 Again, he says: It falls neither within the predicate of non-being nor of being. Existing beings do not know it as it actually is and it does not know them as they are. There is no speaking of it, nor name, nor knowledge of it. Darkness and light, error and truth — it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and  denial. We make assertions and denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect and unique cause of all things, and, by virtue of its preeminently simple and absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation; it is also beyond every denial.13 Pseudo-Dionysius conveys in the most unambiguous terms the VedÄ ntic conception of Brahman or the Self. Instead of terms such as Brahman or the Self used by the VedÄ ntin, Wittgenstein uses terms such as the metaphysical subject, the I, the philosophical ‘I’ and contrasts it with the body. The human body, he says, is a part of the world among other parts , but the Self or the philosophical I is not a part of the world; it is outside the space-time-cause world. In the words of Wittgenstein: The subject does not belong to the world, but is a border of the world.14 The philosophical I is not the human being, not the human body, or the human soul of which psychology treats, but the metaphysical subject, the border — not a part — of the world.15 What is obvious from the foregoing account is that we have to make a distinction between two concepts, Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world, for the purpose of analysis. The latter concept is meaningful only on the presupposition of the fall of Brahman or the Self. When did this fall take place? No one knows, and no one can answer. Once there is the fall, the empirical journey of the Self goes on in different forms, conditioned by the space-time-cause framework. However, the promise of VedÄ nta is that the empirical journey of the lÄ «va can be put an end to, that the vicious cycle of birth and death can be broken by destroying avidyÄ  through knowledge of oneâ€℠¢s Self. That is why there is the scriptural instruction of Know thy Self. Not only does scripture say that the Self should be realized or seen, but it also suggests the means for realizing it. It will be difficult to understand the full significance of the distinction between Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world without a reference to the principle of standpoints which is enshrined in Indian culture. There are two sets of features, perennial and temporal, in Indian culture which contribute to its continuity as well as its change. While the basic doctrines constitute its perennial dimension, religious practices covering a wide range are temporal and transitory. Decadence sets in when the temporal and transitory features gain importance almost to the point of ignoring or sidetracking the  perennial features. Historical, social, and political changes call for modification, sometimes radical, sometimes minor, in the religious practices and social norms of the people, while the basic doctrinal side remains intact. Continuity of the essentials amidst the changing flow of life helps to preserve the cultural tradition. The essential structure which has endured through the vicissitudes of time contains the basic doctrines as stated in the major premise and the two minor premises to which reference was made earlier. The three basic doctrines are: primal Being or Spirit is the source, support, and end of everything, sentient as well as non-sentient; all living beings are divine; also, the physical universe which has originated from the primal Spirit is spiritual. The monistic vision, which is pervasive in the Vedic corpus, is a notable feature of Indian culture. The doctrine of levels or standpoints skillfully adopted by Indian culture helps to reconcile monism and polytheism as well as monism and pluralism. Though each pair contains two extremes in the religio-philosophical thinking, they have been accommodated as different standpoints at different levels. They are irreconcilable only when they are placed together at the same level. For example, one of the oft-quoted hymns of the Rg-veda provides a clue for reconciling the problem of one Godhead and many gods and goddesses. It says: What is but one, wise people call by different names — as Agni, Yama, MÄ tarisvan.16 Reference to gods, such as, Agni and Yama may be replaced by the well known gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Siva, Visnu, Sakti, and so on. Sankara explains the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its various forms such as Siva, Visnu, and so on, as the distinction between the unconditioned reality, what we referred to as Brahman-in-itself, and its conditioned forms such as Siva and Visnu, all of which can be brought under Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world. _iva, Viu, and other gods are conditioned beings endowed with a name and a form and other qualities, whereas the One is unconditioned, devoid of name and form, specifications and qualities and is, therefore, trans-empirical, trans-relational, and trans-linguistic. This mode of drawing the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its many forms for the purpose of worship and other religious practices of the devotees, which is unheard of in other religious traditions of other cultures, is of great consequence in the religious practice of the people.  Since it is the one reality that is worshipped in many forms such as Agni, Siva, and so on, one who worships Agni or Siva, should not quarrel with one who worships Yama or Visnu, because Agni, Yama, Siva, and Visnu are the conditioned aspects of the same reality. This significant idea of the Rg-Vedic hymn was accepted, fully elaborated, and further deepened by the Upanisads. It provides a theoretical framework for religious harmony, which is one of the characteristic features of primal culture and which has received special emphasis right from the beginning till this day. What makes primal culture valid for all times and in all places is its inclusiveness. It includes everything by providing a place for it in the whole. Religious, social, economic, scientific, and political activities are necessary and meaningful; but they must be made subservient to, and must be viewed and judged in the context of the spiritual goal of life. A culture which is mainly concerned with the bare economic necessities of life, social institutions, and political organization will be neither enduring nor elevating; it may look energetic and enterprising, but it is not worth the name, if it is not geared up to the spiritual side of life. Once again, what Sri Aurobindo says is worth quoting here: A mere intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic culture does not go back to the inmost truth of the spirit; it is still an ignorance, an incomplete, outward, and superficial knowledge. To have made the discovery of our deepest being and hidden spiritual nature is the first necessity and to have erected the living of an inmost spiritual life into the aim of existence is the characteristic sign of a spiritual culture. 17 The VedÄ nta philosophy solves the problem of monism versus pluralism on the basis of the distinction between two levels or standpoints called pÄ ramÄ rthika and vyÄ vahÄ rika, or absolute and relative respectively. The Upanisads make use of this distinction in the explanation of the epistemological, metaphysical, axiological, and soteriological problems. What is true at one level may not be so at another level. A dream-lion which is accepted as real in dream experience loses its reality at the waking level. What is accepted as a value at one time may turn out to be a disvalue at another time. The pluralistic universe which is accepted as real may cease to exist in the state of liberation following the spiritual ascent. The pÄ ramÄ rthika or absolute standpoint is higher, whereas the vyÄ vahÄ rika or the relative standpoint is lower. It must be borne in mind that the  higher standpoint which transcends the lower does not invalidate it. One who has moved from th e relative to the absolute standpoint knows the truth of the former; but one who is tied to the relative standpoint cannot understand the truth of the absolute standpoint. Consider the case of two persons who attempt to climb up a mountain in order to reach the highest peak. While one of them reaches the top, the other, due to some disability, is not able to proceed beyond the foothill. The person who has reached the summit knows what kind of experience is available to one at the foothill; but one who is at the foothill does not understand the kind of experience one has at the top. We have to apply this logic to the different kinds of experience without subverting the pÄ ramÄ rthika-vyÄ vahÄ rika hierarchy. The Upanisads describe the two levels as signifying higher wisdom and lower knowledge. Experience of plurality is quite common; it is quite natural; we have it in our daily life. No special effort or discipline is required for such an experience. But experience of oneness is uncommon. One does not get it without special effort or appropriate discipline. The transition is from the common to the uncommon. A text of the BrhadÄ rayaka Upanisad describes the two levels of experience as follows: For, where there is duality as it were, there one sees the other, one smells the other, one knows the other. . . . But, where everything has become just one’s own self, by what and whom should one smell, by what and whom should one know?18 Without disregarding the pragmatic value of day-to-day empirical knowledge, primal culture emphasizes the importance of higher wisdom. It will be of interest to quote Wittgenstein in this connection. He says: In religion every level of devoutness must have its appropriate form of expression which has no sense at a lower level. This doctrine, which means something at a higher level, is null and void for someone who is still at the lower level; he can only understand it wrongly and so these words are not valid for such a person. For instance, at my level the Pauline doctrine of predestination is ugly, nonsense, irreligiousness. Hence it is not suitable for me, since the only use I could make of the picture I am offered would be a wrong one. If it is a good and godly picture, then it is so for someone at a quite different level, who must use it in his life in a way completely different from anything that would be possible for me.19 The teaching of the VedÄ nta philosophy is positive. According to it, life in this world is meaningful  and purposive — meaningful for the reason that it serves as the training ground for one’s spiritual uplifting through the proper use of the objects of the world by the mind-sense-body equipment of which one is in possession, and purposive as one has to achieve freedom or liberation by overcoming the existential predicament. Freedom or liberation which is projected as the goal must be understood in the spiritual sense. It is true that human life is made difficult by economic constraints, political oppression, social hierarchy, and religious discrimination; and a situation of this kind points to, and calls for, freedom of different kinds so that a person can exist and function as a moral agent enjoying economic, political, social and religious freedom. However, the goal of life remains unfulfilled in spite of these different kinds of freedom. Though they are necessary, they are not sufficient. The highest freedom which is eternal and totally satisfying is spiritual freedom, which is called moksa in Indian culture. A socio-political system may ensure political freedom, social justice, economic satisfaction, and unrestricted religious practice; but still there is no guarantee of harmony of spirit, mind, and body which one can achieve only through the teaching of philosophy and religion. The socio-political machinery cannot be a substitute for religion and philosophy, though it can and should maintain a system of rights and obligations in which alone a human being can lead a moral life as formulated in religion and can pursue the goal of liberation as projected by philosophy. Sri Aurobindo says: The whole aim of a great culture is to lift man up to something which at first he is not, to lead him to knowledge though he starts from an unfathomable ignorance, to teach him to live by reason, though actually he lives much more by his unreason, by the law of good and unity, though he is now full of evil and discord, by a law of beauty and harmony, though his actual life is a repulsive muddle of ugliness and jarring barbarisms, by some law of his spirit, though at present he is egoistic, material, unspiritual, engrossed by the needs and desires of his physical being. If a civilization has not any of these aims, it can hardly at all be said to have a culture and certainly in no sense a great and noble culture. But the last of these aims, as conceived by ancient India, is the highest of all because it includes and surpasses all the others. To have made this attempt is to have ennobled the life of the race; to have failed in it is better than if it had never at all   been attempted; to have achieved even a partial success is a great contribution to the future possibilities of the human being.20 Excepting the CÄ rvÄ ka, which advocates a thoroughgoing materialism, all other philosophical systems in India accept the ideal of moksa. The Indian mind, right from the beginning, has accepted a hierarchy of values, ranging from the bodily and economic values at the bottom to the spiritual values of which liberation is at the top. The human being leads his life at two levels — organic and hyper-organic. Bodily and economic values which he pursues belong to the organic level. In so far as the pursuit of the organic values is concerned — values which are necessary for life preservation — his life and activities are in no way different from those of animals; at this level, hunger and sleep, shelter and sex are common to man and animals. Endowed as he is not only with the body, but also with the mind, he also lives at another level, pursuing higher values such as truth, beauty, goodness. The life-activity of man which is fully reflective of his cognition, desire, deliberation, and choice cannot stop short of the highest value called moksa. It is not necessary here to discuss the broad scheme of values accepted in the Indian tradition. Suffice it to say that, though artha and kÄ ma, which emphasize the importance of the material and hedonistic side of life, have been accommodated in the scheme of values, the moral and spiritual side of life has received special attention in Indian culture. That is why it has accepted two higher values, dharma and moksa, the former functioning as a moral guide, and also as a regulative principle of artha and kÄ ma pursued in our secular life, for the realization of the latter. All the philosophical systems, Vedic as well as non-Vedic, hold the view that moksa as the highest value is both ultimate and all-satisfying — ultimate since there is nothing else to which it can be the means, and all-satisfying since it comprehends all the higher values. Sankara says that one gets the feeling of the fulfillment of all values when one attains moksa.21 There are three questions that we have to consider in connection with the ultimate value. The first one is whether it can be realized at all. There is the view that the ultimate value is only an ideal to inspire and regulate our conduct and that it can never be attained. We can regulate our life so as to come nearer to it from time to time, from stage to stage; but we can never reach it. Suc h a view is untenable. Also, it goes against the spirit of Indian  culture. Realization of one’s true nature is liberation. We have already pointed out that the human being is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. Spirit by its very nature is ever free and never bound. But it appears to be bound because of the material adjunct with which it is associated in the empirical life. Overwhelmed by ignorance, the human being does not realize that he is essentially Spirit and therefore free. When he attains the right knowledge and knows his real nature, he is no more under the limitation or bondage of the psycho-physical material outfit, because ignorance which conceals his real nature is removed by knowledge. It means that the ideal of moksa has a basis in the very constitution of the human being; also, the human being, not being satisfied with the material achievements, what the Upanisad calls preyas, longs for spiritual freedom, which is called Sreyas. The Upanisad says: Both the good and the pleasant approach a man. The wise man, pondering over them, discriminates. The wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant. The simple-minded, for the sake of worldly well-being, prefers the pleasant.22 One cannot have both Sreyas and preyas. The pursuit of the former requires the renunciation of the latter. Spiritual illumination follows purgation. Speaking about the importance of the ideal and its close relation to human nature, Hiriyanna observes: Ideals are rooted in needs inherent in human nature. It is their reality that constitutes their true charm. Take this charm from them, and they reduce themselves but to pleasant fantasy. The reality of such a value may not be vouched for by common reasoning. But we should remember that neither is there any adequate proof for denying it. Not to admit the ideal would therefore be to be dogmatic in the sense that we deny it without adequate proof for the denial.23 The second question is wheth er the ideal of moksa can be realized by all. Here also the great philosophical traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, are unanimous in their affirmative answer. There is nothing in human nature which either disqualifies or incapacitates him from attaining this ideal. Whatever may be the differences among human beings at the bodily, vital, and mental levels, everyone has the right and duty to aspire for the highest value by virtue of what he/she is. As every human being is endowed with the mind, the most precious and unequalled instrument through which one can look before and after, know the things given to him, and choose from them after  discrimination and deliberation, he is not in any way incapacitated from pursuing the ultimate value. Indian culture looks down on the doctrine of the chosen few. Since ignorance is the obstacle that stands in the way of realizing one’s divine nature, realizing one’s Spirit, which is liberation, it can be removed by knowledge which anyone can acquire through moral and spi ritual discipline. The philosophy of VedÄ nta, according to which every human being is divine, is opposed to the theory of privilege — of birth, intellect, spirituality, etc. It is anti-hierarchical. In everyone there is a sleeping Buddha, a hidden Brahman, to which everyone can have access. That the doors to the spiritual realm do not remain closed to anyone is conveyed in a forthright manner by Sri Aurobindo: A wider spiritual culture must recognize that the Spirit is not only the highest and inmost thing, but all is manifestation and creation of the Spirit. It must have a wider outlook, a more embracing range of applicability and, even, a more aspiring and ambitious aim of its endeavor. Its aim must be not only to raise to inaccessible heights the few elect, but to draw all men and all life and the whole human being upward, to spiritualize life and in the end to divinize human nature. Not only must it be able to lay hold on his deepest individual being, but to inspire, too, his communal existence. It must turn, by a spiritual change, all the members of his ignorance into members of the knowledge; it must transmute all the instruments of the human into instruments of a divine living. The total movement of Indian spirituality is towards this aim. 24 The third question, whether the ultimate value can be realized here in this life or only hereafter, is answered in two different ways. Some philosophical systems maintain that the proper preparation that a person undertakes for achieving this end will help him to realize it only after death, whereas some other systems hold the view that it can be realized in this life itself, if one follows the prescribed moral and spiritual discipline. The former view is called the eschatological conception of moksa while the latter is known as lÄ «van-mukti. LÄ «van-mukti means liberation-in-life. The person who has attained enlightenment or wisdom is free even while he is in the embodied condition. It is not necessary to discuss these two views of moksa in detail. It may be pointed out here that the view that it is possible to overcome bondage and attain liberation here and now deepens the significance of the present life. A  lÄ «van-mukta does not run away from society. He lives in societ y for the benefit of others; when he is engaged in activities, he has no sense of I and mine; his activities, that is to say, are impersonal. Also, he imparts spiritual instruction to others, for, having realized the truth, he alone is competent to do this. The life of a lÄ «van-mukta, as portrayed in the Hindu tradition, is comparable to that of a Bodhi-sattva as explained in the MahÄ yÄ na tradition. The ideal of life goes beyond self-perfection; it also includes work for the universal good. According to the Indian tradition, knowledge is different from information, and wisdom is different from knowledge. We may say that information, knowledge, and wisdom constitute a hierarchy. To know a thing is to know it in a determinate way, as such-and-such — as a substance possessing qualities, as a whole consisting of parts, as the cause or effect of something, and so on. Every object has two kinds of relations, internal and external. A lump of clay, for example, is internally related to its color, its parts of which it is made. It is also externally related to the ground on which it is placed, its immediate surroundings, and so on. No object remains isolated from other things; on the contrary, it has a network of relations with other things in such a way that it is what it is because of other things. When the poet says that, to know a flower seen in a crannied wall, one must know the plant, root and all, and also the wall, its location, and so on, he draws our attention to the fact that every object is an integral part of the cosmic system and that, to get an insight into the nature of a thing, one must know the whole of which it is an integral part. Bits of information do not constitute knowledge. Piecemeal information about the roots, the trunk, and the branches of a tree cannot be viewed as the knowledge of a tree. Just as knowledge is different from information, even so wisdom is different from knowledge. Though knowledge is superior to information, it cannot be a substitute for wisdom. The Vedic tradition draws a distinction between two kinds of knowledge, higher (parÄ ) and lower (aparÄ ).

Outline the clinical characteristics of depression

Outline the clinical characteristics of depression The clinical symptoms of depression are characterised by an all-encompassing sadness, composed of a remarkably broad range of feelings, thoughts, and physical manifestations. These include low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, pessimism, and feelings of dejection and hopelessness. Most sufferers will experience sleep disturbance and a loss of appetite and libido. All of these symptoms are usually accompanied by overwhelming tiredness, a lack of interest or enjoyment, guilt feelings, crying spells and social withdrawal. Other common features are psychomotor retardation (general slowing down physically), loss or motivation, and feelings of inadequacy and helplessness. There is often a diurnal mood variation (sufferers may feel worse either in the mornings or in the evenings). See table below for a more detailed explanation of the behaviours associated with depression. Affective Physiological Cognitive Behavioural Anger Abdominal pain Ambivalence Aggressiveness Anxiety Anorexia Confusion Agitation Apathy Backache Inability to concentrate Alcoholism Bitterness Chest pain Indecisiveness Altered activity level Denial of feelings Constipation Loss of interest and motivation Drug addiction Dejection Dizziness Self blame Intolerance Guilt Fatigue Self- depreciation Irritability Helplessness Headache Self- destructive thoughts Lack of spontaneity Hopelessness Impotence Pessimism Overdependence Loneliness Indigestion uncertainty Poor personal hygiene Low self-esteem Lassitude Psychomotor retardation Sadness Menstrual changes Tearfulness Sense of personal worthlessness Nausea Underachievement Sexual non responsiveness Withdrawal Sleep disturbances Vomiting Weight changes Give two or more physiological causes of depression The cognitive model Of the causes of depression proposes that people experience symptoms of depression because their thinking is disturbed. Depression is a cognitive problem that is dominated by the persons negative evaluation of themselves, their world and their future. In the course of their development certain experiences sensitize the individual and make them vulnerable to depression. They also acquire a tendency to make extreme, absolute judgments; loss is viewed as irrevocable and indifference as total rejection. The depression prone person is likely to explain an adverse event as a personal shortcoming. `The deserted husband believes she left me because Im unlovable. Instead of considering the other possible alternatives, such as personality incompatibility, the wifes own problems, or her feelings towards him. As he focuses on his personal deficiencies, they expand to the point where they completely dominate his self concept. He can think of himself only in a negative way and is unable to acknowledge his other abilities, achievements, and attributes. This negative set is reinforced when he interprets ambiguous or neutral experiences as additional proof of his deficiencies. Comparisons with other people further lower his self-esteem. And thus every encounter with others becomes a negative experience. His self-criticisms increase as he views himself as deserving of blame. (Beck) In the cognitive model of depression, it is thought that many cases develop through early life experiences, where parents have been excessively critical, the child may internalise the impact rule that being valued only comes from perfect performance. This assumption may become latent or silent during parts of adult life, where any endeavours are met with a reasonable degree of success. Thus, prior to becoming depressed, the person had by unrelenting hard word, managed to live up to the excesses of their conditional belief however, any notable failures activate the latent assumption and the person becomes sensitised to any signs of falling short of their perfectionist standard. A common factor that interferes with the application of the cognitive model apparently disparate presentations of persistent depression is avoidance. In persistent depression avoidance can serve to mask negative thinking patterns or inhibit the effect of negative thoughts on mood. On occasions, negative thinking may be overt or apparent due to such avoidance. Pinpointing such avoidance in persistent depression is often prerequisite to identifying negative thoughts. The behavioural model The behavioural explanation of the causes of depression is based on the view that abnormality is seen as the result of learning from the environment. In other words depression is a response to life experiences and stressors. Disturbances of mood are a specific response to stress. There are two major types of stress that a person may experience. The first is the stress of major life events that are evident to others. The second type of stress may not be obvious at all to others, but it is the minor stress or irritations of daily life. These are the small disappointments, frustrations, criticisms, and arguments that when accumulated over time and in the absence of compensating positive events produce a major and chronic negative impact. It is appropriate, therefore, to examine in more detail some of the sources of life stressors that may produce disturbances of mood. Four such, sources include major life events, roles, coping resources, and physiological changes. Major life events (Hol mes and Rahe) did the pioneering work in this area with the development of social readjustment rating scale. Rank Life event Mean value 1 Death of spouse 100 2 Divorce 73 3 Marital separation 65 4 Jail term 63 5 Death of close family member 63 6 Personal injury or illness 53 7 Marriage 50 8 Fired at work 47 9 Marital reconciliation 45 10 Retirement 45 11 Change in health of family member 44 12 Pregnancy 40 13 Sex difficulties 39 14 Gain of new family member 39 15 Business readjustment 39 16 Change in financial state 38 17 Death of close friend 37 18 Change to different line of work 36 19 Change in number of arguments with spouse 35 20 Mortgage over 10,000 31 21 Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30 22 Changes in responsibilities at work 29 23 Son or daughter leaving home 29 24 Trouble with in-laws 29 25 Outstanding personal achievement 28 26 Wife begin or stop work 26 27 Begin or end school 26 28 Change in living conditions 25 29 Revision of personal habits 24 30 Trouble with boss 23 31 Change in work hours or conditions 20 32 Change in residence 20 33 Change in school 20 34 Change in recreation 19 35 Change in church activities 19 36 Change in social activities 18 37 Mortgage or loan less than 10,000 17 38 Change in sleeping habits 16 39 Change in number of family get- togethers 15 40 Change in eating habits 15 41 Vacation 12 42 Christmas 12 42 Minor violations of the law 11 The scale ranks important life events and assigns a specific value to each one on the basis of the amount of coping behaviour needed by the individual to deal with the event. As the score of the mean value increases, the likelihood of an illness increases. The behavioural model overcomes the ethical issues raised by the medical model of labelling someone as `ill or abnormal, instead the model concentrates on behaviour and whether it is adaptive of maladaptive. Those who support the psychodynamic model, however, claim the behavioural model focuses only on symptoms and ignores the cause of abnormal behaviour they claim that the symptoms are merely the tip of the iceberg, the outward expression of deeper underlying emotional problems. Coping resources Life stress may also take the form of inadequate coping resources. Personal resources available to individuals include their socioeconomic status (income, occupation, social position, and education), families (nuclear and extended), interpersonal networks, and the secondary organizations provided by the broader social environment. The far-ranging effects of poverty, discrimination, inadequate housing, and social isolation cannot be ignored or taken lightly. Physiological changes Disturbances in mood may also occur as a response to physiological changes produced by drugs or a wide variety of physical illnesses. Drug- induced depressions have been noted to occur following treatments with various antihypertensive drugs and the abuse of addictive substances, such as amphetamines, and barbiturates. Depression may also occur, secondary to a wide variety of medical illnesses, for example viral infections, nutritional deficiencies, endocrine disorders, anaemias, and central nervous system disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, tumours, and cerebral vascular disease. Evaluate psychodynamic therapy in treatment of depression in terms of its strengths and weakness Psychodynamic therapy is a generic term that embraces all those therapies of an analytic nature. Probably the majority of psychodynamicists adhere to work and teaching of Freud. But also in this group you will find therapy based on ideas of various other psychologists including Jung and Adler. In this type of therapy, the therapist keeps his own personality out of the picture. This vital aspect of psychodynamic psychotherapy and it enables the therapist to be like a blank canvas onto which patients can transfer and project deep feelings about themselves, their parents and other significant people in their life. It is then up to the therapist to handle all the feelings and information that emerge, to gradually help patients to deal with all this `baggage. In this way the therapists helps patients gain a better understanding of what their disturbances are and how their mind works. The term psychodynamic refers to a group of explanations that try to account for the dynamics of behaviour i.e. the forces that motivate behaviour. Freuds revolutionary theory was that depression does not have a physical cause, but instead arises from unresolved, unconscious conflicts which form in early childhood. This model is based on Freuds theory of psychosexual development. A child passes through a series of stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) if there is a major conflict at any of these stages, the child can spend an unusually long time at that developmental stage (called fixation) if and adult experiences great personal problems, he or she will tend to show regression (going backwards through the stages of psychosexual development) to the stage at which he or she had previously been fixated. The prime goal of therapy is to enable patients to gain access to their repressed ideas and conflicts, and to encourage them to face up to whatever pops out from the unconscious mind. Freud initially used hypnosis as a means of accessing repressed memories but later turned to the analysis of dreams and technique of free association, where a client is encouraged to say the first thing that comes in to his or her mind. The strengths of psychodynamic therapy is that it identifies traumatic childhood experiences as a factor in the development of depression in later life. A weakness of this type of therapy is that the therapist may appear disinterested in the clients current problems. A depressed patient wants to talk about themselves now as opposed to then. Another weakness to the Freudian approach is that it tends to focus too much on sex, and does not emphasise the importance of interpersonal and social factors in causing and maintaining depression. A patient must have the right to approve or disapprove of any treatment programme and a depressed patient may well have fears and doubts about laying their soul to bear to a stranger. Another ethical implication of this type of therapy is that patients may not take any responsibility for their illness depends on unconscious processes over which they have no control. In addition, the idea that adult mental illness is based in childhood experiences implies that parents are at least partially to blame. Is it ethical to cause distress to parents by suggesting that they are responsible for their childs menta l illness? Serious ethical issues are raised by numerous recent cases of false memory syndrome, where patients in therapy have made allegations about childhood physical or sexual abuse which may or may not be true. Freud believed that men and women have their own biologically determined sexual natures, and depression can develop when the natural course of their sexual development is thwarted. This notion is ethically dubious, as it ignores cultural differences in sexual attitudes and behaviour. Outline the clinical characteristics of Schizophrenia Although the popular concept of split personality is still common the reality of Schizophrenia is far more complex. The two most frequently found elements of the illness are delusions and hallucinations. Bizarre delusions are common. The content of these delusions is patently absurd and has no possible basis in fact, such as delusions of being controlled, thought broadcasting or thought insertion. Suffers often report grandiose or religious delusions or beliefs about themselves having physical symptoms which do not in fact exist. They may feel persecuted or irrationally jealous. A particularly distressing symptom consists of auditory hallucinations in which either a voice keeps up a running commentary on the individuals behaviour of thoughts, or two or more voices converse with each other. To the outsider the sufferer may appear incoherent, blinded or even catatonic. There is a marked deterioration from their previous level of functioning in such areas as work, social relations and self care. Below is a list of symptoms from American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, third edition, Washington, D.C, APA, 1980. Social isolation or withdrawal Marked impairment in role functioning as wage earner, student, or homemaker Marked peculiar behaviour (e.g., collecting garbage, talking to self in public, or hoarding food) Marked impairment in personal hygiene and grooming Blunted, flat, or inappropriate affect Digressive, vague, over elaborate, circumstantial, or metaphorical speech Odd or bizarre ideation, or magical thinking, e.g., superstitousness, clairvoyance, telepathy, sixth sense, others can feel my feelings, overvalued ideas, ideas of reference Unusual perceptual experiences, e.g., recurrent illusions, sensing the presence of a force or person not actually present. Give two or more psychological (psychodynamic/behavioural/cognitive) expiations of Schizophrenia Psychodynamic Psychoanalytical theory states that Schizophrenic behaviour results when the ego can no longer withstand the pressures emanating from the id and from external reality. The ego of the psychotic person struggles to cope with stress because of serious deficiencies in the relationship between the person as a child and his mother. When the person is anxious and stressed he employs ego defence mechanisms in an unhealthy way in an effort to control unacceptable impulses and thoughts. Take for example a man or woman with paranoid delusions. So much psychic energy is invested in holding down these terrible thoughts and impulses that there is little energy left to deal with normal daily living. The person withdraws from usual activities and has difficulty maintaining basic physiological needs such as nutrition and hygiene. If stress and anxiety gets even worse, ego functioning may deteriorate further, and the person will be flooded with frightening thoughts and impulses. As ego identity disint egrates communication is confused and garbled, and the person is alone in their own world. According to Freud, schizophrenia is a form of regression, back to the oral stage of development; the oral stage is the first stage of psychosexual development. A baby is born a bundle of id, is self indulgent and concerned only with a satisfaction of their needs. There is a need gratify these impulses but their experiences in the real world result in conflict, people with schizophrenia are overwhelmed by anxiety because their egos are not strong enough to cope with id impulses in schizophrenia, this can lead to self indulgent symptoms such as delusions, such as hearing voices which may have an ultimate authority. It has been suggested that schizophrenia has a psychosomatic cause the origin is solely in the mind. At best it could only be a partial explanation of some symptoms, e.g. delusions. In reality Freud is denying the experience of patients with schizophrenia, it is unscientific and extremely difficult to test. Concepts such as repression are difficult to observe and measure, although this difficulty does not invalidate the theory. The theory is based on unrepresentative samples, case studies, from which it is difficult to generalise. The theory fails to account for gender differences the onset for males is around 20 years, and for females 30 years. Nor does the theory explain why, prior to diagnosis, their behaviour has appeared normal. Furthermore, it also excludes considerations of the environment. A concise explanation of Schizophrenia was given by O.A. Will in his 1961 study of Human relatedness and the schizophrenic reaction. The expression of complicated patterns of behaviour adopted by the organism in an effort to deal with a gross inadequacy in relating to other humans. The Behavioural explanation Schizophrenia can evolve as the results of various experiences that influence the growth of the individual. In most instances a series of life events predisposes the individual to difficulty with interpersonal relationships. The family is the unit within which the first experiences with closeness to others take place. Lack of maternal stimulation or attention deprives the infant of a sense of security and there is failure to establish basic trust. This can lead to a suspicious attitude toward others that may continue throughout life. The quality of mothering attention is also important. A child may be adequately fed and receive impeccable physical care but without any communication of maternal caring. A child who is treated like an object may well become an adult who treats others like objects. Family communication patterns may also be stressors leading to disruptions in relationships. Patients with a medical diagnosis of schizophrenia are frequently members of families with identifiably disturbed communication patterns. Relationship problems frequently become manifest in the symptomatic behaviour of one family member. This deviant behaviour develops when the family is subjected to intolerable levels of stress. A family member who actscrazy may serve the function of keeping the family system intact. For example, if there is a family rule that hostility is never expressed directly between family members, and the parents are involved in a conflict which they may not confront, tension will build up within the family system. One of the children may respond to this tension by acting crazy and performing destructive acts in the home. Evaluate cognitive behavioural therapies in the treatment od schizophrenia in terms of its strengths and weakness Cognitive behavioural therapy is a kind of psychotherapy which aims to change the way that people think about their problem and thus alters the effects of the problem itself. One specific example is stress inoculation training, which is a technique to reduce stress through the use of stress management techniques, and self statements that aim to restructure the way the person thinks. A second example is increasing hardiness, which is building up in the patient a cluster of traits possessed by those people best able to cope with stress. The main strength of C.B.T in the treatment of schizophrenia is that it gives more power, choice, and responsibility for their treatment to a group of patients who have traditionally had things done to them, for example in the form of medication, social skills training and even ECT. There is no doubt that distorted and irrational beliefs and this treatment targets abnormal thinking. The purely cognitive approach grew out of dissatisfaction with the behavioural model and its emphasis on purely external factors. It emphasised internal mental influences and the power of the individual to shape their own thinking. Recently the two approaches have been integrated, so CBT treatment deals with maladaptive behaviours as well as distorted thoughts and beliefs. The weakness of this therapy is that it can be seen as rather limited genetic factors are ignored, and not much attention is paid to the role of social and interpersonal factors or of individuals life experiences in producing schizophrenia. Discuss the ethics of cognitive behavioural therapy Because the cognitive approach to therapy concentrates on the concept that mentally ill people have distorted thoughts and beliefs, it follows that sufferers of schizophrenia may feel that their illness is their own fault. This raises some ethical issues. Patients will be even more stressed if they have to take responsibility for their illness. It is unfair to blame patients for being ill, because their families may be mainly responsible, since it may be that maladaptive experiences in adulthood are based in childhood experiences, over which the sufferer has no control. It is even more striking to understand that the negative thoughts and beliefs of patients could be rational, and reflect the awful circumstances of the way they live in other words, if the patient feels blame they are unlikely to contemplate change. Outline the characteristics of one eating disorder (Bruch .H. The golden cage: the enigma of anorexia nervosa 1978) Perception is also an important aspect of the behaviour of young people with anorexia nervosa. These people perceive that they are fat and literally starve themselves to achieve their goal of being thin. However, because of the distortion in body image that they experience, the goal is unattainable. Even when emaciated to the point that their appearance is skeletal, they will maintain that they are fat and persist in their attempt to lose weight. Bruch describes the typical anorexic process as `beginning with a diet. Initially, the dieter experiences a sense of deprivation and difficulty in maintain the restrictions. However, she then enters a stage of pride in her accomplishment and this perpetuates the behaviour. At the same time, biological effects of starvation cause distortions in perception of body sensations. There is a heightening of sensory experience and a feeling that has been compared to intoxication. As the condition progresses, the patient begins to feel special and different because of her superhuman effort and extraordinary accomplishment. These results in her alienation and isolation from others who fail to understand her behaviour and its meaning to her. She is then becomes increasingly absorbed in her own world and her behaviour assumes even greater importance to her. Anorexia nervosa is really a misnomer. Anorexia means lack of appetite. People with anorexia nervosa do experience hunger, and it is the victory over hunger that provides their reward. Anorexics are often fascinated with food and cooking, becoming students of nutrition. They may compulsively loiter in places where food is sold or served and watch other people eat. Their life becomes centred on food and the avoidance of eating. Anorexics go to extremes to avoid weight gain. They will induce vomiting, take diuretics and laxatives, and exercise strenuously. Many other physical changes are common in anorexic women, including amenorrhea (periods stopping), lanugo (extra body hair especially facial), and bradycardia (heart problems). Another eating disorder that is similar in some respects to anorexia nervosa is bulimia. The bulimic person experiences episodes of binge eating, frequently followed by vomiting. Binge eating is compulsive intake of food that is stopped only when the person vomits, experiences pain runs out of food, or is interrupted. It is differentiated from anorexia nervosa by the fact that severe weight loss is not generally seen and the individual is well aware that their behaviour is abnormal. Bulimics are usually able to maintain a more normal weight by alternating binging and vomiting or by eating very little between binges. Give two or more psychological explanations of eating disorders Psychodynamic Eating disorders usually begin in adolescent girls (90% of sufferers are female). This may suggest that this coincides with the onset of sexual development and sexual fears. Psychodynamic theorists have suggested that an adolescent girl may be terrified by their own feelings of sexual desire, or a fear of becoming pregnant, or even (and this may seem farfetched but is based on ignorance of the facts of life) of a fear of becoming pregnant by oral sex. If eating is mentally links in adolescent to getting pregnant, then starving herself will prevent pregnancy. It also stops menstruation so ovulation stops so no pregnancy. Another psychodynamic explanation of eating disorders is that some adolescent girls are afraid of growing up and have an unconscious desire to remain pre-pubescent. If they lose a lot of weight their bodies will not develop normally and they can hang on to the belief that they are still children. Finally, some patients who present with eating disorders were victims of sexual abuse as children. Consequently they hate their bodies and may even self-harm. There is a theory, supported by Minuchin, Roseman, and Baker (1978) that eating disorders may be firmly rooted in family dynamics. The term enmeshment is used to describe a family where there is no space for the personal independence of the child family members all seem to do everything together. Adolescence should be a time when the child develops their independence. If they cannot do this the anorexic adolescent may rebel by refusing to eat. Families which are enmeshed like this find it difficult to sort out conflicts (Minuchin et al.1978). In the theory of psychodynamics such families create anxiety. This is where ego-defences come in; parents unable to cope with their anxiety put the blame (unconsciously) on the anorexic child herself. Parental conflicts are common in families of both anorexics and bulimics (Kalusy, Crisp, and Harding 1977). This research came to the conclusion that families with an anorexic child tend to be ambitious, to deny or ignore conflicts, and blames othe r people for their problems. Behavioural The psychological theory of classical conditioning teaches us a great deal about the development of anorexia. These sufferers associate eating with anxiety they associate losing weight with avoiding bad thoughts and feelings (Leitenberg, Agras, and Thompson (1968)). The other relevant psychological theory is operant conditioning. The anorexic gets pleasure from gaining attention. It is also rewarding or re-enforcing because slim people are considered more attractive than fat ones. Similarly, there is a behavioural explanation of bulimia. When a bulimic binges it causes them anxiety, so when they vomit they revise the situation and their anxiety is reduced. This reduction in anxiety makes the person feel better, so the cycle of bingeing followed by vomiting is maintained. (Rosen and Leitenberg 1985). Discuss the ethics of behavioural therapies The term is used when considering moral behaviour among professionals, such as behavioural therapists. Certain things may be less acceptable than others, but if the ultimate end is for the good of the patient, then we may feel than an undesirable behaviour is acceptable. A psychiatric ward full of patients with eating orders can be one of the most depressing places on earth. Behavioural therapy usually involves giving patients targets and rewards regarding their consumption of food and drink. Patients with eating disorders can be distressed, stubborn, and frightened; the behavioural programmes developed for their recovery are often unwelcome and in themselves cause anxiety. There are major ethical issues occurring on a daily basis can staff force people to eat against their will? What of the rights of these individuals to be treated in a caring and respectful way? I doubt that loss of privileges constitute a caring and respectful way of helping a disturbed patient who refuses to eat. The issues of informed consent and the protection of patients from harm are huge points of conflict in the therapeutic treatment of people with eating disorders.