Depression and African-American Men Essay Example for Free

Depression and African-American Men Essay First of all it is important to understand what really constitutes depression. All of us feel down from time to time perhaps based on having a bad day. However when feelings of sadness last for several weeks, months, or years, and are accompanied by other symptoms such as change of appetite, isolation from family and friends, sleeplessness, etc. these are symptoms of depression. In 1999 Dr. David Satcher, Surgeon General of the United States, and an African-American, released a Report on Mental Health that was a landmark moment for America. This was the first comprehensive report on the state of the nations mental health issued by Americas physician-in-chief. It is both an inventory of the resources available to promote mental health and treat mental illness, and a call to action to improve these resources. It paints a portrait of mental illness, filling the canvas with the faces of America, revealing that the effects of mental illness cut across all the nations dividing lines, whether gender, education, economic status, education, or race. However, the 2001 supplement to the original 1999 report indicates that it probably affects African American men more adversely than it does the general population.Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity, which is the title of the supplement by Dr. Satcher, says that racial and ethnic minorities collectively experience a greater disability burden from mental illness than do whites. The supplemental report goes even deeper in that it highlights the disparity that exists for black men in mental health as it does in relation to most health problems. For example, African-American men are more likely to live with chronic health problems, and studies show that living with chronic illnesses increases the risk of suffering from depression. In a 2002 report, The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors, the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out that African American Men have the highest rates of prostate cancer and hypertension in the world. The report also says that black men are twice as likely as white men to develop diabetes, and suffer higher rates of heart disease and obesity. The American Cancer Societys report entitled Cancer Facts and Figures, and written in 2003 found that black men are more than twice as likely as white men to die from prostate cancer. We are also more likely than others to wait until an illness reaches a ser ious stage before we seek treatment. Often times treatment is not sought until we are in emergency rooms, homeless shelters, or prisons. According to a report by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in 2003, men in general are three times less likely than women to visit a doctor, and African-American men specifically are less likely than white men to go to a doctor prior to them being in poor health. This is the case for physical ailments. When one factors in the stigma attached to mental illness, and other barriers that keep us from getting help, it is easy to see why black men are even less likely to seek treatment for depression. Yet, the nation, including the African-American community is often silent on this issue. The silence on the subject among blacks is due, in part, to our lack of vocabulary to talk about depression. We call depression the blues in the black community. We have been taught, at least in the past, and, to a certain extent even now, to shrug off this mental state. For many of us, it is not just a fact of life; it is a way of life. When bluesmen used to sing, Every day I have the blues or It aint nothing but the blues or similar words from hundreds of songs, they do more than mouth lyrics. They voice a cultural attitude. They state an accepted truth at the heart of their music: Having the blues goes along with being black in America. In addition, from the time we are young boys, black males have ingrained into us an idea of manhood that requires a silence about feelings, a withholding of emotion, and ability to bear burdens alone, and a refusal to appear weak. The internal pressure to adhere to this concept of masculinity only increases as we sometimes experience various forms of racism in a society that historically has sought to deny us our manhood. The internal wall that often keeps black men away from psychotherapy goes along with external barriers built just as high, if not higher. Mental health practitioners are overwhelmingly white, with the proportion of black psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychoanalysts estimated at less than three percent of the nations total. This would mean that even if black men were to break through the self-imposed barriers and seek professional help for mental issues, it may be difficult to find someone with whom they can build a rapport, and whom they feel can relate to them, and they can trust. This feeling of comfort is what allows a patient to reveal his most intimate secrets. As Dr. Richard Mouzon, a prominent black clinical psychologist puts it, Many of us grow up feeling that it is dangerous to give up too much of yourself to the white man. Theres no denying that access to mental health care is restricted for Americans in general. In private health insurance policies and government medical assistance programs, psychotherapy is too often considered a luxury rather than a necessity. It has been said often times that the only people with a guaranteed right to health care are the inmates of our jails and prisons. That is even more true of mental health care.Unfortunately, this is a right that is of marginal value; while many black men receive their first treatment for mental illness behind bars, that treatment is likely to be directed at keeping them under control rather than alleviating the effects of their illness. Our health care system assures preventative measures and early intervention for mental health problems only to the privileged, just as it does for physical health problems. The disparity is so great in minority communities that for many, mental illness receives attention only when it reaches a florid stage, in public hospitals emergency rooms and psychiatric wards, or worse, in its aftermath, when people with mental illness may end up behind bars and in morgues. According to a new study reported on by the Health Behavior News Service, jobless African-American men appear to be at a greater risk of suffering from depression. While the issue of unemployment offers at least one possible explanation for why the symptoms of depression might be experienced, more puzzling is the fact that African-American men who were making more than $80,000 per year were still at a higher risk for depression. In order to come to their conclusions, Dr. Darrell Hudson, Ph.D., and his fellow researchers carefully screened the data provided by the National Survey of American Life. During their analysis, they took into account how much various factors such as social class, income, education, wealth, employment, and parental education level related to depressive symptoms. After measuring depression in a very comprehensive way, the results were not very consistent. We need to figure out as a general public: Is there a cost associated with socioeconomic position or moving in an upward trajectory? said Dr. Hudson. For the purpose of the research 3,570 African-American men and women who experienced depressive episodes within the past year of their lives were studied. Men who made over $80,000 per year reported more symptoms of depression than those making less than $17,000 per year. However, unemployed black men were more likely to report depression during that year compared to employed men. Men who completed some college or beyond were less likely to experience depressive symptoms than those who did not complete high school. Women, on the other hand, did not appear to suffer the same rates of depression. Females who earned between $45,000 and $79,000 were less likely to report symptoms of depression than those with the least income. The study appeared in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. According to Dr. Hudson: One thing could be going on with African-American men with greater incomes. The more likely they are to work in integrated settings, the more likely they are to be exposed to racial discrimination. Racial discrimination can undermine some of the positive effects of socioeconomic position like the increased benefits of more income. Some black men who suffer from depression may think suicide is the answer. It is not. Men that become suicidal dont realize that they are repeating the cycle, burdening their children with the same loneliness the father had endured. Their kids would grow up with the knowledge that their father had taken his life. Depression can be very paralyzing to African-Americans. This vile illness affects men from all walks of life, from the black executive to the young street hustler. In many documented cases, several socially advanced black men have suffered from depression for many years and refused to receive treatment. This is a very disturbing undercurrent. If educated, accomplished, and highly informed black men refuse to seek treatment for depression, just imagine how difficult it is for uneducated or poor black men to seek help. Some experts believe that depression is likely a key factor in a 233 percent increase in suicide in black males ages 10-14 from 1980 to 1995. According to Dr. Satcher: Black men feel that they have to be twice as good as other people, that you cant be weak because people will take advantage of you. Those pressures work powerfully against a black male seeking treatment for depression and other mental illnesses. About one in four African-Americans is uninsured, compared with about 16 percent of the U.S. population overall. African-Americans are less likely to receive antidepressants, and when they do, they are more likely than whites to stop taking them. Particularly troubling to those who study and treat mental illness in black men is their disproportionately higher rates of incarceration than other racial groups. Nearly half of the U.S. prison population is black, and about 40 percent of those in the juvenile justice system is black. It is a very difficult and very serious situation for these young men and for society. Psychiatrists who work with the homeless as well as with black youth say they see dozens of black males each year head to jail or juvenile justice when they should be in treatment centers.They blame,in some form or another, depression, or other related mental illnesses. It happens all the time and its very alarming, said Dr. Raymond J. Kotwicki, Medical Director of Community Outreach Programs, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at Emory University School of Medicine, in a recent statement. While all mental illnesses often come wrapped in some sort of stigma or negative connotation, mental illnesses in black men are even more entangled. Historical racism and current cultural biases and expectations all play a part, mental health advocates say. Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans believe that mental illness is a shortcoming that can be overcome through prayer and faith, according to a study by the National Alliance for the mentally ill. Certainly prayer and faith may be helpful to someone suffering from mental illness, but is not a replacement for treatment by a professional. The neglect of emotional disorders among men in the black community is nothing less than racial suicide.Many experts argue that the problem of depression in black America can be traced back to the time of slavery, when it was believed that blacks were unable to feel inner pain because they had no psyche. This myth has damaged generations of African-American men and their families, creating a society that sometimes has defined black men as being violent and aggressive, without considering that depression (or other related mental illnesses) might be one root cause. The consequences of untreated mental illness can be dire. And the tragedy of the worst outcomes can be no greater than when the disorder is depression, one of the most common and treatable mental illnesses. The disease is painful, and potentially fatal, but eighty percent of those who get treatment get better. Yet, quite sadly, only twenty-five percent of those who need help get it. African-American men are especially prone to put ourselves in mortal danger because we readily embrace the belief that we can survive depression by riding out the illness and allowing it to run its course. The internal walls we build to keep out the world, along with the walls that society sometimes builds to isolate us, cut us off from the help we need. So we suffer, and we suffer needlessly. Please do not be ashamed of seeking help if you feel that you are suffering from depression, or any mental illness. There are very likely resources right in your own city or town such as a county Mental Health Center, even if you are uninsured. Those who are insured may choose a private hospital or psychiatrist, but dont hesitate to get help. One resource that is available would be to call 1-877-331-9311, or 1-877-568-6230 to talk to a specialist at any time. This could change your life immensely, and could indeed save your life.

Geography and the Development of Human Civilization Essay Example for Free

Geography and the Development of Human Civilization Essay A. Without argument, the most significant geographic or environmental factor of Ancient Egypt to shape early civilization is the Nile River. The Nile has been referred to as lifes blood for the Egyptian civilization. (Fassbender, 2008). To begin understanding how the Nile River was the greatest factor, one must understand a few facts about the River itself. It starts from two separate sourcesÍ ¾ first the lakes of central Africa, called the White Nile, and second the Blue NileÍ ¾ that comes from the mountains of Ethiopia. The Blue Nile and the White Nile come together and flow northward to the Nile delta, starting the 4,000 mile length of the life blood of EgyptÍ ¾ finally spilling into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian climate does not offer much in rainfall, averaging less than 2 inches per year in some areas and non existent in other areas. The early human civilizations were able to farm near the banks of the Nile River with much success compared to the outlying harsh climates of the Sahara and Arabian deserts on both sides of Egypt. Each summer the Nile River would swell as the rain fell and the snow melted in the mountains. Overflowing its banks and lightly flooding the land with fresh water and thick rich deposits of alluvial soil created a land that could yield two harvests before winter (Kreis, 2006)Í ¾ creating an ideal location for early human civilizations to settle and prosper. This flooding of the Nile River did more than create agriculture wealth for the early Egyptians, it also helped create some very early inventions such as the calendarÍ ¾ (Keita, n.d.) created from the expected annual nature of the floods, the end of the second harvest and the 2 winters. The Nile River also gave the people a sense of direction, creating the north, south , east and west concepts we now use. The flow of the Nile is basically south to north and the daily rising and falling of the sun from east to west created a concrete sense of direction for the Egyptians. (Fassbender, 2008). Egypt offered easy access to most of the resources it needed for survival and success which guaranteed the development of a large pop ulation. The promise of a harvest climate, new inventions, security of the deserts on both sides, transportation provided by the river into the sea, the Nile River was the greatest factor creating early civilization for Ancient Egypt. B. Tea is the most popular drink in the world, second only to waterÍ ¾ got its start in China as nothing more than a mere accident and has since traveled the world, started wars, and created millions of dollars for governments and plantation owners. The origin of tea dates back around 4,000 years ago ( History Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). According to legend the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong discovered tea in 2737 BC while he was boiling water in the shade of a tree †¦ when a light breeze caused some leaves to fall into the water (Origins of Tea, 2012). The emperor tasted it and thought it was delicious, and so began the tea adventure. At that time, tea was bitter and mostly used for its health properties as a medicine for problems su ch as eyesight and stomach issues. At the end of the fifth century, tea was traded and exported with Mongolian and Turkish merchants. By the eighth century it was exported to far regions like Japan, Central Asia and Tibet. Tea began to spread further west with other foreign traders, missionaries, and ambassadors that were given samples and gifts of it to try and take home for others to try. The first agreement to export and trade tea was between China and 3 Russia. In the mid 1850s, Chinese immigrants heading to Taiwan would bring tea seedlings, tea growing and processing skills and the tea culture with them. In the seventeenth century, green tea was exported into Europe and was mostly used as a medicinal drink due to the bitter taste and the health properties it offered. The Dutch started to buy tea in Japan and China and then shipped it and sold it in France, Germany, and England. The Dutch also introduced tea to New Amsterdam in the 1650s. During this time tea was usually only for the very wealthy because it was so expensive, until the 1750s when it became a more modern drink with more availability for larger gr oups of people. (Saberi, 2010), (Origins of Tea, 2012), and ( History Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). In the eighteenth century tea became popular in countries like North America and EuropeÍ ¾ however, China was the only country selling tea to other countries. Chinas tea business was soaring until India stepped into the tea business. When the British started ruling India, they found some tea plants in Assam (found in the North Eastern area of India) and decided that these tea plants had a sweeter taste. Tea plantations started growing in Assam, then Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), Sumatra, Java and Formosa. It was discovered that the plants in China grew 5 meters shorter in height than those in IndiaÍ ¾ so the tea business naturally shifted there. This was very good for the British because their demand for the drink was huge, creating a huge deficit for them with China. The British government now had the surplus of tea, from the plantations in India (and the areas around there) and the trade agreements with China. The British now sold to other countries, like North America  ­ on ly they levied a sales tax on the tea leaves that they couldnt sale anywhere else and try to sale to the new American coloniesÍ ¾ this was faced with a fierce resistance  ­ known as the Boston Tea Party. (The Spread of Tea from 4 China, 2012). Tea was first created with a leaf in boiling water, then it was dried and steeped, then as the drink was being traded and sold  ­ tea leaves and buds were dried, pressed and packaged for shipping, including bricks of dried, crushed tea leaves. Each time the seedlings were taken to a new climate or country, new flavors were established and new ways of serving the drink were created. For instance, the Chinese sip it from tiny cups, the Japanese whisk it. In America they serve it iced. The Tibetans add butter. The Russians serve with lemon. Mint is added in North Africa. Afghans flavour it with cardamom. The Irish and the British drink it by the gallon with milk and sugar. The Indians boil it with condensed milk. In Australia it is brewed in a billy can (Saberi, 2010). The diffusion of tea may have started as a bitter, medicinal emperors drink, yet it has traveled the world, been raised or farmed in multiple corners of the globe, transformed from a drink for the wealthy to a world ­ wide drink of choice for all classes and races  ­ from bitter to sweet, from medicinal to being a part of the social sceneÍ ¾ including having restaurants, tea rooms, and clubs created just for the enjoyment of those that want a cup of the worlds most popular drinkTea. C1. One of the environmental factors that contributed to the expansion of the United States was the devastating Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl, also referred to as the dirty thirties, Black Roller or the Black Blizzard, (Buonanduci, 2009 and Baumhardt, 2003) happened when a severe drought in 1930 to 1936 (to 1940 in some areas) caused extreme dust storms over the prairie lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and the border areas of Colorado and New Mexico. When the dust storms hit, visibility was reduced to a few feet or less and millions of farmland became uselessÍ ¾ the storms caused major ecological and agricultural damage to over 5 100,000,000 acres of farmland (Buonanduci, 2009). In addition to a severe drought, the people had over farmed without needed crop rotation or other farming techniques to prevent erosion which then created the inevitable wide ­spread disaster. This coupled with the Great Depression left the government without a lot of options to help the people of the prairie lands who were suffering from extraordinary financial difficulties. In a span of about five years over 500,000 Americans were forced to flee the area. About half of those people headed west to California where many settled into farming the Central Valley and Los Angeles areas. (Simkin, 1997). In response to the devastation of the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelts first 100 days in office (in 1933), were spent creating government programs designed to restore the ecological balance by encouraging diversified agricultural crop production using tested practices and improved tools (Baumhardt, 2003) The Dust Bowl created expansion of the U.S. when hundreds of thousands moved west to California bringing the lessons learned from farming successes and failures with themÍ ¾ it also contributed to the development of the U.S. as the entire country took the essential agricultural lessons learned and established programs to ensure the same mistakes would not be repeated again. C2. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845  ­ 1849 also contributed to the develop ment and expansion of the United States because of the nearly a million Irish that arrived in the United States (Gavin, 2000). The large number of people helped literally develop our county through the blood, sweat, and tears that hard work and desire brings to those making a home of peace and happiness for their families. In the early 17th century, the Irish were quite dependent on food exported from other 6 countries  ­ mainly the potato from America. However, by the 19th century about a third of Ireland was dedicated to potato farming, turning this into Irelands primary cropthe potato supported massive population expansion within Ireland. Within that time, the population doubled from four million to eight million citizens (Hawkes, 2012). The first report of the potato blight was recorded on August 20, 1845, and by October one ­third of the potato crop was lost to the blight. At first there was still enough food for the Irish people despite the potato blight, the problem for most of those who had the diseased crops was the fact that they didnt have enough money to buy other food. The blight reduced the Irish potato harvest by about 30%. This drastic loss caused many farmers to eat the potato seedlings that they were going to plant in the upcoming year. Now the starving people resorted to slaughtering their pigs and cows to keep from starving through the harsh winter, they also knew they wouldnt have food to feed their starving their animals. The situation in Ireland became grim, by this time the blight wasnt spreading any longer, but the farmers werent planting or harvesting enough potatoes to have enough food to feed the people of their country. Lasting about six years, the Irish Potato Famine had killed over a million people from a combination of starvation and diseaseÍ ¾ causing another million people to migrate to the United States (Smith, 2011), (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants came to America to escape the certain death that they faced there, and for a promised future of the American dreamÍ ¾ however, it was not a welcoming place for many, instead it was a brutally hard, unkind and unwelcoming place for many. Boston might have been the hardest and most cruel place for those coming from Ireland, but New York wasnt that much easier in the end. One of the turning points for the unwelcomed Irish people was the Civil WarÍ ¾ over 140,000 enlisted in the Union Army, while those in the South enrolled in the 7 Confederate ranks (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants provided many laborers needed for the backbreaking work that was needed for the American expansion that was happening at that time. The immigrants saw this move to America as permanent and brought over several hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants during the following decades (Smith, 2011). Politically the Irish now had the numbers to influence votes, welcome at first or not, the Irish people could no longer be ignored. The Potato Famine started as a deadly killer in Ireland, turning into a large exodus of people immigrating to the United StatesÍ ¾ changing the face of the American laborers and changing who was running and winning political offices. The Anti ­Irish sentiment would be quieted at last when an Irish Potato Famine immigrants descendant was elected President of the United States  ­ President John F. Kennedy was that person. He is the great ­grandson of Patrick Kennedy, a farmer from County Wexford who had left Ireland in 1849 (Gavin, 2000). The Irish are considered the first large group of poor refugees to come to the United States and they paved the way for all the many refugees and immigrants that would follow their footsteps. Today, after years of hard work to overcome numerous amount of obstacles to find freedom, peace and happiness  ­ Americans of Irish descent are the third largest ethnic group in the country. Unfortunately, Ireland stayed a very sad place after the famine for decades. (Gavin, 2000). References Baumhardt, R. L. (2003). USDA  ­ The Official Website for The Conservation and Production Research Laboratory DUST BOWL ERA. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/ Buonanduci, M. (2009, April 27). Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151818/ Fassbender, M. (2008, September 11). Physical Geography Ancient Egypt by Michael Fassbender | Humanities 360. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/physical ­geography ­ancient ­egypt ­50663/ Gavin, G. (2000). The History Place  ­ Irish Potato Famine. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from 9 http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/ Hawkes, S. (2012, August 28). Fatal Potatoes: The Nineteenth ­Century Irish Potato Famine | US History Scene. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.ushistoryscene.com/uncategorized/fatalpotatoes/ History Future  ­ When did people start having tea? (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://humantouchofchemis try.com/when ­did ­people ­start ­having ­tea.htm Irish Potato Famine. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://courses.soomopublishing.com/ Keita, M. (n.d.). Rise of Civilizations and Empires in Mesopotamia. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://history ­world.org/rise_of_civilizations.htm Kreis, S. (2006, October 11). Lecture 3: Egyptian Civilization. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture3b.html Origins of Tea. (2012). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.higgins ­burke.com/About ­Our ­Tea/Pages/Origin ­of ­Tea.aspx PBS (2009, November 15). Video: Surviving the Dust Bowl | Watch American Experience Online | PBS Video [Video file]. Retrieved from http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/?starttime=1200000 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 2 China. In Tea: A global history (pp. 27 ­41). Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 5 Tea Comes to the West. In Tea: A global history (pp. 85 ­124). 10 Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Simkin, J. (1997, September). The Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://spartacus ­educational.com/USAdust.htm Smith, A. F. (2011). Potato: A global history. Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/8539677 The Spread Of Tea From China. (2012, September 13). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://thespreadofteafromchina.blogspot.com/

Dementia Needs, Types and Treatments

Dementia Needs, Types and Treatments Specific needs of the older person INTRODUCTION MAIN BODY Dementia is a term used to describe symptoms such as loss of memory, language, motor skills, judgment and other intellectual functions caused by permanent damage or death of the brains nerve cells. (Alzheimer’s foundation of America, 2014) Most dementias are reversible. Reversible dementias are caused by nutritional deficiencies or infection or from a bleed on the brain or the side effect of a medication; the symptoms of these dementias can be stopped or reversed as long as the underlying causes can be treated. Dementia consists of 3 stages: Early stage (difficulty concentrating, poor orientation, decreased memory, withdrawal from friends and family, poor socializing skills and denial of their symptoms) This stage usually lasts up to two years. Mid stage (major memory loss, client needs help carrying out their activities of daily living (ADLS), they can lose control of their bowels or bladder, ability to speak declines, agitation occurs, compulsions or anxiety) This stage lasts up to two and a half years. Late stage (people in this stage lose the ability to communicate or speak, they need assistance with nearly all their ADLS, they often lose the ability to walk) This stage usually lasts up to two and a half years. There are many types of dementia but I have listed the four major ones below and have given the physiological and psychological changes that occur for the older person with these dementias. Type of Dementia Physiological Psychological Client’s needs Alzheimer’s Problems with speaking. Decreased judgement. Difficulty solving problems or puzzles. Disorientation in familiar surroundings. Depression. Psychosis. Agitation. Sleep disorder. Resistance to care. Memory loss. Assess and reverse agitation factors. Memory therapy. Language therapy. Vascular Difficulty finding the right words. Confusion and disorientation. Aggressiveness. Memory loss. Depression. Slowness of taught. Hallucinations. Memory therapy. Speech therapy. Lewy body Confusion followed by alertness. Tremors. Shuffling gait. Rigidity. Fainting-loss of consciousness. Hallucinations in touch and feelings. Visual hallucinations. Sleep disorder. Aggression. Depression. Speech therapy. Physical therapy which includes gait training. Front temporal Language comprehension declines. Tongue tie occurs. Ability to read or write is impaired. Lack of co-ordination. Shaking. Balance problems. Eye twitching. Muscle spasms and rigidity. Inability to relate to people. Personality changes. Speech therapy. As a carer it is very important to understand the Lewy body dementia disease and its symptoms so that the appropriate treatments can be implemented. The carer should also act as an advocate to ensure the client with dementia Due to word limitations I will only be discussing Lewy body dementia in detail below. LEWY BODY DEMENTIA In the early 1900s scientist FREIDERICK H. LEWY discovered that the brains activities was disrupted by deposits of abnormal protein while he was researching Parkinson’s disease. The Lewy body proteins were found in the brain stem where they kill off the neurotransmitter Dopamine causing symptoms similar to Parkinson’s symptoms. In Lewy body dementia other areas of the brain are affected by these proteins and that is what creates the difference between both Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia. When the protein attacks the brain chemical acetylcholine it causes the client to suffer disruption in their thinking, behaviour and perception. Lewy body dementia can be its own disease or it could act in conjunction with brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This is why Lewy body disease can be miss diagnosed and the client ends up been told they have Parkinson’s disease instead. When diagnosing Lewy body dementia an experienced member of the multidisciplinary team should carry out a diagnostic evaluation of the client. This evaluation should include both physical and neurological examinations. The client should also be examined on their language skills, memory skills and their functioning skills. The client’s family should also be interviewed as they might have noticed changes in the client which would be helpful in their diagnosis. The client should also undergo a MRI or CT scan to determine what areas of the brain are affected. Blood tests may also help in the client’s clinical diagnosis. Lewy body dementia can only be conclusively diagnosed when the client has passed, through a post-mortem autopsy. Unfortunately there is no known cure for Lewy body dementia and treatment only relieves symptoms. People live up to seven years with the disease but some have lived up to twenty years with the disease. Medication is not always the best option for clients with Lewy body because what works with one client might not work for another client. It is also important to know that clients with Lewy body are extremely sensitive and may react negatively to medication. If using medication then there are different medications for the different symptoms. Cognitive symptoms Cholinesterase inhibitors (Aricept, Exelon, and Raza dyne) are used as they are drugs that increase the level of acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is a chemical which helps in memory and learning functions. These were developed to treat Alzheimer’s clients but it has been discovered they work better on Lewy body clients. Movement symptoms Levodopa is a drug which is also used on Parkinson’s clients. This medication is only used if the symptoms are severe. Visual hallucinations Antipsychotic medication (haloperidol) which are tranquillizers that block the dopamine receptors in the brain are used but only if the hallucinations are upsetting or disruptive as the side effects can be severe. Rem sleep behaviour disorder Melatonin or clonazepam medication can be used and have been proven to be very effective. â€Å"50% of clients with lewy body dementia who are treated with any antipsychotic medication may experience severe neuroleptic sensitivity, such as worsening cognition, heavy sedation, increased or possibly irreversible parkinsonism, or symptoms resembling neuroleptic malignant syndrome which can be fatal.† (Lewy body dementia association, 2014) Non-medical treatments Speech therapy This may help the client with their voice volume. It is also helpful in clients who have swallowing difficulties and may improve their facial muscular strength. Physical therapy This includes strengthening, flexibility and cardiovascular exercises as well as gait training. Occupational therapy This may help the client in promoting his independence and maintain their skills. Individual and family therapy This can be useful in managing emotional and behavioural symptoms and help with any concerns the family might have for the future. Support groups These are helpful for the client and the carers as they can help in day to day frustrations and provide emotional support for all.

Noras Quest for Justice Essays -- essays research papers

Nora’s Quest for Justice In Henrik Ibsen’s, A Doll’s House, Nora struggles to achieve justice and her rightful place as a woman, mother, and wife, despite the hardships and mistreatment of her husband Torvald and her father. Throughout Nora’s life, she has faced hardships in order to survive as a normal person because of the mistreatment she received from the two men in life she ever loved; her father and her husband. The mistreatment of Nora’s father and husband has caused Nora to become and be an extremely weak individual. Nora is fearful to live the way she wants to because she no longer has an identity of her own. Despite the hardships and mistreatment Nora encounters, she still has extreme hubris. She wants everyone to recognize and believe that she is living a joyous and wealthy life. In search for Nora’s rightful place as a wife, mother, and woman, she must also search for her quest for justice. â€Å"[†¦ ] When her image of herself and her domestic life is sha ttered she does what she feels she must to become a true person.† (Clurman154) Nora encounters many struggles in achieving justice and finding her rightful place in society. Throughout Nora’s life, she has been mistreated and viewed as a doll not as a human. â€Å"Nora’s father, it transpires, an irresponsible spendthrift, brought her up with no sense of social obligations or serious thought for the morrow, while her husband, finding her a delightful companion like this, did nothing to repair the omission and treated her with a playfulness of a teen not a mother.† (Beerbohm147) As a result, Nora realizes that she has been mistreated and treated unfairly. â€Å"Nora, however, protests that she has been treated unfairly in being denied the opportunity to participate in her marriage and in society as an informed adult.† (Gosse219) Torvald and Nora’s father both viewed Nora as if she could not make decisions on her own. â€Å"The transformation from her carefree days as a girl to marriage meant no more to her than a change from a small doll’s house to a larger one.† (Salome226) In the play A Doll’s Hous e, Nora is not oblivious to her mistreatment; she soon becomes very much aware of it. Nora states, â€Å"I was simply your little songbird, your doll [†¦]† (Ibsen230) Nora has never been taken seriously; not by her father and now not by her husband. They do not take her thoughts or her comments in to any considerations what so... ...shielded from all responsibilities throughout her life. â€Å"[†¦] Poor Nora, who cannot understand why a daughter has no right to spare her dying father anxiety or why a wife has no right to save her husband’s life.† (Goldman2) Nora’s quest for justice and finding her rightful place in society ends in triumph when she comes to realize that the love she had for Torvald was never really love and that the life she thought was perfect was not in the least bit perfect. â€Å"She was never happy under his roof, â€Å"only merry.† And now when she looks back, it seems to her as if she had lived like a poor person† from hand to mouth.† She had been impoverished.† (Salome230) Nora’s find act in achieving true happiness, finding herself in society and completing quest for Justice ends with the â€Å"slam of a door† to a life of mistreatment and weakness and â€Å"opens a door† to a new life of independence and true i dentity. â€Å"The woman’s eyes are opened; and instantly her doll’s dress is thrown off and her husband left staring at her helpless, bound thenceforth either to do without her or else treat her as a human being like himself fully recognizing that he is not a creature of one superior species, man.†(Shaw143)

Sin, Guilt and Shame in The Pardoners Tale Essay -- The Canterbury Ta

   Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale," a relatively straightforward satirical and anti-capitalist view of the church, contrasts motifs of sin with the salvational properties of religion to draw out the complex self-loathing of the emasculated Pardoner. In particular, Chaucer concentrates on the Pardoner's references to the evils of alcohol, gambling, blasphemy, and money, which aim not only to condemn his listeners and unbuckle their purses, but to elicit their wrath and expose his eunuchism. Chaucer's depiction of the Pardoner in "The General Prologue" is unsparing in its effeteness; he has "heer as yelow as wax/ But smoothe it heeng as dooth a strike of flex/ By ounces heenge his lokkes that he hadde...But thinne it lay, by colpons, oon by oon" (677-681). The pale, lanky qualities of his hair relate to his androgynous makeup, and the repetition of "heeng" ironically foreshadows his castration. Further hints of the Pardoner's being a eunuch, such as "A vois he hadde as smal as hath a goot/ No beerd hadde he, ne never shold have," are interspersed between description of his "feined flaterye and japes" that accompany his selling of false relics (707). The assumption can be drawn that the Pardoner's status as a man is also one of "feined flaterye and japes," that he relies on words to compensate for what he considers a body as fraudulent as his relics. In this sense, the relics become a substitute for the Pardoner's loss of masculinity, yet also a symbol of his incompleteness. The Pardoner's need to flaunt them corresponds with his desire to boast of his hypocrisy, a preemptive, self-deprecating strike that ensures future resentment from his audience: "Thus can I preche again that same vice/ Which th... ... I wol thee helpe hem carye./ They shal be shrined in an hogges tord" (664-7). The Pardoner is speechless, and his repressed motive to expose the direct connection between his relics and his testicles is finally made by someone else. After the knight restores tranquillity, it leads one to wonder whether the Pardoner's underlying intent may have been to expiate his guilt and face his shame.    Works Cited and Consulted Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales in The Riverside Chaucer. General Ed. Benson, Larry D. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.   Pichaske, David R.  Ã‚  Ã‚   "Pardoner's Tale." The Movement of the Canterbury Tales: Chaucer's Literary Pilgrimage.   New York:   Norwood Editions, 1977   Rossignol, Rosalyn.  Ã‚   "The Pardoner's Tale."   Chaucer A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Works.  Ã‚   New York:   Facts On File, Inc., 1999   

Essay --

Romanticism is a type of literature that focuses on the author’s imagination. Many authors have helped define the Romantic genre of literature with one of a kind archetypes and elements that can be perfectly executed by one of a kind authors. Romanticism brings peoples imagination and dreams to life for all others to read and appreciate. There have been countless authors who have devoted their entire careers to writing literature that has defined this genre. Mary Shelley is one author that has written a story that has made a lasting impact through generations. Her story Frankenstein has been an important cornerstone in Romantic literature ever since it was written. The story contains many Romantic elements that are defined uniquely such as childhood, nature, and a story about the individual. This story has a big stress on childhood from the very beginning. The novel Frankenstein begins with the protagonist Victor Frankenstein as a child. During the first few chapters the novel discusses the events in his childhood such as his family adopting Elizabeth and shows how his studies as a child shape the person he was to become. â€Å"Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition† (Shelley). Frankenstein uses lines like this one throughout the first few chapters to foreshadow to the reader the type of people that the characters were destined to be from childhood. This shows the innocent and everlasting kindness and gentleness of Elizabeth, the craving for knowledge that powered Victor, and the loyalty of Henry. For the reader, being able to read how the characters begin the story as young children that grow into adults as you read the story, helps builds a strong emotional relationship between the characters and reader. Besides... ...uld contain a huge void that would be hard for someone else to fill. Shelley is one of the authors that mastered the Romantic genre in a way that nobody else can execute. She showed that writing Romantic literature was something entertaining to the audience. She gave people stories that could take them away from their normal daily lives and put them in a fantasyland that was extravagantly laid out for the reader. She made characters that the reader were able to connect too emotionally and care for, making them want to read more. Shelley showed her mastery in Frankenstein with helping the reader connect through childhood, create a landscape with nature, and keeping suspense by only letting the reader know what was going on from the individual, and not giving away too much information. She was a one of a kind author whose impact on literature will never be forgotten.

Pregnant Couples Should Receive Parenting Lessons Essay

Parenting classes are offered for every type of parent, from the brand new mom and dad to the experienced† parents of teens. Parenting classes can help give you a better grasp on what to expect, learn more about parenting and discipline styles and help you feel more confident and in control as a parent. Most parenting classes help parents to understand their roles better, they get an idea about what is going to be like, they start to get prepared for what is coming next. Regardless of the age of your children, a parenting class helps and provides confidence in parenting, you gain resources, and make new friends. Some new parents are nervous about the new arrival of their little one, and they are completly right to be like that. A new baby brings new challenges and experiences that some parents simply aren’t equipped or prepared to deal with. Taking a parenting class can help you feel more confident in your abilities as a parent, whether you’re bringing home a new baby or dealing with the trials of a preteen at home. Parenting classes can help in the transition of being a normal person to the process of becoming a parent so in that way you know what to expect and how to handle the situations they present. If you’re like some parents, the terms â€Å"attachment parenting,† or â€Å"positive discipline† may be confusing to you. The terms often used when talking with other parents can leave you scratching your head and wondering avout what they might be talking. Parenting classes give the opportunity to ask questions in a safe setting and gain resources from the teachers, like books and pamphlets, so that you can choose the best parenting method based upon your own knowledge. The world of a parent sometimes can be isolating and lonely. With a child, suddenly you don’t have time to spend with your single friends. Parenting classes are an excellent way to meet other parents who are in the same walk of life and in similar situations like you. Together, you can find parenting solutions and have an opportunity to socialize with persons who can undersatnd your day-to-day struggles, or problems. Being a good mom or dad means more than baking cookies and buying you lots of cool stuff. An effective parent does things like structure meaningful family activities that help kids learn while having fun. Providing guidance, encouragement, and discipline are some of the things good parents do, all this can be achieved by having parenting guidance. A parenting class can help you become a better parent as you learn strategies to stay close to your children as you raise them to be functioning members of society.