Sociology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sociology - Assignment Example A measure of the health status using the lifestyle index shows that dietary choices vary in the two categories of population in the different countries or regions. Consumer preferences also change with a change in lifestyles (Mathur, Moschis and Lee 234). Consequently, the changes in dietary choice that accompany a lifestyle rise lead to lifestyle disorders. Diabetes and cancer effects are a high possibility in such cases when one’s status rise. A rise in lifestyle may initiate other behaviors as drug abuse, alcoholism and smoking because the individual can afford to purchase drugs and alcohol. A change in the lifestyle may pose effects on an individual’s observation of cultural norms. Individuals tend to change their observance to cultures as those related to social life. Planned marriages, for instance, was a notable culture in various parts of the world as India. With the increase in living status of individuals, such cultures tend to receive little considerations. A significant portion of the population prefers choice marriages to planned marriages because of the increase in income and status of the population. Living status, therefore, affects the social life of a community or society. Q2 Among the challenges, facing the government of America is the living status of a portion of its population. The Census Bureau uses the income factor to determine the level of income of the population to determine the level of poverty. Should the total household income be insufficient to meet the family threshold needs of expenses, then the family is poor. Poverty in America is most evident in states as New Hampshire and New Jersey among other states. There are two notable problems among the poor in America. The first category of the poor in America has a high number of low-income jobs while the second group is that with nearly no job allocations. Both categories of the poor in America are high in number, which continues to increase at a stunning rate. In oth er parts of the world, the impoverishment is a key issue affecting the population. Globalization effects continue to affect the markets in other parts of the world. Effects of economic backlash are evident because of globalization. This is a leading cause of impoverishment in other parts of the world as Italy. The polarizing effects of globalization saw the dwindling off employment opportunities for a significant population of the world. This is similar to the case of the poor in America who lack jobs. The polarizing effects of the globalization have had effects of low wages among the employed that is similar to the insufficient earnings among the poor in America. The similarity between the poor in America and the impoverished in other parts of the world emanates from the insufficient wages for the employed or the total lack of jobs. Q3 The economic crisis that evaded the world in continues to be top among the global issues, today. The crisis is distinguishable through five major st ages. According to Elliott, the crisis began in 2007 August 9 (1). This first phase saw the seizure in the financial institutions (banks being the most affected). This led to banks stopping business with each other. The August 15 2008 marked the second phase of the global phenomenon. The government of the United States, on this date, did allow Lehman Brothers (an investment bank) to attain bankruptcy status. The fall down of Lehman Brothers saw the fall

The things needed by a woman fleeing from domestic abuse Essay Example for Free

The things needed by a woman fleeing from domestic abuse Essay There are many things that one can do to support a woman who is attempting to flee from domestic violence. According to the Domestic Violence Victims Bill of Rights (Andrew Cuomo, 2008). The first critical thing that a survivor of domestic violence needs is assistance to get both her and any children to safety. Safety means to a shelter, or location where one’s partner will not look. Safety also means that the survivor of domestic violence will need legal assistance. Second, they will need legal and law enforcement assistance in obtaining Temporary Restraining Orders, and personal belongings. According to Strong DeVault and Sayad (2001), one fo the most critical things that can be provided for women fleeing from domestic abuse would be emotional and psychological support. This can be provided in any number of ways including, counseling, support groups, and family support networks. 4. 2. Discuss some of the general recommendations that family violence experts make for preventing family violence. Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001) make several suggestions that can be seen as effective in preventing situations in which family violence might occur. The first solution that is suggested by the experts is that society seeks to reduce societal problems such as, poverty, unemployment, low wages and other factors that contribute to situations of extreme stress within the family. The second suggestion made by Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001) is that both husbands and wives in a family need equal opportunities to achieve educational and career goals. The third key aspect of preventing family violence according to the experts is to educate men and women about family planning and birth control in order to avoid unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. The final method suggested by Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001) is to ensure that parents, specifically young parents are educated about parenting as well as about disciplinary methods that are non-violent in nature in order to break the multi-generational cycle of violence that is common to many families. Strong, DeVault, Sayad (2001) suggest that the daycare system be reformed and that preventative programs be developed to stop family violence before it becomes a problem for families. Finally, it is suggest that families receive assistance in developing social support networks in order to end social isolation that may be common in violent family situations. These suggests from the experts are only general however they can guide agencies and therapists who deal with family violence in creating policies and programs to deal with family violence. 4. 3. What is Divorce Mediation and what is its primary goal? Divorce mediation is primarily a means of resolving marital disputes resulting form divorce such as, property division and child custody, without involving the courts, or lawyers. This reduces the stress on the divorcing couple and allows them to settle without the hostility and arguing over these issues that is typically seen in divorce pursued through the court systems. Strong, DeVault, and Sayad (2001) argue that, this is critical for ensuring that the best possible results are obtained for the family in terms of child custody, visitation and child support. Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001) suggest that divorce medication can have a powerful influence on how well parents get along after a divorce and therefore how well children adjust to a situation of divorce. This means that family members are less likely to have problems if mediation rather than courts and lawyers are utilized in order to avoid hostilities. In fact, avoidance of hostility between divorcing family members is the primary goal of divorce mediation. 4. 4 Based on the work of Visher and Visher, discuss three structural characteristics that make the stepfamily different from the traditional first-marriage family? There are three main ways in which stepfamilies differ structurally from traditional nuclear families. According to Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001), one major way lies in the fact that one for both parents in a stepfamily may have differing custody arrangements for their children including, sole custody, joint custody, legal custody, physical custody or no custody of their children. Thus children that are brought into the marriage may spend differing amounts of time within the stepfamily and have differing rates of adjustment to living within a stepfamily. Second, the number of parents in the family differs from the traditional two parent family because a child may have a biological mother and father and anywhere from 1-4 stepmothers and stepfathers. This can create conflicts, as the child will have to face different rules and expectations with each family. Finally, Strong, DeVault and Sayad (2001) state that, stepfamilies are larger, and often have more complicated family system than traditional families. References James, Paula (1997) The Divorce Mediation Handbook: Everything You Need To Know. Jossey-Bass, New York, 240 Office of the New York State Attorney General (2008) Domestic Violence Victims Bill Of Rights Retrieved, August 11, 2008, from, http://www. oag. state. ny. us/family/domestic_violence. html Strong, Bryan, DeVault, Christine, and Sayad, Barbara, W (2001) The Marriage and Family Experience 9thEd, Wadsworth/Thomson Publishing, New York,

Analysis of the Australian Healthcare System

Analysis of the Australian Healthcare System INTRODUCTION The health of people belonging to any nation is the prime topic of interest for the government of that very nation. On the same lines, it is very essential that the health system should be based on equity principle, such that no one is denied the right to utilize the benefits of the health care system. According to the National Health Reform Agreement, Australian Health care system is also founded on the concept of equity of access efficiency and effectiveness (Adityan2, 2013). It is found to be a world class system in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency. The population has a good health status, with the average life expectancy at birth of 81.4 years (women-83.7 and men- 79.2). This is the highest in the entire world. Still even with such statistics, there are certain groups like those of aboriginals and the Torres Islanders, who have a poor health status (AGDH, 2014). Australian government works under the scheme of medicare, which aims at providing help with high medical cost s and the hospital costs. Another scheme called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has also been implemented so that the costs of most of the medicines is subsidized. This essay describes the current scenario that prevails in the Australian democracy, regarding the status of equity of access, its effectiveness and the efficiency of the healthcare system. Effectiveness in this regard focuses on the ratio of outputs to outcomes. These three components form the basis of an ideal health system. In other words, a health system that if effective and efficient, is able to yield estimated outcome, is able to generate profitable outputs and is easily accessible (widely distributed), is an ideal health system for any country (NHHRC, 2009). The aim of this essay is to discuss the postulates of equity of access, effectiveness and efficiency in the Australian health care system and also throw light on the interrelationships among these concepts. EQUITY According to the US health and human rights academics Braverman and Gruskinn equity is an ethical concept with the baseline of distributive justice. With respect to healthcare, equity aims to eliminate unequal opportunites that are provided, to be healthy. Such opportunities are not given to those who have membership of socially less privileged groups like the poor people, handicapped, disenfranchised racial, cultural or ethnic groups. Mostly the people living in the rural areas are treated this way. If equity has to be considered with respect to the health care practices, then all the disparities or discriminations based on races, castes, origin, etc, should be eliminated completely. Thus, equity aims at diverting the attention of authorities towards the less privileged people of the nation (Braverman et al., 2003). As depicted by this definition, the requirement for medical health care depends upon the medical and social situation of an individual. In Australia, indigenous populati on is the one suffering from denial from health care services. They are generally linked with the economical, social, educational and cultural causes. The World Health Organisation has described inequity as follows,† Inequities are the differences or discriminations that are unjust, unfair, unnecessary and avoidable, but still persist in our society. It is not that every inequity is unfair, but yes all inequities are a result of unfair differences among the people. In the field of healthcare, just refers to the access permission for those who are not able to pay large sums of money, but are in desperate need of medical aid. Inequity should be prevented in granting access to medical aids for such cases depending upon the needs of various groups †. Gavin Mooney has defined equity as â€Å"equal access to equal care for equal need† (Mooney G., 2003). It was surveyed and found that the current health care facilities do not cater to the special needs of the indigenous people. There are many barriers to equity of access like the cost of care is very high, the fees of the consumer is again high, there is low health literacy among the people, poor access to health service information by the patients living in the remote areas, timely unavailability of the doctors, prevalence of quality services only in the posh parts of the country and lastly, the discrimination in giving the treatments. The last point itself explains the loopholes in the health care system. Some of the major reasons for such inequity are as follows: Most of the shopkeepers have closed their outlet in remote and poorer areas because there is decline in bulk billing. Patients who are willing to pay some extra amount are treated well while the rest are just ignored and left to die. Generally there are no hospitals in the remote areas. But even if some are there, they are too old that they need replacement/ Access to high technology treatments is doubtful in such areas and for such population. Richardson has shown the data statistics saying that the treatment of heart disease is thrice as common as in the insured patients. Also the provision of timely surgery is not applicable for public patients, as they have to wait in long queue and are treated once all the private patients have been taken care of. Better access to high quality services like that in dentistry and ancillary healthcare are offered to only those who either belong to the privately insured group or belong to a rich class. The Australians belonging to the White society are given the best possible treatment available in the world. While on the contrary, people belonging to the indigenous (Aboriginals and Torres Islander) population do not even have the facility to disclose their problem to a medical practitioner, leave apart getting the correct treatment. Australian Council of social Service (COSS) has implemented various strategies to overcome this gap by supporting the closing the gap priorities and promoting aboriginal health. EFFECTIVENESS Effectiveness can be defined as the measure of accuracy of a therapeutic method of treatment or success of the treatment when conducting the medical practice in remote location, or in the areas where sufficient funds or facilities are not available. Use of information technology in conjugation with high speed internet, is a ray of hope for managing patient’s records, health, finances, work force, advancements in medical field and delivery of services (Imran Muhammed et al., 2012). In this context, in order to introduce positive medical reforms, the government of Australia has implemented Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) as the e health solution in this country. Earlier, the records of the patients were stored electronically in an electronic health recorder (EHR) system. Such systems were managed by a health care official and it helped a lot in maintaining records of so many people and also provided safety of personal information. But the major drawback of this system was that it was limited to the institutional access. If the family or any other person wanted to look after the patient, he/ she didn’t have any access to these records (Perlin, Kolodner, Rosswell, 2004). To avoid this problem a more patient centered model of health care system was developed (Perlin et al., 2004). This new model was termed as electronic personal health record (PHR) systems. An example of this new technology is Australia’s Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). PCEHR was introduced in July, 2012. PCEHR had the function of keeping all the key components of the patient’s health information in one database, in form electronic records. Only registered users and their medical service providers had the access to all the records and summary of the treatments and their medical history. The main aim of developing this kind of electronic database was to help the medical practitioners to take better decisions with respect to t he treatments to be given to the patients (Les Schumer, 2013). PCEHR has some basic postulates like voluntary participation, providing access under consumer (or patient’s) control and a source of authentic information. PCEHR is not a substitution for clinical records. Instead depending upon the interest of the patients, they can register themselves online and choose a health care provider to create and maintain their records. People can now view their very own medical history ranging from the time, type and duration of medications, allergies and adverse reactions as well (Les Schumer, 2013). EFFCIENCY Efficiency, when defined in relation to the healthcare, is a relative term. It can be used to refer to technical as well as productive efficiency or even social efficiency. The extent to which effort, cost and time can be used for the desired task or purpose, is the efficiency. It is the final stage of a logical process which comprises of three steps starting from efficacy to effectiveness and finally efficiency. Australian government aims in maximizing the health care outputs produced from a set of standard input and improving the input quality. Conversely, the government is incorporating some measures to ensure that the health care inputs in terms of cost are minimized. As mentioned there are basically three types of efficiencies that are considered in Australian health care system (James F. Burgess, 2011). Technical efficiency: It is measured by production of outputs by utilizing fewer inputs. The potential inefficiencies prevailing in the system are long duration of stay, drugs a nd IV fluids that have expired and unused CPOE system. Productive efficiency: It is measured by production of outputs at minimized cost. Some of the potential inefficiencies faced by Australia are the Positron emission tomography (PET) scan vs. standard imaging for Alzheimer’s diagnosis, high discharge cost and high cost of care. Social efficiency: It is measured by making an individual cope with the current ailment without harming any other person. Again the system is filled with potential inefficiencies like use of cardiac defibrillator in low risk patients and wrong scope and scale in hospitals. Palmer and Torgerson reported that efficiency is the realtion between resource inputs ( which can be costs arising from labour input, capital investment and equipments) and either intermediate outputs (number of patients treated, waiting time, etc) or final health outcomes (lives saved, life years gained, quality adjusted life years (QALYs)) with an ideal target on the final health outcomes. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY Efficiency is not possible without efficacy and effectiveness because both describe the extent to which the goal can be reached (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Keeping in view the Healthcare system of Australia, it is evident that even though the government is trying to reinforce new reforms into the healthcare system every now and then, yet there is lack of equity of access. The aim of such reforms is to improve the healthcare system and help it emerge as the high quality system. For this it is essential to have effective and efficient functioning of the system. But this is not the case. As said before, the health of the people in a particular nation, determines the progress or economic status of the country. And the health of people is determined by how quickly the treatment facilities are available for the patients. The aboriginals and the Torres Islanders are unable to access the medical institutions because of the discrimination and their location (which is generally outside the main ci ty or it is a remote location). The average life span of indigenous Australians is between 10-17 years of age, which is quite lower as compared to that in the non indigenous populations. Also, the rate at which the new born babies die (in indigenous populations) is two times higher than the rate in non indigenous and they also experience frequent situations of illness as well. Thus, it is need of the hour to seal this gap between the two populations so that equal rights and equal opportunities are provided to both the classes of people, irrespective of their origin, race, tribe, etc. Thus, there is a deep connection between equity of access, effectiveness and efficiency. When all the populations, whether indigenous or non indigenous, have equal access to all the medical facilities, the ratio of healthy to ill will definitely rise and the statistics will improve. But this is only possible when the medical facilities are effectively organized and made available in the remote areas too . Further, the successful execution of all these agendas will determine the efficiency of the Health care system. Thus, all the three terms go hand in hand. Without one, the other two are meaningless. CURRENT SCENARIO Many clinicians and the analysts do not consider it appropriate to include economics (costs) inbetween the medical decisions as they consider this as unethical. But they are definitely mistaken as one of the main advantages of health economics is that everything is transparent and all the concepts of equity, effectiveness and efficiency are maintained. It has been reported that the richer countries use the public funds more in the field of healthcare as compared to those used by the underdeveloped countries (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Since the investment made in health care demonstrates a country’s economic strength and its democratic values, it is both desirable and essential for a government to invest in health care. Secondly, the salaries offered to the doctors or other medical officers are very less as compared to what actually should be offered. Moreover, the funds given to the health care systems are not enough to procure the most appropriate treatments and thus this causes problems. Also since the funds are not sufficient, proper medical instruments are also not available for the treatment of chronic disorders. For an instance, there is no provision of NSAIDs which have an anitinflammatory effect on the disease. According to the Canadian social commenter John Ralston Saul, the governments that believe in corporatism, rationalism and cost reduction, as a means to improve the efficiency, become the main reason for the failure of the publically funded health care facilities (Stephen Leeder, 2003). The second scenario prevalent in Australian democracy is that even though the governments provide enough funds for the health care institutions, yet they do not guarantee equity of access. The big private sectors are generally biased and divert all the contribution from the government towards the richer institutions. CONCLUSION In order to place equity on the agenda of the health care policies of the Australian government, it is important to generate awareness about what Medicare and other public agencies actually fund for healthcare. It is also necessary to take the initiative and make the government realize that the topmost priority of any healthcare system should be to provide equity of access, as only then can the policies or treatments be implemented effectively and efficiently. The Australian Bureau of statistics health insurance survey and AXA/ National Mutual Data for NSW (1998), Spencer quoted that around $300 million of the public funds were used for dental care and allied health professional services (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Since dental care is not a luxury, but treatment of chronic illness is, therefore, the basic dental services for all the Australians should be subsidized. Secondly, the salaries received by the doctors from the bulk billed vs. the non bulk billed patients, should be redressed. Third, (hypothetically) a new body say National Council for Equity in Healthcare should be formed, so that it is directly answerable to the Australian Parliament and aim at making the Australian Health care more equitable (Stephen Leeder, 2003). Therefore, as discussed, it is very important to reform the current medical practices so that there is efficiency in the functioning of the health care department of Australia.

pauls case Essay example -- essays research papers

Paul’s Case Paul's Case is about a young, Calvinist man who did not feel that he belonged in his life. He lived on Cordelia Street in Pittsburgh, PA. Cordelia Street was littered with cookie cutter houses, suburbanite-like city-dwellers, and a general aura of despair. Paul's room was no different. Paul felt that his abusive father, uncaring teachers, and classmates who misunderstand him aren't worthy of his presence and company. One of the reasons Paul may not have fit in was because there is a chance that he was learning disabled. Paul worked at Carnegie Hall as an usher. It is here that Paul's real love lies. Paul lost himself in the music of the symphonies, the characters of the plays, and in the artful scenery. Paul also enjoyed gallery art, as evidenced by the hours he spends in an art gallery, staring at one painting, before his shift at Carnegie one night. He became lost in seemingly all forms of creative expression, whether it is a floral arrangement in a shop window or an orchestral swell at the beginning of a symphony. It is at Carnegie Hall that Paul became struck by the glitter and the starlight of the stage. He was not star struck in the sense that he wanted to perform in any way, he was simply content to observe others' performances. He is struck in the sense that he wants to live the way the characters in the plays do. He imagines them living to all the extent of their money, glutting on beautiful music, art, and life. Paul, unfortunate for him, was,...

Ellen Foster Object Relations Essay

Ellen Foster is a ten-year-old, Caucasian, female who experiences a series of traumatic events during her childhood. These traumatic events include her witnessing domestic violence in the home, her mother’s suicide and subsequent physical, sexual and psychological abuse by her alcoholic father, her maternal grandmother and other relatives (aunts and cousins on the mother’s side). Ellen shuttled from home to home, staying for a short time at the home of her teacher, then to different relatives’ homes, to finally a foster home where she eventually resides. Ellen’s â€Å"new mama†, as she refers to her, is a much better role model then she has ever experienced before. New Mama is supportive and nurturing towards Ellen. Ellen reports that government and church funding support the foster family. She has no siblings. Ellen is intelligent and enjoys doing art. She often rides a pony at her new foster home. Ellen misses her mother, and longed for a caregiver before she had new mama. This is evident when she reports eaves dropping on a â€Å"colored† family and â€Å"started making a list of all that a family should have. Of course, there is the mama and the daddy but if one has to be missing then it is OK if the one left can count for two. But not just anybody can count or more than his or herself (p. 67)†. She often sought help from her Aunt Betsey and neighbors. Her mother, father and grandmother, or â€Å"mama’s mama† as Ellen calls her, are all deceased. The grandmother was old and abusive towards Ellen forcing her to work the fields with the â€Å"colored† field hands on her farms in the middle of a sweltering hot summer until school started. Ellen eventually becomes the caregiver and housemaid to mama’s mama after the grandmother fires all of her household servants. Despite Ellen’s care and good works for her, the grandmother despises her because she is convinced that Ellen was in â€Å"cahoots† with her father in abusing her daughter, taking her revenge out on Ellen since the father is dead. Ellen has a best friend, an African American girl named Starletta, Since Ellen likes Starletta, and she struggles with her own burgeoning racism. She has beliefs about African Americans that are mainly negative. Ellen eventually realizes that race makes no difference in the quality of the person. Ellen enjoys art and playing with her microscope often fantasying about being a scientist on the brink of a new discovery that will change mankind. She sees a counselor at school on Wednesdays. Ellen does not enjoy doing therapy and has negative transference towards her counselor. Presently she is seeing me for therapy. She can be aggressive, defensive and competitive at times at school. During one session Ellen reported that her counselor asked her about her last name because â€Å"Foster† isn’t her real last name. She did not want to discuss it any further. Perhaps she chose the last name â€Å"Foster† from her label as a foster child. Object Relations As stated by Lesser and Pope (2011) according to object relations theory, â€Å"human development takes place within the context of relationships (p. 69)†. British object relation theorists, Melanie Klein, Ronald Fairbairn, and Harry Guntrip introduce definite and functional ideas about what internal object world, or the inner world, consists of. The inner world includes representations of self and other, representations structured by thoughts, recollections, and occurrences within the external world. A representation has a lasting continuance in the inner world and although it begins as a cognitive structure, it eventually takes on a profound emotional meaning for the person (Berzoff, Melano-Flanagan, & Hertz 1996). The word object is set apart from the subject. The subject is the self and the object is the part outside the self, the object is what the self identifies with, encounters, wants, has uncertainties about, feels denial about, or absorbs. In Freudian drive theory and in ego psychology, the term object is sometimes used in reference to people. The word, object, in drive theory can be to some extent depersonalized, because the word essentially does exemplify a thing not a person as in: â€Å"the object of oral impulse can literally be the breast†(citation). In psychodynamic theory the word object, usually refers to people, but other objects such as cooking, art, pets, or can become objects when they are profoundly and representatively connected to powerful object experiences in the inner world. Some of Ellen’s physical objects are her microscope, her encyclopedias, her money, and her art supply. A conjecture about Ellen’s inner world and what these object represent is that her money could represent an insurance plan, in case things go wrong. And her microscope, her art, and her encyclopedias represent an escape for her and they also represent hopes for the future. Klein (1948) was the first theorist to revise Freud’s notion of the object by giving more consideration to the interpersonal environment in deciding its influence in developing personality. She amongst other object relations’ theorists now defined the target of relational needs as a concept known as relationship seeking. Klee 2005 stated that relationship seeking is the belief that through relationships with significant people in our lives, we take in parts of others (objects) and gradually develop a self-structure that we ultimately call a personality . This mental process by which a person changes the regulatory features of her environment into internal regulations and features is called internalizing (Lesser & Pope 2011). D. W. Winnicot (1958), a pediatrician and psychoanalyst, is influential in the field of object relations theory, gave great consideration to the notion of being alone. He believes that the ability to abide, take pleasure in, and utilize healthy solitude could be refined, ironically, only in the proximity of another. If aloneness is experienced as desolate, isolated, or miserable, it becomes agonizing. This can happen is a child has been neglected. In this situation, the inner world is not filled with enough soothing figures. On the contrary, aloneness becomes too excruciating or insufferable for the child, if the inner world is too crowed with threatening and abusive figures who offer neither protection, reassurance, nor tranquility. The ideal environment for the growing child to share experiences with the soothing figure for a period of time and to experience time alone to reflect and to adventure on the child’s own (Berzoff et al. 1996). Klein (1948) described six early processes and primitive defenses developed from early infant years. Projection is when the infant believes an object has characteristics that are in fact the infant’s own feelings. Introjection is the mental desire in which the infant consumes the perceived in the world. Projective identification is creatively splitting off a part of oneself and ascribing it to another in order to control the other (Berzoff et al. 1996). Splitting occurs when a child cannot separate conflicting thoughts or feelings in the mind at the same time, and therefore instead of integrating the two thoughts or feelings the child focuses on just one of them. A split can take any form, from visual appearance to concepts and ideas. For example, a frequent split is into good and bad. The good part is preserved and cherished at the same time the bad part is wrestled with or repressed. In extreme case of schizophrenia, when a part of the self linked with one of the separate thoughts, and another part of the self is linked with another, the person is then split (Berzoff et al. 1996). Idealization is a defense used to keep painful and unacceptable feelings out of consciousness. The feelings that are troublesome are usually the same feelings that people often want to reject: â€Å"anger, disappointment, envy, sadness, desire, and greed (p. 145)†. Devaluation is the opposite of idealization and is a defense mechanism used to reject troublesome feelings such as â€Å"neediness, weakness, insecurity, envy, or desire (p. 146)†. A person who denies desire through devaluation ends up feeling smug and superior but quite alone (Berzoff et al. 1996). An important developmental point in object relations is the depressive position according to Klein (1948). The depressive position is constantly maturing throughout a person’s lifetime. Feelings of remorse, grief, and the yearning for atonement take hold in the developing mind in the depressive position. The person now recognizes the ability to cause harm or push away a person who one undecidedly loves. The defenses attributed to the depressive position include the manic defenses, such as preoccupation for reparation. As the depressive position causes growing integration in the ego, prior defenses shift in the character, becoming less powerful, allowing the character to move into psychic reality (Berzoff et al. 1996). Throughout this turbulent time in Ellen’s life she is experiencing many new relationships and is relationship seeking with many adults. These adults are supposed to be caregivers for her. These people are her mother, father, her grandmother, Julia, Aunt Betsy, Aunt Nadine, and new mama. There is a time after Ellen’s mother dies that I feel she is too alone, in agreement with Winnicot (1958). Ellen often reports that when she would come home from school â€Å"it was already dark and he had the lights on. I went in and did not speak to him. I did not speak to him or else I stayed outside most of the time (p. 24)†. She said that her father was drunk all the time, often passed out, she was alone and eventually she had to take care of the bills. There are other times when Ellen’s life is overflowing with abusive adult figures in her life. On New Years Eve, Ellen claimed that a bunch of black drunk men came into her house with father. â€Å"My daddy showed up at my house less and less†¦he did show up on New Years Eve. Of course I went and hid when I heard him and a whole pack of colored men come in the door (p. 36)†. Ellen is frightened when this happens often trying to escape through a window in her room. In accordance with Winnicot (1958), aloneness becomes too much too bare for Ellen and she feels the need to hide. Her inner world is too crowed with threatening and abusive figures who are threatening her safety. The whole mother’s side of the family overcrowds Ellen’s inner world too. This is a risk for Ellen, because disruptions in object relations may result in an inability to fall in love, emotional coldness, apathy or withdrawal from interaction with others, co-dependency, and/or extreme need to control relationships (Berzoff et al. 1996:70). Ellen attempts to control Starletta as much as she can through projective identification; she splits off a part of herself and attempts to control Starletta. Ellen often tells Starletta what to do, for example one day when Ellen was over Starletta’s house and she wanted to play, however Ellen thought to herself and told Starletta the following: â€Å"Starletta still had on her nightgown and she needed to be washed. ‘You got to wash before I will play with you’ is what I told her (p. 31). She taped Starletta’s crayons back together after she broke them. She would often talk down to Starletta: â€Å"’Tell your Mama I thank her’ I said to her. Say it over in your head and out loud so it will not leave your head (p. 52)†. This relationship may unconsciously aim to get rid of unmanageable feelings for Ellen and help her deal with these feelings. Ellen’s relationship with grandmother is toxic at best. In the beginning, Ellen thought that her grandmother might like having a girl around the house, even though she is not a â€Å"vision†(pg), but Ellen said she had good intentions. In my opinion, â€Å"good intentions† meant she wanted to have a relationship with her grandmother. The grandmother wanted to punish Ellen for Ellen and her father causing her daughter’s suicide. Ellen confronts her grandmother, asking her why she hates her so much. Ellen asked her grandmother: â€Å"Well I know you hated my daddy but what about me? Why can’t you see that I am not like him? (p. 78)†. The grandma lashes out at Ellen with an onslaught of abusive hurtful words directed towards Ellen to break her down. Ultimately, that is what Ellen does she shuts down. â€Å"So I decided to spend the rest of my life making up for it. Whatever it was. Whatever I decided I one day I actually did (p. 78-79)†. Ellen is in the depressive position, she feels guilty about everything for her mothers death, for her fathers death, and then for the grandmother’s death when she passes. Ellen utilizes her manic defenses, in my opinion, when she finds the grandmother dead and decides to dress her in her â€Å"Sunday’s best† clothes and surround her with flowers in order to make amends with her guilty feelings. â€Å"I made her like a present to Jesus so maybe he would take her. Take this one I got prettied up and mark it down by name to balance against the one I held from you before†¦. be sure I get the credit for it and if you can please show me some way that you and me are even now (p. 92). Ellen becomes slightly preoccupied with reparation. Ellen begins to move past this phase when she moves in the home of her Aunt Nadine. Object relations can be applied to Ellen’s traumatic past and helps to identify some significant points in her life that she would like to work in future treatment. A pleasant thing about object relations is that as the therapist and patient collectively examine the patient’s internal world and its effect on the patient’s relationships, the patient and therapist are in a relationship as well. In this way, patient and therapist have an existing shared connection that both can study and learn from (Berzoff et al. 996). Sociocultural Theory Sociocultural theory stemmed from the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky (1934/1986) felt that human cognition was innately social and language based. Vygotsky believed inner speech is qualitatively distinct from normal external speech. It is language, advanced during the earlier years, and progressively improved during the middle years ( where Ellen’s age lies) that actually aids in giving the older child the capability to organize things mentally rather than by using concrete items (Lesser & Pope 2011). As Berk 2003 stated: Vytgotsky felt that children speak to themselves for self-guidance; he felt language was the foundation for all high cognitive processes, including control attention, deliberate memorization and recall, categorization, planning, problem solving, abstract reasoning, and self-reflection (p. 257). One of Vygotsky’s concepts is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the difference between what a child can achieve when working by themselves and what the same child can achieve when given assistance from someone with the necessary knowledge (Wertsch 1985). Vygotsky viewed the ZPD as a way to better explain the relation between children’s learning and cognitive development. The lower limit of ZPD is the level of skill attained by the child working alone; this lower limit can also be accredited to as the child’s actual developmental level. The upper limit is the level of latent skill that the child is able to reach with the assistance of a more capable instructor (Wertsch 1985).. A concept associated with ZPD is the concept scaffolding. It is essential to make a note that Vygotksy never used this concept in his writing; introduced by David Wood, Jerome S. Bruner, and Gail Ross (1976). Scaffolding is a process through which a mentor or more competent peer helps a person in his or her ZPD learn for as long as necessary and tapers off until the student no longer needs the mentor, much like a scaffold is detached from a building when construction is finished or deemed stable (Wood et al. 1976). Vygotsky viewed make-believe play as the vital context for development of self-regulation. Despite the fact that Ellen is ten years old going on eleven years old, this still pertains to her. Make-believe is full of shared dialogue and development-enhancing skills. Vygotsky takes make-believe to the next level making it a important part of development a distinguishing, experiential ZPD in which children try out a wide range of difficult skills and learn culturally valued skills developing a significantly stronger capacity for self-regulation

New Deal Relief Projects1 essays

New Deal Relief Projects1 essays 1930s could prove troublesome, 1930s were no picnic. Unemployment leaving 12.8 million people without jobs. 4,004 banks were suspended in 1933 due to financial difficulties. The value if U.S. exports was down $2.5 billion from 1928. And to top it all off, the whole Great Plains was shut down due to dust this developing situation, but his work just put a dent in the already booming depression. The whole world, in fact, was in the same fix we were in. Due to the war and the U.S. raising the tariffs, other countries had few other countries to trade with. These countries couldnt condition, due to the war reparations and costs of casualties from both man and only a little better off than the rest of the nation, and even that didnt last long because hundreds of thousands of people who lived on the Great Plains migrated to the West Coast in hope for a new home, and a job to support their families. Most people who couldnt find a temporary camps for these people to live in. However, some people were forced to live in cities made of garbage and other scrap materials called Hoovervilles, where some whole families were forced to live in piano boxes and garbage cans. They often died from diseases because they had eaten rotten and decomposing garbage out of dumps. People could be seen chasing garbage trucks down the road and overtaking them to mug the garbage men of their trash. At times, men might even go as far as to kill another for ...