Abstract This paper reviews two articles: "How Americans Are Living Dangerously", relating to how Americans perceive risks and the second article "The Science of Anxiety" dealing with the phenomenon of anxiety and its effects. The author explains that both articles were written for a readership of lay people unfamiliar with the field of healthpsychology, and points out that although the articles are informative, they lack credibility of an article from more specialized publications.
From the Paper "The article is comprehensive in that it compiles the opinions of many experts in risk assessment. It is a multispecialty field, comprised of neuroscientists, psychologists, risk consultants and other academicians in various fields related to risk. Direct quotations from these experts are used often to emphasize points made by the author. The article is written in a type of "inverted triangle" format used such that it attracts attention before discussion of facts in a logical manner such that the reader is engaged by both anecdotes and facts, interwoven to provide a flow that all readers are accustomed to. Technical jargon is explained by examples and are easily comprehendible, perhaps more so than through the use of the strictly scientific (but otherwise precise) definition. This is in stark contrast to the structured format adhered to by the academe, particularly journal articles. This is understandable, since laymen reading this article can absorb the essence of the article rather than details which may be of trivial significance to them.
"While the article is informative and presents much insight into the concept of risk, the article's target audience is left with "just enough" information to be able to process and assimilate it. While the information it provides is indeed useful in promoting well-being, there is a superficial essence to it. This is understandable, since anyone with a more formal educational background would have the tendency to scrutinize this - and any - article relevant to his field of study. In this case, while facts are presented on after the other, there is an unsettling paucity of alternative, negating or even contradictory explanations."
Abstract This paper discusses the different ways that an individual's life can be either positively or negatively affected by stress. The author defines stress as being both physical and psychological and then breaks down the responses that are associated with these two different factors. According to this paper, the general adaptation syndrome is the means by which the human body deals with stress and this can be broken down into three stages, the alarm stage, the resistance stage and the exhaustion stage. Each of these stages involved has a different impact on a person's health, both physically and emotionally. In addition to examining these negative affects of stress, the author also presents some of the positive affects that stress can have on a person's success in the workplace.
From the Paper "The effect of stress on social life is similar to that on work life. Prolonged or excessive stress can result in major problems such as marital problems, spousal abuse and psychological conditions such as anorexia, depression and compulsion disorders. At the same time, a certain level of stress and change is required, with a consistent social life that offers no challenge rarely satisfying to an individual. A reasonable level of stress allows a person to grow psychologically. This growth can also occur by major stresses. Major stresses may cause an immediate breakdown in an individual. The coping process will see the individual come to terms with the cause of the stress, with the end result being personal growth."
Abstract This paper explains that the long-term healthcare of Iraq veterans and their families is requiring more and more integrative efforts from many health disciplines especially in the area of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related syndromes. Selecting the best model to improve both their mental and physical healthcare, the author states, has created a vigorous debate. The collaborative or integrative models, which recommend merging many health fields and the integration of science, technology and the mental-health profession, are analyzed. A complete anecdotal interview of an Iraq war veteran is also included.
Table of Contents:
What Studies Suggest About Personal vs. Environmental Causes
The Debate over Problems and the Problems of Debate: Barriers to Care and the Collaborative/Integrative Model
One-Size-Fits-All Approaches to Military Healthcare: Population-based and Collaborative Models
Barriers to Treatment
Personal, Familial and Communal Impacts of Deployment
Adolescents Reactions to a Military Oriented Family
Appendix: Interview with Mike Harrel, Army Reserve
From the Paper "Studies on the first Iraq war in 1991 provide helpful information as to the prevalence and range of disorders suffered by military personnel, particularly those stationed in the war zone. These personnel had higher frequency of impairments both physical and psychological, occurrences of somatic symptoms, general health decline, and "psychosocial functional impairment". Research has shown that upwards of 12%-13% of those veterans within the first few months of ending their service suffer from PTSD."
Abstract This paper presents an assessment of the economics of health care costs. The paper argues that the problem is a complex maze of related issues such as funding mechanisms, delivery structures and individual responsibility. Additionally, the paper recommends a national health care system for managing family health care costs that is based on universal access to health care.
From the Paper "Health care economics is entering another state of turmoil in the United States as the moderating effects of the managed care concept on increasing health care costs appears to have run its course. The Congress and state governments believed the promises of managed care proponents that managed care would lower health care costs dramatically and are resisting rapid increases in health care costs. Managed care companies are responding by dropping governmentally-funded patient groups including Medicare and Medicaid raising charges to..."
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses the case of Mary, a female of Aboriginal descent, who is 29 years of age and in generally good physical condition. The writer notes that Mary does have some problems with her weight, which is often in considerable flux, and is concerned about diabetes. In addition, the writer points out that Mary also possesses an inherited genetic disability that runs in her family. This paper approaches the health profile of Mary from a multidimensional perspective. The writer concludes that Mary's health profile reveals not only the importance of a multi-dimensional bio-psychosocial approach to health, but also the extraordinary degree to which psychological, biological and social factors overlap each other as primary determinants of her state of health as revealed in the health profile.
From the Paper "Eating and weight are issues of prominent concern in Mary's life. These concerns are associated with her concern about diabetes given her Aboriginal heritage, as noted above. However, they are also connected to family history concerns as well as personal body image problems in youth. She recognizes this is a socialized model of beauty as being equated with extreme thinness that she has inherited from society. Nonetheless, however, Mary is committed to weight reduction through dieting and exercise. It must be noted, however, that her weight has often been in flux due to her admitted habit of "binge eating" on occasion to cope with severe stress or depression."
Abstract This paper examines how workplace psychology is a relatively new dimension within the industry of psychology, and within this new field is a list of important motivational reasons for the administration of psychological testing to both existing employees and potential employees. It shows how the motivation for the application of psychological testing within the workplace can range anywhere from the desire to apply psychological science to work style varieties and, therefore, job descriptions, to assessing the psychologicalhealth of workers in potentially stressful roles. It also looks at how other reasons why psychological testing may occur within the workplace may include use as a tool for the recruitment of new employees or as a tool to assess productivity or workplace problems some associated with social issues and some associated with nonsocial problems.
From the Paper "It must be made clear to the employee that the responses and results of the testing are not conditional to their continued employment and that changes made to benefit them and the workplace are the intended results of any assessment. An employee must understand that it is his or her work that will determine continued employment and not his or her answers on any survey. Whether problems are associated with a social situation or a logistic situation may be assessed through the tools of workplace psychology. It is important with this type of psych testing to make clear to all employees through a wide distribution of the assessments that everyone will have an interest in the results. Employees must not feel singled out as if the results of the test that only they take will determine his or her continued employment."
Abstract This paper examines dentistry from a sociological/psychological perspective. The paper begins by defining oral health, as well as sociology and psychology. Next the paper investigates the sociological and psychological problems a dentist may encounter in his practice. The paper offers many researched recommendations for addressing these issues.
From the Paper "Sociology is concerned with the social and political organizations of society and how these affect the behavior of a person living in a particular community, whereas psychology is concerned with individuals and their relationships with others."
Abstract This paper summarizes a study on how noise affects people, how they adapt their activities in reaction to the noise, and whether the noise contributes to anxiety and stress in their daily life. The author interviewes six individuals, two from each of three different types of environments: relatively quiet areas (as perceived by the interviewer), noisy, downtown urban centers, and suburban settings. Based on his results, the author concluded that noise has a great psychological effect on individuals who perceive the noise to be an infringement on their life. He further assessed that their perception of noise is affected by whether they willingly moved into the environment with full knowledge of the noise level, or the noise level recently increased, encroaching on a previously quiet neighborhood.
Introduction
Purpose
Methods and Procedures
Results
Conclusion
From the Paper "In the various areas where interviews where conducted, all persons identified noise that at times disrupted their daily activities. The response to the noise in their home environment ranged from neutral to extremely negative. Those that lived in a stereotypically noisy environment (downtown, urban area) were the least bothered by noise. These individuals considered the noise as part of the city life and do not feel that traffic noise from the street below, noises within their apartment building, or the occasional outburst of noise, such as from a siren, were distractions that hindered or affected their daily life and well being."
Abstract The measurement of access to health care in America is far from uniform. Even a cursory review of the literature reveals diverse methods, instruments and procedures for assessing access, each applied to diverse populations (e.g., poor, special needs, middle class, insured, uninsured, etc.) for diverse services (oncology, preventative care, prenatal care, etc.). This paper examines access to health care as related to the measurement of access and to the range of programs that have been developed to improve access. The writer's personal reaction to each issue is included in the report. The paper also includes articles referred to in the text.
From the Paper "Access has also been measured in terms of whether a person has medical insurance or a regular source of care, or whether people use emergency rooms as their usual site of medical care (Wood, Hayward, Corey, Freeman & Shapiro, 1990). Additional access measures include whether insurance covers recommended care (Hubbell, Waitzkin & Rodriquez, 1990), the number of structural barriers confronting an individual or group seeking health care (Dutton, 1986), and the degree of expertise of a target group's service providers (McCoy, Aversa & McCoy, 1999). My personal reaction to this issue is to doubt the accuracy of access data. This is because each of these different measures must necessarily vary in the extent to which they have adequately operationalized the access construct."
Tags: medical, care, National, Academy, for, State, Health
Abstract This paper is an in-depth examination of the field of abnormal psychology and the treatment of mental illness. This paper examines the many different components of this field, including the historical treatment and explanation of mental iIllness, the role of the criminal justice system as a tool used to treat the mentally ill and the benefits and dangers of using labels in mental health. The author also looks at different models that have been applied in this field and presents both the advantages and disadvantages to their use. Also examined in detail is the treatment of children, uses and abuses of medication and child's rights when being treated by a therapist.
The following is a table of contents for the paper:
Historical Treatment and Explanation of Mental Illness
Criminal Justice System as Treatment for Mentally Ill
The Benefits and Dangers of using Labels in Mental Health What is Concordance?
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Medical Model Approach to Mental Disorders
Inter-Rater Reliability of the DSM-IV
Why has ADHD's prevalence recently increased so dramatically?
Who should have control over the treatment of children?
The right of the mentally ill to have children
What are: Mental Retardation, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, and Learning Disorders?
There is a bibliography, but no footnotes or endnotes.
From the Paper "The advantages of this view include getting faster results, attaining functionality, and avoiding stigmatization through labeling. The medical model's approach of treating the behaviour can often achieve much faster results because it does not spend time searching for an often difficult to find, underlying cause. It treats what is already obvious, the behaviour, and thus can attain much faster results. The medical model is also capable of restoring a person to a level of functionality much faster than the non-medical model. By treating the behaviour problems, a person can become able to function within their daily lives. The medical model would advocate teaching coping skills rather than trying to cure the unconscious causes of behaviour, which they may not even admit exist. Another advantage of the medical model is that it avoids the labeling associated with the traditional diagnoses offered by the DSM-IV. By only treating the behaviour, the medical model does not provide a label for the patient and thus avoids the associated stigmatization of labeling."
Abstract This paper explains that the disparity among men and women might be apparent in the manner in which they respond to certain ailments. It shows that inadequate proof on gender disparities in health does not indicate that differences between men and women are trouble-free. The writer argues that there is an urgency to delve more into the characteristics of gender disparities than persisting to work for the given notions. While discovering the associations between gender and health, the writer concludes that it is crucial that one considers quantitative and qualitative information data to develop a more patterned comprehension of the lives of men and women.
From the Paper "Gender is a vital feature in comprehending the intricate correlation among the socio-structural disparities and disparity of health. (Goodman; Amick; Rezendes; Tarlov; Rogers; Kagan, 907) The use of the expression 'gender' was originally made in the 1960s to confront the widespread conviction that variation of gender among women and men were permanent and rigid. It pointed a departure from the genetic code in the field of biology that comprehended these variations as happening naturally, to an increasing consciousness of the influence of societal reasons that could be tackled and modified. Latest plans for the growth of gender-receptive point of view have attracted notice in the direction of gender relationships, reasoning that we should be shifting our attention from the issue of women and men as watertight compartments to envisioning at the societal relationships by way of which they are reciprocally made up as distinct groups. This would comprise exploring in larger aspect as to the manner in which the influence of men falls on women's well-being and vice versa, by way of the extensive multiplicity of individual, familial and professional relationships that subsists among the two. (O'Brien; White, 2)"
Abstract This paper discusses the contemporary state of the health care system in terms of how some seniors are over-medicated by health practitioners, particularly when it comes to psychoactive drugs (i.e. antidepressants). In this research, the writer demonstrates a lack of accountability by the federal and provincial governments in terms of monitoring the use of medications in seniors.
From the Paper "According to the American Psychological Association, the definition of health psychology is the study of scientific relationships between behavioral principles and physical health and illness such as the role of environmental, psychosocial, or socio-cultural factors that may contribute to disease or its prevention; behavioral methods used in the diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of individuals having physical disorders; and techniques that could reduce disease risk by modifying health beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors including decisions about using professional services."
Abstract The writer of this paper explores in-depth the three schools of psychology which consist of psychoanalysis, the second force of psychology and third force psychology. This paper discusses each school of thought in detail and expresses the different viewpoints each has on man's intrinsic nature regarding human nature, motivation and behavior.
Topics covered in this paper include:
Introduction
Freud - The First Force - Psychoanalysis
Watson and Skinner - The Second Force of Psychology Abraham Maslow and Third Force Psychology Conclusion
References
From the Paper "Until Freud began his study of hysteria in women in the late 19th Century, the mentally ill were thought to be possessed by evil spirits or demons. The main method of treatment was confinement and often-brutal beatings and starvation. Occasionally, a less severe patient would be treated by the application of leeches to restore the balance of the 'humours', blood, bile etc. or at best given a dose of opium to calm them. As mentally ill patients were considered to be spiritually ill or possessed, their 'babblings or outbursts were ignored as they were considered unholy words."
Abstract This paper explains how unhealthy environments can effect you and what to do when these things happen. This paper is based on an article by authors Taylor and Repetti called:" What is an unhealthy environment and how does it get under the skin?" This paper is a summary of the article and talks of different circumstances dealing with unhealthy environments which could severely effect one's health.
From the Paper "According to Taylor and Repetti, unhealthy environments can have several effects on you and the atmospheres that surround you on a daily basis. Furthermore, these unhealthy environments can cause diseases of lifestyle such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease as well as chronic illness such as health behaviors."
Abstract There are two arguments regarding the treatment of mental health. Some believe that it should receive the same amount of health care coverage as physical illness, while others argue that the costs of treating mental illness could lead to severe problems. To better understand these arguments, this paper examines two articles, "Mental Health Should be Treated on Par with Physical Health," by Lewis L. Judd, and "Mental Health Should Not be treated on Par with Physical Health," by Richard E. Vatz, as well as two of their reference sources.
From the Paper "Martin Bobgan and Deidre Bobgan, the writers of an article titled, "Mental Illness is not a Disease" would probably agree that spending money on mental illness, and treating it equally to physical illness would be a lost cause. Although their opinion is much more drastic than that of Richard Vatz, all three writers would probably seem to agree that covering mental illness in insurance coverage would not be helpful to society. In the article, Mental Illness is not a Disease," Martin and Deidre Bobgan profess that people "continue to promote the false concept of mental illness, to align it with medicine, and consign it to science." It is apparent that these writers believe that the mental state and one's physical well-being fall into completely different categories."
