How effective is cognitive behavioural therapy in treating stress-related disorders - Free Essay Example

Introduction Individuals respond to stressful events in different ways and their responses are influenced by a number of factors, such as personality characteristics or temperament, that can have an effect on the how the stressor is perceived (Anthony, Frederici, and Stein, 2009). Anxiety and stress are closely related, although stress tends to relate to a specific event or circumstances, whereas anxiety can be a non-specific, internal anticipation of something that might happen (Kahn, 2006). However, anxiety can cause stress for example, imagining the consequences of being late (anticipation). Anxiety disorders are very common and can be debilitating and chronic, with patients experiencing distress over many years. It is suggested that anxiety is multifaceted and may be caused by biological factors for example, high levels of serotonin, which is also a factor in depression. Another contributing cause to anxiety appears to be hyperactivity in the amygdala region of the brain, which results in high levels of neuroticism and anxiety. People who have a tendency towards neuroticism, for example, are more likely to experience anxiety disorders and negative emotions in response to stressors (Eysenck, 1967; Gray 1982). Psychological treatments and interventions focus on cognitive processes and behavioural responses that attempt to explain the acquisition and continuation of anxiety disorders (Anthony, et al. 2009). The aim of the following essay is to examine the efficacy of CBT interventions on treating anxiety and stress-related disorders. Anxiety Disorders The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-V) classifies anxiety disorders into three main groups: anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), and trauma and stress related disorders (American Psychiatric Association, APA, 2013). Anxiety disordersinclude separation anxiety disorder, phobias, social phobia, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalised anxiety disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disordersincludes hoarding disorder, while the third group, trauma and stressor-related disorders,includes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (DSM-V, APA, 2013). The DSM-V classifications of anxiety emphasise the relationship between disorders and therefore the possibility of comorbidity between anxiety, stress and depression (APA, 2013). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) As will be discussed in the following section, many of the stress and anxiety related conditions listed in the DSM-V category of anxiety disorders can be treated using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). CBT aims to change negative and maladaptive thought patterns and behaviours to more positive ways of dealing with stress-related problems. Therapy is non-directive and a therapist will facilitate change through working with the client or patient to achieve a series of goals. The therapist will also challenge the clients negative beliefs and help the client develop strategies to manage their stress more effectively in the long term in order to prevent any relapses (Beck, 2011). Exposure-based CBT (Torp et al. 2015) has also been reported to be effective with young people and children. As discussed by Beck (2011) the relationship between the therapist and the patient is central to the success of the intervention, as it is necessary to have a rapport in order to sometimes discuss di fficult topics. The Efficacy of CBT in Stress-Related Disorders In their meta-analyses of 269 studies that used CBT in studies, including anxiety disorders and general stress, Hoffman, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer and Fang (2012) found that the most effective results were for anxiety disorders and general stress (together with bulimia, somatoform disorders and anger control). A study comparing 65 patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), who were randomly allocated to one of three groups CBT, relaxation techniques, and a control group of patients on the waiting list was undertaken by Dugas et al. (2010). The follow-up sessions took place 6-, 12- and 24-months after the intervention and consisted of self-report and clinician ratings. It was found that both CBT and relaxation were more effective than the control group, although long-term improvement continued only with CBT (Dugas et al. 2010). Other research has also found that CBT has been effective in generalised anxiety for example, Otte (2011) states that a number of studies have demon strated that CBT is effective for patients with anxiety conditions and states the efficacy and effectiveness of CBT in anxiety in adults appears to be well established (Otte, 2011, p.418). However, despite the positive findings, Otto also states that there are there are various methodological problems in many studies, for example studies that do not include a control group, and therefore the effect size of the intervention is more difficult to assess. CBT has also be found to be effective in anxiety disorders in children, although as Hogendoorn et al. (2014) reports there are children who do not respond and therefore greater research is necessary in order to understand the mechanism that allows some children to respond well, while other children do not. In a study that investigated childhood anxiety and depression using CBT intervention it was found that there were more positive effects for anxiety than for depression in terms of behaviour and coping strategies used by the children (Chu and Harrison, 2007). It was concluded that there are different factors involved when using CBT in the treatment of anxiety and/or depression. According to Leichsenring et al. (2013) social anxiety is a prevalent disorder that can cause severe psychosocial problems and can co-exist with other disorders such as depression. Social anxiety is characterised by an individual having a fear of social interactions and therefore affects a person ability to work and have a good quality of life (Yoshinaga et al. 2013). There have been a number of reports regarding the efficacy of CBT in treating social anxiety, although many studies have small sample sizes and are conducted in one location. In their study Leichsenring et al. (2013) assessed 495 outpatients who were randomly allocated to either CBT intervention, (n=209), psychodynamic therapy (n=207), or a waitlist control group (n=79). The patients baseline and post-treatment scores were compared using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). It was found that both CBT and psychodynamic therapy were effective in treating social anxiety. Yoshinaga et al. (2013) also evaluated CBT and social anxiety in Japan using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). The aim of the study was to assess whether results in Japan would be similar to those in Western countries. The intervention was over a 14 week period and measurements of social anxiety were taken before during and after the intervention. It was found that CBT was effective although there were a number of limitations in the study. The sample size was very small, with only 15 patients, which limits the generalisability of the study to other patients, particularly as it was a single-centre study. Another limitation was that the participants were mainly females, which again can limit generalisability of the findings to male patients. There was also no long-term follow-up, so the effects of CBT in preventing relapse were not assessed. Furthe rmore many patients were also taking medication which was not controlled for and may have had an effect on the results. Another stress-related condition which can cause serious impairment is OCD. The condition in adolescents and children is similar to that of adults, and OCD often begins in childhood (Torp et al. 2015). In a study undertaken in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, patients aged between 7- and 17-years diagnosed with OCD received CBT intervention in a community setting over 14 weeks. The study was an uncontrolled trial, which meant all patients received exposure CBT and were assessed using the Children Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Scahill, et al. 1997), which both children and their parents completed, as well as other measures. The children had a range of behavioural and emotional problems and the study involved therapists and health professionals who evaluated the intervention. A strength of the study was that it was undertaken in different centres in three coun tries, which means it has good generalisability. The number of participants was also relatively high, which was also a strength of the study. The professionals helped the children and their parents complete the treatment and the findings showed a high success rate which was rated independently. It was concluded by Torp et al. (2015) that exposure-based CBT is an effective treatment for OCD in community children and adolescent outpatient clinics. The severity of the symptoms decreased in the patients and some were described as being in remission. However, there were a few limitations in the study for example, the group was not ethnically diverse and the trials were not randomised (Torp et al. 2015). A final area where CBT has been found to be effective in stress-related disorders is PTSD, which is a disorder which can occur after an individual has experienced a major traumatic event. Typical symptoms include re-living the event, recurring thought of the event, avoidance, numbing and detachment and estrangement from family and other people. In looking at the efficacy of CBT in treating PTSD, Bisson and Andrew (2007) undertook a systematic review of research in which patients had been evaluated by clinicians for traumatic stress symptoms as well as self-rating by the patient of stress, anxiety and depression. Treatment included Trauma focused CBT (TFCBT), exposure therapy, stress management which included hypnotherapy and group CBT and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) and a waitlist control group with no intervention. The findings showed that TFCBT, EMDR and group CBT were all effective in treating PTSD. In the long-term TFCBT and EMDR were found to be more effective, although some of the studies were found to have methodological flaws which means the data must be interpreted with caution. After the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the CATS consortium was established to help deal with the trauma experienced by young people and als o to assess the outcomes of the intervention using CBT. The CATS Consortium (2010) report on the efficacy of CBT being used with children and adolescents aged between 5- and 21-years who were traumatised after the attack. The young people (n=306) were allocated to one of two groups depending on the severity of their trauma. The first group involved trauma-specific CBT and the second group, brief CBT. The findings showed that for both groups there was a decrease in their symptoms and they were no longer diagnosed as having PTSD, and it was also found that the therapy could be effectively delivered in the community by trained professionals. The limitations of the study were that the design did not conform to a typical randomised controlled study and a control group was not used. The circumstances around the study were chaotic in the days after the attack and, as the authors state, the children may have improved without any treatment or intervention, which is, of course, the purpose of a controlled group. Nonetheless, the study has provided useful information regarding the use of CBT for young people after a traumatic event. Conclusion Overall, the evidence presented demonstrates that CBT is an effective intervention in a number of different stress-related conditions identified by the DSM-V (APA, 2013). Meta-analyses and systematic reviews are able to provide robust evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions using CBT, although, as has been discussed, there are a number of methodological issues with some of the studies used in meta-analyses. Some of the limitations include small sample sizes, for example, which means that generalisation to other groups is not possible. Another limitation is the lack of a control group, where, as discussed by CATS Consortium (2010), the patients who were traumatised after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York may have recovered spontaneously over time without any intervention, and this can only be observed in a control group which has no intervention. Another potential issue is the use of different measures such as self-report and clinicians measures (Dugas et al. 2 010), in comparison to other studies which used validated questionnaires such as Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Leichsenring et al. 2013). This means that comparisons between studies are more difficult. However research using CBT has taken place in a number of different contexts and cultures for example, Norway, Sweden and Denmark (Torp et al. 2015) and also Japan (Yoshinaga, et al. 2013) and has been shown to be effective. References American Psychiatric Association, (APA, 2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, fifth edition). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Anthony, M.M., Frederici, A. and Stein, M.B. (2009). Overview and introduction to anxiety disorders. In M.M. Anthony and M.B. Stein (Eds) Oxford Handbook of Anxiety and Related Disorders, pp. 3-18. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Beck, J.S. (2011). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: Guildford Press. Bisson, J, and Andrew, M. (2007). Psychological treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 3, Art. No.: CD003388. CATS Consortium (2010). Implementation of CBT for youth affected by the world Trade Center disaster: matching need to treatment intensity and reducing trauma symptoms. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23(6), 699-707 Chu, B.C. and Harrison, T.L. (2007). Disorder-specific effects of CBT for anxious and depressed youth: a meta-analysis of candidate mediators of change. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 10, 352-372 Dugas, M.J., Brillion, P., Savard, P., Turcotte, J., Gaudet, A., Ladouceur, R., Leblanc, R. and Gervais, N.J. (2010). A randomized clinical trial of cognitive-behavioural therapy and applied relaxation for adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Behavior Therapy, 41(1), 46-58. Eysenck, H.J. (1967). The Biological Basis of Personality. Springfield, Il. Charles C. Thomas. Gray, J.A. (1982). The Neuropsychology of Anxiety. Oxford; Clarendon. Hoffman, S.G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I.J.J., Sawyer, A.T. and Fang, A. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy Research, 36(5), 427-440 Hogendoorn, S.M., Prins, P.J.M., Boer, F., Vervoort, L., Wolters, L.H., Moorlag, H., Nauta, M.H., Garst, H., Hartman, C.A. and de Haan, E. (2014). Mediators of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety-disordered children and adolescents: co gnition, perceived control, and coping. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 43(3), 486-500. Kahn, A.P. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Stress and Stress-Related Diseases, (second edition). New York: Infobase Publishing Leichsenring, F., Salzer, S. Beutel, M.E., Herpertz, S., Hiller, W., Hoyer, J., Huesing, J., Joraschky, P., Nolting, B., Poehlmann, K., Ritter, V., Stangier, U., Strauss, B., Stuhldreher, N., Tefikow, S., Teismann, T., Willutzki, S., Wiltink, J. and Leibing, E. (2013). Psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in social anxiety disorder: A multicentre randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 759-767. Liebowitz, M.R. (1987). Social Phobia. Modern Problems of Pharmacopsychiatry, 22, 141-173 Otte, C. (2011). Cognitive behavioural therapy in anxiety disorders: current state of the evidence. Dialogues Clinical Neuroscience 13, 413-412. Price, M. and Anderson, P.L. (2011). The impact of cognitive behavioral therapy on post event processing among those with social anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 49(2) 132-137. Scahill, L., Riddle, M.A., McSwiggin-Hardy, M. and Ort, S.I., King, R.A., Goodman, W.K., Cicchetti, D., and Leckman, J.F. (1997). Childrens Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: reliability and validity. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(6) 844-852 Torp, N.C., Dahl, K., Skarphedinsson, G., Thomsen, P.H., Valderhaug, Weidle, B., Melin, K.H., Hybel, K., Nissen, J.B., Lenhard, F., Wentzel-Larsen, T., Franklin, M.E. and Ivarsson, T. (2015). Effectiveness of cognitive behavior treatment for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Acute outcomes from the Nordic Long-term OCD treatment study (NordLOTS). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 64, 15-23. Yoshinaga, N., Ohshima, F., Matsuki, S., Tanaka, M., Kobayashi, T., Ibuki, H., Asano, K., Kobori, O., Shiraishi, T., Ito, E., Nakazato, M., Nakagawa, A., Iyo, M. and Shimizu, E. (2013). A preliminary study of individual cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder in Japanese clinical setting: a single arm uncontrolled trial. BioMed Central (BMC) Research Notes 6, 74-81

A Report On Pneumonia Vaccine - 1786 Words

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Freedom Fighters of India free essay sample

His brave deeds earned Vallabhbhai Patel the title of the iron man of India. For his role in the Bardoli Satyagraha, Patel came to be called the Sardar. Sardar Patel was a famous lawyer but gave up his practice in order to fight for the freedom of the country. After independence he became the deputy PM of India and played an important role the integration of India by merging numerous princely states with the Indian Union. Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak was one of the firebrand freedom fighters of India. He gave the slogan- Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it. To serve the cause of freedom and countrymen Tilak founded schools and published newspapers. Tilak was famous as one of the trios- Bal, Pal and Lal. People loved him and accepted him as their leaders and so he was called Lokmanya Tilak. Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil was one of those young revolutionaries who laid down their life for the sake of the motherland. While often clashing with British officials on civic issues, he did not show any interest in politics. Patel was deeply impressed when Gandhi defied the British in Champaran for the sake of the areas oppressed farmers. So Patel gave a speech in Borsad in September 1917, encouraging Indians nationwide to sign Gandhis petition demanding Swaraj—independence—from Britain. As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organised relief for refugees in Punjab and Delhi, and led efforts to restore peace across the nation. Patel took charge of the task to forge a united India from the British. Using frank diplomacy, backed with the option and use of military force, Patels leadership persuaded almost every princely state. Often known as the Iron Man of India or Bismarck of India, he is also remembered as the Patron Saint of Indias civil servants for establishing modern all-India services. Subhas chandra bose Subhas Chandra Bose also known as Netaji, was an Indian nationalist whose unsuccessful attempt in the waning years of World War II to liberate India militarily from British rule roused patriotic feelings in India. He was born in 23 January 1897 and he unfortunately died on August 18, 1945. Earlier, Bose had been a leader of the younger, radical, wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, rising to become Congress President from 1938 to 1939. However, he was ousted from the Congress in 1939 following differences with the high command, and subsequently placed under house arrest by the British before escaping from India in early 1941. He turned to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan for help in gaining Indias independence by force. [ With Japanese support, he organised the Indian National Army, composed largely of Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who had been captured in the Battle of Singapore by the Japanese. Boses effort, however, was short lived. In 1945 the British army first halted and then reversed the Japanese U Go offensive, beginning the successful part of the Burma Campaign. Boses Indian National Army was driven down the Malay Peninsula, and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore. Bose died soon thereafter from third degree burns received after attempting to escape in an overloaded Japanese plane which crashed in Taiwan, which many Indians believe did not happen. Bhagat singh Bhagat Singh was an Indian socialist considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He was born on 28 September 1907 and sacrified his life for the nation in 23 March 1931. He is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the word Shaheed meaning martyr in a number of Indian languages. As a teenager Singh studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to it. He became involved in numerous revolutionary organisations, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) to become one of its main leaders, eventually changing its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928. Seeking revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police, bhagat Singh was involved in the murder of British police officer John Saunders. Together with Batukeshwar Dutt, he undertook a successful effort to throw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative Assembly while shouting slogans of revolution. Subsequently they volunteered to surrender and be arrested. Held on this charge, he gained widespread national support when he underwent a 116 day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for British and Indian political prisoners. During this time, sufficient evidence was brought against him for a conviction in the Saunders case. He was convicted and subsequently hanged for his participation in the murder. bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo, born Aurobindo Ghosh was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, Maharishi, guru and poet. [2] He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then turned into a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Sri Aurobindo studied for the Indian civil service at Kings College, Cambridge. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of Baroda and started to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by British India for writing articles against British rule. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he reputedly had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. During his stay in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri, an epic poem which refers to a passage in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise integral yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita. But this great soul died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry. He got his name as the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in English. [6] swami dayanand saraswati\ Dayanand Saraswati was an important Hindu religious leader of his time. He is well known as the founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. he was born on 12 February 1824 and unfortunately died on 30 October 1883. He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya as India for Indians – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak. Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship prevalent in Hinduism at the time, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies. Subsequently the philosopher and President of India, S. Radhakrishnan, called him one of the makers of Modern India, as did Sri Aurobindo. Maharshi Dayananda advocated the doctrine of Karma (Karmasiddhanta in Hinduism) and Reincarnation (Punarjanma in Hinduism). He emphasized the Vedic ideals of brahmacharya (celibacy) and devotion to God. The Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj were united from 1878 to 1882, becoming the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj. In 1883 Dayananda was invited by the Maharaja of Jodhpur to stay at his palace. Once Dayananda went to the Maharajas rest room and saw him with a dance girl named Nanhi Jan. Dayananda boldly asked the Maharaja to forsake the girl and all unethical acts and follow dharma like a true Aryan. Dayanandas suggestion offended the dance girl and she decided to take revenge. She bribed Dayanandas cook to poison him. At bedtime, the cook brought him a glass of milk containing poison and powdered glass. Dayananda drank the milk. He immediately realized that he had been poisoned and attempted to purge his digestive system of the poisonous substance, but it was too late. The poison had already entered his bloodstream. Many doctors came to treat him but all was in vain. His body was covered all over with large bleeding sores. On seeing Dayanandas suffering the cook was overcome with unbearable guilt and remorse. He confessed his crime to Dayananda. On his deathbed, Dayananda forgave him and gave him a bag of money

My Lai 4 A Book Report Essays - My Lai Massacre, William Calley

My Lai 4: A Book Report On March 16, 1968, "Charlie Company" was sent into a small Viet Cong village called (by the U.S.) My Lai 4. Their instructions by commanding officers were: "... kill every man, woman, child and animal in the village. Burn all the homes .... nothing should be walking, growing or crawling." Orders were followed, and as I read the first 65 pages of this book, I was exposed to the detailed death of 306 civilians, mostly women, small children, and old people. There was no threat to any American GIs ... there were no Viet Cong Solders in the area. I read of the rape of a 14 year old girl by twenty GIs ... in front of the parents. They were all shot after the GIs were "done with their business." This was only one of many. Most of the murders were conducted, BY ORDER OF OFFICERS, to round-up the families from their homes, forced into ditches, and shot. Women dove to cover their children. Later, children just old enough to walk crawled out from under their mutilated mothers' bodies, only to be shot as target practice by the GIs. It is later estimated that approximately 500 civilians were murdered, and (probably) no VC were in the area. I could go into detail about the killing. However, most of the book was devoted to the time before the massacre, and afterward. The officers and GIs of "Charlie Company" were introduced in the beginning of the book: the officers had been social outcasts all their life (LT. Calley Both had decided to devote their life to the military. The GIs were selected for "Charlie Company" specifically because they had all scored too low on the initial exam to be put into a regular battalions. After the massacre, nothing was done. As a matter of fact, "Charlie Company" was praised for having the "most kills" in one day. By late 1969, most of the GIs in Charlie Company were civilians again, and a few began to tell what they had seen (and participated in). A Government Investigation was called against Lt. Calley (who ordered, and participated in the murders). Some of the photographs from the massacre were published. You wouldn't believe what the civilian response was! The overwhelming public response was to drop the charges; they thought that there was nothing wrong with the massacre, OR they didn't believe it really happened. As a matter of fact, Lt. Calley had become a hero as an AMERICAN! There was a hugely- supported donation drive to pay for Calley's legal fees. The final outcome: nothing. Calley was demoted to a Army "Office Job" after the murders were proved. The soldiers of Charlie Company went on with life, most of whom are/were suffering mental disorders from the scaring event. Calley's officer above him (who REALLY gave the initial orders) was never investigated, though it was proven that he also participated in the massacre. The author, Seymour M. Hersh, wrote (I read that book 3 years ago), which is credited with having a major influence on this country's decision to stop production of biological weapons. Mr. Hersh began his journalism career as a police reporter for the city news bureau in Chicago, and later covered the Pentagon for the Associated Press. Mr. Hersh was press secretary for the Senator Eugene McCarthy early in his campaign for Democratic Presidential nomination. He won a special George Polk Memorial Award in February, 1970, and the Worth Bengham Prize in March, 1970, for his reporting on the My Lai 4 massacre. He is married and lives in Washington, D.C. As I have read 2 books by this man, I feel that he provides some really good, controversial information. He has obviously done a lot of studying. From the information I could find on him, I cannot determine if he has had any past occurrences that motivated him to find out about atrocities of war. However, he may be like me .... and has a bit of compassion for others, and hates to see others hurt by unnecessary wars! In the preface of this book, Mr Hersh made a point to outline his sources. Everything

An insight into baroque and rococo art essays

An insight into baroque and rococo art essays During the baroque period of great theatrical energy, and a dramatic use of light, scale, and balance, French artists adopted Italian Renaissance ideas but made them their own; by the end of the seventeenth century, France had began to take the lead in European art. Early eighteenth-century France, the heavy theatrical qualities of Italian Baroque art gradually gave way to the decorative Rococo style, a light, playful version of the Baroque. The curved shapes of shells were copied for elegantly paneled interiors and furniture, and they influenced the billowing shapes found in paintings. The enthusiastic sensuality of the Rococo style was particularly suited to the extravagant and often frivolous life led by the French court and aristocracy. Some of the movement, light, and gesture of the Baroque remained, but now the effect was one of lighthearted abandon rather than dramatic action or quiet repose. Rococo paintings provided romantic versions of life free from hardships, in which cou rtships, music, and festive picnics filled the days. The conversion of Saint Paul is a fantastic example of the Baroque period in all its glory, encompassing many of its characteristics. In the oil on canvas piece, painted in 1601, The Conversion of Saint Paul, Caravaggio used light to imply a blinding flash, symbolizing the evangelists conversion: And suddenly there shined around him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth (Acts 9:3). The figure of Paul, in Roman dress, is foreshortened and pushed into the fore-ground, presenting such a close view that we feel we are right there. In keeping with the supernatural character of the spiritual events he portrayed, Caravaggio evoked a feeling for the mystical dimension within the ordinary world. He wanted his paintings to be accessible and self-explanatory, and for this purpose he brought the emotional intensity of his own rowdy life to the stories of the bible....

PAPER 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

PAPER 1 - Essay Example However, one thing to note is that international relations have existed as long as states and that states are sovereign and are guided by informal rules in their relations. The purpose of this paper is to describe an international event of conflict or cooperation that has occurred since 1980, and evaluate it using theoretical approaches to international relations. There are many theories such as realism, liberalism/idealism, constructivism, Marxism and feminism, but the paper will focus on liberalism and Marxism. First, a brief summary of the international event will be given in order to understand how, where and when it occurred and to explain how it can be understood as an international event. Secondly, theories of international relations (liberalism and Marxism) will be used to discuss the reasons why the event occurred. This will give the roles played by the state, non-state actors, multinational corporations, etc. Thirdly, strengths and weaknesses of the two theories in explaini ng the event will be evaluated and a conclusion made about which theory is the most effective in explaining the event. ... Both first world and third world economies were not spared and are still recovering from the effects of the crisis. The crisis began due to an asset bubble bursting. Economists have blamed the event on monetary policy failure and deregulation of financial institutions, but international relations theorists have different versions of the reasons for the crisis. Financial institutions were not mitigating risks but instead making risky investments in form of mortgage backed securities (Davies, 2010). Housing prices had gone up and the government through mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was encouraging low income earners to take up mortgages at low interest rates. The financial institutions saw an opportunity to gain and thus gave mortgages even to subprime borrowers. Mortgage brokers sold the mortgage to banks which, in turn, bundled it into products which they securitized. They borrowed money from other banks to buy mortgages and securitize thus high earnings. The interests were later to rise and home owners were unable to pay mortgages, leading to mass repossession of houses and the housing bubble burst (Kolb, 2010). Financial institutions could not lend to borrowers anymore, leading to a credit crunch and slow economic growth. Financial institutions such as Northern Rock, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch collapsed. Other casualties were insurance companies and stock markets due to falling share prices. A $700 bailout was offered by the Bush administration among other measures, but the economy was badly affected (Davis, 2010). Credit tightening and massive bailouts by US, UK and other western countries were a blow to third world countries that rely on foreign aid for development.