How John Hersey Revealed the Horrors of the Atomic Bomb to the US

The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is one that comes with an overwhelming amount of emotions. John Hersey's Hiroshima had many themes such as fear, panic, grief, disgust, and hope. The book describes the stories of six survivors' hours before the bomb and weeks after, with a conclusion of their lives forty years later. This essay will critically analyze John Hersey's book Hiroshima which will bring awareness to its readers about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan through all six survivors' real-life experiences.

The first chapter of the book named the A Noiseless Flash opens with the events of the six survivors' hours before the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Throughout chapter one the readers become acquainted with the six individuals: Miss Toshiko Sasaki a twenty-year-old clerk who worked for East Asia Tin Works and was 1,600 yards from the center of the bomb. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge a German priest who was having difficulty adjusting to the Japan life and was about 1,400 yards from the point of the explosion. Dr. Masakazu Fujii a physician of a prosperous single-doctor hospital was situated about 1,550 yards from the epicenter of the explosion. Dr. Terufumi Sasaki who shares the same surname as Toshiko but not related, a 25-year-old Red Cross hospital surgeon situated 1,650 yards from point of explosion. Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto a pastor at Hiroshima Methodist Church, fluent in English, was at the point of the explosion over 3000 yards. Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura a tailor's widow raising her children, who loved only 1350 yards from where the atomic bomb was dropped.

The second chapter named The Fire continues with the events that occurred directly after the explosion. After the atomic bomb hit fires rapidly spread through Hiroshima causing more chaos for six survivors. This chapter details their attempt to escape the rapidly growing fires and help fellow victims. The individuals are divided into a division of those who are in tremendous agony, and those who feel an intolerable amount of guilt for not being as injured as those around them.

The third chapter titled Details Are Being Investigated shows the realizations of the six individuals as they deal with the chaos that surrounds them. Mr. Tanimoto works tirelessly to carry an individual from one side of the river to the other in order to escape the flames. The Nakamura's suffering from sickness learn that all their family is dead. Due to his help during the explosion, Father Kleinsorge is accepted amongst the Japanese. Miss Sasaki lying helpless outside the factory until someone spots her, calls for help then is taken helps to a hospital. The city is overtaken with corpses, while Dr. Sasaki, overworked and severely sleep deprived, attends to an overwhelming number of patients. Meanwhile, Dr. Fujii sleeps inside his family's collapsing house and is seriously injured. The chapter ends with the defeat and surrender of Japan.

The next chapter called Panic Grass and Feverfew begins twelve days after the attack and the rapidly continues to the rehabilitation of the city and six survivors. The secondary effects of the radiation from the atomic bomb are now appearing in the survivors. The six individuals and all affected began to come down with malaise, hair loss, nausea, pain, and fever. Little did they know that they developed what later became known as radiation sickness. Feelings of anti-American sentiment spread throughout the Japanese communities until it was announced that the radiation levels were safe enough for individuals to return to Hiroshima. A theory by Dr.Sasaki and his colleagues suggested that the unprecedented diseases unfolded in three stages. The chapter ends with the summary of the six survivors lives a year after the atomic bombing. Miss Sasaki was still disabled, Mrs. Nakamura was poverty-stricken, father Kleinsorge was once again in the hospital, Dr. Sasaki the only surgeon was often times overworked, Dr. Fujii had lost the prestigious hospital that took him many years to acquire, and Mr.Tanimoto's had been ruined with no means to rebuild.

The last chapter called The Aftermath takes place forty years after the atomic bombing. This last chapter highlights the anti-semitic feelings toward survivors who were now called Hibakusha that literally translated to explosion-affected person. These Hibakusha were treated with prejudice by employers since they were prone to many ailments and needed many days of rest. The government did little to nothing to provide physical or economic relief for the survivors until 1957, twelve years later a law called the Diet was passed. Despite their many setbacks, the six survivors achieved somewhat a degree of happiness.

Reading this book affected me in many ways. The way John Hersey described the events that unfolded through the eyes of the survivors made me feel as if I was witnessing the tragic moments right before my eyes. I felt extreme grief as each individual detailed their own accounts immediately after the bombing. During Mr.Tanimoto's account with the individuals that were stuck in the mud, he said On the other side, at a higher spit, he lifted the slimy living bodies out and carried them up the slope away from the tide. He had to keep consciously repeating to himself, these are human beings (Hersey 45)after reading this quote I came to realize just how grotesque the conditions of the victims were. Mr. Tanimoto, despite the disgust he may have felt helping the slimy individuals did so because they were human which made me feel a sense of sympathy for Mr.Tanimoto. As I read their accounts I would imagine myself in their position and came to have anger toward the American military and President Truman for allowing such an atrocity to occur. I felt even angrier that for many years the Japanese government did nothing to help the victims of the bombing physically or economically for many years after the attack took place. At times I had to stop and take a break from the book because of the deep sorrow I felt. Towards the end of the book, I felt a sense of hope for the six survivors. Despite all their ailments that sometimes enabled them, they went on with their lives as best as they could. Reading accounts such as these makes me realize just how much worse my life could be.

The book, in my opinion, left out the also important views of the American people. I see how tremendously the Japanese people suffered but, he fails to mention the sufferings of the American people at Pearl Harbor and the death march at the Bataan Camps that lead to the atomic bombing. He failed to give me a chance to develop a fair opinion since he left out the perspectives of the American people. Despite the exclusion of the American perspective, I would highly recommend this book to other individuals. This book details important historical events that impacted humanity. John Hersey interestingly described the tragic events of the six survivors that kept me wanting more. I feel that books such as Hiroshima should be read by everyone to prevent such horrendous events from occurring again.

From reading Hiroshima, I learned the importance of history in my life today. I learned that humans can be sympathetic, helpful, and put aside their differences to overcome such a tragedy. I also learned that humans can be cruel and selfish just as the Americans who bombed Hiroshima without a thought about the consequences.

This book relates to this course in the theme of chapter 26 called Containing the Japanese. In this section, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor is brought up along with the attack on America's reaming air power in the Philippines prior to the American attack on the Japanese.

The lives of the individuals were all tremendously affected, but they all eventually achieved a degree of happiness. Despite their lives being negatively affected by the travesty of the explosion, all six survivors found a way to go on. Although Hiroshima was written in a fictional setting it is important to remember that these accounts Hersey is writing about are in fact true. John Hersey does not give his own opinion and leaves the reader yearning for more answers. John Hersey's intentions in writing this book were to prevent us from repeating history and hopefully give more thought before the use of a nuclear weapon on civilians is made. In conclusion, the book reminds us humans of the powerful horrors of weapons of mass destruction.

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Anthony V. Florida

Anthony v. Florida was a controversial court case that argued who was to blame for the death of a 3 year old child and the legality of certain types of evidence. This was the first case in Florida that introduced the evidence of decomposition odor analysis, post mortem root banding, and cadaver dog hits. The State of florida presented a well developed theory of premeditated murder, but professionals on both sides of the prosecution and defense conflicted over the acceptance of the states evidence and the states theories relevant to the child's death.

On July 15, 2008, Cynthia Anthony calls 911 on her daughter Casey Anthony for stealing a vehicle and money. In another call, Cynthia tells the operator that she learns that her granddaughter, Caylee Anthony, is missing. Cynthia then reports that her daughter's car smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car. In a report, Casey Anthony claims that she last saw her daughter Caylee when dropping her off with her nanny. Casey then claimed she was employed by Universal Studios. Investigators searched for the suspected nanny but could not find the nanny's whereabouts nor did they find the right apartment Casey claimed the nanny lived in. Investigators soon find out that Casey has not been employed by Universal Studios for about 2 years. George Anthony (Casey Anthony's father) then receives a letter in the mail indicating that the family car was in a tow yard. He went to go pick up the car. Upon inspecting the vehicle, both George and the tow yard manager noticed a smell similar to human decomposition. They opened the truck and found a maggot filled bag of garbage which the tow manager threw away. The bag was later recovered and it contained a stained paper towel with a large amount of fly pupa. George brings the vehicle home and the next day Cindy Anthony smells decomposure/rot coming from the vehicle and calls the police. Detectives reveal that they found strands of hair that look like Caylee's in the trunk of the Anthony family car. Cadaver dogs also pick up the scent of decomposition. Investigators conducted an air sample test that indicated that there were human remains in the trunk.

On July 16, 2008 police arrest Casey Anthony and charge her with neglect of a child, false statements, and the obstruction of a criminal investigation, and inconsistencies in her statements. On July 22, 2008 officials call Casey a person of interest and police immediately began investigating Casey's belongings and continued their search for evidence. Investigators found duct tape located in various places throughout the case. It was found on a gas can owned by Casey's father, on missing child posters, and eventually, on the skull of the child. All of the duct tape found belonged to the same roll. As investigators continued their search for more evidence, they found an elevated presence of chloroform in the trunk. Investigators then acquired a warrant to search Casey Anthony's laptop. It was found that there were searches for chloroform and self defense. Both Casey and Cindy Anthony admitted to searching those words, but Casey's timestamps at work prove the unlikeliness of that occurring. Cindy however, received an email and searched chloroform in regard to an issue with her dogs. an elevated presence of chloroform in the trunk. On October 14, 2008, Casey Anthony is indicted by a grand jury on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police. On December 11, 2008 a human skull with a piece of duct tape and skeletal remains of a young child are found in a wooded area near the family home by a utility worker. On December 19, 2008, Police announce that the remains have been identified as Caylee Anthony and she is confirmed deceased.

On May 24, 2011, Trial begins in Orlando, Florida. The prosecution states that Casey used duct tape to suffocate Caylee Anthony and the defense contends that the child actually drowned in her grandparents swimming pool. The evidence that was admitted into court was the human hair found in trunk of Casey Anthony's vehicle, decomposition detection, presence of chloroform, cyber evidence, and duct tape. The physical evidence was not convincing during the trial because the defense, prosecution, and jury had difficulty with legal issues the evidence had. The human hair evidence that was found in the Anthony's family car trunk did not have a hair root, so extracting tissue DNA would not be precise for identification. The FBI laboratory analysis on the human hair in the trunk of the Anthony family vehicle demonstrated characteristics of decomposition near the end of where the root would be found. Another legal issue was decomposition detection introduced by the prosecution's expert witness Dr. Vass. Dr. Vass found 41 compounds out of 424 that are associated with decomposition in Casey's trunk. The reason odor analysis was disputed was because the Defense Attorney's expert witness Dr. Furton claims that the findings should conclude evidence of decomposition. In an video interview Defense Attorney Jose Baez, Baez claims that the research Dr. Voss is conducting is experimental and is nowhere near ready for a courtroom(Jose Baez 2012). At the time of the trial, odor-analysis techniques were fairly new and it had lack of acceptance from the scientific community.

FBI laboratory results found compounds in the air surrounding the trunk are associated with decomposition. One compound that was found were excessive levels of chloroform. The prosecution then moves on to the stained paper towel retrieved from the trash bag that was found in the trunk. The cause of the stain on the towel was grave wax. Grave wax is the breakdown of fat by water in an oxygen deprived environment. This piece of evidence was disputed by the defense because the grave wax found on the towel originated from human fat when there are fatty acids. Another legal issue the evidence presented was the presence of chloroform. The FBI laboratory confirmed there was chloroform in the trunk but investigators could not prove whether it was a result of spilling contents in the trunk carpet, or it came from an alleged decomposing body. The cyber evidence found in Casey's laptop was also contested because investigators could not prove who performed the search for chloroform or self defense. The prosecution then made a huge mistake in having their expert witness testify that a chloroform making website found on Casey's laptop was visited 84 times. In reality, it was a MySpace website that was visited 84 times. At any rate, the cyber evidence that was presented was incomplete and inaccurate. Over 300 searches were missing, the timings when the searches were made are are off because someone was searching how to make chloroform and the state argued how could someone look up the ingredients of chloroform before knowing how to make it.

The final piece of evidence that was largely contested was the duct tape found partly attached to Caylee Anthony's skull. Since the prosecution believed that the duct tape was the murder weapon, they supported their belief by showing an animation in court that had duct tape superimposed on an image of Caylee Anthony to demonstrate that the tape would cover her mouth and nose, leading to suffocation. The defense objected and claimed that the lower jaw was still attached to the skull. They argued that decomposed bodies have the lower jaw detached because connective tissue has decayed. According to their expert witness Dr. Schiltz, it was hair, ingrown roots, and leaf litter that kept the lower jaw connected to the skull. In addition, the fact that the lower jaw was still attached to the skull indicated that the child did not fully decompose in the bag she was found in.

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Communism and Working Class

Communism was originally the political thought that concentrated on the working class. The idea for Communism officially started with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto, where they outlined their idea of what equality between the people should really be seen as. Those two men modified multiple different ideas from the writings of several authors and philosophers including Plato's The Republic (4th century B.C.), and Sir Thomas More's Utopia (16th century A.D.). Prior to writing the Communist Manifesto, the men were also involved in different working parties in Germany. The men combined their ideas with the ideals of other different parties to unify the workers of Germany and called the collective thought Communism. Communism as a form of government was first implemented by Vladimir Lenin in Russia 1917 after the Russian Revolution against their leader Czar Nicholas II. Lenin took inspiration from the ideas of the two German authors and then added his own philosophy, called now Marxism-Leninism, soon after that Communism became more recognized throughout the world.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Communism is known as a form of government branching off from the larger Socialism. The main idea in Communism is equality for all in status, for all people to work to the best of their ability, and for all people to receive enough for their personal needs. In order to achieve this goal, states ruled by the communist party contain no social classes and no ownership of private property, all the property belongs to the community as a whole. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the prospect of communist activity at home and away seemed very real to many people in the United States.

These fears came to define the time's political culture. A republic senator by the name of Joseph P. McCarthy spent almost five years trying to expose communists and other loyalty risks in the U.S. government, only to fail. In the tense atmosphere of the Cold War, acts of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was filled with traitors trying to terrorize the country. McCarthy's accusations were so intimidating that only a select few people ever tried to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate.

Communism, a political, and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and community control of the natural resources for the community. This means that, while being more advanced than other forms of it, Communism is a form of socialism. There has been much controversy over exactly how communism is different from socialism but the distinction rests largely on the communists' personal definition socialism. Two phases of communism that would predict the overthrow of capitalism are a transitional system in which the working class would control the government and economy but still find it necessary to pay people according to how long, hard, and well they worked. Then the second would be fully realized communism”a community without class divisions or government, in which the production and distribution of goods would be solely based upon the principle From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Marx's followers, especially Vladimir Ilich Lenin, took this up. Even the party leaders established a command economy in which the state-controlled property and determined wages, prices, as well as production goals. Communism is generally making fewer concessions to market capitalism and electoral democracy than most other forms of society. As a system of government, communism usually centers on a one-party state that bans most forms of political dissent. Socialisms history is more varied than communism: the Communist Manifesto devotes a chapter to criticizing the forms of socialism that already exist.

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A Noiseless Flash: John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’

There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books.

"He felt a sudden pressure, and then splinters and pieces of board and fragments of tile fell on him. He heard no roar. (Almost no one in Hiroshima recalls hearing any noise of the bomb)"

On August 6, 1945 , a traumatic event for the citizens of Hiroshima had happened caused by the United States in hope to end the war and cut all hopes of war with Japan ever again. The bombing of Hiroshima. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that after five years there were perhaps 200,000 or more fatalities as a result of the bombing, while the city of Hiroshima has estimated that 237,000 people were killed directly or indirectly by the bomb's effects, including burns, radiation sickness, and cancer.(Atomic Heritage, 2014) This Bombing has an everlasting effect on citizen of Hiroshima.

This bombing took place during the era of WWII which started in 1939 lasting until 1945. There are other significant events that took place during WWII. John Hersey traces the lives of two women, two doctors and two men telling the story of six survivors explaining how life was prior to the bombing to months after. Over 100,000 people were either injured or killed in a result of this. Imagine having difficulties finding jobs, coping with radiation poisoning and not being able to seek immediate needed medical attention. Being trapped in wreckage resulted from a deadly bomb being dropped in your city.

The 6 survivors in this book are faced with a conflict that resulted in different negative effects making it difficult for them to go on with their lives. In this book the author portrays the viewpoints of these survivors throughout the time before and after this bombing in Hiroshima took place. In the book John Hersey decided to introduce the characters; Mrs.Toshinki Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terefumi Sasaki, and the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, describing how each of them were dealing with how they were affected by the atomic bombing

Before the Bomb

The night before the atomic bomb was deployed on Hiroshima it was said at midnight it was announced that over 200 thousand B-29s; which was the planes the United States used to bomb Japan, headed towards Honshu advising the citizens of Hiroshima to evacuate.The 6 survivors were responding to the initial warning that the bomb was coming differently some engaged in their daily activity and some getting prepared for a upcoming B-29 raid that was coming to Hiroshima.

Mrs.Nakumara had been misled many times because of false alarms that were let off because off bomb threats so she decided to stay at home with her 3 children rather leave and go to a safe place until they heard a more urgent siren only to see her neighbor trying to tear down his house to create a path but he was killed instantly. The effects that the atomic bombing had on the citizen of Hiroshima were fatalistic leaving them with everlasting health effects minutes after the bomb was deployed. As soon as the planes had passed, Mrs. Nakamura started back with her children. They reached home a little after two-thirty and she immediately turned on the radio, which, to her distress, was just then broadcasting a fresh warning. When she looked at the children and saw how tired they were, and when she thought of the number of trips they had made in past weeks, all to no purpose, to the East Parade Ground, she decided that despite the instructions on the radio, she simply could not face starting out all over again. Mrs Nakumara is just one example of how the 6 survivors were responding to the warning and how they were acting before the bomb was deployed.

Dr. Masakazu Fuji was another one of the 6 survivors whose whereabouts we're described before the bomb was deployed. Dr.Fuji who had great luck during this time of disparity. Dr.Fuji got up earlier than usual to walk one of his friends to the train station then heads to his doctors office only to keep turning down patients all but two because of the chance of it being difficult to evacuate. He then sits on the porch of the office only to see a flash and then as he starts to stand the hospital gets tore down. Dr. Fujii sat down cross-legged in his underwear on the spotless matting of the porch, put on his glasses, and started reading the Osaki Asahi He liked to read the Osaka news because his wife was there. He saw the flash. To him”faced away from the center and looking at his paper”it seemed a brilliant yellow. Startled, he began to rise to his feet. In that moment (he was 1,550 yards from the center), the hospital leaned behind his rising and, with a terrible ripping noise, toppled into the river.

After the Bombing:

After the bomb was deployed on Hiroshima the life of the citizens were affected drastically. Over 80,000 citizens died and some survivors; such as the 6 survivors described in the book, in which suffered from many health effects such as Radiation Poisoning.(American History,2014) in addition to the huge number of persons who were killed or injuried so that their services in rehabilitation were not available, a panic flight of the population took place from

both cities immediately following the atomic explosion

There were Mechanical injuries, Blast injuries, burns and even Radiation Injuries; one of the most severe, that effected these citizens of Hiroshima. According to a Eyewitness, Father John A Siemes, More and more of the injured come to us. The least injured drag the more seriously wounded There are wounded soldiers, and mothers carrying burned children in their arms. From the houses of the farmers in the valley comes word: Our houses are full of wounded and dying. Can you help, at least by taking the worst cases? The wounded come from the sections at the edge of the city. They saw the bright light, their houses collapsed and buried the inmates in their rooms.

Ms. Sasaki for example, She is in her office sitting in front of a bookcase when the bomb hits and bookcase falls on top of her, crushing her leg which is one of the characters that was effected after the bomb had been set off in Hiroshima. Dr. Fujii is hurt by the blast and his hospital collapsing, , killing everyone else inside including the two patients that he had let have their appointment. Asano Park is a evacuation place that stayed intact despite the bombing where most of the survivors of the Atomic Bombing went. Mrs.Nakamuras house was destroyed but she couldn't manage to find her children digging through all the debris and wood finding them unhurt and decides to go to Asano Park. So Mrs. Nakamura started out for Asano Park with her children and Mrs. Hataya, and she carried her rucksack of emergency clothing, a blanket, an umbrella, and a suit-case of things she had cached in her air-raid shelter.

In his book, John Hersey tells the lives of six people who survived this traumatic event that happened in there city; the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. John Hersey explains what these six survivors were doing immediately before and after this tragedy took place on that fateful day when the first atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. The story illustrates in depth the lives of these six survivors from the time they woke on that terrible morning until the moment when their lives were irreversibly changed in a second. Hersey's purpose in writing this book is to demonstrate how the dropping of the atomic bomb impacted the lives of these six citizens of Hiroshima hoping that nothing of this sort was to happen again.

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Powerful Ancient Civilization – Rome

Ancient Rome was an powerful ancient civilization that ruled Europe for 1,000 years. It's also one of the most prosperous empires in the world. It created many inventions that we still use to this day. The Roman empire began in 753 BC and lasted for 507 years. Most of ancient Rome's culture spread throughout Western Europe. Ancient Rome comes from the city of Rome which is also the capital city in Italy.

Rome first grew as republic but later became into an empire. There was no leader in the beginning it just started mostly with early emperors. First it was just under control of the Kings of Rome. The first king of Rome who found the city of Rome in 753 BC was Romulus. In Roman Republic the government was run with consuls. Every year, the citizens of rome would elect two consuls that will have to work together for a one year term. Roman Republic started to end in 59 BC. Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus originally ruled Rome and had an agreement to work together.

When Crassus died in the battle of Carrhae in 53 BC Pompey turned against Caesar and they became rivals which caused the alliance/agreement between them to break. In 52 BCE Caesar went away leading his army in the winter going to Cisalpine Gaul. During the year 52 Pompey had also been elected to be the only consul. Caesar wanted to be consul in the year 48 but he knew his enemies in the Senate would arrest him. In 48 BC The Battle of Pharsalus (Roman Civil War) broke out between Pompey and Caesar. Caesar ended up winning and becoming the most powerful dictator in Rome. Later, Caesar's enemies assassinated him in 44 BC.

Later Augustus was born Gaius Octavius in 63 BC. His uncle Julius Caesar died and Augustus was named as Octavius/Octavian was named as his heir. He fought to avenge his uncle. In the Battle of Actium (31 BC) he defeated Antony and Cleopatra. Instead of becoming a dictator like Caesar, instead he bring peace and prosperity to Rome for 40 years. Ancient Rome was always under civil wars which stopped its peace so he ended all the civil wars (especially the one between Populares and Optimates.) He also changed the way Rome was governed. He made a series of laws between 30 BC and 2 BC which turned Roman republic into Roman empire.

The world gained a lot of things from the Roman Empire, but in my opinion the MOST important thing they introduced to us was fast food, (Fast food like burgers.) They also created the language Latin. This made a impact on words in Britain and lots of modern words. The Roman empire also advanced architecture we use today. Romans built in stone and in straight lines. I wonder how it would be today without Roman's creations. They're also famous for making pasta!!

HEY YOU! (Mr Escarge) did you know that modern Rome has 280 fountains and 900 churches? Also, women in ancient Rome dyed their hair with beech wood ashes and goat fat (the colors they mostly did were red and blond.) You know how ancient Rome created pasta? Today they have a whole museum based on pasta!

In conclusion, ancient Rome was an influential, and impressive empire. It brought lots of wonderful inventions to the modern world. Ancient Rome was such a fast growing successful empire and its fascinating inventions spread out all through the world (especially the western world). I learned a lot about this ancient empire (although we already covered a lot about it last year.)

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Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6, 1945, was full of defeat, death, and tragedy for one part of the world. For another, it was full of victory, relief, but at the same time, guilt. It was the end of a long and tragic war that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers. United States' officials decided that they needed to put an end to the war. With the recent scientific discovery of the atomic bomb, they made the decision to release one bomb over Hiroshima and one bomb over Nagasaki. The United States' motive behind dropping the bombs was to put pressure on the Japanese to surrender. If the Japanese surrendered, the war would be over. Hundreds of thousands died when the bombs fell on the cities. After the bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered. The war came to an end at last. So many lives were saved when the war ended; however, they were saved at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Japan. Many people believe the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not justified, but they were necessary for the American victory of World War II.

The United States did not immediately come to the conclusion that the bombs needed to be dropped directly over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two alternatives to dropping the bombs directly over the Japanese cities were suggested but declined. The first option was rejected by U.S. officials because many felt that a warning would give Japan the opportunity to shoot down the plane carrying the bomb (Bodden 25). The issue with this alternative was that it put the United States soldiers that were aboard the plane, at risk. If Japan received the warning, they would have easily been able to do something to the plane. It could have also interfered with the plan to make a statement to Japan that it was time to surrender. The second option was also rejected, as some feared that if a demonstration bomb failed to explode, the Japanese would be encouraged to continue fighting (Bodden 25). It is obvious that the goal of the bombs was to end the war, not to continue it on. With the second option, there was too much risk in a greater issue arising. The only option left was to drop the bombs.

There are many questions about the political correctness of America's dropping of the atomic bombs. It has become such a controversial topic, that people are being surveyed on whether they believe this act was justified or not. A pew poll was taken last year that found 56% of Americans believed the bombings were justified, with only 34% believing they were unjustified (Robinson). Most people find that the bombings were correctly used and necessary for the victory, but less find it to have been the incorrect way to take the victory. Those percentages are the current statistics but times have changed since the war. That number does reflect changes immediately after the war, 85% believed the bombings were justified (Robinson). This statistic proves that people who were alive during and immediately after the war understood what would have happened if the United States would not have dropped the bombs. They also understood the severity and urgency of the situation regarding the Japanese. As time goes on, new generations are born and raised they are not going to understand the significance because they were not there to experience the effects of the war. Majority believed and still believe it was the right thing to do for our country.

Some of the most unlikely people understood why the United States dropped the atomic bombs. They also understood America's position regarding the war and other countries would have done the same thing if they had possession of the nuclear material. ... from a Hiroshima newspaperman, who added: 'But mind you, don't think for a minute that we wouldn't have dropped it on you if we had it first' (Trumbull 141). People in Japan realized how powerful the atomic bombs were. These civilians survived the bombs and even saw their loved ones die along with their everyday lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and still would not have an issue with their country releasing an atomic bomb over another country. There are some people in Hiroshima who were glad it was used when it was, so the world may possibly be spared the threat of an all-atomic war in the future (Trumbull 139). Because people saw the destruction and tragedy it left in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the atomic bombs may have been a one time event because of the time it was dropped, and no human would want to relive that or put others through it unless absolutely necessary. Due to the circumstances of the United States at the time of the war, they found it to be needed to put an end to it.

After the bombs were released, and Japan surrendered, Japanese and American officials released statements about their opinions on the bombs. Hisatune Sakomizu, secretary to the Japanese cabinet in 1945, confirmed this: 'If the A-bomb had not been dropped we would have had great difficulty to find a good reason to end the war' (Grant 46). Japan was going to fight until the last man standing, and according to Hisatune Sakomizu, the cabinet was glad the bombs were dropped so they could, at last, end the war (Grant 46). There is so much controversy as to whether the United States dropping the bombs was unusually cruel and unfair to the Japanese. Many believe that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inhuman, but then again war itself is inhuman, and the bombs ended the war (Mesika).War is not any better than the atomic bombs. In fact, there were more casualties caused by different events of the war than the number of casualties caused by the atomic bombs (Robinson). The loss of all of those lives in Japan ended the war and in fact saved and spared thousands and thousands of lives.

The nuclear bombs not only affected the outcome of World War II, but future wars and disputes as well. ... many nuclear disarmament movements and international councils came into being with the purpose of banning these weapons of mass destruction (Mesika). Because of these movements and councils, nuclear possession will be more regulated and could prevent other countries from using them unless that kind of action absolutely necessary. The United States used the bombs for the right reasons and at the right time. These councils were most likely created to prevent the atomic bombs from getting into the wrong hands and being used against countries without a worthy cause. This was the first time nuclear weapons were put to use in actual combat. It was also the last time since it showed how devastating they are (Mesika). The nuclear weapons were only used once and no country wanted to experience the same devastation that Japan did. The United States used the weapons with the right intentions and for the right reason, which justified the use of the bombs.

It is obvious that several people believe the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not justified and inhumane; however, it was in fact justified and was needed to end the war. After a great deal of consideration, the United States found that the best and most efficient way to end the war was to drop the atomic bombs. With the dropping of these bombs over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered, and the U.S. won the war. Countless lives in America and even Japan were saved because of the bombs. The United States did what they had to do to save as many lives as possible in their own country as well as their enemies' citizens' lives.

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The Movie Titanic

The movie Titanic was produced by James Cameron and was released on December 19th, 1997. The opening weekend for this movie generated over 28.6 million dollars. The New York Times wrote that the surprising success of Titanic has already rewritten the rules of Hollywood film making. The Spectacular performance of Titanic- now the No. 3 domestic box-office attraction of all time, with ticket sales of $376.4 million (Elliott). They never thought this terrific but heartbreaking film to be such a hit, with over 1,500 people dying and a length of 3 hours and 15 minutes. One of the film's executive producer stated, nobody anticipated the level of success. However, the film Titanic, produced by James Cameron, was distributed worldwide and did very well internationally because this event is considered a worldwide tragedy, was filmed, advertised well and was shown worldwide, and was easy to relate to.

To begin, the film Titanic was such a hit internationally because the sinking of the Titanic was considered a worldwide tragedy that has created an interest for many people for decades. Ever since the sinking of the ship happened it has remained a mystery. Since there is only little evidence of what actually happened on April 14, 1912, the viewers got to experience what the people on the ship had to go through. The sinking was realistic even though the movie is based around a fictional romance.

Throughout the movie, the viewers got to see actual footage and clips from the day the ship sunk. This gave the viewers a more realistic feel of what it looked like. Titanic did so well with international audiences because of the realistic elements that James Cameron carefully planned out that infatuated millions of people around the world. The set for this movie was created in 100 days in Baja, Mexico. The Titanic movie set is in Mexico and can be visited. The public can walk through certain scenes of this movie which really makes them feel as if they apart of it. James Cameron's ability to make the viewers feel as if they apart of the movie and what happened on the boat plays a huge role in why the movie was so successful.

Moreover, Titanic is also considered a global success because it was produced, filmed, and shown all over the globe. The key to a successful movie is to have different aspects of the film from all around the world. According to Lane Crothers in the book Globalization and American Popular Culture, a big Hollywood blockbuster movie may have been financing from businesspeople outside the United States, have an international cast and locations, include special effects made from outside the U.S., be distributed in dozens of countries through local distribution companies, and make more than 80% of its revenues abroad (Crothers). Titanic fits this description, with a few of the locations where this film was shot was in Canada, Mexico, and in the North Atlantic Ocean (IMDB). With that being said, it allowed for the film to have an international feel.

It has been translated to over thirty different languages so viewers all around can enjoy this film. This greatly added to the international success of the film, with people being able to enjoy the story of Jack and Rose from all around the world (IMDB). Throughout the making of this film the budget was about 200 million dollars. The producers were worried that they would not make a profit for this movie. It was a surprise to them since the 22 years that it has been released, the gross profit is almost 2.2 billion dollars. To this day, it is still considered one of the most successful Hollywood blockbusters. This film has produced more revenue internationally than in the United States. Since 1997, the U.S. generated close to 658.7 million dollars and internationally the film has earned over 1.5 billion dollars. The majority of this films profit was not from the U.S. (IMDB). These numbers prove that Titanic was not only a hit in the United States but was also an internationally success and loved by many different people around the world.

To continue, the Titanic had such an international success because it was easy for viewers to relate to. People all around the world can relate to a love story with tragedy. All fairy tales about love and romance usually end in happy ending, which at times is not very relatable. With that being said, the tragic ending in the Titanic helped create the international success because people tend to relate to a tragedy better than a happy ending since in real life every ending is not happy. Another theme that made this an international success in the idea of the American Dream. As stated in the book Globalization and American Popular Culture, much of the film's success derives from the ways the values of American popular culture emerge in the movie.

They provide a transparent foundation on which others can build their interpretations of the film's significance in their lives (Crothers). The main character Jack, is on his way to America to find a better life, which is an illustration of the American Dream. We also see poverty through Jack who is romantic, loving, engaging, poetic, artistically talented, self-sacrificing, heroic, and above all, happy. Jack is self-made, self-confident, and successful in the most important ways (Crothers p.61).

Viewers around the globe were interested in the plot of the American Dream and determination of character Jack Dawson. Another reason why the film was easily to relate to was that the majority of the film is set in the Northern Atlantic Ocean and the film includes characters from all around the world. The two main characters, Jack and Rose, are American, although there are other characters who are Irish and British. The fact that this film is not set in a certain country but in international waters, allows for viewers to all around the world to enjoy this film without feeling like they didn't belong with the culture. With the diversity of the characters, people from other countries felt like they were included in the story line. James Cameron was able to grab the viewers' attention and crafted a film that people could relate to.

To conclude, Titanic is one of the most successful movies of all time. This film brought the interest of so many individuals worldwide that a replica ship is being built that resembles the original Titanic and will set sail as soon as 2022. The Titanic is an international success through its captivating history, box office success, and its relatable plot. In Crothers book he wrote that the film's popularity rests at least in part on the values and variables of American popular culture. The irrelevance of class, the importance of individualism, the lure of capitalism, and the distribution of talent across society are all foundations of American civic culture. In reflecting them, Titanic told a story that reached out the world. The world responded (Crothers 63). The film brought to life the sinking of the ship and started the worldwide interest of the Titanic.

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The Titanic Will Always Hold Significance

The Titanic will always hold significance for generations to come. The Titanic was designed to take passengers from England, France, and Ireland to North America. Unfortunately she never made it to shore. What caused the Titanic to sink down to her grave at the bottom of the North Atlantic? Could it have been from the design of the ship, poor materials, human naivety, or was it a combination of everything? The Titanic's sinking was initiated by a combination of all these things.

The ships design, the quality of materials used in her construction, and the ignorance of both the captain and their crew is what concluded in 1,517 lives being lost at sea. The Titanic left port to begin its voyage on April 10th, 1912. It left from Southampton, England and was scheduled to arrive in New York City on April 17th, 1912. Out of the 2,200 people on board, 1,315 were passenger, 885 being crew members. The Titanic was built by White Star Lines under the management of J. Bruce Ismay. The ship builders worked nine hours each day for six days out of the week until the Titanic was ready to begin her voyage. She was about 880 feet long, weighed about 52,300 tons, and had 4.6 million cubic feet of space. The Titanic was intended to be watertight, and had sixteen watertight compartments separated by doors that were automatic or could be controlled by any crew member.

Considering the size, Alexander Carkisle wanted sixty four lifeboats to be on the ship, but the White Star Line over ruled him by deciding only twenty lifeboats would be carried on the Titanic so that they could save money. Despite her size they could easily have stored more. The Titanic even exceeded their lifeboat regulations by adding four collapsible lifeboats. The claim they stated was that lifeboats were too expensive to purchase and maintain. They also took up a lot of deck space, so having a lot of lifeboats and safety gear on board would give passengers the idea that the boat wasn't safe and wouldn't look presentable for their guests. The wireless radio operators that were on board the night of the crash were Jack Phillips and Harold Bride. During the majority of the voyage, they were getting iceberg warnings about icebergs in the area the Titanic was in. .

The wireless stopped working around midday and Phillips and Bride took the next seven hours trying to locate the problem and make repairs. Once they got the wireless to function again, they were overwhelmed with messages coming in. Later the SS Mesaba sent out a warning that a large number of icebergs were in the Titanic's path. One of the building operators was too occupied sending out the passenger messages from when the radio was down, that he never took the time to send the crucial warning to the bridge. This warning could've made a remarkable difference in the Titanic's sinking later that night. At 10:55pm the Californian sent word to the Titanic that it had stopped moving because the ship had become surrounded by ice.

Then at 11:30pm the Californian's shut off their radio. As a result, they missed the wireless distress signals from the Titanic that were sent out after the ship collided with the iceberg. On April 14th, 1912 the Titanic crashed into the iceberg. Causing the watertight compartments to start flooding. The collision caused at least five of the ships watertight compartments to be damaged. Most of the watertight compartments did not extend above E Deck causing water to spill over the tops of the compartments and into the rest of the ship. In turn that caused the front of the ship to begin sinking down into the ocean. Mr. Murdoch had the ship turn left and ordered for the engines to be stopped and put in reverse to attempt at lessening the impact of the iceberg.

This caused the most damage to the ship, if Murdoch would have just kept the ships speed at the speed it was going and hit the iceberg head on, the Titanic probably wouldn't have sunk. The bow of the ship would have been damaged either way, but not as badly as it was from hitting the iceberg on the side rather than head on. The Titanic also had a very small rudder for the size of the ship so turning away from the iceberg was made even more difficult. The Captain and his crew were all made aware of the icebergs in the area, but did not take the warning seriously. The Titanic's Captain and crew were not the only reason that she sank. The Titanic's builder didn't use the best quality of wrought-iron rivets when welding the vessel's steel plates. The rivet heads were easily sheared off causing the plates that the rivets were holding, to separate when the ship struck the iceberg.

The expansion joints were also poorly designed, which made the ship vulnerable. The Titanic's steel had about one-third the impact strength of modern steel. This was later verified when samples of the steel were looked over by a microscope. The results they found were that the structure of the steel was very large making the coarse structure more vulnerable to cracks, which contributed to the overall breakup of the Titanic. While the quality did have an impact on why the titanic was damaged so excessively. The steel they used during the formation of the titanic was the best they had available to them in 1912.

The Titanic's sinking was caused by more than just the iceberg. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, and unfortunately it all tied together that night. From the design of the ship, low quality material, to poor communication of the wireless radio operators to the Captain. As well as down to the passengers who did not really believe that the ship was going to sink. So at first no one wanted to board the lifeboats, or leave behind their husbands and sons. All of these things mixed together had all contributed to a great catastrophe that will go down in history as the night to remember.

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Immunizations and its Link to Vaccines

In the year 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist, distributed an article in a global mental health journal that recommended a connection between the MMR immunization and the advancement of autism. Based on his assessment of 12 individuals, Dr. Wakefield and partners revealed that patients could create intestinal manifestations and may be mentally unbalanced after receiving the MMR immunization. (Kemp, M & Hart, B, 2010) The media jumped on the story and proceeded to cause one of the biggest health scares in history. These accusations left many parents questioning if vaccines were safe to give to their children. Causing them to question medical professionals and refuse vaccinations for themselves as well as their children. Giving us the myth that vaccines are directly linked to autism. However, even with all of these accusations, there is much scientific proof supporting no relationship among vaccinations and kids determined to have autism.

Despite recent findings, many experts have proven there is no scientific evidence linking the measles mumps rubella immunization and autism. If Wakefield's autistic enterocolitis theory were to be correct, damage to the body would be much more evident and global. The brain would not be the only region affected. (Moreton) If autistic enterocolitis is, in fact, a threat after receiving the MMR vaccination, both "proteins and peptides would leak, leading to protein-losing enteropathy" (Moreton). There is no evidence of protein enteropathy in autistic patients. Proteins and peptides leaking out of a patient's stomach into the blood would be filtered by the liver before even reaching the brain. If these peptides and proteins had reached the brain the patients liver would not be functioning properly, and there is no evidence of liver malfunctions in Wakefield's trial.

Symptoms of autism start to arise around the time routine vaccines roll around in a child's life. So, when Andrew Wakefield released his study to the public an uproar of angered parents of children with autism and children without autism emerged. (Talavera) The public started blaming vaccines for numerous health crisis, not just mental imbalance. But, the science didn't seem to match up in Wakefield's claims. The scientific reasoning behind the MMR immunization causing autism is what Wakefield considered to be autistic enterocolitis. His theory is the measles virus encapsulated inside the immunization causes a leaky gut, which allows opioid peptides to leak into the bloodstream (Moreton). Which then travel through the body, and eventually access the brain causing brain damage (Moreton).

The culprit to the spread of the myth is the media. The Media put the negative correlation between vaccines and autism in the limelight and caused many to believe vaccines were harmful. Some parents began to refuse vaccines, fearing that their children would be harmed (Kemp, M & Hart, B, 2010). Many individuals are not properly informed on immunizations and how the function and jumped to conclusions on the issue. (Talavera) Opinions seem to become stronger because they are fueled by bias, misinformation, fearmongering, and fallacious thinking (Talavera).

In conclusion, Dr. Wakefield, with help from the media, created a myth that caused many to fear immunizations. Although scientifically disproven, many still believe vaccines are a threat to society. The day medical experts find a reason children are diagnosed with autism, will be a triumph in the immunotherapy field. More parents will entrust medical professionals with immunizations and the world will be a safer, healthier place.

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A Question of Vaccinization

Contents

Introduction: MEMORIZED
Slope:
Body
Conclusion MEMORIZED
Works Cited

Introduction: MEMORIZED

Attention getter: At the beginning of the 20th century, the most serious threat to human life and well-being was infectious disease. Outbreaks of diseases such as diphtheria and pertussis were common, and mortality was significant; 160 of every 1000 children born at the turn of the century died of an infectious disease before the age of 5 stated Ellenberg, author for the Journal of the U.S. Public Health Service. And currently the children's hospital of Philadelphia, author of History of Vaccines, states that Each year, about 85 percent of the world's children receive vaccines that protect them against tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and measles. These vaccines save about 2.5 million lives. Despite this success, more than 3 million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year.

Slope:

What are vaccines? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccines protect children by working with their body's natural defenses. They reduce a person's risk of infection by working with the body's natural defenses to help a person safely develop immunity to disease. (HYPOPHORA)

THESIS: Parents must be required to vaccinate their children in order to protect them, as well as the public, from dangerous epidemics. This will doubtlessly diminish the danger(ALLITERATION) of life-threatening diseases from reappearing across the country.

Body

Reason #1 We should require parents to vaccinate their children, as well as themselves, because vaccines protect each individual from getting infectious diseases and save lives.

EVIDENCE According to Ventola, a medical writer for Pharmacy and Therapeutics journal, (ETHOS) The incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of many communicable diseases have significantly decreased in Western countries largely because of national immunization strategies aimed at infants and children. It has been estimated that for each U.S. birth cohort receiving recommended childhood immunizations, around 20 million illnesses and more than 40,000 deaths are prevented...

Explain: This displays how effective it is for children to be vaccinated. The more people who are vaccinated, the more people will be immune to diseases, and the more people in our country will be safe from these diseases returning in the future.(ANAPHORA)

In addition, many of the available vaccines were created to prevent very dangerous and even deadly diseases, diseases that can be especially harmful to infants and young children.(ANADIPLOSIS) Because of this, the CDC also states that vaccination is one of the best ways parents can protect their children from 14 diseases before the age of two. Vaccines are especially important due to their ability to imitate infections, triggering our immune systems to develop antibodies that work to fight diseases. These antibodies prepare our bodies to quickly and safely fight epidemics if we get infected.

Also, Polio, diphtheria, smallpox, measles and whooping cough are a few of the illnesses that have been exterminated in the U.S. due to immunization programs. According to Wendel, author for the Tribune News Service, The Centers for Disease control estimates that nearly 750,000 American children were saved from 1994 to 2014 because of vaccines. Clearly vaccines are very effective when it comes to protecting children. Vaccines protect and save and enhance our lives. (POLYSYNDETON)

Reason #2 We should require vaccines because not only do they protect oneself from infectious diseases, but they also protect the community from these diseases.

EVIDENCE

Even though many diseases may be rare in the US, they still occur in other countries around the world. They still are out there.(ANAPHORA) Because we live in a world where global travel is common, it is possible that these diseases, once eradicated in the US. An example of this occurred in 2015. A large scale, multistage outbreak of measles occurred that was thought to originate with an overseas traveler who visited Disneyland in California. The majority of those who contracted measles, which had been eliminated in the US since 2000, were unvaccinated. Stories like this emphasize the importance of maintaining high vaccination rates in the US. It is important to understand the benefits vaccines provide a community. According to Ventola, ...when a large population is immunized, unvaccinated individuals benefit from ?herd immunity', which is a reduced risk of exposure to pathogens. By requiring vaccines to be administered, those who cannot receive vaccinations due to medical or other complications such as compromised immune system, will be protected. How would you feel if a young child became seriously ill with a disease because they were too young or had a medical condition that they were not able to receive the vaccination?(RHETORICAL QUESTION) What if you and your community could have received this vaccine and prevented it from spreading to this child?(Appeal to Pathos)

Ventola also stated, ... [parents who consciously choose not to vaccinated their children] has caused a resurgence of may infectious diseases due to the loss of herd immunity Parents choosing to claim exemptions from vaccination requirements puts our communities at increased risks. Ventola asserts 1% to 3% of children are excused from immunizations for medical reasons, religious grounds, and philosophical objections. In some communities she acknowledges exemption rates can be as high as 20%! However, even low exemption rates puts our children and communities at a higher risk. Not getting vaccinated puts not only yourself at risk, but also others in your community who may be defenseless against the disease at no choice of their own(PATHOS). Would you want to be the one responsible for causing another person's illness if you knew it could have been prevented by getting a vaccination? Probably not (Hypophora).If the majority of people in the U.S. aren't vaccinated, and infectious diseases spread too quickly, thousands of people will die, and the world will suffer greatly. Therefore everyone needs to be vaccinated to protect our world. (APPEAL TO FEAR)

Counterargument: Some people say that vaccines are not safe, contain harmful ingredients, and may even cause a person to get sick.

EVIDENCE

According to Tim Wendel, Some parents are convinced that the side effects are so serious that they refuse to have their children vaccinated. They are ignoring the science and the stories of families who once prayed that a specific remedy would be available for public use. Vaccines are in fact safe and this has been proven by major medical organizations. Parents need to stop worrying about what the vaccine vial contains, and more about what they are protecting their child from.

Why do people disagree with vaccines you ask? Well, people may think that vaccines are the reason that people develop illness.(HYPOPHORA) Vaccines may cause a person to have minor symptoms such as a fever, but these symptoms are very common and should be expected. They are not nearly as bad as symptoms you would receive from the disease the vaccine prevents. And is a very common thing to occur as their body builds immunity.

In addition, it was a very popular opinion for people during the 20th century to believe that vaccines were the cause of autism in children. Autism rates in developing countries had been rising in the past few decades, there is no evidence that vaccines were the cause. According to the History of Vaccines, Beginning in the 1990s, our understanding of the spectrum of autism has expanded greatly, and now individuals who would most likely previously not have been thought of as having autism may be classified with one of a variety of ASDs. Could it be possible that autism was in fact more easily diagnosable as medical technology advanced? And that this happened during the same time period as vaccines took off? (RHETORICAL QUESTIONS)

The History of Autism again states, Vaccines have perhaps receive more scrutiny than any other speculated cause of ASD, and the great majority of scientists, physicians, and public health researchers have come to the conclusion that there is no association between vaccines and autism.

And lastly, according to the CDC, safety monitoring begins with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who ensures the safety, effectiveness, and availability of vaccines for the United States. Before the FDA approves a vaccine for use by the public, highly trained FDA scientists and doctors evaluate the results of studies on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, therefore we know that vaccines are safe and can be trusted.

Conclusion MEMORIZED

Restate Thesis: As you can see, parents must vaccinate their children. This will presumably eliminate the possibility of life-threatening diseases from reappearing across the country. This will help protect children and adults from various diseases, saving thousands of lives.

Summarize main ideas:

Parents should be required to vaccinate their children, as well as themselves, because vaccines protect each individual as well as the community.

And although some people say that vaccines are not safe, contain harmful ingredients, and may even cause a person to get sick, there is no evidence to support this suspicion.

Profound statement/call to action: Don't sit back, help protect yourself and others for dangerous diseases. Give vaccines a shot! (ZEUGMA)

Works Cited

Ellenberg, Susan S., and Robert T. Chen. "The Complicated Task of Monitoring Vaccine Safety." Public health reports, 1997, pp. 10-21. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.
"Global Immunization: Worldwide Disease Incidence | Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia." Chop.Edu, 2018,https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/global-immunization/diseases-and-vaccines-world-view.
"Parents | Making The Vaccine Decision | CDC." Cdc.Gov, 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/vaccine-decision/index.html.
Ventola, C Lee. Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance: Part 1: Childhood Vaccinations P & T : a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management vol. 41,7 (2016): 426-36.
Wendel, Tim. "Pro: Evidence Favoring Vaccination is Overwhelming." TCA News Service, 29 Mar. 2018. SIRS Issues Researcher,https://sks.sirs.com.
"Do Vaccines Cause Autism? | History Of Vaccines." Historyofvaccines.Org, 2016, https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/do-vaccines-cause-autism

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Vaccines Changing History

Modern vaccines have been around for over a century, with the idea of vaccinations going back to ancient China and India. Most credit Edward Jenner for creating the first smallpox vaccine in the early 1770's; however, he is simply the first to do a scientific experiment and document the process. Louis Pasteur's work would pave the way for the concept of modern vaccinations. Doctors and scientists continue to find ways to prevent diseases causing disability and death. Without vaccinations, many would continue to suffer diseases and the long-term effects related to them. By preventing these illnesses, and related disabilities and death, vaccines allow people to grow and have healthy productive lives. Especially in today's truly global economy where extensive travel is extremely common for large portions of the world's population due to work, education or pleasure. Although allegations of negative side effects plague the vaccination process, vaccinations continue to help today prevent illness, diseases, and death making it one of the most important events in world history.

The idea of vaccinations has been around for thousands of years. Vaccination introduces a particular disease or illness”into a patient's body. The idea is that if the patient is subsequently exposed to a full dose of the pathogen in the future then the vaccination will have trained their natural immune system to attack and destroy it. (Parsons, 97) Ancient Indian texts talked about building immunity to illnesses. During the Medieval era, China found a way to expose people to smallpox scabs to lessen the likelihood they would contract smallpox or at least have a severe case of smallpox. Centuries later, English Lady Mary Montagu visited Constantinople and saw natives exposing people to smallpox to lessen the severity or existence of the disease. Returning to England, she sought help to explore this. Edward Jenner explored the idea of vaccination for smallpox through experiments with cowpox; however, he hated the unpredictability of exposing people to a disease where he could not control the severity if they got it.

Obviously, smallpox was a deadly disease in populations who continued to struggle with outbreaks, but it devastated new populations, like Native Americans, who had no prior exposure to it. There civilizations had no immunities to the disease; therefore, entire populations were annihilated during the height of European exploration. The precursor to the modern-day flu, the Spanish Influenza was horrific. No other epidemic has claimed as many lives as the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1918-1919 worldwide. (Influenza Pandemics) It is estimated between 40-70 million people died from the Spanish Influenza. Sadly, an effective flu vaccine would not be developed for many years; however, health leaders have a plan in place should an outbreak like this happen again. Polio is another disease that literally crippled the population. When outbreaks occurred, many people lived with symptoms of varying strengths for the rest of their lives. This disease caused muscle and joint issues which developed into serious disabilities over the years, paralysis, and even death. In addition, yellow fever ran rampant throughout areas populations causing illness, liver disease and failure resulting in death.

The fact that these examples of diseases are virtually unheard of in the United States and around the world substantiates the point that vaccines work to keep people healthier. The last natural case of small pox occurred in 1977. The World Health Organization has declared this disease eradicated and the vaccine has been retired. On March 14, 2018 the World Health Organization also published on their polio fact sheet that rates of polio throughout the world have decreased 99% down to 22 reported cases in 2017 and two of three strains have been eradicated throughout the world. The vaccine for yellow fever is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. These statistics speaks volume for the success of these vaccines and the quality of life for those who remain healthy rather than suffering from any of these diseases.

The future of vaccines continues to progress. Doctors still research vaccines for diseases that plague the world at large like malaria. There is a pill for prevention and treatment; however, no effective vaccine. In the last 30 years, doctors have worked to develop a human papillomavirus (HPV) which has effectively proven to help prevent certain forms of cancer. Researchers hope to find more vaccines for more cancers and other deadly diseases like AIDS which have no known cures. The effectiveness of vaccines is not shown through the number of deaths, but the decreasing frequency of disease occurrences. Statistics consistently show remarkable decreases in the occurrence of diseases with vaccines in areas where vaccines are used.

With all this supporting the use and success of vaccines, there are still groups who not only do not vaccinate, but also advocate against vaccinations. There are many reasons but two of the most common are safety concerns and political issues. There is a growing movement that claim vaccinations cause autism. Concerns caused Japan to ban the MMR vaccine in the early 1990's. Dr. Hideo Honda conducted a study that showed autism rates are continuing to rise even though the vaccine has been banned in that country. In Japanese Study is more evidence that MMR does not cause autism, Andrew Cole quotes, In the United Kingdom Evan Harris, a member of the House of Commons science and technology select committee, stated The problem is that you cannot prove a negative. The people making a link are not using rational arguments, so the usual scientific approach will never convince them, and they will continue to lobby in the media. The point is that when children and family health is at risk, people are emotional and look for someone to blame for illness or disability. Currently, not one single study can show direct causation between vaccination and autism; however, groups opposed to vaccines grow each year and continue to lobby Congress and the media to protect children by ceasing vaccinations.

The second objection to vaccinations is more common in third world countries where poverty is an additional complication. In some countries, the poor and uneducated are told that vaccines are the western world's method of sterilizing or infecting the local populations. Sometimes, political and religious objects overlap as in the Muslim countries. On the History of Vaccines website, their article Cultural Perspectives on Vaccination states, the local Taliban in Southern Afghanistan have called polio vaccination an American ploy to sterilize Muslim populations and an attempt to avert Allah's will. When those in power cast doubt on effectiveness and even question the morality of the vaccine, the population will follow those in power. However, more often it allows governments to control access to vaccines and their populations if they are dealing with illness and disease they cannot cause chaos within their country. Many organizations such as the World Health Organization try to overcome as many of these objections and obstacles as possible to move toward healthier world populations.

While no studies can officially show how many lives have been saved due to vaccinations, studies can and do show their effectiveness. Most vaccine studies are done on morbidity not mortality of the disease. The hope for vaccines is that it lowers the occurrence (morbidity) of the disease, not on how many deaths the disease cause. Vaccines do not prevent death, they hope to prevent the illness itself that causes the death. Until a disease is eradicated, there will always be a threat of death with a disease in certain cases. Vaccines hope to improve the odds that the disease will not affect large numbers of the population. Studies have shown reductions in rates of diseases for which there are vaccines. This supports the idea that vaccines work.

The invent and continued development of vaccines has improved and saved the lives of countless individuals throughout the world. The World Health Organization lists the following benefits of vaccinations: decreased resistance to antibiotics, healthcare savings, extending life expectancy, protection against bioterrorism, helping economic growth, and benefiting equity. The World Health Organization in their February 2008 Bulletin continued We conclude that a comprehensive vaccination program is a cornerstone of good public health and will reduce inequities and poverty. Not only have vaccines helped save lives, protect people from illness, and disability, they have also helped improve people's quality of life and length of life. Thus making vaccinations one of the most important events in world history and continuing to help the world population through continued research and development.

Works Cited

Allen, Arthur, Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver, W W Norton & Company, New York, 2007.
Cole, Andrew, Japanese study is more evidence that MMR does not cause autism, BMJ Publishing Group, March 12, 2005, (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC554056)
Cultural Perspectives on Vaccination, History of Vaccines by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, January 10, 2018, (www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/cultural-perspectives-vaccination)
Goddard, Jolyon, editor, National Geographic Concise History of Science & Invention, Brown Reference Group, Washington, DC, 2010.
Haven, Kendall, 100 Greatest Science Discoveries of All Time, Libraries Unlimited, Westport Connecticut, 2007. (53,54)
Influenza Pandemic, History of Vaccines by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, January 11, 2018 (www.historyofvaccines.org/index.php/content/articles/influenza-pandemics)
Parker, Steve editor, Medicine: The Definitive Illustrated History, Dorling Kindersley Ltd, New York, 2016.
Parsons, Paul, Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs, Firefly Books, New York, 2011. (97-99)
Poliomyelitis Fact Sheet, The World Health Organization, March 14, 2018, (www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/poliomyelitis)
Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide, Bulletin of The World Health Organization, Volume 86, Number 2, February 2008, (www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/2/07-040089/en)

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Significant Role of Vaccinations

Vaccinations are deemed as one of the most essential and practical achievements in epidemiology to date by nearly eradicating and counteracting several diseases that were once prevalent and killed hundreds of thousands in the past centuries. Despite its efficacy in substantially reducing certain diseases, the only vaccine discontinued because the disease was permanently eliminated from the public was smallpox. That is it, just one out of the dozens available. All other vaccine-preventable diseases still cause suffering and death in the United States and the rest of the world as a result of the growing amount of exemptions from vaccines due to parental ignorance and anxiety from fears of unsafe use. As a subsequent consequence, herd immunity--a form of indirect protection from infectious disease in a populace-- is narrowing. As a result, it is essential for vaccinations to be mandated as a culmination of its success in nearly eradicating several contagions and improving the human quality of life exponentially.

Vaccines have been essential in preventing diseases that had otherwise a high mortality rate. In an effort to reduce childhood morbidity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issues annual recommendations and guidelines for childhood and adolescent immunizations (Ventola). They serve to provide immunity that is a byproduct of natural infection without the consequences of being afflicted. The creation of the first adaptive vaccine begun in England and paved the road for vast advancements in modern medicine. In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner, a physician in Southern England observed that milkmaids were immune to smallpox- a fatal disease that repeatedly devastated the English countryside. In testing his theory that blisters on the hands of milkmaids were similar to the blisters on the udders of a cow, Jenner extracted fluid from the blister and inoculated a young boy with the pus of both a maid and a smallpox victim. In turn, the boy was immune to the malady (Offit). Unknowingly, Jenner took advantage of a phenomenon that is known as a species barrier. Viruses and bacteria that have adapted to infecting one particular species have less of an effect on others (Offit). Although Jenner's speculations and the outcome was not necessarily correct, his legacy remains pertinent for pioneering immunology and the first known vaccine. Jenner laid the foundations for germ theory [the theory that specific germs cause certain diseases] (Heller) and the advancement of the medical field by erasing a pandemic that has caused millions of casualities for centuries.

The immune system has immense power in protecting individuals from the ravages of infection through expunging disease-causing microbes from the body. However, while it can eliminate infectious agents, if some function in the body goes wrong, it can yield disastrous effects for the host, leading to life-threatening diseases (Paul). When the immune system is functioning properly, it protects individuals from infectious diseases; however, one-way vaccines offer protection is by causing antibodies to form and by neutralizing the disease-causing microbe (Paul). The substance in the vaccine that causes an immune response is known as the antigen. Vaccinations also prepare the individual to make a secondary antibody response on infections with the organism bearing the antigen. This secondary antibody response is much higher in amount and more rapid than the response would have been had the individual not been vaccinated (Paul). Although the immune system is the body's primary defense against infectious organisms and other invaders, vaccinations offer a secondary powerful shield of defense from any possible invaders. According to a study conducted by the CDC in examining the efficacy of vaccines reducing the incidence disease, [s]ince the introduction of vaccines for rubella, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenza type b, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, and tetanus, we have seen a drop of between 97.8 percent and 100 percent in each of the diseases (Largent). Moreover, the chickenpox vaccine was introduced in 1995. At the time, 4 million cases of chickenpox occurred every year. Within a few years, the number of cases declined to about 400,000, a 90 percent drop (Largent). This is a substantial decrease given these diseases' prevalence in the past. Vaccines, successfully paired with the immune system, nearly eliminate several contagions. As compared to other demographics, such as impoverished countries in Africa where the occurrence of disease is high from a lack of proper healthcare, Western countries have a low incidence rate of transmittable viruses. If an unvaccinated child is exposed to an illness at a young age and survives, it can yield severe repercussions such as paralysis or brain damage.

There have been recent trends of parents in Western countries refusing to vaccinate their children due to numerous perceived fears. Over the last decade especially, questions have been raised regarding a relationship between autism and vaccines. Subsequently, this has led to a large number of parents exempting their children from receiving several mandated vaccines (Halpbern). While there has always been objection since its creation, there has been a recent surge in the opposition to vaccines in general, specifically against the MMR [measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccine (Hussain, Azhar, et al). This trend has been primarily due to Wakefield's fraudulent correlation between the MMR vaccine and the occurrence of autism. An adverse effect of the increasing number of exemptions can be noted from a case in Washington wherein 2008, public health officials singled out Washington State for its high number of unvaccinated children and identified the source of one of the largest outbreaks in recent history of measles as an unvaccinated child who spread the disease to seven other unvaccinated children in her household (Largent). Although all states have vaccination mandates for schoolchildren, in recent years they have granted a growing number of nonmedical exemptions, such as religious or philosophical. As a result, the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, especially among children whose immune systems are not fully developed, has increased. In an analysis of parents who opposed compulsory vaccination, researchers from the CDC asserted, [b]ecause many parents lack firsthand knowledge of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles or polio, they are not likely to perceive such illnesses to be an immediate threat to the health of their children (Largent). This assertion was validated, researchers say, by a 1999 telephone survey that found parents were more likely to refuse a vaccine when they perceived the severity of the disease to be low (Largent). Vaccines are useful not only because they protect individuals who have been vaccinated but also because they enable a broader protection for communities by establishing herd immunity. When a sufficiently high proportion of a population is vaccinated against communicable diseases, the entire community can obtain protection. As the number of vaccinated people in a given population increases, the likelihood that a susceptible person will come into contact with an infected person decreases; making difficult for a disease to infect a host. Although the vaccination rate required to achieve herd immunity varies by the vaccine, it typically ranges from 80 percent to 95 percent of a given population (Stratton), as the number of exemptions grows within a population, those that were previously protected by herd immunity are now vulnerable to contracting an ailment.

A large proponent and facilitator for the anti-vaccination movement was Andrew Wakefield, an ex-physician in England. In 1998, Wakefield published a paper in the journal Lancet. Wakefield hypothesized that the MMR vaccine caused a series of events that include intestinal inflammation, entrance into the bloodstream of proteins harmful to the brain, leading to the consequent development of autism (Hussain, Azhar, et al). In support of his hypothesis, Dr. Wakefield described 12 children with developmental delay, with eight having autism. All of these children had intestinal complaints and developed autism within one month of receiving MMR (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). Despite the small sample size, the uncontrolled design, and the speculative nature of the conclusions, the paper received wide publicity (Rao and Andrade). However, a concern with this publication is that there have not been nearly enough longitudinal studies to determine the long-term consequences of a vaccine, or the effects of giving multiple vaccines to young children at one time. Wakefield's studies were controversial for several reasons. For one, multiple sources have debunked any correlation between MMR and the development of autism. About 90 percent of children in England received MMR at the time this paper was written. Since MMR is administered at a time when many children are diagnosed with autism, it would be expected that most children with autism would have received an MMR vaccine recently. The observation that some children with autism recently received MMR is, therefore, expected (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). However, it is imperative that when studying the incidence of autism from the MMR vaccine, both vaccinated and unvaccinated children are utilized as proper control and experimental designs. This was neglected in the study. Further, Wakefield has been since discredited as a doctor. His studies were ultimately retracted; his papers are no longer part of the scientific record because it was found to be based on scientific misconduct. In this case, the studies were deemed fraudulent as data was misrepresented and falsified. However, the effect of his papers was monumental in spiking anxiety in families globally. The damage was done and parents across the world did not vaccinate their children out of fear of the risk of autism and MMR vaccination rates especially began to drop, thereby exposing their children to the risks of disease. In the UK, for example, [t]he MMR vaccination rate dropped from 92% in 1996 to 84% in 2002. In 2003, the rate was as low as 61% in some parts of London, far below the rate needed to avoid an epidemic of measles (Hussain, Azhar, et al.). Given the highly contagious nature of airborne illnesses such as measles, entire communities can be exposed to the pathogen.

Another primary concern for vaccines is that it contains harmful ingredients that are damaging to the body. Thimerosal, an organic mercury compound that is metabolized to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate, has been used since the 1930s as a preservative in some vaccines and pharmaceutical products (Stratton). Recently, fears that mercury at very low levels may be toxic to the brain have raised additional concern among many in the public. Parents have begun questioning its safety and concluded that the compound is further correlated with autism. However, what families do not realize is that there are two varieties of the organic molecule. There are good reasons to believe that the ethylmercury used in vaccines is very different from the damaging and toxic methylmercury studied in environmental science and fish (Baker). For one, the body readily breaks down ethylmercury and eliminates it, causing no bodily or cognitive harm (Baker). Second, there are such minute amounts of mercury present in thimerosal that there is no definitive evidence to conclude its linkage to autism (Ventola). It is all merely speculative. Moreover, these preservatives are essential in killing or preventing the growth of microbes in the body. In a tragic case from Columbia, South Carolina, in 1916, a tainted batch of typhoid vaccine stored at room temperature caused 68 severe reactions and 4 deaths. A similar incident took place in 1928 in Queensland, Australia, where 12 of 21 children inoculated with contaminated diphtheria vaccine died of multiple staphylococcal abscesses and toxemia (Baker). Without mercury-containing preservatives like thimerosal in vaccines to counteract microbial growth in the rare case that the vaccine is accidentally contaminated with multi-dosages, it can produce lethal effects.

Vaccinations are vital in boosting the immune system against viral and bacterial pathogens. With the general increase in the number of parents seeking exemptions for children to receive all of the recommended schedules of inoculations, there has been a massive influx in the number of nearly eradicated diseases making a comeback. In turn, children and those that have a weakened immune system from factors such as cancer are more susceptible to being contaminated by an unvaccinated individual. The rationale that vaccines are unsafe and cause bodily or cognitive harm is severely flawed. Parents seemingly would rather risk the chance of their child contracting an illness and dying over having autism, yet being otherwise healthy. It is a selfish mentality to bear.

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The History of Vaccines

The history of vaccines goes back much farther than one might believe. Even with minimal technology scientists were still able to create effective treatments for many diseases through the scientific method. Scientists have had centuries to perfect the methods of vaccination. Stern and Markle assert that even in the past obstacles were in the way of successful and safe vaccines. To create these types of vaccines there needed to be enormous amounts of political skill and creativity (Stern and Markel, 2005). This essay shows the history of vaccines as well as modern skepticism surrounding vaccines while also showing the consequences of refusing vaccines. Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Theobald Smith and his colleagues were able to lay the groundwork of how vaccines are used and created today.

One of the most deadly diseases in the past has been smallpox. The symptoms include sudden nausea and vomiting, lower back pain, suddenly feeling cold, and fevers. Lesions form as the fever goes away in the first two to four days of the other symptoms appearing. These lesions turn into pustules and then evolve into scabs (L., 2013). The first vaccination ever performed, was done so by Edward Jenner in 1796. He was working with cowpox and smallpox. Jenner did a multitude of research on how cowpox and smallpox were related. Through his studies, he realized the milkmaids that get cowpox were not infected with smallpox. He used this observation as a basis for this early smallpox vaccine. Jenner took pus from a cowpox lesion and injected it into a boy that was only eight years old. He variolated more cowpox pus into the boy six weeks later. The boy did not show any symptoms of smallpox from the pus or by exposure to people who had been infected (Stern and Markel, 2005). Variolation was replaced by the word vaccination because vacca is the Latin word for cow. His work injecting animal matter into humans was not welcomed by many individuals. Jenner's work moved from person to person in the beginning of the 1800s. The vaccine was injected from arm to arm. When the smallpox virus became immune to the vaccine Jenner then injected it into calves to strengthen the vaccine. There was almost a fifty percent decrease in smallpox in 1823 in England alone (L., 2013). People with high authority such as presidents and Kings hosted mass campaigns of vaccination. Due to their support, 100,000 people had received vaccinations by 1803. This is also when the vaccination for smallpox reached the U.S. colonies. With the spread of the vaccination, it became necessary to public health almost overnight (Stern and Markel, 2005).

Louis Pasteur observed that when certain bacteria cultures were exposed to chickens over a long period of time the chickens did not get sick. The process of exposing chickens to a bacteria over a period of time was then repeated with the same end result. This led him to the conclusion that if a living thing is exposed to a culture over a long period of time they will develop an immunity to it. This is what is used in vaccines today and his discovery lead to it. Pasteur used this knowledge to create a rabies vaccination by using the spinal cords of infected rabbits. This was first used on a man by the name of Joseph Meister. He did not show any rabies symptoms even after being bitten by an infected dog multiple times. This was yet another thing that was criticized by the common people. They did not like the idea of injecting possibly deadly substances into humans (L., 2013).

Salmonella enterica was a bacterium discovered by Theobald Smith; he hypothesized that this was the bacterium that causes hog cholera. Hog cholera was later found to be a viral infection so his hypothesis was incorrect. Daniel E. Salmon took credit for Smith's discovery and named it after himself. Using dead bacteria for immunity was first proven by Smith in collaboration with Salmon. Texas cattle fever was Smith's next project. It destroyed 90% of infected herds. Ticks were thought to be the cause of Texas cattle fever. This was hypothesized by cattle farmers and Smith decided to test it out for himself in collaboration with two veterinarians, Cooper Curtice, and Fred L. Kilbourne. Smith recognized that protozoa were on the infected cattle. Since primarily northern cattle were afflicted Smith and Kilbourne conduced experiment with southern and northern cattle. Both groups of cattle were placed in the same pin. The control group of cattle had the ticks left on them while the experimental group of cattle had the ticks taken off. The role of the ticks was established by these experiments as a carrier for Texas cattle disease. The experiments Curtice conducted resulted in the discovery that the infected ticks would pass the infection onto their larvae. Smith, Curtis, and Kilbourne were the first to discover insect-transmitted diseases (Schultz, 2008). Today, there are many effective vaccines that cure animal ailments caused by protozoa. Unfortunately, there are no effective vaccines for humans that treat infections caused by protozoa (McAllister, 2014). With all hope maybe someday these animals vaccines could be rewired to use on humans.

The history of whooping cough vaccine was a bumpy road. The first vaccine for whooping cough was created somewhere around the time of 1914 but was not used until 1949. It was created using whole cell dead Pertussis bacteria. The resulting vaccine, DPT, was merged with the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine. Serious side effects, sometimes causing death, were seen with using whole-cell pertussis. In Great Britain, the side effects were published causing the vaccination rates to drop by fifty percent. This notion spread to Japan as they would not allow vaccines to include the Pertussis bacteria. An acellular pertussis vaccine was created in Japan, DTaP, which replaced the previous vaccine in 1981. This vaccine proved to be far less deadly than the one previously used and Japan did not see any outbreaks with DTaP's use (What Is the History of Pertussis Vaccine Use in America?, n.d.).

Measles is a disease caused by a virus; it spreads through the air which makes it very contagious. The symptoms include a rash of small red spots, red eyes, runny nose, and a cough. The rash typically starts at the head and disperses to other parts of the body (Measles Vaccination, 2016). At the beginning of measles vaccination in 1936, there were two vaccines being used. One vaccine had an inactive strain while the other strain was active. By 1967 the vaccine with the inactive strain was pulled from use due to ineffectiveness. By 1975 the vaccine with an active strain was pulled from use because it caused a high number of rashes and fevers. Merck licensed a vaccine that was a combination of rubella, mumps, and measles, MMR, in 1973 (What Is the History of Measles Vaccine in America, n.d.). Live strands of rubella, mumps, and measles are contained in the MMR vaccine (Vaccines and Preventable Diseases, 2018).

There was a hesitation to vaccine in the beginning and there is still hesitation today due to discredited research of vaccines causing autism. PublicHealth.org stated, Despite the fact that numerous studies have found no evidence to support the notion that vaccines cause autism and other chronic illnesses, a growing number of parents are refusing to vaccinate their children. The now discredited study was performed in 1997 by a British doctor by the name of Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield's study was published in a British medical journal The Lancet (Vaccine Myths Debunked, n.d.). The study he published asserted that autism was caused by the measles, mumps, and rubella MMR vaccine. The rates of MMR vaccinations dropped drastically even though there was a very small sample size of only twelve individuals, no control group, and highly biased conclusions. Not long after his work was published, epidemiological studies fully refuted Wakefield's study and the possible line between autism and the MMR vaccine (Rao and Andrade, 2011).

For those children who are not being vaccinated serious consequences could follow. Beata Mostafavi (2016), wrote about this topic in her article entitled New Study Emphasizes Harm of Vaccine Refusals. She writes that with measles being completely eradicated in the United States in 2000, people were shocked when 667 cases were reported in 2014. This was studied intensively and it was concluded that children not being vaccinated was the cause. He stated that national data supports huge spikes of measles and whooping cough outbreaks. Both of which have a vaccine tied to them for prevention. Over fifty percent of the measles outbreaks were in children who were not vaccinated. It is a tragedy when a child dies from a preventable disease (Mostafavi, 2016). A common myth used by parents who refuse vaccinations is that the only people at risk are themselves, as a parent, and the child. This is simply not true even if everyone else is vaccinated. Infants can only get vaccinations once they reach a certain age; this leaves infants at risk for diseases such as measles and whooping cough. This affects children even if the parents plan on fully vaccinating them. Whooping cough, in particular, was an issue for California in 2010. In this outbreak, ten infants died from something that could have been completely prevented. The DTaP vaccination does not begin to work until the third dose has been administered when the babies are six months old. A similar thing occurs with the MMR vaccine that protects against measles. Other people who are at risk include those with weak immune systems and cannot be vaccinated (Iannelli, 2018).

Jenner, Pasteur, Smith, and his colleagues helped to start the modern vaccination process. All of these men had obstacles to overcome and even when things did not work they would not stop trying. They did not do so without criticism; since the common people were unsure about injecting humans with foreign substances. This mentality is still here today as seen by the rising number of parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated. Even after having many centuries of continued research and vaccination some people continue to put themselves and the entire human race at risk.

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ADHD in “The Boy from Hell” by Alison Thompson

The book The Boy From Hell by Alison Thompson (2013) tells her story as a mother raising her son Daniel. Daniel's mother explains, as a baby Daniel was irritable, moody, and inflexible. As a young child Daniel's mother describes Daniel as having a lot of energy, noisy, and destructive. When Daniel was a toddler him and his mother attended a group but Daniel was often disruptive and he would have temper tantrums. The temper tantrum would go on for hours and started if he did not get his way, was tired, or was frustrated.

In nursery school Daniel often had tantrums, difficulty sitting still, and often shouted out answers. Daniel's teacher recommended to his mother that she talk to Daniel's doctor about his behavior. When Daniel was six years old he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In his early years of school Daniel had an Individualized Education Plan however his teachers were still concerned. Daniel was still having difficulty concentrating, he was disobedient, and aggression. Being in a large class Daniel often found many distractions. Being in a large classroom Daniel also had difficulty getting help from the teacher because there were so many students and only a few teachers. The school decided that Daniel should receive one-on-one support in class and anger management sessions. As Daniel's aggression increased the school decided the best way to handle the situation was to send Daniel home when he was aggressive. Toward the end if the year Daniel had a tantrum in which he threw chairs across the classroom almost hitting a teacher. As a result of the tantrum Daniel was suspended for two weeks. During this time the school decided that Daniel would get better help if he attended a different school.

After leaving his old school Daniel started attending a small unit designed for children who cannot be in mainstream education for any type of reason. Daniel continued to be aggressive and violent in class. Daniel also frequently would have meltdowns in which he would kick and throw objects at his teachers. Daniel had difficulty staying organized and his mother would set out his clothes in the morning and would prompt him in getting ready because he would often get distracted and began doing something else. The school soon referred Daniel for another assessment when he was seven. At this time Daniel was diagnosed ADHD with secondary Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) with autistic traits. The doctor was hesitant to prescribe Daniel medication at first because he was so young. However Daniel became more aggressive and violent and was continuing to have tantrums. The doctor then prescribed Daniel Ritalin. Taking the Ritalin improved Daniel's behavior and teachers began to describe him as cooperative and participating in activities. At this time Daniel started attending a small school with an Autistic Support Unit, which Daniel attended one morning a week. Since the medication was wearing off by afternoon Daniel began to take a does at lunch to help him stay focused the whole day. Daniel's meltdowns and aggression continued which lead the doctor to increase his dose of Ritalin. The doctor also recommended a parenting class for his mother and anger management for Daniel. Daniel's mother explained that the parenting class helped her a little but was not the techniques were not appropriate for children with any psychological condition. Daniel was eventually placed in a school for children with emotional and behavioral difficulties. The school used a reward system, which worked for Daniel, and he improved both academically and behaviorally.

The book included a section from Daniel's sister perspective of growing up with a sibling with ADHD. Daniel's sister said that she often felt like she had to hold back on things she wanted to say because she did not want Daniel to get angry with her. She also talked about how she often wanted to include Daniel in activities with her friends but decided not to because she did not want them to say something that would make him angry. Daniel's sister said that Daniel often had a unique perspective on things and made family life more fun. Daniel's sister believes that having Daniel as a brother has made her more understanding of anyone with a psychological disorder.

Daniel explained that living with ADHD was difficult for him at times. However he believes the medication helped him to be more in control and made him less fidgety. When he was younger Daniel felt like he missed out on some experiences because he often did not have a friend group. Daniel went on to attend college, which made sure he had tutors who knew his difficulties. Daniel has been successful in college and his social life has grown significantly.

A diagnosis of ADHD is given when there is consent pattern of inattentive and/or hyperactivity which interferes with a person's functioning or development (Weis, 2018). Daniel displayed many of the inattentive symptoms mentioned in the textbook. One of the inattentive symptoms is difficulty maintaining attention on a task (Weis, 2018). Daniel had difficulty staying focused in school and at one point was getting one-on-one support to help him remain attentive during class. Another symptom Daniel displayed was not following though on instructions (Weis, 2018). Daniel's mother explained that some mornings when Daniel would be getting dressed she would go into his room and see him with one leg in his pants because something distracted him. A third symptom is difficulty organizing tasks and activities (Weis, 2018). Daniel's mother explained Daniel's difficulty with sequential tasks and often needed prompting to complete tasks. Another symptom is avoiding, disliking, or unwilling to do tasks that involve constant mental effort (Weis, 2018). Daniel often gave his mother and teachers a difficult time in completing schoolwork and homework. Another inattentive symptom is being easily distracted by unrelated stimuli (Weis, 2018). Being in a large class Daniel was often distracted by the other children and other objects in the classroom. Another inattentive symptom is often forgetting daily activities (Weis, 2018). Daniel's mother often had to remind Daniel to do his chores and sometimes even to keep eating his dinner when something would distract him. Daniel also displayed many of the hyperactive and impulsivity symptoms of ADHD. One of the symptoms is fidgeting and moving around in one's seat (Weis, 2018).

When Daniel was younger his mother explained that he had difficulty staying in his seat and would often jump up and down in his seat. Two other symptoms include leaving one's seat when one is expected to remain seated and runs and climbs in inappropriate situations (Weis, 2018). In school Daniel would often jump out of his seat and would run around the classroom. Another symptom is not being able to stay still for an extended period often described as being on the go (Weis, 2018). Daniel's mother described Daniel as having a lot of energy and always restless. Another symptom is answering questions before the question is completed (Weis, 2018). In school Daniel would often blurt out answers before the teacher could finish the question. Another symptom is difficulty in waiting for one's turn (Weis, 2018) Daniel's mother described how Daniel had difficulty in playing board games and would often have tantrums when he had to wait for another person's turn. Daniel experienced these symptoms before he was twelve years old and in two settings. ADHD runs in families and children are more likely to have the disorder if a biological parent has it (Weis, 2018). ADHD runs in Daniel's family as his father had ADHD. Some problems that are associated with ADHD are peer rejection and sleep problems (Weis, 2018). Daniel and his mother both said that Daniel did not have many friends in school. Daniel's mother also said that Daniel often had difficulties sleeping.

An effective treatment for ADHD is psychostimulants, which Daniel was prescribed. The medication helped to improve Daniel's academic performance and reducing his behavioral problems. Another treatment often used is Behavioral classroom management, which involves monitoring appropriate behavior and administering positive reinforcement for the positive behavior (Weis, 2018). The classroom environment is set up to bring about appropriate behavior and a report card is sent home to help parents also reinforce the appropriate behaviors (Weis, 2018). The small school that Daniel attended for children with emotional and behavioral difficulties followed this intervention. Daniel's behavior was monitored and he was given positive reinforcement when he behaved appropriately. Daniel's mother also received reports on Daniel's behavior at school. Daniel's treatment was unexpected in that it did not include any intervention to help social functioning. Daniel's mother mentioned that Daniel was having difficulty with academic work and engaging in extracurricular activities. The Challenging Horizons Program is designed to increase a person's academic performance and engagement and performance (Weis, 2018). The afterschool groups teach middle school student's organization and social skills (Weis, 2018). Daniel had difficulty in both these areas and this likely would have been beneficial to include in Daniel's treatment. One of the potentially effective treatments for ADHD is working memory training. Working memory-based training is a computer program that can be administered at home and is designed to help improve a child's working memory (Weis, 2018). Daniel's treatment did not include anything to try to strengthen his working memory. However Daniel likely would have benefited from trying working memory training since he had a lot of difficulty remembering to complete chores and sometimes to even finish eating.

Many youths with ADHD develop conduct problems like ODD. A diagnosis of ODD is having an angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behavior, or vindictiveness (Weis, 2018). Starting at a young age Daniel's mother described Daniel as having a difficult temperament, which often contributes to childhood onset conduct problems. Daniel's mother described Daniel's mood as unpredictable. Daniel often would easily get annoyed when things did not go his way, which would turn, into tantrums. Daniel himself explained the difficulty he had in controlling his temper. He explained that when he was annoyed at someone he felt the anger controlled him and he could not stop it. Daniel's mother also described him as refusing to comply with requests and only wanting to do things he wanted to do. Daniel also often would argue with authority figures. Daniel would often name call or talkback to an adult when he would get frustrated. The argumentative-defiant behavior dimension, which Daniel presents, is associated with ADHD (Weis, 2018) Daniels' symptoms are moderate since they are present in two settings at home and at school (Weis, 2018).

Medication Daniel was taking for his ADHD also reduced his other behavioral problems including his oppositional and defiant behaviors. Daniel's mother was recommended to go to a parenting class she found the class not that helpful as it was not meant for children with a psychological conditions. Also recommended was Daniel attend anger management, which did not help. The treatment was inconsistent with evidence-based treatment for younger children with conduct problems with the lack of parent involvement. Parent Management Training is an evidence-based treatment for young children with conduct problems (Weis, 2018). In this treatment a clinician teaches the parent to interact with the child in an adaptive way and to avoid coercive interactions with their child (Weis, 2018). Having Daniel's mother participate in this type of training could have helped her learn new skills to help her manage Daniel because she explained she was having difficulty when Daniel would have larger tantrums. Studies on the effectiveness of parent training for children with ADHD have demonstrated positive outcomes (Atamanoff Gambert, 2007). The results have shown an increase in children's compliance, parents using appropriate commands, knowledge of appropriate parenting techniques, and use of positive parental statements (Atamanoff Gambert, 2007). Many of the studies conducted have focused on administering individual parent training however the few studies of group parent training have yielded promising findings (Atamanoff Gambert, 2007). Daniel and his mother likely would have benefited if parent training was included in his treatment.

Taking the personal experience of Daniel there could be many misleading ideas. One of the misleading ideas is that children with ADHD are also violent. Daniel was diagnosed with both ADHD and ODD and his symptoms were consistent with both diagnoses. Daniel also displayed the combined presentation of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity ADHD however not every child will have the same presentation. Some children could have predominately inattentive presentation or the predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation. With the different presentations of ADHD means that children can different symptoms and may not look anything like what Daniel experienced. The doctor also believed that Daniel demonstrated some autistic traits, which likely exacerbated his social interactions. Children with ADHD can face peer rejection but the presentation will likely not look exactly like Daniel's experience.

My final analysis of the book is that it gives a good description of a child with both ADHD and ODD. Many of the symptoms that Daniel's mother describes are not just ADHD, which the cover says the book is about life with a child with ADHD. I would recommend this book to a parent who has a child with ADHD and ODD. Daniel's mother did a good job describing Daniel's symptoms as well as giving advice to parents that have a child with ADHD. Daniel's mother also includes Appendix that includes the DSM criteria for ADHD and resources. Daniel's mother also interjects Daniel's story to included information about working with the school system. Since Daniel is from the United Kingdom this information would be best for someone that also lives there. I also thought that included Daniel's and his sister's perspective was a good way to get an understanding how they viewed either have ADHD or having a sibling with ADHD.

The text and research information had consistent information. The text gave a lot of information about the presentation of the symptoms for the different diagnoses. The text also gives a lot of information about associated problems especially with ADHD. The text also describes many evidence-based treatments for younger children as well as adolescents for both ADHD and ODD. The research journal article gave good information about different studies done to examine the effectiveness of treatments with children and adolescents with comorbid ADHD and ODD.

Reading The Boy From Boy, the textbook, and the research journal article I got more detailed knowledge about ADHD and ODD. Reading the story from a mother's perspective gives a more real example of what life is like living with a person with that disorder than just reading about disorders in a textbook. I also thought that reading from the different perspectives of the different family members gave an even better picture.

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ADHD in "The Boy From Hell" by Alison Thompson. (2019, Jul 31). Retrieved November 3, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/07/page/2/

What is ADHD and how does it Affect Kids?

Contents

Article Review
Summary
Critique

Article Review

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disorder which disrupts attention and concentration among children affecting normal growth and development. According to the article, the disorder affects about 10% of high schoolers in the US (Cho & Blair, 2017). The article evaluates the extent of various interventions in preventing problem behaviors and improving classroom engagement of students with ADHD. The interventions include involving replacement skills, a change of behavior consequences and enhancing the activities students engage in class.

Summary

The article provides findings from a study conducted on two students and their teacher. The first study subject was Sam, a Caucasian male, 13 years and diagnosed with ADHD and OHI at 8 years. The second subject was Katrina a Caucasian female, 12 years and also diagnosed at the age of 9 with ADHD, emotional and behavior defects, and OHI. The teacher aged 30 years was experienced to provide special education. Two observers participated in collecting data and overseeing that all procedures take place as planned. The data presented students' academic performance and behavioral problems. The data were collected 3 to 4 times a week, and each session lasted for 40 minutes.

The study used a fidelity checklist, and each student was assigned various strategies for implementation. The social behaviors were recorded using a Linkert-types scale. The teacher reviewed the subjects individualized education program (IEP) and recorded FBA data. The hypothesis created a baseline for both reading and writing. Data collection lasted for four weeks, and the results recorded. Both students had correlated behaviors and academic engagement problems. Katrina showed more behavioral problems than academic engagement problems while Sam showed more problems than behavioral problems. The behavioral patterns for both students portrayed insignificant change. The study found out that improved replacement skills, changed behavior consequences and improved class activities are effective strategies teachers can use on students with ADHD and other related behavior problems.

Critique

The author identifies more than one strategy to assess its effectiveness of students with behavior problems. The inclusion of the three strategies ensured that the results were successful. Stating the aim of the study, the author creates more emphasis by focusing on students in high school; as ADHD mostly affects young children. The study clearly states the hypothesis and identifies subjects. The authors engage data and statistics from CDC to portray the seriousness of behavioral problems and the reason why the teachers should employ better intervention strategies. As a result, because the study has solid support from legislative Acts and the CDC, it is, therefore, relevant and useful. The authors agree with Act 504 Rehabilitation Act, by stating that children with disabilities should receive the necessary care and provided with all the resources which would help them cope with their problems.

The study uses as a selected sample of students with disabilities and in high school. However, the sample size is small and fails to act entirely as a representative. It is vague to use the data of two students to generalize that all students with ADHD and related problems will do well under improved replacement skills, changed behavior consequences and improved class activities. Additionally, a small sample size increases the chances of errors and uncertainties for the entire research as one of the subjects may have a lower response rate.

The study implemented different recording techniques. Data recording was not consistent as it relied on different study tools such as the Linkert scale and 10-s partial intervention system. Each of the tools had functioned differently. Using different tools recording scales in academic and behavioral assessment may have contributed to inconsistent results and a high error margin. Additionally, the study used a teacher to record the results, something which could affect the reliability of the outcomes since the teacher was not proficient in such studies. It then portrays that the authors did not consider the fundamental concepts required to study the behavior of children with ADHD. However, the authors could also argue that using the teacher to record the responses of the students was necessary to maintain normal learning conditions for the students. People with behavioral problems are sensitive to strangers, and therefore a new figure could affect the findings of the study.

The Study was a success, and the authors were able to prove the effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention in helping students with ADHD. The study methods, however, have to be re-evaluated because of flaws which could affect the credibility of the whole study. Additionally, the sample size was not sufficient and could give biased and inconsistent results. It would also be reliable if the study used consistent data collection methods as different methods for each qualitative techniques could cause more errors. However, the overall research is excellent except for some few problems which could have been corrected. It provides a clear illustration of how teachers should use multicomponent studies to provide special education to students with ADHD.

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What Is ADHD and How Does It Affect Kids?. (2019, Jul 31). Retrieved November 3, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/07/page/2/

ADHD Entrepreneurs

There is a lot of evidence to point towards a link between ADHD and entrepreneurship. The scientific article I picked is called Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) And Entrepeneurship by Kevin M. Antshel of Syracuse University. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic condition in which a person is very inattentive, hyperactivate, and even impulsive. The first symptoms are usually seen before age 12 and cannot be explained by any other condition. While ADHD was always thought to only affect children (Hill & Schooner, 1996), within the past 25 years evidence has been collected suggesting that ADHD often continues into adulthood (Biederman, Petty, Evans, Small, & Faraone, 2010; Mannuzza, Klein, & Moulton, 2003). Several empirical papers have reported a link with qualities of ADHD and qualities of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are the people who venture to create and develop businesses. There are many successful entrepreneurs with ADHD such as Paul Orfalea with Kinkos, David Neeleman with JetBlue, and Ingvar Kamprad with Ikea. In fact, there is data to show that having ADHD can help with entrepreneurship. People with ADHD are usually more goal oriented, responsible, respectful, and self-directed. These are very good traits to have if you want to be successful as self-employed. However, ADHD come with many lack of traits such as good sustained attention, response inhibition, and working memory. On the downside, childhood ADHD costs the society 50-60 billion dollars a year in the United states which is making it a public health issue (Pelham, Foster, & Robb, 2007). Yet this condition is quite abundant in the world of entrepreneurship.

A study conducted by Dimic and Orlov (2014) took 270 adults, some with and some without ADHD through a rehabilitation support center that was not specifically for ADHD. They were seeking to find patterns in participants ADHD and marketing qualities. The experiment was conducted in 1991 and the participants where given the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test (Caird, 1991). The (GET) is used to measure a person's own personal desire for autonomy, independence, and achievement. It also tests their attitude to moderate risk taking and their creativity. Demographic differences did emerge in the group with ADHD. The entrepreneurs that had ADHD were a lot less likely to have a college education than non-entrepreneurs with ADHD. Also, those who were diagnosed with ADHD had a 30% increase in probability of being an entrepreneur. This was especially strong in males with ADHD. The ADHD group scored higher levels with the (GET) dimensions in categories like personal desire for autonomy, independence, achievements, moderate risk taking, and their creativity. The group without ADHD scored higher levels on the (GET) drive and determination subscale. The conductors/authors of the study concluded that ADHD should not be understood as a disturbance in society, but as an affliction that could offer a rich source of people suited for entrepreneurship (Dimic & Orlov, 2014, p. 193).

This study was cross-sectional and found that ADHD was directly associated with increased odds of being an entrepreneur. However, they found that non-entrepreneurs with ADHD were a lot more likely to have a college education than entrepreneurs with ADHD. That suggests that people with ADHD that have a college education could end up turning to entrepreneurship because they have less other employment options.

I think that the data from the experiments research is fascinating because I have ADHD and have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I do agree with the study's conclusion in that people with ADHD have many qualities of entrepreneurship. I think that ADHD should stop being looked at as a setback but possibly an advantage. The world will always need entrepreneurs and people with ADHD are like naturals to perform an entrepreneur's tasks. I sometimes cannot pay attention but I have some very creative ideas. This is a setback now in school but I think I can use this to my advantage in my later stages of life. I think the tests are good because they first looked at favorable qualities in entrepreneurs and then tried to match them with people with ADHD. Anyone with ADHD that is struggling to find a career should see if entrepreneurship is something they might aspire to do. This article has helped me realize that I need to use my ADHD to my advantage and try and work through the setbacks.

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ADHD Entrepreneurs. (2019, Jul 31). Retrieved November 3, 2025 , from
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People Unknowingly Living with ADHD: Undiagnosed and Misunderstood

Sarah's day starts out normal, she wakes up and heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, but her feet are cold, so she goes and puts on some socks and then heads to the kitchen to make breakfast. Afterwards, she sits down at her laptop and realizes she has a bill due, so she grabs her wallet. Back at her laptop she opens Amazon's website after seeing an ad for black Friday deals, and with wallet in hand she proceeds to take advantage of the situation and do some shopping. Not even ten minutes into being awake she has already forgotten two very important tasks without even realizing it due to her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The CDC estimates that 9.4% of children age 3-17 years old in the United States have ADHD and the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 4.4% of adults have it. Sarah is not alone in her struggle. However, family therapist Marylin Wedge Ph.D. in her 2018 article Is ADHD Real? So Why Does Everyone Think It Is? claims that, just as her title suggests, ADHD does not exist. She is not alone when it comes to this opinion. While there are many people in society who say that individuals with ADHD do not have an actual mental disorder and that it does not exist, this leads to the the significant issue of how many individuals go undiagnosed while suffering from the symptoms, but this can be alleviated by raising awareness and dispelling the stigmas surrounding ADHD.

What exactly is ADHD? The CDC defines attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a mental health disorder that causes above average levels of impulsiveness and hyperactivity, with symptoms such as: difficulty paying attention, a lower than average attention span, difficulty controlling behavior and staying focused. People associate ADHD with a stereotypical child who can not sit down for more than two minutes at a time without causing some sort of disturbance or losing attention like a dog who has seen a squirrel. While these symptoms do exist and may be prevalent in many cases, they are not the only symptoms of ADHD, especially in adults with the condition. At first glance these symptoms may be traits of someone who is lazy or less intelligent, but this is a common misconception. I can't focus on anything, my mind feels like it's constantly racing 24/7, and I feel like all I can think about is playing video games because it keeps my attention, Reddit contributor ItzDomos describes daily life in his post on the ADHD subreddit. There are many incredibly smart people who live with ADHD, and even they have most likely lost more debit cards than one person could count on both hands and feet. These symptoms are not simply a little fidgety or a little impulsive, they are extreme and sometimes uncontrollable.

In 1902 British pediatrician Sir George Still found, an abnormal defect of moral control in children, the first first instance of recorded ADHD symptoms. It would take more than sixty years after this event for individuals with the condition to finally be recognized as suffering from an actual disorder. This group of people living with symptoms including impulsiveness, extreme forgetfulness, problems paying attention, anger, and many more would not receive recognition until 1968 by the American Psychological Association. As time went on the diagnosis rates went up as doctors became more equipped to recognize symptoms as well as it being more widely accepted in the medical field through the 1990s (Holland and Higuera). The CDC estimates through nation-wide surveys that diagnosis rates have steadily risen from just over 6% in 1997 to just under 10% in 2017. It should also be noted that there are also disparities in the rates of diagnosis between races of color and whites for a couple different reasons. Cultural differences play a part but may not be the biggest factor in the US. Until recently, a student of color who has disruptive behavior was looked at as just a bad student, but when a white student exhibits the same behavior there must be something medically wrong with that student, says Raul Padraza, a counseling program specialist for the San Bernardino Unified School District.

Even though ADHD has been recognized as a mental condition there are still people who claim that it is not real, and their arguments do have some actual merit. However, by saying that it does not exist at all is damaging to those suffering and overall not true. There is no such thing as ADHD, says Wedge, ADHD is not a real disease, is one example of a damaging claim that could dissuade people from seeking treatment. Even though her main statement is inherently abrasive, her argument that many ADHD symptoms are caused by environmental factors holds some truth. The condition has been linked to a chemical imbalance within the brain but not every case shares that same imbalance, and this is because there are certain environmental factors that may cause ADHD like symptoms. Padraza believes based on his experience that there are cases of a chemical imbalance but also attributes symptoms to technological conditioning. Television shows, and now Youtube videos that many children watch may be thirty minutes long and able to hold their attention but within that thirty minutes there are multiple smaller segments. This is conditioning children to have smaller attention spans and changing the way they see life in the real world and not just in front of their technology causing ADHD symptoms (Padraza).

The first reason going undiagnosed and untreated is the main issue posing a threat to people with ADHD is how it affects their family and home life. Many people would assume that only an ADHD child can affect life at home, but that is not the case. Alla M. Hamed, a professor at the Iowa University Carver College of Medicine found that parents suffering from the condition are prone to frustration and struggle with controlling their emotions due to the nature of their symptoms. This creates tension between them and their children and can lead to more arguments and hostile interactions. It has also been linked to an increased risk of domestic violence between spouses (Hamed). There are a few different ways that a child with the condition can have a negative impact. Due to increased behavioral problems that increase stress within a household marital strifes and complications are incredibly common (myVMC). Obviously, this is a huge concern and a big reason why this group needs proper diagnosis and treatment. Strains on the family do not stop at parents and the affected child either, siblings are often negatively impacted as well. A small study of thirteen siblings found that ten out of those thirteen had complications placed on them from dealing with their ADHD siblings. Disruptive conditions varied between care taking and victimization. Siblings felt that they were responsible for taking care of their ADHD sibling while their parents were too exhausted but did not feel like they were being taken care of, especially when being treated poorly by their ADHD sibling (myVMC).

The second and equally as important reason why going undiagnosed and untreated is the biggest issue that individuals within this group face is how dramatically it affects academics. Researchers found that children treated with stimulants showed academic gains on several measures relative to children who did not receive treatment and this is important because some of these children continue to be affected into their teens and adult life (Hamed). It directly impacts their potential in school and into college. College is already difficult for those with no learning impairments and is made even worse for those with ADHD making it crucial to receive treatment. Dr. Russel Barkley, a clinical professor of psychiatry and expert on ADHD, reported that 21% of teens with ADHD skip school repeatedly, 45% of teens with ADHD have been suspended, and 30% of teens with ADHD have failed or had to repeat a year of school (qtd. in additude) These are shocking statistics, and they only account for the cases where the condition is diagnosed. Every student that exhibits severe ADHD symptoms and goes untreated is at risk of academic underachievement which can lead to being a burden on society.

Imagine a student named John, he is intelligent but finds it extremely difficult to find the motivation to start tasks or projects, but when he does find the motivation, he hyper focuses all his attention onto the project at hand. However, that project may not be school related and now any chance he had at getting that essay done is gone. He is labeled a procrastinator even though he at times feels like he has no control. Due to the nature of his symptoms John is at risk of becoming another high school dropout. 35% of teens with ADHD eventually drop out of school (attitude). Therefore, treatment such as behavioral therapy, or medication that would help him control his spontaneous hyper focus is crucial. High school dropouts are three times more likely to be unemployed based on recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. However, it must also be taken into consideration that even if an individual with no high school diploma finds a job, they will be earning far less that someone who graduated (Amos). Lowering the rate of drop outs and decreasing the risk of unemployment within this group is imperative, and would benefit not only people with ADHD, but society.

ADHD poses an increased risk of crime and substance abuse among people within this group when gone untreated. Impulsiveness paired with financial issues that many people with untreated ADHD face are factors for increased criminal activity. Researchers found that ADHD was directly linked to an increase in both minor crimes such as speeding and traffic violations to more serious crimes that end in incarceration. The most prevalent serious crimes were theft, carrying a concealed weapon, and drug possession (Russel et. Al). Financial issues that stem from having struggled with school and having less education may be a factor for increased criminal activity, and the symptoms that held them back in school may also affect their performance in the workplace making it harder to hold a job. Individuals with untreated ADHD are also more likely to abuse controlled substances, nicotine and alcohol. It is important to note that the increased risk was not linked to the medication but specifically the untreated symptoms (Hamed). Every source found pointed to the fact that when untreated, ADHD leads to negative consequences through life and increases chances of criminal activity. Therefore, this is another area in which society as well as the group's individuals benefit from proper treatment.

There is one sole benefit when it comes to the increased dangerous driving habits that persist within this group when untreated, and it is increased funding for police through excessive tickets. Obviously, this is an issue and does not serve to benefit this group, society, or the people sharing the roads with them. When compared to non-ADHD individuals, teens with ADHD have two to four more times as many traffic violations and quadruple the amount of auto accidents. On top of that, they are seven times more likely to be involved in a second accident and found at fault at four times the rate (additude). When it comes to fixing driving habits medication alone may not be effective enough at fixing the problem. Therefore, the most effective treatment here would be behavioral therapy combined with medication. The medication gives them the ability to focus and pay attention to the road and the therapy allows them to take advantage of that focus and use it to their full potential. A decrease in these numbers through having more individuals receiving treatment would not only benefit themselves but other drivers as well. However, the police may need to make a few budget changes to make up for lost incomea cut-back on doughnutsis highly suggested.

The most important reason why this group's biggest issue is going undiagnosed is that the condition has directly been linked to a higher rate of mortality, and at even higher rates when going undiagnosed until adulthood. An incredibly large-scale study done by Dr. S??ren Dalsgaard, PhD. et al. for The Lancet medical journal followed two million individuals from the Danish registry with over thirty-two thousand of them being people with ADHD. These people were followed for a maximum of thirty-two years starting from their first birthday to 2013, and it was found that having ADHD doubled the chances of premature death. There were 107 premature deaths within the ADHD group with seventy-nine being from unnatural causes, and forty-two of those seventy-nine being accidental. They found that age of diagnosis also played a part in the results with rates of mortality increasing as individuals go undiagnosed into adulthood. Now John is not only at greater risk of academic underachievement but because he is eighteen years old and still undiagnosed, he is twice as likely to die early compared to someone diagnosed before the age of six and four more times likely compared to someone his age who does not have the condition (qtd in eureka). For all the people like Sarah and John, steps need to be taken to increase their chances of success and even survival within society.

Luckily, there are some different ways of dispelling the stigmas surrounding ADHD.

Works Cited

Wedge, Marilyn. Is ADHD Real? Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 24 Mar. 2018,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/suffer-the-children/201803/is-adhd-real.

Hamed, Alaa M., et al. Why the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Matters

Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 6, no. 168, Nov. 2015, pp 1-6. PMC,

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00168.

https://all4ed.org/take-action/action-academy/the-economic-case-for-reducing-the-high-school-dropout-rate/ Amos

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4451079/ Russel

https://www.myvmc.com/lifestyles/the-family-impact-of-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/ myVMC

https://www.additudemag.com/the-statistics-of-adhd/ attitude

https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/history holland and higuera

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/timeline.html cdc

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/tl-tlp022415.php the lancet article (eureka alert)

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd.shtml national institute of mental health Personal interview Raul Padraza

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People Unknowingly Living With ADHD: Undiagnosed and Misunderstood. (2019, Jul 31). Retrieved November 3, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/07/page/2/

ADHD and ADD

Growing up, I have heard the phrase ADD / ADHD tossed around in mundane conversations to describe just about anything and everything one may find to be boring or distracting. The normalization of the phrase convinced me that this in fact was another made up thing to justify absent mindedness. Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder more commonly referred to ADD / ADHD, is much more than being sidetracked; it is one of the best and worst things that has happened to me.

The earliest documented cases of this disorder were in the late 1800s in England; this disorder was originally dubbed under the umbrella term nerves. It was believed to be caused by trauma sustained to the head during infancy. Over a hundred and fifty years later, that notion was believed to be the origin and published in the DSM-II. It wasn't until 1957, when Dr. Maurice W. Laufer went on to study the inconsistencies and concluded trauma was not a criterion.

It has long been recognized and accepted that a persistent disturbance of behavior of a characteristic kind may be noted after severe head injury, epidemic encephalitis and communicable disease encephalopathies, such as measles, in children. It has often been

observed that a behavior pattern of a similar nature may be found in children who present no clear-cut history of any of the classical causes mentioned. This pattern will henceforth be referred to as hyperkinetic impulse disorder. (Laufer et al. 1957)

When the DSM-III came out, Hyperkinetic Impulse Disorder was revised and revamped. Under the rebranded title of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, many doctors felt as though it did not encompass those who did not have the hyperactive component. And so, the DSM-IV recognized both ADD and ADHD.

According to the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (2018), this disorder is a highly genetic, brain-based syndrome that has to do with the regulation of a particular set of brain functions and related behaviors. One key phrase I want to emphasize is how it is brain-based; therefore, the signs, symptoms and severity will differ from one person to the next. Although definition explained the overall location and effects of the disorder, we will focus on the etiology next.

A major contributor is heredity due to the role of the DRD4 gene. The D4 receptor is known to be responsible for dopamine intake in the brain (NIH, 2018). Variants of this gene have been proven disrupt the pathway of dopamine from reaching the correct sensors. When these pathways are interfered with, it affects the mesolimbic system of the brain; which in turn is responsible for reward, attention and emotions. This gene has also been linked to traits of risk taking, substance abuse, novelty seeking and impulsivity (Ebstein et al., 1996; Benjamin et al., 1996; Li et al., 2004; Reiner and Spangler, 2011).

Along with genetics, there have been various causations believed. These included: sustained trauma as mentioned before, diet and environment. While research is still being done in all aspects, studies have shown this disorder present in just about every population. With the recent changes in diet due to variety of foods being more available, GMO's (genetically modified organisms) and travel becoming more accessible; researchers have begun to focus on new potential links (San Mauro Mart?n, I et al., Nutritional Neuroscience, 21(9), 641“647).

Seeing that we have covered background information on this disorder such as: history, how it operates and potential links; I am going to dive into the signs, symptoms, and severity. I will now share my experiences.

In order to complete enrollment for 1st grade, I was required to get a physical; this was my first unofficial diagnosis. As my parents filled out the paperwork, the doctor observed my behavior before nonchalantly asking if they had ever had me tested for learning disabilities other than Attention Deficit Disorder. Just as quickly as he asked, he changed the subject leaving my parents stunned. It was done in such a manner of stating facts, rather than a generalized question.

The second landmark incident happened two weeks into my new school year. Due to my inattentive nature, a teacher assumed that I couldn't speak English. Granted I was listed as a transfer student and was falling behind in some areas, she began making an action plan. Almost immediately a parent-teacher conference with a translator was scheduled. Looking back, I see why my family found this funny; all they could say was You got someone to translate Canadian-English?.

That meeting lead to my enrollment into cognitive behavior therapy and modification skills, however, I would continue to fall under the radar. Due to my average grades and lack of hyperactivity, I wasn't walking stereotype of what Attention Deficit Disorder looked like. And so, I wouldn't address the underlying issue for 15 years.

As we covered before, since this is a brain-based disorder, it will appear differently in everyone. The best way to describe my Attention Deficit Disorder is imagine you are going to Target for toilet paper. However, once you enter you end up in every isle except the one that you need to be in. You're walking along -oh, there's that thing you forgot last time. Suddenly, you freeze, you can't recall what you're forgetting because your thoughts are racing like a VHS tape on double time. Before you know it, you're at the check-out and the total is in the triple digits. BOOM! You forgot your wallet in the car, but you're in luck because you installed Apple Pay. While pulling out the parking lot you're stuck in traffic, that's when it dawns on you. You forgot to buy the toilet paper. Now imagine that 24/7 and that was my life in a nutshell.

When it comes to diagnosing ADD / ADHD there are three major clusters: hyperactivity, inattentiveness and impulsivity. While mine tends to manifest predominantly inattentiveness and impulsivity; some can have a mixture of all three. These cluster take place in behaviors such as: procrastination, lack of focus, moving from one unfished task to the next, overlooking details, excessive talking and lack of organization.

While there are certain things to look out for, diagnosing often takes more than one visit. Undiagnosed ADD / ADHD can lead to cases of insomnia, varying degrees of depression and anxiety; however, the same can be said for misdiagnosing. Due to this, many healthcare provides use various rating scales pertaining to behavior, academic and workplace. Some may even go as far as to use third party observations and finally neuropsychological and psychoeducational testing.

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Teens Children and ADHD Meds

ADHD is a mental disorder that's hyperactive, it causes teenagers and children to behave badly. They often don't pay attention and its hard for them to control their impulses. ADHD drugs should not be used as study drugs. The medications are sometimes used by teens and children to boost their grade. Doctors should be aware of parents seeking medication for their child to be healthy. Sometimes the teens are faking symptoms to get pills for themselves or others. Healthy children are not mature enough to handle the consequences from the drugs side effects. The medication itself is not too much unless it is used in these three types of manners.

ADHD should not be used as a study drug to get ahead in school. In the article, it states that They diagnosed their failings and administered their own medications, and believe that with the help of prescription stimulants they can block out distractions to concentrate on academic performance and become smart and studious on demand. This is not healthy and there are many risks that come with the misuse of this drug that everyone should be aware of. It may cause restlessness, aggression, and increased blood pressure and heart rate, it can also cause you to have a stroke, seizures, heart attack, paranoia, psychosis and stomach problems. Some students decide to stop taking it once their bodies start to appear informed and can create social anxiety, negative health effects, stress, dependency and eating disorders. The report points to a real point to a real problem, but it is also a problem that most children and teens who actually have ADHD are not adequately treated for it, says Mark Wolraich, a pediatrician at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. He helped write ADHD treatment guidelines for the American Academy of Pediatrics (USA Today, 2013).

ADHD often times is misused by children and teens. ADHD medicine can enhance concentration for those who are diagnosed but it can cause damage to the ones who don't have it mentally. The pediatrics academy has informed doctors to be aware of the misuse of ADHD medications. Doctors are to warn teens to not share their medications. The report informs about the misuse of Ritalin, Adderall, and other stimulations. While the phenomenon is increasingly global, the United States consumes between 80 percents and 90 percent of the Ritalin prescribed today, according to Richard Degrandpre, author of Ritalin Nation Rapid-Fire culture and the Transformation of Human Consciousness (American Sociological Association, 2008). Doctors have an ethical obligation to be aware of the rising misuse of ADHD medications. Therefore the Doctors should explain to the patients and the patient's parents about the consequences and effects the medication can have if it is used improperly after they prescribe it.

U.S. college students today are among the first to be raised in a society where prescription drugs are an everyday commodity socially branded and advertised directly to consumers, not unlike cars and blue jeans. These students are also the products of the most intense competition ever for college admission (American Sociological Association, 2008). Teens are easily able to access drugs. They have no trouble attaining them and using them on a daily basis. As a result, nearly one in four college students nationwide have reported doing so have taken possession of this for personal gain.

In conclusion, the medication to benefit without being diagnosed is not smart. Using ADHD medication to benefit without being diagnosed is not smart. Doctors should always make sure they're parents are knowledgeable of this information. The outcome from the drugs misuse can impact greatly if ignored.

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ADHD and its Impact on Longevity

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD is a chronic neurological disorder that usually presents during childhood with symptoms including hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity, and easy distractibility. It can have a drastic effect on a person's quality of life, however many people either don't believe it is a proven medical condition, or believe that it is not worthy of concern. Unfortunately, those beliefs are unfounded and quite harmful.

A presentation by Dr. Russell Barkley at the 2018 International ADHD conference presented ADHD as a public health issue worthy of much concern. It affects 5% of children worldwide and will follow many of these children into adulthood.

Barkley used data from his study that followed children with ADHD into adulthood. He found that the children with ADHD had an estimated lifespan over eight years shorter, and healthy life span almost ten years shorter than those without. For adults, it's even worse with life spans shortening by over eleven years and healthy life spans decreasing by almost thirteen years.

ADHD is shown to be an extreme public health issue because one of its symptoms causes sufferers to prioritize the short term much more than the long term causing obesity, drug addiction, and more. Sufferers will struggle to quit smoking, stick to a diet, or do work in a timely manner. ADHD can also increase rates of car crashes, accidental injuries, and decrease sleep.

The effects of ADHD can be minimized if it is addressed as an issue of public health. To begin, ADHD must be acknowledged as a valid neurological disorder that affects executive function and self-regulation. Sufferers must be cared for throughout their life and more discussion must be had about treatment options. More education across the board is essential.

Everyone from doctors, teachers, and parents to students and the general population should be aware of the issues facing the diagnosed and undiagnosed. With proper education, more people will be aware that they have a legitimate medical disorder and can seek treatment.

Adults and their doctors must also be aware of the possibility of ADHD and patients that show symptoms should be tested. Its degradation of sleep, nutrition, and exercise must be addressed to ensure the health of patients. Substance abuse programs should also take into account that ADHD might be impeding treatment efforts.

Studies have shown that when treatment of ADHD stops, symptoms return, so until a permanent cure is found, treatment must be continuous.

ADHD is often seen as simply a disorder that makes school harder for patents, but it is much more than that and clearly, ADHD should not be treated as a minor issue because it has an extreme impact on quality of life. It has the potential to cause a multitude of health problems such as addiction and obesity and untreated, it acts as a catalyst for a short, unhealthy life.

Pushing all of this into the public eye will have a major impact on healthcare and the lives of millions. It will be met with criticism that ADHD can be treated with willpower, that it doesn't need treatment at all, or that it isn't a valid disorder to begin with. Research based discussion can be used to stifel these criticisms and move healthcare forward.

All of this may make one believe that those diagnosed with ADHD are doomed to a life of hardship and suffering, but with proper, well-rounded care and treatment, sufferers can live a happy, productive life.

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What is Attention Deficit Disorder?

Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder that involves a pattern of inattention, impulsiveness, or hyperactivity. These traits may prevent those affected from functioning or developing properly throughout life. Individuals with ADHD often just have one of these traits though it is possible to have more than one. In the younger population the most common symptom is hyperactivity including behaviors like difficulty concentrating and being unfocused. Inattention symptoms include problems with finishing assignments, getting distracted easily, or bad time management skills. Impulsiveness and hyperactivity symptoms include fidgeting, constantly talking, being impatient, or interrupting in certain situations. There is no single test for diagnosis of this disorder though the patient must have a chronic history of inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsiveness.

The symptoms must interfere with the patient's quality of life and be behind with development (NIH, 2016). ADHD can be complicated and difficult to assess because there is no real definition of this disorder due to many symptoms that can overlap with other mental disorders. These symptoms including inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, poor behavioral control, learning difficulties, anxiety, and disrupted social interactions that can also be symptoms of mood disorders, learning disorders, or even conditions such as allergies, stress, or poor diet (Jackson, 2003). In a journal article published by Burcham & DeMers (1995) researchers go into detail about the information needed in order to complete a comprehensive assessment of ADHD which includes information from multiple sources, the extent of the ADHD symptoms that are present, the extent of the symptoms that can be related to another mood or learning disorder, and the extent that these characteristics are interfering in the child's overall functioning. Comprehensive assessment is not done with a specific test for ADHD but rather with questionnaires, screenings or tasks to measure and distractibility. There is an issue with the assessment of ADHD because it generally occurs in the offices of pediatricians and general family practitioners, is not standardized, and can lead to misdiagnoses including over diagnosis and under-diagnosis (Jackson, 2003; Carey, 1999).

Typically these symptoms are seen as early as the age of 3 and continue into adulthood. This mental disorder is one of the most common affecting 8.4 percent of children and 2.5 percent of adults in the United States. It is common for teachers and school staff to provide parents and medical professionals with information to help assess and even assist with behavior and learning problems. Students who have significant symptoms of ADHD that impairs their learning may qualify for special education which can include person-centered services like study skills instruction, changes to the classroom structure, alternative teaching techniques or a modified curriculum. In adults with ADHD, many do not realize they have the disorder and are treated with medication, psychotherapy, and helpful strategies like behavior management (APA, 2017). Although there are many treatments for ADHD, none of them are entirely satisfactory and people are still exploring new methods and looking for ways to help better manage this disorder. The ability of music and its power to improve sensory integration as an element of music therapy is important in the treatment of individuals with ADHD. Music therapy can be primary or multidisciplinary and ranges between different individuals.

The type of music including low-tempo and high-tempo songs also plays a role by preference. This treatment may be case-specific for those with ADHD and can be described depending upon the setting, the referral source, and the needs of the child. Different types of music therapy methods including music and movement, instrumental improvisation, musical play, and group singing can be combined in the treatment of ADHD. Previous studies suggests several elements of music that can help in the treatment of ADHD including the element of movement and its effect on dual hemispheric activation inside the brain, ability of music to increase memory functions and auditory perception for improved learning, and the ability of specific sounds or tones to affect the production of brain waves (Jackson, 2003). Music & rhythm therapy methods often address multiple types of goals, and still include other forms of treatment, with a majority receiving medication. Researchers have found music to improve auditory perception and language skills in learning disabled children and have taken an interest in the effects of music and sound on neurological functioning. Since studies have found that music has an impact upon brain function, attention, activity level, social behavior, and learning, there is good reason to support further investigation into the different ways that music might be used to effectively treat children with ADHD.

Though in the past there is little research within music therapy about its treatment on ADHD, studies on the effectiveness of this treatment have been on the rise. A random sample of 500 music therapists surveyed through questionnaires about the treatment of early elementary school children with ADHD and many provided additional commentary about the effectiveness of music therapy. Music therapists included that this treatment encourages on-task behavior, increases attention span, positive behaviors, and self-esteem, decreases frustration and resistance, contributes to improved sensory integration, and is especially effective with medication. Participants added that music therapy is the one group they sit through and stay focused, provides structure that helps children get organized, and provides opportunity for energy release within a structure mentioning that consistency and structure are key elements (Jackson, 2003). Imaging studies have shown key parts of the brain that are involved when processing musical rhythm including activation in the auditory, frontal, parietal and motor regions. Other parts of the brain that play a role in sensory-motor integration include the supplementary motor area, basal ganglia and cerebellum (Slater & Tate, 2018).

An important observation that explains how unique it is for humans to process musical rhythm can specifically be seen in nonhuman vocal learning species including parrots or songbirds. The sensory-motor coupling that is needed for synchronization of movement to music in these species is a necessary basis for learning and producing complex communication signals (Patel and Iversen, 2014). Evidence that these systems play a large role in temporal processing and cognition is due to the activation of motor areas during rhythm perception. Music is so influential for healing and stimulating emotions that specific populations like the Greeks at Asclepius would place an ill individual in the center of the amphitheater and used specific voices to heal that person (Jausovec et al., 2006). Music has also been found to help in the learning of foreign languages, reading and mathematics, retention of terminology, and creative ability (Lozanov, 1978; Panksepp, 1998; Jausovec, 1994; Adaman and Blaney, 1995). These combinations of sound are proposed to be a 'prelanguage' that is available early in life and act as an exercise for activating and exciting the flow of cortical firing patterns responsible for higher brain functions.

The firing patterns enhance the cortex's ability to accomplish pattern development and is explained through a concept called the 'Mozart effect'. The effect is defined by an enhancement of performance or change in neurophysiological activity associated with listening to Mozart's music and can be found in the improved performance on spatial IQ tests (Jausovec et al., 2006; Rauscher et al., 1993 & 1995). This study led by Rauscher included a control group of college students that had spent 10 minutes listening to Mozart and ended scoring 8-9 points higher than the students who had listened to a relaxation tape or listened to nothing. The explanations and research have been criticized because there was no prior evidence of cross-modal priming between unrelated stimuli. Though this hypothesis is supported by a study done by Jausovec and Habe (2005) in which they show that Mozart's music had a beneficial influence on performance of spatial rotation tasks and a slightly negative influence on the performance of numerical tasks.

The etiology of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder is still being researched due to no direct cause. However, there are some important factors that affect the risk of developing ADHD including genetics, prenatal care/environment, and environmental exposure to toxins. This disorder is heritable meaning that it can be passed down to offspring. Unhealthy prenatal behaviors including smoking, alcohol consumption, or drug use can affect the risk of developing ADHD. Environmental factors include being exposed to toxins during pregnancy or high levels of lead (NIH, 2016). Though there is insufficient evidence, an article by Dr. Emma Sciberras describes how several studies have found that prematurity, low birth weight, and stress during pregnancy are also associated with ADHD development in offspring (Sciberras, 2017). Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder is a chronic condition that is not yet curable and most individuals affected are prescribed stimulant or non-stimulant medications. Stimulants work to increase the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain like dopamine and norepinephrine (NIH, 2016). Most individuals with ADHD find that medications for this disorder improve their quality of life by being able to focus on daily tasks. To find the right medication a patient might have to try several different ones. Stimulants can also play a role with increasing anxiety, which is a problem for young adults with ADHD that were found to have significant psychiatric comorbidities (Hauck, 2017).

Researchers Volkmar, Hoder, and Cohen (1985) analyzed the inappropriate use of stimulant therapy including the lack of careful consideration of the risks associated with stimulant medications, the lack of careful comprehensive assessment, and poor monitoring of patient response to medication. Many of these studies suggest that medication treatment is not the final answer for treating individuals with ADHD (Jackson, 2003). Most of these young adults are also diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression or another type of psychological condition. Having another type of psychological condition can lead to more medications like antidepressants in addition to the stimulants or other treatment used for ADHD. Psychotherapy is another form of treatment for this disorder and that includes behavioral therapy in which the patient learns how to control certain behaviors and think with a clear mind. Another type of treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy that patients can use to learn about mindfulness or meditation (NIH, 2016). Behavioral therapy is a type of treatment for ADHD that appears often in literature and science journals even though many studies have shown that these interventions and self-management strategies have been largely ineffective with the ADHD population (Abikoff, 1985).

Other ways to improve the organization and well-being of an individual with ADHD is keeping a routine, giving positive reinforcement to positive behavior, and using organizers like a homework folder (CDC, 2016). Case Study Patient X is identified as a 24-year-old male who has been having difficulty in school due to severe difficulty concentrating, constantly losing things, and being easily distracted. Medical history includes drug use of the mother of Patient X while pregnant and an initial presentation of these symptoms as a child. Environmental risks include early life exposure to toxins like lead in running water while living in an urban/city area. There was a concern of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder at the age of six. However, treatment was decided to be behavioral therapy until the age of 12 when the hyperactive behavior was controlled. Due to the severity of these symptoms in adulthood, Patient X reached out to professionals and was tested for more symptoms of ADHD. This started with a questionnaire and compressive assessment that is compared to the criteria for ADHD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Patient X engaged in tasks including intellectual screenings, and measures of sustained attention and distractibility.

Attention and distractibility are measured with continuous performance tests, word memory tasks, and puzzles. Patient X was prescribed a stimulant by a psychiatrist to control focus and functioning. After a couple weeks on the stimulant Patient X started to feel more in control and concentration improved significantly. Patient X continued to explore different methods of treatment and though music therapy was not an initial option when he was younger, Patient X explains how the effects music has benefited his well-being and treatment of ADHD. Patient X described his experience with this disorder as having several thoughts going at once and not being able to grasp any and constantly needing something to do. Music helps me zone-in on the tasks I have at hand. I can't just do this with any pop culture music, it has to be continuous and have a steady beat. I find this with lo-fi slow tempo music and if I want some thing more energetic I'll listen to electronic dance music that has a faster pace or high tempo. says Patient X. Lo-Fi music is also known as Low Fidelity music in which songs are lower quality of sound recordings than the regular modern audio that would be played on the radio. Electronic dance music ranges within different sub-genres and some are specifically known to have a high tempo; though it is known to be as continuous and steady as low tempo music.

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Nuclear Energy for Tomorrow

I choose this topic because our planet is experiencing global warming and climate change at a rapid rate. Due to our consistent use and abuse of non renewable resources such as coal, natural gas, and oil. Although nuclear energy does create radioactive high level waste it is emission free and saves about 2.4 billion tons of carbon emissions. Our ecological footprint is 8.00 in global hectares per capita. The population of the United States is using twice the renewable natural resources and services that can be regenerated within its borders. When the amount of natural renewable resources dwindle and the demand is higher then production we will start to use more non renewable resources like coal which causes air pollution, and oil which can cause air pollution and marine pollution. The more we use non renewable resources the closer we bring our planet to destruction.

Several studies have been carried out to determine the effect of nuclear power on the environment, especially in comparison with other energy sources. Many of them have established that nuclear power generation causes minimal effects on the environment as it emits very low amount of carbon dioxide and other green house gases (Sovacool 376). Energy sources such as fossil fuels cause more deadly pollution when compared to nuclear energy.

Much of the opposition with nuclear power generation is associated with the potential catastrophic risks that can result from overheated fuels (Pandit, pp. 3). About 10,000 metric tons of high level radioactive wastes are produced from reactors around the world.

There are controversies in regard to how these wastes should be deposited. Deep burial in stable geological locations was suggested, but no country has implemented that to date. New technologies have been developed to reprocess the waste and reduce its volume. However, this waste is too minute when compared to that from fossil fuels.

Studies conducted to identify fatalities per unit power produced by the several leading energy sources have shown that nuclear power is the safest one while fossil fuels, especially coal, are the most polluting (Sovacool 376).

This can be explained by the number of deaths that is caused by air pollution from fossil fuels. The director of Center for Health and Global Environment at Harvard Medical School explains that the whole life cycle of energy production from fossil fuels leads to a trail of injuries, illness and death (Sovacool 376). It is estimated that fine particles that are emitted from coal electricity generating plants kill up to 13,000 every year in the United States. More deaths are also registered in the extraction and transportation of coal and other fossil fuels.

In contrast, there have been no deaths associated with Nuclear power generation, apart from some notable accidents. The International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN estimate that the death toll due to cancer following the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl is yet to reach 9000 (Sovacool 376, pp.3).

More research indicates that catastrophes associated with nuclear power plants are not major contributors of nuclear death or pollution. More than half of the deaths associated with nuclear power activities stem from Uranium mining. Even when this is included, overall number of deaths remains significantly low in comparison to all other energy sources.The production of nuclear power is relatively cheap when compared to coal and petroleum. The initial cost of setting up a nuclear power plant is usually very high. However, the subsequent fuel cost to run the plants is very low compared to other energy sources.

The cost of power production from other sources may vary from place to place depending on deposits and other environmental factors. For instance, the use of coal for power production is economically attractive in countries such as the United States, China and Australia because they have abundant and accessible domestic sources (Sovacool 376). Gas is competitive for base load power in many locations around the world. However, the rising costs and environmental challenges have done away with most of these advantages.

The cost of nuclear fuel for nuclear power generation is much lower compared to coal, oil and gas fired plants (Sovacool 376). However, the processing, enrichment and fabrication of the Uranium account for about 50% of the total cost.

Additional costs are often associated with the management, radioactive used fuel and the ultimate disposal of the used fuel (Ojovan 12). However, even when these costs are factored in, the total price of energy production from nuclear power is much cheaper compared to the one got from gas and coal fired plants.

A study carried out by the US Nuclear Energy Institute shows that a coal fired plant uses 78% of its financial resources on fuel, a gas fired plant needs up to 89% of its financial resources on fuel while a nuclear power plant requires only 14% of its financial resources on Uranium.

Uranium has the advantage of being concentrated and thus can be transported cheaply when compared to gas and coal. It is also used in very small quantities to create similar amount of energy. In fact, one kilogram of Uranium can be yielded up to 20,000 times producing more energy than similar amount of coal does (Ojovan 15).

Apart from the low cost of acquiring and transportation of Uranium, another economic advantage lies in the ability of a single nuclear power plant to generate high amount of energy.

Nuclear power is much more efficient compared to other energy sources. Hydro power production may be hampered by adverse whether conditions and thus cause unprecedented increase in the cost of energy with serious economic consequences. Fossil fuel production and distribution are often affected by political situations in oil producing countries, and this regularly impacts on the gas prices.

The greatest environmental advantage of nuclear power is that it does not release greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and chlorofluorocarbon) during nuclear reaction (Ojovan 37, pp. 4). Hydropower does not produce emissions such as fossil fuels, but it causes a significant effect on the environment through damming, change of water flow, lowering of water levels, building of power lines (Pandit, pp. 6). The environmental effects caused per unit power generation are enormous when compared to nuclear power generation.

The greatest political advantage of using nuclear power is the fact that it leads to a significant reduction of dependence on oil. Oil is produced in very few countries around the world and thus has created a lot of interest and competition. This is indeed true for the political crisis that seems never to end in the Middle East.

Nuclear fuel is cheaper and can be sourced from more stable regions of the world. Therefore, nuclear power can indeed free many countries from oil dependence (Sovacool 376).

This paper sought to reaffirm that nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy. Its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. Indeed, it has been identified that nuclear power is much cheaper, causes the least effect on environment and reduces dependence on other countries producing oil. Though it has some serious risks, the efforts that are currently in place have reduced them considerably.

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How does Nuclear Energy Affect the Environment?

Renewable resources have the ability to be replenished in a remarkably short period of time while nonrenewable sources take many years to be recreated. The sun, water, wind, and biomass are common sources of renewable energy. Coal, oil, and natural gas are sources of nonrenewable energy. Another source of energy is nuclear energy. Although nuclear energy itself is a renewable energy source, the material used in nuclear power plants is not. Nuclear energy is the energy in the nucleus of an atom. We can release this energy and use it to make electricity. Nuclear energy is a great example of a renewable source of energy. In this report, we will discuss the uses of nuclear power, how it is generated, and the impact it has on the environment.

Nuclear energy has many uses and it has its own way to be generated. We use radiation way more than the average person may realize. The radioactive materials within nuclear energy have many beneficial uses for electricity generation, medicine, our homes, and much more. This energy is one of the answers to the increased use of electricity. Nuclear energy is very commonly used in the medical field. Radiologists are constantly using radiation to diagnose and treat disease. A common household item that contains the use of nuclear energy is the smoke detector. These devices contain tiny amounts of radioactive materials that contribute to making them sensitive to smoke. (Nuclear Energy in Everyday Life). Nuclear energy also has its own way of being generated. The energy is produced by nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, and then a chain reaction. In 100 million degrees Celsius, two prominent forms of hydrogen, (Deuterium and tritium) fuse together. In nuclear fission, energy is released when a uranium nucleus collides with a neutron. The nucleus will then perform fission (break up) and release 2-3 neutrons along with some energy. Next, the chain reaction is produced. The new neutrons will strike other uranium nuclei and produce more neutrons. This chain reaction happens extremely fast and releases heat. This heat is what is used to generate electricity through the nuclear power plant (Exhibit 13 How is Nuclear Energy Generated?).

Even though nuclear energy comes in very handy for everyday use because of its renewability and simple creation, it happens to bring along some negative traits too. High amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted in activities related to building and running the plants. Uranium happens to releases high amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment. This is inconvenient considering that uranium is the main source of fuel for this reaction to occur. Nuclear power plants also emit low levels of radiation into the environment. Based on various scientific studies, the radiation is causing many people who live close to the area to develop cancer. Damage to one's DNA can occur if they have long-term exposure to the radiation. More research is being done to determine the degree of damage low levels of radiation cause to wildlife, plants and the ozone layer and other various environmental situations (How Does Nuclear Energy Affect the Environment?).

Cited Works

"Exhibit 13 How is Nuclear Energy Generated?". https://www.hko.gov.hk/education/cyber_exh_hall/eng/exhibit13_intro_eng.htm.
"How Does Nuclear Energy Affect the Environment?". https://sciencing.com/nuclear-energy-affect-environment-4566966.html
"Nuclear Energy in Everyday Life". https://www.energy.gov.za/files/media/Pub/NuclearEnergyInEverydayLife_Booklet.pdf.

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Possible Future of Nuclear Energy

Contents

The Future of Nuclear Energy
Abstract
Introduction
World treaties and Paris agreement
Climate change and carbon emissions
Ideal solutions for climate change
The need for nuclear energy
Type of nuclear energy
Technological issues
Social issues
Political issues
The road map to the future
Conclusion
References

The Future of Nuclear Energy

Abstract

Climate change is a threat to the entire planet. The increase in global temperature is significantly altering our planet's climate, resulting in more extreme and unpredictable weather. Greenhouses gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat in the atmosphere and regulate our climate. These gases exist naturally, but humans add more carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels for energy and by clearing forests. Humans have sped the climate change process by relying on fossil fuels for a long time now. It is necessary to shift the focus to more sustainable source of energy. The shift to renewables is a long-awaited transition in the history of mankind. The transition always made sense, but there are innumerable factors- economic, social and political which make this transition difficult. The renewables also have some technological concerns which make the transition difficult. One clean energy resource has been making progress slowly and steadily which could help smoothen the transition and solve the current problems faced by solar and wind, is nuclear fusion energy. The problem with this source of energy is the bad image in public, which makes it difficult to regulate it for the policy makers. This paper attempts to explore the future of nuclear energy amidst the uncertainty of renewables and ignorance of the advantages of nuclear fusion energy.

Introduction

The global temperatures are rising constantly. It leads to melting of glaciers and increase in ocean water level. The world has seen more hurricanes in this decade than in past century. The intensity of the natural calamities is getting severe with each passing year. This results in endangering the species and leading them for their extinction, animals find it extremely difficult to adapt to these drastic changes. The devastation by these natural calamities has left the mankind wondering about their mistakes. A large portion of the educated masses are aware of the disaster that is waiting for the mankind if not immediate steps are taken, whereas few ignorant souls are unaware. Many scientists have given up on the positive outcome of climate change, few estimate that we have less than 40% chance to survive this disaster. It is the need for the future that global community be united under one roof and regulates strategies to fight the climate change.

World treaties and Paris agreement

The world has come together before multiple times to try globally. The first time a global treaty was signed was in 1987 called the Montreal Protocol, which required all nations to phase out CFCs, a chemical used in refrigerators and air conditioners that was munching through our ozone layer. It imposed hard targets for phasing out CFC and it was legally binding. Also, it took into consideration the developing countries by making special allowances for them, so that the initiative is not a hindrance for their progress. That treaty was a huge success, saving the ozone layer.

This led to the world leaders to think that climate treaty on a global level could help fight the climate change. The Paris agreement is not the first climate treaty signed by the global community. It all started with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that split the world into developed and developing countries and the roles for the agreement was divided as per that classification. It binded the developed countries to cut their emissions and developing countries were given leeway to develop their economy. It ended being a complete disaster as the developed countries felt unfair about changing their ways whereas developing countries, grew so fast that they emitted more than what developed countries could stop. After that, in Copenhagen 2009, UN negotiators tried to craft a successor treaty to Kyoto that would require all countries, rich and poor, to make legally binding commitments. But that didn't work, either.

After the failed climate treaties, it was important to decide a format which would work. we have reached at a stage where if global efforts are not taken, the planet is destroyed. The Paris Agreement central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Every country must try to help fight the climate change and make a serious commitment towards reduction of carbon emissions. The agreement, not being legally binding this time was the strength of this agreement. Every country would start by submitting an entirely voluntary pledge for how it planned to address climate change. The content would be up to each individual government, to decide what works for them economically and technologically. This allowed the nations to have an individual plan without the legal obligations being forced on it. Since every country had different priorities, this approach also allowed countries to tailor their climate efforts to their own individual circumstances. China could focus on air pollution and India could focus on electricfying its villages with solar power. The idea is that cooperation and political persuasion can achieve what the quest for a binding treaty failed to do.

Climate change and carbon emissions

The levels of carbon emissions have been increasing rapidly for the past decade. The problem with CO2 is that it stays in the atmosphere for long periods of time. As a result, even if emissions stopped increasing, CO2 concentrations would continue to increase and remain elevated for hundreds of years. Moreover, if we stabilized concentrations and the composition of today's atmosphere remained steady, which would require a dramatic reduction in current greenhouse gas emissions, surface air temperatures would continue to warm. This is because the oceans, which store heat, take many decades to fully respond to higher greenhouse gas concentrations. The ocean's response to higher greenhouse gas concentrations and higher temperatures will continue to impact climate over the next several decades to hundreds of years. Last year, the CO2 levels crossed the threshold of 400 ppm and it is increasing every year. The IPCC has marked that beyond 450 ppm would be a catastrophic carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. It is extremely important to control the rising emissions. There is on-going research on carbon capture and storage, which would help control the rising emissions.

Ideal solutions for climate change

There are multiple solutions to fight climate change and all of them point towards the transition to renewable energy. It is important to stop the use of fossil fuels to keep the carbon emissions in check. Fossil fuels provide substantial economic benefits, but in recent decades, a series of concerns have arisen about their environmental costs. A few developed countries have implemented policies to limit fossil fuel consumption through a mixture of taxes, fees, or regulation on carbon emissions and subsidies for energy conservation and the development of low- or no-carbon energy resources. (Covert, Greenstone, & Knittel, 2016)

There are multiple positive steps taken in this direction to move towards the renewable energy on a global level. California is proposing to reach 60% renewable energy by 2030; 176 countries have clean energy goals. Hawaii, America's most oil-dependent state, has pledged to be 100% renewable by th middle of the century. There is a raging debate whether 100% renewables are realistic and feasible. Multiple studies have been made and there is on-going research for both the sides. The optimists argue that it will be more cost-effective than the current system, which largely relies on fossil fuels. The researchers say that the existing renewable energy potential and technologies coupled with storage can generate enough energy to meet the global electricity demand by 2050. The pessimists say that was important to push back against the 100 percent argument because they fear political blowback could undermine the goal of reducing emissions far enough and fast enough to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

The term negative emissions is relatively new in the climate change debate. It has been used to describe activities that recover more carbon from the environment than the produce and dispose of it in a safe and permanent form. Without negative emissions technologies it will get progressively more difficult to stop climate change in time. Negative emissions technologies combine capture or extraction of CO2 from the environment with carbon storage. Negative emission technologies can be deployed for canceling out concurrent positive emissions, or they can be used to reduce the carbon content of the atmosphere. Of course, if the world is emitting more CO2 than it recaptures from the environment, a negative emission, even if it is not dedicated to removing a concurrent emission, will only lower the rate of increase, rather than creating a net negative emission. (Anderson & Peters, 2016)

There are efforts which can be taken on an individual level like energy conservation efforts at home and work. An energy efficient lifestyle can be adopted which would help save energy. Electrical equipment can be unplugged when not in use. The shift to LED lighting can help conserve energy and save money. Biking or walking to work or other walkable areas or carpooling to work can save the emissions by automobile.

The need for nuclear energy

The question arises from the above discussion that there is no mention of nuclear energy as an ideal solution to climate change and stop carbon emissions, then why should the world be concerned about the future of nuclear energy? Where does the need of nuclear energy arise? The priority for the planet is to stop net emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Putting too much emphasis on wind, solar and other renewables may block off better carbon-reduction paths. After decades of investment, it is wrong to leave nuclear power off the table. Carbon emissions in Germany rose because it chose to phase out nuclear power and so burned more coal. Major electricity generation is done by coal, natural gas and petroleum- all fossil fuels. If we aim to forgo fossil fuels, how will we meet the electricity needs of the country? Nuclear may not be an ideal solution but it is carbon neutral and it meets 20% of the electricity needs of US. The reason world keeps falling back to fossil fuels is because they are reliable, cost-effective, but they also lead to a lot of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions is something that the world cannot afford. Nuclear power's track record of providing clean and reliable electricity compares favorably with other energy sources. Wind and solar power are becoming increasingly widespread, but their intermittent and variable supply make them poorly suited for large-scale use in the absence of an affordable way to store electricity. Hydropower, meanwhile, has very limited prospects for expansion in the United States because of environmental concerns and the small number of potential sites.

Concerns about climate change and air pollution, as well as growing demand for electricity, led many governments to reconsider their aversion to nuclear power, which emits little carbon dioxide and had built up an impressive safety and reliability record. Some countries reversed their phaseouts of nuclear power, some extended the lifetimes of existing reactors, and many developed plans for new ones. But the movement lost momentum, when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the massive tsunami it triggered devastated Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. The event caused widespread public doubts about the safety of nuclear power to resurface.

Type of nuclear energy

The foundation of nuclear energy is harnessing the power of atoms. Nuclear fission takes place when a large, unstable isotope, atoms with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons, is bombarded by high-speed particles, usually neutrons. These neutrons are accelerated and then slammed into the unstable isotope, causing it to fission, or break into smaller particles. During the process, a neutron is accelerated and strikes the target nucleus, which in most of nuclear power reactors today is Uranium-235. This splits the target nucleus and breaks it down into two smaller isotopes three high-speed neutrons, and a large amount of energy. This resulting energy is then used to heat water in nuclear reactors and ultimately produces electricity. The high-speed neutrons that are ejected become projectiles that initiate other fission reactions, or chain reactions. (Duke energy, 2013)

Fusion occurs when two smaller atoms collide at very high energies to merge, creating a larger, heavier atom. This is the nuclear process that powers the sun's core, which in turn drives life on Earth. Fusion reactions have an energy density many times greater than nuclear fission and fusion reactions are themselves millions of times more energetic than chemical reactions. (Vaillancourt, Labriet, Loulou, & Waaub, 2008)

The reasons that have made fusion so difficult to achieve to date are the same ones that make it safe. The point to be noted about Nuclear Fusion plants are not like Nuclear Fission plants aka the nuclear plants we use today and it will not melt down. Let us take a magnetic confinement reactor, these reactors work by using magnetic fields to squeeze plasma in a torus (donut-shaped chamber) so that reactions can take place. If the confinement somehow failed and the magnetic fields disappeared, the plasma would simply just expand and cool and the reaction would literally just stop and nothing more would happen. There is no scare of a possible melt down even in a worst-case scenario.

The only problem with Nuclear Fusion is that it is difficult to accomplish since its incredibly messy. While it's relatively easy to split an atom to produce energy, fusing hydrogen nuclei is a couple of orders of magnitude more challenging. To replicate the fusion process at the core of the sun, we must reach a temperature of at least 100 million degrees Celsius. There are a few risks involved with fusion energy, but they are minor as compared to the fission energy plants. The tremendous energy gain inside the vessel is one of the largest risks of fusion, however, a lot of care has been taken in selecting materials, which will be used to fabricate the vacuum vessel and other plasma facing components to minimize the activation caused by neutrons. Another potential issue is with the storage of tritium, one of essential materials. Since it is a short-term radio-active material, permission from international regulatory body for production and storage of Tritium is essential.

Technological issues

Tokamak reactors use a doughnut-shaped ring to house heavy and super-heavy isotopes of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium. The studies show that it takes 50 megawatts of heat to generate 500 megawatts of electricity in a tokamak. Over 200 experimental tokamaks have been built worldwide, but to date they have all consumed more energy than they produce. A massive international tokamak project, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), aims to turn that situation around. The ITER is designed to produce 10 times as much energy as it takes to run, becoming the first ever net energy producing fusion reactor. ITER is collaboration of more than 35 countries around the world. The ITER members are now actively fabricating and shipping components to the ITER site in France for assembly. It is currently being built in the south of France, but with the first fusion experiments scheduled for 2030.

MIT is also developing new technology like ITER but would give quicker results by 2022 or earlier. While tokamaks and stellarators use magnets to confine plasmas, another body of research is focusing on a different strategy to trigger fusion reactions, using high-powered lasers. There are multiple researches going on for nuclear fusion energy and it could be a reality within next 10 years. (Vaillancourt et al., 2008)

Social issues

The 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan was a watershed moment for nuclear in Europe, with Italy deferring and subsequently cancelling new nuclear construction projects, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel kick-starting the country's energy transition, of which phasing out of Germany's civil nuclear fleet is a key component. The event caused widespread public doubts about the safety of nuclear power to resurface. In the United States, an already slow approach to new nuclear plants slowed even further in the face of an unanticipated abundance of natural gas. Any reduction in nuclear generation will increase fossil fuel generation and pollution, given the low capacity factors and intermittency of solar and wind. Germany is a case in point. Its emissions have been largely unchanged since 2009 and increased in both 2015 and 2016 due to nuclear plant closures. Reports show that despite having installed 4% more solar and 11% more wind capacity, Germany's generation from the two sources decreased 3% and 2% respectively, since it wasn't as sunny or windy in 2016 as in 2015. And where France has some of the cheapest and cleanest electricity in Europe, Germany has some of the most expensive and dirtiest. At the same time, new reactors under construction in Finland and France have gone billions of dollars over budget, casting doubt on the affordability of nuclear fission power plants. Public concern about radioactive waste is also hindering nuclear power, and no country yet has a functioning system for disposing of it. In fact, the U.S. government is paying billions of dollars in damages to utility companies for failing to meet its obligations to remove spent fuel from reactor sites.

This change in public perception has led to construction delays and cost overruns that have interrupted the principal nuclear states' attempts to lead a nuclear revival. Businesses involved in nuclear power try to create new interests by, for example, exporting nuclear plants, fuel and related technology. These new interests mean that nuclear vendors become a new promoter of nuclear power, thus strengthening existing supporters. This allows the nuclear industry to expand and create links with other industries, and in these circumstances, the relevant government agencies are likely to continue to support nuclear power and the advancement of related technology.

Majority of the public is unaware about the nuclear fusion and its benefits. A survey conducted by the students at University of Texas, Austin shows that the public opinion on nuclear energy is highly changeable and easily influenced, because most Americans do not feel well informed about the subject. Public opinion about nuclear energy reflects a tradeoff people make between perceptions of need and safety concerns.The percent of well-informed audience was only 21% and among them 54% were in favor of nuclear energy. If the percent of well-informed audience is that low, the results of the survey will be based on the opinions of people who have no idea about the facts and base their opinions on the things they hear from someone. It is important for the masses to be educated in technological progress of nuclear fusion, its advantages and risks involved so that a well-informed decision can be made. The current scenario does not affect the lives of the masses directly in the developed countries, where electricity is cheap for now, they have jobs. It takes deeper awareness to realize the impending doom that the world is facing. One of the biggest challenges that we are facing is creating awareness about the available technology. It's important to create a society which is well-informed and take logical decisions based on facts.

Political issues

After Fukushima, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent federal agency that licenses nuclear reactors, reviewed the industry's regulatory requirements, operating procedures, emergency response plans, safety design requirements, and spent-fuel management. The NRC will almost certainly implement many the resulting recommendations, and the cost of doing business with nuclear energy in the United States will inevitably go up. Those plants that are approaching the end of their initial 40-year license period, and that lack certain modern safety features, will face additional scrutiny in having their licenses extended. (Vaillancourt et al., 2008)

Despite these limitations, there is a clear revival of nuclear energy in long-term projections to fill an important part of the gap between the current capacity and the future energy needs of developing countries without increasing GHG emissions. The fastest growth would be in Asia. Many countries are investing in nuclear research and development, encouraging the current or future penetration of new nuclear technologies. The ITER project seeks to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy by building the world's largest and most advanced tokamak magnetic confinement fusion experiment. ITER is the largest scientific cooperation project ever established, bringing together 35 nations representing more than half of the world's population and 85% of the planet's gross domestic product. The contribution of the seven ITER Members is done essentially in-kindChina, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States have each established a Domestic Agency that contracts with the industry to manufacture machine components and installation systems. Except for the European Union, each Member's contribution represents approximatively 9% of the total value of the project. As host Member, the European Union not only procures its share of components and systems; it is also responsible for delivering the 39 permanent buildings of the installation, which brings its contribution to approximately 45%. Building ITER is also a demonstration that nations, when confronted with a global challenge, can establish a completely new model for international collaboration. ITER marks both the culmination of six decades of international scientific and technological effort and the opening of a new and decisive chapter in the history of fusion research. By demonstrating the feasibility of fusion energy, ITER will answer the question that has obsessed three generations of physicists and engineers. This collaboration sets a huge milestone on international level, which is one of the longest running experiment in the wake of this global crisis. This is making a slow but steady progress. (Bigot, 2017)

The road map to the future

Renewables are not ready to store the energy and that's why the paper pitches the idea of using nuclear fusion to bridge the gap between the demand and supply without falling back to fossil fuels. It could be argued that nuclear fusion is also in its experimental stages, whereas renewables at least have made some headway in the technology, then how does the argument make sense. I would like to stress that even though nuclear has been in experimental stage, it is being actively pursued and is slated to make its run by 2030. The renewables on the other hand have been satisfied with its progress for now and is still evaluating the idea of PV with storage facilities. The actual implementation will take years of research before it can be a reality. The research process for nuclear fusion have been going on for some time now and its ready to test its results.

With the U.S. federal budget under tremendous pressure, it is hard to imagine taxpayers funding demonstrations of a new nuclear technology. But if the United States takes a hiatus from creating new clean-energy options, be it nuclear fusion, renewable energy, advanced batteries, or carbon capture and sequestration, Americans will look back in ten years with regret. There will be fewer economically viable options for meeting the United States' energy and environmental needs, and the country will be less competitive in the global technology market.

Conclusion

The greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, finding ways to generate power cleanly, affordably, and reliably is becoming an even more pressing imperative. Nuclear power is not a silver bullet, but it is a partial solution that has proved workable on a large scale. Countries will need to pursue a combination of strategies to cut emissions, including reining in energy demand, replacing coal power plants with cleaner natural gas plants, and investing in new technologies such as renewable energy and carbon capture and sequestration. The government's role should be to help provide the private sector with a well-understood set of options, including nuclear power, not to prescribe a desired market share for any specific technology. (Bigot, 2017)

These are not easy steps, and none of them will happen overnight. But each is needed to reduce uncertainty for the public, the energy companies, and investors. A more productive approach to developing nuclear power, and confronting the mounting risks of climate change”is long overdue. Further delay will only raise the stakes.

References

Albright, D.,& Gay, C. (1998). Taiwan: Nuclear nightmare averted. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 54(1), 54“60. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ?], [Google Scholar] https://energytransition.org/2017/08/4-reasons-nuclear-and-fossil-fuel-supporters-criticizing-100-renewable-energy-plan-are-wrong/
Anderson, K., & Peters, G. (2016). The trouble with negative emissions. Science, 354(6309), 182“183. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah4567
Bigot, B. (2017). ITER: une collaboration internationale inedite pour puiser l'energie des etoiles. Comptes Rendus Physique, 18(7“8), 367“371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2017.09.002
Covert, T., Greenstone, M., & Knittel, C. R. (2016). Will We Ever Stop Using Fossil Fuels? SSRN Electronic Journal, 1“26. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2720633
Vaillancourt, K., Labriet, M., Loulou, R., & Waaub, J. P. (2008). The role of nuclear energy in long-term climate scenarios: An analysis with the World-TIMES model. Energy Policy, 36(7), 2296“2307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.01.015

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Nuclear Energy in Different Spheres of Life

Nuclear energy is the energy that is released from an atom. This release of energy can be acquired through either the process of fission or fusion. During the process of fission, an atom is split releasing heat energy. In the process of fusion, two or more atoms are merged together at a very high speed. This action causes a release of energy. Since nuclear fusion is a challenging process, Nuclear fission is what scientist have developed in order to produce nuclear energy.

Today, nuclear energy through fission is used as an alternative to generate electricity. Once the heat energy produces steam, the steam is then used in a turbine to create electricity without having to burn fuel producing greenhouse gases. This energy is serving its purpose in nuclear power plants around the world. According to the History of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear energy has been around as early as the late 1800's where they started developing nuclear fission until 1945. By 1939 Scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had discovered that the process of Fission inside of uranium could cause a not only lots of energy to be release but it also could cause a sustain chain reaction. From this Experiment, they were able to create the first self- sustaining nuclear chain on December 2, 1942. This energy was used in making the Manhattan project come to life in world war ll.

After the war many scientists were focused on in what other ways could they use nuclear energy. In 1951 scientist produced electric power from nuclear energy for the first time. This led to the use of the nuclear power that is used today. Although Nuclear energy is mainly used to create a better alternative to generate electricity, this energy is also used in many other fields including, food and agriculture preservation, medicine, and adequate drinking water. Nuclear energy helps reduce the number of diseases found in livestock. As humans consume meat and other things from animals such as milk, nuclear energy is used to kill the disease, so it will not be passed on to humans making them sick. Nuclear energy is also used in medicine. According to World-Nuclear nuclear energy is used in radiation treatments for cancer.

Also, in medicine this energy is used to sterilize supplies, such as tools syringes, surgical gloves and many other tools used. Nuclear energy can also be used to make sure that humans have adequate drinking water. It is used for test and measure water resources underground that can help with preserving water. All these things and more, nuclear energy serves a purpose in.

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What it Takes to be a Mechanical Engineer

In order to become a mechanical engineer, one must go to college and get their bachelors degree, get your licensing and also take the required exams. There are many duties to working a job like this, having to be able to read blueprints, draw technically. Also will need to operate, Research, evaluate and design. A few technical skills are being able to use scientific software such as MAYA Nastran, Minitab, Sigmetrix CETOL 6 Sigma and The MathWorks MATLAB. Also you will need to use other softwares like Autodesk Revit, Perforce Helix software, Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Visio and Trimble SketchUp Pro.

People who work or are working towards becoming a mechanical engineer will be working forty hours a week. The hours worked my change to conditions of work. A few work styles you will need to adapt to is being able to cooperate, paying attention to detail and also being depended on. They usually work at a desk, in a office and create blueprint and read them as well. They also need to talk to people for most of their time on the job. Working this job does not sustain to injury as much because there's not much work with dangerous tool and equipment. The tools you will need to be able to use are Flowmeters, Machine mounts or vibration isolators, Semiconductor process systems, Signal generators and a Voltage comparator integrated circuits. Like stated before mechanical engineers will usually work in a office. But sometime they will need to go and visit a construction site and see if all is going as planned and if any improvements are needed.

There is an estimate of 21,200 jobs available to work. These jobs are mostly found in the city areas that need building structures. There is a nine percent increase in jobs of this kind by 2026. The layoff is not high because to get a job like this you will need to be really a hard worker so there most of them are not there to goof off. Some benefits you get from is job are insurance for medical, dental, and vision. Also they can get profit sharing disability insurance or education assistance depending on who they work for. Becoming a senior engineer is a promotion. In the beginning you start as a starter, they may not give you hard jobs. But as a senior they will be at the top of thing and work harder but also get paid more of core.

To be able to have this job people will have to work on getting their bachelor's degree because this is need to start any engineering job. This will take five years of school to finish and be in the industry. There a few good schools to go to for your degree such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford university and the University of Cambridge. MIT is the best school to go they are ranked number one for engineering. But University of Cambridge is also a good school it's just that's it is in the United Kingdom.

There are many important skills that will need be to use in this job active listening is one of them they will need to give all attention to whoever is talking, asking questions in important because there can't be any mistakes while on the job. Also math skill is needed in this job. Math is need to be able to solve a problem that comes their way. Same as science, there needs to be the correct science behind things to work. Reading is also big, reading sentences and paragraphs and being able to understand them is needed. There are many softwares they need to know to work this job. The need to learn quick is needed to work fast with new projects. Cooperation is important in this job too. People will need to work together and get along.

The reason someone my want this job is that they might love working on cars and other matters of that sort. Also enjoy working with blueprints and love working with others. Also tech might be one of there skills and want to use it as a career. Being a mechanical engineer takes a lot of work but is worth it. You will have the ability to do what you love to do and not need to worry about not liking your job. Being an engineer is a spectacular job and skill.

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What is Bipolar Disorder?

Contents

Introduction
Compare and Contrast
Diagnostic/Laboratory Procedures
Other Therapies
Cultural Considerations
Prevention/Promotion Teaching
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The following case study consists of 50 outpatients diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 1. It focused on some patients who took their medications regularly and some who decided to treat their disorder non-pharmacologically. Some people prefer a spiritual or a finding of one's self approach for treatment. Overall this case study was performed to observe the patient's perceptions of the disorder and the psychiatric medication management.

Compare and Contrast

According to my text book, less than 2% of the population are diagnosed with bipolar disorders. The case study claims that 4-17% are diagnosed with bipolar disorders. They both agree that if this disorder is treated properly with the correct medications, the effected person can live a pretty normal life, meaning they would have less severe and less frequent states of mania or depression. Both the text book and the case study agree on the type of medications that are taken for bipolar disorder. Individuals suffering from a bipolar disorder are usually prescribed antipsychotic mood stabilizers, anticonvulsive mood stabilizers, and lithium. Antipsychotic mood stabilizers are typically used as short-term treatment of hallucinations, delusions, or mania symptoms. Sometimes it is used long term to prevent future occurrences of mania or depression. Anticonvulsive mood stabilizers used to be prescribed to people who didn't respond to lithium, but now they are given with lithium, alone, or with an antipsychotic drug. They are used to treat or prevent mood or manic episodes. Lithium is a dangerous medication because it has a narrow margin of safety which is 0.6-1.2 mEq/L. Sometimes the doctor may refer the patient to a psychiatrist to talk about their behavior patterns, thought and feelings. The doctor may also run some lab test or a physical exam to find any other problems that could be the cause of your symptoms. An example of mood charting is having a patient keep a daily record of their moods, sleep patterns, or activity level. There are many other behaviors that are monitored that could help with finding the right treatment for the patient. (MFMER, 2018) The case study mentions some non-pharmacological treatments like massages and other stress relieving activities.

Diagnostic/Laboratory Procedures

The case study used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, the young mania rating scale (YMRS), and the Hamilton Depression Scale (Ham-D-17) to exclude any patients experiencing a current affective episode and to establish criteria for euthymia. The book recommends also using the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for bipolar 1 disorder. It shows the subjective signs that a nurse should monitor. It shows signs of manic episodes, hypomanic episodes, major depressive episodes, and bipolar 1 disorder. (Box 28-6 pg. 1810). The YMRS is an eleven-question test with multiple answers used to measure how severe a manic episode is in children and young adults. The Ham-D-17 is also a questionnaire, but it is used to indicate depression and as a guide to evaluate recovery. According to webmd.com, the best way to diagnose bipolar disorder is by talking openly with a patient. The doctor must know the signs and symptoms the patient is experiencing to diagnose and treat the disorder.

Other Therapies

St. John's Wort is known for its ability to naturally enhance a person's mood. St. John's Wort would be beneficial when the person is in a depressive state. It could help them to feel happier and overcome that depressive episode. Patients should be notified about the dangers of this medicine. Studies have shown that St. John's Wort can cause a potentially life-threatening increase in serotonin. Some reports have stated that it can worsen the symptoms of bipolar depression and schizophrenia (PubMed, 2017). Meditation is another way to boost a person's mood when they are in a depressive state. This is a great way to boost your mood because there are a variety of ways to do it. There is concentration meditation, mindfulness meditation, and yoga are also a form of meditation. Concentration meditation is exactly what it sounds like. It's is when you concentrate on one thing, like a candle flame, and don't like your mind think about anything else. This improves your ability to concentrate. Mindfulness meditation is when you pay attention to your wandering thoughts and try not to judge them as good or bad. This meditation helps a person to not be so quick to judge something. Yoga is a way to free your mind through exercise and focus on nothing but that one pose and your breathing. Meditation has may benefits, lower blood pressure, improved blood circulation, less anxiety, lower blood cortisol levels, more feelings of well-being, less stress, and deeper relaxation. (Galam, 2018) Another nonpharmacological treatment for bipolar disorder is light therapy.It has been suggested that on dark days, the serotonin in your skin decreases. Serotonin is a chemical in the body that helps to regulate mood and social behavior. Light therapy is used to replace sunshine with a bright white light. It is usually set in a box, similar to a desktop computer. It is believed to mimic sunshine and boost serotonin levels on dark and gloomy days. Acupuncture can also help to treat bipolar disorder During a session of acupuncture, a provider will apply pressure to the skin with very fine needles. It helps the patients to respond to stress in a more positive way. It stimulates the central nervous system allowing endorphins to be released that may not be produced at normal rates in a bipolar patient.

Cultural Considerations

In Italy, health care providers have noticed that people with bipolar disorder tend to avoid doctor visits during the time of euphoric periods. Euphoric periods have two parts. In the beginning, the patient will feel like they are on top of the world, they will have a high level of confidence with all situations. It can be addictive. The second part of the euphoric period is completely different. The patient will begin to have bad judgement and perform out of the ordinary behavior. You may do things to harm yourself, your family, career, and all the things you care about. The patient won't be able to think or care about the consequences of their actions. (Fast,J.A., 2012) Since patients don't usually attend doctor visits during this phase, it makes it extremely hard to accurately diagnose bipolar disease. In fact, there is research showing that only 21.3% of patients that where prescribed anti-depressants for depression in Italy really had bipolar disorder. Since patients tend to visit the doctor during the depression state, it has been recommended to health care providers to consider bipolar disease with all patients that come in the office with signs and symptoms of depression. (Carta et al; 2011)

Prevention/Promotion Teaching

At this time, it is believed that bipolar disease is not preventable, but there are some non-pharmacological activities that can help to manage mood swings of this disorder. Eating healthy helps to prevent so many diseases and makes you feel better. It is believed to help manage mood swings in bipolar disease also. Eating healthy helps the brain and the nervous system to work efficiently. Studies have shown that a deficiency of vitamins and minerals in the body can lead to more frequent mood swings. Eating foods high in sugar and low in nutrients cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate causing mood swings. Bipolar disorder patients should manage the use of any mood-altering substance including caffeine and alcohol.

A healthy diet consists of foods from all food groups each time you eat. An easy way to keep track of this is you want your plate to mimic a rainbow. You can do so by eating fruit, vegetables, dairy, grain, and protein. Eating healthy isn't easy in the beginning, you should start out with small things like filling half of your plate with fruits and vegetables. You can also ensure that half of your grains are whole grains. In the beginning, people make the mistake of trying to cut out all the bad foods that they crave (cookies, chips, ice cream) and end up falling short of their goal. Most of the time those who fall short end up splurging and gorging themselves in the exact foods that they were trying to cut out in the first place. Normally the fast-paced short cuts that are taken end up coming to just as fast of an end. There is a term the slow and steady win the race which can apply here. The goal is not to see how fast a person can change but how long they can maintain a positive correlated mood. Therefore, patients should allow themselves to eat the foods that they crave, but they should eat it in moderation, only one serving size. Sometimes it is easier to substitute a healthy food for a junk food if they are the same texture. For example, trading peanut butter for almond butter, or ice cream for yogurt.

Conclusion

Overall, bipolar disorder is a complex disorder because it varies from person to person, and there is no distinct cure. Depression, euphoric, or manic states can last for different amounts of time depending on the person. There are many pharmacological and non-pharmacological ways to treat this disorder. Antipsychotic medications are the most common drug given for this disorder. They are used to help control psychotic symptoms of bipolar disease like hallucinations and delusions. Non-pharmacological treatments are things like yoga and meditation which helps to clear and strengthen the mind. According to webmd.com, the best way to diagnose bipolar disease is by talking openly with the patient. Another way that is commonly used to diagnose this disorder is the DSM-5. It tells a list of the subjective signs that a nurse should monitor for in the patient. It shows signs of manic episodes, hypomanic episodes, major depressive episodes, and bipolar 1 disorder in general.

References

Vargas-Huacachina*, L. Huicochea , C. Berlanga* and A. Fresan*

Huicochea,V., Huicochea, L., Berlanga, C. (2014). Taking or not taking medications: psychiatric treatment perceptions in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Clinical pharmacy and therapeutics, 39,pp.673-679 Retrieved from NCLIVE.com

Trakalo, K. (2015) Nursing: a concept-based approach to learning. Boston, Massachusetts: Alexander, J. American psychiatric association. (2013) Desk reference to the diagnostic criteria from DSM-5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing

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Whigs Vs Jacksonian Democrats – Political Parties

Prior to the year 1820, there was no such thing as the democratic and republican parties. The current year is 2018, and the United States now has a better-developed party system. The world has evolved since the nineteenth century, but the United States politics would not be what it is, without the cultivation of the Whig party and the Jacksonian Democrats. Both the Whig party and Jacksonian Democrats had their differences that made the two parties what they were.

The idea of having two separate parties did not just appear out of thin air, like most things, some form of event transpired in order to cause a change to occur. The two-party system began after Andrew Jackson became president of the United States. Jackson was known as the president of the common people. Jackson was not like most presidents prior to him. When he was elected president and had his inauguration, he invited many citizens to the white house to celebrate the occasion. Inviting random people without any social status was uncommon for such a prestigious event. Also, the idea of having a president that was a war hero and did not have much knowledge about government as his predecessors did not sit well with the Whig party. They were worried that Jackson would not be able to make any long-term decisions.

The Whig party was developed due to several people disliking the characteristics of Andrew Jackson. Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun are only a few of the many people in the Whig party that were not in favor of Andrew Jackson. The Whig party believed that the government should be involved in the economy. Most of the people in the Whig party were those not in favor of the growth of small businesses because the Whig party was mostly made up of elite business owners. The big business owners could have been afraid of the possibility of having more competition in their field. Also, the idea of expanding the land westward was something that the Whigs were not necessarily against, but at that time they felt as if the expansion would present more problems at the time rather than answers. The Whig party disagreed so passionately against Andrew Jackson because Jackson was in favor of supporting small business owners and not just the big business owners. Jackson wanted to get rid of the social hierarchy that crippled the development of the United States.

The Jacksonian Democrats were different from the Whig party in many different aspects. The Jacksonian Democrats were in favor of the underdog. They wanted small business owners, and common white men, to get the opportunity to be as successful as the rich white men in the Whig party. Unlike the Whig party, the Jacksonian Democrats believed in expanding the territory westward in order to expand the possibilities for regular individuals. The Jacksonian Democrats believed that this opportunity would allow for monopolies to be broken in America. Andrew Jackson knew that the big business owners were trying to run a monopoly, so he was so adamant in giving other people the opportunity to break the constant cycle of hierarchy.

Personally speaking, the Jacksonian Democrats made the best impact in the nineteenth century. The Jacksonian Democrats strived to give the common white male the opportunity to be more and do more. If the Jacksonian Democrats did not attempt to shake things up, there is no clue as to where America would be today. In today's time period, anyone can start his or her own business at the snap of a finger, regardless of his or her gender or race. If Andrew Jackson had not given that opportunity to Americans, Americans would have stayed under the thumb of large companies rather than starting new businesses. In return, the idea of going from rags to riches would have just been a dream that most people would have only imagined. Because of the Jacksonian Democrats, America is now the land for dreamers to make their small wishes become a reality.

Both the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whig party helped the structure of two different parties develop. The Jacksonian Democrats wanted to let the common white man expand their horizon, and the Whig party wanted to keep the same successful men successful, rather than giving other white men the opportunity to be like them. Both parties were developed because each party had strong beliefs, and today, whether someone is a democrat or republican depends on their beliefs and values as well

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The Study of Bipolar Disorder: its Causes, Symptoms and Treatment.

Contents

Abstract
The Basics of Bipolar Disorder
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
Explanations of Bipolar Disorder
Sociocultural Explanations of Bipolar Disorder
Psychological Explanations of Bipolar Disorder
Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Conclusion

Abstract

Bipolar disorder is a chronic mood disorder that affects more than 3 million Americans every year. It is characterized by jumps between major depressive episodes where the individual is pessimistic and unmotivated and episodes of mania where the individual is dangerously optimistic, easily agitated, and reluctant to take advice from others. Biological components like genealogy and neurochemistry of an individual's brain particularly dealing with the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin, psychological components dealing with the thought processes of the individual, and sociocultural components in relation to the Theory of Learned Helplessness and gender roles are all believed factors in the development of bipolar disorder. While bipolar disorder is serious and life altering, scientists and doctors have identified therapies like counseling and medications like antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics to control the patient's mood and ensure that the depressive and manic episodes' occurrences are few and far between if at all allowing the individual to live a life of normalcy.

The Basics of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depressive disorder, is a mood disorder characterized by extreme swings between major depressive episodes and episodes of mania, or extreme confidence. Bipolar disorder only occurs in about 1% of the global population, and it affects men and women equally. Episodes of depression or mania alike typically strike after a steady routine of daily activities or normalcy and begin with the disruption of sleep. Bipolar disorder can be extremely detrimental and disruptive to an individual's life. Both manic and depressive episodes have no specific expiration date, and in some cases can continue on for years.

The earliest findings of this particular disorder can date back as far as 1st century Greece. It was not uncommon for people to display states of mania, depression, or psychosis in which cases the doctors of that time typically deemed them possessed. It was common during that time for people to be executed for having bipolar disorder.

Interestingly enough, throughout history many artists, poets, musicians, and creators were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Some of these people include Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway, and the actress Margot Kidder. One of the characteristics that goes along with mania are huge outbursts of creativity. While the results of a manic episode for some can be detrimental, for artists and creators the outbursts can be almost influential. For example, after experiencing a two-year long manic episode, Robert Schumann, a German composer and music critic, once composed 51 pieces of music. Seemingly, professionals who rely on logic and precision are less susceptible to bipolar disorder than are artists, musicians, poets, etc whom rely on creativity and emotion.

Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

As stated previously, the main symptom of Bipolar Disorder are the emotional alternations between depressive and manic episodes a patient can experience. Some emotional indicators of a manic episode can include grandiose optimism and unusually high self esteem. Consequentially, this can lead to reckless investments, spending sprees, and unsafe sex. Manic episodes can be noted by eraddic or overly optimistic behavior. The individual will become over talkative, overactive, consistently elated, but easily irritated if annoyed; there is little need for sleep, and there are fewer sexual inhibitions. Speech can be noted as loud, flighty, and hard to interrupt. Additionally, they will reject advice even though they are a danger to his or herself. Once a manic episode ends, the individual can typically crash falling into a place of severe depression. Essentially, a person with bipolar disorder cannot find their emotional middle ground.

When in a depressive episode, subjects will become unmotivated or inactive. They will adopt a pessimistic view on life becoming especially sensitive to negative outcomes, expect negative outcomes, and are more likely to recall negative information. Depressive episodes have no time limit, but typically will self-terminate being replaced by a period of mania. Bipolar patients suffer through a vicious cycle of mania to depression to mania again, but can be regulated with mood stabilizers.

Another indicator of bipolar disorder found in an article posted by the American Journal of Psychology, was that cognitive function in patients with bipolar disorder was significantly reduced when compared to normally functioning subjects. It was found that verbal memory and executive function were particularly impaired. In a different study published by the AJP, it was found that, as children, bipolar patients tended to have difficulty functioning socially. Despite this, they did not seem to have any issues functioning scholastically.

Explanations of Bipolar Disorder

In a study of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, it was found that there may be a genetic factor behind bipolar disorder. First-degree relatives of someone with bipolar disorder were at an increased risk for also developing the disorder. If one maternal half-sibling was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the other sibling was at a significantly increased risk for developing said disorder. Additionally, children of adopted families were at an increased risk for developing the disorder if their biological parents also had said disorder.

Essentially, genes are the basic composition of the body. They control the biochemical aspect of the body which, in turn, controls an individual's behavior. The key biochemical component in bipolar disorder is the functioning of neurotransmitters. Norepinephrine is essentially a mood booster. It increases arousal and is what makes people feel happy. In mania, norepinephrine is over abundant causing the extreme boost of self esteem and optimism. When norepinephrine is too abundant, it can be associated with violent outbursts, which can explain why during mania, bipolar patients are also easily agitated, and psychosis. During depressive episodes though, norepinephrine is lacking causing the individual's mood to be pessimistic; they can also become stoic due to the lack of arousal that would normally come from norepinephrine. Serotonin is also another neurotransmitter found to be scarce during depressive episodes.

Positive emotions are demonstrated through activity in the left frontal lobe. An additional finding in bipolar depressive episodes, shown using MRI scans, was that the left frontal lobe was likely to be inactive.

Sociocultural Explanations of Bipolar Disorder

When discussing the inability to control stress, it seems that gender roles may play a part in the depressive state that comes along with bipolar disorder. Women more often than men suffer from severe suppression, belittling, and the feeling of helplessness. Due to this they may be at more of an effect to stress.

Martin Seligman, American Psychologist educator and creator of the Theory of Learned Helplessness, argues that depressive episodes may last longer and be more common among western youth due to an epidemic of helplessness, an incline of individualism, and a decline of commitment to religion or family. He additionally notes that the individualism experienced throughout the western youth creates a feeling of sole responsibility when a negative event occurs, allowing nothing for one to fall back on other than his or herself. These ideas can feed the depressive swings associated with bipolar disorder because the individual feels that they have no metaphorical ladder to help them reach the emotional middle ground.

Psychological Explanations of Bipolar Disorder

Scientists suspect that the way patients think may play a large role in the reality of their situation. Meaning that, when in a depressed state, the bipolar patient will think in terms of blaming his or herself causing the depression to continue and creating thought processes like I can't do anything right which only contributes to the growth of the depressive episode. David G. Myers, author of Psychology: The 7th Edition, writes that people in depressive episodes tend to explain bad events in terms that are stable (it's going to last forever), global (it's going to affect everything), and internal (it's all my fault) (Myers, 640). This is part of what is believed to keep a bipolar patient in a depressed state, never reaching normalcy, and potentially jumping into mania if and once the abundance of norepinephrine returns.

Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

When experiencing depressive episodes, there is a lack of norepinephrine and serotonin. Due to this, the use of antidepressants is typically part of the treatment for depressive episodes. Antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil aim to block the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin, increasing the existence of both neurotransmitters in the brain.

When experiencing episodes of mania, antipsychotic drugs are seemingly useful because they help to block the stimulus to send out norepinephrine to the brain. This combined with the anti-depressants equalizes the amount of serotonin and norepinephrine existing in the brain which creates the middle ground that the patient cannot achieve on their own. Some examples of antipsychotics are olanzapine, risperidone, and quetiapine. Doctors may also prescribe a mood stabilizer in conjunction with the antidepressant, antipsychotic, or both. Some common mood stabilizers are lithium, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine. Other forms of treatment may include day treatment programs like counseling while one gets his or her symptoms under control. In severe cases where the patient becomes dangerous to his or herself or to others, the doctors may suggest hospitalization.

Conclusion

While bipolar disorder can be detrimental to an individual's lifestyle, due to modern medicine and therapies there is treatment that can stabilize the mood swings. With medical assistance and counseling patients can typically return to a normal lifestyle. Without medication though, it becomes difficult for the individual to hold jobs regularly, and there is typically issues with social functioning in adolescents and teens. While genealogy, psychology, and sociocultural aspects do play a role in bipolar disorder, the key to controlling the disorder seems to be controlling the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin.

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Bipolar Disorder in the United States

Bipolar disorder is one of the top mental disorders that has impacted majority of the united states society. Psychologist know more about bipolar disorder because of so many outbreaks that have occured. According to Monica Ramirez Basco (2000) [b]ipolar I disorder (BPI) is a chronic and severe mental illness characterized by recurrent episodes of major depression and mania (p.287). Depression and mania are two of the main symptoms of bipolar disorder when trying to diagnose. Basco (2000) continues on There must be 3 additional manic symptoms occurring concurrently with a euphoric mood or 4 additional symptoms if the mood is irritable to qualify for a diagnosis of mania (pg.288). Bipolar disorder symptoms can be determined in many ways and can be triggered by many aspects in life Goodwin (2016) , onset can be particularly influenced by the stresses of late adolescence, but presentations occur throughout the lifespan with first episodes of mania (p.661). For bipolar disorder, there are many aspects that could cause the trigger of this disorder. According to Goodwin (2016), the onset and course of the disease are probably influenced by early life trauma, life events and alcohol and other drug use (p.661).

Trauma from the past, a midlife crisis could cause this disease to finally surface and potentially disrupt day - to - day life.This disease can occur at any moment throughout life when it is finally triggered by a significant occurrence in life. Bipolar disorder has changed in the aspect the diagnostic criteria Severus & Bauer (2013) notes, furthermore, in this chapter, there are now separate diagnostic criteria for manic-like phenomena associated with the use of substances (either substances of abuse or prescribed medications) or with medical conditions (p.1). The DSM-5 has modified bipolar disorder, given these changes, (Severus & Bauer 2013) continues on to say, DSM-5 seems to concur with the idea that there has been an under-recognition of bipolar disorders (p.1). Between women and men there is not much of a difference between frequency of mood Difloria & Jones (2013) describe the statistics amongst gender, using the Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis, Morgan et al. (2005) found that lifetime symptom profiles were similar for men and women, with the exception of the item 'dysphoria and depressed mood', which was more frequent in women (84.9%) than men (74.6%) (p.443). Dysphoria and depressed mood are understandable due to the fact that women have periods and other hormones that affect their mood. Whereas men they do not want to be seen as weak so they keep to themselves so there might be more men that are not accounted for due to this social norm. In other cases amongst children it is predominantly identified as Severus & Bauer (2013) reports, The diagnosis is most often assigned to young patients presenting with a (first) major depressive episode (p.1).

This is one thing that bipolar and bipolar II has the most in common is its onset symptom. The origin of bipolar disorder has been relevant for many years Tondo, Vazquez & Baldessarini (2016) discuss how, early descriptions of what is now recognized as bipolar disorder (BD) date to ancient and medieval writers, and others through the 18th century [1, 2] (p.353). Bipolar disorder has been amongst the science of psychology for centuries and now (Tondo et al. 2016) beleived , the current concept of Bipolar Disorder emerged from MDI in the mid-20th century, based primarily on separation of illnesses with manic or hypomanic phases and depressions as well as conditions marked primarily with recurrent major depressive episodes [1, 6-8] (p.353). The topic of bipolar disorder has grown over the years with different phases and conditions to add onto what psychology continues to learn in this era. Sherman (2011) hypothesized, the evolution of an extreme, complex set of adaptations such as bipolar I disorder requires that strong selective pressures be exerted on a small homogeneous population over a long period of time, which in fact describes the circumstances of Neandertal during the Pleistocene (p.114).

Sherman explains how bipolar disorder is a development biological modification when Neanderthals went through the first ice age their your bodies were in distress and triggers the disease. The treatment I chose for bipolar disorder is cognitive-behavior therapy. According to Basco (2000), the cognitive changes include changes in the thinking process as well as the content of these thoughts(p.288). While treating bipolar disorder this would be amongst the transformation that would be occurring while under this treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has benefited bipolar disorder (Basco 2000) compared to those assigned to receive standard clinical care, those in the CBT group were significantly less likely to have significant adherence problems, including being less likely to terminate lithium against medical advice (p.290). Cognitive-behavioral therapy has improved according to Basco (2000) they showed significant increases in time to first recurrence of mania (65 vs. 17 weeks) in those participating in the CBT intervention compared to subjects in the control group as well as a reduction in the number of manic episodes over an 18-month period (p.290). This treatment has shown in this study to improve the health of people with bipolar disorder as well as control their phases of each stage in this disorder. This will also improve the behavior over a shorter time period compared to others. Goodwin (2016) also suggest, naturalistic data strongly supplement data from clinical trials in supporting efficacy for lithium, valproate, carbamazepine and dopamine antagonists/partial agonists in long-term treatment (p.663). These supplements are supported to be used for long-term use.

I chose the cognitive theory to help support and treat this bipolar disorder the most. The cognitive theory I believe could aid this disease because it is potentially working from the inside out. I took into consideration an article written by Windy Dydren (2011) about Albert Ellis and cognitive behavioral therapy. In the article Dryden (2011) explain how rational emotional behavioral therapy which is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy is broken down into mental thought, it follows from this that the negative emotions that stem from irrational beliefs (known as unhealthy negative emotions or UNEs) are qualitatively different from those that stem from rational beliefs (known as healthy negative emotions or HNEs) (p.213). Bipolar disorder involves an abundance of emotions that are positive and negative Dryden (2011) notes, other approaches to CBT tend to advocate a quantitative theory of emotions where the goal of intervention is to reduce the intensity of negative emotions and where no distinction is clearly made between UNEs and HNEs (p.213).

Cognitive behavioral therapy in the aspect of the cognitive perspective can help understand what triggers people with bipolar disorders thoughts, and how we can restrain or decrease the unhealthy negative feelings according to Ellis. I think the cognitive theory is reteaching Jean Piaget's cognitive theory Carey, Zaitchik, & Bascandziev (2015) explain, Piaget's body of work gave the field dozens of robust phenomena that suggest incommensurabilities, phenomena that captured the field's attention because children are locked into patterns of judgment that lead them to internal contradictions and are incoherent from the point of view of the later (adult) conceptual system (p.40) The habits you have as a child could continue on into adulthood which could bring on the symptoms of bipolar because of repressed emotion. This also leads to the mechanism we use as children carry on into adulthood Carey et al. (2015) explains Piaget offered, insights from cognitive science, including history and philosophy of science, have allowed us to go well beyond equilibration of assimilation and accommodation as what we can say about the learning mechanisms underlying the construction of the adult conceptual repertoire (p.41). The bridge between child and adult cares many stages of learning which I think people with bipolar should learn to cope with negative thought and attitudes towards themselves. Bipolar disorder continues to develop and define itself even more as we research the reasons why it came to be and what we can do to relieve its symptoms.

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How John Hersey Revealed the Horrors of the Atomic Bomb to the US

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Anthony V. Florida

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Communism and Working Class

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A Noiseless Flash: John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’

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Slope:

Body

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The Future of Nuclear Energy

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What is Bipolar Disorder?

Introduction