Since I tend to approach issues primarily from a logical perspective, I researched the statistical prediction of my life expectancy, which was determined to be 77, meaning that my own personal “middle age” begins at age 38.5. That statement just seemed wrong…very wrong…logic and statistical evidence be damned. My grandmother lived to age 90 and my grandfather to age 97, so I feel justified using them as a standard for my life expectancy, thus providing a mean of 93.5, making my middle age really to begin at 46.75…ah…much better. Using this same formula, middle age should last 23.75 years, with old age to begin at 70.12. This dictates that middle age begins for me just 13 years from now, which seems pretty soon.
I expect my middle age years to be the best of my life. My youngest daughter will be graduating high school and starting her own journey into adulthood, and my oldest daughter will be well along on her journey. I imagine I may feel a little sad about our “empty nest”, but most likely I will feel more joy than sorrow. I very much look forward to my middle age years. I plan to use this time to travel the world, to see, learn, and experience different cultures.
The accomplishments I expect to have met by the onset of middle age are the same as what I hope to accomplish by then. My main goal is to have properly prepared and raised my children to be well adjusted, productive members of society, who remain emotionally close to our family unit. Another goal I have and expect to achieve is to have helped grow our family construction business to the point where we will have a secure, comfortable economic situation for the middle age years and beyond. Additionally, I hope and expect to have furthered my education to the doctoral level. Finally and most importantly, I hope and expect to have invested enough time, attention and love into my marriage that my husband and I continue to appreciate, value, honor, and enjoy each other as we grow into our old age years. Almost 9 years ago my husband sang the following song to me at our wedding ceremony before we exchanged vows, and I believe it sums up how we both feel about our future.
I wanna Grow Old With You
I wanna make you smile
Whenever you're sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do, is grow old with you
I'll get you medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
So, it could be so nice growing old with you,....
I'll miss you, Kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold
Need you
Feed you
Even let you hold the remote control.
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink
Oh I could be the man that grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Life and Death from a Neurological Viewpoint
Aside from politics, I cannot think of any subject more volatile to discuss than the assigned topic, the genesis of life. Each person holds his or her own personal view on this, and I am in no way claim my belief as fact, this is simply how I have come to understand the conception of life. I hold the neurological viewpoint of when life begins, which dictates that life begins at approximately 24 to 27 weeks into the gestation period, as this is the time the fetus produces a distinct EEG brain wave pattern. I came to choose the neurological viewpoint by first rephrasing the original question and establishing when I believe life ends. My personal conviction is that once a person’s brain is no longer functional the person they have been throughout his or her life is essentially gone, or dead, though the body may still produce a heartbeat with the aid of technology. I do not believe it wise or beneficial to use technology to force a body to function when the brain is no longer able, so it is only logical that this principle would direct my assessment of the origin of life as well.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
America the Corrupt
The recent explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig owned by Transocean this past April released 90 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest oil spill in U.S. history and the second largest in the world. Ironically, these 90 million gallons of oil would have powered the U.S. Economy for only four hours. This environmental catastrophe has put the social policy of off shore drilling with its risks and possible advantages of obtaining oil in this manner, into the national spot light.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service, U.S. Department of Interior, is supposed to regulate the offshore drilling industry. However, massive government corruption throughout the MMS makes this impossible. The Inspector General of the Interior Department made public a report showing evidence that agency employees accepted meals, tickets to sports events and other gifts from oil companies, but that is petty in comparison to the corrupt deeds executed at the hand of Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Department of Interior. In 2009, attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity were granted a court order to vacate the Bush Administration’s Five Year Off-Shore Drilling Plan. In reaction Salazar filed and was granted a special motion to exempt approved oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, specifically identifying BP’s operation as one that should be released from the vacature. The MMS also exempted BP’s offshore drilling plan from environmental review by using a loophole in the National Environmental Policy Act meant only to apply to projects with no, or minimal, negative effects like outhouses. The MMS exempts hundreds of dangerous offshore oil drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico every year. Salazar has illegally approved four hundred oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty seven offshore gulf drilling operations have been approved since the BP spill, two of which were awarded to BP; and twenty-six of those were approved under the same loophole environmental review exemption used to approve the disastrous BP drilling.
An example of how an understanding of human development could inform legislators on how to approach this issue is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory, which states that development reflects the influence of an individual’s five environmental systems; the Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem and Chronosystem. Issuing legislation providing for a clean world in which to live would fall into the Ecological Theory’s Macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote set of people and things, which still has a great influence, thus our nation’s environmental health and the legislation of same is directly involved with human development. Unfortunately it is likely not a lack of understanding that legislators are suffering from in regard to oil-drilling, but is instead the broader problem of lack of moral responsibility in government which encourages it’s corruption.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service, U.S. Department of Interior, is supposed to regulate the offshore drilling industry. However, massive government corruption throughout the MMS makes this impossible. The Inspector General of the Interior Department made public a report showing evidence that agency employees accepted meals, tickets to sports events and other gifts from oil companies, but that is petty in comparison to the corrupt deeds executed at the hand of Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Department of Interior. In 2009, attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity were granted a court order to vacate the Bush Administration’s Five Year Off-Shore Drilling Plan. In reaction Salazar filed and was granted a special motion to exempt approved oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, specifically identifying BP’s operation as one that should be released from the vacature. The MMS also exempted BP’s offshore drilling plan from environmental review by using a loophole in the National Environmental Policy Act meant only to apply to projects with no, or minimal, negative effects like outhouses. The MMS exempts hundreds of dangerous offshore oil drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico every year. Salazar has illegally approved four hundred oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty seven offshore gulf drilling operations have been approved since the BP spill, two of which were awarded to BP; and twenty-six of those were approved under the same loophole environmental review exemption used to approve the disastrous BP drilling.
An example of how an understanding of human development could inform legislators on how to approach this issue is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory, which states that development reflects the influence of an individual’s five environmental systems; the Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem and Chronosystem. Issuing legislation providing for a clean world in which to live would fall into the Ecological Theory’s Macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote set of people and things, which still has a great influence, thus our nation’s environmental health and the legislation of same is directly involved with human development. Unfortunately it is likely not a lack of understanding that legislators are suffering from in regard to oil-drilling, but is instead the broader problem of lack of moral responsibility in government which encourages it’s corruption.
Repressed?
Memory in Cluster C Personality Disorders
and the Role of Depression, Worry
and Experiential Avoidance
The classification of Cluster C Personality Disorders refers to avoidant, dependant, and obsessive compulsive personality disorders. It is important to look at the relation of overgenerality in Cluster C Personality Disorders, specifically the role of depression, worry and experiential avoidance in these disorders. When asked to describe specific autobiographical events, individuals with Cluster C Personality Disorders (PD) often display manifestations of overgenerality. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Overgenerality is defined as a feature of memory closely related to the psychopathology of emotion, and is displayed by failure to provide specific autobiographical memories upon request, instead substituting general memories that summarize a category of similar events. Since autobiographical memory is an integral part of the sense of self, and effects ones orientation in the world and pursuit of personal goals, it is important to look further into the correlation of overgeneralization and Cluster C Personality Disorders. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Various tests were administered to investigate the role of worry, experiential avoidance, and depression in Cluster C Personality Disorders and the relationship between those roles and the prediction of overgenerality. Test results showed that each type of Cluster C personality disorder group produced significantly fewer specific memories and significantly more categorical memories than the control groups. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
A series of hierarchal multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the predictive value of depression severity was marginally significant. Age and education level (with younger and higher educated individuals showing higher rates of specificity recall) and experiential avoidance were significant predictors with worry indicated to be the highest predictor. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
This current data deserves consideration despite the limitation of using short standardized self report questionnaires and warrants replication and extension of the present study with the addition of experimental tasks for manipulation. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Additionally, this study’s present findings on reduced memory specificity in Cluster C Personality Disorders justify further studies into mechanisms underlying memory specificity in other Personality Disorder categories. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Reference
Spinhoven, P., Bamelis, L., Molendijk, M., Haringsma, R., & Arntz, A. (2009). Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory in cluster c personality disorders and the role of depression, worry, and experiential avoidance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(3), 520-530. doi:10.1037/
and the Role of Depression, Worry
and Experiential Avoidance
The classification of Cluster C Personality Disorders refers to avoidant, dependant, and obsessive compulsive personality disorders. It is important to look at the relation of overgenerality in Cluster C Personality Disorders, specifically the role of depression, worry and experiential avoidance in these disorders. When asked to describe specific autobiographical events, individuals with Cluster C Personality Disorders (PD) often display manifestations of overgenerality. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Overgenerality is defined as a feature of memory closely related to the psychopathology of emotion, and is displayed by failure to provide specific autobiographical memories upon request, instead substituting general memories that summarize a category of similar events. Since autobiographical memory is an integral part of the sense of self, and effects ones orientation in the world and pursuit of personal goals, it is important to look further into the correlation of overgeneralization and Cluster C Personality Disorders. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Various tests were administered to investigate the role of worry, experiential avoidance, and depression in Cluster C Personality Disorders and the relationship between those roles and the prediction of overgenerality. Test results showed that each type of Cluster C personality disorder group produced significantly fewer specific memories and significantly more categorical memories than the control groups. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
A series of hierarchal multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the predictive value of depression severity was marginally significant. Age and education level (with younger and higher educated individuals showing higher rates of specificity recall) and experiential avoidance were significant predictors with worry indicated to be the highest predictor. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
This current data deserves consideration despite the limitation of using short standardized self report questionnaires and warrants replication and extension of the present study with the addition of experimental tasks for manipulation. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Additionally, this study’s present findings on reduced memory specificity in Cluster C Personality Disorders justify further studies into mechanisms underlying memory specificity in other Personality Disorder categories. (Spinhoven, Bamelis, Molendijk, Haringsma, & Arntz, 2009).
Reference
Spinhoven, P., Bamelis, L., Molendijk, M., Haringsma, R., & Arntz, A. (2009). Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory in cluster c personality disorders and the role of depression, worry, and experiential avoidance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(3), 520-530. doi:10.1037/
Jails...Americas New Asylums
The video “The New Asylums” clearly depicted a serious failure in today’s American society. Poverty dooms the indigent mentally ill to a life of incarceration, since prison is the only place they can receive mental health care. The astronomical fees of private treatment facilities make it impossible for most Americans to afford this type of care. It seems we have an “out of sight-out of mind” attitude. The lack of government funding for public mental health programs indicates our miniscule regard for the mentally ill.
I felt a sense of shame as I watched the video. How can we deem it acceptable to treat our fellow Americans with so little regard? Our society places much more importance on material possessions than on the lives of some human beings. How we spend our money shows our values. The answer to the dilemma of America’s mentally ill is not an easy one. We must develop a whole new system of care for the mentally ill, but before this can happen, our country’s values have got to change. We must want to help people more than we want to buy ourselves new things. Media coverage of the issue is essential, and getting funding for programs is paramount. Someone has to be the voice for these people who are unable to speak for themselves, the question is, Who?
I felt a sense of shame as I watched the video. How can we deem it acceptable to treat our fellow Americans with so little regard? Our society places much more importance on material possessions than on the lives of some human beings. How we spend our money shows our values. The answer to the dilemma of America’s mentally ill is not an easy one. We must develop a whole new system of care for the mentally ill, but before this can happen, our country’s values have got to change. We must want to help people more than we want to buy ourselves new things. Media coverage of the issue is essential, and getting funding for programs is paramount. Someone has to be the voice for these people who are unable to speak for themselves, the question is, Who?
You Call This FOOD?!?!
The video, “Food Inc.” has changed the way I think about food. Previously I shopped for food with price being the most significant factor in my decision making process. From today forward I will spend whatever it costs to buy my family fresh local organic food, cost be damned. I’ve known for a long time that organic is “better”, but just being “better” wasn’t enough reason for me to spend the extra money that organic food costs. After watching “Food Inc” I can’t in good conscience feed my family non organic food. It is scary what types of chemicals are used on non organic foods. Meat is routinely processed in ammonia, and the animals that the meat comes from have been fed hormones and antibiotics. Chemicals such as ethylene gas are used on the fruits and vegetables to ripen them and effectively make natural crop seasons and farming a thing of the past. Our food is no longer safe for consumption. The fact that the Food and Drug Administration allows the food industry to sell Americans genetically modified foods without labeling the products as such is terrifying and an obscene injustice. Our government is failing its nation’s consumers. It is up to each of us as individuals to make sure we buy food that is safe for consumption…GO ORGANIC!
Yes, it is possible to be addicted to weed...
Cognitive Function as an Emerging Treatment
for Marijuana Addiction
Chronic use of marijuana leads to dose related cognitive impairments of the working memory, attention, verbal learning and memory functions. These impairments are not fully reversible even after cessation and may be predictive of poor treatment response. Current behavioral therapies used for marijuana addiction treatment have shown only modest abstinence rates, and no effective pharmaceutical treatments are available. Behavioral therapies are successful dependent on the patient’s ability to pay attention, understand behavioral change strategies and how to implement them. Intact cognitive functioning could be vital to more complex CBT therapies that focus on cognitive retraining and learning of new behavioral skills.
Therefore, targeting cognitive impairment associated with chronic marijuana use is proposed as a possible new strategy of marijuana addiction treatment.
Preclinical non-human studies suggest that the cholinergic system may have an important role in the cognitive impairment induced by marijuana. Cannabinoid agonist THC inhibits cholinergic transmission in the brain and reduction of Acetylcholine (Ach) release has been significantly correlated with the impairment of working memory. Other preclinical non-human studies suggest that cognitive enhancing medications such as physostigstigmine, tetrahydroaminoacridne, donepezil, and galantamine could prove useful in reducing drug use. Physostigmine was shown to reverse the THC induced reduction of correct choices and increase in errors in the eight arm radial maze task in rats. Additionally, tetrahydroaminoacridne reversed the THC induced release of Ach in the dorsal hippocampus. These cholinesterase inhibitors increase synaptic Ach levels which could increase inhibitory control vital since reduced inhibitory control is a key antecedent to addictive behaviors. These cognitive enhancing medications could also alleviate cannabis induced spatial and working memory deficits, and be especially effective in improving attentional function which could increase the success of treatment outcome.
This summary of pharmacological and behavioral therapies targeting cognitive functioning in marijuana users indicates a need for future research in several areas. The aforementioned cognitive enhancing medications have not yet been studied in humans, and controlled human studies must be performed. Clinical studies that use validated cognitive tests with good psychometric properties sensitive to pharmacological and behavioral interventions are needed to measure cognitive function and the effects of drug use. Further studies designed to determine which cognitive functions are most predictive of treatment outcomes must be conducted. Additionally the extent to which improvements in cognitive function can be evaluated by functional imaging techniques needs to be explored. Finally, optimal timing of treatment initiation is of great importance. Therefore the efficacy of initiating treatment after a period of abstinence versus beginning treatment while still using marijuana with the intention to facilitate abstinence should also be evaluated.
References: Sofuoglu, M., Sugarman, D. E., & Carroll, K. M. (2010). Cognitive function as an emerging treatment target for marijuana addiction. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18(2), 109-119. doi:10.1037/
for Marijuana Addiction
Chronic use of marijuana leads to dose related cognitive impairments of the working memory, attention, verbal learning and memory functions. These impairments are not fully reversible even after cessation and may be predictive of poor treatment response. Current behavioral therapies used for marijuana addiction treatment have shown only modest abstinence rates, and no effective pharmaceutical treatments are available. Behavioral therapies are successful dependent on the patient’s ability to pay attention, understand behavioral change strategies and how to implement them. Intact cognitive functioning could be vital to more complex CBT therapies that focus on cognitive retraining and learning of new behavioral skills.
Therefore, targeting cognitive impairment associated with chronic marijuana use is proposed as a possible new strategy of marijuana addiction treatment.
Preclinical non-human studies suggest that the cholinergic system may have an important role in the cognitive impairment induced by marijuana. Cannabinoid agonist THC inhibits cholinergic transmission in the brain and reduction of Acetylcholine (Ach) release has been significantly correlated with the impairment of working memory. Other preclinical non-human studies suggest that cognitive enhancing medications such as physostigstigmine, tetrahydroaminoacridne, donepezil, and galantamine could prove useful in reducing drug use. Physostigmine was shown to reverse the THC induced reduction of correct choices and increase in errors in the eight arm radial maze task in rats. Additionally, tetrahydroaminoacridne reversed the THC induced release of Ach in the dorsal hippocampus. These cholinesterase inhibitors increase synaptic Ach levels which could increase inhibitory control vital since reduced inhibitory control is a key antecedent to addictive behaviors. These cognitive enhancing medications could also alleviate cannabis induced spatial and working memory deficits, and be especially effective in improving attentional function which could increase the success of treatment outcome.
This summary of pharmacological and behavioral therapies targeting cognitive functioning in marijuana users indicates a need for future research in several areas. The aforementioned cognitive enhancing medications have not yet been studied in humans, and controlled human studies must be performed. Clinical studies that use validated cognitive tests with good psychometric properties sensitive to pharmacological and behavioral interventions are needed to measure cognitive function and the effects of drug use. Further studies designed to determine which cognitive functions are most predictive of treatment outcomes must be conducted. Additionally the extent to which improvements in cognitive function can be evaluated by functional imaging techniques needs to be explored. Finally, optimal timing of treatment initiation is of great importance. Therefore the efficacy of initiating treatment after a period of abstinence versus beginning treatment while still using marijuana with the intention to facilitate abstinence should also be evaluated.
References: Sofuoglu, M., Sugarman, D. E., & Carroll, K. M. (2010). Cognitive function as an emerging treatment target for marijuana addiction. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18(2), 109-119. doi:10.1037/
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