The Nature of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Essay -- Exploratory Essay

The Nature of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Dementia is traditionally considered to be one of the possible results of aging. Its effects are heartbreaking and tremendously exhausting for the patient as well as their family and friends. There are many factors to consider. What would be the best treatment plan for my loved one? Who would care for them? These are all very difficult decisions that impact the patient and family for years to come. But what if you only had a few months to make these decisions? What if all your loved one had was a few very short months before they were gone? In Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the situation is just that. With no known cause or cure, CJD takes the patient and family completely by surprise. Time is precious when you see new changes arising day after day in areas such as movement, speech and cognition. How could you make them as comfortable as posssible? What could have caused these sudden changes? What treatment options do you have in such a short period of tim e? Most importantly will my loved one be able to express their needs to me? Creutzfeldt-Jakob is considered to be a transmissible dementia or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which means that the spread of the disease is similar to that of viruses. Further studies have shown that instead of a virus, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or CJD, is considered to be caused by a proteinaceous infection agent or "prion" (Asher et al, 2000) that attacks nerve cells causing vacuolization, the formation of holes in the cell, and eventually cell death. To date there are no effective screenin... ...ore to be learned. The important factor during the course of CJD is the patient. We as Speech Pathologists must ask ourselves a few questions. Was the best interests of the patient met for as long as they could have been? Was the family aware of any and all support and community groups available to them during this difficult time? If we as SLP's can answer these questions with a yes, then we have done our jobs indeed. To those who involoved with CJD, thank you. Because of the researchers, therapists, and families of CJD patients, we have the knowledge we have today. This knowledge will continue to grow, providing tests, screening measures and maybe some day a cure. To live with the hope that one day another person will not have to endure what sorrows you have can be a great motivation.

Prozac Nation

Prozac Nation tells the story of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s childhood, her troubled relationship with her father who left her and her mother and refused to accept his responsibilities to his family, her move to Harvard, and her mental decline leading to several stays in hospital and a suicide attempt. Finally, after trying many different psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and medications, she tries Prozac and it helps her rise above her despair. In the Afterword to Prozac Nation, written for the paperback edition in 1995, Wurtzel asks the question that will have occurred to many of her readers.What on earth makes a woman in her mid-twenties, thus far of no particular outstanding accomplishment, have the audacity to write a three-hundred page volume about her own life and nothing more, as if anyone else would actually give a shit? (p. 354) She gives a long answer, the crux of which is: I wanted this book to dare to be completely self-indulgent, unhesitant, and forthright in its telling of what clinical depression feels like: I wanted so very badly to write a book that felt as bad as it feels to feel this bad, to feel depressed.I wanted to be completely true to the experience of depression—to the thing itself, and not to the mitigations of translating it. I wanted to portray myself in the midst of this mental crisis precisely as I was: difficult, demanding, impossible, unsatisfiable, self-centered, self-involved, and above all, self-indulgent. (p. 356) Wurtzel certainly succeeds in her aim to portray herself as capricious and self-preoccupied. Indeed, according to her own description, she seems so impulsive, self-preoccupied, needy in relationships, and manipulative that readers will probably wonder whether depression is indeed Wurtzel’s most basic problem.It’s very tempting to speculate that Wurtzel has just as much claim to a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder as she does to depression. Wurtzel says that her psychiatrists gave her a diagnosis of atypical depression, and DSM-IV-TR tells us that personality disorders may be more common in those with atypical depression. Of course, even if I were a psychiatrist, which I’m not, would be ridiculous to offer a diagnosis based on an autobiography.What is clear, however, is that Wurzel’s goal of telling some general truth about clinical depression is not accomplished. Reading Prozac Nation is a very different experience from reading other memoirs of depression such as Tracy Thompson’s The Beast and Martha Manning’s Undercurrents because Wurtzel manages to provoke such a mixture of conflicting feelings in her reader, while other authors of depression memoirs provoke far more consistent sympathy. By the end of the book, one feels far more sympathy for Wurtzel’s mother and her friends than one does for her.Normally, I count myself as able to identify and empathize with people who suffer from serious mental illnesses, but I have to confe ss that, given the way she describes herself, unless she has changed dramatically, I’d recommend her friends to run a mile rather than put up with her manipulation. Note that one gets a similar impression from Wurtzel’s second memoir, More, Now, Again, (reviewed in Metapsychology April 2002) in which she becomes addicted to Ritalin and cocaine, and spends most of her time lying and hiding her addiction from her friends, mother and publisher.In Prozac Nation, Wurtzel several times suggests that she was addicted to depression and makes clear that her self-defeating behavior was often willful. What makes it so hard to sympathize with her is that that her problem seems to be her personality, rather than some affliction she has to overcome. To be more precise, Wutzel describes herself sometimes as the agent of her predicament, and other times as the victim of it, and it’s unclear for the reader what reasons there are for these switches.She manipulates people close to her: for instance, she tells calls her therapist at all times of the day and night, and then tells her therapist that if she does not listen to her problems, her (Wurtzel’s) blood will be on her (the therapist’s) hands. Sometimes even her crying seems like a deliberate action. But at other times she feels immobile, and can’t get out of bed. Consider, for example, how she feels after her brief romance with a man called Rafe, uring which she was miserable, clingy, and insecure, and she explicitly ignored his request that he spend time away from her, since he needed to be with his family, who had their own needs. I couldn’t move after Rafe left me. Really. I was stuck to my bed like a piece of chewing gum at the bottom of somebody’s shoe, branded with the underside, adhering to someone who didn’t want me, who kept stamping on me but still I wouldn’t move away. (250) Wurtzel’s alternating acceptance and denial of her agency bemuse s the reader, and ultimately makes Wurtzel a less credible witness to her own mental states.Far from knowing exactly how it was for Wurtzel, even though it is clear that she was desperately unhappy for most of the time, readers will be confused and exhausted by her narrative. Far from undermining the work, these features are what make Prozac Nation so distinctive, standing out among other memoirs. It is a tour de force, and a powerful evocation of Wurtzel’s experience, although it’s not so clear whether that experience is depression, borderline personality disorder, or some other mental disorder.

The North American Free Trade Agreement - 894 Words

The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8th, 1993, went into effect on January 1st, 1994. By December of 1994, Mexico underwent a deep economic crisis, which saw the devaluation of the Mexican peso, a deterioration of wages, rampant unemployment, as well as extensive personal and corporate bankruptcies that led to the poverty and malnutrition of many of its citizens. As we explore the economic effects that NAFTA has had on Mexico, we must consider what economic disparity has meant for the citizens of Mexico, and how it has impacted migration patterns from Mexico to the United States. Under NAFTA, Mexico s per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has grown twenty-two percent, from $10,238 in 1980 to $14,400 in 2010, an increase which is less than the growth rate average for all other Latin American countries, which has hovered at thirty-three percent during that thirty-year period. In that same period, the United States has seen a GDP growth well above that of Mexico, at sixty-six percent. Furthermore, enacting NAFTA has provided Mexico the slowest rate of economic growth out of all previous economic strategies since the 1930 s; under NAFTA, Mexico s GDP grew at a meager .89 percent per year. Still, some economists consider NAFTA a success, due to the GDP growth in the United States and Canada. What these economists fail to consider is the fact that the jobs created in Mexico are not luxurious, orShow MoreRelatedNorth American Free Trade Agreement Essay1398 Words   |  6 Pages North American Free Trade Agreement During the most recent race for the White House we heard very little of substance from both parties, but one thing both parties seem to agree on is that free trade has been bad for the U.S. worker. One candidate proclaimed that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs and another distanced herself from free trade agreements all together. It has been over twenty years since the implementation ofRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1711 Words   |  7 PagesThis paper will discuss four components of the North American Free Trade Agreement: Background, events, pros and cons. Upon the research, you will discover four online articles to provide more detail and examples. This research will indicate how it was developed and the reasoning on why it would benefit the nation. Also, it will provide events that occur after the agreement was signed by congress and the recession the countries experience during the e arly 2000s. There will be a chart locatedRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement Essay1420 Words   |  6 Pagessubstance from both parties, but one thing both parties seem to agree on is that free trade has been bad for the U.S. worker. One candidate proclaimed that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs and another distanced herself from free trade agreements all together. It has been over twenty years since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and many have criticized it as a bad deal for the U.S. It can be shown thatRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1036 Words   |  5 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement also referred to as NAFTA produced results on January 1, 1994. A trade agreement was made between each of the three of nations of North America. The United States, Canada, and Mexico. 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The purpose of the creation of the North American FreeRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement Essay1356 Words   |  6 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement negotiated by three countries; Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The main purpose of NAFTA is essentially to reduce trade barriers in order to promote international commerce, and open up different industries to trade, in particular textiles, agriculture, and automobile sectors. The introduction of NAFTA completely transformed North American economic relations and led to unparalleled cooperation between the U.S. Canada and MexicoRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1486 Words   |  6 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), an agreement signed by three countries in creating rules in trade in North America. NAFTA, when being presented, was described as genuine for helping Mexico and Canada. But was NAFTA really helpings those counties or really just helping N orth America? Initially North America was being genuine about NAFTA when talking to Mexico and Canada but in reality the NAFTA caused some uneven development as the years went by. I have two stories thatRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1804 Words   |  8 Pagesunderstanding the elements of trade blocs that enable open markets between member nations while also decreasing the cost of conducting business within a country is essential in making strategic logistical decisions. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has provided one such trade bloc that encompasses the countries of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. 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According to President Bush, tradeRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement920 Words   |  4 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NATFA) shoved the American worker down a flight of stairs in the name of Globalization NAFTA or a bill similar had been floating around Washington since 1979 a year before Reagan took office. NAFTA truly went no where for over a decade. The â€Å"North American Accord† was first proposed by the Reagan and the GOP were always in favor of passage but, it was the Progressive wing, along with many other pro-union members in the Democratic party who held NAFTA at