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Sunday, January 26, 2020

Female Sexual Objectification In Advertisement Media Essay

Female Sexual Objectification In Advertisement Media Essay After the initial explosion of female sex appeal in advertisement and being a raging success, in the 1930s it stepped up and became much more visual and daring. The first advertisement with a nude was a color ad for Cannon towels in 1933, revealing the backside of a womans body (Lont, 1995: 115). Slowly and efficiently womens bodies were being used very objectively and advertisements were becoming much freer and much raunchier. A slight change of events happened during World War II (1939-1945) where women were portrayed as efficient workers and glamorous accessories while theyre husbands were at war. Oakley stated with the notable exception of the war years, womens role as housewife has been continuously affirmed as the proper use for female energy. Her dependence on men is an accepted fact (Oakley, 1974: 56). When the men would return, women would fall back into the role of a mother and a homemaker. Notably the advertisement changed to display how women should be acting and behaving while theyre husbands were at war, magazines particularly showed images of women carrying out such things as looking after their children and being the perfect mother. Moving into the 1950s after World War II had ended. The female housewife image slowly faded away from the advertisement scene. Studies have shown that women in magazine adverts prior to the 1970s were rarely shown to be in paid work, and when they were it would usually be a stereotypical role (the smiling secretary or hairdresser). The number of housewife images began to decline slowly after the 1950s, but the image was still common in the 1960s and 1970s (Gunter, 1995: 34). Linking in with my previous paragraph mentioning females from 1900 to 1920 were being shown as fragile and weak, it is evident that this was still present 50 years later. It shows that women were still being portrayed in a sexist and belittling manner. In modern methods female sex appeal in advertisement has become much more graphic due to technology and the advertisement industry expansion through the digital revolution. A common technique in modern advertisement is to ensure the males attention is not distracted and the objective of the advertisement stays intact. Advertising that depicts womens bodies without faces, heads, and feet implies that all that is really important about a woman lies between her neck and her knees. The lack of a head symbolizes a woman without a brain. A faceless woman has no individuality. A woman without feet is immobile and therefore submissive (Cortese, 2004: 38). So without a face it brings up the question of what is the advertisement showing, and what portrayal of the female is trying to be connected with the target audience at hand? Illustrated in appendix figure i, I found this to be a great example of how the male focus is purely on the female torso. The advertisement displays the words wash me on the females body to create a mental image in the males mind of cleaning the women. This also encourages the male to view the advertisement and connect no personality to the female, and purely as a sexual object. My attention was drawn to an advertisement for an American Burger King advertisement illustrated in appendix figure ii. Americas advertisement industry is enormous and I wanted to include this in my body of research to show the range of how female sexual objectification is used. My reason for focusing on this advertisement in particular was that it was advertising sex in a very abrupt and indirect manner. The woman is wearing lipstick and has a wide open mouth with red lip stick. Lipstick ads often use lipstick as a phallic symbol to represent oral or anal sex (Cortese, 2004: 33). The advertisement reads It will blow your mind away which is implying that eating the new burger will have similar effects to sexual pleasure. The advertisement gained negative responses and Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of media studies at New York University said the ad was very desperate. Miller said This is objectionable because its outrageously exaggerating the pleasure of Burger King. Its not that good, even as food, and therefore nowhere near as gratifying as an orgasm. Theres no doubt they intended a double entrendre. (Miller, 2009) Putting the desperate attempt aside this shows that female sex appeal has spread across a wide spectrum of advertisement and shows how it has adapted to modern culture. resulted in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/ male and passive/ femalewomen are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness (Mulvey 1975 cited in Gauntlett, 2008: 41). men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object and most particularly an object of vision: a sight (1972: 47). It is argued that women are perceived by men in two very simple watered down stereotypes, they are women into Madonna (pure, gentle, artless, white) and whore (passionate, temptress, red) (1985: 108). In modern advertisement the women commonly advertised as feminine and soft, but have been cleverly manipulated to hold sex appeal and still appear very appealing to the opposite sex. A typical modern display of female sexual objectification is to show a reflection of a males fantasy or a so called dream girl. The exemplary female prototype in advertising, regardless of product or service, displays youth (no lines or wrinkles), good looks, sexual seductiveness and perfection (Baudrillard, 1990 cited in Cortese, 2004: 53). This could be from a simple stereotypical dumb blonde to a busting brunette, as long as the characteristics is focused on the sexual objective and personality does not interfere, the advertisement speaks for itself. On May 1, 2007 CFA law firm released a series of billboard advertisements stating lifes short. Get a divorce. This is clearly illustrated in appendix figure iii. Although this falls into both the category of female and male sexual objectification, I found it a relevant and interesting advertisement which shows a very modern up-to-date method on how sex sells. There was a lot of reaction and business raised by almost 400% due to the advertisements, Corri Fetman, the woman behind the ads said If you think somebodys going to look at a billboard and go out and get a divorce as a result, youre insulting the intelligence of people. If thats the case, our next billboard is going to read, Gimme Your Money. (Corri Fetman 2007) Corrys outspoken behaviour and the publics mixed reactions caused discussions for the general public and the advertisement industry. In summary female sexual objectification in advertisement is used for males to stare and fantasise. It is purely a physical selling point, be it the stick thin blonde or the half-naked women selling a bar of soap, it is all for the purpose of sex selling a product. The ad spends no time discussing her qualifications for sexual desire her mere existence is enough (Sex Appeal in Advertising 1996). I think this quote summarises that a womens sex appeal is the selling point and the only importance for the nature of the advertisement.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Understanding Societal Wealth and Inequality Thesis Statement on What Can Help Society (Hybrid of Capitalism and Communism)

On a general basis, wealth is an accumulation of physical entities which hold great importance to us. These entities are objects such as money, land, jewelries, gold, precious stones and so much more. It is also a means were by people grade themselves or attain superiority over others. Wealth comes with power, prestige, honor, and integrity. Wealth is a very important tool in a society and that is the very means of survival in today’s world. In Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, he speaks of â€Å"survival of the fittest†. In today’s modern world when fittest is mentioned it actually means wisest, more intelligent or brilliant or clever. Even the strongest in a society cannot attain power without wealth. What an irony but that is the situation of the world and now people are misusing this privilege. The unreasonable use of this opportunity is what is causing inequality in a society. According to the founder or father of economics, Adam smith, he explains that the wealth of a nation is not based on land or other forms of property but on the labor gotten from the nation. What he tries to explain from this is that the amount of working power in a society gives rise to the power in terms of wealth of the nation. Even if a society has abundance in land, both fertile and unfertile, the society is useless without the working force of the society (Smith). Every human being in a society is entitled to the wealth provided by the society because when people are created they didn’t place a part of the society to them naturally. The moment people start claiming the wealth of the nation; many people will be left out. This is called private wealth which causes inequality amongst people in a community. Even if private wealth was a good thing, greed which is part of human nature makes it very bad in a society. One man wants to accumulate everything for himself and his family members and this wealth is passed down from one generation to the next. Others in the society have no way of accessing that wealth which belongs to all of them. In Jean Jacque Rousseau’s book Discourse on the origin of inequality published by Marc Michael Rey in1755, Holland, he talks about types of inequality. The types of inequality are natural or physical inequality and moral or political or ethical inequality. The natural inequality he explains that yes every one wasn’t born with the same physical structure. Some might be born strong or weak, tall or short and so on and so forth but that doesn’t mean that inequality should exist. Everyone is born with one skill or the other which enables one to survive in the society and it’s those skills that enable the society to develop very fast and well. The type of inequality that he focuses on is the moral inequality which is caused by people’s ideas which are brought forward and authorized because it favors them. This inequality is a detriment to the development of a society. People come up with the idea of private wealth and the moment everyone starts seeing things in their eyes they begin to accept it as a way of life which is not so (Rousseau). From this idea of private wealth, people who have, start taking advantage of it. They keep on accumulating more wealth from there they gain power, prestige, importance in the society and they begin to oppress others with it. Issue of superiority and inferiority start surfacing and stratification occurs. The less privileged ones become slaves to the rich people and that is how slavery starts which is a form of stratification in a society. People fall into this category because of survival. The thought of slavery is inhuman, why should somebody be a slave to another person because of material possessions? It’s not right. Slavery was initially based on debt or the violation of a more or defeat in war. Slavery based on debt is the subject matter. The rich knew that if they accumulated everything the poor or peasants would be forced to borrow from them. They went into contracts with them and the contract entailed that if they didn’t pay at the designated time with interest, they would be forced to pay up their debt with labor which meant they would become slaves to them. This was called bonded service or indentured service. This was a common psychology the rich used to oppress the poor and this continued from one generation to the next. In some circumstances if the father and the mother cannot pay up even after death, the child (ren) take the debt and work for the rich person till the ebt is paid. This occurred in the United States of America until Slavery was based on color. In some areas in Ghana when debt was not paid in time, the rich person will collect the girl child of that family and she becomes his own until he is satisfied with her probably when she is in her fifties. Nothing was done about this, girls suffered because of private wealth. People used it to their advantage and people suffered. This form of slavery con tinued in Ghana until a militant president broke the bond or contract. Now those girls who were taken from their house at an early age live in shame, they walk nude on the streets of Ghana because they have been stripped of their purity at an early age. Stratification of a society is the after effect of private wealth. Stratification of societies has evolved through the ages from slavery to caste to estate and to class system which is the modern day form of stratification. Slavery as a type of stratification system is what I have previously explained. The next stratification system is the caste system. The Indian caste system is a typical example of the intense effect of stratification. The system is ascribed meaning one cannot choose his or her class because it is given to you and it is based on religious reasons. It is a rigid system and its characteristics or features entail endogamy, it’s practically a taboo to marry outside your caste. The Brahmans being the apex of the society are the only ones that can teach other Brahman children. It doesn’t matter if you have a good education standing, your ideas or teachings are regarded as useless. Functionalist sociologists, Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore suggested that society must offer rewards to ensure that important social positions are filled by the most competent people (Rowell). This doesn’t look like what the functionalist theorist said about being rewarded because of your ability. The Brahmans are the richest in the society, they do no work and they get all the privileges the society has to offer. The other castes present in the system are the Kshatriya (warriors), Vaishay (merchants), Shudra (laborers/farmers), and Dalit (untouchables). This system is so rigid and it is almost impossible to change ones caste. Another caste system which existed in South Africa because of colonialism was the Apartheid caste system. We should note that colonialism was a form of amassing wealth. In this case a country is taking the wealth of another nation to add to its own wealth and they never stop accumulating wealth. It is a macro-view of man and greed when looked at properly. When I talk of macro-view I mean when a developed or civilized country oppress the underdeveloped or uncivilized people and use their scarce resources to make them wallow in poverty. At that time in South Africa, the nation was divided in four, white, colored, black and Bantu. Privileges were giving according to caste level. The people at the bottom of the caste suffered because they received less. So we now see that the problem of private wealth is an issue even amongst countries. The estate system which is another form of stratification was evident in the middle ages. In this period the political system was feudalism. There were three classes in this system namely, clergy, nobles and the commoners. The clergy and the nobles are about 1% of the society’s population and the remaining 99% belonged to the commoners which most of them were dirt poor or peasants. This system existed because the nobles owned vast amount of land and because of that they practiced feudalism which is a system of government by land ownership. This land ownership is still a form of private wealth because the nobles own the land which is the means of production and the peasants work their heads off to survive. Slavery, caste, and estate system were all means of stratification in the old era. The people were controlled by the divine rights which meant that the people were subjected to the nobles or kings because it was an authority from God to obey them and anyone that questions that authority would be put to death. The modern era of stratification has changed because people are now enlightened but how enlightened are they? The effects of private wealth cannot be left behind because as I said before, human greed is inevitable. The modern era of stratification is an open class or social class which is divided in three, upper class, middle class and the lower class. It is called the open class because it is flexible and it is achieved not ascribed, now that is ideal but not real because the elites in the society want to maintain that form of stratification they create institutions that help maintain that private wealth because even in the grave they still want to dominate. Yes it is undeniable that you should be rewarded for one’s hard work, which is where private wealth becomes positive in a society. That chance of working and being rewarded is limited to a few in the society and that few are known as the elites of the society. They pass this chance from one generation to the next in other to ensure that the system or order is not disrupted. They maintain this stratification by controlling ideas, information and use of force. All this is possible by the introduction of institutions such as, legal, educational, police and military institutions. They control the ideas through the educational system, they tell what children should believe and not question it. They also make it possible that only the rich can attend schools because if one is not literate, the chances of the person rising to a higher status in the society would be limited. The elites control the price of educational institutions in the society allowing only a limited amount of children to gain access and as the world is, the children that are given this privilege are the children of the elites. When education fails to impact what they desire, they move on to using the legal institutions. As we all know not everyone has the money to acquire a lawyer in a court case and that is why a public defendant is setup. The elites own the legal institutions especially the public ones and the moment a lower class citizen comes with a court case, he or she knows that the case has already being won by the rich or elite. They fill up these institutions with their own kind and in the course of that they protected from the law. The law was not implemented to create orderliness in a society, that’s what we all think but the real issue is that the law was placed to suppress the poor. Legal institutions are placed to justify the rich and their actions so that no one can question it. When the rich realize that a poor individual is about to gain access to private wealth, false evidence is planted to strip the poor of their right to the private wealth. Is that just? I doubt. The police institution was created by the elites to protect what they have and their lives from the poor. Mostly in nations it is noticed that the elites move around with convoys while the poor have no protection because they have nothing to lose. The police are also there to ensure that the poor doesn’t revolt on the inequality or stratification order. The moment the police isn’t effective enough they call in the military institutions. They mostly do this in times of riot and strike. In these cases they use force to maintain the stratification of the society. We see that the educational institution is used to control ideas and information while the legal institution is used to influence the behavior of the lower class and the military and the police institution is used to exert force on the people when they cannot influence or change their reasoning. In Karl Marx’s book, the communist manifesto, he suggests that the society is stratified according to those who won the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the laborers (proletariats). The bourgeois give the proletariats false consciousness and exploit them with these. He suggests that when the proletariats develop class conscious, there would be an overthrown, but it will happen violently (karl Marx). A violent revolution would take place and the society would go form capitalism to socialism and then communism. This communism entails a classless society but is achieving a classless society possible? When the former Soviet Union practiced communism it was ruthless and harsh. They misunderstood the true ideology of communism. They used violent means to achieve it and in the process tried to have ultimate power. The people of the Former Soviet Union had to give to the state a large amount of their products. During the communist the early communist period over 20 million people were killed whether by hunger or in war. There was no freedom of speech; people who revolted against it were killed immediately by a political police that was set up. The regulations were imposed by deporting people to Siberia, shooting them or provoking starvation to death. The economy failed because creativity was not enhanced. In a society, no individual will be willing to bring new ideas if they are not going to be rewarded for it. The government dictated what kind of products to produce and it was monotonous. Trade of goods became limited even the goods they had, countries were no longer interested in them because they had nothing new to offer. A classless society could not be achieved in the Former Soviet Union because the government which was 0. 5% of the society ruled and had ultimate power and the moment someone can influence your behavior without objections from the individual, it is said to be superiority and inequality comes to play. Communism led to revolutionary acts which caused a lot of victims especially in areas such as western Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia in 1953, USSR in 1962, and Poland in 1956 and 1970. Resources were wasted since the government was in charge. This happened in poorly developed countries owned by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union used up their resources to build strong armies to be able to compete with nations such as the USA. Communism would have survived but because people have greed for power, a dictatorship rule would be developed and all dictators hate competition and revolt. Massive killings would erupt because of insecurity from the dictator’s side. Another problem with communism is the income. Like in China the income was very poor. Peasants in china received $71 and 32 cents annually and the average workers and workers in state industries earned $459 yearly. Productivity reduced drastically because some accelerators for adequate production were unavailable to the people, which included fertilizers, machineries, basic farm tools, preservative equipment etc. Management activities were very poor because the amount of people handling it was very little and division of labor was not encouraged. They also suffered from inflation pressure because prices of goods rose due to expenses made on the production of the goods (Prybyla). Capitalism is what most countries practice and yes it has helped their economic standards when USA is used to compare but we should not forget that this same capitalism is what is causing the effects of the private wealth such as social class which is a type of stratification. People use capitalism to exploit others since they dictate the wages of the workers. They ensure that the wages of their workers are very low so that the profit can be very large. They enjoy but the workers suffer immensely because they can’t take care of their family and this is the reason nations are stratified. All past efforts towards a free market economy, world trade, globalization, industrialization, the pursuit of high living standards, unlimited economic growth and every other form of capitalist endeavor have benefited only a small minority; the big players† (Kumar). He explains that capitalism is has proved to be a detriment to the society by benefitting only the rich and we should note t hat capitalism doesn’t increase the economy of the nation rather the wealth of the capitalist in the society who are the elites. If capitalism increases the wealth of the society then why almost 70% of the society suffering from poverty, starvation are etc.? †¦capitalism is incapable of solving the problems of humanity, but in fact hunger, pollution, the breakdown of social fabric, human unhappiness and many other problems are caused by capitalism† (Kumar). As I have mentioned before, it is only ideal for capitalist to think they are improving the economy but the real thing is that people are exploited for their labor just as Karl Marx indicated. Now that I have established the fact that capitalism and communism cannot solve the problems of inequality in the society, it is time to establish my own solution. I believe that the two can work hand in hand and success can be achieved out of to some extent. Of cause nothing comes with a disadvantage but if it can solve 80% of the problem then I think it is a wonderful solution. A hybrid of communism and capitalism would be utmost importance. A communist government and a capitalist economy is the hybrid I am talking about. This hybrid actually means a form of communal living. No one is superior to the other but that doesn’t mean one cannot have more money than the other if he works for it. Communal living entails that everyone is entitled to the scarce resources in the land and the government has a say in the business of the citizens. A breakdown of the services and the wages are given to the government and the total money gotten from the business is calculated and estimated if the salary of the workers is not fair enough then the person doesn’t get the contract to execute the business. An agreed of the percent of the total investment or profit is dedicated to the payment of the workers. By that everyone is comfortable and living well and the poverty issue and starvation is reduced. If the opportunity is used to exploit the labor of the people then the privilege is taken from one and given from one and this is where reward is functional. This hybrid brings good reforms such as free education (primary and secondary level) to enable one to have a little experience to support ones self, subsidized health care, availability of employment for the masses and social amenities made available. All business activities executed in the nation is open to the government and they pay taxes according to what they earn since they are using the resources of the nation. The tax is used to build the society by contributing to education, health care, social amenities, and protection (police and military services). The agricultural sector is supported by the government by subsidizing cost of machineries and educating people in the agriculture to enable quality and quantifiable products. With this the issue of starvation is reduced. A good example of this idea is the Chinese political and economic system. The communist party realized that communism wasn’t working so they sent the people out to make money. China had a drastic change in economy and it happened in a short time. They experienced double digit GDP growth from 2003 to 2007 –hitting a high of 13%. In 2008, the government launched a $586 billion stimulus plan and they lifted millions out of poverty. China was established as the world’s second largest economic power (Rizzi). Once the problems associated with private wealth have been dissolved, the only problem left to worry about is man’s greed. Man in recent times has learned to control his greed and the only reason it was a major reason was because the law authorized it indirectly. Works Cited Karl Marx, Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto, in The Two Narratives of Political Economy. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2010. Kumar, Satish. Critique of Capitalism. November/December 2005. . Oracle Education Foundation. â€Å"Oracle Think Quest.† 2008. Communism- The Failure of an Utopian System. . Prybyla, Jan S. â€Å"Economic Problems of Communism: A Case Study of China.† Asian Survey, Vol. 22, No. 12 (1982, Dec): 1206-1237. Rizzi, Warren. China's Economy Dances Between Communism and Capitalism. 23 April 2012. 28 April 2012 ;http://www.policymic.com/articles/7356/china-s-economy-dances-between-communism-and-capitalism/headline_story;. Rousseau, Jean Jacque. Discourse on the originn of inequality . Holland: Marc Michael REy, 1755. Rowell, Katherine R. Essentials of Sociology, A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Pearson Education Inc., 2006. Smith, Adam. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of a nations. Pennsylvania: Penn State Electro nic Classic Series Publication, 1776.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour Within a Multinational Leader H&M

Human resource management and organizational behaviour within a multinational leader Hennes & Mauritz is a multinational retail-clothing company operating in 38 countries and employing a total of 87,000 people. It has been founded in 1947 in Sweden and experienced a rapid growth due to international expansion since the 1960’s. H&M’s mission is at the same time one of the reason for its big and fast success; offering fashion and quality at the best price. Customer expactations are supposed to be exceeded at all times as well as customers being satisfied with the company itself. In order to achieve that H&M needs to sustain its very positive brand image and staff that is organized in the best possible way to handle those goals set. In its annual report it is stated that the company’s focus should be on commercial mindset, simplicity, constant improvement, cost consciousness and entrepreneurship. With those aspects in mind, the long term goal being „making fashion available to everyone, giving the customer a fashion experience that strengthens H&M brandâ€Å" should be reached allowing the business to further expand and to enter new markets on the basis of a 10-15% growth per year, funded internally. Over the years, the company has set a strategy which has the three main aspects of price, design and merger &acquisitions. First of all, since H&M always tries to offer their customers the lowest price possible, they need to achieve a competitive advantage to achieve low costs, and sustaining profitability at very low prices. This is achieved through keeping the number of middlemen to a minimum, benefiting of economies of scale, taking advantage of their great experience and selecting suppliers carefully and keeping distribution costs as low as possible. Designing is completly processed inh-house while all of the production is outsorced but its outcome is tested carefully on a regular basis to ensure high quality at all times. Mergers & acquistions have also been one of the company’s major strategy in the past, especially focusing on acquisitions of small design companies to enrich their product portfolio and being able to offer diversified products worldwide which is an essential part of their international expansion strategy. H&M’s corporate strategy is to expand on a continuing basis, and as a consequence, employee strength also increases continuously. For 2009, H&M’s The continous expansion means that there is also an ongoing process of recruitment within the company, as additional staff is needed with every new shop opening. Annual increase in the number of employees for the upcoming years is 5000-10,000 people from all different kinds of backgrounds, mostly recruited locally at the place of store opening. H&M puts a strong emhasis is to maintain their image of being a good employer, which will help them not only to be confronted with a higher number of applicants for job vaccancies, but also reduces staff turnover as well as it increases employee’s satisfaction towards their job and hence, productivity. This also includes making efforts that exceed national requirements of employer’s responsibilities, which are, especially in some of the recently entered asian markets, very low compared to western standards. This objective is summarized by the HR department as following: â€Å"In order to meet people’s expectations of H&M as an attractive employer, the company develops global guide lines on diversity, equal rights and against discrimination† Hennes & Mauritz wants to give every employee the feeling that they are an essential part of the business, constently offering them to develop and giving the positive signals that promotions are within the company are always ahead. The company is very open towards trade unions and is known for its good and close communication on an employee-management level. Represantitves are being elected which frequently discuss possibilities for improvement with managers, representing the employee’s opinions while at the same time managers are encouraged to actively communicate with employees of all levels as well. This creates a strong feeling of trust within the organization, which is excellent at managing diversity. At times of promotions, managers are advised first to look for the best candidate internally in order to gain advantage of the employee’s experience with the company and encouraging others to work hard and being the best andidate for future promotions. However, the companies philosophy is built among a concept which does not award employees with outstanding job titles but instead continiously increasing opportunities and responsibilities. The fast international expansion of course requires high level of training of new staff. As stated before, internal recruitment is one the main objectives, but since the number of staff is growing so fast, new employees need to be introduced to the job quickly. This process is being accelerated by on-the-job training in which new staff in new markets is invited to join a co-workers in an established market to be introduced into the philosophies, practices and day-to-day tasks. One of the main characteristics a H&M employee therefore needs to bring is a sense of entrepreneurship, good communication skills and being open to work in different environments. Once being hired by H&M, the employee is offered a huge range of benefits for which the company is well recognized for (a list of possible benefits is attached in the appendix)

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Acute Stress Disorder - 3168 Words

Acute Stress Disorder Brett D. Klawitter Liberty University Abstract Acute Stress Disorder or ASD is a phenomenon that happens during or shortly after a traumatic event. It can affect people in many different ways but it is usually debilitating for up to one month. There has been controversy and stigma attached to the diagnosis of ASD since it was first added to the DSM-IV. This paper will illustrate the definition of ASD, the diagnostic guidelines, the difference between ASD and Acute Stress Reaction (ASR), symptoms and effective treatments, the impact of ASD and the coping skills needed to successfully get through it, and a biblical story and perspective about stress disorders. What is ASD and is it an appropriate response to†¦show more content†¦While many aspects remain the same thee has been some additional criteria or information that makes the diagnosis more effecting. The diagnostic criteria for ASD include; experiencing or witnessing actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation, or learning that the event occurred to a friend or close relative, repeated or extreme exposure to the event but it is important to note that this does not include exposure through mass media. In DSM-IV three criteria had to be met along with the occurrence of other disturbances. In DSM-V this is sectioned together and eight or more of the symptoms must be met, starting with at least three of the disassociated symptoms such as numbing, depersonalization, or amnesia. There are four inclusion symptoms that could occur such as flashbacks, recurrent images, thoughts, or dreams. Two avoidance symptoms that could include avoiding conversations, activities, people, and places that bring back intense feelings and memories of the event. Furthermore; symptoms of arousal or anxiety such as the inability or difficulty sleeping, irritability, poor concentration, and the inability to sit still or body tremors and shaking. There needs to be clinically observed stress or impairment, the symptoms last from three days to one month afte r the event and are not due to the use of substances, a medical condition, or physiological events (Cardeà ±a amp; Carlson, 2011). Differences between ASD andShow MoreRelatedAcute Stress Disorder ( Asd )873 Words   |  4 Pagesdevelop an anxiety disorder called acute stress disorder (ASD). Acute stress disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by acute stress responses that may last from 2 days to 4 weeks do to a traumatic life event. Following the experience of a traumatic event, an evaluation of ASD requires that a person experiences an extreme emotional reaction to a stress contributor, along with receiving symptoms that lead to impairment or distress (Shevlin, Hyland, Elklit, 2014). 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After returning home a soldier can have problems with re-integration, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger control problems, and it can even cause drug or alcohol abuse. â€Å"Department of Defense data indicated that among soldiers returning from combat operations on Iraq (Operation Iraq Freedom, OIF) 27.7% of active duty and 35.5 %Read MoreThe Effects Of Stress Disorder On The World Of Chaos1412 Words   |  6 PagesTraumatic stress disorders are on the rise in our world of chaos. Most people will find themselves being the victim of a traumatic incident at some point in their lives. For some, trauma is lived out daily. If they do not experience a trauma, then the likelihood is great that they are connected in some way to a victim of trauma. Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder have become a topic of great interest to researchers. This text will define acute stress disorder also called ASD