PTSD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PTSD - Essay Example Biological Basis of PTSD Some researchers suggest that there is a biological basis for PTSD but others are not sure whether there is a connection or not. According to Moisse (2011) a new study has shown that there is some type of biological connection. According to the new study, researchers had previously found that there is a connection between a hormone-like molecule called PACAP and the brain's ability to respond to stress. The researchers checked the PACAP levels and found that they were higher in people with PTSD. The challenge for this research was that this connection related only to women. These researchers also looked at how PACAP impacted fear in women. They found that a genetic encoding called PAC1 was more present in women who had PTSD and high levels of PACAP, also had this gene which is a gene that responds to estrogen. The researchers believe that this is a first step I helping find a way to predict who will get PTSD (Moisse, 2011). According to Howard and Crandall (2 007) the systems that are most used in PTSD are the autonomic system and the sympathetic systems. The autonomic system regulates the basic body systems without us thinking about it. The sympathetic system controls the handles our reaction to the "fight or flight" condition while the parasympathetic system works on physical symptoms like slowing the heart down, stimulating digestion and constricting the pupils of the eyes. The hippocampus of the brain remains in a state of "high alert" so that it can bring the body into a familiar state of what happened in similar threats from the past. In so doing, it will also overproduce the hormone, cortisol along with other "neuro-excitatory transmitters" and hippocampal cells will "degenerate and eventually die" (Trappler, 2010, p. 1). The brain and the other symptoms react very quickly as the individual is having a PTSD experience. The Video Reaction to Stress In the video, The Soldier's Heart many soldiers spoke about how they reacted to stre ss. It was clear that not only were their physical reactions to stress but also psychological ones. Many soldiers spoke about the physical symptoms of seeing things or hearing things that were not in their present life. They also spoke about becoming angry, depressed and attempting to ignore what they were feeling. Once soldier talked about crying uncontrollably and spending times just staring into space. The psychological aspects of PTSD were more devastating for the soldiers in the video because they were not allowed to talk about them. They stated that the military expects them to be able to handle what happened to them without assistance from counseling. The challenge is that many soldiers saw people die in front of them or had to kill people they did not know. These soldiers who were in Iraq stated that they found themselves drinking more frequently and drinking more alcohol than was normal for them, not wanting to be around people and talking more about Iraq to anyone who woul d listen. These psychological issues often created more challenges for them as they went through their lives. One soldier committed suicide by hanging himself with a garden hose because of his feelings about killing an innocent Iraqi woman. The challenge for the military is that up until recently, they were not doing anything to treat

Research Paper on the Aztecs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Research Paper on the Aztecs - Essay Example Before settling near the southern edge of modern Mexico, the Aztecs were a group of semi-nomadic people with weak political powers and a notably fragmented identity1. A small part of the colorful politics of the area at the time, the Aztecs were actually driven into the highlands by other more powerful nations and for a few centuries they lived relatively peaceably with their neighbors, much differently than the society we envision now as the Aztecs: a violent and powerful group motivated by gold, wealth and bloodthirsty gods. In truth, it took at least 200 years for the Aztecs to work their way into a position of relative authority throughout southern Mexico, and this was accomplished with "judicious diplomacy, discreet military alliance, and well-timed royal marriages"2. Another factor in the rise of the nation was the capital city, Tenochtitlan, which now lies buried under Mexico City. Tenochtitlan was founded several hundred years before the Aztecs held control of their part of M exico, and as it grew so did the nation. The first grip the Aztecs held on their counterparts was via their city as an important marketing town, since people from all around would come to trade with each other and indeed relied on Tenochtitlan for their livelihoods. Through slow and deliberate state movement within the military, surrounding governments and the royal family, the Aztecs found themselves an undeniably powerful position within local and surrounding politics during the 14th and 15th centuries, thereafter undertaking a drastic change in policy that saw them become an unquestioned ruling force that we recognize from Spanish accounts. Ironically, the Aztec nation had only just become a society of an elite ruling class, with a vaguely centralized economy catering primarily to Tenochtitlan from countless surrounding villages and towns when the Spanish happened upon it. There is no telling where the society might have taken itself without the destructive influence of the Spanish, although given the history of the area historians are in a general consensus that like the Maya and Toltec nations, the Aztecs were doomed to fall victim to their own bad economic planning. In fact, such innately fragile forces have actually been cited as the rea son that the Spanish found their conquering party so successful3. One of the most persistent legends of the Aztecs is that of human sacrifice; the practice is often alluded to modern literature and television, and this is largely responsible for our contemporary view of the Aztecs as violent and barbaric. The stories come from the Spanish accounts of their enemies, with graphic scenes described where Aztec rulers marched their victims up the steep steps of a pyramid and laid them out, slitting their chests and pulling their hearts out by hand. The gruesome scene must have made some impression on the Europeans, and it does still affect us greatly today when we have hundreds of years safely separating us from the event. There can be little doubt that human sacrifice was carried out by the Aztecs since the remains of the victims is estimated at the hundreds of thousands by excavators and historic documents. What researchers really