Content Analysis on Barack Obama's candidacy coverage by Fox news (and Essay

Content Analysis on Barack Obama's candidacy coverage by Fox news (and minor comparison with other tv stations like abc) - Essay Example Fox News quickly parroted the charges" (Debunked Insight Magazine). After the rumor about Obama turned out to be false Fox News aired The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum in which MacCallum squarely places the blame of the rumor about Obama being a radical Muslim on the Clinton administration due to e-mails that were allegedly circulated on the internet by Clinton staffers. By placing the blame of the rumor on the Clinton administration Fox News smeared two democrats at once. Obama claimed that he was a Christian. Surely Fox News couldn't find fault with that, but they did. Fox News' Sean Hannity has alleged that the church Obama is a member of, United Church of Christ which is located in Chicago, is a racist church. On Hanninty's show on Fox News, Hannity made the accusation that Obama is a racist and he made implications to have the viewer believe that if Obama is elected President the whole country will be ran in a way to promote only a black agenda. During the 2004 elections, Senator John Kerry faced similar slander as Fox ran a story that a Communist organization supported Kerry for president, thereby tying Kerry to Communism. The story turned out to be a bunch of kids that were pretty much just joking about being a part of a communist organization in support for Kerry. Fox reporters repeatedly made accusations that Kerry flip flopped over important issues such as the Iraq war resolution. At Fox News "fair and balanced reporting" is incapable of happening when the opinion commentators are given the credibility by Fox as reporters of the news. In the book titled, Fair and Balanced My Ass!, written by Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer, they write "So what we're seeing more and more in today's news business particularly at Fox, is that personality and opinion sell. Not reasoned and informed opinion but bluster ing, loud, obnoxious, in-your-face opinion" (11). Fox creates ideologies against liberal democrats in order to support a conservative republican agenda. In the book titled, South Park Conservatives, author Brian C. Anderson writes: "Watch FOX for just a few hours and you encounter a conservative presence unlike anything on television before 1996" (51). Fox news is opinion laden with shows like the O'Reilly Factor, The Grapevine, and Fox and Friends. And the opinions are all against democrats. The host of Fox and Friends, Steve Doocy is now famous for his blunder of a statement against Obama "Why didn't anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised - spent the first decade of his life, raised by his Muslim father - as a Muslim and was educated in a Madrassa" The reason why Fox Reynaga 3 News can get away with its slanderous ideologies thrown vehemently into American homes on a nightly basis is because the pseudo reporters are opinion commentators. According to the Associated Press' Stylebook 2002 and Briefing on Media Law, "The rationale behind the opinion privilege is that only statements that can be proven true or false are capable of defamatory meaning and that statements of 'opinion' cannot, by their nature, be proven true or false" (344). The many opinion shows circulating on Fox News have become very influential in

Red Hook district in New York Essay Example for Free

Red Hook district in New York Essay A view from the Bridge is a play set in the Red Hook district in New York. The main theme that this explores is the role of Masculinity in the household and its affects. This play is mainly structured around feud between virility and jealousy that divides a family. This play is also about the misunderstanding of feelings and thoughts and how they might lead to undesirable flaws in the human character and hostile conflict that end in miserable circumstances. Eddie, the protagonist is second generation Italian who has curtain views on masculinity, which cannot be ignored, be anyone or it will lead into a spiral anger and jealousy. Eddie has especially strong on views on how women should act and how they should act. A good example of this is given to the audience in the way that Eddie reaction to Catherine having a relationship with Rodolfo. When Eddie deals in Marco and Rodolfo he contradicts his views and feelings toward the community, in this Eddie also gets into a confrontation with Marco in which backing down would be a sign of weakness this lead in the end to his untimely demise. Eddie reacts with both anger and jealousy, which he tries to hide behind a shield of over-protectiveness, in which he tries to accuse Rodolfo of firstly trying to gain an American passport and then Eddie attacks Rodolfos masculinity, especially when he teaches Rodolfo how to fight (sarcastically). Eddie has obvious mixed feeling about Catherine so he feels jealous, but this does not only mean a bad thing considering that he is thinking that he is protecting her which shows his nobility in looking after the family, even though this does not condole his actions toward Rodolfo but this shows that Eddie cannot deal with his emotional side. Rodolfo and Marco arrive in America as illegal immigrants and stay at Eddies house because they are Beatrices cousins. Rodolfo then falls madly in love with Eddies niece Catherine who is also in love with him. This causes Eddie to feels challenged because Rodolfo is more virile and has a larger world of interests. This is in all respects a competition for Catherine and her affection. Another factor that makes Eddie distrust Rodolfo is that Rodolfo does not live up to Eddies views on masculinity. Rodolfo can cook, he is a tailor, he can sing, he likes films and Eddie feels that all this is feminine so he thinks that Rodolfo is gay the guy ain`t right. Due to Eddies distrust of Rodolfo scenes of tension take place such as the situation with when Catherine finally makes the decision to leave home so Eddie, because he cannot express his feelings toward Catherine and Rodolfo, kisses them. Both Marco and Rodolfo must speak with bad Italian accents. Rodolfo must have a weak confident voice that begs for attention.While Rodolfo cannot live up to Eddies rigorous standard on masculinity Marco can. Marco is both strong, as Mike says, hes a regular bull, and loyal to his family in both going to America to work for them and trusting his wife on her own. Marco is extremely loyal to his brother especially when he tells Eddie to back off when he lifts the chair while Eddie cannot. Eddie respect Marco and feels that Marco is a model to masculinity like himself. Marco just like Eddie has a sense of honor, which is explored in the play with the incident in which Marco spits into the face of Eddie. Marco does this because he feels that there has been an injustice done by Eddie in which Eddie tells the police of Marco and Rodolfo, but also in the irony of what Eddie said and promised to what he did. Marco and Rodolfo treatment of women is far different from Eddie. Rodolfo treat women, as his equal while Eddie does not. Rodolfo does not try to manipulate the women in the play instead he helps them, he does this by giving advice and being supportive like what he tells Catherine after she asks him to teach her to be independent. dont cry any more. Marco has great respect and admiration for his wife otherwise he would not have left her for a life in America all alone. Even though Eddie seems skeptical about her loyalty to Marco they count the kids and theres a couple extra, Marcos trust for his wife does not waver. In comparison to the brothers Eddie does all the opposite. First he has manipulated Catherine so much that she feels she has a duty toward him : Then why dont she be a women? If I was a wife I would  make a man happy instead of goin at him all the time.  A view from the bridge Act two  Secondly Eddie does not even take into account what a woman has to say to him because he believes that he should be shown respect. When Beatrice tries to warn Eddie about his feelings but he practically hits her and storms off to get killed. Eddie. Eddie feels a sort of arrogance towards women like as if he is better due to his so-called superior masculine characteristics he also must speak in brutish manor without a care for an answer. Alfieri is the narrator of the play, he is also a lawyer which gains him a lot of respect in the area because he the symbol of the law of the land. Apart from narrating the play Alfieri plays a lead character in the play. When Eddie Carbone comes to ask for legal advice about how to handle Rodolfo, Alfieri notices, through Eddie expressing his feelings through actions, that the entire business is corrupt. Alfieri then tries to give advice to Eddie on how to find and deal with this problem. Due to the fact that Alfieri has challenged Eddies views which drives Eddie mad so Alfirei`s advice ignored. Alfieri then Tells Eddie not to phone the police but he is then also ignored. These cases show the audience that Alfieri is intellectually smart and knows when trouble is brewing. I feel that Arthur Miller Contrasts the views of masculinity that different men have and how they conflict. Miller does this by putting Rodolfo and Eddie into direct conflict. While Rodolfo can saw and sing which makes him gay in the eyes of Eddie, Eddie has no other skill other than being a laborer. Arthur Miller shows that if men like Eddie do not start to evolve they will die out. Miller explores this through the rivalry between Eddie and Rodolfo where Eddie loses his life ironically to the same laws he had set on masculinity while Rodolfo lives on. I feel that Miller set this play specifically for people who do not understand their feelings. As the root of all this rivalry and anguish is purely set the shoulders of a man (Eddie) who cannot understand his feelings for his niece.

Defining And Understanding Crisis Intervention Social Work Essay

Defining And Understanding Crisis Intervention Social Work Essay We live in an era in which crisis-inducing events and acute crisis episodes are prevalent. Each year, millions of people are confronted with crisis-inducing events that they cannot resolve on their own, and they often turn for help to crisis units of community mental health centers, psychiatric screening units, outpatient clinics, hospital emergency rooms, college counseling centers, family counseling agencies, and domestic violence programs (Roberts, 2005). Crisis clinicians must respond quickly to the challenges posed by clients presenting in a crisis state. Critical decisions need to be made on behalf of the client. Clinicians need to be aware that some clients in crisis are making one last heroic effort to seek help and hence may be highly motivated to try something different. Thus, a time of crisis seems to be an opportunity to maximize the crisis clinicians ability to intervene effectively as long as he or she is focused in the here and now, willing to rapidly assess the clients problem and resources, suggest goals and alternative coping methods, develop a working alliance, and build upon the clients strengths. At the start it is critically important to establish rapport while assessing lethality and determining the precipitating events/situations. It is then important to identify the primary presenting problem and mutually agree on short-term goals and tasks. By its nature, crisis intervention involves identifying failed coping sk ills and then helping the client to replace them with adaptive coping skills. It is imperative that all mental health clinicians-counseling psychologists, mental health counselors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and crisis hotline workers-be well versed and knowledgeable in the principles and practices of crisis intervention. Several million individuals encounter crisis-inducing events annually, and crisis intervention seems to be the emerging therapeutic method of choice for most individuals. Crisis Intervention: The Need for a Model A crisis has been de ¬Ã‚ ned as An acute disruption of psychological homeostasis in which ones usual coping mechanisms fail and there exists evidence of distress and functional impairment. The subjective reaction to a stressful life experience that compromises the individuals stability and ability to cope or function. The main cause of a crisis is an intensely stressful, traumatic, or hazardous event, but two other conditions are also necessary: (1) the individuals perception of the event as the cause of considerable upset and/or disruption; and (2) the individuals inability to resolve the disruption by previously used coping mechanisms. Crisis also refers to an upset in the steady state. It often has  ¬Ã‚ ve components: a hazardous or traumatic event, a vulnerable or unbalanced state, a precipitating factor, an active crisis state based on the persons perception, and the resolution of the crisis. (Roberts, 2005, p. 778) Given such a de  ¬Ã‚ nition, it is necessary that crisis workers have in mind a framework or blueprint to guide them in responding. In short, a crisis intervention model is needed, and one is needed for a host of reasons, such as the ones given as follows. When confronted by a person in crisis, clinicians need to address that persons distress, impairment, and instability by operating in a logical and orderly process (Greenstone Leviton, 2002). The profetional, often with limited clinical experience, is less likely to exacerbate the crisis with well-intentioned but haphazard responding when trained to work within the framework of a systematic crisis intervention model. A inclusive intervention allows the novice as well as the experienced clinician to be mindful of maintaining the  ¬Ã‚ ne line that allows for a response that is active and directive enough but does not take problem ownership away from the client. Finally, a intervention should suggest steps for how the crisis worker can intenti onally meet the client where he or she is at, assess level of risk, mobilize client resources, and move strategically to stabilize the crisis and improve functioning. Crisis intervention is no longer regarded as a passing fad or as an emerging discipline. It has now evolved into a specialty mental health  ¬Ã‚ eld that stands on its own. Based on a solid theoretical foundation and a praxis that is born out of over 50 years of empirical and experiential grounding, crisis intervention has become a multidimensional and  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡exible intervention method. However, the primary focus of crisis literature has been on giving aid and support, which is understandable given that the first concern in the aftermath of a crisis is always to provide assistance (McFarlane, 2000), not to conduct systematic research (Raphael, Wilson, Meldrum, McFarlane, 1996). Experts in crisis intervention have focused on practical issues such as developing intervention models that manage postcrisis reactions (Paten, Violanti, Dunning, 2000), with little attention being given to the development of theory (Slaikeu, 1990). Slaikeu stated that crisis theories are more like a cluster of assumptions, rather than principles based on research that explain or predict the effect of crises on individuals. Ursano et al. (1996) agreed, stating that clinical observations and implications derived from mediators of traumatic stress have guided interventions, rather than theory. Although these efforts have increased the understanding of the nature of crises, a need exists to mo ld these assumptions and observations into theory. The field of crisis intervention is predicated upon the existence of the phenomenon of psychological crisis. Because crisis intervention is the natural corollary of the psychological crisis, this review begins with a definition of the crisis phenomenon. Definition of crisis by Caple Crisis occurs when people encounter an obstacle in achieving the important objectives of life. This obstacle and cannot be overcome by means of customary methods used dealing with difficulties.  This results in a state of disorganization and confusion, in which made numerous unsuccessful attempts of solutions. Moreover, the crisis resulted from the problems on the road practically important in achieving objectives, obstacles where people feel that they are not able to overcome through the usual choices and behavior. (1964) by CARKHUFFA and Berenson Crises are crises so that the affected people do not know any ways of dealing themselves with the situation (1977) by Belkin Crises of this personal difficulties or situations that deprive people of ability and prevent conscious control of his life (1984) by Brammer Crisis is a state of disorganization in which man is confronted with the destruction of important objectives of life or profound impairment of their life cycle and methods of dealing with stressful factors.  The term crisis typically refers to a sense of fear, shock and experienced difficulties in connection with the disorder, and not to the same disorder (1985) by MARINO Crisis develops in clear stages: a) the situation is critical, which controls whether the normal mechanisms for dealing deal with difficult enough; b) the mounting tension and disorganization accompanying this situation excess capacity it affected people to cope with difficulties; c) the situation requires reaching for the extra resources (ex. professional counseling); d) may prove necessary referral to a specialist who will help in removal of serious personality disorder (1995) by Badura-Madej The crisis is transitional state of internal imbalance, caused by critical event or life events.  This condition requires significant changes and decisions. (1999) The Chinese word for crisis presents a good depiction of the components of a crisis. The word  crisis  in Chinese is formed with the characters for  danger  and  opportunity. A crisis presents an obstacle, trauma, or threat, but it also presents an opportunity for either growth or decline.   Crisis is self-defined , because crisis is any situation for which a person does not have adequate coping skills. Therefore, What is a crisis for one person may not be a crisis for another person. In mental health terms, a crisis refers not necessarily to a traumatic situation or event, but to a persons reaction to an event. One person might be deeply affected by an event, while another individual suffers little or no ill effects. Crises may range from seemingly minor situations, such as not being prepared for class, to major life changes, such as death or divorce. Crisis is environmentally based. What is now a crisis may not have been a crisis before or would not be a crisis in a different setting.   Basic Crisis Theory: Since Lindemanns (1944, 1956) seminal contribution of a basic crisis theory stemming from his work in loss and grief, the development of crisis theory has advanced considerably. Lindemann identified crises as having: (1) a period of disequilibrium; (2) a process of working through the problems; and (3) an eventual restoration of equilibrium. Together with the contributions of Caplan (1964), this work evolved to eventually include crisis intervention for psychological reactions to traumatic experiences and expanded the mental health fields knowledge base in applying basic crisis theory to other types of crises experienced by people. In addition to recognizing that a crisis is accompanied by temporary disequilibrium, crisis theorists identify the potential for human growth from the crisis experience and the belief that resolution may lead to positive and constructive outcomes such as enhanced coping abilities. Thus, the duality contained in a crisis is the co-existence of danger and opportunity (Gilliland James, 1997). One part of the crisis state is a persons increased vulnerability and reduced defensiveness. This creates an openness in people for trying different methods of problem-solving and leads to change characterizing life crises (Kendricks, 1985). Expanded Crisis Theory: While expanded crisis theory, as we understand it today, merges key constructs from systems, adaptation, psychoanalytic and interpersonal theories (Gilliland James, 1997), the advent of systemic thinking heralded a new way of viewing crisis states. By shifting away from focusing exclusively on the individual in crisis to understanding their state within interpersonal/familial relationships and life events, entry points and avenues for intervention significantly increase. Systems theory promotes the notion that traditional cause and effect formulations have a tendency to overlook the complex and difficult to understand symptomlogy often observed in people in crisis. Especially with younger populations, crisis assessments should occur only within the familial and social context of the child in crisis. More recently the ecological perspective is gaining popularity as it evolves and develops into models of crisis intervention. From this perspective, crises are believed to be best viewed in the persons total environmental context, including political and socio-economic contexts. Thus, in the United States, mobile crisis teams primarily responding to adult populations use an ecological model. Issues of poverty, homelessness, chronicity, marginalization and pervasive disenfranchisement characterize the client population served (Cohen, 1990). Ecocsystem Theory: Most recently an ecosystem theory of crisis is evolving to explain not only the individual in crisis, but to understand those affected by crisis and the ecological impact on communities. For example, the devastating rate of suicide and attempted suicide in Inuit youth reverberates through their communities on multiple levels. Ecosystem theory also deals with larger scale crises from environmental disasters (e.g. oil spills) to human disasters (e.g. Columbine school shootings). Applied Crisis Theory: Applied crisis theory encompasses the following three domains: Developmental crises  which are events in the normal flow of human growth and development whereby a dramatic change produces maladaptive responses; Events such as birth, which is a crisis both for the mother and the infant, the onset of puberty and adolescence, marriage, the menopause, and so on as we progress through the biological stages of life, are known as developmental crises, These differ from situational crisis in that they necessarily occur at a given point in development and everyone has to pass through them. This goes along with Eriksons theory of personality development, in that personality continues to develop through life, changing radically as a function of how an individual deals with each stage of development. There are several causes of developmental crisis. One cause is a deficit in skills that can keep a person from achieving developmental tasks or turn a predictable transition into a crisis. For example, if a parent does not have the skills to be a parent, having a baby could become a crisis situation. Developmental crisis can also occur when the individual is not prepared for milestone events, such as menopause, widowhood, etc. Another cause is when one of lifes developmental transition is perceived by the individual as being out of phase with societys expectations. Examples of this could be leaving home, choosing a partner, marrying, having kids, and retiring. Situational crises  which emerge with the occurrence of uncommon and extraordinary events which the individual has no way of predicting or controlling; Traumatic events which might or might not happen at a given time. These could either be major catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods, etc., which could affect a whole section of society. In other words occurs in response to a sudden unexpected event in a persons life. The critical life events revolve around experiences of grief and loss. like loss of a job, divorce, abortion, death of a love one, severe physical or mental illness, or any other sudden tragic event. One characteristic of situational crises is their sudden onset and unpredictability. While a struggle with developmental issues usually builds over time, situational crises strike from nowhere all at once. Unexpectedness is another factor of situational crises. People generally believe it wont happen to me, and are blind-sided when it does happen to them. Emergency quality is another characteristic of situational crises. When a situational crisis hits, it needs to be dealt with immediately. Situational crises also impact the entire community. These events usually affect large numbers of people simultaneously, requiring intervention with large groups in a relatively short period of time. The last characteristic of situational crises is the presence of both danger and opportunity. Reorganization must eventually begin. This reorganization has the potential for the individual to emerge on either a higher or lower level of functioning. Existential crises  which refer to inner conflicts and anxieties that relate to human issues of purpose, responsibility and autonomy (e.g., middle life crisis). It is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose or value. An existential crisis is often provoked by a significant event in the persons life marriage, separation, major loss, the death of a loved one; a life-threatening experience; psycho-active drug use; adult children leaving home; reaching a personally-significant age (turning 30, turning 40, etc.), etc. Usually, it provokes the sufferers  introspection  about personal mortality, thus revealing the psychological repression of said awareness Each person and situation is unique and should be responded to as such. Therefore, it is useful to understand the crisis from one or more of these domains in order to understand the complexities of the individuals situation and to intervene in more effective ways. One would also tend to see a younger population with developmental and/or situational crises (Gilliland James, 1997). Due to the duration of the crisis, we may distinguish Acute crises Chronic crises Stages of a Crisis In order to articulate the elements of a responsive mobile crisis service a conceptual framework of the stages of crisis is presented. There is agreement in the literature that most crisis interventions should last about one to six weeks (Caplan, 1964; Kendricks, 1985). This suggested time frame is based on identifiable stages of a crisis. Frequently cited in the literature (Gilliland James, 1997; Smith, 1978) is Caplans four stages of crisis: Phase I The person has an increase in anxiety in response to a traumatic event;  if the coping mechanisms work, theres no crisis;  if coping mechanisms do not work (are ineffective) a crisis occurs. Phase II In the second phase anxiety continues to increase. Phase III Anxiety continues to increase the person asks for help. (If the person has been emotionally isolated before the trauma they probably will not have adequate support a crisis will surely occur). Phase IV Is the  active crisis   here the persons inner resources supports are inadequate. The person has a short attention span, ruminates (goes on about it), wonders what they did or how they could have avoided the trauma. Their behavior is impulsive unproductive. Relationships with others suffer,  they view others in terms of how can they help to solve the problem. The person feels like they are losing their mind,  this is frightening Be sure to teach them that when the anxiety decreases that thinking will be clearer. While others have proposed slightly varying stages, there are commonalties in understanding that crises are time-limited, have a beginning, middle and end, and that intervention early in a crisis can produce stabilization and a return to the pre-crisis state. No intervention, or inadequate intervention, can result in chronic patterns of behavior that result in transcrisis states (Gilliland James, 1997). Transcrisis: the original crisis event becomes submerged into the unconscious and re-emerges when anxiety is re-experienced. A woman who experienced rape will re-experience problems with being sexually intimate with a man and experience problems in intimate relationships. Crisis stages can be distinguished from mental disorders in that the person in crisis can be described as having normal and functional mental health before and after the crisis. Additionally crisis tend to be of limited duration and after the crisis is over, the clients turmoil will frequently subside. There however persons who can stay in crisis state for month or years. Such individual is described as being In transcrisis state. Its also possible for transcris state to lead to the development of anxiety and other tipes of mental disorder (ex.PTSD). Crisis Intervention Crisis intervention is the form of psychological help, that is focused on therapeutic contact, concentrated on the problem, that caused the crisis, limited in time, when the person is confronted with the crisis and has to solve it. That kind of help lets us reduce the crisis response and minimize functional impairment. (Badura-Madej, 1999) Crisis intervention is emergency first aid for mental health (Ehly, 1986). Crisis intervention involves three components: 1) the crisis, the perception of an unmanageable situation; 2) the individual or group in crisis; and 3) the helper, or mental health worker who provides aid. Crisis intervention requires that the person experiencing crisis receive timely and skillful support to help cope with his/her situation before future physical or emotional deterioration occurs. Crisis intervention provides the opportunity and mechanisms for change to those who are experiencing psychological disequilibrium, who are feeling overwhelmed by their current situation, who have exhausted their skills for coping, and who are experiencing personal discomfort. Crisis intervention is a process by which a crisis worker identifies, assesses, and intervenes with the individual in crisis so as to restore balance and reduce the effects of the crisis in his/her life. The individual is then connected with a resource network to reinforce the change. HISTORY Crisis Intervention Origins of crisis intervention, should be found in the topics related to the suicide prevention, the development of environmental psychiatry, as well as a vocation to life services dealing with emergency psychotherapeutic assistance for victims of traumatic events, such as: war or natural disasters (Badura-Madej, 1999). The roots of crisis intervention come from the pioneering work of two community psychiatrists-Erich Lindemann and Gerald Caplan in the mid-1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We have come a far cry from its inception in the 1950s and 1960s. Speci ¬Ã‚ cally, in 1943 and 1944 community psychiatrist, Dr. Erich Lindemann at Massachusetts General Hospital conceptualized crisis theory based on his work with many acute and grief stricken survivors and relatives of the 493 dead victims of Bostons worst nightclub  ¬Ã‚ re at the Coconut Grove. Gerald Caplan, a psychiatry professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, expanded Lindemanns (1944) pioneering work. Caplan (1961, 1964) was the  ¬Ã‚ rst clinician to describe and document the four stages of a crisis reaction: initial rise of tension from the emotionally hazardous crisis precipitating event, increased disruption of daily living because the individual is stuck and cannot resolve the crisis quickly, te nsion rapidly increases as the individual fails to resolve the crisis through emergency problem-solving methods, and the person goes into a depression or mental collapse or may partially resolve the crisis by using new coping methods. A number of crisis intervention practice models have been promulgated over the years (e.g., Collins Collins, 2005; Greenstone Leviton, 2002; Jones, 1968; Roberts Grau, 1970). The goals of crisis intervention are relatively limited, relate to the immediate crisis situation and are the following: Reduction in disequilibriurn or relief of symptoms of crisis Restoration to precrisis level of functioning Some understanding of the relevant precipitating events Identification of remedial measures which the client can take or make available through community resources. Connecting the current situation with past life experiences and conflicts Initiating new modes of thinking, perceiving feeling and developing new adaptive and coping responses which are useful beyond the immediate crisis situation, leading to an emancipated maturation and empowerment. Basic Principles While there is no one single model of crisis intervention (Jacobson, Strickler, Mosley, 1968), there is common agreement on the general principles to be employed by EMH practitioners to alleviate the acute distress of victims, to restore independent functioning and to prevent or mitigate the aftermath of psychological trauma and PTSD (Butcher, 1980; Everly Mitchell, 1999; Flannery, 1998; Raphael, 1986; Robinson Mitchell, 1995; Sandoval, 1985; Wollman, 1993). 1. Intervene immediately. By definition, crises are emotionally hazardous situations that place victims at high risk for maladaptive coping or even for being immobilized. The presence onsite of EMH personnel as quickly as possible is paramount. 2. Stabilize. One important immediate goal is the stabilization of the victims or the victim community actively mobilizing resources and support networks to restore some semblance of order and routine. Such a mobilization provides the needed tools for victims to begin to function independently. 3. Facilitate understanding. Another important step in restoring victims to pre-crisis level of functioning is to facilitate their understanding of what has occurred. This is accomplished by gathering the facts about what has occurred, listening to the victims recount events, encouraging the expression of difficult emotions, and helping them understand the impact of the critical event. 4. Focus on problem-solving. Actively assisting victims to use available resources to regain control is an important strategy for EMH personnel. Assisting the victim in solving problems within the context of what the victim feels is possible enhances independent functioning. 5. Encourage self-reliance. Akin to active problem-solving is the emphasis on restoring self-reliance in victims as an additional means to restore independent functioning and to address the aftermath of traumatic events. Victims should be assisted in assessing the problems at hand, in developing practical strategies to address those problems, and in fielding those strategies to restore a more normal equilibrium. The practice of crisis intervention, typically consist of the following (Badura Madej, 1999): Providing emotional support to facilitate the reaction to emotion; Confronted with the reality and countering tendencies to deny and distorted to form at the moment the most important problem to solution; Assess the current ways of coping in terms of their adaptive nature; Referring to good coping strategies or creating new strategies; A plan of assistance. Characteristics of a crisis intervention (Badura-Madej, 1999): Assistance as soon as possible after the critical event, preferably at the time, when the existing ways of coping are exhausted with crisis, and new constructive behaviors yet not created to provide the support reduces the risk run adaptive ways of coping; Focus on the situation and the current problem associated with the crisis (the here and now ), taking into account the individual history of man (analysis of this story helps to understand the nature and depth of the crisis reaction) Emotional support, often also material support (accommodation, shelter, food, drinking, etc.) to ensure a sense of security to the person in crisis; A large intensity of contacts (depending on the situation) and sometimes even daily; Time limit (6 10 meetings) flexibility in assisting interactions from the directive operation, client collaboration, to the non-directive action; Mobilizing the natural support system for people in crisis, cooperation with other institutions, providing possible support from institutions to holistic approach to people in crisis (eg, OPS, police, etc.). Crisis Intervention Models (Gilliland and James, 2005) Practice and intervention literature indicate the usefulness of certain general theoretical models for the construction of concrete measures for persons in crisis.  Belkin (1984) proposes a classification includes equilibrium model, cognitive model and psycho-social model of transformation (Gilliland and James, 2005). Equilibrium model Equilibrium model indicates a basic fact of the continuum balance imbalance, which differentiates functioning non-crisis and crisis.  Persons in crisis, experiencing state of disorganization, lack of balance of basic psychological functions, are not able to effectively use their customary ways of coping and methods of solving problems. The aim of the intervention from the point of view of equilibrium model is to assist the client in regained pre-crisis equilibrium.  therefore the use of this approach is the most justified in the initial stages of intervention, when a person has no sense of control over himself and course of events is confused and unable to take adequate decisions and appropriate action.  Until the client does not recover even though part of the capacity to coping, the main effort should be directed to stabilize the condition of the person.  Only then it is possible to use his abilities to cope, and other internal and external resources to solve a crisis problem.  Equilibrium model considered is the cleanest model of crisis intervention (Caplan, 1961; for: Gilliland and James, 2005). Cognitive model The cognitive model of crisis intervention is based on the premise that crisis are rooted in faulty thinking about the event or situations that surround the crisis not in the events themselves or the facts about events or situations (Ellis, 1962). The goal of this model is to help people become aware of and change their views and beliefs about crisis events or situations. The basic tenet of the cognitive model is that people can gain control of crisis in their lives by changing their thinking, especially by recognizing and disputing the irrational and self-defeating parts of their cognitions and by retaining and focusing on the rational and self-enhancing elements of their thinking. The messages that people in crisis send themselves become very negative and twisted, in contrast to the reality of the situation. Dilemmas that are constant and grinding wear people out, pushing their internal state of perception more and more toward negative self-talk until their cognitive sets are so negative that no amount of preaching can convince them anything positive will ever come from the situation. Crisis intervention in this model can be compared to work on rewriting your own program by the client, which on a positive Coupling back and repeat the exercise in self-assessment of the new situation, be able to change emotions and behavior in a more positive and constructive. Cognitive model can be used in practice when the client has already regained some sufficient level of psychological stability, allowing where appropriate perception, drawing conclusions, making decisions and experimenting with new behaviors. Basic concepts of this approach are fond in the rational-emotive work of Ellis (1982), the cognitive-behavioral approach of Meichenbaum (1977), and the cognitive system of Beck (1976). Psychosocial transition model Psychosocial transition model is another useful approach to intervention in crisis.  This model is based on the assumption that man is the result of the interaction between the genetic equipment, and the learning process, setting the social environment. Both people and their environment and social influence processes are subject to constant change. Therefore, crises may be related to both internal and external (psychosocial, social and environmental) difficulties. The purpose of crisis intervention, as seen from this perspective, is to help, cooperation with client in an adequate assessment of both internal and external circumstances influencing the emergence of the crisis, as well as assist in the selection of effective alternatives to the (clients) existing, inefficient behavior, inappropriate attitudes and inefficiencies how to use the resources of the environment in which I live. To obtain a stand-alone control over his private life customers can be needed for obtaining adequate internal mechanisms to deal with difficulties, as well as social support and environmental resources. The Psychosocial transition model does not perceive crisis simply an interal state of affairs that resides totally within the individual. It reaches outside the individual and askes what system need to be changed. Systems such as family, peer group, work environment, religious community are examples who can also support or interfere with the psychological ada

Analysis of Stories of Ghost Sightings :: Urban Legends Ghost Story

Ghost Stories The storyteller is 19 years old and attends Chesapeake College, and is transferring this fall to Salisbury University to become a nurse. Her mother works at a local Baptist church as a secretary/receptionist and her father is a mechanic, but will soon be retired. [The storyteller claims to have seen] these ghosts, and the story she told is about what they look like, their actions, their backgrounds, and how it has affected her. She told me four mini-stories: one about a young girl, one about a young boy, one about a middle-aged man, and one about an elderly man. The first ghost [story is] about was a little girl that always appeared on her way home at night: Ok, well there is this little girl that stands in the middle of the road usually near those two farm houses on the way to my house. She is a black girl, probably like 7 or so, and she always stands in the road at night. And sometimes if there is a car in front of me, they hit her†¦but I always try to move so I don’t hit her, or I try to move. I know you think I’m making all this up, but I’m not. I wish I was making it up. Anyway, she might be there in the daytime too but I usually only see her, well spirits in general, at night. I’m not sure why she is there, but I think she was hit by a car a long time ago and just can’t leave. She was walking along the road and got hit and now she can’t leave the road. I see her every time it’s dark and I’m driving home. Sometimes she is standing in the middle of the road and sometimes I see her walking out into the middle of it. I’ve never hit her though, I try to swerve out of th e way ‘cause she freaks me out†¦or I tell her to get out of the way and she will walk across. Or disappear. Yeah, she’s probably second on the list of freak-me-out ghosts. As [the storyteller] was telling this story, her voice was a little shaky, and she was talking somewhat fast, as if she didn’t like talking about it or it scared her. She used her hands a lot, either to help describe her story better or because she was simply nervous or scared. After asking her which ghost she finds scariest or creepiest, [the storyteller told] me this next story about a frightening little boy, whom she has only seen one time:

More and More on Technology Essay

They are the ‘machines’ which just receive their leaders’ requirements and relying on machines to complete without thinking. Becoming shortsighted and lose their belief, human act just for only financial purpose, regarding the progress and the negative effects. There have been many crises appearing one by one at the aspect of environmental pollution, religious conflicts and the injustice in the social wealth. For example, the Rhine has lost the beauty described by Friedrich HÃ ¶lderlin, a major German lyric poet, and been forced to be cut off and be a hydropower station to produce electricity as a slave to sever for human. Nature has changed its role, losing its previous holy, and become a serious of progress of being exploded, transformation, storage and distribution. There is not anybody like the Indians in New Mexico, refusing to use steel plough to tillage. Why? Is it just a rejection of using the plough? It’s absolutely not. At the aspect of Indians, land is their mother and they should respect and protect her as a part of their bodies and using the steel plough to cultivate the land equals to doing harm to their mother. Itis not a foolish behavior. In contrast,it completely shows they still have the loyalty and the pure soul comparing with those numb people lost in the frigid material world. What’s more, human are just rescued by technology but lose in their own dilemma created by themselves. For women, suffering from the twisted complex ethics and aesthetics, they are on the heavier social pressure of every behavior given by the followed medium. Even the weight, the figure and the action of the every part of their body are strictly required and involved in their ethics. They have to limit their desire to make the body slim and the culture of blind diet and losing weight, causing women live in a nervous station and get psychological disease. To sum up, technology, different from machine, is a dynamic progress where human use machine system to communicate with the nature to balance the relative relationships. It is a positive product of human exploring the objective world but human cannot rely on to seriously. Though most of people are the user of new technology and not the finder, our thought should not be limited by technology. We should consider how to use the technology to make the world harmonious and serve human more effectively.

Social Media Competitive Analysis Using One to Find Actionable Ideas

Social Media Competitive Analysis Using One to Find Actionable Ideas Trying to get your business’s voice heard among thousands of others is difficult, to say the least. Then add in the fact that you’re now dealing with businesses who are competing for the same dollars and eyeballs that you are. It’s intimidating. To be heard above the noise and chatter on social media, you always have to be one step ahead. Conducting a full competitive analysis allows your social team to gain insight into what your competitors are doing, which in turn can inspire your team. By reading this post, you’re going to learn: How to find your real competition (even if its not who you might think it is). How to find the right data and metrics to track on your competitors. How to use the information you find to create a better social media strategy. The insights your team will gain from the process will allow you to make informed, educated decisions on how to plan and execute your social media strategy. Do Better Social Media Competitor Analysis With This Free Template Before you can start doing competitive research, youll need somewhere to store your data and findings. Thats where our competitive research template enters the picture. Download it now and deliver the inside scoop on your competition more easily.How To Get Actionable Ideas From Your Social Media Competitive AnalysisSo, What Exactly Does Competitive Analysis Entail? A competitor analysis on social media is exactly what it sounds like. In simplest terms, it involves the following: Finding your competition (including emerging competitors you may not have heard about). Analyzing what they're doing (and how well they're performing) on social media. Using your findings to inform your own social media marketing strategy (and zig when everyone else zags). That about sums it up. DID YOU KNOW: When you're ready to plan and execute your own social campaigns, offers all the power and functionality you need? Try it free for 14 days now. Step One: Build Your Toolbox The first step in your social media competitor analysis process is going to involve finding the right tools to aid your research. While you can find a decent amount of information through simply searching your competitor's profiles, having tools will allow you to go deeper into your analysis and find the data you’re looking for. Mention Mention  is our preferred social media listening tool here at . It has a ton of features, but it's primarily used to track brand mentions on social and gauge whether you're being talked about more than your competition. Here's a quick video rundown on how it works: FanPage Karma Fanpage Karma  is another social media reporting tool. It helps measure: Audience growth. Total number of fans. Gathering post-level insights. Engagement rate. Overall competitive performance across channels. Here's a quick demonstration of its social media monitoring features: Rival IQ Rival IQ  is a powerful analytics tool that helps track: Audience growth. Hashtag use. Key influencers. Boosted posts. Keyword rankings. Domain authority. Here's a lengthy walkthrough video from Jay Baer and Seth Bridges breaking down how to use it for competitive analysis: Simply Measured Simply Measured  in another powerful tool that will allow you track: Post content types. Engagements per post. New followers. The number of messages they send. Overall audience total. And a lot more: In-App Analytics Facebook and LinkedIn both make it easy to gather competitive data directly in-app. Here's where to find that information on each channel. Facebook: To find your Facebook data, select Insights. Scroll down your insights page to the bottom, where you'll find a section called  Pages To Watch  . Here you will see where your Facebook page is ranking among your top five competitors. You can see who else Facebook sees as your competition by selecting See More Pages. LinkedIn: To find how your company page is doing in LinkedIn analytics, select Manage Page, then Analytics. In Analytics a drop down menu will appear. Select Followers. In the followers section, scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will find your top five competitors and their growth over the past thirty days. You can see more of your competitors by scrolling through the pages at the bottom of the screen. These reports are pretty small compared to some of the analytics reports that you’ll find in other tools however they are a nice base to jump off of. To Do: Choose competitive research tools  that will help aid your competitive analysis research. Step Two: Find Your Competitors The next step in your competitor analysis is finding the competitors that you want to track. This is a vital part of your analysis because who you choose as your competitors will determine what you’re going to judge your social strategy against. Before you jump straight into your research there are two things you need to do first: Determine if you’re working with direct or indirect competitors. Understand your level of competition (local, regional, national, global, etc). There are two types of competitors:  Direct and Indirect. Direct competitors are the ones who offer the same services and products as you. For example, Domino’s Pizza’s direct competitors would be Pizza Hut, Godfather's and other delivery places. All of them offer the same services and a relatively similar product. Indirect competitors are the ones who offer some of the same services that you do, but it may not be all that they do. Unlike direct competitors, indirect competitors will overlap somewhat with your business strategy but not completely. If we go back to our Domino’s example, some of their competitors would be Walmart, DiGiorno’s, convenience stores or other grocery stores that sell pizza. In order to decide who you’re going to research first, your team needs to determine if you compete at a local, regional, national, or global level. Then, buckle down and see if you can turn up competitors in your market at each level. Google Search Google is one of the easiest and most obvious tools to find competitors. Google is careful to serve results aligned with the search intent and location of the search, which means that you need to be specific in what you are looking for and where. Things like â€Å"Starbucks near me† or â€Å"Holiday Inn’s in Sacramento California† are ways to show Google that you’re looking for a specific company or place within one area. For a local search, it could look something like: Note that attaching a city to your search is key to helping you find those local results. Especially if you want to change the town that you are looking in. A  regional search  could look like: And a national search could look like this: In-App Searches If you want to look for competitors through a specific social media channel, you can usually find them through an in-app search: To complete state and nation wide searches, change the end of your search wide to a state or the US. In addition to Facebook, Instagram also allows a location specific search. However, to see results you need to scroll through the list that pops up after your search. If you click or hit enter, it will take you to the top tagged location for that area. Another limit to the Instagram search is that locations need to be tagged on each post. That means your results will not be all encompassing like Facebook or Google. Industry Publications Most industries will have some kind of industry publication  where people can get the latest news on trends and industry tips. Think your industry is too boring to have its own media? You might be surprised. In order to find them, you need to turn once again to the almighty Google (or whatever search engine you prefer to use). Think your industry is too boring to have its own publications? Think again.To find those publications, type in publications for [insert industry here] industry. Alternately, you can also search "blogs" or "magazines" in place of "publications" to make sure your search is thorough. Google will then populate a list of the top publications related to your industry, which you can then explore. To Do: Conduct three different searches across Google, social media sites, and industry publications both on and offline to help find competitors. Step Three: Choose Your Top Five Competitors This is probably one of the most difficult parts of your process because after your research you could have a huge list of competitors. Instead of having a list of competitors that extends a page or two down your document, narrow your field down to your top five. They can span across different sizes and locations, meaning that you could have a mix of direct and indirect competitors, and local, regional, and national brands. Other metrics that you could use to help choose your competitors could be: Similar audience size. Services offered. Same number of locations. The main thing that you need to ask yourself is, who do you want to go toe-to-toe with and why? At this point, you can pull out that competitive analysis template that you downloaded earlier. You’ll notice the first tab is labeled Introduction: In that first tab you can enter in: The name of your competitor. Their location. Whether they’re a direct or indirect competitor. Their website link. To Do: Choose your top five competitors based on Whether or not they’re a direct competitor. Is your competitor a local, regional, or national brand. Enter your chosen competitors into your competitive analysis report. Step Four: Set Competitive Analysis Goals Your team is taking the time to research and monitor your competitors for a reason. But if you don’t know what that reason is, you’re going to end up sitting on a bunch of data wondering what you can do with it. To make sure that your team doesn’t waste their time, take the time to ask why this analysis is important and what questions are you hoping to answer? Some example questions that you could answer are: What gaps are our competitors leaving that we could fill to entice our target audience to choose us? What are our competitors doing well that would be difficult for us to take the time to replicate? How quickly are they growing compared to us? What types of content are they publishing that is causing their audience to interact with it? How often are they responding to their fans? These questions aren’t all inclusive by any means, but they can serve as a jumping off point for your team. Are you setting goals for your #social #media competitive analysis?You can also set goals that help put you above your competition. What that means for your team is: if you see your top competitor is growing their followers by a certain percentage, you want to grow your followers even faster. How you go on to tackle your competition will be up to you. If your competitors are growing their following by x% every month, how can you recreate that progress? You also need to determine if where your competitors are growing is something you want to invest your time into. If your competitors are growing their followers, good for them, but maybe your team wants to focus on content instead? Some questions to ask your team: What are some ways that we can increase our follower growth to x% above our top competitor? How many messages do we currently send on [Channel]? How can we increase that number? What can we do to increase our engagements per post on [Channel]? To Do: Brainstorm with your social media team and choose three questions to start that you want your competitor analysis to answer for you. You can add more as your team begins the process but don’t overwhelm them by trying to answer all 12 at once. Step Five: Choose The Channels You’ll Monitor So you have your top five competitors. Now what? Time to choose the channels you’ll be monitoring. With this process, you’ll have two different options. The first is to monitor the channels that you are active on and only observe channels that both you and your competitors are on. Meaning if you’re on Twitter and your competitor is on Twitter and Facebook, you’d only be observing their activity on Twitter. Your second option is to monitor all of your competitor’s social channels even if they are not active on all of the same ones that you are. In your competitive analysis template, you’ll see a tab dedicated to each social media channel. Depending on which channels you’re tracking, you’ll need to fill out the competitor’s name, their username or handle for each as well as a link to their profile: You’ll need to repeat that process for every social media channel that your team has decided to track your competitors on. We’ll go over the rest of those columns a little later in this post. Do better #social #media competitive analysis with this guide + free templateStep Six: Check Out Their Content Strategy The next part of your analysis is going to involve researching and analyzing your competitor’s content strategy for every channel that they are active on. For this part of your research, turn to the Content Strategy tab in your template: You’ll notice that this tab is laid out a little different than the rest, but don’t worry, we’ll go over how to fill in the data you’ve collected. The first thing you need to do is fill in the name of one of the competitors you’re looking to gather information on. For this example, let’s pretend we’re doing competitive research on Starbucks. Your template would look like this: Determine Post Type The first content strategy metric your team is going to track is post type. There are four types of posts that a brand can share on social media: Curated:  Posts where the original article, photo, video, etc. was created by someone else and then shared by the brand later. Original:  Posts where the content has been created by the brand and shared to its social channels. Promotional:  Posts where their main goal is to get their audience members to buy or subscribe to something. Educational:  Posts where their main goal is to educate the intended audience. So now that you have your four post types, you can begin to go through your competitor’s channels. How in depth your team wants to go will determine how far back you’re going to go into their social channels and normally falls into one of three segments: One week One month Six months Once you determine how far back you want to track their posts you can begin scrolling through feeds and recording the different types of posts you see: So let’s say that you scroll through Starbucks’s Facebook feed and see that they publish on  average seven messages per week, some are knowledge posts and some are curated posts. Then of those posts you see that 2 knowledge posts are in a video format, one is a photo and one is a blog. The curated posts on the other hand are all links. Keep track of those different media formats in your spreadsheet as well: The final section that you’re going to fill out about post types in this tab is the number of times they post within a certain date: You may need to add additional lines if there is more than one frequent post type. To do this, highlight the row you want to add to, right click your mouse and select Insert: You can continue repeating this process for each of your competitor’s social channels. Recommended Reading: How to Develop a Winning Social Media Content Strategy (Free Template) Record The Media Type You may notice another tab in your spreadsheet entitled Media Type. This is a section in your report where you can keep track of every content type that your competitors are using on each of their social channels. The initial list that we put into this template was: Blogs E-Books Reports Videos White pages Podcasts Landing Pages Articles Infographics Quote Graphics GIF’s Check off each media type as it appears on your competitor’s profile: Determine The Voice And Tone Used On Each Channel Another part of your content strategy  analysis will be seeing what type of voice and tone your competitors are using on their social channels. Aren’t voice and tone the same thing? No, while they are similar there are subtle differences that need to be identified. Voice: Overall brand personality. Voice can be developed and described many different ways although a common practice is to summarize it in three adjectives  that encompasses how the brand sounds overall. Tone: Tone is  emotional or feeling that a brand puts behind it’s voice and it will change depending on the context and content of the post. As you’re scrolling through competitor's posts, take note of how their posts sound. Are they professional like Microsoft: Part of the hip crowd like MTV: Or family friendly like Disney: Once you have their voice and or tone determined you can record it in your spreadsheet: