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Teresa Santos is the founder and Marketing Director for Speed Date SA (www.TexasSpeedDating.net). Speed Date SA offers participants the opportunity to meet other professional singles within San Antonio, and the surrounding areas. Speed Date SA is currently very busy booking events at many venues in the San Antonio area, as well as Corpus Christi. Some of the events cater to the gay and lesbian community titled “Alternative Night.” This event will be held at Rooftop SA every 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month starting on May 13, 2010.

Speed dating is a form of dating that is quickly showing a lot of interest in the community, especially in Corpus Christi. To capatilize on the demand, Speed Date SA is proud to announce a speed dating event at the Executive Surf Club located at 309 North Water Street, Corpus Christi TX, 78401. The event will be held on May 3, 2010 from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Teresa Santos is interested in talking about why this particular model of dating is the wave of the future and how she plans to make it fun and cool for all who attend. For more information about Speed Dating in Texas, call Speed Date SA at 210-877-9611.

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A Guide for College Bound Students and Their Parents to get mentally prepared for the new journey in life.

As the last 12 months tick down until a high school student makes heads off to a college, they have to mentally prepare for college. Parents and students can make life a lot easier by considering some of these pre-college training ideas.

1. Take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to stay away from home. Whether you are a high school wall flower or the tough guy on the hockey team, going away to college and living in quarters that are not your own can really shake you up. There is no shame here. Besides the emotional trauma of separation from parents and friends, going to college means changing your whole way of living. To me the biggest surprise about being 500 miles away from home was the feeling at the end of the day that I wasn’t going back to the security of my house. Coming back to your dorm room or college apartment can be mentally taxing. You will truly miss the down time and familiarity of your own home and the presence of people who already love and accept you just as you are. In time your dorm will become more and more like home and your new college friends may well become friends for life, but to get mentally prepared for college and those first few months of transition it is really worth your while to make some practice runs living for a few days at someplace that is not home, before you take on the long term college rooming situation. Even staying over several nights with friends or relatives can help to loosen you up and show you that you will survive.

2. Spend time in the library and get help learning how to use all its sources. My husband and I both went to college, as did our three children and our experiences have taught us that preparing mentally for college really should include a major overhaul of student study skills. The one thing that the five members of my family all discovered on their own was how little one can actually study in your dorm room. Constant interruptions and the nearness of way too many diversions make regular study in the dorm a less than satisfactory arrangement. Coupled with that is the fact that once in college you are likely to need resources beyond just your regular texts. Gearing yourself to be able to study in the library and getting a handle on available library resources even at your own public library is a good beginning. It may feel strange at first, especially if you are used to studying in your own bedroom with music going or not really studying that much at all. Being mentally prepared for college includes coming to the realization as my son told us that “this is real.” Whatever maneuvers worked in high school to minimize studying are just not going to cut it in college. The better the college the more competitive the class work. Being somewhat acclimated to using a library, any library, will allow you to hit the ground running when it comes to staking out study space.

3. Increase time spent reading My husband, two daughters, a son and myself will all attest to the fact that getting mentally prepared for college should include taking the next twelve months to gradually elevate the quantity and quality of your reading. Certainly you can enroll in any type of private reading readiness program you wish. But if you don’t have the time, money or inclinaiton to add something else to your already overcrowded senior year then just take a personal pledge to work on your reading on your own schedule. It really doesn’t matter what you are reading – novels, biographies, even Sports Illustrated – as long as you are adding more minutes to your daily reading schedule. Of the many changes you will find at college one of the top academic differences is the amount of pages you will be expected to handle on a weekly basis. Slow readers and those unaccustomed to doing more than scanning outlines will find themselves ill prepared for the college curriculum load. Working on your reading skills in advance of college entry is a favor you do for yourself that will continue to have benefits throughout your formal education.

4.Work on note taking and outlining skills. Far too many high schoolers leave for college with insufficient or shaky note taking or outlining skills. For whatever reason perhaps they have been able to get by for four years of high school without putting much effort into the process of recording what others say or concisely organizing an outline of what they are reading on their own. Discovering this at the college level can be truly traumatizing. I can remember as a college junior having friends that were still asking to borrow notes from classmates for lectures they had both attended but for which some were still not capable of taking solid notes. Taking good notes is not about handwriting, it is about mental discipline, paying attention and being able to transform the paragraphs that are being spoken into comprehensible outline form. In both undergrad and graduate school I found that taking good notes was absolutely essential to doing well in any lecture course. High school English teachers will gladly give you assistance and perhaps even resources to help you with your skills if outlining is not part of the school curriculum. You have to be willing to seek out help and to use the materials that your receive.

5. Know what campus guidance and counseling programs are available for Freshmen. An excellent way to become mentally prepared for college is to check out the support facilities that are availalbe at the college you will attend well before you plan to arrive. You might never have visited the school guidance counselor in high school for anything other than a recommendation or a course change, but college could be very different. You have no way of knowing what kinds of difficulties may await you. Rather than stressing out about the potential headaches that may lurk down the road, why not spend the time on line or with your newly chosen college’s catalog to discover the kinds of guidance and counseling assistance programs are on campus. Sometimes just knowing that you are not alone with your problems can give you incredible peace of mind and make you feel mentally prepared to take on what college has to offer.

6. If possible arrange to spend time on your new campus well in advance of going there. The college provided tour you took when you went to interview gave you an overview of the school but it in no way really got you oriented to what lies ahead. You can really reduce your stress level and find yourself remarkably mentally prepared for college by spending extended time on campus, take a summer on campus class, go to a sports event, play or concert. The more comfortable you are with the campus the less mental energy will need to be directed to orientation and can be used for other things. If possible also spend time checking out the local geography and transport system. Many colleges do not allow freshman to have cars on campus. You help keep your head on straight if when you arrive you are already somewhat oriented to the area and have a clue about traveling.

7. Prepare in advance for your on campus spiritual needs. If you are a person who is religious and regularly attends worship services, being mentally prepared for college should also mean being spiritually prepared. You do yourself a favor by checking out how your spiritual needs can be met on campus and discovering what campus organizations are availalbe to help you to contiue living the kind of spiritual life which you can trust to keep your mentally grounded during this difficult transition time.

Going to college is a life altering experience but it doesn’t need to be a traumatic one . As you draw closer to that first day in college you will do all kinds of planning. You will make provisions for everything from spending loot to that special pair of kicks that you just have to have. Don’t sell yourself short. Take time to also become mentally prepared for college and then, filled to the brim with confidence, get ready to enjoy four of the very best years of your life.

About The Author

Lima is a former teacher now a freelance writer with a husband, 3 children and 3 grandchildren. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, and a Master’s degree from Brown University.

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Distance Learing Requires Doing a Thorough Research

For whatever reason, when deciding to continue education through distance learning or online colleges, the most important requirement to check out first is if the establishment is “accredited” by accrediting institutions that are recognized by the federal government through the Department of Education. Otherwise, students could end up paying their money for a qualification paper that will not get recognition by almost all traditional establishments.

The downside of distance learning or an online degree is, even if the learning establishment that is giving the qualification has the required accrediting, it is not yet widely accepted by employers. It could also be difficult when trying to transfer the credits obtained to other programs run by those that do not recognize the particular learning establishment. This attests to the fact that it is a mutual recognition among the educators and their partners, so that the quality of the education given will be at a higher level, and there are no sets of rules to follow.

The accreditation is a process where other learning institutions, through a peer group setup, ascertain that a given learning establishment has what it take in terms of the education quality it is availing. The essential issues they would be looking at could be the school’s mission, goals, objectives, available resources and how they are utilized, enrollment requirements, and the overall quality of the education.

It is important to pay attention to the accrediting of a learning establishment because the acceptance level is very much dependant on the assessment done and the kind of recognition given by these groups. Not finding the name of the establishment a student is planning to attend in the listing of National and Regional Accredited Agencies could mean whatever qualification a learning establishment is availing to the public will not be recognized by a wide margin, which will include those who are in charge of hiring or admitting student to the many higher learning institutions, because the peer group that is doing the accreditation is made up of this group. It has nothing to do with the government and what the government does is to assesses the recommendations to see if there are irregularities and whether the process meets certain criteria.

There is also an agency known as Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) that carries its own list of those that had been validated as accredited establishments, and not finding the establishment a student wants to join in these two lists could mean a red flag. However, still there could be establishments that cannot make it into the list, yet they could avail quality education or they are not necessarily illegal, but the downside is there will always be a recognition problem.

There are certain establishments that are offering professional training that might not need the accreditation, because the profession itself might be a hands-on training where there is a high demand for it in the job market, or the establishments are recognized by a given sector as professional organizations. For example, most short-term computer training courses fall into this category. 

As a result, the two essential concerns students should pay heed to are employers and other higher learning establishments where the students might be planning to further their studies. Because their not recognizing the certificate might reduce the value of the education that is attained by incurring a lot of expense and time investment. If students are doing it just to satisfy their learning drive, there will not be a problem.

It is also possible that there is a better chance that the certification would get recognition by a current employer for advancement, raise, or the like. But the bottom line of the accreditation is a certification obtained from any learning establishments will be as good as the traditional learning establishments if it is from an accredited school, and that definitely will go a long way and would be worth the investment. In addition, more and more employers have started recognizing the distance learning education.

The expense more or less would be the same with students who attend regular classes, because there is always room and board, whoever is covering it. The cost involving learning material will also be the same except that students can opt to buy used ones. One expense that is possible to eliminate could be the cost of commuting to a school, but again most distance learners are working people who have to commute to work. Cosnsequently, the only advantage it avails for the most part is doing it at one’s own convenience and pace.

If there is one thing lacking in the process, it is live interaction that usually takes place in a classroom environment. However, there are teleconferences, videos, email, message board, and chat rooms that will help the students to interact with other students and the faculty members, including the instructors. That might be the only area that will be different. Other than that it is possible to listen to a recorded lecture that could take the normal class room hours at the comfort of one’s home or if the workplace environment allows it.

There are what are known as diploma mills, establishments that are not striving to avail a high standard of education that students have to watch out for no matter what kind of incentives they are offering. Some of them could also be unnecessarily expensive and comparing price and doing a thorough research about the stand of the learning establishments is very important.

As it is, distance learning is not yet fully accepted even if the acceptance rate is on the rise and incurring a huge expense will not make things any better. Going for those schools that have the accreditation and offer an affordable tuition fee is a wise decision for the long haul. Because it is always possible to borrow money for the distance learning, which means paying back the money could be difficult, and might take a long time if some kind of planning is not in place in advance. 

Hence, especially adults who were procrastinating going back to school because of work, family, lack of time, and drive will find the latest development of distance education very attractive and accommodating, as not only the quality of the education has been augmented, but the number of the establishments is on the rise. The fee and the amount of time it takes to complete a diploma or a degree is also shrinking making it the best time ever to look toward the direction of furthering one’s education level, not to miss out from the advantages that could be had, as the demand for higher education in the workplace is not letting up.

About The Author

Bill Johnson is a freelance writer and Internet entreprenuer where he promotes and sells ebooks and e-serials.

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Hey, I appreciate the conveniences and cost savings that can be had through online programs, believe me. I love the fact that I can go to class on my own schedule, and that I can use the flexibility of the Web to achieve my degree goal. No question at all, e-learning offers some tremendous advantages. But those advantages absolutely do not negate the fact that it will still take hard work on each individual’s part in order to successfully complete the program.

For some reason, a lot of people think that online education is going to be so much easier. I’m not exactly sure where they get that impression, but believe me, as someone who has been through it, e-learning is just as demanding as regular, traditional, offline in-classroom learning. You may be able to attend class in your pajamas, or you may be able to take an online test during your lunch break at work. But again, that’s convenience rather than “easier”.

Instead, approach online learning as an opportunity, rather than an easier path. Consider the benefits of the e-learning experience, but don’t equate online learning with some sort of shortcut. In fact, for some people, electronic education is actually more difficult than classroom learning. It’s only an opportunity, not a gift. I like to think of a quote by Thomas Edison:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Take advantage of the opportunity.

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I have decided to attend online at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  I will be working towards a Master of Arts in Professional Counseling with a focus on Clinical Psychology.  Given that I have no psychology background, I still have to take a number of undergraduate psychology courses as pre-requisites.  Anyhow there are a number of reasons I have decided to attend LU.

First, they are inexpensive.  This is the one of the single most important things to me right now.  It has to be accessible and to be accessible it has to be inexpensive.  In fact the school has a payment plan that allows you to spread the tuition payments over 5 even sums at given times throughout the semester.  How thoughtful.

Source: Liberty University

Second, they are regionally accredited.  This is a big deal because I intend to use this degree become a licensed psychologist and to immediately enter a doctoral program in psychology.

Third, with the 8 week sub-terms, I will still be able to complete my second Master’s degree by 2011 and then immediately enter a doctoral program.  Also, I will be getting high quality Christian education and develop the ability to use the Bible in counseling sessions. Like most investments, it makes sense to diversify.  This is the big winner over my second runner up, Nova Southeastern University.

Fourth, Since Liberty University has both residential and online programs; I can choose to take any course on campus if I feel the need to. Residential students can take online courses as well.

Now some cons that I have discovered, or at the very least some concerns.

First, the learning software is Blackboard.  Since January 2008 was my first semester at LU, and I had never taken an online course before, I had to spend a few extra hours learning what Blackboard had to offer and how the courses are structured. 
 
Second, most of the instructors for the undergraduate courses only have Master’s degrees, while for the graduate courses, the instructors all have PhDs.  Many of the instructors at both levels have a lot of autonomy in how they work their online class even though many of them have many sections which means many student papers to grade.  This can present problems from the student perspective as workload, assignment format, expectations, etc. will likely vary greatly from one professor to the next. 

Lastly, taking an online course is not easy. It requires a lot of self-discipline. The semesters are still 16 weeks, but the courses are 8 weeks. In each course we go through the entire book. There are assignments due every week. For example, in my course on human learning, there was an essay and multiple choice exams every week, as well as a group presentation of learning theories. Every week there was three things due by 11:59 pm on Sunday night. Points were taken off if you missed this deadline, unless you had permission from the instructor. In week seven, there was a 10 page research paper that was also due to be written in APA format.

The multiple choice tests were extremely challenging. Whereas most multiple choice questions in undergraduate courses were mostly verbatim recall, these exams were applied multiple choice questions. You had to know the concepts. You could not get by just by memorizing key terms. Each question was a hypothetical situation with four choices to choose from. Choose the best answer. Bottom line is that online courses are equally difficult to the residential counterparts.

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• sensorimotor stage – birth to 2 years
• preoperational stage – 2 years to about 6 or 7 years
• concrete operational stage – 6 07 years to approximate 12 years
• formal operational stage – 12 years and through adulthood

Infants in the sensorimotor stage have no object permanance, or the awareness things continue to exist even when not perceived. If you place a teddy bear in front of a 5 month old, the child will grasp at it, put it in his mouth, and play with it. If you take the teddy bear away, the assumption is that the child will think it doesn’t exist. They will grab another toy that they do see.

Children in the preoperational stage begin to use language to describe things. This is the stage where the child begins to say their first words. These words are one syllable, such as ma or da. During this time, parents begin to watch what they say around their kids. Say a bad word, and it can get picked up by the child as children continue imitating what adults say and do.

However, they will tend to have problems understanding another person’s point-of-view, called egocentrism. Children during this stage also have problems with the concept of conservation. For example, if you have two beakers filled with water. Both beakers have the same amount of water. Take one of the beakers and empty it into a shorter, but wider beaker. Present these two beakers to the child and ask them if they have the same amount of water. In this age group, they will most likely say that the shorter, wider beaker has the more water. At this stage, they can’t fully grasp the concept of the change in shape doesn’t mean a change in volume. This is typical of children during the play years as this stage normally represents.

Once children are about 7 to 11 years of age, they tend to think more logically about concrete events. An obvious result of what they are learning in school. This stage is called the concrete operational stage and is also dubbed the school years.

Formal operational thinking is where children begin to think abstractly  and hypothetically. This begins at about 12 years old and continues throughout adulthood. This stage of thinking begins at about the junior high school level and progresses as they move through high school, college, and eventually graduate school. By the time the reach the college level, many students are beginning to master the art of metaphore and acronyms in their learning.

Piaget stated that children progressed through stages. Critics of Piaget say that children can progress more rapidly or slowly than the average child. For example, there have been cases of gifted children tend to be able to think and reason at an abtract, hypothetical level at age 9. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development is meant to be a guidepost for a child’s development. It gives parents, educators, pediatricians, an idea of what milestones to be looking for at particular ages. Many pediatricians have been wise to tell parents not to worry if their child has failed to speak by a certain age. However, if a reasonable amount of time has passed without that milestone being reached, would be cause for concern.

Piaget believed that children of all ages are active thinkers who are constantly constructing their own knowledge. This came to be known as constructivism, or constructivist theory. Children from birth to two years old, through the use of their senses, are building schemas or mental models. It is quite common to see a five month old sitting up and grabbing at some toys dangling in front of him. In the beginning, children would form a schema that any animal that walks on all four legs is a dog. As they grow older, they will modify this schema and create additional schemas for other types of aminals, such as cats and other large animals. Schemas are how children on up to adulthood understand and make sense of their world. We all are constantly modifying our existing schemas and creating new schemas as we accomodate new knowledge.

Children with learning disabilities take a bit longer to progress through the stages that Piaget has laid out. Children who have been severely maltreated will also progress much slower through the stages. There have been cases where a child has been locked up in a closet in a room for many years. The child, having no contact with the outside world, has become severely retarded both physically and mentally. A child maltreated to this extreme would be said to have a mental age of a 5 year old, while their chronological age is say 12. The child has missed many critical periods of development. If a child were an infant locked in a closet until he or she was say 5 years old, the child would no doubt be blind as the optic nerves would have missed a critical period to develop.

Parents have the ultimate ability to help their children develop cognitively. If parents were to read to their children while still infants, or having their children observe adults reading a newspaper or a book, their children will be more likely to pick up on those things at an earlier age. Children are developing sooner than Piaget’s stages indicate. Two influences are the media, followed by both parents working which leave the children to be on their own and assume more grown up responsibilities. As a result, boys and girls alike are reaching puberty at much earlier ages. Girls are wearing make up and filling out at earlier ages. In one way, this is scary. The times are changing.

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The root of the disorder is a traumatic event which implants itself so firmly in the mind that the person may be shackled by the pain and distress of the event indeinately, experiencing it again and again as the mind stays connected with the past rather than the present, making it difficult to think of the future.

The research on this topic is all rather recent as the disorder was only added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IIV in the last twenty years. Yet, the disorder is quite common, threatening to control and damage the lives of approximately eight percent of the American population 5 of men and 10 of women . Any person is a potential candidate for developing PTSD if subject to enough stress. There is no predictor or determining factor as to who will develop PTSD and who will not. Although all people who suffer from it have experienced a traumatic event, not all people who experience a traumatic event will develop PTSD. Each persons individual capacity for coping with catastrophic events determines their risk of acquiring PTSD. And not everyone will experience the same symptoms; some may suffer only a few mild symptoms for a short period of time, others may be completely absorbed, still others who experience great trauma may never develop any symptoms at all Friedman .

More than any other psychological problem, symptoms are a reaction to an overwhelming external event, or series of events. From a historical perspective, the concept of PTSD made a significant change in the usual stipulation that the cause of a disorder could be outside of the self, rather than some inherent individual weakness Friedman .

There are many situations that may lead to developing PTSD, including: “serious threats to one’s life or well being, or to children, spouse or close friends relatives; sudden destruction of home or community; and witnessing the accidental or violent death or injury of another” Bernstein, et al .

Characteristic symptoms include re-experiencing the event, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event or numbing of general responsiveness, increased arousal not present before the event, and duration of the disturbance for at least one month Johnson .

When a bomb exploded the Oklahoma Federal building in 1996, hundreds of lives were affected. Not only are the people who were in the explosion in danger of re-experiencing it over and over, but so are the people who witnessed the aftermath, from bystanders to the rescue workers on scene. The surviving employees not only were physically injured in the blast, but saw the deaths of their coworkers and children. Surviving a horrific trauma that many others did not is enough to cause serious emotional harm. For the rescue workers who arrived, many of them saw death and people who they could not help; feeling helpless and guilty may manifest into intrusive recollection and nightmares.

To explain further, the first criteria is that the person was at one time exposed to a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or injury, where the response was marked by intense fear, horror or helplessness Pfefferbaum . This event may have taken place only weeks ago, or as far back in memory as forty years. The disorder is most commonly found among survivors of war, abuse and rape. It also occurs after assorted crime and car accidents, as well as after community disasters such as hurricanes and floods. Workers of rescue missions are subjected to situations of severe stress frequently. Many emergency response workers police, nurses, and medics may become overwhelmed by the trauma they see so many people go through and end up with intrusive recollections themselves.

Secondly, the trauma is re-experienced in the form of nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive memories and or unrest in situations that are similar to the traumatic experience by an associated stimuli Pfefferbaum . Auditory or visual stimuli can evoke panic, terror, dread, grief or despair. Commonly, in the case of war veterans, the patient may be mentally “sent back” to the time and location of the original traumatic experience. A veteran who hears a startling noise like a car backfiring may “hear” gunfire and it will trigger flashbacks. These flashbacks can last a little as a few seconds, minutes, or up to days where the person behaves and reacts to everything as if they are in that original traumatizing setting.

Thirdly, there is a numbing of the emotions and reduced interests in others and the outside world. The person is attempting to reduce the likelihood that they will either expose themselves to traumatic stimuli or if exposed will minimize the intensity of their psychological response Pfefferbaum . For this reason, it is extremely difficult for people with PTSD to participate in meaningful interpersonal relationships.

Forth, there are random associated symptoms including insomnia, irritability, hypervigilance and outbursts of rage. The natural startle inhibitor may be dulled and the patient is easily surprised or upset by unexpected stimuli.

Lastly, symptoms of each category must show significant affect on the person’s social vocational abilities or other important areas of life. Which appears to be an unavoidable effect if a person is in fact experiencing the symptoms listed. All of these symptoms must persist for at least one month

An example from the textbook Psychology introduces a 33-year-old nurse named Mary who suffered severe trauma in the weeks following an attack in her apartment by an intruder who raped her at knife point Criterion one . In the weeks after the attack Mary suffered from an immense fear of being alone in her apartment the second criterion , and preoccupied with attack, she feared it could happen again. Her worry developed in to an obsession with protection and she installed numerous locks on all her windows and doors, eventually Mary became so overly preoccupied with the attack that she could no longer go out socially or even return to work Criterion three and five . She became repelled by the idea of sex. Her associated behaviors encompass criterion four.

In the seven years since the Gulf War, three percent of United States Soldiers have so far been diagnosed as having Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome. Those with greatest exposure to combat are the most likely sufferers, which lends to the idea that the more severe a traumatic event are more difficult it is to overcome. Additionally it develops predominantly in soldiers who were categorized as having the least “stress resistant personalities” coupled with low levels of social support. Essential to recovery of any stressful event is the knowledge that the sufferer is not alone or unique in the grief and that others care about his or her recovery. Those soldiers who returned from war with no one to share their experiences with are likely to re experience warfare in the form of nightmares and flashbacks. After witnessing the deaths of both enemies and comrades those without social support are likely to internalize their pain which have a good chance of escaping out of the body in the symptoms listed Bernstein .

“Acute” PTSD occurs within six months of the traumatic event, while “Delayed On-set” PTSD occurs anytime afterwards. In some instances, patients have developed symptoms decades later. Holocaust survivors, experiencing terrifying nightmares of events they thought they had buried so long ago, have been diagnosed forty and fifty years after the attempted genocide of the Jews with PTSD.

PTSD can become a chronic psychiatric disorder that can persist for decades and sometimes a lifetime. Chronic patients go through periods of remission and relapse like many diseases.

Some problems associated with leaving PTSD untreated are clinical depression and addictions, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, and compulsive gambling. Addictions are a common way of “self-medicating.”

There are instances when a person suffers from involuntary recall of events that they cant quite place or understand. Sometimes adults who were abused in some form as children do not fully know what is tormenting them but still struggle with similar symptoms. For these people hypnosis in a controlled environment is beneficial. After hypnosis the patient and doctor will discuss what has come out and together deal with what has been learned. Drugs in general are not a cure for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but they can calm the patient long enough to rationally discuss what is torturing them. Also it is possible that children who survived the Oklahoma bomb blast may not be told for some time what they lived through. Their first recollections may be hazy pictures that only hint as to what happened. Hypnosis may bring out the details that the mind isn’t willingly sharing. When the details are known the patient then has the opportunity to accept them and develop an understanding and an acceptance if they are lucky enough to get that far of what they have survived Foy .

Therapy is the only known method of treatment, but there have not been substantial gains in this field for recovery of patients. After four months of intensive treatment, Vietnam veterans showed no long term effects of their therapy in a study conducted by the “National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” in New Haven. The men received individual and group psychotherapy and behavior therapy as well as family therapy and vocational guidance. Although they left reporting increased hope and self-esteem, a year and a half later their psychiatric symptoms had actually worsened. They had made more suicide attempts and their substance abuse was dramatically increased Johnson .

The Harvard Mental Health Letter published February March of 1991 asserts the important result of therapy of any kind is the enabling of the patient to think about the trauma without it taking over and being able to control their feelings without systematically avoiding or diverting their attention. People who are afflicted with PTSD never feel safe because they are controlled by their fears; nightmares and flashbacks only confirm their perceived helplessness and remind them of how they were unable to protect themselves from the event. Healing has taken place only when the person can invoke and dismiss the memories at will, instead of suffering the intrusive involuntary recall Johnson .

References

Bernstein, Douglas A., Alison Clarke-Stewart, Edward Roy, Christopher D. Wickens. Psychology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997

Bower, Bruce. “Exploring trauma’s cerebral side.” Science News. 149.20 1996 : 315

Foy, David W., ed. Treating PTSD : cognitive-behavioral strategies. New York: Guilford Press, 1992.

Friedman, Matthew J. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: An Overview.” National Center for PTSD. Dartmouth Medical School, 1997.

Johnson, David R., Robert Rosenheck, Alan Fontana. “Post-traumatic treatment failure.” Harvard Mental Health Letter. 13.9 1997 : 7

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The development of personality has long been an area of extreme interest to psychologists and psychoanalysts alike. Because of this, many different theories of personality have developed over the years. From Sigmund Freud to B.F. Skinner, everyone seems to have not only an opinion of what personality is and how it develops but also an idea as to what is the best way to measure and report their findings. In order to test their theories, it was necessary to formulate methods of research that were effective, ethical and would provide a solid foundation for future personality research.

Personality Psychology is the study of the whole person. The practice of psychology, which stems from a portion of philosophy that addresses the issue of behaviorism, evolved into a significant discipline of its own. Psychology eventually came to represent the very essence of mental performance and therefore, personality theory. Throughout history, there have been a number of modifications that have altered the direction of psychology as a discipline. However, this has not deterred the ongoing realization that there may be more to a particular personality theory than what has been passed down by the masters .

In studying personality psychology there are four major themes used. Those are intrapsychic mysteries, interactive episodes, interpretive structures, and interpersonal stories. Intrapsychic mysteries are based upon our unconscious. It focuses on the forces in our daily lives that we are unaware of. Interactive episodes is a theme that measures our interactions between person and environment. Interpretive structures deals with the importance of creating meaning for oneself. It tries to understand how things are interpreted within us and then communicated with others. Interpersonal stories deals with our life span development and understands oneself in terms of relationships.

I believe that one s personality develops over a period of time. As one goes through life, they learn many new things which are developed and intertwined into your personality. For example, from birth it requires external stimulation in order for one to learn how to become negative and angry. People aren t just born to hate things or be angry with people. It s something that happens during their lifetime that makes them feel that way. For example, parents of a child are prejudice against homosexuals and blacks and anytime either of those words are said something negative is said against them. This child then subsequently grows up thinking that there is something wrong with homosexuals and blacks, that they are bad or disgusting people. Now this child is prejudice. This child wasn t born hating people but because of what he was taught and the environment in which he grew up, now he does. I think the environment in which you grow up is very much a part of who you are and the way your personality develops.

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