Category: Psychology Essay Help

For this post, choose one of the disorders featuring somatic symptoms from your textbook (e.g., conversion, factitious somatic symptom disorder, etc.). Reflecting upon the learning activities you completed in this module, address the following prompts in at least two paragraphs:

• In your own words, explain the symptoms of the disorder you have identified.
• Briefly explain the etiology of this disorder; be specific.
• Based upon your perceptions as to the etiology, provide some specific current treatment options.
• On the Internet, find at least one organization that would be an excellent resource for clients or family members who suffer from this disorder. Briefly discuss what the organization provides and make sure to list the URL and the name of the organization

Clarification Stage of the Final Project

 

 

Clarification Stage

Exercise 1: Take Stock

Purpose: To identify strengths and areas for improvement regarding Sheridan’s online experience.

Instructions:

Diverge:

Step 1. On a Miro board, brainstorm things that are going well (15) and things that aren’t going so well (15) regarding Sheridan online. Please use stick ‘em up brainstorming (i.e., brainstorming with post-it stickies).

Converge:

Step 2.

· Rate each idea/issue on a scale of 1-3 and add your rating to each stickie. For example, No online food service (2)

· 1 = low impact, 2 = moderate impact, 3 high impact

Step 3. Review your ratings and identify the top 5 most important strengths (things going well) and 5 most important negatives (things that aren’t going so well) – and tag them with a dot sticker or an asterisk (*).

Step 4. Screenshot your idea list and paste it here for your master copy of the exercise booklet. Be sure all team member cursors are in the shot.

[PASTE PHOTO HERE]

Step 5. List your top 5 important issues on each side in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Important Issues re: Sheridan Online

Strengths (rating)	Negatives (rating)

 

Step 6. In Table 1, review your ratings and identify the top 3 most important negatives – the things that aren’t going so well and tag them with asterisks (*).

Step 7.

Finally,

· Select a single most important issue that you wish to take to the Ideation Stage and work on for the rest of this project. Make sure it is from your list of ‘things that aren’t going well’ .

· In Table 1, tag it in some way to signify selection (e.g., Bold it; Highlight it), and

· Type it in Table 2 below. This is your Clarified Problem

Table 2: Clarified Problem

Clarified Problem

Congratulations, you have Clarified an important problem and are ready to proceed to the Ideation Stage. This marks the completion of the Clarify Booklet

Ideation Stage of the Final Project

 

Ideation Stage of the Creative Problem Solving Process

Exercise 1: Generate possibilities

Now that you have your clarified problem you are set up to generate possible solutions. You are ready for Ideation.

During ideation, you will

· Diverge: Generate many options, and then

· Converge: Narrow possibilities

Instructions:

Step 1. To start, carry over and write your clarified problem (from the Clarify booklet) in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Ideation Question

Clarified Problem

 

Step 2. Using the Stick’em Up brainstorming method (brainstorming with post-it notes), come up with 30 potential solutions (20 if working alone) to your problem:

· Shoot out ideas that could address your challenge

· As you go, write them on sticky notes on your team’s Miro board, and

· Remember to defer judgement. (i.e., nod it in, write it down, re-ask the question)

Step 3. Once you have completed your brainstorming,

· Screenshot your array of ideas and paste it here for your master copy of the exercise booklet. Be sure that every team member’s Miro cursor is in the shot.

[PASTE PHOTO HERE]

 

Exercise 2: Narrow options

In the last exercise, you used divergent thinking (i.e. brainstorming) to come up with lots of potential options to address your ideation question.

Next, use convergent thinking to narrow the possibilities.

Instructions:

To start, Get Organized.

Step 1. On your Miro board, and as a team, sort your ideas into clusters/categories that make sense to you (at least 5 categories)

Step 2. Name each cluster/category, and

· add different coloured post-it notes as headings to your categories.

Next, Evaluate.

Step 3. Rate each idea on a scale of 1-5, in terms of IMPACT – how well it would solve your problem. You are rating all 30 ideas on your Miro board. Make sure the ratings are clearly visible.

· Note that a rating of 1 = very low impact, and 5 = very high impact

· For example, “ online ordering and delivery from Tim Hortons 30 minutes before class (4) ”

Finally, Select.

Step 4. Tag with a dot sticker (or star) the 3 highest rated ideas, and then

· take a screenshot of your sorted and rated ideas. Be sure that every team member’s Miro cursor is in the shot.

 

[PASTE PHOTO HERE]

 

Step 5. Type your three highest rated ideas in Table 2 below.

· This table contains your team’s top 3 ‘short-list’.

 

Table 2. Short-list of Possibilities (Top 3)

Top 3 Ideas – Short-list of possibilities

1.

2.

3.

 

 

Step 6. Select one idea that you believe is the best one – The one idea that you could see yourself recommending or doing yourself. Circle or bold it . This is your group’s INNOVATIVE SOLUTION.

Step 7. Retype your INNOVATIVE SOLUTION into Table 3 below.

Table 3. Innovative Solution

Innovative Solution

 

Complete the Reflections on the following page.

 

Exercise 3: Reflect

Doing the exercises is a good thing but thinking about what just happened is key. This is where the learning sinks in. Answer these questions as a group or through independent reflection if working alone. Point form bullet lists are just fine to use here. Be sure to show authentic engagement. (Aim for 5 thorough points per response)

1. In your process of Clarification and Ideation, what went particularly well? What were some of your successes? (Make a list)

 

2. In your process of Ideation, what did you find particularly challenging? (Make a list)

3. What was particularly useful and would be favourable to use in the future when a problem comes up in your work and personal life? (Make a list)

End of Final Project Exercise Booklets.

Well done

Final Project Overview – 30% final grade

Project Concept – Clarify a problem and develop an Innovative Solution

How might we improve Sheridan’s Online Learning Experience?

Working in a group of three to six, your challenge is to develop an implementable pitch by applying Creative Problem Solving over a two-week period – Weeks 10 & 11. Class-time will be devoted to sessions that apply the Clarification and Ideation stages of FourSight. Additional work should be completed outside of class time, however in class time is allotted for collaborative teamwork in the form of two 2-hr FINAL PROJECT LABS during scheduled class time in weeks 10 & 11. Thus, it is important to attend these weeks’ virtual labs.

Instructions

To accomplish this, please:

· Group up in groups of 3-6

· Use Microsoft Word exercise ‘booklets’ to work through the CPS process.

· Follow the exercise booklet instructions and fill in the appropriate content.

· Booklets will be provided on the evening prior to each lab

· Screenshot evidence of your divergent and convergent thinking work done in the Miro app . Be sure all members’ cursors are present in the screenshots.

· Create a brief PowerPoint pitch presenting the problem you clarified and innovative solution you produced through your process

· Design a One-pager pitch clearly and professionally summarizing your innovative solution

· Hand in your deliverables via SLATE dropbox

 

Schedule

Due Date: Tuesday March 30th 11:59 pm

How you will be evaluated:

A Group Report Pack w/ completed Microsoft Word ‘booklets’ (2) [20%]

· with photographic evidence of your divergent and convergent thinking included, and

· a cover page w/ all group member names (first & last names please)

2. A nicely designed ‘One-pager’ pitch document [5%] clearly describing the

· Issue – a problem to address

· Innovative Solution– to improve things at Sheridan

· Upsides and risks – The up- and down-sides of the idea

· Spark of Creativity – how the idea is original and useful = creative

3. A brief PowerPoint pitch (think Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den) [5%]

· Convincing a group of imaginary funders that they should fund your idea

· Including the above-mentioned aspects in your one-pager

1. Describe the functionalist view of social stratification, and the conflict theory’s view of social stratification. Then take a pro or con position on each of the following three points: first, social stratification is necessary for societies to exist and prosper; second, the United States functions, overall, as a meritocracy; and third, human beings-driven as they are by human nature-are incapable of ever creating and/or living in a classless society. Provide detail about ‘why’ you are taking the pro or con position for each point.

2. Describe the three theories of global inequality addressed in the reading this week, examining the existence and persistence of inequality between countries and regions. Also address the strengths and weaknesses of these perspectives as analytical tools.  What is the most accurate theory to address global inequality?  Explain why you selected this perspective using specific examples.

 

The Week 4 Forum meets the following course objectives:

• Apply a sociological perspective to the social world
• Analyze contemporary social issues using the sociological imagination and use sociological theories and concepts to analyze everyday life.
• Discuss global stratification and explain social class and the impact of stratification in the United States.

 

Question one

Recently some states have moved to legalize the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana. Do you support this movement? Why or why not? Can you think of some unintended consequences of such policy changes?

Question two

If everyone has a “different” personality (i.e., if no two are alike), then how can we say that someone has a “disordered” or “sick” personality? What truly makes a personality pathological?

Extra Information:

Tobacco-Related Disorders

Nicotine, which was introduced in the French court t in the 16th century is what gives smoking its pleasurable qualities. About 30% of all Americans smoke, which is down from 4 2.4 % who were smokers in 1965. Nicotine in small doses stimulates the central nervous system, but may also relieve stress and improve mood. It can also cause high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. High doses blur vision, cause confusion, lead to convulsions and sometimes death.

Caffeine Use Disorders

Caffeine is called the “gentle stimulant” and is used regularly by 90% of Americans. This drug is found in tea, coffee, cola drinks, and cocoa products. In small doses, caffeine can elevate mood and reduce fatigue, but larger doses can produce jitteriness and insomnia.

Regular caffeine use can result in tolerance and dependence. Withdrawal symptoms include headaches, drowsiness, and a generally unpleasant mood. Caffeine’s effect on the brain appears to involve the neurotransmitters adenosine and to a lesser extent serotonin Caffeine block adenosine reuptake.

Biological Causes of Substance-related Disorders

Evidence suggests that substance abuse has a genetic component. Twin, family, and adoption studies indicate that certain people may be genetically vulnerable to drug abuse. Most genetic data on substance abuse comes from research on alcoholism.

Both twin and adoption studies suggest genetic factors play a role in alcoholism, particularly in males. Two studies have located genes that may influence alcoholism on chromosomes 1, 2, 7, and 11, plus a finding that a gene on chromosomes 4 may serve to protect people from becoming alcohol dependent. The field of functional genomics focuses on how genes work to influence addiction.

The pleasurable experience reported by people who use psychoactive substances partly explains why people continue to use them. In effect, people are positively reinforced for using drugs. All drugs seem to affect the reward or pleasure centers of the brain. The pleasure center is believed to include the dopaminergic system and its opioid-releasing neurons that begin in the midbrain ventral tegmental area and then work their way through the nucleus accumbens a region in the basal forebrain rostral to the preoptic area of the hypothalamus) and on to the frontal cortex.

Amphetamines and cocaine (including nicotine and alcohol) act directly on the dopamine system, whereas other drugs increase the availability of dopamine indirectly. GABA, as a major inhibitory neurotransmitter system, helps to turn off the continued activity of the reward system. Opiates inhibit GABA from doing its job, which in turn stops the GABA neurons from inhibiting dopamine, thus making more dopamine available from inhibiting dopamine, thus making more dopamine available in the reward center.

With several drugs, negative reinforcement is related to the drug’s anxiolytic effect, particularly alcohol. Such drugs reduce anxiety via the septal/hippocampal system, which includes a large number of GABA sensitive neurons. Such drugs may enhance the activity of GABA in this region, thereby inhibiting the brain’s normal reaction (anxiety/fear) to anxiety-producing situations.

Personality Disorders

The personality disorders represent long-standing and ingrained ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can cause significant distress. Because people may display two or more of these maladaptive ways of interacting with the world, considerable disagreement remains over how to categorize personality disorders.

DSM-5 includes 10 personality disorders that are divided into three clusters: Cluster A (odd or eccentric) includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders; Cluster B (dramatic, emotional, or erratic) includes antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders; and Cluster C (anxious or fearful) includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

Cluster A Personality Disorders

People with paranoid personality disorder are excessively mistrustful and suspicious of other people, without any justification. They tend not to confide in others and expect other people to do them harm.

People with schizoid personality disorder show a pattern of detachment from social relationships and a limited range of emotions in interpersonal situations. They seem aloof, cold, and indifferent to other people. People with schizotypal personality disorder are typically socially isolated and behave in ways that would seem unusual to most of us. In addition, they tend to be suspicious and have odd beliefs about the world.

Cluster B Personality Disorders

People with antisocial personality disorder have a history of failing to comply with social norms. They perform actions most of us would find unacceptable, such as stealing from friends and family. They also tend to be irresponsible, impulsive, and deceitful. In contrast to the DSM-5 criteria for antisocial personality, which focuses almost entirely on observable behaviors (for example, impulsively and repeatedly changing employment, residence, or sexual partners), the related concept of psychopathy primarily reflects underlying personality traits (for example, self-centeredness or manipulativeness). People with borderline personality disorder lack stability in their moods and in their relationships with other people, and they usually have poor self-esteem. These individuals often feel empty and are at great risk of suicide. Individuals with histrionic personality disorder tend to be overly dramatic and often appear almost to be acting.

Cluster C Personality Disorders

People with avoidant personality disorder are extremely sensitive to the opinions of others and therefore avoid social relationships. Their extremely low self-esteem, coupled with a fear of rejection, causes them to reject the attention of others. Individuals with dependent personality disorder rely on others to the extent of letting them make everyday decisions, as well as major ones; this results in an unreasonable fear of being abandoned.

People who have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are characterized by a fixation on things being done “the right way.” This preoccupation with details prevents them from completing much of anything.

Treating people with personality disorders is often difficult because they usually do not see that their difficulties are a result of the way they relate to others.

Personality disorders are important for the clinician to consider because they may interfere with efforts to treat more specific problems such as anxiety, depression, or substance abuse. Unfortunately, the presence of one or more personality disorders is associated with a poor treatment outcome and a generally negative prognosis.

Summary:

In a 2010 article , Personality disorder: a new global perspective, in the journal, World Psychology, there is growing acceptance that personality disorder is an equal partner with other disorders, and is now accepted worldwide , affecting roughly 6% of the world’s population.

Information found in the 2015 article, Personality Disorders and Their Impact — A Summary from the Personality Disorders Foundation, explains that,

People with severe personality disorders are high-cost, persistent, and intensive users of mental health services. One in every 20 individuals suffers with a personality disorder. Up to 10% of those in outpatient mental health treatment clinics have a personality disorder, and almost 15% of individuals in inpatient psychiatric care have a severe personality disorder. Individuals with personality disorders usually present for therapy with presenting issues other than personality problems, most often with complaints of depression and anxiety. For example, among patients with Borderline Personality Disorder, major depression has been observed in up to 74% of these individuals, and Panic Disorder has been found to occur in 10% to 25% of these individuals. Individuals with personality disorders are also more likely to have an eating disorder, or a history of significant trauma. About one-third of people who frequently use general health services (and for whom no clear medical diagnosis is found) have severe personality disorders. Individuals with personality disorders are more likely to be stigmatized and blamed for their illness, relative to other psychiatric and medical disorders. Relative to other psychiatric disorders, personality disorders have been less understood and recognized, and treatment options and appropriate supportive housing have been less available. Concerns about “stigmatizing” the client sometimes leads clinicians who recognize a personality disorder in a particular patient to not assign this diagnosis because the label “personality disorder” often suggests more frustrating challenges for the clinician. Significant problems with clinical management and treatment compliance often emerge. The length of treatment, frequency of treatment sessions, treatment strategies used, and goals and expectations for both therapist and patient need to be changed when a patient has a personality disorder. There has been an increase in research that clearly supports the underlying neurobiology of these disorders, and increased demonstrations of the effectiveness of different types of medications and psychotherapies. The linkages for treatment of substance abuse and personality disorders are growing, and programs for effective community diversion in the criminal justice system for non-violent personality disordered offenders are being established (2015, paragraphs 6 – 12).

Researchers A. Tom Horvath , Kaushik Misra , Amy K. Epner , and Galen Morgan Cooper , have written in the online AMHC article, Addiction and Personality Disorders, that, “contrary to popular belief, research has been unable to identify an ‘ addictive personality. ‘ However, some personality traits are more commonly observed in people with substance use disorders. Most of the research regarding addiction and personality traits has been conducted with people who have alcohol use disorders. Nonetheless, we observe many of these traits in people with other substance use disorders as well. The most common of these personality traits include nonconformity; impulsivity; sensation- or thrill-seeking; emotional dysregulation, negative affect (e.g., depression, anxiety); low self-esteem; and an external locus of control ” ( no date, AMHC, paragraph 4).

 

Links:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130804081115.htm

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/substance-abuse-and-mental-health.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/diseases-and-conditions/pathology/impulse-control-disorders

http://outofthefog.website/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3p_LuTM73k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE

http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/pb-assets/dsm/update/DSM5Update2016.pdf

Textbook

http://ng.cengage.com/static/nb/ui/index.html?nbId=544660&nbNodeId=195660646&deploymentId=47355418160514706586386572946&eISBN=9781285778815#!&parentId=195660647

If the above link for textbook doesn’t work use this

https://www.cengagebrain.com/shop

ONLY USE THE SOURCES I GIVE

CITE WORK

Choose a chronic health issue individuals experience (e.g., diabetes, fibromyalgia, asthma, Alzheimer’s) that is often seen by health psychologists.

Write a 1,250-1,500-word essay that addresses the following:

 

1) Describe problems that are often experienced by individuals and their families as a result of this illness (e.g., anxiety, depression, stigma, stress, non-adherence).

2) Discuss how psychological theory can be applied to understand and describe the source of the problem and to treat the issue for the individual.

a) You may choose the psychological theory/theories you wish to apply (e.g., biopsychosocial theory, stress theories, adherence theories, health promotion theories, and social norms theories, as long as they are discussed in the literature).

3) Describe how health psychology/health psychologists can aid individual and families in coping with the chronic health issue. Please use research to support your response.

4) Discuss what research is currently being examined on the topic. Please consider discussing both medical and psychological advances noted in literature searches. What does the future look like for the chronic health issue?

 

Utilize six outside scholarly sources (peer-reviewed journal articles). Certain websites (e.g. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Psychological Association) may be used in addition to the six peer-reviewed journal articles.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.