Introduction to Psychology
(Fall 2005)
S/R Paper for November 16,
2006
By
Halford H. Fairchild
Film
Notes: The Soldier’s Heart
Stimulus: A review of the PTSD that Iraqi veterans are
experiencing, with an in depth portrait of a few vets, including one who hung
himself in the cellar.
Notes from
Film: This Frontline video examined the
psychological injuries to Iraqi veterans. Rob Sarra noted that he kept asking others if
they saw (the horrors) that he was seeing. He confessed to killing an innocent Iraqi
woman who was guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, holding a
white flag.
It is when the soldiers return home – to safety –
that they begin to “vibrate” with where they were, to realize their fears.
There is constant death – where soldiers witness the
carnage at incredibly close range.
Jeff Lucey’s story was told in depth – he succumbed to
alcohol and suicide (at the age of 23).
Jacob Martin was taught to let go of their lives
before they went into battle. He started
having anxiety attacks, hoping to die.
In WWII, there were over 500,000 “psychiatric
casualties.” Of the 1,000,000
Victims of psychological trauma are stigmatized,
isolated, humiliated, and blame themselves.
Psychological trauma is always a part of war – in the
Civil War, they called it “nostalgia; in WWI, they called it “shell shock,” in
WWII they called it “battle fatigue,” and in Vietnam, they called it Post
Vietnam syndrome (which affected 1/3 of those in combat). The current diagnosis is PTSD (post traumatic
stress disorder, which has both psychological and physical symptoms).
Jonathan Shaw wrote Odysseus in
Andrew Pogany had panic attacks. His command charged him with cowardly conduct,
where he was called “a fucking pussy.”
Responses: 1,000,000 individuals with Iraqi combat experience,
and at least 1/6 of them will have significant psychological sequelae. What, if anything is being done? How many suicides have there been?
It is unfortunate that asking to see a therapist is
stigmatized – in war or in civilian life.
PTSD can last years, or a lifetime.
Alcohol abuse as self-medication.
Rosenhan, D.L.
(1973). Who's crazy here, anyway? (Hock, pp. 226-234)
Stimulus: This study reports on the
classic experiment by David Rosenhan were graduate student assistants got
themselves admitted into a psychiatric hospital (feigning mental illness), and
then acted normally to see how long it would take for the psychiatrists to
discover their normality. Interestingly,
none were so detected, and the amount of medication prescribed was virtually
astronomical. All health professionals
were inattentive (humanely), with 71% of psychiatrists and 88% of nurses and
attendants “moving on, with head averted.”
Nurses and attendants were more inhumane than psychiatrists (a surprise
for me).
Responses: Perhaps psychiatry is less discerning than
psychology! (Not really, both discipline
err on the side of diagnosing pathology, even in its absence.
Our psychological language is weak when it comes to
mental health.
If the criteria for mental illness are behaviors
that are “bizarre, antisocial, or disruptive behavior patterns that persist
over time,” would Martin Luther King, Jr. have been defined as mentally ill? (Actually, at the time, he was quite a
societal nuisance and was imprisoned on numerous occasions.)
The number of pills prescribed (2,100) is immense,
in the absence of any true bio-genic cause.
Note the relationship between one’s philosophical orientation
(psychoanalytic, medical, etc.), and the treatments prescribed.
Decreases in hospitalization due to success of
medications, and also, budgetary
cutbacks that put the mentally ill on the streets and in prisons.
Danger of labels – especially ADHD.
Faking illness to escape criminal punishment:
Freud, A.
(1946). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. (Hock, pp. 234-242).
Stimulus: Reviews defense
mechanisms, as articulated by Sigmund’s daughter, Anna. A fascinating finding pertained to homophobia
as a reaction formation (expression of a taboo wish in its opposite form). Here, homophobic men were the most aroused by
homosexual media, and underreported their arousal. It was Anna Freud who did the ‘authoritative
work’ on defense mechanisms.
Responses: The idea of defensive psychological
functioning has great utility in describing human behavior. But such description does not necessarily
imply an understanding. Perhaps some of
the psychodynamic conflicts are over-stated.
One must be careful of reifying the hypothetical
constructs. Id, ego and superego are
constructs (ideas), not things or structures.
Calhoun, J.B.
(1962). Population density and social pathology. (Hock pp.
249-257).
Stimulus: This classic study examined
the effects of crowding on rat behavior.
Responses: Crowding is not good for animals or
people. The idea that household density
is problematic is problematic. This is
so because of the large numbers of immigrant families who share households. They seem to do so harmoniously and are the
antithesis of pathology or violence.
Andreas,
Joel. (2004). Addicted to War (Third Edition).
Stimulus: This text provides a
history of the
Responses: The huge expenditure for military engagements
is at the cost of domestic affairs.
Devastation wrought by cutbacks in social programs.
Not only do we prepare for war, we have a
“propensity” for war.
War makes us all less safe. (naming my fears)
The history of the
Let is not forget the racial motives in early (and
current)
Two of the most dangerous words in the English
language: Democracy and Freedom. A close third:
Numbers of conflicts: in the hundreds.
Numbers of casualties:
The permanence of war: 40K US troops in
7,000,000 tons of bombs dropped on
Bombing from afar:
cowardice. Suicide bombers: courageous (but tragic).
Mercenary armies:
“security contractors.”
One must be careful to not be perceived as
anti-Semitic when critiquing Israeli government policies of occupation and
assassination.
Bush à Clinton à Bush (1990 – 2005): policies of bombing
911 must be seen as a retaliation.
Deaths and changing the future of the world.
We must decry “war for profits.” (Halliburton)
$776B per year
for militarism (masculinism) – p. 45:
2.126B per day; 88,583,333/hour; 1,476,388/minute; 24,606/second. And
Child Development (war toys).
Jarhead
Economic draft – poor and minorities are the ones
serving, and dying.
Media control by military – industrial – complex was
a new idea (for me).