Trauma and Adult Learning
Effects of Trauma on Learning
Adults experiencing the effects of past or current trauma may display such symptoms as difficulty beginning new tasks, blame, guilt, concern for safety, depression, inability to trust (especially those in power), fear of risk taking, disturbed sleep, eroded self-esteem/confidence, inability to concentrate, or panic attacks (Mojab and McDonald 2001). Some people may manifest no symptoms; at the other end of the spectrum is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, characterized by flashbacks, avoidance, numbing of responsiveness (including substance abuse), persistent expectation of danger, constriction (dissociation, zoning out), and memory impairment (Isserlis 2001).
It may not be readily apparent that a learner is experiencing the effects of trauma. Instead, such manifestations as missing class, avoiding tests, spacing out, and having what may be interpreted as inappropriate or extreme reactions to class discussions or activities may actually be responses to trauma. It is true that learning may be impeded by fear, anxiety, poor concentration, and the enormous energy involved in hiding abuse or struggling with immediate survival needs. However, interpretations of trauma and its effects on learning are shaped by education discourses (Horsman 1997, 2000b; Isserlis 2001). A deficit perspective suggests that the learner, not the social system, must change. A medicalizing discourse emphasizes that healing, "getting over it," must take place before learning is possible. Discourses of educational practice may view dropping out, stopping out, or spacing out/dissociating as lack of motivation or persistence rather than survival mechanisms. Discourses focused on outcomes and account...
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The old saying goes, “Lessons learned hard are learned best.” Some former Enron employees are embittered by the way they have been treated by the company that was once “the best in the business.” Others disagree. In the words of one of my former students who is still hanging on: “Just for the record, my time and experience at Enron have been nothing short of fantastic. I could not have asked for a better place to be or better people to work with. Please, though, remember this: Never take customer and employee confidence for granted. That confidence is easy to lose and tough—to impossible—to regain.”
Enron was a Houston based energy, commodities and services company. When people hear the name Enron they automatically associate their name with one of the biggest accounting and ethical scandals known to date. The documentary, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” provides an in depth examination of Enron and the Enron scandal. The film does a wonderful job of depicting the downfall of Enron and how the corporate culture and ethics were key to Enron’s fall. As the movie suggests, Enron is “not a story about numbers, it is a story about people.”
It is important to understand when discussing this topic what exactly Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is, and how one obtains it. When someone has PTSD, their sense of fear and stress are tampered with; even when not in danger, the person with the disorder may feel as though they are. It is as if the victims are suffering from delayed trauma. Several risk factors can lead to this: experiences with dangerous events/traumas, history of mental illness, physical pain, witnessing the injuries/deaths of others, feeling horror, helplessness, or extreme fear, little to no support after the trigger event, experiencing extra stress after the event...
However, these economic sanctions have seen its efficacy come to an abrupt end. The ban on Cuban trade should be lifted in order to reduce poverty on the island, boost the economies of both the United States and Cuba, give America access to superior healthcare and allow America to acquire some cheap labour. In this essay, I will inform you of four things; (1) Cuba’s poverty caused by the sanctions, (2) how lifting the embargo would benefit Cuba, (3) how lifting the embargo would benefit America, (4) why continue the sanctions (5) how close are we to lifting the sanctions.
“The essential psychological effect of trauma is a shattering of innocence” (Margolies). A shattering of innocence means that a person can never look at the world in the same way because they are always afraid of another traumatic event. “In order to be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have three different types of symptoms: re-experiencing symptoms, avoidance and numbing symptoms, and arousal symptoms” ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."). Re-experiencing symptoms include ones that are triggered by past memories of the situation. Avoidance and numbing symptoms occur when the person is trying to avoid everything related to the event such as certain locations or television shows that could have a possible relation to the traumatic event. Arousal symptoms happen when the victim is constantly alert for another traumatic event. One of the most serious effects of PTSD is that the victims “may develop additional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other problems of physical and mental health” ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."). Substance abuse, for example, can drastically change the human body mentally and physically. These effects and symptoms usually last longer than 3 months
Life comes with many challenging obstacles that entirely change the foundation of our very lives. Among these obstacles are situations that can be difficult to cope with. Everyone has a different way of dealing with these situations. Feeling nervous, fatigued, finding it difficult to sleep and having your thought process scrambled are all normal reactions to traumatic events. Usually these symptoms decrease over time and everyone returns to the lives they had before the experience. However, when this is not the case, the individual is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
PTSD is defined as mental health disorder triggered by a terrifying event (Mayoclinic). This ordeal could be the result of some sort of physical harm or threat to the individual, family members, friends or even strangers. (NIMH) While PTSD is typically associated with someone who has served in the military, it can affect more than just that genre of individuals. It could affect rape victims, victims in a terrorist or natural disaster incident, nurses, doctors, and police and fire personnel and bystanders. PTSD can manifest itself in many forms. The primary signs and symptoms of PTSD include but are not limited to re-experiencing symptoms (flashbacks, bad dreams, frightening thoughts), avoidance of places, situations, or events that may cause those memories to resurface, and hyperarousal symptoms (easily startled, feeling tense or on edge) (NIMH). Other symptoms may include not having positive or loving feelings toward other people, staying away from relationships, may forget about parts of the traumatic event or not be able to talk about them, may think the world is completely dangerous, and no one can be trusted.
The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban goods. When the embargo was first set, it was only to eliminate food and medicine, but then on Feb. 7th, 1962 the embargo was extended to all exports. President Kennedy announced the embargo citing, “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned” (Galeano). “We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights”, said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba. With only 90 miles of sea between the U.S. and Cuba the embargo chokes off Cuba’s number one trade partner and tourism of the island.
After news of the scandal of Enron, one of the hottest items on e-Bay was a 64-page copy of Enron’s corporate code of ethics. One seller/former employee proclaimed it had “never been opened.” In the forward Kenneth L. Lay, CEO of Enron stated, “We want to be proud of Enron and to know that it enjoys a reputation for fairness and honesty and that it is respected (Enron 2).” For a company with such an extensive code of ethics and a CEO who seemed to want the company to be respected for that, there are still so many unanswered questions of what exactly went wrong. I believe that simply having a solid and thorough code of ethics alone does not prevent a company from acting unethically when given the right opportunity.
With people who are suffering from PTSD their brain is still in overdrive long after the trauma has happened. They may experience things like flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations, panic attacks, and deep depression. They tend to avoid things that remind them of their trauma and are constantly on high alert waiting for the next possible traumatic event to take place; in events such...
The second category symptom for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the avoidance symptoms. This is where the person who has experienced the trauma stays away from places that may trigger his or her memory to the event that caused the trauma. The person also may seem emotionless. He or she may not want to experience that feeling again so he or she become emotionally numb to everything going on around them. The person may also feel a great amount of guilt, depression or worry. He or she may also lose interest in activities that he or she found to be fun before the traumatic event. He or she may have trouble remembering the event. Things that remind he or she of the event may cause avoidance symptoms. This can cause he or she to can change his or her everyday routine to avoid something that triggers rememberance of the event.
We can analyze Google’s organizational culture thought Ouchi’s framework. Ouchi studied three different company’s culture and saw that the differences between those explained a part of the company’s success. Depending on his theory it seems that Google Inc. is the type Z US firms.
When an ethical dilemma arises within an organization, it is difficult to separate right and wrong with what is best for the majority. Sometimes the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no.” In 2002, Enron Corporation shows us just that. By 2002, the sixth-largest corporation in America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The case of the Enron scandal is one of the best examples of corporate greed and fraud in America.
In many circumstances, employees’ behaviors are likely to follow their leader. Enron’s leadership has been extremely influential due to exemplified charismatic. For example, Heffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, CFO and one of executive member in Enron, greatly encourage employees to follow their lead. Their incompetence accounting profession directly affects lover level of employees. Eventually, those manipulating accounting activities affect company collapse. Once leadership has done unethical professional accounting behaviors, unethical acts become accepted. Employees have many reasons for remaining quiet. While Enron still have ethical internal rules, when leadership in Enron did not abide and did not provide corresponding example of employees to follow (Prentice 2003, p. 417). Which eventually make Enron’s become one of the largest corporate scandal frauds.
Enron Corporation was based in Houston, Texas and participated in the wholesale exchange of American energy and commodities (ex. electricity and natural gas). Enron found itself in the middle of a very public accounting fraud scandal in the early 2000s. The corruption of Enron’s CFO and top executives bring to question their ethics and ethical culture of the company. Additionally, examining Enron ethics, their organization culture, will help to determine how their criminal acts could have been prevented.