Gender Norm Media And Culture - 1035 Words

Name: Po-Chin Wu RIN: 661401218 Course: STSS-1520 Sociology Date: 10/9/2015 Gender norm in media and culture Dozens of action movies are produced every year by Hollywood. Not to mention how widely most violent scenes such as guns and kills are accepted in most of them. Although most may view them only as entertainments, it is undeniable that the overexposed ideas of power and dauntless from not only the movies but our daily media had slowly changed our social norms toward gun and violent. Over 900 mass shootings, defined as having four or more fatalities in one incident by CNN, has happened in less than three years since 2013. When in fact, as TV news and newspapers intended to inform titles like â€Å"a student opened fire† or â€Å"people are shot dead in a historic black church†, almost none marked out the issue on gender or men in the titles. African-Americans, psychotics, Mexicans, and immigrants are more often to be written in contents of violence, whereas only few articles wrote about white men, who also build up a big part of our masculinity society. In the past, viole nce came from anger in specific reasons; today, violence has become a way to represent our toughness and masculinity. Not only did our popular culture lead us to a narrower idea of distinct gender behaviors, such as men to be brave and women to be sensitive, our media provides us even more contents toward normalizing what should be violent and incorrect. Our every day mass media has emerged into the most powerfulShow MoreRelatedGender as Social Arrangements1337 Words   |  5 PagesGender is defined as the social arrangements that are built to meet personal traits of being male or female and society has created roles that reflect a gender to act in a certain way in society. 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This makes heteronomrative gender roles a self-fulling prophecy—with people performing these stereotypes, because they are presented as the norm. If feminized male characters serve as the stand-in for the female reader, then fanfictionsRead MoreGender Socialization : The Real World1442 Words   |  6 PagesGender Socializ ation When someone is pregnant, people will usually ask for the sex of the unborn child thus proving that people are socially categorized from the beginning of life and is something that is continued throughout life. One is expected to behave the way their assigned gender is supposed to behave. Gender socialization is when people are expected to act a certain way based on their â€Å"gender†. 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This essay will address the way in which gender identities are constructed and expressed through media and popular cultures using Hebdige’s theory; Symbolic Interaction. Both gender identities will test the typical affiliated gender stereotype; which are created by social interactions – what a person sees and interprets in their

Primitive Accumulation And Its Effect On Society - 1559 Words

Introduction Primitive accumulation is a term interpreted to various degrees by different political economists. According to Marx, primitive accumulation in communities served as an inevitable harbinger to capitalism, where it is described as a manoeuvre by which capital is accumulated by a small section of the community by deploying violence. â€Å"The capitalist system presupposes the complete separation of the labourers from all property in the means by which they can realise their labour.† Involved here is â€Å"a process that transforms, on the one hand, the social means of subsistence and of production into capital, on the other, the immediate producers into wage labourers.† This â€Å"historical process...appears as primitive, because it forms the pre-historic stage of capital...† (Capital, Volume I, Part VIII, Progress Publishers, p 668). Adam Smith in the Wealth of the Nations set forth this concept in a different perspective as in capitalism was the result of the n atural process of division of labor where some became experts in producing a particular item and others mastered the act of marketing and selling those produce which eventually gave way to capitalism. Different views have been made by different analysts to the same concept of the emergence of capitalism. Capitalism can be considered similar to a biological entity with the ability to reproduce. Offsprings with different characters are produced and they continue to evolve. The Concept of accumulation by dispossessionShow MoreRelatedBlack Marxism By Cedric Robinson : Marxist Perspective On The World s Progression Into The Phenomenon Of Capitalism1362 Words   |  6 Pagesworld’s progression into the phenomenon of capitalism. 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The problem is that in ‘man-made’ terms ‘skillful’ propagandists still demonstrate pure Cosmic Ignorance in dealing with for them a ‘new situation’. When started to produce the contrary effects in recipients, the audience in a mental condition still premature for any kind of brain-washing regarding Internationalism. Therefore, the ‘pre-mature conditioning of the ‘Young Souls’ is perceived as ‘over-doing’ and swiftly leads to saturationRead MoreSociology and Social Change6068 Words   |  25 Pagesg., a member of a traditionally superordinate group in society turns out to be subordinate to a boss who belongs to a socially inferior group.    If individuals learn to recognize that which is not so obvious when they face drastic social transformations, we can assert that it is also under such conditions that sociologists further their knowledge of society and its regularities. It is thus not surprising that the scientific study of society was born in the midst of the most drastic transformationsRead MoreSociology and Social Change6058 Words   |  25 Pages, a member of a traditionally superordinate group in society turns out to be subordinate to a boss who belongs to a socially inferior group.    If individuals learn to recognize that which is not so obvious when they face drastic social transformations, we can assert that it is also under such conditions that sociologists further their knowledge of society and its regularities. It is thus not surprising that the scientific study of society was born in the midst of the most drastic transformationsRead MoreMarx And The Capitalist System1186 Words   |  5 Pagesobvious qualm was that our society is ever-engaging within a class struggle. This was something that not just native to America but every society. â€Å"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles†(Marx). Marx believed that the working class (proletariat) were being constantly exploited by the members of the bourgeoisie who would shrink the wages of the laborers in order to skim off a wide profit margin. He called this ‘primitive accumulation’. In an attempt to remedy

What explanations are offered for the development of nationalism Free Essays

string(70) " after Cold War had come to control public life in the United States\." Introduction The roots of nationalism go back to the middle of the eighteenth century and a movement called romanticism. Affecting art, journalism, philosophy, music, and politics, romanticism was a mood or a disposition that defied rigid definition. It did indicate a revolt against rationalism and a consequent emphasis on sentiment, feeling, and imagination. We will write a custom essay sample on What explanations are offered for the development of nationalism? or any similar topic only for you Order Now The emotions of the heart, it was argued, though irrational, should be valued over and above the intellectualizations of the head. So that whereas Rene Descartes had said, â€Å"I think, therefore I am,† Jean-Jacques Rousseau proclaimed, â€Å"A thinking man is a depraved animal. † In this havoc of power and ideas, one familiar face has re-emerged: that of nationalism. For many it is as undesirable as it is unbidden and unexpected. For others its recurrence is regrettable but comes as no surprise. For still others, it symbolizes the only sure way forward after the sudden shatters created by totalitarianism in the developmental paths of so numerous societies. For all, nationalism symbolizes a stage in the evolution of humanity to ‘higher forms’ of culture, one that should be endured or embraced, but is certainly destined to pass after a few chaotic decades (Smith 1995; Brown, Micheal, 1997). None of these situations seems to accord with the chronological facts or sociological realisms of ethnicity and nationalism. Instead of treating ethnicity and nationalism as phenomenon in their own right, they persist on evaluating them by the yardstick of a liberal evolutionary scheme, overt or tacit, one that is intrinsically problematic and perceptibly irrelevant to the dynamics of nations, nationalism and ethnic conflict. For liberals and socialists dedicated to the view that humanity progresses in stages to greater units of comprehensiveness and higher values, the nation and nationalism can simply represent a halfway house to the aim of a cosmopolitan culture and a global polity. On the one hand, the nation can be applauded for superseding all those local, inscriptive ties and communities that have controlled innovation and opportunity and enchained the human spirit. Its wider horizons have brought collectively all kinds of peoples with changeable origins, religions, occupations and class backgrounds and turned them into citizens of the defensive, civic nation. Conversely, the nation today has become an obstruction to progress, seeking ineffectively to control the flow of information and the channels of mass communication, and to obstruct and control the great economic institutions–transnational companies, world banks and trade organizations and the global financial and commodities markets. Although the great forces of globalization, economic, political and cultural, have already diluted the power of the nation-state and are fast making all national boundaries and responses obsolete (Schopfin, George, 2000; Hobsbawm 1990: ch. 6). Romanticism rejected the idea of the independence of the individual and stressed identification with an external whole, with something outside of oneself. Quite normally, this outside whole took the form of nature, as marked in the works of such romanticists as Wordsworth in England; Herder, Schiller, and Goethe in Germany; and Hugo, Rousseau, and Madame de Stael in France. Frequently also, the center of one’s identification was the â€Å"folk,† the cultural group, or nation. Nationalism, in other words, was a political expression of romanticism (William Booth, 1996, p. A-1). In many ways, the major philosopher of nationalism was Rousseau, whose influence on the French Revolution has been generally recognized. Rousseau’s ideal was the small, well-knit community in which each person freely gave himself over, quite literally, to every other person. We should obey the community, Rousseau taught, because in observing the community we obey ourselves. The identity and unity of our wills produce a â€Å"General Will† that is completing, indivisible, infallible, and always for the common good. The individual’s commitment and fondness to the community and the General Will are total. French Revolution and Nationalism Following the French Revolution, nationalism spread across the continent of Europe and beyond. In a real sense, the past of nineteenth-century Europe is the history of nationalism or as a minimum this is one way of looking at it. The twentieth century saw the dispersal of nationalism throughout the world. No country has been spared; none is an exemption. â€Å"Some Euro-enthusiasts, have hinted at the prospect of transcending the state and nation by forming a wider federation and a district political identity. Yet the federalists have been continually frustrated by the continuing vivacity of the national idea†. James Mayall, 1990, 94-5 With the exclusion of two brief periods, Western nationalism has continued unabated. For about a decade after each of the two world wars, Western nationalism was in a state of decline, even of ill reputation. It was nationalism, after all, that had set in motion cataclysmic events, leading to appalling waste of human and material resources. But the decline of Western nationalism did not last long. Its renaissance after World War I was much hastened by the fascist and the Nazi movements of the 1920s and 1930s. After the Second World War, Western nationalism owed much of its vitality to the French Gaullist movement of the 1950s and the 1960s. More about this currently. The same world wars that led to the transient decline of nationalism in the West set the stage for the rise of nationalism in the East. The â€Å"new nationalism,† as it came to be called, took place, for the most part, in colonial areas; and it was in large appraise a reaction against the Western policies of imperialism and invasion. At the turn of the century, colonial nationalism (more exactly, anticolonial nationalism) was almost an unknown phenomenon. Following World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires, nationalism began to appear in a few countries, most notably in India. After the Second World War and the dissolution of the German, British, French, and other imperial designs, nationalism mushroomed in formerly colonial countries. Nationalism after Cold War Nationalism takes hold after the Cold war. By 1950, the philosophy of the Nationalism after Cold War had come to control public life in the United States. You read "What explanations are offered for the development of nationalism?" in category "Expository essays" It was an ideology of American nationalist globalism, in which the United States was seen to be locked in global struggle with forces of international communism, proscribed by a Soviet government intent on world invasion. That struggle was believed to intimidate fundamental American values, most particularly freedom of enterprise and freedom of religion, and the leeway of spreading those values, which were deemed collective, to the rest of the world, which longed for them. Within this ideology, almost all international problems or crises were seen as part of the overarching conflict between the United States and the USSR—between their contending ideologies and ways of life. Within this framework, a threat to â€Å"freedom† anywhere in the world was deemed a risk to the American way of life. This presented a simple, dichotomous view that seemed too many if not most Americans to elucidate the often frustrating and considerably more composite developments of the postwar world. The roots of this philosophy lay in a tradition of belief about America’s national mission and destiny, a ritual reaching back to the seventeenth century. Key elements of this ideology were in place at the end of World War II; some developed throughout the war, and others preceded it. The final pieces fell into place between 1945 and 1950. All through those years, the range of U. S. foreign policy discourse grew more and more narrow. Though, American nationalist ideology given the principal underpinning for the broad public consent that supported Cold War foreign policy. Seen through the prism of that principles, the U. S. had emerged from World War II as a completely matured great power, dedicated to comprehending freedom all through the world and prepared to usher in a new golden age in its own image. After the war, the Soviet Union became a relentless foe because it exposed this idea of the American Century. From the late forties through the late eighties, the United States waged cold war against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics not mainly in the name of capitalism or Western civilization (neither of which would have united the American people behind the cause), but in the name of America in the name, that is, of the nation. The potency of the Nationalism ideology that appeared between 1945 and 1950—an principles that dominated U. S. public life at least until the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991—derivative largely from its nationalist appeal. Yet although the vast scholarly literature on the Cold War, American nationalism remains a little-studied element of postwar U. S. history. Indeed, as Stephen Vaughn noted practically twenty years ago in his study of democracy and nationalism in the propaganda work of the Committee on Public Information during World War I, twentieth-century American nationalism remains a subject deficiently in need of further study. (Vaughn, Stephen, 1980). Involvement of Soviet Empire Since the implosion first of the Soviet empire and then of the Soviet Union itself, nationalism has again affirmed itself as a force on the world scene, one not expected to fade away soon. The scholarly literature on nationalism is voluminous and seems to expand exponentially, mainly in the years since the earth-shaking events of 1989-91. The ideology around which the Cold War consent was forged from 1947 on consisted of three main constructs: national greatness, global accountability, and anticommunism. Anticommunism was the last leg of this ideological triad to fall into place. By illumination why the United States was having such a hard time meeting its global responsibilities while concurrently buttressing the nation’s claims to greatness, anticommunism put the entire ideology in working order. The third leg permitted the triad to stand. But the fundamental ideology was one of American nationalist globalism, not anticommunism. In itself, anticommunism was barely new to U. S. political culture in 1947. But with the Soviet Union sitting spanning Eastern and Central Europe, global anticommunism now became a defining constituent in U. S. foreign-policy ideology as signified in public discourse. The perception that the communist threat was worldwide received momentous amplification in 1949, with the â€Å"loss† of China to Mao’s army and the Soviet Union’s detonation of its first atomic device (William Claiborne, Washington Post, November 24, 1996, p. A-12). Nationalism and American Globalism The idea of the Soviet threat proved relevant precisely because it threatened the idea of the American Century. Global anticommunism fit impressively into the existing mixture of national greatness and global accountability, American nationalism and American globalism—as this mixture had already begun to function as an ideology of nationalist globalism that facilitated many Americans makes sense of their nation’s overriding place in the postwar world. Global anticommunism lent increased force to this ideological vision. The appeal of global anticommunism—and particularly the impact of the Truman Doctrine speech of March 12, 1947 should be understood in that context. In 1947 the Truman Doctrine provoked influential debate, though it clearly carried the day. In 1950 the application of that principle to Asia provoked overwhelming support. After the accent of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in the first six months of 1947, and particularly after congressional support of the Marshall Plan in the wake of the Czech coup in February and March of 1948, the range of adequate public debate about the basic objectives of U. S. foreign policy had grown gradually more constricted. Fairly, Henry Wallace attempted to make these objectives a central question of the 1948 presidential campaign. But Wallace and the foreign-policy questions he sought to heave were painted with a red brush that left them beyond the pale of adequate public discussion. Certain basics of the civil rights and labor movements attempted to express dissent over U. S. foreign-policy initiatives in planned terms, but to do so they accepted the terms of the debate as recognized by the Truman administration’s stated global objectives. In doing so, groups like the NAACP and the UAW sought to gain both government and public support to precede their own domestic agendas. While both organized labor and African Americans achieved certain objectives as a result, their acceptance of the official objectives of U. S. foreign policy put in to the narrowing of public discourse relating to both national and international issues. In late 1948 and 1949, systematic dissidents who forthrightly opposed the fundamental foreign-policy strategy of the Truman administration, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Henry Wallace, found themselves more insignificant than ever. The UE and other left-wing unions that divergent the Marshall Plan were debarred from the CIO, which in effect took away their status as well thought-of American trade unions. These dissenters had stepped outside the boundaries of legitimate discourse as distinct by the established notions of national greatness, global responsibility, and anticommunism. Wallace definitely preached his own principle of national greatness and global responsibility, but his failure to recognize global anticommunism nevertheless placed him beyond the pale. The lack of fundamental public debate concerning the nature and purposes of U. S. foreign policy after 1950 given to the development of an ever more militarized foreign policy controlled by narrow ideological blinders that covered fundamental international realities. â€Å"The so-called Cold War,† in the words of Joyce and Gabriel Kolko, â€Å"was far less the altercation of the United States with Russia than America’s expansion into the entire world—a world the Soviet Union neither proscribed nor created. † (Everett Carll Ladd, 1995) The ideology of American nationalist globalism, which distinct international reality in terms of a Manichaean struggle between the U. S. -led â€Å"free world† and Soviet-controlled communist totalitarianism, served to validate the expansion of U. S. power all through the world while obfuscating the enormous complications of a world experiencing the final collapse of European colonialism. It facilitated most Americans to feel pride in being citizens of a great nation that required only to protect its own way of life and to defend â€Å"free peoples everywhere† from totalitarian aggression. The absence of debate about the fundamental assumptions of U. S. foreign policy throughout most of the Cold War era served to reify that ideological commencement. Nationalism has been a momentous theme of the post-Cold War era. Throughout the Cold War, Americans welcomed refugees from the Captive Nations. After the Cold War, refugees either escaping the terror of dictatorial rulers or wanting to stake their claim to the American Dream lost their cachet with voters (accept those fleeing Castro’s Cuba). â€Å"The arrival of the greatest number of immigrants as the wave of eastern, central, and southern European ethnics in 1901-1910 caused anti-immigrant commitment to spread† (â€Å"Immigration,† Time/CNN, All Politics, Internet, March 25, 1996). Passions ran high in vote-rich states such as California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, New York, and California. Throughout the 1994 midterm elections, Californians ratified Proposition 187, which banned all state spending on illegal immigrants and requisite police to report suspected illegal to the California Department of Justice and the U. S. Immigration Service. Television sets sputtered with pictures of illegal Mexicans swarming across the border as a presenter intoned, â€Å"They just keep . † (Barone and Ujifusa,1996, p. 81). As the campaign escalated, Republicans Jack Kemp and William Bennett accused the measure, claiming it was â€Å"politically unwise and essentially at odds with the best tradition and courage of our party. † (Dick Kirschten, 1995, p. 150). Regardless of their protestations, Proposition 187 won handily, 59 percent to 41 percent. But whereas whites gave it 64 percent backing, 69 percent of Hispanics disapproved–a sharp demarcation of the new â€Å"us-versus-them† politics. (J. Joseph Huthmacher, 1969) Pete Wilson, the GOP governor who made the vote initiative a cornerstone of his reelection bid, won by an almost equal vote of 55 percent to 41 percent. Two years later, Kemp realigned his immigration stance once he was chosen by Bob Dole to be the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee. Conclusion However, the role of nationalism, and particularly the nationalist symbolism of American world power, remains a derelict factor in our understanding of the Cold War’s origins. As the Cold War itself recedes into history and the view that the Russians ongoing it and the Americans won it becomes ever more commonplace, it is more important than ever to observe the ways in which the United States contributed to the Cold War’s origins, mainly through the universalist pretensions of its political culture. The triumphalism embedded in Francis Fukuyama’s view that the end of the Cold War marked â€Å"the end of history† constitutes a new, traditionally contingent variation on the ideology that framed that conflict from the beginning. In a world growing less rather than more pliant to the dictates of U. S. policy, such ideological thinking is potentially quite precarious. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union two years later, the ideological basics of American nationalist globalism have been loosened but not undone. There is no longer a domineering consensus, because there is no longer a prime perception of a single, overarching threat to the United States. But most Americans are quite sure that their country won the Cold War and that they are citizens of the world’s favored nation. As the Persian Gulf War demonstrated, national enormity and global responsibility can activate a potent public consensus behind large-scale intervention without anticommunism playing a role. Until we have a more thorough debate over the nature and purposes of our nation’s foreign policy in a multifaceted rapidly changing world, we remain in danger of falling back into an ideological description of international realities. If that should happen particularly if it should happen in combination with declining U. S. global domination, domestic economic travails, and the determination of awesome U. S. military power, it could pose a grave new threat itself, both to the wellbeing of the republic and to the wellbeing of the world. References: â€Å"Immigration,† Time/CNN, All Politics, Internet, March 25, 1996. Barone and Ujifusa, â€Å"The Almanac of American Politics†, 1996, p. 81. Brown, Micheal E., Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict (MIT:1997); Dick Kirschten, â€Å"Second Thoughts,† National Journal, January 21, 1995, p. 150. Everett Carll Ladd, America at the Polls, 1994 ( Storrs, Connecticut: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, 1995), p. 124. Hobsbawm, E.J., Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge:1992); J. Joseph Huthmacher, Massachusetts: People and Politics, 1919-1933 ( New York: Atheneum, 1969), p. 162. Mayall, James, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge,1990); Schopfin, George, Nations, Identity, Power: The New Politics of Europe (Hurst, 2000) Smith, A., Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era (1995) Vaughn, Stephen. Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1980 William Booth, â€Å"In a Rush, New Citizens Register Their Political Interest,† Washington Post, September 26, 1996, p. A-1. William Claiborne, â€Å"Democrats Don’t Have Lock on Hispanic Vote, Latino Leaders Say,† Washington Post, November 24, 1996, p. A-12. How to cite What explanations are offered for the development of nationalism?, Essays

Anxiety Is Reaction To Fearful Or Stressfulâ€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Anxiety Is Reaction To Fearful Or Stressful? Answer: Introduction Anxiety is a reaction to a fearful or stressful circumstance and might also occur due to illness. In most cases, the symptoms of anxiety are short-lived and may not affect normal function. Excessive anxiety might cause irrational thinking, behaviour problem and sleep problems. Sleep disorders are caused by several other factors other than anxiety. Studies link anxiety to environmental and genetic factors. This scholarly paper is based on a case study of DF who is experiencing nightmares due to anxiety after being involved in an accident. It will describe the aetiology and pathophysiology of anxiety and sleep disorder and the diagnostic tools available. Additionally, the study will discuss agents available for the treatment of anxiety and sleep disorder. Finally, the paper will propose reasonable management strategies for DF. Aetiology The initiation and expression of anxiety are linked to genetic, environmental, and psychosocial factors. Even though empirical evidence links the occurrence of anxiety to genes, no definitive gene has been identified as being the causative factor for anxiety disorder (1). Anxiety might run in the family, which increases the chances of being inherited. Environmental stresses that might cause anxiety include exposure to life stressors or breakup of an important relationship. Stress might play a fundamental role in the expression and progression of anxiety. The inability to cope with stressful events might increase the chances of stress in some individuals. Childhood trauma is another environmental factor that can cause anxiety. Physical disorders, use or withdrawal of a drug are all risk factors for anxiety disorder. Physical disorders that can cause anxiety are heart disorders, hormonal disorders and lung disorders. A variety of drugs have been linked to the increased risk of developing anxiety. Some of the most critical drugs in the occurrence of anxiety are alcohol, caffeine, cocaine and prescription drugs like corticosteroids (2). An individual who withdrawal from sedatives or alcohol has a risk of presenting with anxiety disorders like restlessness. Psychodynamic theory is the first theory that attempts to explain the aetiology of anxiety. Psychodynamic theory elucidates anxiety as a conflict between ego and id. Natural impulsive and aggressive drives might be experienced as unacceptable leading to repression. The repressed drives might break through repression and cause automatic anxiety. Another theory that attempts to explain the aetiology of anxiety is a cognitive theory. According to cognitive theory, anxiety is the propensity to elevate the possibility of danger. As such, patients presenting with anxiety disorders tend to avoid the events and places they think are dangerous. For instance, they avoid heights and crowds (3). Pathophysiology Key brain parts including the amygdala and thalamus play a vital role in the occurrence of anxiety disorders. These parts of the brain create the important prerequisites of the nervous detection and response system. Thalamus offers the first real processing part to organise sensory data gotten from the surrounding. The thalamus transmits information to cortical centres for processing and then to amygdala for assessment of highly charged emotional information. It is the amygdala that offers emotional valence (1). The interaction of these two parts allows the organism to act swiftly on intricate but important events. An event or stimulus becomes an anxiety if the activity of fear-response network results in maladaptive distress or behaviour. Thus, some events might not be interpreted as anxiety. Besides, neurotransmitters play an important role in the occurrence and expression of anxiety. The symptoms of anxiety are also evident due to the interaction of the brain, peptides and neurotransmitters. Dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine are some of the major mediators of anxiety disorder symptoms. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has also been characterised by its involvement in the expression of anxiety (2). A sequence of reactions occurs before the symptoms of anxiety are expressed. The hypothalamus receives signals from the amygdala. The signals influence the nervous system to impact heart rate and blood pressure as well as stress-associated changes. The amygdala further affects the HPA axis resulting in the secretion of stress hormones. One of the most important stress hormones that are secreted is the cortisol (4). Cortisol can damage the brain if it is escalated for extended periods. Apart from the brain, cortisol might also damage other vital body organs. This aspect expl ains why anxiety should be addressed early. The knowledge on how amygdala influences the fear response is important because it offers valuable targets for current pharmacological treatments. Diagnostic tools General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) The GAD-7 is an effective tool for detecting general anxiety disorder in primary care patients. There is also a short version of the GAD-7 which is the GAD-2. The GAD-2 comprises of two questions that test whether a patient has anxiety. The self-reporting questionnaire enables the expeditious detection of GAD. Clients are asked whether they have been troubled by any anxiety associated issue in the last two weeks and answer seven questions on a 4-point scale (5). GAD-7 is applied due to its sensitivity. Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) The BAI diagnostic tool consists of 21 items that measure the severity of anxiety. The 21 items describe different signs of anxiety that occur in the general public. Patients are requested to rate how much they are disturbed by symptoms of anxiety in the last one week. This diagnostic tool uses a four-point scale from zero to three. Individuals whose scores are above 21 points are deemed to have symptoms of anxiety. BAI is effective for evaluating the severity of different anxiety disorders such as social phobia, panic disorder (6). DSM-IV-TR diagnostic tool DSM-IV-TR is used to diagnose generalised anxiety disorder and is organised into a 5-part axial system (7). Axis one consists of clinical disorders commonly accompanied with mental disorders. Axis two comprises of intellectual disabilities as well as personality disorders. The other axes comprise of environmental, psychosocial, medical and childhood factors. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) The HADS has two independent scales, one for depression and one for anxiety. The design of this tool aims to prevent content overlap. Even though this tool offers great psychometric scale for the two scales, the distinction of the scales is determined by the participants of the study. This tool has a simple design, yet it is reliable. The use of the term hospital suggests that the tool is suitable for hospital settings alone. However, HADS has been successfully used in settings outside hospital such as in the community and primary care settings (8). Treatment Pharmacotherapy and non-pharmacotherapy are the main approaches to the management and treatment of anxiety. The treatments of anxiety are personalised based on the symptoms of the patient, health status, age, comorbid and preferences. Pharmacotherapy Prescription drugs that are used for managing general anxiety disorders are hydroxyzine, buspirone, benzodiazepines, pregabalin, benzodiazepines and antidepressants (9). Antidepressants are more preferred than benzodiazepines for the management of general anxiety disorder because their side effects are tolerable and lack risk of dependency. They are also efficient in managing comorbid conditions. However, benzodiazepines are the most effective drugs in managing the symptoms of anxiety in the short-term (1). Benzodiazepines are the most effective drugs for the management of anxiety symptoms in the short-term. Individuals who are experiencing sleep disturbances can control the problem using benzodiazepines. In case a patient has anxiety symptoms but does not present with depression symptoms, they are advised to use pregabalin and buspirone. Even though hydroxyzine is effective in managing anxiety disorders, it is unsuitable for in the long-term because of its side effects. Non-pharmacologic therapy Stress management, exercises, psychoeducation and psychotherapy, are classified as non-pharmacological therapy (1). Education is designed to address relevant information on general anxiety disorder as well as its management. The most effective education advises patients to withdraw stimulants. They are informed how to avoid alcohol, caffeine and diet pills. Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is an effective psychological therapy for patients with general anxiety disorder (10). In the short-term, CBT focuses on educating clients how to resume the activities they have been avoiding due to anxiety. Most patients with anxiety have reported success after using CBT. Sleep Disorder Aetiology Sleep disorders increase with age and are common among adults. The most common types of sleep disorders are insomnia, sleep-related breathing disorders and restless legs syndrome (RLS) (11). The causes of sleep disorders can be classified as psychological, medical and environmental. People with sleep disorders always exhibit or complain about concomitant signs such as daytime sleepiness. In some cases, a bed partner might detect hallmark symptoms of sleep disturbances. Medical conditions Congestive heart failure and ischemia are the cardiac conditions that might result in the occurrence of sleep disorder. Besides, neurological illnesses such as dementia, stroke, peripheral nerve damage and degenerative conditions may lead to disordered sleep. Endocrine problems impacting sleep are associated with menopause, hyperthyroidism as well as pregnancy. Pulmonary illnesses such as COPD and asthma have been linked to disordered sleep (12). Several gastrointestinal conditions are also responsible for the occurrence of sleep disorder. Various substances such as caffeine and alcohol may cause insomnia. Psychiatric conditions Most psychiatric disorders tend to co-occur with other medical conditions. Depression is among the medical conditions that cause alterations to the normal sleep patterns. Empirical evidence suggests that about 40 percent of the people with depression also have insomnia. Likewise, PTSD and anxiety disorders increase the risk of sleep disturbances (13). Even the prescribed drugs that are used to manage these psychiatric conditions increase the chances of sleep disorder. For instance, antidepressants tend to interfere with normal sleep pattern. Environmental conditions Certain environmental factors might predispose an individual to sleep disturbances. Life-threatening events have been found to cause insomnia. The work structure including shifts and working hours might result in changes in altitude. Environmental noise and extremely warm temperatures might lead to sleep deprivation (14). Pathophysiology Sleep is influenced and controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain. This nucleus control circadian rhythm. Sleep is divided into two main categories depending on muscle contractions and movement of the eyes. The first type of sleep is rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is characterised by the movement of eyes and dreaming, but the body is always paralysed. The second type of sleep is Non-REM (NREM) sleep (15). This type of sleep comprises of stages one to four. Stage one is a transition point between wake and sleep. People get a lot of sleep in stage two. The other two stages, three and four are clustered together and termed as deep sleep or delta sleep. Distractions in the patterns of REM or NREM sleep occur in individuals who develop sleep disorders. There are intricate sequences of biological processes that influence the sleep-wake cycles. The suprachiasmatic nucleus that has been mentioned in a previous paragraph is considered to be the bodys anatomical timekeeper. This nucleus is responsible for the secretion of melatonin, which occurs after every 24 hours (16). When subjected to bright light, pineal gland releases low amounts of melatonin. Thus, the level of this secretion is low during the daytime. Some neurotransmitters play a fundamental role in sleep. These neurotransmitters are serotonin, norepinephrine and acetylcholine. Conversely, dopamine is linked to wakefulness (14). Other neurotransmitters that are associated with wakefulness are hypocretin, histamine and substance P. It is evident that cognitive, physiologic and cortical arousal is critical in the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. Diagnostic tools Various tools are used to diagnose sleeping disorders. The primary tool that is used to diagnose sleep disorders is a polysomnography (PSG). This tool records electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), electrooculogram (EOG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) (17). Other aspects that are recorded include oximetry, airflow, abdominal and thoracic movements. The onset of sleep, sleep levels, arousal, eye movements, heart rhythm, respiratory effort and arrhythmias are also recorded. ECG is useful for detecting phenotyping and apnoea sleep sections. It is also useful for rhythm measurements and HR. PSG can be used to monitor sleep at home (18). Daytime sleep is also monitored to determine the extent of sleep disorder in a patient. However, daytime sleep might be monitored when the patient manifests significant symptoms of sleep disorders. Multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT) and maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT) are the primary techniques for measuring daytime sleep (1). Epworth Sleep iness Scale (ESS) is another tool that is used to assess sleepiness. The ESS comprises of a simple questionnaire that forecasts subjective sleepiness. Treatment Non-pharmacological Losing weight is among the most effective non-pharmacological techniques of managing sleep apnea (19). Patients are guided to set goals for weight loss, which might entail daily exercises and diet management. Some patient with sleep disorders might be sleepwalkers. Providers may establish approaches to alleviate the problem of sleepwalking in these patients. This approach would also prevent the risk of getting hurt at night. Another treatment method is light-phase shift therapy. This therapy is appropriate for sleep disorders linked to circadian rhythm abnormalities. The sleep pattern can be normalised by exposing patients to bright light (14). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is another treatment technique that is widely used for sleep disorders. Specifically, CBT is used for the treatment of insomnia. However, CBT is only effective in the short-term and might not be effective in some patients. One study involving 160 adults experiencing insomnia revealed that CBT is effective. The patients exhibited substantial recovery in time wake and sleep latency (20). The combination of CBT with other treatments such as zolpidem is more effective than CBT alone. The recent treatments comprise the use of software programs to record sleep behaviour and cycles. This non-pharmacological therapy entails wearing a wrist band or motion detection technology integrated into a smartphone. The software program gathers information that can be used to determine quality and duration of sleep (14). The information can be used to suggest methods of refreshing the sleep. A device can even include an alarm that is designed to prevent disturbing the patient from sleep. Pharmacological therapy Different medications have been introduced to treat sleep disorders. Drug therapy is mainly used to manage sleep disturbances in the short-term. Hypnotic drugs are recommended for short-term use such as two weeks. Nevertheless, for patients with chronic insomnia, hypnotic drugs may be used for long, but monitoring is needed to make sure patients use drugs appropriately. Hypnotic drugs also have addictive effects (21). Chloral hydrate is occasionally used due to safety concerns and undesirable side effects. Over-the-counter drugs have also been adopted for the management of sleep disorders. These include drugs that inhibit the histamine type 1 receptor. Over-the-counter drugs are less costly and assist certain patients to address sleep disorders. Patients should use such drugs with precaution because of their anticholinergic properties. Besides, many of these medicines take long to act, and their sedative impacts persist for more than one day. The most current drugs for treating sleep disorders are zaleplon and zolpidem. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve these two drugs. FDA has also recommended eszopiclone for long-term use in the treatment of insomnia. These drugs have been approved due to their effectiveness and low risk of adverse side effects. Other drugs that have been approved by FDA are Tasimelteon and Suvorexant (14). These drugs are administered based on the condition of the patient, efficacy and prosperity to induce side effects. Management strategies for DF DF can use both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to get better sleep. The patient started experiencing sleep disturbances after an accident. Thus, the treatment approaches should not interfere with her current condition of DF. Counseling will be important for DF to sleep better. Counseling DF should first consider her diet as well as physical activity. No specific diet can be used to manage insomnia. However, DF should avoid large portions of meals and spicy foods at least three hours before proceeding to sleep. DF should keep away items that result in sleep disturbance like caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine is contained in certain drinks such as coffee and tea and should be avoided late in the day. Alcohol which is contained in alcoholic drinks might create the illusion of better sleep, but it negatively impacts sleep architecture. Nicotine, which can be compared with caffeine is a stimulant and should be avoided few hours before sleep time (22). A good practice for DF is to avoid taking these substances in the afternoon because their stimulating effect might persist into the night. DF can consume foods that contain tryptophan because they have higher chances of inducing sleep. An example of good food is warm milk. Additionally, DF can embrace relaxation techniques just before bedtime (23). DF should exercise daily to improve her condition. Evidence suggests that strenuous exercises during the day might lead to comfortable sleep. DF should avoid strenuous exercises at least three hours before bedtime. Such exercises might result in initial insomnia. The client should avoid any stimulating activity three hours before bedtime. For instance, DF should avoid tense movies and thrillers. The patient should further embrace a regular sleeping and waking time. She should avoid naps because they can have an adverse impact on her sleeping patterns. In case, DF starts struggling to sleep she should get up and wait for sleep to come (14). Medication The best medication for DF to get better sleep is zolpidem. The duration of action of zolpidem is six to eight hours, and the daily dose range is five to ten mg. Several specific reasons make zolpidem appropriate for DF. The pathway for the drug is oxidation and has short-moderate duration (24). Zolpidem has no impact on sleep architecture and is has the potential of sedation. Conclusion Sleep disorders and anxiety are normal occurrences that are prevalent in the society. These problems tend to disappear after a short time, but they might be long-lived in some patients. As indicated in the case study, anxiety might lead to sleep disturbances. Early detection and treatment of sleep disorders and anxiety are needed to prevent significant adverse outcomes. Both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments have been found effective for managing these problems. DF is advised to modify her lifestyle and use zolpidem to get better sleep. References Chisholm-Burns M, Schwinghammer T, Wells B, Malone P, Kolesar L, JT D. Pharmacotherapy: Principles Practice. 3rd ed.: McGraw Hill; 2013. Greist JH. Overview of Anxiety Disorders. [Online].; 2017 [cited 2017 8 28. Available from: https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/mental-health-disorders/anxiety-and-stress-related-disorders/overview-of-anxiety-disorders.Bhatt NV, Baker MJ. Anxiety Disorders. [Online].; 2017 [cited 2017 8 28. Available from: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/286227-overview#a5.Chen Y, Lyga J. Brain-Skin Connection: Stress, Inflammation and Skin Aging. 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