A Look Into False Memory Syndrome :: Memory Psychology Disorders Medical Essays

Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. A repressed memory is one that is retained in the subconscious mind, where one is not aware of it but where it can still affect both conscious thoughts and behavior. When memory is distorted or confabulated, the result can be what has been called the False Memory Syndrome: a condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are entered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes (note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such). We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behaviors. The analogy to personality disorder is intentional. False memory syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids c onfrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on the memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with real problems in his or her life (Loftus 1980, 1997). There are many models which try to explain how memory works. Nevertheless, we do not know exactly how memory works. One of the most questionable models of memory is the one which assumes that every experience a person has had is 'recorded' in memory and that some of these memories are of traumatic events too terrible to want to remember. These terrible memories are locked away in the subconscious mind, i.e. repressed, only to be remembered in adulthood when some triggering event opens the door to the unconscious. Both before and after the repressed memory is remembered, it causes physical and mental disorders in a person. Some people have made an effort to explain their pain, even cancer, as coming from repressed memories of incest in the body. Scientists have studied related phenomenon such as people whose hands bleed in certain religious settings. Presumably such people, called stigmatics, "are not revealing unconscious memories of being crucified as young children, but rather are demonstrating a fascinating psychogenic anomaly that springs from their conscious fixation on the suffering of Christ. Similarly, it is possible that conscious fixation on the idea that one was sexually abused might increase the frequency of some physical symptoms, regardless of whether or not the abuse really occurred.

In what ways was the stimulus material developed during the drama process?

Before we had been shown our choices of stimuli, we had been introduced to a range of exercises that enabled us to explore texts, music and pictures in different ways. This helped immensely during the first stages of development, as we had an idea of how the stimuli could influence the performance overall. For example, looking at pictures we would determine who were the main people involved in the picture, and if somebody looked sad, we tried to give them a story behind that sadness. After looking at a variety of pictures, we decided upon ‘Scream' By Edvard Munch. There were two versions of this picture, both colour, and one in black and white. We all agreed that the black and white picture created the wider range of possibilities for us, as it represented a more eerie and haunting scene. We created a spider diagram of words that we felt when looking at the picture. Words relating to anger, trapped, loneliness, disfigurement, illness and paranoia all appeared within this first diagram. The next stage of processing the drama was to decide on which of these themes we liked the most. ‘Trapped' gave us the biggest set of possibilities to explore into, as it incorporated many of the above emotions anyway. After another spider diagram where we came up with a wider range of words that derived from the feeling of being trapped. These included illness, abuse, eating disorders, OCD and correctness. Next each member researched into a specific topic from this diagram, and thought up an interpretation of each scene. We collectively decided that to reflect the image, we would follow no particular structure or genre of acting. We thought that by letting each scene flow independently would create a basis for us to expand on. However we knew that at some point we would have to link them all together to create a performance. Much like the lines in the image, as each line helps create the bigger picture. Our concepts that we're derived from the word trapped were specifically based on modern concepts, which helped with the audiences understanding of the subject matter, and more aware of how it affects society today. There is one scene however which doesn't really reflect modern day, however it is still representative of recent history. This scene is the suffragette scene. We used this to reflect upon the fact that the issues we were representing are not just modern issues, but have in fact been around for years. From our spider diagrams we came up with a list of possible plots, and characters that would be involved in each scene. We experimented with our techniques to develop the stimulus. Rehearsal techniques came in very handy during the dry spells in our development. We were often faced with a mental block of ideas, and therefore chose to experiment with different rehearsal methods based around one of our theme words to help us out. For example, we knew we wanted a scene on abuse, yet we did not know how we wanted to show this. Whether realism or surrealism would be more appropriate and effective. Therefore, we used a technique in which we chose a subject of abuse, and whether we were the abused or the abuser. When a thought came into our mind on the chosen subject, we would shout out how we felt. For example my character had been cheated on, and I said ‘what do you think you're doing with my husband? He's MY husband not yours'. We gradually made the lines more dramatic and offensive, until we had reached the highest level of abuse we thought possible. This really helped us in creating out performance as we then decided to re-enact the abuse scene the same as that, yet eventually repeat one line until we all ended up creating a machine. This form of acting worked well as it showed how the many different aspects of abuse. We decided to do this by walking through the audience and shouting our words to the audience making them feel very uneasy and extremely vulnerable. To enable this technique to have more of an effect, we made the audience sit in small groups of two of three. We placed their chairs randomly at different angles (however all facing the stage to some degree) and this helped create the tension and effect of being alone. We felt this was an important link to our stimulus as the image is relating to loneliness and madness. We used status work to try and create the levels of status that we should portray in each scene. The image represents a delusion of a person who is obviously distressed in some way or another. Therefore during the construction of the scenes, we made every character determine what status they were in comparison to the other characters on the stage at the same time. Although our stimulus provided us with many ideas, we also wanted to incorporate this image with one of the previous stimuli that we had looked at. It was a piece of music which we felt was a representation of poverty as it sounded so sad and depressing. We felt that the image and the music intertwined and linked well with each other, as poverty is present in the music and poverty = loneliness, and loneliness is obviously present in the image.

End of Life Medical Issues Essay - 831 Words

Euthanasia: When should be the End? Christina Nichols PHI208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Craig Thompson June 6, 2014 End of life medical issues are a very sensitive subject for doctors, patients, and family members. Some support the patients’ right to terminate their own life. Euthanasia loosely called physician assisted suicide is when one takes deliberate action to end life when faced with persistent suffering and certain death (Medical News Today, 2012).Many feel that patients should not have to suffer unjustly when faced with serious pain and debilitating illness. Often times it is just as difficult for family members to stand by and watch loved ones suffer. As someone that has witnessed both my grandmothers die on hospice†¦show more content†¦We would have to have a general rule of practice when deciding when treatments would be denied based on one’s health. I believe that each person’s medical issues and chances of survival are unique, and they should be treated as an individual. If care were based on the ability to provide physician assisted death in the United States I believe that patients would not receive the best care. Insurance companies and doctors would be making decisions based on financial gain or loss. Physicians and insurance companies may even persuade patients and patient’s families to make decisions regarding care that are solely based on money. In the video End of Life Care, Professor of Law Richard Epstein describes people in terms of investments, in which hospitals would bounce from the emergency room those who are most likely to die (ForaTv, 2009). Lastly, euthanasia should not be an option because only God should be allowed to determine when ones journey has been completed. I believe as long as a person is present their life holds value. Only God should be able to choose when your life is complete. He has put us here for a reason, even though at times that reason is not evident to us. Our bodies are designed to endure only what they can handle, it is only when the body can endure no more that it shuts down. People should not be the decision makers on who gets to live or die, that type of power should notShow MoreRelatedLegal And Ethical Principles Of Health Care1661 Words   |  7 Pagesoptions. End- of- live involves ethical and legal concerns with end-of-life care have focused on the interest of patients, an interest referred to as autonomy or self-determination. On the other hand, medical professionals buttress the feelings that arise from these relationships s could undermine the morale of health care professionals and thus their commitment to doing their utmost for every patient. 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