One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Essay -- One Flew Over The Cuckoos Ne

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes in life people are forced to conform to a certain situation for lack of a better alternative, and this is the case in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These such people lack the will to stand up for their scruples, and intern are simply guided through their mundane lives by the powers that be. Until someone comes along offering them leadership and the prospect to become â€Å"big again.† The man who does so is no other than R.P. McMurphy. Scanlon, Harding, Bibbit, and Chief Bromden may have become adjusted to the oppressive system in which they lived, but certainly were much better adjusted to the real world and life in general after their experience with McMurphy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some people may argue that the people of the mental hospital were better off without McMurphy because their lives were â€Å"normal† and routine. Their daily routine guided them through a series of happenings, which were both comfortable and tolerable to them, even though as a result of this they would remain subject to the manipulative ways of Nurse Ratchet. These people would say that the â€Å"oppressive society† that they lived in may not suit everyone, but certainly suited them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McMurphy, on the other hand, finds this setting to be suitable for no human being, and soon after arriving he sets the tone for change. â€Å" Well what they got that man strapped down for,† says McMurphy, â€Å" I don’t like that, no sir, it just aint dignified.† By coming to the hospital he brings a sense of realism and courage to the lives of these patients. They have been longing for leadership and McMurphy won’t be intimidated. â€Å"I’m thinkin’ a takin’ over this whole shebang,† says McMurphy, and he knows in order to do this he must instill courage into the patients of the ward.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we are first introduced to the characters, we as the reader meet Harding, a middle aged man, who wears glasses and basically keeps to himself, saying only what he feels need be said. â€Å"Miss Ratched is a veritable angel of mercy and why, everybody knows it. She’s unselfish as the wind, toiling thanklessly for the good of all, day after day, seven days a week†¦ Oh no my egomaniac buddy, she is dedicated, she gives every bit of herself, she desires nothing more to see us walk out of her adjusted and capable once more of coping with life,† says Harding. What Harding does not yet know is McMurphy will... ....) I’m big again, Mac.† He turned and rushed out the window into the horizon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some people are forced to conform to a condemning situation, but thanks to McMurphy these people did not. He brought them all hope and a new light and sense of well being. He taught them how things were on the outside, in the â€Å"real world† and took them away from the boring lives they lived in the hospital even if it was only for a short amount of time. He gave Harding, Billy, and Chief Bromden the courage which they had always longed to have but could never exude on their own, and I certainly think society needs more people like him, more people to lead other and instill them with power. We as human beings long for leadership and someone to give us worth, and R.P. McMurphy was certainly the person to do so for these people. He may not be the best contribution to the economy, but in regards to people in general, there is no denying the potential we could have if only there were more people like him, people to motivate, and give us pride. McMurphy certai nly did this for all of the people he encountered in the hospital and made them better adjusted to live their lives to the fullest every day.

The required number of hours

Sleep is a basic human need. It functions to restore normal activity levels and normal balance among the parts of the nervous system and it allows for repair processes to occur as in protein synthesis (Kozier, 2004). Lack of sleep is said to cause an emotionally irritable, poorly concentrated individual that experiences decision making difficulty. The required number of hours of sleep per day varies with age. A newborn is expected to sleep for 16 to 18 hours a day, an infant 22 hours a day, a toddler 10 to 12 hours per day and preschool children need 11 to 12 hours of sleep per day (Kozier, 2004).As the individual grows older, he is required to sleep less. School aged children is required 8 to 12 hours of sleep, adolescents 8 to 10 hours, young adults 7 to 8 hours, middle aged adults 6 to 8 hours and elders only 6 hours (Kozier, 2004). The circadian rhythm, the most familiar rhythmic biologic clock that is responsible for our sleep-wake patterns, follows a dark-light pattern with the suprachiasmatic nucleus as its pacemaker (Bullock, 2000).The suprachiasmatic nucleus is found in the anterior hypothalamus and is stimulated by the receptors in the retina of our eyes. Melatonin, which has regulatory effects on the SCN, is secreted by the pineal gland and its secretion is stimulated by the dark and is suppressed by light (Bullock, 2000). Melatonin promotes sleep in this way, and fewer hormones secreted, as in the elderly, will be one of the many causes for insomnia (Bullock, 2000). There are several factors that can cause sleep pattern disturbance aside from a decrease in melatonin.Sleep pattern disturbances can be caused by external or internal factors and these disturbances can only be classified as a medical condition when they chronically interrupt sleep (Bullock, 2000) or when the inability to sleep well at night causes impaired daytime functioning (Atkinson, 2000). Sleep pattern disturbances have been grouped into four categories by the Association of Sleep D isorders Center, namely, disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep, disorders of excessive somnolence, disorders of sleeping-waking schedule and dysfunctions associated with sleep, sleep stages or partial arousal (Atkinson, 2000).Disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep include insomnias, which is the inability to sleep and maybe exhibited by difficulty falling asleep, there are recurrent awakenings, and early morning awakening without being able to go back to sleep (Atkinson, 2000). Reasons for the cause of insomnia is still not known, as some claim that this is a symptom of a disease or just a perception of individuals who feel that they have not gotten enough sleep because of some factors they claim to have experienced. Insomnia can be attributed to various factors that could either be pathologic or psychological.Pathologic causes include disease process, pain, obstructive uropathy, hyperthyroidism, congenital heart failure, respiratory disease, arthritis, and hormonal i mbalance (Atkinson, 2000). Psychologically, anxiety, obsessive worrying, chronic stress and depression can bring about insomnia (Atkinson, 2000). As much as possible, interventions for insomnia remain to be nonpharmacologic, but if the individual is experiencing sleeplessness that is ruining his daytime activities, a doctor will prescribe selected sedative-hypnotic medications.Although effective, these medications should not be used as often and several considerations should be noted. These medications produce a central nervous system depression and produces an unnatural sleep, it may resolve insomnia for tonight, but may disturb sleep the following night and cause daytime drowsiness (Kozier, 2004). Some medications are antianxiety medications which decrease the arousal ability of the individual taking it; these are also contraindicated to be taken by pregnant women because of the congenital anomalies that they may cause (Kozier, 2004).These medications also vary in their onset and duration of action and continuous use can lead to tolerance or to drug dependency (Kozier, 2004). Sudden cessation of these medications can result in withdrawal symptoms and even death, thus before withdrawal of medications, the dose should be gradually tapered to about 25% to 30% weekly. Examples of these medications are Chloral hydrate (Noctec), Ethchlorvynol (Placidyl), Flurazepam (Dalmane), Glutethimide (Doriden), Lorazepam (Ativan), Melatonin, Temazepam (Restoril), Triazolam (Halcion), Zaleplon (Sonata), and Zolpidem (Ambien) (Kozier, 2004).Alternative treatment for insomnia have been preferred over the pharmacologic therapy because alternative treatment is natural, hence less side effects are experienced and the individual will be able to have control over his sleep-wake cycle. Nonorthodox, unconventional, alternative, complementary, are a number of terms used to denote non-medical treatment that has been used since early times for a variety of diseases. Complementary and alte rnative medicine is defined as being identified through a social process as those practices that do not form part of the dominant system for managing health and disease (Kozier, 2004, p.224). Before considering any therapy, be it alternative or pharmacologic, the individual is advised to consider techniques on promoting rest and sleep. A person who is suffering from insomnia should establish a regular sleep-wake pattern, this means that he should try to go to sleep at the same time everyday and wake up at the same time also. This is to prevent disruptions in the biologic clock (Kozier, 2004). He should also try to eliminate lengthy naps in between sleeps, and if ever necessary should limit this to only thirty minutes per day at the same time everyday (Kozier, 2004).He should get ample exercise or physical activities during the day to lower stress but this should not be done two hours before bedtime. The individual should also avoid dealing with personal problems or office work befor e going to sleep and instead should establish a routine before sleep such as reading a book, listening to music or drinking a glass of warm milk (Kozier, 2004). Finally, to establish a sleep pattern the person is asked to only use the bed for sleeping, so that he would associate it with sleep, and that if still not drowsy, pursue some relaxing activity (Kozier, 2004).The environment also plays a role in helping the individual fall asleep. There should be appropriate lighting, temperature and ventilation as per the person’s desire, noise should be kept to a minimum and if extraneous noise is present, it should be blocked with soft music (Kozier, 2004). With regards to food consumption and diet, the individual should not take a heavy meal 3 hours before bedtime and to decrease fluid intake 2 to 4 hours prior to going to sleep but if it cannot be helped, void before sleeping (Kozier, 2004).Several drugs can disrupt sleep by delaying its onset, decreasing sleep time, and cause ni ghtmares and should be avoided before sleeping, examples are alcohol, amphetamines, antidepressants, beta-blockers, bronchodilators, caffeine, decongestants, and steroid (Kozier, 2004). Caffeine – containing foods and beverages include coffee, soda, tea and chocolate and should not be taken 4 hours before bedtime. Promoting comfort and relaxation may be helpful.The individual should wear loose-fitting nightwear, have taken a bath and does not feel sweaty and hot, make sure the bed linen is soft, smooth, clean and dry, and a back massage may be done, which is a type of touch therapy (Kozier, 2004). There are several healing modalities that are being implemented to help alleviate insomnia, and this includes touch therapy, mind-body therapy, and aroma therapy. Touch therapies, which include massage, foot reflexology, acupressure, and reiki, may stimulate the production of healing-promoting chemicals by the immune or limbic system (Kozier, 2004).Massage assists in relaxation and blood circulation improvement (Kozier, 2004). Physically, it promotes muscle relaxation by helping in release of lactic acid that is formed during strenuous activities and exercise, it improves blood and lymph flow, stretches joints, and helps in body toxin release and immune system stimulation (Kozier, 2004). It also has mental and emotional benefits like anxiety relief and it provides a sense of relaxation and well-being (Kozier, 2004).There are three kinds of massage strokes, namely effleurage (stroking), friction pressure and petrissage which is kneading or large quick pinches of the skin, subcutaneous tissues and muscles (Kozier, 2004). Mind-body therapies utilize the individual’s focus on realigning or creating balance in mental processed to bring about healing (Kozier, 2004). Progressive relaxation is most helpful in insomnia because it reduces increased level of stress and chronic pain by enabling the individual to wield control over the body’s responses to anx iety and tension (Kozier, 2004).There are three requisites though, to be able to make use of this technique. There should be correct posture, the person’s mind should be at rest and the environment should be noise free as possible and the technique is to make the individual tense and relax his muscles alternately and then focus attention on the differentiating feelings of each action (Kozier, 2004). This can result to decreased oxygen consumption by decreased metabolism, heart and respiratory rate, and decreased blood pressure (Kozier, 2004).Aromatherapy, which is defined clinically as the controlled use of essential oils for specific measurable outcomes by Kozier, can be used by massaging into the body, added to water that is used when bathing, inhaled or applied as hot or cold compresses. The oils used in this therapy are distilled from a variety of substances such as flowers, roots, wood resins, leaves, lemon or orange rinds, barks, etc. When inhaled, the oil’s arom a is detected by olfactory receptor cells in our nares.The stimuli received will travel along the olfactory nerve or the cranial nerve I, the stimuli will then be received by the olfactory bulb and will be sent to the brain. The essential oil aroma is thought to play a role in emotions, memory and a variety of body functions including the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and immune response (Kozier, 2004). There are 300 essential oils being used and some of these are lavender for headache relief, stress and insomnia, peppermint for nausea relief, aid in respiration an antipyretic, and sandalwood for chapped skin, depression, and stress (Kozier, 2004).There are also some herbal preparations that can be used for insomnia. Hops and valerian are used to induce sleep by nervous system relaxation, as recommended by the website Holistic online. There are ways by which we can combine both the conventional treatment and the alternative therapies to reduce insomnia. One way is to do the techniques on promoting rest and sleep, while on low-dosed medication. In a way, this might still be useful in eventually lowering and then eliminating drug use while still maintaining a normal sleep-wake pattern.Although plausible, it is still best advised to not take pharmacologic therapy when necessary. There is to some extent a risk on using sedative-hypnotic drugs, as mentioned earlier. This can cause drug dependency, withdrawal symptoms if stopped abruptly without tapering the dose gradually, and can disrupt the sleep-wake pattern by causing excessive sleep and daytime drowsiness. It should also be noted that these drugs can be expensive and if needed on a daily basis may become a burden to healthcare cost budgets.The benefit of course is that you will be able to sleep, after a few minutes once the drug is taken. As to the nonpharmacologic treatment suggestions, there are no risks, as long as the person who would want to try out these therapies has an open mind and is willing to subject himself to these procedures. Health wise, the therapies do not present any danger to the individual being subjected to the procedures unless pregnant, has allergies to the essential oils or herbs, has fractures, skin conditions or disease processes.If the person has insomnia as a symptom to an underlying disease, he should immediately heed the physician’s advice. I do not see alternative treatment as a threat to the medical community, nor a competition. These two have very different procedures and are based on different dogmas that they should not be compared to each other. Although it cannot be helped, people should always be open-minded about these things, because they are at times useful, and have been subjected to numerous tests to be proven safe and effective.Of course, if one is in doubt of the nature or cause of their insomnia, one should head to the nearest clinic or to the family physician before taking these alternative treatments into consideration. Once there is no underlying pathology, then before taking sleeping pills to make the dilemma go away, nonpharmacologic therapy should and is highly recommended to be done. There is no harm to it, and it might just help. It costs less and can be done right at home without spending gas to go some place else. But if all else fails, then it is suggested to take the sleeping pills as prescribed by the physician.References Atkinson, R. L. , Atkinson R. C. , Smith E. E. , Bem, D. J. , & Nolen-Koeksema, S. (2000). Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology. USA: Thomson. Bullock, B. and Henze, R. (2000). Focus on Pathophysiology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Holistic Online. (1998-2007). Herb and Herbal Therapies. Retrieved January 25, 2008, from http://holisticonline. com/Remedies/Sleep/sleep_insomnia_herbs. htm Kozier, B. Erb, G. , Berman, A. , & Snyder, S. (2004). Fundamentals of Nursing. USA: Pearson Education. .

A Prisoners Tale of Prison - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2299 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/09/21 Category Ethics Essay Type Argumentative essay Level High school Tags: Prison Essay Did you like this example? A Prisoners Tale of Prison A prison is a penal institution administered by the state or federal government. It is a place for the confinement of persons convicted of criminal offenses and is therefore part of a larger penal system, which includes other aspects of criminal justice such as courts, law enforcement, and crime labs. Nevertheless, many people are critical of the US’s prison system the idea of locking up those who commit crimes against a society simply to keep them from doing harm. Many say that more rehabilitation is necessary to improve these individuals and, therefore, society as a whole. Although there are many aspects in regards to prison life, I plan to discuss what it is like to be an inmate in the California prison system. There are many prisons in the state of California. The most popular prison in California is San Quentin State Prison. San Quentin is a maximum level prison; with a current population of 5967 inmates. San Quentin holds a wide variety of inmates. These inmates are repeated criminals, murders, or gangs members. There are numerous gangs in San Quentin. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Prisoners Tale of Prison" essay for you Create order The list of gangs are Black Guerrilla Family, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia (La Eme), Texas Syndicate, La Nuestra Familia, Asian Tong, Mongols, Varrio Sureno Locos, Hells Angels, 18th Street, Nazi Low Riders, Two Two Boys, Crips (Westside 18 GIB). Those are just to name a few gangs that are in San Quentin. San Quentin is a state prison that has a Death Row. They have two options for death row personnel lethal injection or lethal gas. San Quentin is famous for housing some of the most ruthless, dangerous criminals, such as Robert Walter Scully, Stanley Tookie Williams (San Quentin Prison, 2006). Prison life is not a normal life. You are always incarcerated with other inmates. Once you are brought to prison you are processed and screened. You are checked for any weapons, narcotics and any other dangerous materials. Once you are â€Å"stripped searched†, you are then screened according to your history of violence, in other words whether or not you were a gang member you will be housed in accordance to your background (criminal offenses). A prime example is if you have gang-affiliated background you will be placed in a gang section. Another example is that of San Quentin, all new inmates are processed and placed in their section and headed to what is called West Block. It is the area where new inmates go and are housed in their cells. The blocks so to speak are five tier buildings that can house up to two or three inmates at one time. In prison you are being watched every minute. While in prison you have recreation time, which is time outside to walk, lift weights, and exercise. When it dinner time you are brought one tier at a time. San Quentin has solitary confinement, which is no communication with outside or other inmates. They call this the â€Å"hole†. San Quentin is an old prison that is still active today. The difference between San Quentin and modern day prisons is San Quentin is one of the oldest prisons today. They have very minimal technology for this prison (Inside San Quentin, 2005). All cells are to be unlocked one by one and opened simultaneously by a handle. Each prison has programs to rehabilitate an inmate that is trying to change. Such rehab programs are workshop related, on job training. Some programs give prisoners a job working with the prison staff doing minor upgrades and fixing minor repairs. These programs are to help an inmate get back on their feet and adjust to society. For example, San Quentin has The San Quentin Drama Workshop (Berton, 2008); San Quentin SQUIRES (San Quentin Utilization of Inmate Resources, Experiences, and Studies) program, which is a program that began in 1964; it is reported to be the oldest juvenile awareness program in the United States. It involves inmates at the prison interacting with troubled youths for the purpose of deterring them from crime. Another great rehabilitation method is the on-site college degree-granting program. It’s a program to help inmate attain a degree. Currently San Quentin is the only prison in the State of California who is authorized for this program; The California Reentry Program at San Quentin, begun in 2003, helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences (Moody, 2007). Although there are many perceptions as to what life is like in prison; I conducted an interview with an ex-convict who served time for Manufacturing of Methamphetamine. He explained to me what his experience was like in prison, which gave me a better understanding of prisoners life behind bars as well as the opportunities that are offered to them. He further more explained, that while in prison it’s a completely different environment, you are always being watched. You are in your cell 23 hours a day. You will shower when you are told to shower, eat when you are told to eat and have yard time when you are told to. He also stated that being in prison is a constant fight for respect. In prison there are rules, these rules are â€Å"prison rules†. Once you are waiting to be processed, someone is assigned to you to induct you into the prison world. Mainly the dos and don’ts of prison life and the rules that is associated with prison. The person that inducts you is of your own race. Some of the rules that are forced up on you are that you must only associate with your own race, eat with your own race, and communicate with your own race. You can still say hello to another race, but you can hold a conversation with any other race but your own. Even though these rules are hard to understand in society, that is the only way you can stay alive and have no problems in prison. While in prison there is a steady routine that is to be followed at all times. Every day at 530am all prisoners are awaken and are to be ready for breakfast. When it is breakfast, lunch or dinner each tier rotates on a weekly basis, meaning one week it will be tier 1, next, tier 2, and so on. After breakfast you are allowed to have â€Å"yard time† during your yard time you will be able to have time to walk around the yard, work out, tend to your job and or attend school. During yard time you will see every race segregated. Each race will have a section of yard to themselves. In that area you are always being watched. There are lookouts in every race, and or gang that is looking out for everyone’s back. Do not be fooled even though there are guards watching everyone, each race/gang has weapons readily available. No matter where you are you always have someone watching you back. When you are in prison, you are always to have your back to wall, always be aware of your surroundings, and always keep your head up. You will never know when you will be victim of foul play or just collateral damage. What I found interesting while conducting this interview, I found that there is a point system for every inmate. For example, the point system is based on what crime you committed, and if you have any history with the criminals justice system. This what is called processing. Once you’re are processed you are giving so many points. These points put you at a certain criteria, meaning when its yard time you will be given so many hours for yard time. Most inmates have an average of 25 points, which allows them to have open yard privileges, and longer hours. When you cause trouble in prison your points go up and you will loose privileges such as yard time, and the ability to hold a job and or special privileges. During the interview, he also stated that jobs and rehab programs are not given to you upon your request. It all comes down to waiting. You have to wait for your time to come to either get a job and or join a rehabilitation program. Keep in mind when your time comes up you will have the opportunity to work and join rehabilitation programs, but if you deny that opportunity you will have lost that opportunity and you will have to wait until your time again. When you have the opportunity in getting a job you are very little options, such jobs are furniture making, laundry, kitchen duties, and porters. When you have a job you work so many hours a day. The pay is minimum for example back in the day when this person was in prison he was getting paying 17-20 cents an hour. You may think all those years and money adds up , which means you may have a lot of money. That is not the case, when an inmate gets paid they have deductions that come out of that pay. All in all an inmate will only receive 20 percent pay from their jobs. Their deductions are as follows, 20 percent going to victims of violent crimes; 20 percent goes to room and board; 20 percent restitution; 20 percent they make you save. Overall, you only receive 20 percent, which in total is about $200. 00 dollars once you are released. My last part of the interview was in regards to after completion of time severed; what happens to you then? This question was crucial in my interview because I wanted to see what answers this person provided. Articles state that we send prisoners to jobs and they start their life over from there. He stated that once he was released from prison he was given 200 dollars and sent on his way. Luckily for him since he had a charge dealing with drugs, he was ordered to attend substance abuse program. After completion of substance abuse program, he was also ordered to stay in a half way house. While in that half way house he was on parole for 3 years. While there he had to find himself a job, help clean the house, and attend his parole meetings and he was subject to random inspections, and random urinalysis exams. While being on parole for 3 years, it was his responsibility to find himself a job. While my interviewee was explaining his struggles in finding a job, it was brought to my attention that even though we have prisoners in prison for crimes they committed that it is very difficult for them to find a job even if they went to treatment and was on parole and showed progress that they can be trusted. These programs that we have implemented for prisoners to rehabilitate themselves really doesn’t work in my eyes because we are sending criminals out with very little money and no guidance for them to find a job or to get back on their feet. The question that lies on my mind is, do these programs really work? Me honestly they do not, because these programs are not holding their part in helping a person find a job. We (society) is sending out criminals who have done their time and displayed themselves to society that they can be trusted and what do we give them a pat on the back and say goodbye. What kind of message are we sending for future criminals especially juveniles that are seeking advice to better themselves? I feel that if they are bettering themselves, display remorse, and paid all debts to society then we should help them find a job and be part of society. It took my interviewee about 2 years to find a job and get stable again. Even with his criminal record he was able to find a job. Granted with his criminal record he was not able to get certain jobs, but he was able to find one. Even with his rehabilitation programs, classes, and good parole standings he was denied jobs even the most less paying jobs all because of his criminal record. Granted a criminal record does hinder your options for job but he still did his time and parole and paid his debts at least the programs could have lead him the direction to find a job and provide referrals on his behalf stating that he was an upstanding citizen and was able to hold a steady job. I personally feel that we need to revamp our programs and be not judgmental on criminals who are released from prison. To conclude, there are many aspects in regards to prison life. As a whole life in prison bring forth negativity and anger and helps reinforce criminal mindsets instead of rehabilitating them. Therefore, I think the use of alternative sentencing would be effective in seeing which offenders are repeaters before being exposed to prison. I furthermore believe that the existence of a prison is based on the need to remove so-called menaces to society from the public. To keep them in the care of the state and under a restrained environment for a certain amount of time, which varies depending upon the circumstances of their confinement? To quote my interviewee, â€Å"Once was enough†. References Insideprison (2006). San Quentin Prison, Retrieved June 7, 2010 from https://www. insideprison. com/San-Quentin-State-Prison. sp MSNBC Special (2006), Inside San Quentin, Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from https://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/6890776 Berton, J. , (2008), When ‘Waiting for Godot’ played San Quentin, retrieved on June 07, 2010, from https://www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article. cgi? f=/c/a/2008/12/22/DDME14SN4R. DTL City Youth Now (2010), S. Q. U. I. R. E. S, retriev ed June 07, 2010, from https://www. cityyouthnow. org/programs/squires Moody, S. , (2007) California Reentry Program gives ex-cons a second chance, retrieved June 07. 2010 from https://www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article. cgi? f=/c/a/2007/12/09/LV92TOP61. DTL