Does Robert Bruce deserve to be remembered as a great Scottish king Essay

Does Robert Bruce deserve to be remembered as a great Scottish king - Essay Example The reality is that Scotland was in need of the cunningness and patience of Robert Bruce rather than the William Wallace’s impetuousness, particularly during the encounters with enemies like the English under the command of Edward I and then Edward II. Robert Bruce approached the matter strategically and bided his time, so he established himself as the King of Scotland first, so that he would be ready by the time of Bannockburn. Two years before Robert Bruce was born in 1274, Edward Plantagenet had been made England’s King Edward I. Edward Plantagenet was titled as â€Å"The Hammer of the Scots† because of his ruthlessness, which helped bring forth Robert Bruce’s greatness. Robert Bruce got an astonishing victory in the year 1314 at Bannockburn while fighting with Edward II who had much better-equipped and larger forces. This victory earned Scotland independence from the control of the English. As his power dawned upon the people, the parliament declared h im the King. A brief history The struggle to achieve control over Scotland commenced with the death of Alexander III in the year 1286. Alexander III left Margaret, his grandchild as the heir who was the King of Norway’s infant daughter. ... Norwegian princess passed away on her way to Scotland, thus exposing the succession to a number of claimants, the most prominent of whom were Robert Bruce and John Balliol. â€Å"King Edward, while reserving his own rights as one of the competitors, promised the rest that within two months of awarding the Crown he would restore kingdom and castles to the rightful king, and that in future on the death of a king he would demand nothing but homage and the rights incidental to it† (Barrow, 2005, p. 44). Robert Bruce never gave up What really makes Robert Bruce the greatest hero of Scotland is that fact that he never lost hope or gave up despite all the challenges and difficulties that came his way (Bartell and William, 2006, p. 103). It was on 27 March 1306, when Robert Bruce declared himself to be the Scots’ King. As could be predicted, Edward sent a huge army toward north for the Battle of Methven and happened to defeat Robert Bruce. Edward executed many supporters of Rob ert Bruce and made him a hunted outlaw from the Scottish king. The indefatigable king of Scotland had bided his time. For a whole year, he was demoralized while the terror of the English spread far and wide in Scotland. In this period, two brothers of Robert Bruce were assassinated. Robert Bruce finally resolved to show up. â€Å"When, looking up with wistful eye, The Bruce beheld a spider try His filmy thread to fling From beam to beam of that rude cot-- And well the insect's toilsome lot Taught Scotland's future king.† (Barton cited in Poetry-Archive.com, 2003). With the support of Sir James Douglas, Robert Bruce’s chief lieutenant, he gained his first victory in 1307 on Palm Sunday. The call was answered by the clans from all over Scotland and the forces of Robert Bruce accumulated to fight the

Climate change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Climate change - Research Paper Example ï‚ § The intended IMC campaign is educational in its approach and intends to educate the university students about the long term and short term consequences of climate change and what is its long-term prognosis for the Australian environment, economy, and growth.ï‚ § The intended IMC campaign is educational in its approach and intends to educate the university students about the long term and short term consequences of climate change and what is its long-term prognosis for the Australian environment, economy, and growth.ï‚ § It is a salient objective of this media campaign to help the targeted audience understand as to what small steps and lifestyle changes they can resort to, to dilute and mitigate the impact of climate change and to predict and quantify the influence these measures could have in ameliorating the short term and long term impact of climate change.ï‚ § This campaign also intends to augment the overall traffic on the "Be the Change you want" website and to secure at least 75,000 hits during the six-month period over which the campaign spans.ï‚ § There is no denying the fact that this campaign tends to heavily exploit the social networking portals like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. So one important goal is to secure a minimum of 15,000 followers for the "Be the Change you want" page of the Facebook in the six-month period for which the campaign lasts.ï‚ § The overall campaign objective is to solicit the loyalty and commitment of the target audience for the cause of climate change.... This campaign also intends to augment the overall traffic on the â€Å"Be the Change you want† website and to secure at least 75,000 hits during the six month period over which the campaign spans. There is no denying the fact that this campaign tends to heavily exploit the social networking portals like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. So one important goal is to secure a minimum of 15,000 followers for the â€Å"Be the Change you want† page of the Facebook in the six month period for which the campaign lasts. The overall campaign objective is to solicit the loyalty and commitment of the target audience for the cause of climate change3. These young audiences being university students will certainly be the opinion makers of tomorrow. So the pivotal target of the campaign is to make the optimum use of the scarce resources to run an IMC plan that achieves results with a lasting shelf life. Media Plan- A Timeline Sensitive Choice of Media Tools Being subject to a budgetary li mit of 1, 00,000 AUD and extending over a period of six months, the choice of media tools will be such as to blend with the schedule of the target audience4. Based on the assumption that all the universities affiliate to the Curtin academic calendar, the campaign will be initiated in first week of the semester 2012 (Monday February 27). The campaign will last for 6 months and will culminate in week 3 of semester 2. The campaign intends to focus on one university each in 5 states that are VIC, WA, NSW, QLD and SA. At the very start of the campaign, the selected customers and guilds will be emailed pamphlets to get them interested in the awareness drive. Once the campaign is initiated, the customized pamphlets will be

John F Kennedy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

John F Kennedy - Research Paper Example John on one hand was a Boston mayor from 1906 to 1908 while Patrick on the other hand was a senate representative for Massachusetts in 1892. This may be noted as a contributing factor towards the rise and success of John Kennedy and some of his brothers in American politics (Weber 26). During his childhood, Kennedy is said to have suffered normal ailments such as chicken pox, measles and other infections that affect young children but of significance is that he was diagnosed with a rare scarlet fever infection when he was 3 years old. The infection is said to be one of the most dangerous and communicable diseases and this worried his parents a lot, especially his father, who went to the extent of promising that he would donate half of his had earned savings to charity if his son recovered from this condition. However, Kennedy was a fighter and to the surprise of many, he was able to overcome the threat within approximately three months and true to his word, Kennedy’s father fu lfilled his promise by donating more than half of his entire savings to charity (Thomas 17). The Kennedy family lived in Brookline until when he was 10 years old after which they moved to New York City especially due to the success his father had in business, which made it possible to relocate to a larger and spacious house. During the 10 years before relocation, Kennedy had attended 3 schools which were; Edward Devotion School, Noble and Greenbush Lower School, and the Dexter School, where he completed his 4th grade. Once in New York, he was enrolled into Riverdale country school, where he studied up to the 7th grade after which, he joined the Canterbury school for his 8th grade (Thomas 31). Reports indicate that Kennedy was a bright student, obedient and though he was small in size, he always was courageous and determined to excel in all areas. This was however a challenging task especially since he was an Irish catholic and this did

Ethics concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics concepts - Essay Example "Modern fertility treatments became the focus of much media attention in 1993 after the widely publicised case in which a 59 year old woman was enabled to give birth to twins by means of in vitro fertilisation with donated eggs and her partner's sperm. Fertility treatments raise a wide range of ethical and social issues" (Koch, 1993, p.143). Such factors as the potential child's welfare and interests are critical reasons for refusing to provide a couple with fertility treatment. In spite of the fact that the issue of conception is foremost in the present discussion, I would like to exemplify the situation with the process of child adoption. Even though it differs from conception, because the child already exists, authorities have established a number of criteria for adoption: parents' welfare, their personal qualities, health status and other information should be taken into account. These criteria are partially determined by supply and demand: for instance, potential parents are forced to compete with each other, because the number of infertile families is larger that the number of orphans who are to be adopted. Similarly, in vitro fertilization, associated with conception, poses following question: (bluntly speaking) will the child benefit from being born to these parents or would it be better if he/she never existed The likelihood of the particular potential child being born to another couple simply does not exist, and conception therefore is dissimilar to adoption in this sense. Naturally, it is hard to determine when it would be more preferable if the potential child didn't exist; the fundamental worth of an individual's life cannot be either measured or quantified, least of all if this life hasn't been started yet. It is possible to say, however, that the level of parents' responsibility would be rather low for it to be more favorable not to be born. Society's unwillingness to take care of a child excepting the most traumatic circumstances of horrible parenting proves this (Koch, 1993). Using the example of the 59-year old woman who gave birth to twins, a most important obstruction is that the mother will probably die when they are still at the stage of childhood, i.e. not having brought them up. "No doubt, other things being equal, it is preferable to have a mother who survives well into one's own adulthood. But to put this forward as a sufficient reason for denying fertility treatment is tantamount to claiming that it is better never to have existed than for one's mother to have died when one is still quite young" (Brindsen, 1992,p.280). In addition, in the case of in vitro fertilization, the interests of society are masqueraded as the potential child's interests. The procedure of selecting couples for the fertilization itself looks like the other official procedures that involve difficulties in distributing resources. There are two major hazards in failing to differentiate between the interests of the certain potential child and those of the potential children who might be born if resources were used to help other prospective parents instead. The first risk is that medical specialists may wrongly withhold the fertilization of the certain couple even if refusal to help them is not likely to bring benefit to other couples. The second hazard is that society may fail to support the process of

College Tuition Essay Example for Free

College Tuition Essay Liberal views on college tuition is that it should be affordable and not increase the average debt an American should have. Recently Obama capped the federal student loan payments at 10% of income and stopped federal student loan interest rates from doubling. Liberals tend to believe strongly in public education and are against the high tuition of private schools, many believe that the high prices of private schools take away from the education system and increase the price of public education. Conservative views on college education is to switch from community schools to trade schools, increasing training instead. They believe you would cut the amount of money you owe by attending a trade school and not investing in a 4+ year college, but they believe also that this opportunity should be possible for most Americans. Many Conservatives believe that federal government has no business in originating student loans and encourages private loan investing. Many believe in shifting the role of federal government in student loans to make government the guarantor for private sector student loans. Demographics The raising of any college tuition funds or loan rates would have a direct effect on the younger generation of 18-30 year olds that would be trying to access education early on in their lives. The United States ranks 9th in the world in the amount of young adults enrolled in college, but 16th in the world of 25-34 year olds graduating with a higher education. The ideas of the liberal party would settle well with the younger generation going into college after high school or returning to college at a young age. The older generation from 65 and up would see faults in this idea by questioning why not raise interest rates or where the funding would come to support the growth of public schooling, but also the idea of do you really have to go to college? Many people of the older generation do not see purpose in being in high debt at such a young age in life. Major difference between the two parties is how the money is received to pay for higher education. They both believe that college tuition should be lowered and more possibilities should be available for lower class Americans, but how those Americans get the money for this education is a widely debated topic.

Gender And Emotion Essay Example for Free

Gender And Emotion Essay Since time immemorial, emotions have always been a fundamental constituent of human beings. However, not all humans attach or detach the same emotions towards things; different people feel differently about varied things and that is why we are all termed as being unique. It is based on this difference in emotions that a lot of debates and researches have been going around in trying to establish whether the emotions we have affect the brain or conversely, whether the brain affects the emotions. Other researchers have-on the other hand- been looking at the subject of emotions differently by opinionating that it varies from one culture to another, one gender to another or even differing based on varied contexts. It is therefore important to circumspectly look at all the angles that have been propagated by different people if an inclusive and satisfactory answer is to be found for the above questions. Many of the studies that have been conducted by researchers highly suggest that the brain largely determines what we feel about different things. Researches by Norman (2003) support this argument by saying that human attributions for different things result from the brain which in effect dictates human behavior. He further says that humans have large brains than other animals and that is why they are able to act more maturely when expressing their emotions. Elder (1996) gives an example by saying that if we feel fear (which is an emotion), then it is based on the fact that we believe (a signal from the brain) something is threatening to us. According to her, Critical thinking precedes and emotional reaction. However, both of these are equally important and signals them should be treated with equal importance. Waxler (2004) also sentiments that â€Å"Our thoughts have profound effect on our emotions, and by learning how to think in our own best interest, we improve our emotional condition. † He proceeds and says that since it is easy to review our thoughts and even control them, then it becomes even easier for us to control our emotions and feel things that are appropriate for us. However, this capacity of the brain to control things has been subject to misuse by some people. Elder (1996) says that â€Å"As we mature, we learn multiple ways to manipulate others, to influence or control others to get what we want. We even learn how to deceive ourselves as to the egocentrism of our behavior. † this is sometimes even taken to the extent of faking feelings like, empathy, generosity, kindness when in real sense, we mean the exact opposite. So the next time you see someone acting â€Å"all good,† be careful because you may just and read between the lines; you may be happy when all that is being done for you is getting fed on lies. On the other hand, other researches purport that emotions affect how we think. An example is the finals of the 2008 FIFA world cup of where Zinedine Zidane, a renowned footballer of France, head-butted Matterazi (an Italian player) after the Italian allegedly made some abusive remarks to him. Speaking after the Interview, Zidane said that he was overwhelmed by emotions and all he could think of at that particular time was t o harm Matterazi. Matsumoto (n. d. ) furthers this argument by saying that â€Å"It is by controlling their emotions that athletes are capable of maintaining high levels of critical thinking and focus, regardless of what sport they are in. † He goes ahead and opinionates that whenever we are emotional, the capacity to think critically is reduced. As a result, athletes who are normally emotional have the tendency of easily losing focus. Tarleton (n. d. ) similarly support this idea by saying that â€Å"Emotions influence how we perceive and react to life, which in turn, determines how content and/or successful we are. The conceptualization or perception of something-according to them-results from feelings that are harbored in our emotions. So if we are able to control our emotions, then it becomes very easy for someone not to think-and consequently-act irrationally. Elder (1996) reports Goleman’s assertion that sometimes feelings come before thought. According to Goleman, â€Å"the emotional mind is far quicker that the rational mind, springing into action without pausing even a moment to consider what it is doing. † This is relatively dangerous as one may act in a way that is not appropriate and consequently end in problems. On the other hand, it may come in handy more so in situations where a person is in a dilemma and is lost for choice yet needs to act aptly. In addition, there is also a group of researchers who hang in the middle of this debatable subject by saying that both the brain and emotions mutually affect one another. In explaining this symbiotic relationship, Tarleton. edu (n. d) say that â€Å"Our thoughts influence how we feel. How we feel influences how we think. These connections are bi-directional and complex. † They go ahead and explicate this by saying that thinking about something good improves our mood while thinking negatively destroys it. Recent studies by some scholars have fundamentally brought an interestingly fresh dimension to this debate of the brain versus emotions. These scholars argue that gender orientation plays a vital role in how one thinks or feels. In spite of being given much emphasis in the recent times, the issue of gender influencing how a person thinks or feels is not a new concept. Even in the pre-modern times, men and women were expected to think and feel in a specific way based on the stereotypes of that time (Sungur and Tekkaya, 2005). Currently, men are debatably depicted in most areas as being strong and dominant while the women being second. Brescoll and Uhlmann (2007) in their work cite Heilman (2001) and Rudman (1998) articulate that women are should be kinder than men, and they induce negative responses from others when they fail to act according to the premeditated ways expected of them. They expound on this concept by writing that men are believed to be strong and should not show weakly emotions like crying just in the same way, women should not show anger. This has however not augured well with most women-especially the elitists and feminists- who see themselves as being able to â€Å"do better what men can do. † To them, both men and women are equal and none should be given a higher status than the other. When using the gender aspect in depicting intelligence or the capacity to think, the same argument used in emotions is used. Men are disputably depicted as having an upper hand than women. In their defense, they state the numerous organizations that are chaired by them and the many critical positions they hold in the annals of history. Of course this has faced much criticism from the women who consider themselves brighter. However, Pin-pointing who is above the other is not our main concern, what stands out to be counted is the fact that both men and women have made invaluable contributions in various aspects. In addition, their differences and unique qualities make them blend even better in their various roles and thus being to the overall good for both of them. References Tarleton. (n. d. ). Emotions and learning (Mini-mester). Retrieved May 3rd, 2010, from http://webcache. googleusercontent. com/custom? q=cache:m7MMnYFicw8J:www. tarleton. edu/~sanderson/Emotions%2520and%2520Learning(mini-mester). Matsumoto, S. (n. d). Do emotions affect critical thinking? Retrieved May 3rd, 2010, from Retrieved May 3rd, 2010, from http://www. humintell. com/2009/08/do-emotions-affect-critical-thinking/ Waxler, J. (2004) Self-talk: How thoughts affect feelings. Retrieved May 3rd, 2010, from http://www. mental-health-survival-guide. com/cognitive-therapy. htm Lmez. A. Y. Sungur, S. Tekkaya, C. (2005). Investigating students’ logical thinking abilities: the effects of gender and grade level.

Behavioral Family Therapy

Behavioral Family Therapy Behavioral family therapy focuses on numerous techniques such as operant conditioning, education, communication and problem solving, and contingency management. These techniques were developed through numerous years of observation and research done by researchers known as Gerald Patterson and Robert Liberman. Many issues can be addressed by Behavioral family therapy such as anorexia, alcoholism, mental illness, childhood developmental issues, marital issues, and family problems. By addressing the familys problem directly, the therapist attempts to place the therapy in the familys hands and during this process engagement in the therapy becomes exceedingly important. Behavioral family therapy aims to find the process that fits the family, not fitting a family inside a therapeutic process. Keywords: Behavioral family therapy, communication, mental illness, therapeutic alliance, engagement Behavioral family therapy, also known as BFT, is a type of therapy that focuses on the family as a unit (Lipps, 1999). This family intervention looks at the elements of information giving and skills achievement, as well as aiming to reduce relapses by supporting and improving communication and problem solving skills (Campbell, 2004). With the support of empirical studies, BFT has developed its approach over years of research and practice. Behavioral family therapy not only addresses behavioral issues within the family, but individual family members with mental disorders as well. This type of therapy covers a broad scope of different types of families and issues. Beginning information on behavioral family therapy started with simple cases regarding children that included bedtime tantrums, nocturnal enuresis, aggressive behavior, and language training with autistic children (Falloon, 1991). Outside of working with children, spouses were involved in BFT to support in the desensitization of anxiety disorders (Falloon, 1991). During these early stages of behavioral family therapy the techniques were individually centered rather than family focused, but the family was still considered a large part in the individuals life. During the start of behavioral family therapy it was thought that negative behaviors from family members came from other family members operant reinforcements. From this concept, it was concluded that the strategies used in behavioral family therapy should involve changing; not only the family member with the negative behavior, but the family members behavior who was reinforcing the negative behavior (Falloon, 1991). During therapy, therapists instructed family members with specific directions on how they should respond to undesirable behavior. While in session, the therapist would then mimic the appropriate behavior towards the undesired behavior when a family member was displaying the negative behavior. The success of the treatment was founded on how many times the deviant behavior occurred, and then the amount the deviant behavior decreased. A pioneer in Behavioral family therapy, Gerald Patterson, created an understanding that laboratory experiments are much different than clinical experiments due to the complexity of the family life style (Falloon, 1991). He was a key individual when it came to formulating behavioral family therapy. Patterson provided several research studies that employed several different therapeutic techniques. One strategy that Patterson tried to incorporate into therapy was to develop a method to move the therapists role as the key mediator away from the family, so that the family would be able to make use of social-learning techniques by themselves (Falloon, 1991). In order to change the behavior within the family, Patterson found that it was important to not only change the parents behavior, but the other family members behavior as well, so that the family could then create a sense of reciprocity (Falloon, 1991). Patterson also noted in his research that the coercion of family members only incre ased the negative responses and only provided a short term correction to the negative problem (Falloon, 1991). Patterson created the pathway for behavioral family therapy through his research and application in the therapy session. Other strategies that elevated behavioral family therapy to its current status, were suggested through research done by several other researchers. One strategy includes the give to get approach. The give to get approach is when a family member unconditionally and positively rewards another family members behavior; specifically, with a family member that they are in conflict with (Falloon, 1991). The thought behind this approach is that it is much more likely that the family members behavior will change in order to please someone, who pleases them (Falloon, 1991). Another strategy includes the contingency contract. The contingency contract is an approach where each family member creates a list of behaviors that the individual will perform for other family members (Falloon, 1991). After deciding between family members which behaviors will be able to be performed, a contract is drawn up. These behaviors serve as tokens that are exchanged as rewards for their targeted positive behaviors, not negative behaviors (Falloon, 1991). These strategies are ways for therapists to help families change negative behaviors into positive behaviors by working together and implementing approaches that work for that specific family system. Robert Liberman was a psychologist that worked with mentally ill adult population within the guidelines of behavioral family therapy. Liberman furthered Behavioral family therapy by including two strategies, role rehearsal and modeling (Falloon, 1991). These strategies were used by Liberman with therapeutic alliance and a detailed assessment of functional relationships. Liberman not only looked at the symptoms the family was having, but the interaction patterns, achievement of short and long term goals, and the extra familial issues that affect the family system (Falloon, 1991). The extra familial issues that affect the family system include education, social-services, and medical services. Liberman had the idea to include the extra familial factors within the therapy so that the symptoms were not the only focus in the sessions, but the long term achievement of stability. In a family system with an individual with a mental illness, Liberman found it important to look at all aspects t hat would affect the family (Falloon, 1991). Within behavioral family therapy there are several behavioral-changing strategies that are used, which include contingency contracting, operant conditioning, and communication-skills training (Falloon, 1991). These strategies are applied to produce a specific change that is within the familys therapeutic goals. During therapy the therapist makes the decision when to use certain strategies based on the familys functioning. When reviewing behavioral family therapy, the practice of therapy has found that only a few interventions were used across a broad range of therapy (Falloon, 1991). These interventions include education, communication and problem solving training, operant conditioning approaches, and contingency management (Falloon, 1991). Education can vary in the way it is displayed. Educating families about issues they deal with in their family, such as mental illness or the development of child milestones can provide families with the information they need to reach their goals. Communication training provides families with the ability to directly transfer information from one family member to another member. Effective communication can provide resolution to problems and attainment to their goals (Falloon, 1991). Operant conditioning strategies include time-out and shaping procedures to increase sought-after behaviors. Operant conditioning approaches are often taught to parents with children or families who have severe disabilities (Falloon, 1991). Operant conditioning goes along with education in that both deal with training and learning. The contingency contract is used to substitute hostile, coercive, blaming patterns of family behavior with more satisfying behaviors (Falloon, 1991). The therapists role in behavioral family therapy is to maintain a supportive therapeutic alliance and to be able to keep an ongoing assessment of the family so that accurate interventions can be used (Falloon, 1991). As the therapist, it is important to look at the responses made by the family member and use those responses to help the family best cope with their situation. Encouraging family members to take advantage of their strengths by focusing on their own feedback will allow the family members to move towards resolving problems and reaching goals (Falloon, 1991). It is important for the therapist to convey positive and negative feelings in a direct manner that works towards positive behavior within the family. The therapist is the individual who matches the intervention to the family (Falloon, 1991). It is important for the therapist to match the intervention to the family instead of forcing the family into an intervention that may not be able to assist the family with their go als (Falloon, 1991). Not only are interventions thoroughly thought through, but the termination of therapy begins in the beginning of therapy. The therapist tells the family members how many session the family will be given and reminds the family every other session that the termination period is getting closer. By the therapist planning the termination in the beginning it gives the family a chance to become independent from the therapist (Falloon, 1991). Behavioral family therapy can be used with several different types of issues. Three common issues that were found in the research were schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol abuse issues. Past research supports that family interventions for schizophrenic members demonstrates helpful engagement in the family (James, Cushway, Fadden, 2006). James, Cushway, Fadden (2006) provide statistical reasoning that behavioral family therapy has a lower dropout rate than other familial therapy groups by twelve percent. Once families became engaged in behavioral family therapy the entire family was more likely to stay engaged (James, Cushway, Fadden, 2006). Those families who do not begin engaged or stay engaged in the therapeutic process are more likely to drop out. In James, Cushway, Faddens (2006) qualitative research it was found that the more reflective the therapist was towards the family the more engaged the family was able to become with the therapy. Being reflective becomes impor tant when creating a therapeutic alliance because reflection creates trust between the family and therapist. The therapeutic alliance in behavioral family therapy becomes the most important quality due to the amount of change that is going to occur (James, Cushway, Fadden, 2006). When working with schizophrenia, a therapist tends to work harder to gain that therapeutic alliance. This could be due to the family not wanting to change what already works with certain members, or that the family members do not trust anyone making changes in their family when they are worried about the outcome of the mentally ill family member. Being able to engage with each member of the family, including a schizophrenic member, will gain the therapist a trusting relationship; which will in turn, help the family create positive change in their familial structure. Anorexia nervosa and alcohol problems are both issues that behavioral family therapy can address. Ball Mitchell (2004) found through their research that with anorexic clients and their families BFT had shown a high trend towards less negative communication after treatment. The research had also shown that significant improvements over time included eating attitudes and behaviors, self-esteem, depression, and state anxiety (Ball Mitchell, 2004). Regarding alcohol problems, Lipps (1999) found that reinforcement is important in behavioral family therapy. When involving the family in the process of changing an alcoholics behavior supporting the reinforcement from the family towards the family member is particularly important. It is important for family members to reinforce the modification of the environment so that drinking behaviors are changed (Lipps, 1999). Operant conditioning can also be utilized with changing an alcoholics behavior with family members. When behavioral family the rapy addresses alcoholism it assumes that environmental factors manipulate behavior from members (Lipps, 1999). Both, anorexia and alcoholism use a type of reinforcement to work within the context of behavioral family therapy to push for changes within family members. Due to the openness of behavioral family therapy, my family and I went through BFT numerous times, but each time there was a different situation being addressed. Going through behavioral family therapy for the first time when I was younger, my family and I needed help dealing with my ADHD. I was having trouble in school and at home. Our therapist worked with my parents in training them how to respond to desirable behaviors and how to ignore negative behaviors. I was reinforced through the behaviors that my parents displayed towards me. Eventually, my behavior started to change into more positive and desirable ways. I began doing my homework and started doing my chores at home. Concentration was hard for me, but in time with behavioral therapy and medication my ability to concentrate gradually increased. Behavioral family therapy has helped me and my family deal with a hardship. By working through this hardship with my family in therapy I learned to love school and I am now in my mast ers, somewhere my parents and I never thought Id be. Behavioral family therapy addresses numerous issues and involves several interventions that can be used to work within the specific family system. This type of therapy not only puts the family members in the driver seat, but allows the family to work, support, and value the relationships and changes in their system (Campbell, 2004). Behavioral family therapy also allows the family to acquire new skills and these new skills help open communication and trust with in the family (Campbell, 2004). Overall, behavioral family therapy gives the family choices in how they want to run their sessions. The therapist allows the family to run the session while educating and teaching the family techniques along the way. Along with the numerous techniques, it is important for individuals going into BFT to take control and engage in their therapy. Without trying and wanting change, behavioral family therapy can only give the family what the family wants to take from the therapy.