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Ottoman Empire

2009-10-26T17:44:12Z

KJV1611: /* World War I */ rephrased wording

The '''Ottoman Empire''' was a [[Muslim]] state which ruled much of the [[Middle East]] as well as parts of North Africa and the Balkans in Europe from 1299 A.D. until 1922 A.D. Its government, based in [[Istanbul]], was called "The Porte" or "The Sublime Porte". [[Image:Otexpand.jpg|thumb|590px]]

==Growth==
The [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] gained power by overthrowing the [[Byzantine Empire]], a process that took a century and finished in 1453. That year they captured the Byzantine capital of [[Constantinople]] and renamed it [[Istanbul]].

[[File:Suleiman1.jpg|thumb|250px|right]]
===Tolerance===
When the empire was growing it adopted a policy toward Christians and Jews, and towrad various ethnic groups. They would all be tolerated and have a degree of self government, provided they acknowledged the empire and non-Moslems paid a tax. This was the "millet" system and created a segregated second-class status for minorities. Because of the increased activities of Protestant missionaries, a Protestant millet was set up in 1850, which allowed for the creation of schools and colleges aimed at non-Moslems.
===Janissaries===
A special military cadre of '''Janissaries''' was created as an imperial force. They were a highly trained, disciplined, military force founded in the 1360s as a select bodyguard drawn from the fittest Christian prisoners, youthful soldiers, and slaves from throughout the Ottoman Empire. By 1600 all new recruits were Moslem volunteers.

===Threat to Europe===
[[Suleiman the Magnificent]] reigned 1520–1566 and expanded into Europe, capturing Belgrade and Buda (Budapest) and threatening--but failing--to capture Vienna. His reign marked the high point of Ottoman prowess.

The Ottoman Empire continued to militarily force their way into south eastern Europe. Its failure in the [[The Great Siege of Malta]] (1565) and defeat at the [[Battle of Lepanto]] (1572) were the turning points in its expansion in the Mediterranean. During this period, a strengthening Muscovy ([[Russia]]) was winning Muslim territory and pushing at Ottoman borders. As Europe continued to make heavy military strides in the following centuries, the Ottoman Empire began to lag and lose status as a major power. Wars with Russia became frequent in the later part of its existence, with the Russians often getting the better of the engagements.
[[File:Ottoman2.jpg|thumb|250px]]

==Wars with Russia==
The peace treaty of Constantinople (1700) confirmed the victory of Russia in the Russo-Turkish war of 1686-1700. As a result, Russia annexed an important section of the steppe north of the Black Sea (including the fortresses and ports of Azov and Taganrog). However, even though a Russian naval fleet was present in the Sea of Azov, the strategic Kerch Strait remained under Ottoman control, blocking Russian access to the Black Sea, which remained an Ottoman domain. Under the circumstances, the entire period of Russian-Ottoman peace between 1700 and 1710 was tense. Turning to good advantage the involvement of Russia in the Northern War of 1700-21, the Porte launched and won the Russian-Ottoman war of 1710-11. Defeated, Russia was obliged to restore to the Porte the territories annexed in 1700. Russia finally gained its much-coveted access to the Black Sea only in 1774, by the Russian-Ottoman peace treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji.
=="Sick Man of Europe"==
After 1800 the steady decline of the Empire was in sharp contrast to the growth in wealth and military power in western Europe. The Empire was called "the sick man of Europe" and steadily lost influence and territory. In the 19th century the Empire was actually aided in its survival by Britain and France, who feared its collapse or loss of large amounts of land to Russia would destabilize the balance of power.

For many years the prevailing interpretation of the decline and collapse of the empire focused on internal failures. The Ottoman Empire originally had benefited from a series of energetic sultans to reach an apogee by 1600, but subsequent leadership failed and a combination of decadent sultans, manipulative harem women, and corrupt bureaucrats and military officials set in motion a long and steady decline that dragged on over the next 320 years until the final collapse in the aftermath of World War I. Efforts to get rid of old power centers (such as the Janissaries) and instead adopt modern European methods and technology bought a little time, but could not prevent the seizure of Egypt by the British. The rise of ethnic or language-based nationalism after 1800 meant that one group after another wanted out, starting with the Slavs and the Greeks. Finally the Arabs and the Turks themselves wanted out, and after the poor performance in the World War, no one wanted to stay in. Instead of its historic tolerance the Empire became a killing machine, most notoriously with the massacres of the Bulgarians in the 1870s and the genocide of the Armenians 1890-1915.

More recently many historians have emphasized the tolerance and flexibility of the Empire as explanations of why it lasted so long. They acknowledge the weaknesses but blame the final collapse on external factors.
===Destruction of the Janissaries===
By 1800, the Janissaries, over 100,000 strong, had become politically powerful but were ill-disciplined and badly outmatched by European armies. Many had become local businessmen and had lost their military skills. In 1807 Sultan Selim III angered the Janissaries by attempting to modernize the army along European lines; they revolted and overthrew him and were now a negative force. The solution was to dissolve the units and kill the leaders, which was done by a massacre organized by the sultan in 1826 and performed by artillery units loyal to the sultan.

===Holy Places===
In 1852 the Christian holy places in Jerusalem were subjected to a regulatory status known as the "status quo" by Ottoman authorities. The imposition of the status quo regulations were an attempt to put an end to ongoing strife between Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic factions engaged in a nasty dispute over control of the holy places. The status quo reaffirmed the precedence of the Greek Orthodox Church. The 1878 [[Treaty of Berlin]] confirmed the decision of the Ottoman rulers of Jerusalem, and this arrangement was passed on to the successive British and Israeli governors of Jerusalem.

In 1860 fighting between Christians and Druze in central Mount Lebanon led to intervention by the European powers to establish the Beirut Committee, under the chairmanship of Ottoman foreign minister Fuad Pasha and comprised of representatives from Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, to resolve the conflict. Britain identified the weaknesses of the administration of the Porte in Lebanon to be corruption, strategic isolation, and lack of communication between the Ottoman bureaucracy and the local Arab population, but no serious reforms were undertaken.
===Bulgarian massacres===
The "Bulgarian Horrors" were systematic massacres of thousands of Bulgarian Christians by Ottoman forces in 1876-77. In Britain Liberal leader [[William Ewart Gladstone]] exploited the horror to embarrass the Conservative government of [[Benjamin Disraeli]], who tried to prop up the Ottoman regime as a counter-weight to Russia. Meanwhile in 1882 the British seized effective control over Egypt and the Suez Canal; Egypt nominally still belonged to the Ottoman Empire but the reality was that the Empire was crumbling.

===Armenians===
see [[Armenian genocide]]

In the 1870s from the point of view of both the Ottoman administrators and the Muslim population, the Christian Armenians were considered 'tebaa-i sadika' (loyal subjects), loyal to the state and on good terms with their Muslim neighbors. Nevertheless, the rise of nationalist ideologies in Europe and, in particular, the success of the Greek and Serbian independence movements made a deep impression on Armenian intellectuals. With the support of Britain, this impression quickly turned into a widespread and organized revolt against the Ottoman state and evolved into a movement for independence. After the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, Britain, which supported this revolt, began a campaign against the Ottomans based on several arguments: the Ottoman state and Turks in general were not civilized, the citizens of the empire were not allowed basic freedoms, and the government subjected its citizens to immense cruelty and massacres. Full scale genocide against the Armenians came during World War I when 600,000 were deliberately killed.

===Arabia===
The decline of Ottoman influence in Arabia, 1750-1914, was paralleled by the rise of the Saudi state, which was helped by the British and the Russians, who wanted to increase their colonial influence in the Muslim world by undermining the influence of the Ottoman Empire as the leader of Islam.

==20th century==
see [[Turkey]]
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), known collectively as the Young Turks, came to power in 1908.
===World War I===
The Ottoman Empire fought alongside the [[Central Powers]] during [[World War I]] and collapsed after its defeat. It was during this time when the [[Armenia#genocide|Armenian genocide]] occurred.
[[File:Ottoman3.jpg|thumb|left|220px]]
The British expected easy victories, and sent armies into Mesopotamia (Iraq), which were badly defeated, and landed at Gallipoli in order to capture Istanbul, but failed badly in 1915. However, the British were successful in moving from Egypt to conquer Palestine, using the aid of Arab nationalists stirred up by British officer Lawrence of Arabia ([[T.E. Lawrence]]).

[[Winston Churchill]] and other top British leaders envisioned an operation in which they placed their strength against Ottoman weakness. Instead of engaging a feeble opponent, however, the British faced the best-trained and best-led divisions in the Ottoman army and were up against the most heavily fortified and well-prepared positions in the Ottoman Empire. In command and control the Ottoman army performed well at all levels, and Ottoman soldiers proved to be effective fighters on the defensive. The Germans, furthermore, provided very talented generals and senior staff members to aid and help direct the Ottoman effort. As a result the Ottoman army fought the British to a stalemate, leading the British to abandon the campaign.<ref> Edward J. Erickson, "Strength Against Weakness: Ottoman Military Effectiveness At Gallipoli, 1915." ''Journal Of Military History'' 2001 65(4): 981-1011</ref>

The secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 was a plan for Russian, British, and French administration of dismembered Ottoman lands in the Middle East and Central Asia. Russia dropped out but at the 1919 [[Paris Peace Conference]] much of the territory of the Ottoman Empire was placed under British and French control, while [[Mustafa Kemal Ataturk]] led a revolution and established the secular nation of [[Turkey]].
[[Image:Otto1920.jpg|thumb|320px|Many countries were formed out of the territory of the Ottoman Empire between 1880 and 1923]]

==Bibliography==
* Barkey, Karen. ''Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective.'' (2008) 357pp [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Difference-Ottomans-Comparative-Perspective/dp/0521715334/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240307430&sr=1-7 excerpt and text search]
* Braude, Benjamin, and Bernard Lewis, eds. ''Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society '' (1982) [http://www.questia.com/read/52272246 online edition]
* Clot, André. ''Suleiman the Magnificent.'' 1993. 399 pp
* Finkel, Caroline. '' Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire'' (2006), standard scholarly survey [http://www.amazon.com/Osmans-Dream-History-Ottoman-Empire/dp/0465023967/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874589&sr=8-6 excerpt and text search]
* Goffman, Daniel. ''The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe'' (2002) [http://www.questia.com/read/107381987 online edition]
* Goodwin, Jason. ''Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire'' (2003) [http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Horizons-History-Ottoman-Empire/dp/0312420668/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874589&sr=8-16 excerpt and text search]
* Heywood, Colin. ''Writing Ottoman History: Documents and Interpretations.'' Ashgate, 2002. 376 pp.
* Holt, P. M. ''Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, 1516–1922: A Political History.'' 1966.
* Imber, Colin. ''The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power'' (2003)
* Inalcik, Halil and Quataert, Donald, ed. ''An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914.'' 1995. 1026 pp.
* Itzkowitz, Norman. ''Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition.'' 1972.
* Kinross, Lord. ''Ottoman Centuries'' (1979)
* Kunt, Metin and Woodhead, Christine, ed. ''Süleyman the Magnificent and His Age: The Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern World.'' 1995. 218 pp.
* Levy, Avigdor, ed. ''Jews, Turks, Ottomans: A Shared History, Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century.'' (2002). 304 pp.
* McCarthy, Justin. ''The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923'' 1997 [http://www.questia.com/read/58745078 online edition]
* Murphy, Rhoads ''Ottoman Warfare 1500-1700'' (1999) 278 pp.
* Ochsenwald, William, and Sydney Nettleton Fisher. ''The Middle East: A History'' (2003) [http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-History-William-Ochsenwald/dp/0072442336/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874166&sr=8-14 excerpt and text search]
* Pamuk, Sevket. ''A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire.'' 1999. 276 pp.
* Parry, V.J. ''A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730'' (1976)
* Pierce, Leslie P. ''The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire.'' 1993. 374 pp.
* Quataert, Donald. ''The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922'' (2005), standard scholarly survey [http://www.amazon.com/Ottoman-1700-1922-Approaches-European-History/dp/0521547822/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874589&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Shaw, Stanford J., and Ezel Kural Shaw. ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Vol. 1, '' 1977.
* Somel, Selcuk Aksin. ''Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire.'' (2003). 399 pp.
* Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Ottoman Empire 1326-1699'' (2003) 95 pp[http://www.questia.com/read/108569306 online edition]
* Wheatcroft, Andrew. ''The Ottomans.'' 384 pp.

===Post 1830===

* Ahmad, Feroz. ''The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908–1914'', (1969).
* Arnold, Guy. ''Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War.'' (2002). 179 pp.
* Black, Cyril E., and L. Carl Brown. ''Modernization in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire and Its Afro-Asian Successors.'' 1992.
* Erickson, Edward J. ''Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/Ordered-Die-History-Contributions-Military/dp/0313315167/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874166&sr=8-5 excerpt and text search]
* Faroqhi, Suraiya. ''Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire.'' (2000) 358 pp.
* Findley, Carter. ''Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire.'' 1980.
* Fortna, Benjamin C. ''Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire.'' (2002) 280 pp.
* Fromkin, David. ''A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East'' (2001) [http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805068848/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874166&sr=8-10 excerpt and text search]
* Göçek, Fatma Müge. ''Rise of the Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire: Ottoman Westernization and Social Change.'' (1996). 220 pp.
* Hale, William. ''Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000.'' (2000). 375 pp.
* Inalcik, Halil and Quataert, Donald, ed. ''An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914.'' 1995. 1026 pp.
* Karpat, Kemal. ''Ottoman Population, 1830–1914'' 1985.
* Karpat, Kemal H. ''The Politicization of Islam: Reconstructing Identity, State, Faith, and Community in the Late Ottoman State.'' (2001). 533 pp.
* Kayali, Hasan. ''Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1918'' (1997); [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft7n39p1dn/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online]
* Kushner, David. ''The Rise of Turkish Nationalism, 1876–1908.'' 1977.
* Miller, William. ''The Ottoman Empire, 1801–1913.'' (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=1wpFAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:The+intitle:Ottoman+intitle:Empire+intitle:1801+intitle:1913&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES full text online]
* Owen, Roger. ''The Middle East in the World Economy, 1800–1914.'' (1981)
* Quataert, Donald. ''Social Disintegration and Popular Resistance in the Ottoman Empire, 1881–1908.'' 1983.
* Shaw, Stanford J., and Ezel Kural Shaw. ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Vol. 2, Reform, Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808–1975.'' (1977). [http://www.amazon.com/History-Ottoman-Empire-Modern-Turkey/dp/0521291666/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196874166&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Toledano, Ehud R. ''The Ottoman Slave Trade and Its Suppression, 1840–1890.'' (1982)
====Notes====
<references/>

[[Category:Former Countries]]
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:Medieval History]]
[[Category:European History]]
[[Category:Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Turkey]]

Civil marriage

2009-10-26T03:58:06Z

KJV1611: /* Legal Limitations */ clarified acronym

'''Civil marriage''' is a legal status defining the legal relationship between two persons (almost universally two persons of opposite sex). All governments (National, State, County, and City) make some statements about the rights, obligations, duties and privileges for persons who are married. Most commonly, these include [[power of attorney]], [[inheritance]] rights, sharing finances, and rights in relation to any children they may have. With the advent of no-fault divorce, most of these rights and obligations can be terminated by either party at any time for any reason. Civil Marriages are not necessarily the same as religious marriages, though in the United States, anyone who is married in a Religious Service is considered married by the State when the proper documents are filed. In some European nations, however, the two types of marriage require separate ceremonies, or rather, you must have a Civil Marriage ceremony by an officer of the state, and if you wish to also have a religious marriage, that is your choice.

==Legal Limitations==
In the United States, all states have limited Civil Unions to just two people (e.g., the US does not recognize polygamy).

African-American marriages were not legally recognized in the [[United States]] until after the [[Civil War]], and mixed race couples were only allowed to marry in all areas of the U.S. after a 1967 decision in the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref> [[Loving v. Virginia]] </ref> Before that time, 16 states prohibited [[interracial marriage]]. Disapproval of interracial relationships was once justified as divinely ordained, however most people today and all of the first world nations accept so-called "mixed" marriages.

In the United States, most states have enacted laws limiting civil marriages to opposite gender partners, and several have passed constituational amendments. After the 2008 elections, it is likely that another 10-20 states will put limitations of "One man, one woman" into their State constitution. Federal law does not define marriage, as that is one of the Constitutionally derived powers of the States, but the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] does prohibit the Federal Government from forcing any state to recognize a so-called "homosexual marriage".

==History==
Civil marriages, as opposed to religious marriages which have always existed, are a fairly new concept in human history, developed as governments began to track individuals, (birth and death records), establish and maintain employment taxes (married persons and heads of families are taxed differently from single persons), and provide general order in law about civil matters such as spousal support, limits on spousal abuse, and any form of a welfare or social security system that the government enacted to protect the rights, property and even health of a surviving spouse and children. Prior to that, marriages of any but the highest class were only matters of the various churches, synagogues or other religious institutions.

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Marriage]]
[[Category:Sociology]]

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

2009-10-26T03:49:30Z

KJV1611: /* How does PTSD start? */ better section name

'''Post Traumatic Stress Disorder''', or '''PTSD''' is a medical term for a psychiatric condition suffered by people exposed to deeply shocking events. In our everyday lives, any of us can have an experience that is overwhelming, frightening, and beyond our control. We could find ourselves in a car crash, the victim of an assault, or see an accident. Police, fire brigade, or ambulance workers are more likely to have such experiences as they often have to deal with horrifying scenes. Soldiers may be shot or experience a blast and see friends killed or injured. The average person is able to cope with these situations in a way that is productive. In some cases, however, traumatic experiences set off a reaction that can last for many months or years. This is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
==Causes of PTSD==
PTSD can start after any traumatic event. A traumatic event is one where a person can see that they are in danger, their life is threatened, or where an individual sees other people dying or being injured. Some typical traumatic events would be:
*Serious road accidents
*Military combat
*Violent personal assault (sexual assault, physical attack, abuse, robbery, mugging)
*Being taken hostage
*Terrorist attack
*Being a prisoner-of-war
*Natural or man-made disasters
*Being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
Even hearing about an the unexpected injury or violent death of a family member or close friend can trigger symptoms of PTSD. The symptoms of PTSD can start after a delay of weeks, months, or years.

==Symptoms of PTSD==
Many people feel grief-stricken, depressed, anxious, guilty and angry after a traumatic experience. As well as these understandable emotional reactions, there are three main types of symptoms produced by such an experience:

'''1. Flashbacks & Nightmares'''

The sufferer finds themselves re-living the event. This can happen both as a flashback while awake, and as nightmares while asleep. These can be so realistic that it feels as though the person is living through the experience again. The person can see it in their mind, but may also feel the emotions and physical sensations of what happened - fear, sweating, smells, sounds, pain. Ordinary things can trigger off flashbacks. For instance, if the sufferer had a car crash in the rain, a rainy day might start a flashback.

'''2. Avoidance & Numbing'''

It can be just too upsetting to re-live your experience over and over again, so the sufferer distracts him or her self. The person will keep their mind busy by losing themselves in a hobby, working very hard, or spending time absorbed in crossword or jigsaw puzzles. They avoid places and people that remind them of the trauma, and try not to talk about it. They may deal with the pain of their feelings by trying to feel nothing at all - by becoming emotionally numb. The person communicate less with other people, who then find it hard to live or work with the sufferer.

'''3. Being "On Guard"'''

The sufferer finds that they stay alert all the time, as if they are looking out for danger. They can't relax. This is called "hyper vigilance" and the sufferer feel anxious and find it hard to sleep. Other people will notice that they are jumpy and irritable.

===Other Symptoms===
Emotional reactions to stress are often accompanied by physical reactions such as:
*Muscle aches and pains
*Feeling tense
*Irregular heartbeat
*Headaches or migraines
*Feelings of panic or fear
*[[Depression ]]
*Substance abuse or addiction

==Why are Traumatic Events so Shocking?==
They undermine our sense that life is fair, reasonably safe, and that we are secure. A traumatic experience makes it seem very clear that we can die or be hurt at any time. Not everyone gets PTSD after a traumatic event, but nearly everyone will have the symptoms of post traumatic stress for the first month or so. This is because they help to keep you going, and help you to understand the experience you have been through. This is an "acute stress reaction". Over a few weeks, most people slowly come to terms with what has happened, and their stress symptoms start to disappear. Not everyone is so lucky. About 1 in 3 people will find that their symptoms just carry on and that they can't come to terms with what has happened; it is as though the process has got stuck. The symptoms of post traumatic stress, although normal in themselves, become a problem - or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - when they go on for too long.
===What makes PTSD worse?===
The more disturbing the experience, the more likely individuals are to develop PTSD. Traumatic events:
*Are sudden and unexpected
*Go on for a long time
*Trap the individual, who is unable to get away
*Are man-made
*Cause many deaths
*Cause mutilation and loss of arms or legs
*Involve children.
===Ordinary "Stress"===
Everybody feels stressed from time to time. Unfortunately, the word "stress" is used to mean two rather different things: Feeling burdened by problems or an inner sense of worry. This could be work, relationships, maybe just trying to get by without much money. Unlike PTSD, these things are with us, day in and day out. They are part of normal, everyday life, but can produce anxiety, depression, tiredness, and headaches. Stress can also make some physical problems worse, such as stomach ulcers and skin problems. These are certainly troublesome, but they are not the same as PTSD.
==Psychopathology of PTSD==
There are a several possible explanations for why PTSD occurs.
===Psychological===
When humans are frightened, they remember things very clearly. Although it can be distressing to remember these things, it can help to understand what happened and, in the long run, help us to survive. The flashbacks, or replays, force the sufferer to think about what has happened. The individual can decide what to do if it happens again. After a while, he or she learns to think about it without becoming upset. It is tiring and distressing to remember a trauma. Avoidance and numbing keep the number of replays down to a manageable level. Being "on guard" means that the sufferer can react quickly if another crisis happens. It can also give individuals the energy for the work that's needed after an accident or crisis. But the sufferer doesn't want to spend the rest of their life going over it. They only want to think about it when they have to, such as if the sufferer finds themselves in a similar situation.
===Physical===
Adrenaline is a hormone our bodies produce when we are under stress. When the stress disappears, the level of adrenaline should go back to normal. In PTSD, it may be that the vivid memories of the trauma keep the levels of adrenaline high. This will make a person tense, irritable, and unable to relax or sleep well. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that processes memories. High levels of adrenaline can stop it from working properly. This means that flashbacks and nightmares continue because the memories of the trauma can't be processed. If the stress goes away and the adrenaline levels get back to normal, the brain is able to repair the damage itself, like other natural healing processes in the body. The disturbing memories can then be processed and the flashbacks and nightmares will slowly disappear.
==Evidence of recovery from a traumatic experience==
Individuals can recognise that they have overcome PTSD when they:
*Think about it without becoming distressed
*Don't feel constantly under threat
*Don't think about it at inappropriate times
===Why is PTSD Difficult to Diagnose?===
The sufferer may not want to admit to having symptoms, because he or she doesn't want to be thought of as weak or mentally unstable. Doctors and other professionals may feel uncomfortable if the sufferer tries to talk about gruesome or horrifying events. People with PTSD often find it easier to talk about the other problems that go along with it - headache, sleep problems, irritability, [[depression]], tension, substance abuse, family or work-related problems.

==Children and PTSD==
PTSD can develop at any age. Younger children may have upsetting dreams of the actual trauma, which then change into nightmares of monsters. They often re-live the trauma in their play. For example, a child involved in a serious road traffic accident might re-enact the crash with toy cars, over and over again. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy. They may find it hard to believe that they will live long enough to grow up. They often complain of stomach aches and headaches.
[[category:Mental health]]
[[category:Psychiatry]]
[[category:Psychiatric Disorders]]
[[category:psychology]]

Revolver

2009-10-26T03:34:28Z

KJV1611: created revolver page

A '''revolver''' is a type of repeating firearm in which several chambers within a rotating cylinder line up sequentially with the barrel of the firearm. There are two types of revolvers: single action revolvers must be manually recocked after each shot (which also rotates the next chamber to align with the barrel); double action revolvers have a mechanism which automatically cocks and rotates the cylinder when the trigger is pulled. Double action revolvers may also be manually cocked in the same manner as a single action revolver.