Know thyself and Test your Personality

Know thyself

Your personality is the product of the contact of your inborn ‘needs’ and drives’ with the immediate sociophysical environment, especially during the first five yours of your life. During this period, you were tossed by different ‘needs’ and ‘drives’. On the one hand you craved for love of your parents, especially of your mother. This generated in you a feeling of dependence ad ultimately an inferiority complex. You felt secure, no doubt, against the turmoil’s of everyday life; but deep within yourself you were unhappy. This was so, because you also craved for independence from your parents at the same time. At times, you revolted against them and went out in the open, in order to satisfy your craving for adventure. Notwithstanding your dependence upon parents, you began experimenting with adventurous pursuits independently. Thus originated within yourself during the first five years life an emotional conflict a conflict between your loves for dependence and craving for independence the solution of which formed the foundation-stone of your present personality.

                Like all human beings you harbor within your personality a desire to excel others in your immediate social environment. You wish to establish yourself properly in life. However, you may realize your ambition, if you are able to discover the psychological ‘assets’ and ‘liabilities’ of your personality. In order to be able to do so, ask yourself the following questions and answer yes or no as the case may be if you find that your yes answers have exceeded your ‘No’ answers, your personality would require necessary psychological guidance. Even a single ‘Yes’ answer would indicate some weakness in your personality requiring psychological guidance for the proper development of your personality.

Test your personality

1.       Do you enjoy conversation, where a crowd of people meet? (Answer Yes or No)

2.       Do you feel shy to mix with the opposite sex? (Answer Yes or No)

3.       Are you incapable of organizing picnics or social gatherings? (Answer Yes or No)

4.       Do you prefer private occupations to team-work? (Answer Yes or No)

5.       Do you dislike your present job and feel fatigued, or over-worked? (Answer Yes or No)

6.       Are you afraid of shouldering responsibilities? (Answer Yes or No)

7.       Do you feel inferior to others in your immediate social environment? (Answer Yes or No)

8.       Are you unable to adapt yourself to new situations? (Answer Yes or No)

9.       Do you frequently fail to understand the relations between things easily? (Answer Yes or No)

10.   Are you unable to take quick decisions in emergencies? (Answer Yes or No)

11.   Do you suffer from lack of concentration self-confidence and self-control? (Answer Yes or No)

12.   Do you forget things too frequently because of bad memory? (Answer Yes or No)

13.   Do you apprehend failure in life and contemplate committing suicide at times? (Answer Yes or No)

14.   Do you frequently fail to observe punctuality and thereby remain regular in your irregularities? (Answer Yes or No)

15.   Are you occasionally haunted by unreasonable worries, anxieties or fears? (Answer Yes or No)

16.   Are you easily led away by suggestions from others? (Answer Yes or No)

17.   While walking alone in the street, do you suspect that others are talking about you? (Answer Yes or No)

18.   Are you occasionally haunted by nightmares and terrifying dreams? (Answer Yes or No)

19.   Do you frequently indulge in day-dreaming, ‘building castles in the air’, instead of attempting to realize your ambitions in practical life? (Answer Yes or No)

20.   Are you a victim to psycho-somatic illnesses, such as, nervous palpitations, headache, insomnia, stomach troubles, stammering or stuttering, Asthma, Eczema etc? 

If with the fore-going tests, you discover that the ‘liabilities’ of your personality have exceeded its ‘assets’ you need not be alarmed at all. Psychology will help you to develop yourself into a strong and dynamic personality. If, on the other hand, you find that the ‘assets’ of your Personality have exceeded its ‘liabilities’, you are already on the royal road to success in life.

Notwithstanding the drawbacks of your personality Psychology will help your discover the hidden potentialities of your Real Self. Behind each conscious 'Yes' answer of yours, there is probably an Unconscious categorical 'No'. This is apparent from your feeling of remorse, when you become conscious of the weaknesses of you Personality. This feeling indicates a conflict between 'what you are' and 'what you wish to be'. The very fact that you are not satisfied with 'what you are', indicates the possibility of your realizing 'what you wish to be'. At times, you feel surging within your deeper 'self', a reservoir of untapped potentialities. You have only to unleash this dormant energy of your 'Unconscious Self', through proper psychological techniques and thereby develop yourself into a strong and dynamic Personality.

Arsenic Poisoning

Arsenic Poisoning

Arsenic poisoning is the harmful effects of various arsenic compounds on body tissues and functions. Arsenic is a poison. Recently it has become a cause of alarm as it has been detected in the water of many tube-wells throughout the country. By taking water having high degree of arsenic we get poisoned slowly. It may take several months or year before the symptoms of arsenic poisoning become evident.

Generally arsenic is used in numerous products, including insect, rodent, and weed killers, some chemotherapeutic agents, and certain paints wallpaper, and ceramics.

Arsenic poisoning in humans most often results from the ingestion or inhalation of insecticides containing arsenious oxide, copper acetoarsenite, or calcium or lead arsenate. Exposure may be accidental, especially among children or may be an occupational hazard, especially among agricultural workers handling insecticidal sprays and dusts. The sprayed fruits and vegetables, if not washed, may also bear enough arsenic to be potentially toxic to the consumer. Among industrial workers, arsenic may also bear enough arsenic to be potentially toxic to the consumer. Among industrial workers, arsenic may be a source of accidental poisoning. Poisoning may also result from prolonged treatment with such medications as Fowler’s solution and arsphenamine. Arsenic is believed to exert its toxicity by combining with certain enzymes, thereby interfering with cellular metabolism. Poisoning may result from a single large dose or from repeated small doses. In Bangladesh, the main cause of arsenic poisoning is drinking tube-well water having a high degree of arsenic.

Symptoms of acute poisoning from swallowing arsenic include nausea, vomiting, burning, of the mouth and throat, and severe abdominal pains. It may cause circulatory collapse followed by death within a few hours. Other effects are destruction of red blood cells and damage to the kidneys. Chronic exposure to arsenic results in gradual loss of strength, diarrhea or constipation, pigmentation and scaling of the skin etc. It may also harm the nervous system of a person causing paralysis and confusion. There may also be degeneration of fatty tissue; anemia; and the development of characteristic streaks across the fingernails.

Diagnosis of arsenic poisoning is based on the finding of arsenic in the urine and in hair or nails of the victim.

The government has already taken steps to tackle this problem. Tube-wells having arsenic polluted water have already been painted red. We should avoid drinking water from those tube wells. Besides, we can drink pond water and river water after purification. Rainwater is also free from arsenic. By drinking arsenic-free water we can remain safe from arsenic.

AIDS

AIDS

AIDS is the byname of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is a fatal transmissible disease of the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body’s defense against infection, leaving an individual vulnerable to a variety of other infections and certain malignancies that eventually cause death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, during which time fatal infections and cancers arise.

AIDS was first reported in 1981 by investigators in New York and California. Initially most cases of AIDS in the United States were diagnosed in homosexual men, who contracted the virus primarily through sexual contact and in intravenous drug users, who needles. In 1983 French and American researchers isolated the causative agent, HIV, and by 1985 serological tests to detect the virus had been developed. HIV/AIDS spread to epidemic proportions in the 1980s, particularly in Africa, where the disease may have originated. Spread was likely urbanization and long-distance travel in Africa, international travel, changing sexual mores, and intravenous drug use. By 2002 AIDS had claimed over 25 million lives worldwide. Approximately 40 million people throughout the world are infected with HIV. People living in sub-Saharan Africa account for more than 70 percent of all infections, and in some countries of the region the prevalence of HIV infection of inhabitants exceeds 10 percent of the population. Rates of infection are lower in other parts of the world, but the epidemic is spreading rapidly in Eastern Europe, India, South and Southeast Asia, Latin American and the Caribbean. In China the government estimated that up to 850000 people had contracted HIV by 2000 –more than half of them having acquired the virus since 1997. In the United States the incidence of HIV/AIDS has stabilized at about 40,000 new infections per year. One-third of all new cases are women, for whom the primary risk factor is heterosexual intercourse.

HIV is transmitted by the direct transfer of bodily fluids, such as blood and blood products, semen and other genital secretions, or breast milk, form an infected person to an uninfected person. The primary means of transmission worldwide is heterosexual intercourse with an infected individual; the virus can enter the body through tee lining of the vagina, penis, rectum, or mouth, HIV Frequently is spread among intravenous drug users who share needles or syringes. Prior to the development of screening procedures and heat-treating techniques that destroy HIV in blood products, transmission also occurred through contaminated blood products; many people with hemophilia contracted HIV in this way.

The Course of HIV infection involves three stages:

a.       Primary HIV infection

b.      The asymptomatic phase, and

c.       AIDS.

During the first stage the transmitted HIV replicates rapidly, and some persons may experience an acute flu-like illness that usually persists for one to two weeks. During this time a variety of symptoms may occur, such as fever, enlarged lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle and joint pain, rash, and malaise. The second phase of HIV infection, the asymptomatic period, lasts an average of 10 years. During this period the virus continues to replicate and there is a slow decrease in the CD4 count. When the CD4 count falls to about 200 cells per micro liter of blood (in an uninfected adult it is typically about 1000 cells per micro liter), patients begin to experience the symptoms of defective immune system. This is AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection.

Tests for the disease check for antibodies to HIV, which appear from four weeks to six months after exposure. The most common test for HIV is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). If the result is positive, the test is repeated on the same blood sample. Another positive result is confirmed using a more specific which screen for viral RNA and therefore allow detection of the virus after very recent exposure, and Single Use Diagnostic Screening (SUDS) are other options. Because these tests are very expensive, they are often out of reach for the majority of the population at risk for the disease.

There is no cure or effective vaccine for HIV infection. Efforts at prevention have focused primarily on changes in sexual behavior such as the practice of abstinence and the use of condoms. Attempts to reduce intravenous drug use and to discourage the sharing of needles have also led to a reduction in infection rates in some areas.

AIDs infection is treated with three classes of antiretroviral medications. Protease inhibitors, nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors and non-nucleoside RT inhibitors. Because HIV rapidly becomes resistant to any single antiretroviral drug, combination treatment is necessary for effective suppression of the virus. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a combination of three or more RT and protease inhibitors, has resulted n a marked drop in the mortality rate from HIV infection in the United States and other industrialized states since its introduction in 1996. Because of its high cost, HAART is generally not available in regions of the world hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic.

Though AIDS is a serious disease, it is not transmitted by things like handshaking, embracing, using the same latrine, swimming-pool, or pond, or sitting in the same chair. This is a matter of great regret that in many societies AIDS victims do not get social help and compassion. People boycott them completely. It is necessary to be kind and helpful to the AIDS victims.

How to prevent smoking

Reasons of smoking and how to prevent it

Smoking is one of the most injurious habits. Nowadays smoking is common all over the world. This habit has been found to spread among people of all ages over the decades.

Smoking can cause serious health hazards. Tobacco has injurious substances including nicotine. When somebody smokes, nicotine enters into his lungs and gets mixed with his blood. Then it spreads throughout the whole body through blood circulation. Smoking of cigarettes can cause serious harm to ones lungs and larynx. It is the main cause of lung cancer. It also causes diseases like asthma, bronchitis, gastric, ulcer, and heart disease. Smoking can harm not only the person smoking cigarettes, but also people around him. Smoke released by a smoker is inhaled by people in close proximity. It is called passive smoking. Passive smoking is no less harmful than active smoking and all the dangers of smoke are also associated with passive smoking.

There are some intoxicating materials like nicotine in tobacco. They cause addiction. People get attracted to tobacco smoking indifferent ways. First of all, advertisements by tobacco companies attract people to tobacco smoking. Secondly, smoking by actors and actresses in movies, dramas and TV programmes also attracts people to smoking. They consider smoking as a matter of smartness. Thirdly, youths and youngsters smoke being influenced by evil company. Usually it starts out of curiosity and then becomes a lasting habit. Lastly, children are also influenced by their smoker parents. They form acceptance to smoking in their mind and do not consider it as something harmful.

Smoking has been accepted as a harmful habit by governments worldwide. Many preventive measures have been undertaken in this respect by the countries all over the world. Such measures include:

1.       Banning cigarette smoking in public spaces like bus stations, railway stations, subway stations, market places, museums, zoos auditoriums etc. and on public transports such as buses, trains, launches, steamers, ships etc.

2.       Restricting buying and selling of cigarettes publicly. Also banning sale of cigarettes to minors.

3.       In Bangladesh the government has enacted laws banning advertisement of cigarettes, buying and selling cigarettes publicly and smoking cigarettes in public places. The government has also imposed fines and penalties for the violation of these laws.

4.       The government has also passed laws requiring cigarette companies to print warning signs on the packets of cigarettes.

What else needed are a greater degree of awareness among people and a strong will to stop smoking? Besides, censorship should be imposed on TV programmes, dramas and movies having scenes of smoking.

There is no doubt that the habit of smoking can cause great harm to a person. It is harmful not only to him but also for his family and people around him. So, everybody should try seriously to avoid smoking.