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The international response to the photographs of the dead body of three year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, washed ashore on a Turkish beach on 2 September 2015, has prompted intense debate. That debate has been not only about the proper attitude of Britain and other countries to the refugee crisis, but also about the proper place of strong emotions in political life.

The post Aylan Kurdi: A Dickensian moment appeared first on OUPblog.

It’s easy to assume that we know what pain is. We’ve all experienced pain, from scraped knees and toothaches to migraines and heart attacks. When people suffer around us, or we witness a loved one in pain, we can also begin to ‘feel’ with them. But is this the end of the story?

In the three videos below Joanna Bourke, author of The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers, talks about her fascination with pain from a historical perspective. She argues that the ways in which people respond to what they describe as ‘painful’ have changed drastically since the eighteenth century, moving from a belief that it served a specific (and positive) function to seeing pain as an unremitting evil to be ‘fought’. She also looks at the interesting attitudes towards women and pain relief, and how they still exist today.

On the history of pain

Click here to view the embedded video.

How have our attitudes to pain changed?

Click here to view the embedded video.

On women and pain relief

Click here to view the embedded video.

Joanna Bourke is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the prize-winning author of nine books, including histories of modern warfare, military medicine, psychology and psychiatry, the emotions, and rape. Her book An Intimate History of Killing (1999) won the Wolfson Prize and the Fraenkel Prize, and ‘Eyewitness’. She is also a frequent contributor to TV and radio shows, and a regular newspaper correspondent. Her latest book is The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers.

The post Does pain have a history? appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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I am one that will hold on tight to my emotions in order to stay in strength, but sometimes, I need some releasing of the dam to maintain balance or mine erupts. Because I’m not a crier easily, I need to jump-start the process. Perhaps, you are the same. Here are my top Crying Resources to allow me to have a good cry, release, and be back in balance. Drum roll please.

Top 5 Crying-starting Resources:

1. Watch the finales of any competition reality show. I just watched Robert win Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge (spoiler alert) and the tears flowed in happiness for the guy. It’s wonderful watching someone’s hard work pay off and dream come true. This is a good cathartic cry that is unchallenging and doesn’t push too many buttons. 
2. Watch more television. Last night I watched a marathon of Pretty Little Liars and witnessed the usually perfectly-attired and made-up actresses fall apart by wearing mis-matched clothing and minimal makeup while their sanity and lives fell apart. I cried along with them in unison but this cry brought up pass pain to release, and should be monitored to avoid going down roads that are unhelpful and unnecessary to the therapeutic process.
3. I read an article today in the Facebook Feed about a local puppy that is in the hospital after being thrown from a car window. This was an ugly, torturous cry. I felt so deeply for this baby and anger for those who hurt it, and a deep sadness for the state of humanity. This is a tough cry that should only be tackled on courageous days you can handle it, otherwise, to be avoided. 
4. Sappy feel-good movies such as Field of Dreams are perfect for feeling better about life in general and experiencing a really healthy cry. Best antidote after reading Facebook feed puppy stories. Look for movies that you know will end happy. We don’t want surprise twist endings here. AVOID movies like the current one in the theaters where everyone is dying. The Titantic is about a sinking ship. You know that one won’t fare well. Use your common sense here.
5. There are good spontaneous cries when someone gives you a hug when you need it, or says something so perfect that you feel seen and validated. These cries can’t be arranged, but fall under really good release cries. Increase these any time you can.

Well, there’s my recommendations. What’s yours? Or, are you the type of crier who needs no help?

The Magic Word 4.5 STARS Elizabeth discovers she has no friends when no one wants to come to her birthday party.  Elizabeth does not understand why she has no friends until she talks to her mom.  Mom suggests Elizabeth learn to be more considerate of her classmates and teacher, and to learn to use the [...]

Parents are sometimes confused and it becomes so hard for them to find out the real cause of the crying. It is quite normal for babes to cry if they are hungry or if they are uncomfortable or of they are sick. They may even cry for getting the parents attention. 

Well, crying is the only weapon that the kids have for grabbing your attention.  This is the only means of communication by which they can talk to you. 

Why babes cry? Hunger is the most common cause for a babes’ crying. Once the mother starts feeding, you can see the difference — the babes stop crying. If the child continues crying even after feeding, then there is some other reason.

The babes may cry if it is not comfortable with the dress. Sometimes the dress could be tight or irritating. May be the diapers are wet and it can irritate the babe.

There is also a possibility that the kid may be feeling too hot or too cold. Make the babe comfortable by providing the right temperature. The babe may also cry if it has a poor digestion.

These may be some of the physical discomforts that make a babe cry. But it is not just physical discomfort that makes your babe yell out. If your babe feels that you are not giving much attention, then it is quite natural for your babe to yell out to reach your attention.

Parents are sometimes confused and it becomes so hard for them to find out the real cause of the crying. It is quite normal for babes to cry if they are hungry or if they are uncomfortable or of they are sick. They may even cry for getting the parents attention. 

Well, crying is the only weapon that the kids have for grabbing your attention.  This is the only means of communication by which they can talk to you. 

Why babes cry? Hunger is the most common cause for a babes’ crying. Once the mother starts feeding, you can see the difference — the babes stop crying. If the child continues crying even after feeding, then there is some other reason.

The babes may cry if it is not comfortable with the dress. Sometimes the dress could be tight or irritating. May be the diapers are wet and it can irritate the babe.

There is also a possibility that the kid may be feeling too hot or too cold. Make the babe comfortable by providing the right temperature. The babe may also cry if it has a poor digestion.

These may be some of the physical discomforts that make a babe cry. But it is not just physical discomfort that makes your babe yell out. If your babe feels that you are not giving much attention, then it is quite natural for your babe to yell out to reach your attention.

The Intelligent Movement Machine: An Ethological Perspective on the Primate Motor System is a clearly written history of motor cortex research from its discovery to the present, a discussion of the major issues in motor cortex research, and an account of recent experiments that led to the “action map” view. Michael Graziano, the author, has spent his formative research years at Princeton University, focusing on the sensory guidance of movement. In the excerpt below Graziano looks at the act of crying.

The act of crying, more than any other human social behavior, looks like  simulation of a defensive reaction.  the behavior under discussion here is not a distress call such as many animals including humans make, or the wailing of a human infant that presumably falls into the category of a distress call.  Instead the behavior under discussion is a squinting of the eyes, an excretion of tears, a lifting of the upper lip that results in an upward bunching of the cheeks toward the eyes, a ducking of the head, a shrugging of the shoulders, a forward curving of the torso, a flexion of the hips and knees, a pulling of the arms across the torso or upward over the face, and sharp vocal exhalation.  These components point-for-point resemble or are an exaggeration of an extreme defensive reaction.

It is interesting that the components of crying resemble the components of extreme laughter so closely that it is mainly social context that allows humans to distinguish the two states.  This bizarre similarity between two social displays that have apparently opposite meaning was noted at least as far back as Homer, who, in The Odyssey, famously compared the laughter of a group of men to the crying they were about to do on being killed by Odysseus.

This similarity between crying and laughing suggests a further speculation.  Crying could plausibly be an evolutionary modification of tickle-evoked laughter.  In the hypothesis…tickle-evoked laughter evolved from play fighting in which a strong defensive reaction broadcasts that one animal has succeeded in penetration the defenses of another animal and has contracted a vulnerable body part.  The signal is not all-or-nothing.  It is a graded signal, in which a stronger or more intense signal is evoked by a greater degree of violation of personal space.  An extreme signal suggests such violation of personal space that injury may have occurred. In a play fight, injury is clearly not an adaptive goal to either participant.  An extreme defensive reaction could serve as a useful signal for the fight to stop and the winner to comfort the loser, to reestablish social amity.  Because of its adaptive value, the signal is therefore put under evolutionary pressure.  Two kinds of adaptations are expected.  First, it would be adaptive for humans to evolve a strong and immediate response to the signal that includes comforting and providing help to the person whom one has accidentally injured.  In this way, useful social amity is preserved.  Second, it would be adaptive for humans to exploit the signal, using it to gain comfort and help even outside the context of play fight and from individual who were not responsible for the injury.  The hypothesis proposed here, therefore, is not that crying is an extreme form of tickle-evoked laughter, but that it is an evolutionary modification of tickle-evoked laughter.  The signal has taken on its own role but physically retains its resemblance to its close ancestor, the tickle-evoked laughter.

Prey by Lurlene McDaniel

Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 208
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (February 12, 2008)




Thus far, I've only reviewed books that I've really liked, so you may be thinking, "does Jill like every book she reads?" Of course not. I've read plenty of children's books I don't like but have decided not to review them because I really didn't think I had much to say except that they were just okay. I lead a team of writers at a communications firm and know how important it is to give constructive feedback to help writers grow. As a writer myself, I know what it feels like to receive wishy-washy, vague feedback. I need to know what needs work so I can improve, make it the best piece possible, and apply the same lessons to my next piece. So, in my opinion, if I read a book and don't have something constructive to say except I didn't like it, that's a useless review. That's why up until now I've intentionally chosen not to review books about which I had mixed feelings.

Last weekend, I read Lurlene McDaniel's new Young Adult novel, Prey, and I DO have something constructive (at least I think so) to say about it. It's a story about a female high school history teacher, Ms. Lori Settles who seduces her teenage student, Ryan Piccoli. We seem to be obsessed with real-life cases like this in this country. Probably the most infamous of these teachers is Mary Kay Letourneau who had two children with her teenage student and ended up marrying him when she finished her jail sentence. And then the 25-year-old teacher Kelsey Peterson made national news back in November when she was caught in Mexico with her 14-year-old student. As a former teacher myself, I am incredulous when I hear stories like this. Questions run through my head: Why would someone in such a professional and influential position do this? What was she thinking? What happened to this woman that would cause her to act this way?

I was naturally intrigued when I received a review copy of Prey. Perhaps this would answer some of my questions and get more into the head of these female predators. Prey alternates between the point of view of three characters: Ryan, Ms. Settles, and Honey, Ryan's longtime friend who is secretly in love with him.

The book gets off to a promising start. We learn from the very beginning that Ryan is intentionally Lori's target. From the very first day of school, she knows that, "he'll be the One" (p. 15). Upon reading this, I felt a chill and was eager to continue reading. However, I felt the seduction happened way too quickly, and Ryan's situation didn't seem realistic. His father is a traveling salesman and is out of town four days of the week. A housekeeper cleans the house, but doesn't live there and hardly pays any attention to Ryan when she is there. It almost seems too easy for Lori to manipulate him and too easy for them to get together.

Writing in first person is challenging and probably one of the most difficult tasks to pull off well. Successfully writing from the first person point of view of multiple characters is extremely difficult (I'm thinking of Faulkner here, who I believe was a master at this). I applaud McDaniel for taking a risk here. I was interested in the relationship between Honey and Ryan and then Ryan and Lori, but McDaniel never really went deep enough with the characters. While Honey's character was needed to describe Ryan's friend's and family's concern about his sudden change in behavior, I often felt she was just an aside, an interrupter of sorts, especially when her chapters disrupted the flow and momentum of the novel.

In addition, at some points, McDaniel didn't seem to capture the teenage voice in a believable way. For example, at one point in novel, Ryan hears that a coach at the school has been asking Lori out. When Lori picks him up for a tryst, he confronts her. Here's how he describes his feelings to the reader, "Rain is pelting the windows, sluicing in long noisy rivers along the glass, like a knife cutting through my heart. The windows are fogged, moist from our breath and the heat of anger. Hot wetness swells behind my eyes. I'm acting like a jerk, but I can't help myself. I have to know the truth about her and Coach" (p. 76).

To me, language like this coming from a 15/16 year old seems inauthentic, while at other times, he's completely thinking like a teenage boy. McDaniel did, however, make Lori Settles seem to be the most authentic and consistent of the characters. We see what's going on in her mind, what makes her tick, and her deliberate plot to seduce him.

Oh, and let me address the white elephant in the room: how were the sexual encounters portrayed? McDaniel tastefully describes the seduction and subsequent encounters. Without going into detail, she leaves much to the imagination and doesn't get too graphic. But don't get me wrong--we are talking about a teacher having sex with a teenage boy. It's in the book, but I was never shocked or offended or thought McDaniel went too far. Given the sensitive subject matter, I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you think it's appropriate for your teen, and I would only recommend this for teens.

Overall, Prey was a good story on surface level, but it lacked the depth, consistency, and authenticity that would have made it a great story. McDaniel herself admits in the author's note that this is not typical of her writing, and I commend her for stepping outside of her comfort zone. I also admire her for addressing such a serious issue and hope that teenagers who read the book will be able to spot the warning signs if their friends start to behave differently and secretively.