REFLECTION JOURNAL 4 - INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

   Adoption is a preferred way of having children for the people who cannot have one due to biological problems or want to take care of a child who is destitute.

   The reasons for why I want to write about this topic is mainly because the children are the most important component of a society and should never be abused no matter what the reason is! We should never violate their rights and be sensitive to any case which are likely to harm them.

   Adopting a child is regarded as a heartily act by many people, but the case is not the same in some adoptions. Countries such as China, Russia, Guatemala and Vietnamese, which are overpopulated or underdeveloped, were once the large source of foreign adoptions. However, these countries decided to put an end to their inter-country adoption agreements, because unignorable number of children had been abused or tyrannized by their adoptive parents. The people in the United States, Spain, France and Canada, receiving the most children, are looking for different countries and new ways to have kids , because children-giving countries made things really difficult for people who want to adopt children. They have brought new criteria to be met by adoptive parents such as being married more than 2 years, heterosexual, not divorced, under 50, not overweight and earning more than $80,000 a year.

   There are 3 main reasons for why the countries are reluctant to give their children up for adoption:  Firstly, they fear that these children will suffer without the knowledge of their indigenous culture, but some say that this reason is a pretense for falling birthrates, higher standards of living, higher infertility, and the increasing national honour in the countries which give up their children to be adopted. It sounds to be a rational excuse, because if a family has no reason to give away their children, why would they do that ? Secondly, it is discovered in the reports that 14 Russian children had been murdered by their adopter since the 1990s. After learning it, Russian government put a passing end to international adoptions. Maybe, it would not attract that much attention if these kids were killed within the country by Russian parents; however governments have defensive attitudes towards foreign countries.  As a result, we can say that international adoption is a relatively  better way of finding out the adoption-related problems compared to the domestic adoptions. The last reason for decreasing number of international adoptions is the baby-selling and corruptions in adopting a child. These illegal actions took place in Vietnamese. People who wanted to make use of the increasing interest in a dopting a child from Vietnamese forced poor parents to sell their children by suggesting that they would not be able to provide the necessary resources for the children. Within the hands of malicious humans ,such a blessed act like adopting a child has been misused. The government took precautions , and ended child- adoption agreement with the United States.

All in all, giving a child to someone else is an issue to be handled with an utmost care whether it is within or outside the country borders. Evil-minded people should be kept off from the circle of such a blameless act.

REFLECTION JOURNAL 3 - FREE MEN'S DREAMLAND-THE NETHERLANDS

   

   Have you ever dreamed of a country in which one can live without restrictions and does not have to limit him/herself  within the society’s borders. Maybe, you think that there is not a country which provides justice, freedom and felicity for its people. However, The Netherlands is really good at satisfying a citizen’s needs in many aspects. I have been to The Netherlands once and realized that it is a country which does not classify humans and enable people to live in tranquility; therefore, I decided to spend more time there and applied for Erasmus Exchange Program. Thankfully, I got the chance to study in one of the most prominent universities of Europe and will be there for 5 months next semester. I want to tell you about this small, pretty and strategically significant country which is an important part of Europe.

   The country consists of 12 provinces in Northwest Europe and 3 islands in the Carribean. The Netherlands is mostly known as ‘Holland’ in the world, but this name represents only North and South Holland which are just 2 provinces in the whole country. The country hosts one of the biggest seaports in the world, called Rotterdam Harbour. The Netherlands  has a long borderline in the North Sea cost, and the large part of the land is below sea level. Almost all the land in the country is flat. This situation enables people to use bicycles as a means of transportation. Biking is a common way of getting to somewhere in the country; wherefore, a person has at least 2 bicycles.

   The people of this country is called ‘The Dutch’. Dutch people are known as the longest peoples in the world . Surprisingly, my host family’s daughter was 3 years younger  yet  10  centimeters  longer than me.  Netherlanders are blonde, well-built and very friendly people. Contrary to the common belief that cold countries’ people are not easy to get along well with, Dutch people are the perfect match to spend time and have fun together.

   The Dutch Language is among the Germanic Languages and is similar to both English and German. The language is spoken gutturally, and it feels really weird J

   The Netherlans is commonly famous as a country in which gays and lesbians can marry, narcotic drugs are sold without legal restrictions. Moreover, it has a non-stop nightlife. However, in contrast to what Turkish people think, the country has a very orderly social and cultural life. In short, freedom is not misused.

   To sum up, The Netherlands is a marvellous country in all aspects. There are many more things to be told about my favourite land, but it is better to go and experience it personally. I exhort you to visit if you ever get the chance ! J

REFLECTION JOURNAL 2 - COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL DİSORDERS AND SYNDROMES

Living in a metropolitan area has drawbacks as well as advantages. We spent most of the days trying to get to somewhere on time, fulfilling our responsibilities and allocating some time for our family and friends. In this busy schedule, we forget to take care of ourselves; thus, we cannot realize the changes within ourselves. Due to this exhausting life style we may come down with some psychological problems which should be taken and handled seriously.  Otherwise, irreversible mental disorders will be waiting for us. Here are the  6 most common of these disorders and syndromes, I researched them thoroughly. I hope you will enjoy and be aware !

•                 Obsessive – Compulsive Disorder

This disorder causes intrusive thoughts and uneasiness in patients’ minds. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder have thoughts which recur and persist in spite of the struggles to ignore and counteract them. For instance, compulsive people wash their hands very often thinking that every object around them is filthy or they pass the same road many times ( more than 10) , because they develop an obsession for a thing on the road. The examples can be multiplied, but the essence of the disorder is the same : Refractory and alarming thoughts occupy and exhaust patients’ minds irritatingly. The causes are both psychological and biological.

•                Borderline Personality Disorder

This disorder is characterized by unusual variability and depth of moods of the individual. People with this disorder have changing personalities; thus, unstable interpersonal relationships. They might be feeling sad and worthless while feeling successful, happy and worthy beforehands. They might praise you highly in one second and humiliate disgrace in another. The reason for this disorder is mostly genetic , but how the patient was treated in childhood and adolescence plays an important role, as well.

•    Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Dysmorphophobia  is a disorder in which the patient is excessively concerned with his/her physical

appearance. They find their body defected in one or more features. The distress caused by thinking too much about the body and appearance impairs occupational and social functioning of the individual. This disorder co-occurs with depression, anxiety and social isolation. The reason for this problem is different for each person; however, it, generally, stems from mental and physical abuse or emotional neglect.

•                 Excessive Empathy Syndrome

In psychology, empathy is defined as putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. However, in colloquial

language, it is described as taking other people’s ideas and beliefs important more than necessary; thus and so, someone else’s ideas affect the individual’s decisions and life style. A person with excessive empathy problem does not consider what he/she thinks and believes, and shapes his/her life according to others’ desires. Selfishness is in the minimum level with such people, which is an unwanted feature in a psychologically healthy person. These people do so to comfort  themselves, they think that anything that is performed with good intentions will please other people and will make them impossible to accuse of any action. The reason for this syndrome is the immaturity of the individuals both in character and social life. They do not have the ‘self’ notion and are exposed to neighborhood pressure for a long time.

•              Monday Syndrome

People who work or study under tiring conditions find it hard to start a new week after a lovely and peaceful weekend. No matter how nice the weekends seem, they convert these days into awful times. They cannot enjoy the moment, because they are deeply occupied with thinking  'the moment'.