Psychology

     The human mind is a mysterious and fascinating place. It’s filled with your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and memories. There are 86,400 seconds in a twenty-four hour day, and the human mind has a different thought every 1.2 seconds. That’s about 72,000 thoughts a day; 504,000 thoughts a week; and a grand total of 26, 280,000 thoughts a year. The point is your brain is a busy, busy place.

     It’s no wonder why neurologists, psychologists, and all sorts of other doctors and scientists are so transfixed on the brain. There are so many unanswered questions. One doctor stated at a college seminar, “Psychology, at large, is practically in the leech stage compared to most modern medicine.”

     Mental illnesses are hard to deal with, whether you are a victim of one or have a close friend or family member suffering. They vary from depression to autism to schizophrenia, and all of them have different degrees and cases. No two people have brains that are exactly alike.

     The current prevalence estimate is that about twenty percent of the U.S. population is affected by mental illness during a given year. The surveys predict that during a one year period, about twenty to twenty-three percent of the adult population -around forty-four million people- have diagnosable depression.

     These statistics are rapidly increasing and theories on why are mainly based off of the economy. On October 29, 1929, the United States stock market crashed, leading to ten long devastating years you know as The Great Depression. In 1931, just two years into it, 20,000 people committed suicide from depression. In recent years, starting around 2004, our stock market began to drop yet again. Much like The Great Depression, suicides caused from stress went up by thirty percent.

     Pharmaceutical companies saw the pattern and basically pounced on the opportunity. The average pharmaceutical company makes anywhere between forty to ninety million dollars in gross profit a year on antidepressants alone. Most of these are drugs that doctors aren’t even quite sure what exactly are in them or why they help you. A calculated 2,000 people die each day in the U.S. from using their antidepressant by their doctor’s orders.

     It’s not entirely the doctor’s fault though. We just simply do not understand the functions of the human brain, let alone the malfunctions. It is going to take years of hard work and clinical studies to figure out how the brain works, and ultimately to fix one that isn’t working quite right. Thousands of doctors and scientists are working hard on this study, and maybe someday there will be answers to the millions of questions about the human brain.
Hannah Wiltshire

Things Freshmen Need to Know

     This one goes out to all the freshman out there. Keep your grades up, care about your GPA, this year is important whether you like it or not so just do your work. You all need to focus on your school work and not on your lives, no one will care what happened here 20 years from now, but the employers will, so if you just have no life or friends now, you’ll be wealthy later and America will love you. Something else you should know, homecoming is a waste of money. It’s crowded, smelly, and very hormonal unless you’re into that, then go for it. You can get into some clubs too, they’re okay, but you have to stay after school though, which is okay, if you’re into that. Also know that upper classmen are nothing to fear, they’re people too. Most importantly act half decent so you don’t regret acting really dumb a few years from now, this is Riverbend High School, not Zooville. So keep up the grades, have no life, support your school, and you’re worth the wait.

David Evans, Staff Writer

Vuvuzelas at Football Games

     I’m all for being spirited at the football games, but the way people play vuvuzelas right next to the marching band is plain disrespectful. Vuvuzelas became popular at the World Cup a little over a year ago. I’m glad I had a mute button, when I was watching that. There is no mute button at the football games, so I’m forced to listen to the constant buzzing sound.

     The vuvuzelas constantly drain out the marching band. The marching band has learned a lot of cool new songs like “All I Do Is Win” and other modern songs. They also practice a lot, so when you play louder than them, it just makes everything that they’ve worked for nearly pointless.

     It appears that the spirit group with the vuvuzelas also controls the cheerleaders. They overpower cheerleaders and the marching band when they play so loudly. Cheerleaders are supposed to get the crowd and the players excited for the game. Vuvuzelas do just the opposite.

     Also, vuvuzelas are just annoying to the general crowd. When people go to a football game, they don’t want to hear buzzing the whole time. People might want to hear the announcer. Sometimes “first down” and “touchdown” are confused because of the vuvuzelas and other loud noises.

     I don’t understand why people would want to play those instruments in the first place. People should play instruments that actually sound good. Music is supposed to be entertainment, but there’s nothing entertaining about bees.  

     People should quit playing vuvuzelas at football games, and, if necessary, someone should make a rule that doesn’t allow people to. 

Shannon Becker, Staff Writer

Bullying

     When asked, many people only remember the cruelty and painful memories from high school. They remember the bullying they received at the hands of students who thought they were better, or above their victim. They remember the cruel words, the beatings, and their own acceptance to what the bully says. Teenage bullying has, and is, an epidemic in high schools and even beyond. A bully’s main focus is on making someone else feel inadequate, or belittling someone else. Bullying includes harassment, physical harm, repeatedly putting another down with your words and actions. Bullying is unfortunately an active part of our community and it is important to realize that there are different kinds of bullying; the obvious one physical and the others that aren’t always seen or heard, verbal, emotional and cyber.   

     Bullying and teenage suicide have been all too often linked together. Suicide is in the running as the leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. But what about those who are unsuccessful; according to the 2010 bullying statistics, for every suicide there is at least 100 suicide attempts to follow. A study in Britain Bully victims found that those who have received bullying are between two to nine times more likely to think about committing suicide than non-victims, and that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying. Statistics reported by ABC News then showed that nearly thirty percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying. This is an un-acceptable number, and students should never be afraid to go to school.

     Spotsylvania County cries out for this harassment to stop. In Riverbend High School alone, a student will find an anti bullying poster in every room. On top of that, newer and stricter rules have been put in order to stomp out these bullies. Bullying is a major problem and should never be taken lightly. In Spotsylvania County the Sheriff’s department has come up with a number students can text to anonymously report their bully. In order to use this you must open up a new text and in the TO window type, 274637(Crimes) and hit ok. In the text window type: SEE911, this is very important, this must be at the beginning of your text or it will not go through. In the same text window, type your details of the tip, (do not include your contact information or name). This will always remain anonymous, and no one will ever know who turned in the bully.

     If you are a victim of a bully then you need to know, you do not have to go through anything alone. Talk to your friends, parents, teachers, counselors, even your schools resource officers. No one will turn their back to you and this problem will be fixed immediately. Stand up and speak out.  

Jessica Cooper, Staff Writer