Abnormal Psychology Abuse, Addiction, Disorders Free Essays

Psychological Disorder Analysis ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY: ABUSE, ADDICTION, DISORDERS Psy 270 Jalisa Cooper February 4, 2012 Final paper Psychological Disorder Analysis Psychological disorders can be very debilitating for those who suffer from them. Psychological disorders affect a person’s ability to function normally in their daily lives. In regards to the case study of Nicole the patient Nicole is a 40-year-old Hispanic female who comes to the mental health clinical complaining of trouble sleeping, feeling â€Å"jumpy† all of the time, and experiencing an inability to concentrate. We will write a custom essay sample on Abnormal Psychology: Abuse, Addiction, Disorders or any similar topic only for you Order Now These symptoms are causing problems for her at work, where she is a finance manager. Though the information in regards to Nicole is very limited and difficult to analyze, however the symptoms suggest that Nicole may be suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be difficult to diagnose and the symptoms are often unrecognizable. Posttraumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder which can develop from having experienced a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Like many anxiety disorder they may cause jumpy and sleepless behavior depending on the anxiety disorder the individual may have. Traumatic disorders can be triggered by stress or any other event that may cause the individual to develop anxiety related symptoms. A traumatic event might be military combat experience, violent personal attacks, or even car accidents. Post-traumatic disorders can be triggered by something in their past that be generated from something major or insignificant. While Nicole’s profile within the case study does not state the existence of a traumatic event throughout her past or present life, however I can only assume that she many have experienced something in her past that may have been triggered by stress at work or another aspect in her life. It is common for the individual to withhold this information as it may be extremely difficult for them to relive the event because it may be too traumatic. Victims that may have experienced an event such as rape or car accident resulting in death or severe injuries may not experience symptoms at the moment of the event however they may develop symptoms shortly or later after the event once it is triggered by stress or other traumatic events. Being that the case study did not present a in depth history on Nicole I would attempt to gather information form the patient such as â€Å"Have you experienced a traumatic event recently or in your past? † This would be to gather information about the patient to that I can pin point the origin of what is causing her symptoms. The case study regarding Nicole mentions that she is a 40-year old woman that is suffering from a great deal of symptoms. According to the Demographics of â€Å"Faces of Abnormal Psychology Interactive: for Post-traumatic stress disorder†, middle age adults are more adversely affected than older and younger adults. In addition she is a Hispanic woman meaning for whatever disorder it is important to take into consideration her culture in treating her conditions. The DSM-IV states one of the criteria of Post-traumatic stress disorder is increased levels of arousal including insomnia, irritability, and hyper vigilance. People with these disorders may feel overly alert, be easily startled, develop sleep problems, and have trouble concentrating† (Comer, 2005). When suffering from PTSD and individual may begin to display symptoms of avoidance of any stimuli that is in anyway related or associated with the traumatic event. These methods many even include avoidance of thoughts, feelings and activities associated with are resemble the event. As stated in the case study Nicole mentioned that she is having complications with getting to sleep or in general getting the significant amount of sleep needed to maintain her energy level throughout the day. Through her lack of sleep she is experiencing difficulty concentrating at her work facility, where her position requires a focused mind and attentiveness. She also experiences the feeling of being jumpy frequently throughout the day which relates to being easily startled or paranoid due to a past experience in relation to her current stress levels. She may have experienced something in her past that is being stimulated by her events she participate in during the day causing her to flash back to that moment and relive this event. It is common for individuals that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder to experience a sequence of involuntary flashbacks through thoughts and even dreams, which may also be an additional reason for Nicole’s lack of rest during the night. She may be involuntarily reliving her traumatic experience due to stress in her life preventing her to obtain the proper rest that she needs to function at work. The case study failed to explain her social life and the relationships she may have with others thus it does explain her detachment to her work assignments and her lack of focus to stay on task. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms reflect emotional detachment from friends and family causing them to be unable to express loving feelings for them. Post- traumatic stress disorder individuals become hyper-vigilant which could cause them to become chronically un-alert to the things and events around them rendering them unresponsive. Which is another symptom that Nicole the case study patient displays throughout her explanation of her working abilities, she displays a lack of concentration to the tasks at hand and jumpy feeling all the time. Those that suffer from this disorder may often become startled easily and suffer from difficulty of sleeplessness. Those individuals with PTSD often develop other disorder such as depression; substance related disorders as well as anxiety disorders. Meaning those that suffer from severe Post-traumatic stress disorders may often result to substance abuse and may of their symptoms may be influenced by the usage of these substances causing their condition to seem more extreme. As well as depression and anxiety disorders can in addition contribute to the symptoms PTSD raising the impact of each symptom to a higher level depending on the severity of each disorder. Many times individuals are misdiagnosed because of the commonality of symptoms between disorders. Studies have shown that 60% of adult men today have experience a traumatic even, whereas 51% of adult women have experience a traumatic event at least once in their life. It is common for many individuals that experience traumatic events sometime throughout their life to not be affected by these events. Of 50% of American that experience a traumatic event of any kind, only approximately 8% of them eventually experience Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms later in life. It is suggested that each event is different in their own way as well as has different impacts on each individual. There are factors that predict ones vulnerability of Post-traumatic stress disorder which would revolve around the nature of the event the individual experienced. The DSM-IV states the severity of the traumatic event in one of the leading factors that help predict whether an individual may be susceptible to later suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder. The severe traumatic events that are more likely to induce PTSD are the events that are prolonged traumas that often affect ones family or self directly. Secondly the more likely trauma suffer that was experiencing pre-existing anxiety symptoms long before the severe traumatic event occurred is more likely to later develop Post- traumatic stress disorder symptoms. This is because the individual has already reached a point in their life that cause them to become worrisome making them unable to handle the pressures of a traumatic event of severe magnitude without having and episodes. These individuals are unstable to cope with whatever change this event has brought on causing them to develop additional anxiety disorders. Those individuals that have a history of mental illness are way more likely to experience PTSD symptoms. Third the individuals coping techniques play a large role in ones predictability of developing symptoms of PTSD. Traumatic events can take a toll on anyone and any magnitude of the event however ones predictability of developing PTSD is based on ones ability to cope with the tragic event. The individuals that lack the ability to move past the event often fall victim to this disorder. Those that dwell on the details of the event are at higher risk as well as those who refuse to discuss the events at all cost. Some events such as witness to death, accidents resulting in death and disastrous events could cause one to reframe communicating and expressing their feelings about the events. By reframing from acknowledging such event has occurred I could cause a mental break. Finally support is an important factor when it comes to dealing with traumatic events much like any other disorder. Those that have a lack of support from friends, family, counseling or event therapy tend to be more susceptible to the developing the symptoms of PTSD. The lack of a support network is does not allow the individual to express their problems to someone that can understand or relate. And sufferer of a post-traumatic event needs to be able to reflect and vent some other emotions to someone close. They have to be a be to feel the support and encouragement of loved ones to keep them motivated to work through whatever they are experiencing. There have been a set of therapies to design to address this disorder to properly treat the symptoms. The three primary goals in theory are reducing the individual’s fear of provoking stimuli. This means that therapy will assist the individual in reducing the fear or unwillingness to address and confront activities and thoughts that trigger the traumatic event. Secondly, assisting the patient in modifying counterproductive thoughts, and lastly reducing stress are method used in therapy to assist the patient progress pass this event. The method of be reducing the individual’s fear of provoking stimuli are done through systematic desensitization, which is when an individual unlearns their fear thus reversing the classical conditioning process and eliminating the cause of them requiring the fear initially. The first phase is relaxation training of each muscle in the body while allowing the patient to then trained to calm themselves. The second phase is list of fear provoking stimuli descending from least threating and uncomfortable to more threating fears. The third phase us the desensitization phase where the patient is slightly provoke to introduce those thoughts or stimuli while remaining calm. It is often done through imagined stimuli and then they may introduce actual stimuli to the patient. In addition to this method therapist may use cognitive techniques which challenge ones irrational beliefs and unhealthy thoughts. Reference Comer, R. J. (2005). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (4th ed. ). New York: Worth. Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology Faces of Abnormal Psychology Interactive application at the McGraw Hill Higher Education Web site: http://www. mhhe. com/socscience/psychology/faces/http://www. mhhe. com/socscience/psychology/faces/# Melinda Smith, M. A. , and Jeanne Segal, Ph. D. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT, AND SELF-HELP, (2011), Retrieved February 4, 2012, http://www. helpguide. org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment. htm Resources: Appendix A, Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, and the Faces of Abnormal Psychology Interactive application at the McGraw Hill Higher Education Web How to cite Abnormal Psychology: Abuse, Addiction, Disorders, Essay examples

Options and Futures Trading free essay sample

This paper describes a research study conducted for the purpose of becoming familiar with options trading. This paper describes a project conducted for the purpose of gaining experience in the area of options and futures trading. The TJX Corporation was chosen for study, and values and indexes of its stock during the period from 2/11/2002 to 5/10/2002 were examined and analyzed. Predictions for future trends are made. The purpose of this project was to become familiar with options trading. Options offer an excellent opportunity for small funded investors to buy stocks that they normally would not have been able to due to funding, while minimizing their risk at the same time. Options trading reacts much differently in a bear market. For the purposes of this study, all options chosen were in a general uptrend. It may be noted that TJX was in a bull trend during the dates of the study, but immediately after turned into a bear trend. We will write a custom essay sample on Options and Futures Trading or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This may effect the accuracy of my future trend predictions, as compared to the actual. All options in this study had an exercise date of June 20, 2002.

Future Energy free essay sample

The question is: Can we control it completely? This question is not only for some people or some groups; the /a specific government (or governments? as with your other essays on this topic, be clear about what you mean. Are you thinking about one specific government? Governments in general? ) should consider their citizens and, even every single species living on this planet. Apparently, some countriesy could not dominate nuclear power so that tragedy was happened and severely affected on millions of people. For this reason, I think government (again, be clear – one specific government? Governments in general? should replace nuclear power by alternatives such as solar electrical energy ? Is this supposed to be here? generation and wind electric power generation. Sustainabilityle is the most important index for every type of energy resource. People argues that nuclear is the most sustainable energy resource they have. The fuel of nuclear power cost that uranium and plutonium is the precious metals in the nature (? It is not clear what you mean here). We will write a custom essay sample on Future Energy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But people who support nuclear power seems to have ignored the fact that the storage of precious metals is very low; it has some day that exhaust from the Earth (awkward – perhaps â€Å"will some day be exhausted from the earth†? ). People know that wind energy and solar energy all have been exploited (this is really the heart of your argument in this paragraph, but this part of the sentence is not clear. What do you mean they have been exploited? This sounds like a negative thing, not a positive thing as you argument should suggest. ). The fuel cost of those two energy resources is zero. They are enduring energy resources, unless the sun disappears from sky and the Earth stops revolving. Spinning. So for the issue of resources (you started the paragraph with the idea of sustainability. It would be a good idea to end your argument in this paragraph with that as well. ), solar energy (what about wind energy? ) is better than nuclear power. Other than sustainabilityle, the cost of running and maintaining a nuclear power plant is the important point that people find? interesting. For every power plant, people will spend money on planning, designing, constructing, running, maintaining it. Every single step in this process will cost amount of money to make sure the plant will works well. And the cost of materials and cost of maintenance is the significant chunk of the whole cost (what is the cost comparison? Do you have some statistics/figures that support your argument here? ). People (who are these people you keep writing about? Do you have some support from experts on this topic that you could bring into your argument? ) are saying that traditional electric plants will cost too much money on materials and maintenance. So they think nuclear power plant is the best choice for finance. For nuclear power plant, it will cost only less than a hundred tons of nuclear material for every year; nevertheless, the cost of designing and planning a nuclear power plant is much higher than traditional electric plant. It cost huge number of money on safety, but it still does not work well. However, for solar electrical energy generation and wind electric power generation, it cosst much less on designing and constructing than nuclear power plants, even none on fuels. I suggest government to calculate the price-performance ratio of setting a plant. O. k. Good suggestion, but what is the cost comparison? How do you know that these differences in cost exist? For every factory or plant, people always focus on how its productivity is. But the hot potato of pollution is getting more necessary (? I am not sure what you mean here). They might think more about how much discharges will it waste and how to dispose of those discharge more thoroughly. It has been argued that the most important advantage of nuclear power plant is its low discharging. And people who holding this opinion think nuclear power plants are very eco-friendly for environment. They contend that there is no gaseous pollutants discharge from nuclear power plants. But we can not ignore that the nuclear radiation from nuclear power plant waste is much more dangerous than gaseous pollutants that very harmful for the human and the nature. For the human body, when the radiation value get overtakes more thanthe threshold, it will damage the tissue in the body. People still haves no effective method to dispose of the Radioactive Nuclear Waste that all this three method can not restrain the radiation come out (? this is unclear). It will damage the soil and the ocean andthat threatens the other species. Even today, the nuclear radiation from Chernobyl disaster continues to influence on the soil and water. Ukraine has millions of victims affected by this accident. And now, some of them died by cancer, some of them are still living under the shadow of the Chernobyl disaster. Nevertheless, there is no problem on discharge of solar electrical energy generation and wind electric power generation. (you need to say more about this – give more of a comparison in order to make your argument stronger. So I am highly recommending that government should consider the future of human race. In conclusion, people who support nuclear power strongly are holding strong reasons (â€Å"have good reasons†? So that you don;t repeat strong). But it is not suitable for nowadays anymore. People should learn to embrace new technology to replace the old one. The Government should use new energies to make sure people’s life can be proceeding and secure, and human race can be inherit prosperous. As Meador (1978) says: â€Å"There is no way to know absolutely about the future until we make the journey†. , said by Meador (1978). This is a great way to end, Mike. Mike – You make a number of good points in this essay and you have organized it well. You have all of the elements of a good essay: a clear thesis statement, focused paragraphs with topic sentences and generally good connections between ideas. I have made a number of comments throughout your essay, though, of places where improvements are needed. My main comment is that you need to give more specific examples of the statements that you make. This means: Eliminating your use of â€Å"They† and â€Å"People† to describe those who hold opposite views to yours. These are large generalizations that make it easy for your reader to question the reality of what you are saying. If there are experts who hold these opinions, then be specific about who they are. Use sources and statistics to back up your arguments – I have noted a number of places where you make some statements that are generalizations. These generalizations make your argument weaker than it could be. However, if you use statistics or confirmed facts to back up your generalizations, that would strengthen your argument. Source: You have a source listed at the end of your essay that seems like it might be a good one to support some of your arguments. Why didnt you use more information from this source throughout your essay? Mark: 60/100 Reference: Meador, Roy. (1978). Future Energy Alternatives. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc. 3, 112. This book talks about energy crisis and why we need energy alternatives. The book shows several types of alternatives such as solar energy, wind energy, bioenergy, peat, heat pumps, and hydrogen energy. Then it gives what are the benefits of those alternatives.

20 Hindsight

20/20 Hindsight Introduction In the daily running in life, people engage in many premeditated and involuntary activities. Most of the impromptu ones that come up require rush and closest to accurate decision making. It is from these that individuals make most mistakes at the end of the day. It may be considered a better way of expressing regret, or just instilling the consolation required to move on, but many call out on 20/20 hindsight bias as a would-be solution to show their best at certain situations considered unsatisfying.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on 20/20 Hindsight specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These situations may be either failures or activities that resulted to unexpected results. The space shuttle Challenger has had space exploration enthusiasts, patriots and ethics specialties among others, succumb to the hindsight bias by speculating all the other positive possibilities were they in the same position as the deci sion making panel on that fateful day. The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Back in 1986, the anticipated launch of The Challenger happened with all the unexpected results. After several rescheduling, the final day of reckoning was set and fixed. The 28th of January 1986 saw the perishing of seven astronauts in a mission viewed live by millions all over the world. 73 seconds into the flight, the shuttle experienced glitches that led to it disintegration in a scenery that many thought to be an explosion. The high-density cameras noticed the first malfunction when they recorded dark smoke coming from the right solid rocket booster. This was about 67 seconds from take off. The next six seconds sealed the fate of the shuttle and its crew. The smoke, upon analysis, was the initial sign that there was not a complete sealing of the relevant joints (Dunbar 2007). Burning of grease, rubber and the O Rings were therefore the cause of this smoke. The O-rings are responsible for preventing hea ted gases from escaping outwards. The Hindsight Bias A closer look back into the events leading to the actual launch would have been enough to change the schedule of the lift-off. I believe that everyone is a specialist in his/her own field. The event was already flocking with aeronautical specialists in form of engineers and weather specialists who, until the actual launch, were still noticing defective conditions. These conditions were unfavorable and I would have respected their observation. Political Crime This was the first problem that encountered the system that was leading the whole project. It is sad to come to a final realization that NASA opted for the faulty design knowingly just to tend to the requirements of some greedy politicians driven by their hunger for power (Oberg 2006). The role of the politicians, according to my view, should be to create the environment required for such projects to take place. The best way of doing this is through enabling of the funds draft ed in the forwarded budget and transferring the monitoring responsibilities to watchdogs and commissions that consist of a panel of specialists in the relevant fields. Since they understand better the procedures taken towards the success of such missions, they present the project progress with more efficiency. Politicians view everything only from a political point of view, which does not end well with such specialists as aeronautical researchers and engineers.Advertising Looking for report on astronomy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Impatience Pays The morning for the scheduled launch was a cold one. The temperatures had dropped to as low as 8oF (Texas AM University (TAMU) 2000). The lowest temperature required for the O Rings to remain functional was 53 oF. Noting this, the organizers should have heard the engineers’ pleas to halt and postpone the launch. The O-rings functionality was compromised at this l evel as no testing on record had proven otherwise. Workplace Ethics Regardless of the environment or nature of work, colleagues working under the same organization are expected to share information as this reduces the misunderstandings that are a result of inadequate information on certain issues. It was realized that Robert Ebeling and Roger Boisjoly, engineers with the contracted Morton-Thiokol, had already identified the problem with the O-rings all through the testing (TAMU 2000). The rings burnt off with every test flight. This led to the two engineer proposing different designs to be adopted into the final design. This new design performed better as it withstood more heat than the previous ones. Their proposal was declined by the NASA panel. Apparently, the management was trying to save on the resources dedicated to the project, and this was not to be the case in the end. The loss incurred, taking into consideration the fact that lives were lost, was way through the billions. Management ought to learn to listen to the lower level workers proposals, as they tend to lead to high-level results so to speak. Safety Precautions We do understand the fact that a stitch in time saves nine. This does not only apply in personal life experiences, but also at our workplaces. As much as management expects utter performance from the employees, â€Å"we vastly underestimate the cost of effective safety precautions† (Yudkowsky 2007). Safety precautions start here. At the Challenger, everything was tested and the defaults corrected. The fact that more were detected did not deter the scheduled launch of the Challenger. When such a risky endeavor is undertaken, I would expect that the final running would be at only optimal conditions. â€Å"Although the ice team had worked on the covering ice, there was still concern from the contractor’s engineers† (AlbertaRose 2010). Also on the same is the fact that the test flights had emergency escape pods built in but these had to be removed from the final shuttle because it filled up on space left out for other devices (Spaceflight Now Inc.).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on 20/20 Hindsight specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fact that NASA ruled out the possibilities of occurrence of problems sometime later into the flight shows that the mission was influenced heavily by the pride of accomplishing it in the management that steered the project. Some suggest that this was a recap of the Titanic all over again. Though they demand extra costs, precautions have proven to save more than they incur to adapt. Conclusion I admit that no one is perfect, but equipped with such information, I believe I would be able to avert the Challenger and grant it the honor it requires in the history books, a victorious one. If only it was possible too, I would direct that politicians fall back to their respective positions and stay away from th e complicated proceedings until when called upon. The fact that most things proceed smoothly to their end when they do not interrupt should not be regarded as a coincidence, but a show of how to get the best from profiled projects. Reference List AlbertaRose 2010. â€Å"Historical Space Accidents: Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster†. Web. Dunbar, B 2007. NASA. STS-51L. Web. Oberg, J 2006. â€Å"7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster†. MSNBC. Web. Spaceflight Now Inc. 2010. â€Å"Challenger timeline†. Web. Texas AM University 2000. â€Å"The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster†. Web.Advertising Looking for report on astronomy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Yudkowsky, E 2007. â€Å"Hindsight bias†. Web.

Responses to the problem Of road accident deaths in Ireland Essay

Responses to the problem Of road accident deaths in Ireland - Essay Example Currently, Ireland has the third highest road and highway fatality deaths throughout the world and much of this has to do with how the law has been regulating the speed limit. The speed for traveling motorists is extremely high and concretes the growing problem of accidents taking place on the highways (RTE News 2006). Furthermore, the research that the National Safety Council has gathered shows that the majority of the problems are necessarily due to any lack of help from law enforcement, but rather from the civilians themselves. Research has proven that if more motorists would be willing to not drink and drive, buckle up, and refrain from speeding there would be far less fatalities on the highways, rural roads, and urban roads within the country of Ireland (RTE News 2006). Queensland Government spent $1.4 million on a media campaign of graphic TV advertisements last April 2006, ahead of the Easter Road Safety period. These advertisements show graphic images of maimed bodies and mangled car wrecks (King, 2006). The speed limit for vehicles towing trailers, caravans, etc.,is 80 km/h (or less where signposted). The speed limit for trucks (over 3.5 tonnes)and single deck buses is 80 km/h (or less where signposted). The speed limit for double deck buses is 65 km/h (Ireland, 2006). Random Breath Testing "Last year in NortThis test is only possible if there has been a road traffic offence, incident or the police suspect that the driver is drunk. FACTS The Positives "Last year in Northern Ireland, there was the lowest death rate in 50 years and certainly a huge amount of that is due to the fact that we did introduce shock advertising in 1994 and we have continued with

How is language influenced and shaped by culture Essay

How is language influenced and shaped by culture - Essay Example Language is important to any culture, and every culture has a language to communicate with. The deaf and the blind to have their own language to communicate with. People have been known to articulate language from the people around us, and those words come from the culture. People get to know much from what they learn through talk since the culture influence the language (Dlaska, 2000). Children who are taken to the boarding school at a young age mostly do not know their cultures. It is because they interact with different children from cultures who come together with a common language for instance they use English in their communications. This is threatening the extinction of other cultures (Dlaska, 2000). Same language at times does not have the same culture, for instance, two countries can use a common language but have different cultures. Many people tend to confuse the sign language especially if they are from different countries for instance in India if someone nods he/she disagree while in other countries it means an

The Work And History Of Green Day Music Essay

The Work And History Of Green Day Music Essay Its something unpredictable, but in the end its right. I hope you had the time of your life. Most people have heard this song on the radio at some point or another as it gets played frequently. This is one of Green Days biggest hits called Good Riddance, from the album Nimrod. Every Green Day fan at some point must have wondered how Green Day went from being a local band filling tiny clubs with a few hundred fans to an international best-selling band filling huge stadiums for their shows. It sure wasnt an easy road. Things were tough in the beginning. They never gave up even though they were hardly making any money for a few years. Green Day had a huge influence on music throughout the 90s, so heres their story. Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972. His father Andy Armstrong played drums in a jazz band and was a truck driver to make money. Five year old Billie Joe began singing in childrens hospitals and old peoples homes to keep them company. He was already developing his musical abilities at such a young age. This marked his entrance into the world of music. Later that year, he recorded his first studio song called Looking for Love. Right before Andy passed away, he bought young Billie a 1956 Fender Stratocaster copy made by Fernandez. This really sparked an interest in the promising musician-to-come. He called this guitar Blue, and he played it till it could be played no more. He really wore this guitar down, and later had copies of it created so he could still use his trademark guitar while playing shows. Next, came along Mike Dirnt on May 4, 1972. His mother was a heroin addict that had separated from his father, so he was adopted soon after birth. He was born with an enlarged mitral valve in his heart, which would cause him to have panic attacks and nervousness later in life. One night, his mother brought home a new guy and he was to be Mikes new step-dad. They never hit it off until Mikes mom moved away. But his sted-dad passed away when Mike was 17, so he moved back in with his mother. Mike was a tall, skinny, energetic kid and was also a class clown. He met Billie Joe in 1983 at school, and the two hit it off because they had a similar sense of humor. They bonded over their love for The Ramones. Mike had been messing around on the guitar, but then switched over to bass. He and Billie Joe wrote their first song together called Best Thing in Town. Both came from very poor families, and they had barely any money to afford records or instruments. The only way for them to hear music w as to play it. So Mike saved up for a bass. Tre Cool was born on December 9, 1972. His dad had flown helicopters in Vietnam. Wanting to get away from civilization, his dad moved them near the town Willets up in the mountains where their closest neighbor was a mile away. Turns out this neighbor would be a huge influence on Tre Cool. Larry Livermore, a punk rock fan, magazine writer, and musician would let Tre Cool hangout at his house and listen to his records. One of Larrys friends had moved to Brazil and left his drum set at Larrys house. Tre Cool started to play it occasionally and became interested in drumming to punk rock right away. Eventually, Larry recruited Tre to play drums and a local named Kain Kong to play bass. They formed the punk band called The Lookouts. They released their debut 12/cassette single, One Planet One People, on Larrys newly created Lookout! Records. They went on to record a few more albums/eps with Tre on drums. During April 1986, a venue was discovered at 924 Gilman Street, which was a run-down industrial area. Many local punks helped clean up the venue and begin turning it into a real venue; not some run-down abandoned building. After passing the health, safety, and fire inspections, it held its very first show on December 31, 1986. This venue quickly became the staple for many punk bands. A lot of punk bands that made it big in the 1990s started playing shows at Gilman Street. One of these bands was the precursor to Green Day, Sweet Children. Sweet Children formed sometime during 1987. It consisted of Billie Joe, Mike, and they recruited a drummer by the name of John Kiffmeyer, aka Al Sobrante. After a few practices, they played their first show in 1987 at the side lounge at Rods Hickory Pit to about 30 friends and a few patrons wondering what the noise was. The show went over well, and Rod sold enough ribs to invite the band back for a second show. Afterwards, they began playing shows wherever there was a power supply- house parties, garages, and at school. It was at one of these shows that the band first met Larry Livermore. Sweet Children played in front of five people, but they played their hearts out which drew Larrys attention. On November 26, 1988, Sweet Children had their first gig at Gilman Street. They were so well-received that they played again on January 1, 1989, and a third time on February 11, 1989, supporting Chrimpshrine at the bands last show ever. They played their fourth show at Gilman in 3 months on February 24, but this time they were second on the bill, as opposed to opening. In early 1989, Sweet Children went into a local studio and recorded four tracks. Displeased with their current name, they played their last show as Sweet Children on April 1, and changed it to Green Day shortly afterwards. The name was inspired by a remark made by the character Ernie on Sesame Street. They released their first single in April 1989 on Lookout! Records. It was entitled 1,000 Hours, and they released in under their new name Green Day. On March 20, 1989, Operation Ivy played their final show and Green Day also played this show as the first with their new name. Billie Joe had enough of home life by 1989, and he moved out to join Mike living in an abandoned building on West 7th and Peralta, located in West Oakland. He also dropped out of school on February 16, 1990; the day before his 18th birthday. This was a good career move for Billie Joe because it allowed him to focus all his attention to Green Day. After seeing the success of 1,000 Hours, Larry Livermore signed Green Day to Lookout! Records. On December 29, 1989, Green Day entered the studio to begin recording their first full-length and the recording started at 4:30 p.m. By January 2nd, the album was mixed and mastered. The total cost was $675 for the studio time. To test how well the album would do, Larry recorded another single called Slappy, and released that sometime in 1990. It was generally well-received and built their fan base even further and solidified the idea of releasing their first full-length. Early in 1990, Green Days first full-length was released on vinyl, cassette, and CD. The name was 39/Smooth. It was pulled from the band constantly saying smooth. Also, it was Billie Joes brothers 39th birthday and he jokingly mentioned that they should add this somewhere in the title. Billie Joe had one goal in 1990: keeping the band going at all costs. He concentrated on booking a 45-date US tour for the band, and he managed to do so. As soon as Mike graduated school, they left for the tour. On the inlay of the Slappy EP, it read the following: To raise spending money for the tour, Mike shucked clams, Billie Joe flipped pizzas, and John drove a diaper truckà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ During this tour, Billie Joe met a girl in Minnesota named Adrienne, and he fell for her pretty fast. He booked a few tours afterwards around seeing her. While they were touring in Minneapolis, they went into a local studio and recorded four songs for an EP in a low-budget and quick manner. Sweet Children EP was r eleased on Minneapoliss Skene! in late 1990. During July 1990, the Lookouts played their final show. They decided to call it quits because they simply lived too far away from each other to schedule practices. But they also left behind IV, a four track single that featured Billie Joe on lead guitar and backing vocals, which was released in January 1991. Al Sobrante decided to quit Green Day in autumn 1990 in order to go to college full time. Dave EC from Filth and the Wynona Ryders filled in on the drums for a few weeks, but he quit on his own. Finally in November 1990, the two asked Tre Cool to play drums for them. He agreed, and the line-up for Green Day was finally solidified. He fit right in the band with his quirky sense of humor and his energy. They embarked on their first US tour with Tre in 1991. One night after a New Orleans show, they returned to their van only to find that someone had broken in and stolen their money and most of their possessions. Even after that, the band drove through the night to get to their next show in Auburn, Alabama, where fans donated clothes and money to the young band members. On that first tour with Tre, they were supposedly approached by IRS Records, a major record label. But with some self-restraint on Mikes part, they turned down the offer because they knew that the label would have screwed them over in the end. They entered the studio for the first time with their new drummer Tre Cool in 1991. Thanks to the small-time success of their previous album, they had a larger budget, $2,000. Recordings were split between two short sessions in May and September of 1991 with producer/engineer Andy Ernst helping, a total of four days of recording. That autumn, they bought plane tickets to Europe and flew over, while each band member was still only 19. They funded the trip from their modest royalty checks from their Lookout! releases and any U.S. touring profits to pay for basic necessities such as airfare and van hire. Using equipment borrowed from other bands every single night, they played sixty-four shows over the span of three months. We snuck copies of our records over by hand to sell, recalls Mike. To get our own T-shirts made we had to sneak over the photo negative and get a screen made in Germany so we could print them as and when we needed to. Then we had our amp heads, which were hell-heavy to carry. Mine lasted a week and Billies a total of one day. In Denmark if they like you they throw beer at you, so that was very much. Our instruments were toast. There would be anywhere between 50 and 500 people in places like Germany, Poland, and Spain. If they were lucky, theyd get paid above their guarantee of $170, but some shows theyd only get paid with some beer or communal chili. On December 17, 1991, Green Day received the first finished copies of their sophomore album. They decided the show they were playing in Southampton was going to double as a Kerplunk! release party. January 17, 1992 marked the official release of their second album. It was released by Lookout! on CD, vinyl, and cassette. For their next tour in support of Kerplunk!, Tres father bought a former mobile library. He ripped out the interiors and installed bunks, equipment racks, and the odd attempt at home comfort and also, for a while at least, became their new designated driver. In August 1992, at a show at Gilman, Green Day brought out a couple of new tunes. Longview and Better Not Come Around (which was the early version of When I Come Around) received great reactions from the crowd, and the songs sounded like their best and tightest material to date. After touring without management, they decided this needed to change. They contacted Cahnman Management, a company run by two attorneys, Elliot Cahn and Jeff Saltzman, who had previously worked with Primus, the Melvins, and Mudhoney and had impressed Green Day. So they hired them for the job. Immediately, their managers began approaching major record labels, tempting them with a band who sold over 50,000 albums based on just raw talent alone. The members of the band were all living together in the basement of a large, ramshackle, student-dominated Victorian house at 2243 Ashby Street, which was just down the block from the pristine entrance to the esteemed University of Berkeley. They were getting many calls from major record labels, who heard that this young cult had now sold a total of 60,000 copies of their cheaply recorded independent releases and wanted this band to sign to their roster. Warner Bros., Geffen, Sony and everybodys mother wanted to sign us, said Tre, but we held off for quite a long time. Why? Because David Geffens money was paying for us to go to Disneyland. We kind of milked them. We wanted to hold out until we got complete artistic control. We wanted to be the bosses and not let somebody else tell us what to do. Of course, the first offer is bull****, the second slightly less, the third still kind of sucksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we thought F*** this, its our lives. Its like getting married or something. This would all change when they met Rob Cavallo of Reprise Records, a subsidiary label of Warner Brothers. He was different than all the other higher ups; he actually played guitar and came from a musical background. Also, he had worked with other punk bands such as Jawbreaker and the Muffs, and this had sparked Green Days interest. The way he got through to them was he brought his guitar and joined them in jamming, then later went out for ice cream with them. It was that day that he convinced them to join the roster. Finally in April 1993, they signed to Warner Bros./Reprise for an initial deal of five albums, with the plan that Cavallo would produce their major label debut. Also, they made sure that Lookout! would still own the rights to their first two albums, the idea being that the indie labels support would earn them money even if Green Day was no longer with them, a move which has paid off very well for Livermore and Co. over the past 10 years. Although Lookout! had just lost their most profitable band, the combined sales of 39/Smooth and Kerplunk! had reached the one million mark by the close of 1995, so they were still making money off Green Day. They played their last two shows at Gilman Street that year, never to look back. While recording their next album Dookie, they had a much larger budget and more time to lay down tracks in the studio. When the album was completed, they played a bunch of dates over the summer with Bad Religion on their Recipe for Hate tour. Dookie was finally released on January 11, 1994. The lead single from the album was Longview. It quickly topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. Billie Joe was the first in the band to get married. He tied the knot with his long-time lover Adrienne in a quick ceremony in July. The next day, his wife revealed that she had been feeling somewhat different recently, so they stopped to pick up a pregnancy test. A few minutes later, the newlyweds discovered they were about to become parents. The same year, Green Days popularity was on the rise. They were asked to replace the opening band the Boredoms in Lollapalooza 1994. Another huge deal for them was when they were asked to play Woodstock 94, as a late addition. This was a day to go down in history. They arrived in upstate New York on August 11, and it had been raining continuously. The ground was completely churned up and all mud. As they began playing songs, the crowd went nuts and began flinging clumps of dirt and mud everywhere. Billie Joe caught the first clod and put it in his mouth. Eventually, he took off his pants as the crowd went even wilder. Fans began climbing on stage to get closer, and soon a riot broke out. The band had to be hauled away in a helicopter to escape the crazed fans. The summer of 1994 was a busy time for them. Their music video for Longview had been nominated by the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards at the Metropolitan City Opera House for Best Group Video and Best Alternative Video. The next night they had a show in Ohio. The whole summer consisted of flying all over the US from show to show, night after night. Their next big stint was a show in September set up by a Boston radio station that attracted about 100,000 people. Within minutes of hitting the stage, the crowd had surged forward and knocked over safety barriers and havoc broke out. They were concerned that the entire lighting rig was going to come down, so the promoter pulled the plug. This just made the crowd riot even harder and spill out onto the streets of downtown Boston. The night concluded with 60 arrests and dozens of injuries. A very respectable thing to do, the band had a policy that door prices were to be kept affordable with a ceiling price of $20, even though they could charge much more. Sometimes shows even went as low as $5, and their official t-shirts cost a maximum of $10. They were still receiving much controversy from the punk community though. People were claiming that they had sold out when they signed to a major record label and that they had compromised their music. Sometime in 1994, someone was so opposed to Green Day signing that they wrote Billie Joe Must Die on a wall at 924 Gilman Street. One night, a fan asked Billie Joe Whats punk? He then kicked over a garbage can and exclaimed, Thats punk! So the fan kicked over a garbage can too and replied, Thats punk? And Billie Joe then replied, No, thats trendy. Billie Joe still knew what punk was and still had it in him, even though his band was selling millions of albums and quickly becoming the hottest band of the 1990s. They had lived the lifestyle of true punks for many years before they struck it big. One would think that their dedicated fans would be happy for them being successful after sticking it out through the tough times; going through years of having no money. If anyone deserved to make it huge, it was definitely Green Day. Since its release, Dookie has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and is the bands top selling album. They have sold over 65 million copies worldwide and are undeniably one of the biggest rock bands there are today. If it wasnt for their music, the whole music scene might be a lot different than it is today. Punk wouldnt have taken the mainstream spotlight in the 1990s, and most punk bands that formed around the same time as Green Day wouldnt have made it as big as they did. Green Day single-handedly changed the direction of music in the 1990s.