The Shock Doctrine

[Al-khiyal]

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (U.S.)

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (Canada)



The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (France)

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (U.K.)

In this groundbreaking book, the bestselling author of No Logo exposes the gripping story of how America's `free market' policies have come to dominate the world - through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq's civil war, a new law is unveiled that would allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves. Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly out-sources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater. After a powerful tsunami devastates the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts. New Orleans's residents, still scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be reopened.

These events are examples of what Naomi Klein calls 'the shock doctrine': the use of public disorientation following massive collective shocks - wars, terrorist attacks, natural disasters - to push through unpopular economic measures often called 'shock therapy'. Sometimes, when the first two shocks don't succeed in wiping out all resistance, a third is employed: that of the electrode in the prison cell or of the Taser gun.

Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting in disaster zones, The Shock Doctrine explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Disaster capitalism - the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies that are reeling from shock - did not begin with September 11, 2001. Klein traces its intellectual origins back fifty years to the University of Chicago's economics department under Milton Friedman, whose influence is still felt around the world. She draws new and surprising connections between economic policy, 'shock and awe' warfare and covert CIA-funded experiments in electroshock and sensory deprivation in the 1950s; research that helped write the torture manuals used today in Guantanamo Bay.

As Klein shows how the deliberate use of the shock doctrine produced world-changing events from Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973 to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, she tells a story radically different from the one usually heard. Once again Naomi Klein has written a book that will reframe the debate.

[Al-khiyal]

The Shock Doctrine

[Cheba_Mami]

Now that's what i call shocking.

Actually we all know that but we are not really aware of it, unless we're in the middle of such crisis situations which means we're often too late...

[amalgamate]

... omg from the first clip i got goosebumps.

how horrible!

[amalgamate]

Seeing relief from post-traumatic stress
Therapists trained in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing at Landstuhl
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, August 7, 2007

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Mental health care providers are reporting positive results using a relatively new and non-traditional treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

During the past few weeks, about a dozen social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals at Landstuhl have been trained to perform a treatment called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.

Developed in the late 1980s by psychologist Francine Shapiro, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, deals with stimulating the brain’s right and left hemispheres through bilateral movement. That bilateral movement usually comes in the form of patients following a therapist’s fingers back and forth with their eyes.

With patients told to recall a painful memory while moving their eyes back and forth, EMDR may seem like some mumbo-jumbo, hypnotic cure. But the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs strongly recommend EMDR as one of four treatments for post- traumatic stress disorder in military and non-military populations. The treatment is one of several standard therapies being used by counselors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The treatment — during which patients are fully awake and alert — produces positive results that can be demonstrated, said Dr. John Hartung, a trainer with EMDR Institute who is conducting the training at Landstuhl with a colleague. The institute is based in Watsonville, Calif.

“It’s much more than moving your eyes while thinking of a disturbing thought,” he said.

Researchers cannot explain exactly how or why EMDR works, but it does work, they say.

Brain scans of patients recalling a traumatic memory show a lopsided image, Hartung explained. The parts of the brain responsible for negative emotions and protecting us from danger in emergencies are highly active. The portions of the brain that control positive emotions, language and common sense are basically shut down, Hartung said.

“You put that all together and you’ve got a person under trauma overreacting to innocuous stimuli,” he said. “Now here’s the really good news. We can’t tell you exactly how we get here, but we know where we get.

“Four and a half hours later with EMDR treatment, we take a picture of that person’s brain. As the person thinks of that trauma now, it’s no longer traumatic. The brain is flashing on both sides, nicely balanced.”

The 4½ hours comes from three 90-minute sessions typical with EMDR treatment. Despite evidence, research and journal articles that EMDR works, some people still do not use the technique, Hartung said.

Landstuhl paid $15,000 for the training, according to hospital officials.

“The question is, ‘Why isn’t it being used more?’” he asked. “This is the best we have for helping people recover from the wounds of combat and move back to civilian life.”

As a treatment, EMDR has been somewhat controversial due to a variety of reasons including the unique proprietary nature of the technique (training is solely marketed through a company vs. being available through universities and medical schools as is the case with most other treatment modalities) and the purported relative speed and efficiency of EMDR compared to other techniques, according to VA/DOD clinical practice guidelines.

The same document stated that controlled studies show sufficient methodological integrity to judge EMDR as effective treatment for PTSD.

“Hopefully, EMDR will be a form of treatment that folks won’t be afraid of, won’t overwhelm them and is, I dare say, for some relatively quicker than some of the other forms of treatment out there,” said Air Force Maj. David Reynolds, chief of clinical health psychology at Landstuhl. “It’s another tool — a very powerful tool — in the therapists’ toolbox.”

Part of EMDR is explaining the process and going as slow or as fast as the individual wants, Reynolds said.

“It’s very user friendly,” he said. “The individual is in a lot of control. They’re going to know if it’s having an impact — the distress level will come down, positive beliefs go up. It’s different than some therapist saying, ‘Oh yeah, you’re getting better, but you just don’t know it.’

“We don’t do any of that. They’re going to know it.”