Brien Art

ALC

Thompson

10/27/17

TED Talk Essay

Many people and veterans suffer from PTSD & depression. A lot of medications out

there barely or are not able to help cure this disease. PTSD and depression is the leading cause of

death in the world. Such is explained in the TED Talk given by Rebecca Brachman, an

entrepreneur. Brachmans main point is to convince the audience that antidepressants could help

cure PTSD and depression. Rebecca Brachman is effective in her argument that drugs could

prevent PTSD and depression through the her use of appeals to logic and credibility.

Rebecca Brachmans TED Talk effectively supports her argument that antidepressants

could help prevent PTSD and depression through her use of logic. Brachman starts her speech

off by informing her audience of the effects drugs can have through the history of Tuberculosis.

During her TED Talk, Brachman shows an image of a hospital in the late 1800s stating, At the

time the picture was taken, in the late 1800s, one in seven people died from tuberculosis. She

also goes on to later state that, TB is a disease just like the flu, however it attacks the lungs and

can also spread to the brain and spine. Tuberculosis is easily spread through the air when

someone who is contaminated coughs or sneezes. This was very concerning at the time

considering there was no vaccination or cure for the disease (Brachman). Thankfully due to

advancements in science and medicine a vaccination was created. This drug created was able to
cure many people and save many more lives. This supports Brachmans argument that drugs

could prevent PTSD and depression, because this shows that something to the effect has been

done in the past. Now there are vaccinations that help prevent the contamination of TB and there

arent nearly as many reported cases today as there were back in the 1800s. These drugs helped

stop the epidemic and prevent the spread of the disease. If they were able to create drugs that

prevented the contraction of such a deadly disease, then logically shouldn't they be able to do the

same today with mental diseases? Through logic, Brachman convinces her audience that drugs

are the key to preventing mental diseases such as ptsd & depression.

Brachman also connects through her audience through the use of values and credibility.

Rebecca starts off by stating that her and some partners ran a test involving mice. They

performed many tests on the mice in a box. It consisted of 3 mice; one with stress, one with no

stress, and one with stress and ketamine (Brachman). The results concluded that the mice with

stress hid in a corner and was not social at all. The mouse with no stress acted normal, walked

around for a long time, and was very social. The last mouse that had stress and ketamine acted

just like the mouse with no stress and was super social (Brachman). Brachman and her lab did

the same test many more times along with many other companies from all over the world. All

conclusions turned out to be the same: the mouse with ketamine, although under stress, was

socially aware and able to act normally. During her TED Talk, Brachman used pictures of the

mice interacting with one another in order to prove her statements. Brachman establishes

credibility through the multiple tests done by herself and other companies. Even though her team

and the other companies conducted multiple trials of the experiment, the test results came out the

same for all. Brachman was also able to establish credibility through the use of photographic

evidence documenting the different reactions of the mice.

 Brachmans findings are very effective, because Ketamine is cheap and easy to produce.

It also effectively helps people with a small dose that can stay in the body for up to two weeks.

Brachman effectively proves that drugs such as Ketamine can help prevent PTSD and depression

through the use of logical findings about Tuberculosis treatments created in the 1800s and

credible pictures showing the effects. Brachman makes us think about how far we have come

treating illnesses in one hundred years and what is in store for the next one hundred.