I have had a lot of trouble with the idea of criminalization of drug addiction for a very long time.
I am only one of a lot of folks who say “addiction is a real disease.” People feel every bit as sick as people with other diseases, sometimes more.
The patients are certainly able to die every bit as dead. Read more on Babies Born Addicted…
Filed under Addictions, Family, politics, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Jul 16th, 2014. Comment. 
There are rich stories of human suffering all around us couched in terms of financial crisis – stories we encounter in our news media, in the streets and even in our own families.
Nevertheless things are getting worse all the time and I have been in the middle of the battle on the same losing side as the mental health patients.
I have been in the middle of mass human suffering which nobody seems to have the power to alleviate. For many years, as the situation worsens, I have done what I could. I have been on every front of the battle known to me and accessible to me – in community mental health centers, the VA, state prisons and private, for-profit, insurance-driven treatment centers. Read more on The Cost Of Not Caring…
Filed under Diagnosis, Government, Mental Illness, military, News, politics, Violence by on Jun 6th, 2014. Comment.
How lovely that the first lady carries the banner high – save our children through nutrition, and deliver it through public schools.
How lovely that the United States as a whole and a first lady in particular can plead for the health and future health of children in a world dominated by politics and commercial interests that are simply not assailable with idealistic claptrap.
We may have actually achieved an amazing amount in the past few years, on this incredibly difficult task. Guess who has been saying, for a couple of years now, that any attempt to reform school lunches is in trouble? Coca-Cola, and other large food companies that make things like frozen pizza a French fries. Read more on School Lunches Are A Mess…
Filed under Education, Government, News, Nutrition, politics, weight by on Jun 3rd, 2014. Comment.
Many years ago, Paul J. Fink, M.D. was head of the American Psychiatric association, and made a remark in a speech which I have never forgotten, although I can’t find the text of the original speech.
He said something to the effect that prostitution and psychiatry had the same problem — the amateurs think they are as good as the professionals.
I can’t give any kind of a reasonable assessment of how this would apply to professional prostitutes. It seems to me as if there is a tremendous amount of information available to anyone who seeks it with assiduity. Besides, I am unaware of structured training, university degrees, or licensure or any kind of proof of skill for professional prostitutes.
As for psychiatrists, I am constantly amazed by how many people are unaware of what we really do. Misinformation abounds in the media, films especially. Read more on Leave Medical Comments Out Of Politics…
Filed under Doctors, News, politics, Psychiatrists by on May 22nd, 2014. Comment.
Mostly everything that comes up and hits you in the teeth about the current controversy around “core standards” seems to be more political than born of actual knowledge.
This no surprise, really, since this is the reductionistic American mentality that makes it difficult to have meaningful conversations with the American Public without making them sound a lot like radio talk show rants.
With customary naiveté and sheer guts, I made the decision that I could not have an opinion about it without knowing what it actually was. Read more on Core Standards For Education – Political Grandstanding?…
Filed under Government, News, politics by on Apr 23rd, 2014. Comment.
When I read the news on the internet that some folks were killed in some kind of what sounds like a Jewish oriented hate crime in the greater Kansas City area, I wasted no time. I immediately consulted my favorite British reporting. After all, US media has proven their biases and deficits in the reliability department, while the Daily Mail once again “done good” (as they say in Kansas).
I lived in Kansas for many years before I met and married my husband. I spent those years as a resident psychiatrist, as well as a member of the Conservative synagogue of Wichita, Kansas. I even taught a couple of classes at the Hebrew School.
I left before I met my husband, but it was for political reasons — the denial of ritual honors to women, and the threat of a major financier to pull funding if I took ritual honors a second time. Read more on When Are They Going To Stop Killing Jews?…
Filed under politics, Religion, Religion and Politics, Society by on Apr 14th, 2014. 1 Comment.
Okay, an environmental group based in San Francisco says that 17% of our species are threatened by rising sea levels.
Yeah, I saw “An Inconvenient Truth” when it came out. Al Gore did the best he could but he is not my choice for a scientific spokesman on global warming.
This being said, he had plenty of enthusiasm and seemed to be real. My immediate reaction when I saw the film was “Yeah. This looks like real science.” I mean, when I was in prep school I actually thought Scientific American was more “fun” than “Seventeen”– which my mother of blessed memory actually encouraged me to read, thinking it would somehow make me more socially acceptable or maybe even more “normal.” Read more on Global Warming Is Science Not Politics And It Is Affecting Humans…
Filed under Government, News, politics by on Feb 5th, 2014. Comment.
I talk to a great many people in a great many areas and fields. In California, a lot of the mental health treatment programs are having “Obamacare-it is.”
While consumers who tried to use the official website to get enrolled for insurance had their “challenges” – to put it politely – the facilities expected to treat patients are having to do some major adjustments.
If you aren’t aware (especially you, Rip Van Winkle), “Obamacare” is what people lovingly call The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
I use the term “Lovingly Call” in the same manner people called homeless camps during the Great Depression “Hoovervilles” – blaming President Herbert Hoover for ruining the US economy and leading to the stock market crash. Many feel Pres. Obama has done something similar to health care. Read more on Dual Diagnosis Should Not Be A Reason To Refuse Treatment…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Government, News, politics by on Jan 31st, 2014. 2 Comments.
I am glad that Frida Ghitlis covered this, glad as always that other women in other countries fight against arbitrary and repressive regimes.
Of course a woman should be allowed to show her face, that great bastion of personal identity.
I cannot claim to be surprised that Fox News, that lovely stronghold of all that is conservative, trivialized it into a headline about it being impossible to tell women “what to wear.” Read more on What “Womanstuff” Really Means…
Filed under News, politics, war by on Nov 15th, 2013. Comment.
The Yahoo coverage says two Americans and one German American won the prize.
My bet for the most accurate reporting is the New York Times article that says three Americans won the prize.
This is mainly because I remember I wanted to leave France and return stateside with a French citizenship as a souvenir. I found out from American authorities that if I wanted to take any kind of oath of allegiance to any country that was not the U.S. of A., then the U.S. of A. would consider it a renouncement of citizenship. Read more on You May Shut Down The Government, But Don’t Shut Down Science!…