Not so unusual — when dealing with public health clinics. The prognosis is usually poor. An addict won’t cooperate with treatment unless forced by the courts in most cases.
Here is what I said to one mental health center patient to convince him to go into rehab. Read more on The Speech That Made An Unwilling Addict Go To Rehab…
Filed under abuse, Addictions, Substance Abuse by on Oct 18th, 2013. Comment. 
Whitney Houston’s death might be “old news” already, but I still think her death may not have been in vain.
Because Whitney was a star, we were treated to hearsay before facts. She drank in the morning, in a public place, and according to some observers may have been behaving a bit strangely.
There is an old screener for alcoholism called the “CAGE” questionnaire. It’s named after the four questions that presumably even a primary care physician — who has little room left in an overtaxed memory — could remember. Read more on Whitney Houston’s Death May Not Have Been in Vain…
Filed under abuse, Addictions, Celebrities, Disease, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Aug 23rd, 2012. Comment.
Dr. Alycia A Chambers is one of my new heroes. An investigation in 1998 led her to suggest that Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky met the criteria for pedophile, in her own assessment of the person now identified as “victim #6.”
What is at stake here is not the usual legal case of “my expert vs. your expert,” for only the most jaded of lawyers would suggest that this case be deferred to the adversarial system, letting the truth fall where it may.
Sexual abuses of childhood trust generally lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can affect the conduct of an entire life if untreated. They are all too often untreated.
Dr. Chambers’ report was buried for a long time. Part of this could have been because she was female. It is not powerful anymore to talk about sex discrimination and harder to prove it, but I have no trouble believing the opinion of a professional female was buried in the files. Read more on Penn State Coach Scandal Update…
Filed under abuse, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Jul 25th, 2012. Comment.
As a fan of classic films, my husband knows he can keep me spellbound for a couple of hours with a great masterpiece from cinema history.
Recently, knowing my proclivity for French films and the city of Paris, he found a newly-restored version of “Paris brûle-t-il?” You might know it better by its English title – “Is Paris Burning?”
I don’t like war movies. I’m an Army veteran (peace-time) and I’ve seen enough gung-ho and charge! In my time. Read more on Beware Of The Rescuer…
Filed under abuse by on Apr 25th, 2012. Comment.
I am not going to repeat the lurid details of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes against young boys and the whole of humanity. I suppose what he was able to accomplish was a pedophile’s dream — The specific charity (the Second Mile) for “helping young boys” that brought him a steady flow of victims, the who judge had been a volunteer for his charity.
Now, there are allegations that his own family contained alleged victims – possibly his grandson.
It’s not that nobody knew — People had complained and reported many times over many years.
Some how it never got out. Read more on Sandusky-Penn State Revelations Keep Coming…
Filed under abuse, Celebrities, News, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Nov 30th, 2011. Comment.
“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”
— A Christmas Carol (1843)
Thank you, Charles Dickens, for creating such a wonderful, enduring story, and such an apt simile. If you hadn’t heard it before, that’s probably because it is usually omitted from the children’s versions of the oft-told (and filmed and broadcast) tale. With everyone from Michael Caine to (my favorite) Mr. Magoo starring as the wickedest man who ever snorted “Bah Humbug!” and was converted to the most ardent celebrant of Christmas by the end of the story.
A wonderful, happy story — and it deserves to live forever. But death is not terribly suitable material with which to start a children’s story.
Young women (and men) — some no older than children and many who could be termed “recent children” — were ardent fans of singer Amy Winehouse — who is now “dead as a doornail.” Read more on Amy Winehouse Proved Drugs Aren’t Glamorous…
Filed under abuse, Addictions, End Of Life, Substance Abuse by on Aug 18th, 2011. Comment.
Back when I left academics to start my private practice (this would have been around 1992), I filled in some vacant days at county mental health clinics until I could fill my private office schedule.
From the very first, I was exposed to mentally ill patients who lived in boarding homes. Some of them were reasonable – I wouldn’t say any were good – but some were tragic situations and the residents were basically trapped. They needed somebody to take care of them, and in many cases they were taken advantage of.
I just kind of tripped over this recent report of abuses in the board-and-care homes. The hard thing for me is that it is so easy to believe. I am glad the video was not released to the public because I am certain that it would be the most popular “viral video” on the internet.
The number of people in any world — mine in particular — who get off on physical cruelty is beyond mind-boggling. Since we are dealing with “care homes” I will avoid diving into what family members do to each other. In California, private homes can be licensed for “non-medical custodial care.” I have avoided setting foot in these facilities for a number of reasons, but let us say simply that the laws here permit the licensure of facilities as small as single family homes, with six guests or less living like a surrogate family, to bigger facilities that look for all the world like nursing homes. The tinier facilities account for 90% of the lot, or about 8100 facilities. Read more on Nursing Homes and Care Homes Should Not Be For Abuse…
Filed under abuse by on Feb 4th, 2011. 2 Comments.
She was beautiful. Early forties, slender, blond hair with a few streaks of gray. She could not stop crying and could not think of any way out of her predicament. Several had been suggested. The one she kept thinking about, however, was suicide. She thought it was the only one, and I believe it never is. This woman literally could not look at an electric cord without thinking how to choke herself with it. She could not look at a plastic bag without thinking how to asphyxiate herself with it.
As far as I am concerned, this is a biological problem. It has something to do with low serotonin in the central nervous system. I remember years ago, reading about a study done in Detroit, comparing the serotonin in the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid around the brain and spinal cord) in people who had been gunshot victims with levels of the same chemical in people who had shot themselves. Those who had shot themselves had less.
People are still working hard to track the brain chemistry of suicide. Read more on A Victim Of Stockholm Syndrome…
Filed under abuse by on Apr 29th, 2010. Comment.
How could anybody think it was justified by their religion to stick sewing needles into a child’s body?
Now according to the news story, the (obligatory) academic expert said there were no potentially harmful rituals in Candomble, the most popular of the Afro-Brazilian religions. This statement ranks right up there with, “Hey, Columbus – don’t go too far or you’ll fall off the edge of the world!”
Someone is obviously worried about prejudice against the Afro-Brazilian religions. Me, I am more worried about the sanctity of human life. Read more on Can We Protect Children From Their Parents?…
Filed under abuse by on Mar 3rd, 2010. Comment.