Trapped in the system
Thanks, Amara, for sending in this story that appeared on Drexel University’s website/magazine/bloggity thingie, Dragonfire. To be honest, I wasn’t able to finish it because it’s very busy at work. It’s also very long and poetically rendered, which makes teasing out the facts a little harder and possibly more time-consuming. But like the videos I posted by Andy Lee, it’s a reminder of how things can go wrong when they’re not going right.
[Photo copyright Liz Spikol]
liz | 3:48 PM | Uncategorized
Quote of the day
From John McManamy’s Living Well With Depression and Bipolar Disorder:
“Blind faith is your worst enemy. Whether it’s the pharmaceutical industry, the psychiatric and talking-therapy professions, or natural-health advocates, all are guilty of overselling their products and services and downplaying their own failings. The negative campaigning that goes on would put a poilitician to shame. Yes, we need to listen to professionals who treat us, but they also need to listen to us. They are the ones with the specialist knowledge, but we are the ones living in our own skins with access to the complete picture.”
liz | 1:18 PM | Uncategorized
kvetch kvetch kvetch
Last night I couldn’t sleep. I even felt a little manic. So I took a Benadryl and an extra half an Ativan. The vivid dreams were almost unbearable, though also kind of fascinating. There was a surprise ending to the narrative before I woke up, and it was sort of cool. The thinking and pacing and plot was as complex and suspenseful as The Usual Suspects. Why doesn’t this kind of imagination pervade my waking hours? I could be a great scriptwriter.
Anyway, here I am, exhausted and mildly depressed. I don’t know where the depression is coming from these days, but whenever I have a public event where I represent PW I get depressed. It just feels overwhelming. Tonight I’m going to be guest bartender at World Cafe LIve (see above) and I worry that I’m not a good enough draw. The insecurities crop up. What if I’m a disappointment?
Additionally, I don’t drink at all so I have no idea how to mix drinks. If anyone’s coming out to actually get drunk, they’ll be very discouraged. They’ll have to stay sober enough to tell me how to make the drink. I need a how-to-bartend guide.
Anyhoo, if you’re in the area, come on out and I’ll give you a Coke. I’m sure I can figure that out.
liz | 12:59 PM | Uncategorized
Part II: Misdiagnosed as Mad as a Peanut
A film by Andy Lee. Thanks z0tl!
liz | 4:52 PM | Uncategorized
Part I: Misdiagnosed as Mad as a Peanut
A film by Andy Lee. Thanks z0tl!
liz | 4:30 PM | Uncategorized
Serious inside baseball
As a public service to those intimately interested in the inner workings of mental health providers, here are the winners of NARSAD’s Annual Career Achievement Prizes for Psychiatric Research
The 2006 NARSAD prizes and their recipients are:
* Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research ($50,000): Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and psychiatrist-in-chief at NewYork- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, has been chosen to receive this prize for bringing new understanding to the development and progression of schizophrenia, and the mechanisms and effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs for treating the disease.
* Falcone Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Affective Disorders Research ($50,000): Lori L. Altshuler, M.D., is chair in mood disorders and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, where she directs the Mood Disorders Research Program and Women’s Research Program.
* Ruane Prize for Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatric Research ($50,000): The Ruane Prize is shared this year by David A. Brent, M.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and David Shaffer, M.D., Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, for their individual studies of teen suicide.
* Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience ($40,000): Joaquin M. Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also serves on the medical school faculty and is a member of the Brain Research Institute and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. Building on a half-century of seminal research at UCLA on the functions of the brain’s frontal lobe, Dr. Fuster is currently investigating the relationships between neural activity and cortical blood flow in working memory.
* The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Prize ($40,000): Lorna W. Role, Ph.D. (pictured), is a professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, where for the past 21 years she has conducted promising research into the mechanisms of the central nervous system. Beginning with studies on the physiology and development of neuronal synapses responsive to nicotine, her research has focused on molecular mechanisms and neural pathways underlying motivation, memory and mood, particularly as they relate to schizophrenia.
liz | 3:56 PM | Uncategorized
Is there such thing as a beautiful suicide?
You be the judge.
MY MUM AND DAD’S SUICIDE WAS JUST BEAUTIFUL
liz | 1:16 PM | Uncategorized
MoveOn gets Swift Boated
I heard a report on NPR today that MoveOn.org is being smeared as anti-Semitic. I cannot believe the craven politics at work here. (And this is after the smear campaign against Human Rights Watch.) I’m so disgusted that I feel i’m slipping into an election-season-based depression. I call it ESAD: Election Season Affective Disorder. Egads.
From Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center:
Dear friends,
As you know, The Shalom Center as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization is not permitted to and does not endorse or oppose candidates for office. MoveOn.org is one organization that does. Opponents of MoveOn.org have launched a concerted campaign to smear the grass-roots online movement with false charges of anti-Semitism.
The scurrilous attacks on MoveOn have been based on the brief appearance of anti-Semitic comments written by non-staff people on its open forum. When the staff at MoveOn.org learned about the comments, they acted swiftly to remove the offensive remarks. The Anti-Defamation League praised their response, declaring themselves “satisfied with [MoveOn's] responsiveness” and characterizing the matter as having been “resolved satisfactorily.”
Moreover, many of MoveOn’s staff are not only Jewish, but Jewishly motivated to repair the world (tikkun olam) through righteous action (tzedekah) and acts of loving-kindness ( gemilut hasadim ). Yet this politicization of anti-Semitism has continued unabated, with charges migrating from The Washington Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Jewish press, repeated ad nauseam on the internet.
No matter what anyone thinks of MoveOn’s political views and those of its opponents, it is absolutely unacceptable to charge it with anti-Semitism. False charges of anti-Semitism are not only rechilus – slander – in Jewish law, and reprehensible in any society –– they also risk weakening into meaninglessness any attempt to deal with real anti-Semitism where it does exist. The story of “Crying wolf” is not a Hassidic or Talmudic tale, but it is truth nevertheless.
The Jewish FundS for Justice, a vigorous grass-roots foundation bringing Jewish values and money together to empower the poor and seek justice, has put this petition on-line. We urge you to sign it:
“As American Jews, we condemn the manipulation of fear of anti-Semitism for political gain, including the recent campaign against the online movement MoveOn.org. We stand for the Jewish value of placing hope over fear by expanding opportunity and creating justice for all Americans.”
Click here to sign the petition.
liz | 11:13 AM | Uncategorized
So ridiculous
We should just start treating the fetus.
Sending baby to the shrink: Infant psychotherapy gains favor among parents
Thanks, HS.
liz | 11:12 AM | Uncategorized
My hometown: Beirut
Complex magazine, which is dumb, has an interesting article in this month’s issue. The subheadline reads: “The City of Brotherly Love is looking more like Beirut every day, with YouTube blasting bloody images from hip-hop street DVDs into homes worldwide. Don’t shoot the messenger, yo!”
The article is about the violence and gun culture of Philly hip-hop, represented most publicly by Beanie Sigel. Quote: “Philadelphia is a city tormented by rising crime rates and gun violence, where the intersection of rap and reality is a blood-soaked crossroads.”
But there’s also the Liberty Bell! And the cheesesteak!
[Photo copyright Liz Spikol. That's me.]
liz | 1:02 PM | Uncategorized
