Other Writings

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Creativity and Mental Illness

April 17, 2014  Psychiatric Times

    No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.--Aristotle or Seneca

Recent large-scale registry and brain imaging studies are exploring the validity of this ancient observation, which linked creativity/genius and psychopathology. The results are mixed. Since the terms "genius" and "creativity" have different definitions, Neuropsychologist and creativity expert Rex Jung, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, University of New Mexico, was asked to clarify how the terms are being used in scientific studies.

Go to: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/creativity-and-mental-illness

 

 

Super-Agers: Insights into the Brains of 80+Year Old Memory Superstars 

June 6, 2013  Psychiatric Times 

    Despite the prevalent perception that cognitive decline in the aged population is inevitable, researchers with Northwestern University's Super-Aging Project found that excellent memory capacity in late life is a biological possibility." 

Go to:  https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/superagers-insights-brains-80-year-old-memory-superstars

 

 

Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior?

October 5, 2012  Psychiatric Times

    A mass shooting at a Batman movie screening in Colorado reignited debates in the psychiatric community about media violence and its effects on human behavior.

     “Violence in the media has been increasing and reaching proportions that are dangerous,” said Emanuel Tanay, MD, a retired Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Wayne State University and a forensic psychiatrist for more than 50 years.

    “You turn on the television, and violence is there. You go to a movie, and violence is there,” Tanay told Psychiatric Times. “Reality is distorted. If you live in a fictional world, then the fictional world becomes your reality.”

Go to:  https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/violence-media-what-effects-behavior

 

 

Addressing the Mental Health Problems of Border and Immigrant Youth

January, 2009, National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) 

Luis Flores and Arline Kaplan

    Along the nearly 2,000-mile border region of the United States and Mexico, the cultures of Mexico and the United States frequently collide.  Borderlanders face identity concerns, challenging socioeconomic and environmental conditions, vulnerability to trauma, stress, substance abuse disorders, depression and other psychiatric disorders, and multiple barriers to obtaining needed treatment. This 21-page booklet offers help in understanding Borderlanders’ lives and challenges, including cultural collision versus interdependence and barriers to care.  It also recommends ways to enhance mental health by respecting the culture, overcoming language barriers, preparing families to receive care, integrating evidence-based practices, case management and outreach.

Go to: https://www.nctsn.org/resources/addressing-mental-health-problems-border-and-immigrant-youth

 

 

Adoption and Mental Illness

January 26, 2009  Psychiatric Times

    Does adoption pose psychological risks? University of Minnesota researchers revisited this controversial issue and found that common childhood psychiatric disorders are more prevalent in adoptees than nonadoptees. They also found that adoptees are more likely to have contact with mental health professionals. The study was praised as a major contribution to the medical literature.

Go to:  https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/adoption-and-mental-illness

 

 

Violent Attacks by Patients: Prevention and Self-Protection

June 1, 2008, Psychiatric Times

    While fatal attacks on clinicians such as psychiatrists and psychologists are rare, according to a forensic psychiatrist, a survey found that 32 of 92 psychiatrists (35%) reported serious assaults by patients (knife or gun used) and 59 respondents (64%) reported less serious assaults. The article provides guidance for prevention of such attacks and for self-protection.  

Go to: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/violent-attacks-patients-prevention-and-self-protection

 

 

Veterans View Women's Lib

July 27, 1970,  Independent (full article available with subscription to newspapers.com)

Arline Sherer

    Gratia Wildman, 84, and Helen Price, 83, were both suffragettes.  In 1910, Mrs. Price withstood the jeers of men as she marched in parades and passed out leaflets to promote women's suffrage in California.  (The state allowed women to vote 10 years before the 19th Amendment in the U.S. Constitutions was passed in 1920.  In 1913, Mrs. Wildman started working for women's suffrage in Nebraska.  Both women are still politically active, but they doubt they could be women's liberationists. 

    "I don't think I could be a liberationist today," Mrs. Wildman said.  "I agree with some of their aims, like equal pay for equal work, legalized abortion , and more women in government.  My concern is that I wonder if many of the militant ones are going to be satisfied with the relationships they are establishing with the opposite sex.  To have a complete life, a man and woman need each other and a child."  ….

    Mrs. Price disagrees with the liberationists who want to abolish all state laws intended to protect women workers on the grounds that they were passed to protect men's jobs.

    "I fought for the 8-hour day for women," she said.  "I worked in a department store 10 to 12 hours a day and was paid $3 a week.  Women worked overtime and weren't pay for it.  Many owners of big department stores became multimillionaires on the backs of cheap labor."….

 

 

Thousands Cheer as Voyage Ends [About the arrival of the Queen Mary in Long Beach]

February 28, 1971, Independent (full article available with subscription to newspapers.com)

Arline Sherer

    After 34 years,  the Queen Mary ended her career just as she began it—to the cheers of thousands of admirers.  

    A crowd estimated by police at between 75,000 and 100,000 possible as large as the one which watched her begin her maiden voyage on May 27, 1936, saw the royal ship towed Saturday morning to her permanent resting place at Pier J in Long Beach Harbor….

    "I grew up in London and know the great lady for whom the ship was named," said British-born actress Greer Garson, who accepted the first line to tie up the ship.  "Both Queen Mary and the liner symbolize the steadfastness and majesty of a great tradition of service and inspiration to the people of the world….