Compassion Round Up: Trains, Columbine, Inner Gardens, and More...

Compassion on the 10:40 Train

My heart smiled at this simple act of kindness. I'm still not sure why I was so surprised. Maybe I've just had skeptics around me for too long...you know, the people who assume that every homeless person is just a lazy drug addict with no desire to ever get a job and contribute to society like the rest of us hard-working Americans. Whatever the reason may be, I was thankful to have witnessed it.

'Rachel's Challenge' brings a message of compassion

Following the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, the father of 17-year-old Rachel Scott, the first student killed in the massacre, began an organization called Rachel's Challenge, which tours the country promoting an anti-bullying message of kindness and compassion for others.

Finding love and compassion in our inner garden

Readers will find much to reflect on, especially on the subject of the inner garden. After all, this seems the only place to find understanding and compassion. While we'd all like to do a walking meditation in the woods, pick wildflowers along the way as well as bamboo branches for flower arrangements, the majority of us cannot afford the time to enjoy that environment. So it is incumbent on each of us to find our own gardens, and appreciate the peace and miracle of where we are.

Friday News Roundup: Saturday Edition

I'm still having trouble getting back into my routine after my NYC trip with my niece. Here is a bleated-yet-interesting melange of what has been on my mind.


Obama: Hospitals Must Grant Same-Sex Visitations


Apparently the irreverent psychologist has been living under a rock. I hadn't heard about the Florida case in which Janice Langbehn, along with her children, were denied access to Lisa Pond in a hospital. About ready to depart from Miami on a family cruise, Pond suddenly collapsed. Langbehn and their three children were denied access to Pond at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Despite having durable health care power of attorney, "the hospital refused to accept information from Langbehn regarding Pond's medical history. The hospital also informed her that she was in an antigay city and state and that she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family. A doctor finally spoke with Langbehn, telling her that there was no chance of recovery Despite the doctor's acknowledgment that no medical reason existed to prevent visitation, neither Langbehn nor her children were allowed to see Pond until nearly eight hours after their arrival. Soon after Pond's death, Langbehn attempted to obtain her death certificate in order to get life insurance and Social Security benefits for her children. She was denied both by the state of Florida and the Dade County Medical Examiner. (for more information about the legal case Langbehn was involved in, click here). 


This past Thursday President Obama issued a memorandum directing the Department of Health and Human Services to make rules that make "clear that designated visitors, including individuals designated by legally valid advance directives (such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies) should enjoy visitation privileges that are no more restrictive than those that immediate family members enjoy. You should also provide that participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability."  The memorandum applies to every hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding which is virtually every hospital in the country. 


Sadly, some have spoken against this memorandum. Ignoring that having appropriate legal documents Langbehn and her children were denied access in a Florida hospital the following was said by J.P. Duffy, vice president for communications at the Family Research Council, says the president is pandering to a radical special interest group: 

There are many other ways to deal with this issue, whether through a health care proxy or power of attorney, though private contractual arrangements. We have no problem with those situations, but the fact here is that this is undermining the definition of marriage.

I'm finding myself uncharacteristically speechless.  Shame on Jackson Memorial Hospital and the doctors on staff who were so negligent as to not collect health information on a patient. Shame on the hospital and staff to demonstrate such a lack of compassion to deny a patient contact with their loved ones in their last hours of life. Shame on the voters of Dade County and Florida for supporting laws that violate any sense of human dignity and compassion. Finally, and most importantly, shame on the Family Research Council for their continued propagation of hate.


The case of Langbehn and her partner bring into focus the very human face of the tragedy that some face in their last hours of life--or in difficult moments--in the hospital. If only we all could find ways to demonstrate the caring compassion that President Obama did in his memorandum.


Texas City Revives Paddling as it Takes a Swat at Misbehavior


Thirty U.S. states have banned the use of corporal punishment. The federal government has outlawed corporal punishment in it's prison system. Corporal punishment in schools has been outlawed in Canada, Kenya, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and nearly all of Europe except the Czech Republic and France.


This is just crazy. I've already blogged about whether parents should spank their kids. I feel the same way about corporal punishment in schools. There is just no reason to ever hit another human being. Ever. Never. Corporal punishment is not an enduring or effective method of shaping behavior or teaching children.


Veggie Burgers Contain Neurotoxin

Oh great, just when I was feeling healthy noshing on my veggie burger I find out that many of the soy products I consume contain hexane, a neurotoxin. This one is worth the read: a few simple choices in the grocery store can protect you from this particular problem. Rachel Carson's silent spring seems to be growing closer.

Friday News Roundup

When and How Health Care Reform Will Affect You?


The American Medial News provided a helpful time line listing when the various provisions of the new health care reform law will go into effect. Do dig deeper, following the link above. To dig even deeper, follow this link or this link. If you still want to know even more, check out this article in the Christian Science Monitor. They  have a nine part series of articles called Health care reform bill 101.


This is a complicated discussion and there is a lot to learn. The facts about this law don't lend themselves well to 140 twitter characters or a sound bite on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.


Immediately

• Offers tax credits to small businesses that offer health coverage.
• Starts to close the Medicare drug benefit's coverage gap to eliminate it by 2020.
• Authorizes the creation of a 15-member Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board to extend Medicare's solvency, lower health care costs and improve health outcomes.
• Extends the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative through 2014, establishing a physician appeals process and penalizing nonreporting doctors starting in 2015.
• Authorizes the Food and Drug Administration to create a pathway for approval of biosimilar versions of biologic drugs.
• Extends the Medicare work geographic practice cost index floor through 2010.
• Provides funding for the practice expense geographic practice cost index floor for 2010 and 2011.

90 days after enactment (June 2010)

• Creates a temporary high-risk pool for Americans who are uninsured due to a preexisting condition.

6 months after enactment (September 2010)

• Prohibits health plans from canceling coverage for people who get sick and placing lifetime caps on benefits.
• Tightens restrictions on annual coverage limits.
• Extends health insurance eligibility for dependents to age 26.

By the end of 2010

• Begins greater investments in primary care physician training and community health centers.
• Prohibits physician-owned hospitals without a Medicare provider agreement from participating in the program.

2011

• Eliminates co-pays and deductibles for Medicare preventive care.
• Requires individual and small group health plans to spend at least 80% of premiums on health care; increases the floor to 85% for large group plans.
• Creates a long-term-care insurance program for adults with disabilities.
• Provides a 10% Medicare pay bonus from 2011 to 2015 for certain primary care and major surgical procedures in health professional shortage areas.

2014

• Prohibits health plans from denying coverage to anyone with a preexisting condition.
• Expands Medicaid eligibility nationwide to 133% of the federal poverty level.
• Directs the Dept. of Health and Human Services to create health insurance exchanges in states that have none.
• Establishes government subsidies for people earning between 133% and 400% of poverty to buy coverage through exchanges.
• Requires individuals to have a minimum level of coverage or pay penalties.
• Requires all but small employers whose workers enroll in exchange plans to help pay for the coverage.
• Begins reducing federal funding to safety net hospitals for the care of low-income people.

2015

• Allows recommendations of the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board to start taking effect unless overridden by supermajorities in both houses of Congress.

Friday News Roundup

This edition of the Friday news roundup is brought to you on Saturday mourning courtesy of the nice weather yesterday. The sunshine was very appealing.

Quieting the Mind for Sleep 

In her new book Quiet your Mind and Get to Sleep: Solutions to Insomnia for Those With Depression, Anxiety, or Chronic Pain, Colleen Carney offers several solutions for insomnia from a Cognitive Behavioral Perspective.  Some of these suggestions include: never get into bed earlier than your usual bedtime; when you find yourself "trying" to sleep, remind yourself that this is counterproductive; educate yourself about sleep myths; challenge unhelpful beliefs that worsen your insomnia; leave your bed and bedroom if you can't fall asleep.

CBT Based Self Help Books Can Do More Harm Than Good

Well on second thought, perhaps one might be more prudent to not rush out and by a CBT based self-help book about depression. At least if you are someone who is a high ruminator. Are you someone who spends a lot of time ruminating about your negative mood and the causes that lead to it? If you are, you might actually be harming yourself by reading self-help books without working with a psychologist at the same time.

False Prophets of Autism

Please take the time to look closely at the debates about the links between autism and vaccinations. This is a silly controversy and needless children are suffering because the use of bad science. There is no reputable information linking vaccinations to autism. None. In fact, the physician who started this trend was found by a medical board to be "dishonest" and "irresponsible." You can read this link for even more analysis.

Friday News Roundup

Hypnosis Relieves Pain in Breast Cancer

In a recent article in the journal Health Psychology, a study was published that looked at 124 women with metastatic breast cancer. Pain and suffering was measured as well as frequency of pain and and the degree of constant pain. Participants levels of pain were measured at four-month intervals for one year. Patients were assigned to either a group that received educational sessions or hypnosis with group psychotherapy and education.

Women in the hypnosis treatment group reported "significantly less increase in the intensity of pain and suffering over time" when compared with women in the control group. Hypnosis however did not reduce the frequency or constancy of the women's episodes of pain.

It's not clear if hypnosis, the group psychotherapy, or a combination of both is the cause of the change. More research with a clearer design would help clear up this question. It's a good start though!

Checklists Save Lives

I heard an interview with Atul Gawande on NPR talking about the importance of checklists in a surgical practice. It seems that surgery has become so complex that it's nearly impossible for a medical team to complete all the complex tasks without error. Instituting a check list makes the complex procedures easier to perform and helps avert medical catastrophes. The checklist is seen by some as the biggest medical innovation of the last 30 years and will probably save more lives than any pice of research can.

Have any complex tasks in your life that would benefit from a checklist?

Friday News Roundup

Whose Life is this Anyway?: When College Students Kill Themselves

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 1,350 college students commit suicide each year. This  makes suicide the second leading cause of death among college students. Accidents is the number one cause of death. A recent conference at Rutgers University was organized around the idea that "universities must confront the problem of student suicides and address mental health and substance abuse problems rather than wait until it's too late."

A local psychologist and colleague, Alan Siegel, spoke at the conference about mental health services at MIT. He spoke about the steps that the university made to make its mental health program better known among students and increasing the ease of access. A lawyer spoke about the liability that universities can potentially incur when the institution reacts to students who are suicidal by suspending or dismissing them without providing any means of help. 

Are you a college student reading this? Perhaps an administrator? How can you help? Educate yourself about the possible warning signs of suicide. Consult with your college counseling center to learn more about what resources are available both on and off campus for someone in need.


Jogging Memories

Finally, some evidence that suggests my interest in viewing YouTube clips is a worthy endeavor.  An Irish newspaper reported that YouTube clips are being used in reminiscence therapy sessions for patients with dementia. Patients at a nursing home are shown old clips of familiar singers, movies, and other types of entertainment. The patients are engaged with familiar memories and have an opportunity to share with each other.

Wouldn't that make an interesting doctoral dissertation?

Charlie Lord, Mental Ward Photographer and Activist, Dies at Age 90

I didn't know about Charlie Lord until I heard his obituary on NPR. Charlie was a Quaker and a conscientious objector. He was assigned by the federal government to work in a state mental hospital in Pennsylvania. He smuggled in a camera and took haunting photos of the psychiatric ward. These images are graphic and disturbing. Be thoughtful about your own feelings before you click on this link to view them.

This story, and his photographs, are an important reminder to me that it is incumbent upon us to protect those among us who are unable to protect themselves.

March 1st is Self-Injury Awareness Day

Who knew that there was a self-injury awareness day? I certainly didn't. There are numerous resources for help and information. Curious? Look here or here for starters.  

Friday News Roundup

Psychological Debriefing Can Cause Trauma

I have frequently thought about volunteering for a disaster relief organization as a psychology. Every time I think about it, I remember what I learned in graduate school: critical incident stress debriefing has been shown to be ineffective and can possibly be harmful. That's certainly not something that I want to do.

Research from 9/11 has suggested than when relief workers engage survivors in critical incident stress debriefing, having individuals rehash their traumatic experiences, more harm was done than good: instead of preventing PTSD this type of counseling provoked it. What is the suggested intervention? Research and experience suggest that interventions that focus on promoting a sense of safety, calmness, and a sense of agency, connectedness, and hope are most effective.

What Makes Music So Emotional?

Every wonder why some music, regardless of the vocals, makes you happy while other tunes make you sad? I thought I learned the answer to that from my third grade music teacher. While playing the xylophone I learned that music in the major key was happy and music in the minor key was sad. For the next 15 years of trumpet, horn, violin, and piano lessons I didn't question it again.

Silly me.

Understanding why this is so is a little more complicated. Part of the more complicated answer involves our use of language: patterns of pitches in major keys mirror the patterns of exited speech. Music in minor keys mirror speech that is more subdued. Check out the article if you want to know more.

HBO Movies: Temple Grandin

"Think of it as a door, a door that is going to open up onto a whole new world for you."

I've not been able to stop talking about this movie since I watched it last week. What I like, is the stunning way the movie is able to take the inner-experience of Temple Grandin and create a visual experience so other's can see the world from a new perspective. Clicking on the link will take you to a promo to the movie.

Friday News Roundup

Should Parents Spank Their Kids?

During my graduate training I frequently was told that I shouldn't take a direct stand on spanking and corporal punishment. It was suggested that taking a direct stand might be judgmental, might not be respectful of different choices about child-rearing, might not tolerant or understanding of religious views, etc.

In a recent statement from an the American Psychological Association task force, it was concluded that "parents and caregivers should reduce and potentially eliminate their use of any physical punishment as a disciplinary measure." Some things never change: the APA isn't taking a direct stand. One wouldn't want to appear to be judgmental or disrespectful.

The release goes on to find strong correlations between physical punishment and an increase in childhood anxiety and depression, and increase in behavioral problems, including aggression, and impaired cognitive development--even when the child's pre-punishment behavior and development were taken into consideration.

Muarry Straus, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, points out that while the evidence is correlational--not proof, the association is "more robust and stronger than the correlations that have served as bases for other public health interventions, such as secondhand smoke's relation to cancer, exposure to lead and IQ scores in children, and exposure to asbestos and laryngeal cancer."

Here are a few interesting facts, a survey from 2000 indicates that corporal punishment of minors within the home is lawful in all 50 states of the US, has been outlawed in 25 countries around the world, is legal in schools in 20 US states, and outlawed in schools in countries including Canada, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and nearly all of Europe except the Czech Republic and France.

Interestingly, corporal punishment is banned in most juvenile correction facilities in the US yet continues in public schools. Why? In 1977 the Supreme Court found that the Eighth Amendment only protects convicted criminals from cruel and unusual punishment--not children in a classroom. A Time magazine article from 2009 wrote that "Texas paddles the most students in the nation, as well as the most students with disabilities.... Nationwide, students with disabilities are paddled at more than twice the rate of the general student population.

Interesting.

I too wish not to be disrespectful. However despite my training, I'm going to go ahead and be judgmental. I think spanking is wrong and that it isn't a useful from of discipline.

There are many other forms of effective parenting--forms that are much  more effective that do not involve hitting children. These aren't easy parenting tools. They take time, they take planning, they take education, and they take the development of a ongoing relationship with a child. They are important. I like teaching them and seeing a child blossom and grow--and I equally enjoy seeing the children's parents blossom and grow.

What do you think?

Friday News Roundup

Sedentary TV Time May Cut Life Short

In a recent press release from the American Heart Association, a research report from the Journal of the American Heart Association was released. A study found that every hour spent in front of the television per day brings with it an 11 percent greater risk of premature death from all causes, and an 18 percent greater risk from dying from cardiovascular disease. The findings apply to both obese and overweight people as well as people with a healthy weight because prolonged periods of sitting have an unhealthy influence on blood sugar and blood fat levels.

Keep in mind that this isn't just sitting at the TV--this includes sitting at your desk, too.

Which is Worse for Your Brain: Texting or Pot?

A University of London study done for Hewlett-Packard found that "infomania"--a term connected with addiction to email and texting--can lower your IQ by twice as much as smoking marijuana. Moreover, email can raise the levels of noradrenaline and dopamine in your brain by constantly introducing new stimuli into your day. When those levels get too high, complex thinking becomes more difficult, making it harder to make decision and solve problems. The article gives several suggestions: take control of email, prioritize your prioritizing, blind-side the date (approach it form an unexpected direction), do less, and unplug.

Yoga Is Good For You

A study published by Ohio State University researchers in Psychosomatic Medicine showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. IL-6 is an important part of the body's inflammatory response. It has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a variety of other age-related debilitating diseases. Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short and long-term health benefits.

Friday News Roundup

Using Hypnosis to Treat Dyspepsia

Dyspepsia is a common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. The major symptom of this disorder is upper abdominal pain. There appears to be no known type of disease that underlies the disorder. Hypnosis has already been shown by several research studies to be effective in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, which often overlaps with dyspepsia. A recent study of 126 participants looked at the effects of hypnosis on patients with this disorder. In the study, participants received either hypnotherapy or supportive therapy and either placebo or medical treatment. The symptoms of dyspepsia were  analyzed before the treatment began, after the 16-week treatment, and during the 56-week follow-up. The results indicated that the hypnotherapy group saw more short term improvement (16 weeks) compared to the therapy and medication groups. IN the long term, hypnotherapy group showed significant improved symptoms (73% reporting improvement compared to 43% in the medicine group and 34% of the therapy group).

Curious about hypnotherapy? Check out my web page for a brief discussion of clinical hypnosis, post a comment here for discussion, or send me an e-mail.

The Americanization of Mental Illness

A recent New York Times magazine article discussed the Americanization of Mental Illness. In a statement that I found particular stunning, the article wrote that for many years we have "been busily engaged in a grande project of Americanizing the world's understanding of mental health and illness. We may indeed be far along in homogenizing the way the world goes mad." It's common sense, I think, to notice that concepts of mental illness are not understood the same across the entire world. An example from the article is polio. Polio is polio, no matter where it occurs. Is depression, however, the same in the United States as it is in Uganda, or New Guinea, or elsewhere?

I liked the idea of cultures possessing a symptom repertoire, which was discussed in the article. Different cultures across the world--and different cultures across time--have a different repertoire of symptoms that express a range of psychological conflicts. This notion is in significant contrast with modern psychiatry and psychology which "aggressively spread our modern knowledge of mental illness around the world." The end result is that our modern Western symptom repertoire is being exported around the word with the "speed of contagious diseases."

I'm not so sure this is a good thing. What gets missed, the article points out, is a "deep understanding of how the expectations and beliefs of the sufferer shape their suffering." What's stunning to me is that a deep understanding of how someone changes, heals, or grows is also lost. I'm going to be thinking a lot about this over the next few months. I hope you do, too.

Friday News Roundup

Since signing up for Twitter I've become deluged with information. Some of it is rather banal ("I'm heading out for  a cup of coffee") while other is much more interesting (breaking news from the environmental summit). In an effort to slow down the flow of information enough for me to understand it I'm going to experiment with aggregating tweets that I find most interesting and post it here on a Friday News Roundup.   Think of it as a companion to the Wednesday Smile that I post on Maggie's blog.

• Doodling Improves Memory and Concentration. Jackie Andrade had 40 participants listen to a monotone two and a half minute phone message. Each were told the message would be dull , they should not memorize it, but they should write down the names of the people who would be attending the party that the message discussed. Half the participants were instructed to doodle as they listened . The study indicated that those who doodled could remember more names (7.8 for doodlers vs 7.1 for nondoodlers, which represented a significant difference). When presented with a surprise memory test later, those who doodled remembered 29 percent more details. It has long been taught that multitasking reduces productivity: this research suggests otherwise. 

• Evidence Does Not Support Theory of Different Learning Styles. It has become common belief that people exhibit different learning styles (visual, auditory, etc.). An industry full of tests to measure these styles and educational tools to teach to these styles has grown. However a report that reviews the existing literature finds that while there are many studies that show the existence of different kinds of learns, those studies have not used research methods that would make their findings credible. The article concludes that research has not shown that people learn differently, at least in the ways the learning-styles proponents claim, and thus the widespread use of learning-style tests and associated teaching tools is a wasteful use of educational resources.

• Antidepressants Help Suicidal Youth. Many parents have expressed concerns about their adolescents taking antidepressants. The FDA required a black box warning on antidepressants about suicide risks with youth and there was significant reports in the media. This is however much  more complicated than a black box warning. A study from Ohio State found that the use of antidepressants in adolescents was related to a dramatic reduction in hospital readmissions.