News and Views

Sunday, 20 November 2011 21:14

Sometimes we cannot help but notice when God, nature, "the universe" or whatever you want to call it, delivers a powerful message.  Such was the case several days ago when a red-tailed hawk came crashing through our family room window.

The sound of shattering glass was unnerving.  When I heard it, I came running downstairs, trying to figure out what had happened.  There was a hole in the window, but I could not fathom what had caused it.  I ran outside and there was no sign of mischief, so I came back in to try to figure out what had happened.  It was then that I discovered that a bird of some kind was lying on the floor, wedged between a sofa and the wall.  I assumed it was a duck (a dead duck) since our backyard was filled with ducks that morning.  After a few minutes, there was movement; slow at first, then more animated.  Suddenly, there was a flapping of wings and the emergence of a bloodied, but quite alive, hawk; a fledgling, red-tail.

What in the world would cause this beautiful creature to fly through our window?  Last year, there was a hawk that sat on the railing of our deck, which was quite amazing to witness.  I was so impressed with this unusual presence, I grabbed my camera and took some close-up photos.  The hawk seemed quite at home and not the least bit anxious to move on. That was incredible enough.  But this?  Crashing through our window?  Hello?  What gives?

Being a Jungian psychotherapist, I often work in the symbolic realm, believing that there is much to learn from the symbols that present themselves to us--whether in our dreams or our waking lives.  Although even the most commonplace symbol can be packed with meaning, the hawk carries an inherently powerful symbolism...all the more so when it comes crashing through one's window!

A bit of research revealed that, particularly among Native American traditions, the Red-tailed Hawk is seen as a strong symbol of visionaries and spiritual messengers.  Because the hawk is able to soar high above the earth, into the heavens if you will, it has a perspective of the "bigger picture," which we cannot experience with our "feet on the ground."

Interestingly, the red tail of the hawk only appears when the bird reaches maturity. The hawk that flew through our window was a fledgling, a young bird that had not yet achieved full maturity; had not yet "earned" its red tail.  Perhaps the fledgling red tailed hawk, who is on its own path of becoming, is a reminder that I (we) too are always in a process of becoming.

The red-tailed hawk may show up when we need to be more observant and to pay closer attention to how we are living our lives.  What message is the hawk trying to convey?  What is the hawk seeing that we are not?  These are particularly important questions to consider as we examine our spiritual selves, given that the red hawk is seen as a spiritual messenger.  Specifically, what should we be doing to live more authentic, spiritually-centered lives?  What do we still need to do to earn our own wings, to have a broader perspective, to see things more clearly, to rise above the day-to-day details of our lives, to soar to greater heights?

Monday, 31 October 2011 21:02

How does someone in the helping professions gain a true understanding of what it is like to experience a particular mental illness?  How can anyone really know what it feels like--unless you have been there yourself?

As part of our training, therapists certainly read a lot about depression, OCD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.  But reading about and experiencing are two very different things.  Many therapists, of course, have their own direct experiences with mental illness, perhaps most often with anxiety and depression, either in themselves or a loved one.  Fortunately, however, most of us have not had personal experience with more serious mental illness, such as psychosis.

A recent study presented on October 28, 2011, at the American Psychiatric Association's 2011 Institute on Psychiatric Services described a new, powerful teaching technique that simulated the experience of auditory hallucinations.  In a study involving 240 medical students at the University of Toledo, experimenters exposed the students to a recording that had three distinct and disturbing voices, as a way to teach medical students about psychosis.  The recording culminated with strong voices that make statements such as "You're dirty," or even command suicide, much as the "voices" heard by a patient with psychosis would do.

Nearly all of those who went through the simulation exercise felt that the experience helped them realize the daily challenges faced by people with psychosis, and 95% thought it would help them provide better treatment to those with mental illness, according to presenting author Indrani Naskar, MD.  "Most students said they had developed more empathy toward people with auditory hallucinations and had newfound respect for those with psychosis," said Dr. Naskar.  "It offered students a glimpse into the lived experience of people with severe mental illness.  Such experiential learning opportunities about mental illness may prove to be powerful tools for removing stigma and educating undergraduates and graduate students about the symptoms of those with psychiatric disorders," Dr. Naskar said.

What a remarkable teaching tool!  It certainly would be worthwhile for all of us to have this kind of simulated experience as a way to both better understand psychosis and to increase empathy for those with psychotic symptoms.  Unfortnately, there is no way to simulate some of the more common mental illnesses.  What if you could really feel what your depressed spouse, child or parent feels?  What your friend with OCD experiences on a daily basis?  What your co-worker goes through as she tries to manage bipolar disorder? 

For now, perhaps the best we can do is try to understand the struggles of others as best we can; to offer empathy and support; to realize that most of us are doing the best we can with the cards we have been dealt; and to be grateful for whatever days (and nights) of tranquility life offers us.

Wednesday, 05 October 2011 22:16

The death of Steve Jobs has affected me; more than I would have expected.  Why?  He was perhaps the true genius of our--my--generation.  As I was watching the CNN coverage of his death, I was only half paying attention.  The other half of me was surfing the Net on my IPad reading about his life.  It took me 10 or 15 minutes to realize the irony.   Surfing the net on my IPad was already second nature to me; a new way to multi-task as I was trying to absorb as much information as I could in as little time as possible.

Yet, as the news coverage flashed images of the Apple II, the Macintosh, the MacBook, the IPhone, the IPad, my life also flashed before me.  I remember where I was in my life as these innovative products were introduced.  I thought back to the first Mac I owned, using the MacWrite word processing program which was loaded on a floppy disk, because the original Mac had no hard drive.  Hard to imagine now, huh?  A computer with no hard drive?  Everything I needed, including all of my documents, was on a single floppy.  How many of you reading this have never used a floppy disk?

Jobs was iconic, of course, and will be forever remembered for how he changed the technological landscape; for how we acquire information, for how we communicate, for how we live.  But as I have been reading about him, I am most struck by his philosophy of life...and his views of death.  The commencement address he delivered at Stanford University in 2005 contains what may be, for me, Jobs' most enduring legacy.  For, beyond his creative genius, he had a grasp of what it takes to live a life of meaning and purpose.

One enduring piece of advice from Jobs is to "not settle."  Jobs suggested that "work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."  Jobs argued against settling for anything less: "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it....So keep looking until you find it." 

Jobs' philosophy of life was no doubt influenced by the reality of living with pancreatic cancer since 2004.  Yet, he said, since age 17 he lived with a keen awareness of death.  For 33 years, Jobs said, he looked in the mirror every morning and asked himself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer was "no" for too many days in a row, he said he knew he needed to change something.

Jobs also was keenly aware that "sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick."  The challenge is continuing to live life despite the challenges and hardships.  Living with an awareness of the reality of death, though perhaps gruesome to some, can provide a perspective that allows one to live life more fully, more passionately, more authentically.  "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," said Jobs.  "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

So, perhaps that is the take-away.  To look in the mirror each day.  To live life fully.  To take risks.  To follow your heart. To do what you love. To not settle for less than you can be.  As Jobs put it in his commencement address to the Stanford class of 2005:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Tuesday, 06 September 2011 21:51

Unless you or someone in your family has struggled with a mental health issue, it is tempting to think that "those problems" only affect others.  Well, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control estimates that approximately half of all American adults will suffer some kind of mental illness at some point during their lifetime.  (In any single year, approximately 5% experience mental illness.)  As a result of this finding, the authors of the report stress the need for better surveillance in order to improve treatment and prevention.

Commenting on the report, Pamela S. Hyde, the director of the federal government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), commented:

"This new CDC study combined with SAMHSA's latest surveillance data provides a powerful picture of the impact of mental illness on public health. People with mental disorders should seek help with the same urgency as any other health condition.  Treatment and support services are effective and people do recover."

Friday, 02 September 2011 09:20

For the first time, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has officially recognized that addiction is a chronic brain disease. 

"At its core, addiction isn't just a social problem or a moral problem or a criminal problem. It's a brain problem whose behaviors manifest in all these other areas," ASAM Past President Michael Miller, MD, said in a news release. Previous research has shown that addiction affects neurotransmission in the reward area of the brain, triggers craving of addictive behaviors based on memories of previous experiences, and alters areas that govern impulse control and judgment.

Recognizing substance abuse as a “primary disease” has huge implications for how those with substance abuse problems are viewed.  Specifically, as ASAM points out, it means that substance abuse is “not the result of other causes such as emotional or psychiatric problems," but rather is a chronic condition that needs to be"treated, managed, and monitored over a life-time."

Raju Hajela, MD, chair of the ASAM new definition committee and past president of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, said that this disease drives behaviors that others might not understand.  "Simply put,” he said, “addiction is not a choice.”  ASAM estimates that genetic factors account for about half of the likelihood that an individual will develop addiction.

For years, many people dealing with addictions were stigmatized, based on the popular belief that their behavior was entirely within their control.  Now, with the recognition that addictive behavior is similar to other disorders, I hope that more people will seek the help they need.