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Topics - Paul

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16
Open Free for All / Tom Cruise: Man On A Mission
« on: June 13, 2005, 03:21:00 PM »
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/4537415/detail.html


AccessHollywood
Tom Cruise: Man On A Mission

POSTED: 2:31 pm PDT May 26, 2005
UPDATED: 9:35 am PDT May 27, 2005

Access Hollywood
Tom is serious when it comes to the topic of kids on drugs.
Man on a Mission

Why did Tom Cruise sit down with Billy Bush?

"Because there is nothing more important," he said to Billy Bush. "I remember we spoke outside of the mentoring award when I received the National Mentorship Award, and we were talking about child drugging. We have a real problem in America today, where we now have 8 million kids -- the future generation is medicated. I told you I'm going right after these guys I'm going right after psychiatry and these false labels and this psuedo-science."

Tom's passion is personal.

"I was diagnosed as being dyslexic. I had a lot of energy as a child. They wanted to put me on drugs in the 70s."

But Tom's mother stood in the way and said no. "She just felt it was wrong inside if a doctor's telling her," Tom said. "My mother said 'No. Absolutely not. No way.' I am thankful. Had I been put on those drugs, I never would be here today talking to you and I never would have had the career that I am having. Never. I know that."

Tom was born in Syracuse, New York. He has three sisters. He enjoyed riding his bicycle, boating, swimming. And he wasn't exactly shy in front of the camera. He was ready for his close-up even as a child!

Although Tom attended Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey, that was only one of many schools he attended, including a seminary, because Tom's family moved a lot. He attended 12 schools in 12 years.

"My mother left my father. They are divorced. My story was one of a great mother and great sisters and a very close family."

By 1981, at age 19, Tom had moved to Hollywood and was already working in movies. He married and divorced actress Mimi Rogers, and shortly after, in 1990, he married Nicole Kidman, entering into a high-profile Hollywood relationship.

They adopted two children, Isabella and Connor. "I always wanted to be a father," said Tom.

His father's absense starting at age 12 was felt.

Access Hollywood
Tom on his father: "He tried to do right but he, himself, didn?t have the tools."
"I always felt responsible for myself," said Tom. "I felt that. When I became a Scientologist, I reached a point of greater understanding for my father. You see, he is my father. He tried to do right but he, himself, didn't have the tools." When Tom was 21, his dad died of cancer. He continued to be close with his mother, who remarried.

Tom went to seminary school at age 14, a time when many adolescents are having some kind of awakening, discovering the opposite sex.

"I was discovering girls, also," at seminary school. But becoming a Catholic priest was not in the cards, he said.

"There was not a desire (to become) a priest," he said. "Because even when I was there, there was, you know, girlfriends or friends, that part of it. But there was an interest in religion."

Tom became a Scientologist in 1985 and began studying the technologies of L. Ron Hubbard "shortly after that," he said.

"Study Tech" is Scientology's method of learning. This personal breakthrough was right about the same time Tom's career exploded with a little movie called "Top Gun."

"I always wanted to be a pilot," he said. "And when I had 'Top Gun,' I went for one lesson and I just couldn't learn. I couldn't read and then apply what I had read. So what happened on 'Top Gun,' at that point, I couldn't get my pilot license and it was very frustrating for me. I wanted it."

Because of this study technology, Tom now has his pilot's license. He's even mastered flying to the point of aerobatics.

Tom credits Scientology with making all of that possible. And now, Tom is passing the study tech on to others through his work with the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project, or H.E.L.P.

Tom's passion for helping children learn is only exceeded by his personal crusade against doctors prescribing anti-depressants and drugs such as Ritalin to treat children.

"They said, 'Oh, you know, Ritalin is safe. It's safe. It's safe.' Ritalin is an amphetamine."

Tom believes the education of children is suffering for it.

"SAT scores have gone right down the toilet," he said. "The parents are blaming the teachers. The teachers are blaming the parents. Okay? And the psychs are putting everyone on drugs."

Tom was asked whether he believed doctors who prescribe drugs like that to people think they are doing it for the right reasons.

"You know what? I'm sure drug dealers on the street, in some way, they are making money. That's what I equate it to. Here is the thing: you have to understand, with psychiatry, there is no science behind it. And to pretend that there is a science behind it is criminal."

The American Psychiatric Assocation disagrees. They claim "....depression and anxiety are real and they are treatable. Science has shown that medications can be an important - and even lifesaving - part of treatment." But Tom is undeterred. "Am I making people aware of it by discussing it openly and saying what a fraud psychiatry is? You bet I am. I feel responsibility. Because I care, man. I care . I care about you . I care about your children .I care about these people here in this room, every one of you. And I mean it. That is not just words to me. That is a promise. You think I'm passionate? You see? That is why they wanted to drug the piss out of me!," he said, laughing.

Access Hollywood
Tom on Scientology: "Scientology for me (is)?if you don?t understand something, it is literally because you have misunderstood words. That's all..."
Tom and Scientology

Firefighters with health problems caused by 9/11 are just one of many groups that Tom reaches out to year-round, spreading the word about Scientology's various learning and healing technologies.

But there is still one question: what exactly is Scientology? One of its biggest proponents will explain.

Tom was asked about the concept of auditing, a Scientology practice. "To audit is to listen," Tom said.

Auditing is at the core of the Scientology religion. It's a technique which uses an electro-psychrometer (or e-meter) to help measure a person's reaction to unhappy memories so they can be worked through - or "cleared." Tom acknowledged that he audits, but advised that any description he can give wouldn't convey everything necessary to understand the practice. "It is better for people to read a book and discover for themselves what Scientology is," he said.

There are perceptions and misperceptions about Scientology. Tom was asked to further explain his religion.

"Well, I will agree there are a lot of misperceptions about a lot of things in life. I don't agree that there is a general misconception or perception. I believe there are people who don't know what it is. But there are people that don't know what it is and there are people that know what it is."

What is Scientology to Tom Cruise?

"Scientology for me (is)...if you don't understand something, it is literally because you have misunderstood words. That's all. Whatever it is." Like any religion, it's not easy to sum up what Scientology is in just a few words. But it is basically an applied religious philosophy, that by helping oneself and others, you reach a higher level of consciousness. "What Scientology is, is it addresses man as a spiritual being. Okay? And it gives people tools that they apply to their lives to improve conditions. And that is what it is."

Tom was asked about the perception that Scientology requires its initiates to pay to attain higher levels of consciousness.

"Here is the point, said Tom. "I wouldn't be here today where I am (without it) and it is things that I apply to my life to help me improve my conditions that actually help me to be able to think for myself, to be able to make the decisions. I use it and I apply it and when you talk about things, those are lies. And really, when you get down to it, you know there are bigots. There are people that just want to hate, period. No matter what. Right?"

The church was established in 1954 by science fiction and "Dianetics" writer L. Ron Hubbard. It Years later, Scientology received tax exempt status as a religion, which means it exists only on donations by its members. To date, it's hugely profitable and global, boasting 3,200 churches in 154 countries."

Is Scientology a faith or is it a religion. Tom was reminded that the average person thinks of church, they envision houses of worship, prayer, of God or other deities.

"It is a religion," said Tom. It is not a matter of, 'There is no God.' There is a God, okay? But there are things where there are...that is why I say you have to read what Scientology is, because it is non-denominational. There are Jewish Scientologists. There are Christian Scientologists. There are Baptist Scientologists."

But the powerful church is not without its detractors. Some claim that it is over-aggressive in recruiting and employs mind-control, escalating fees. Some go so far as to call it a cult.

"What it comes down to is, ''What do you know?' I don't care about what other people say. I don't live my life based on what other people think. I should do okay. I live my life based on what I know is right for myself . And what I care about is other people. And I care about my family and I care about the world and I wanna see it a better place. And I don't care what people say. I know what Scientology is. It is extraordinary, what it has done."

Tom Cruise's Opinion About Psychiatry

Access Hollywood
"You think I'm passionate?" Tom laughs.
A Scientologist like Tom will tell you that there are few things more dangerous than the widely accepted fields of psychology and psychiatry. You may not necessarily agree, but this is a man who is certain he is right and has no fear of offending those who swear they have been helped in their lives by psychiatry.

"You know, you have really got to evaluate what their lives are like," said Tom. "Getting your children or yourself off these drugs, its is a dangerous dangerous business! I have recently helped family have their daughter get off drugs."

Tom said his young friend had been on prescription drugs for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD from the age of three-and-a-half to seven. Weaning her off was no easy task."

"We stepped the child off the drugs, got her vitamins and food," he said. "She has calmed down now and she has grown seven inches in about four months. This is just one story of people that myself and other people have helped. And it is imperative that, even when people watch this, I've helped step them off. I have an easier time stepping people off heroin then I do these psychotropic drugs. They can have Grand Mal seizures. They can become suicidal. You have to do it under medical care, under a doctor and (with) vitamins because any drug you put in your system is a poison. Any drug is a poison."

Tom was asked about drugs like Paxil and conditions like post-partum depression and he did not hold back his opinions.

"Let me tell you something: it is not a cure and it is actually lethal. These drugs are dangerous... There is a hormonal thing that is going on that is...scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that."

Brooke Shields, with whom Tom co-starred in "Endless Love," recently wrote a book about her own bout with post-partum depression following the birth of her daughter, Rowan. She wrote about the drug treatment that helped her through it.

"Look at her life," counters Tom. "Here is a woman - and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is incredibly talented - (but) you look at where has her career gone? It has helped her. When someone says it has helped them, it is to cope. It didn't cure anything. There is no science. There is nothing that can cure them whatsoever."

Tom was asked if he meant drugs had cost Shields her career.

"Well, you look at people," he said, trailing off...."Look - is she happy? Is she really happy?"

Tom went on to say, "What you can do with vitamins and exercise to help a woman through that, to help someone through that, all right. She doesn't know what these drugs are and for her to promote it is irresponsible. And I wish her well in life. (But) it is irresponsible to do that."

Tom takes an equally no-nonsense approach when it comes to the business side of his career. Last year, Tom stunned Hollywood by splitting from his long-time publicist, Hollywood legend Pat Kingsley, the stately woman who had been by his side for 14 years helping shape his career and image.

Billy asked Tom if the catalyst for the move was the fact that his representation at the time suggested that speaking about Scientology and his beliefs publicly was bad for his career?

"No," Tom said adamantly. "Absolutely not. I've always spoken about Scientology. I've always discussed it. Okay? It's something that, when I make a decision, it's based on what I feel is correct. What I feel is right. You have to understand, I've always made my own decisions. Okay? The people who work for me, I allow them to work for me. I hired them. So if I don't feel that they are doing what I need from them -- and I give people lots of room and lots of chances cause I want to see people do well, I care about them -- and if they're not doing it at a certain point, it's like, 'Hey...' I fire them."

Tom Cruise boasts a lifetime box office gross total of $5 billion dollars.

Yet Tom still makes the time to help others.

"You just have no idea what it's like being me and all the people that want help. All the people that call that I talk to at 2 a.m. that ask for advice."

How do they reach him?

"They do call me I give them my number. People know that they can call me. They are respectful, actually. They don't waste my time. They say, 'Look, I need help at this. What should I do?' And I help them. I have nothing to gain. I just want to see people do well. I like seeing actors do well and directors and film makers. I've never felt competitive with other artists. It's always okay. I go out of my way to try to help them. Okay? That's not something that happens. I'm applying Scientology to them, whether they know it or not, so that they are doing better in life. Because it gives me pleasure to see people do well."

Tom was asked about the Scientology tent on the set of his upcoming film, "War of the Worlds." Is understanding Scientology and its tenets part of doing business with Tom Cruise?

"Well, if someone says they want to know who I am," he said. "What I find is that people are interested and they want to know. When I say the invitation is there, they jump at it. They want to know."

Are his strong beliefs hurting his career?

"Billy, here's what happens...okay? It is the exact opposite. People have thanked me. I get so many letters from people thanking me. Thanking me for their children and for themselves. It is the exact opposite!"

Copyright 2005 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


---

http://www.accesshollywood.com/accessto ... etail.html

Only Tom Will Tell
Tom CruiseTom: 'I Love This Woman'
In Part I of our exclusive Access Hollywood interview with Tom Cruise, the star lays it on the line for the new lady in his life.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/entertai ... etail.html

How Tom Did It
Having overcome learning disabilites himself, Tom shows Billy how he is personally helping children in need in Part II of our Tom Cruise exclusive.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/4526509/detail.html

Tom: 'Nic Is Not A Bigot'
In Part III of his exclusive Access Hollywood interview, Tom Cruise talks about ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/4531991/detail.html

Tom: A Man On A Mission
In the final chapter of our conversations with Cruise, Tom talks about Scientology and his beliefs about psychiatry and drug treatments.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/4537415/detail.html

Copyright 2005 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

17
Feed Your Head / DBSA Bipolar Calendar
« on: June 10, 2005, 10:40:00 AM »
Some folks find tracking themselves to provide
feedback for treatment very helpful. Especially
in the initial phase after diagnosis, or
to provide information for a diagnosis
assessment.

When stabilized it is not so important.

One is a .pdf download:
http://www.dbsalliance.org/PDF/CalendarforWeb.pdf

The other is an item that can be ordered for
free:
http://dbsalliance.org/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=74

18
Feed Your Head / McMan's Depression and Bipolar Newsletter
« on: June 09, 2005, 09:44:00 AM »
Here is a referral to a great newsletter, I am posting McMan's semi-annual appeal letter to let
you read the origins of the newsletter.

To subscribe, and/or read the voluminous amount of information collected by a journalist, an not a medical professional:

http://www.mcmanweb.com

---

McMan's Depression and Bipolar Weekly
   Special Appeal Summer 2005
My Journey and Yours

Six years ago this month marks the anniversary of my first Newsletter. It wasn?t a real Newsletter, just a publicity blurb to draw attention to some articles I was writing for someone else?s website. It went out to all of about 10 people. The next week I included an opening essay and some short news items, and a funny thing happened ? a Newsletter was born. This emailing went out to a lot more people, and the immediate positive feedback I received changed my life. For the first time in years, I now had a reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

I am still in personal contact with many of the people who received my initial mailings, and I am constantly making new online friends from those of you who join my list. These are relationships I continue to value, as I strive to put your interests first in providing you with the very best service possible.

I can assure you that I have the best job in the world, though I do joke to people that being self-employed I have a real cheapskate for a boss. Which is where you come in.

I am committed to reaching everyone who needs this Newsletter, regardless of ability to pay. Fortunately, thanks to readers like you, I have been able to keep this Newsletter going as an independent service and not captive to any corporation, organization, or industry. My fund drive at the end of last year was a gratifying success, and I am looking forward to your support in my first fund drive of 2005.

By way of guidance, for a short while this was a paid subscription Newsletter, with subscriptions running at $29 regular, $10 hardship, and $100 group.

For the first time, as a small token of my appreciation, all donors will receive a handsome bookmark that says: "McMan ? Knowledge is Necessity."

Those who contribute $100 will receive an elegant retractable pen, laser-engraved in gold with none other than: "McMan - Knowledge is Necessity."

Those who contribute $250 will receive a handsome foam-insulated stainless steel coffee mug with a lid, your ideal commuting companion. Promise you will only drink decaf out of it. The cup proudly proclaims ? you guessed it - "McMan - Knowledge is Necessity."

To protect your privacy, the words depression and bipolar will not appear on the above items.

Those who wish to contribute $500 or more are in for a special treat: a sneak peak at a chapter from my book that is currently in the hands of a publisher. Donors will receive an autographed manuscript chapter, with my hand-inscribed ? I can?t contain myself - "McMan - Knowledge is Necessity."

Thanks to your past support, I have been able to devote myself fulltime to this Newsletter (and Website). This has resulted in exclusive reports on issues as diverse as treating hypomania, the mood spectrum, new drug discovery, treating bipolar kids, the fine points of brain science, depression in males, and what bipolar patients do to stay well.

This is "Knowledge is Necessity" in action. With your continued support, I am looking forward to many more Newsletters to come.

Donation information is provided below.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely

John McManamy
Editor and Publisher
McMan's Depression and Bipolar Weekly
"Knowledge is Necessity."
2004 Recipient, Public Service Award,
Mental Illness Awareness Media Awards,
CT Psychiatric Society/CT NAMI/CT Dept of Mental Health

19
Open Free for All / HowStuffWorks: What is a Nervous Breakdown?
« on: June 08, 2005, 02:07:00 PM »
http://people.howstuffworks.com/question653.htm
What is a Nervous Breakdown?

In the Middle Ages, it was called melancholia. In the early 1900s, it was known as neurasthenia. From the 1930s to about 1970, it was known as a nervous breakdown. "Nervous breakdown" is a term that the public uses to characterize a range of mental illnesses, but generally it describes the experience of "snapping" under immense pressure, mental collapse or mental and physical exhaustion.
"Nervous breakdown" is not a clinical term. There is no psychiatric definition of a nervous breakdown, and it has nothing to do with nerves. "Nervous breakdown" is an inexact and unscientific term that is no longer used in psychiatry. Much as modern medicine breaks down diseases into more specific definitions (not just "cancer," but "stage 1 ovarian cancer"), modern psychiatry is breaking the term "nervous breakdown" into more precise diagnoses.

The diagnosis that most closely resembles what the public calls a nervous breakdown is major depression. Depressive episodes may be caused by genetic and biological factors and are often triggered by social and environmental circumstances. Depression is defined as the "loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities" and "sustained fatigue without physical exertion." Depression is characterized by a lack of energy and motivation along with feelings of guilt or hopelessness. It is often brought on by stressful situations, such as relationship difficulties, health problems, the aftermath of an accident or the death of a loved one.

The mental illness known as a "nervous breakdown" may also be something like panic attacks, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder.

Surveys show that about one-third of Americans feel on the verge of a nervous breakdown at some point. Studies estimate that 50-million Americans suffer some form of mental illness in their lifetime.

Depression is treated through medication and psychiatric counseling.

Here are some interesting links:
Click link above and scroll down for these
links ...

National Institute of Mental Health/National Institute of Health
National Mental Health Association
WebMD: Definition of a nervous breakdown
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Research on Nervous Breakdowns

20
Open Free for All / HowStuffWorks: Insanity Defense
« on: June 08, 2005, 02:05:00 PM »
http://people.howstuffworks.com/question509.htm

What does not guilty by reason of insanity mean?
 
In movies and on television shows, a standard legal defense for a criminal defendant is insanity or temporary insanity. We also hear about this from time to time in real life, of course, but it is not an especially common legal defense. To most of us, the legal reasoning behind this defense is fairly mysterious even though we've probably seen it played out dozens of times. On a typical lawyer show, the defense lawyer brings in a psychologist that says that the defendant should not be held accountable for his or her actions because he or she has a certain mental illness that interferes with his or her reasoning capacity. If the jury thinks the person actually does have this mental illness, it finds him or her not guilty.
This raises a number of questions that most shows don't answer very clearly:

Why does being mentally ill excuse somebody from criminal guilt?
How is a jury of regular people qualified to determine whether or not somebody is mentally ill?
What level of mental illness constitutes "insanity"?
How do you prove somebody is (or was) insane?
The main reason that this concept is so confusing is that lawyer shows and press coverage of actual cases often don't clarify the distinction between insanity and mental illness. Mental illness and mental disorder are psychiatric concepts, while insanity is a cultural and legal concept. In a U.S. court of law (as well as courts in some other countries), insanity and mental illness are related conditions but they are by no means synonymous.
Mental illness at the time of the offense is a prerequisite for a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity ruling, but legal insanity is not simply a judgment of whether or not a person has a mental illness. The law varies from state to state, but in most courts that recognize the "insanity defense," someone is found to be legally insane if he or she meets one of three conditions:

Because of a mental disorder, the defendant did not understand that what he or she was doing was illegal.
Because of a mental disorder, the defendant did not know what he or she was doing.
Because of a mental disorder, the defendant was compelled to commit the crime by an irresistible force.
So why is a person who meets these conditions not guilty of the crime? The reasoning is actually based on one of the most fundamental tenets of the justice system in the United States and many other countries: With most offenses, a person is only guilty of a crime if he or she actually intended to commit the crime. If you accidentally bump into somebody with your car, for example, you're not guilty of assault, but you would be guilty if you bumped into them intentionally, in exactly the same way. The action is the same, but you have not committed the crime because you didn't intend to (you may be guilty of a lesser crime, though -- e.g. reckless driving). Mental illness can alter a person's conception of reality so that he or she does not realize the criminal nature of his or her actions or has no choice but to commit the crime. When this is the case, certain courts believe the person lacks this element of intention necessary for criminal guilt.
To prove legal insanity, the defense must provide credible expert testimony that says how the defendant is (or was) mentally ill, and then explain why this sort of mental illness means that the defendant did not intend to commit a crime. The jury does not decide whether the defendant is mentally ill; it determines whether or not the defense's expert testimony has demonstrated this fact, and then decides whether or not this mental disorder meant that he or she did not intend to commit a crime. Mental illness alone is no defense -- A person who suffers from deep psychosis will still be considered guilty if he or she commits a crime intentionally.

Here are some interesting links:
Click this link and scroll to the bottom:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/question509.htm

The Insanity Defense
How a Defendant's Mental State Affects His or Her Responsibility for a Crime
The American Psychiatric Association's information on the insanity defense
Defining the Neurobiology of Insanity

21
Open Free for All / HowStuffWorks: How Alcoholism Works
« on: June 08, 2005, 01:41:00 PM »
What's New at HowStuffWorks!
June 07, 2005
http://www.howstuffworks.com

New at HowStuffWorks:

How Alcoholism Works

We've all seen the stereotypical "drunk" in
movies and
television shows: He's the one staggering down
the street,
clothing askew, slurring his words and tripping
over his own
feet. But in the real world, alcoholism is often
much more
difficult to spot. Alcoholics may hide their
drinking problem
from friends, family -- even from themselves.

**********************************************************
Best Source for Facts on the Net - RefDesk.com
http://www.howstuffworks.com/hsw.php?s= ... efdesk.com
**********************************************************

In the United States alone, alcoholism affects
millions of
people and costs the country billions of dollars
each year.

In this article, we'll learn the difference
between heavy
drinking and alcoholism, find out how alcohol
affects the body,
discover the genetic, social and physiological
factors that lead
individuals down the path to alcoholism and learn
how alcoholics
can get treatment for their addiction.

Click here to read How Alcoholism Works:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/alcoholism.htm


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Want a few million extra pairs of eyes looking at
your Web site?
Find out how you can place your link on the
HowStuffWorks
article of your choice for maximum exposure.
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HowStuffWorks Market Research:

If you enjoy speaking your mind, and you're
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Have fun!

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HowStuffWorks
http://www.howstuffworks.com
Copyright ©1998-2004 by HowStuffWorks, Inc. All
rights reserved.

22
Open Free for All / LA Times: Criminon
« on: May 30, 2005, 07:28:00 AM »
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 6766.story

Scientologists Reach Behind Bars
Eschewing psychiatry and antipsychotic drugs, secular arm of church offers rehab. Some corrections officials have promoted its use.

By Dan Morain
Times Staff Writer

May 29, 2005

SACRAMENTO ? Hundreds of inmates at one of California's highest-security prisons, where a fourth are mentally ill and most are serving time for violent crimes, have participated in a rehabilitation program affiliated with the Church of Scientology, which rejects traditional mental health care.

The rehab program is offered at Corcoran State Prison by Criminon International, a secular arm of Scientology, a fierce opponent of psychiatry and antipsychotic drugs given to mentally ill prisoners to regulate their impulses and behavior.

California prisons are under a federal court order to provide all necessary treatment, including medication and therapy, for mentally ill inmates.

Experts both in and outside the prison system say Criminon's presence could undermine the ability of licensed clinicians to treat mentally ill inmates. They and others worry that if inmates reject therapy, they could pose a danger to themselves or others.

Authorities at corrections headquarters said they have no evidence that has occurred. Those officials also said, as Corcoran officials initially did, that they were unaware of Criminon's presence at that prison or other lockups. Most said they knew little or nothing about Criminon.

But corrections department memos, along with other documents and interviews, show those officials do have some familiarity with the organization, and some have promoted its use.

It is unclear how Criminon's program, which is voluntary and conducted by correspondence, began at Corcoran or other prisons. But a Criminon document obtained from Corcoran states that the program has been operating there for at least 15 years. It appears to have spread by word of mouth among inmates, with help from some prison employees.

Prison officials, responding to questions from The Times and the concerns of some employees, in recent days have begun examining the use of Criminon's courses at Corcoran.

"We are currently reviewing all staff actions related to Criminon," said corrections spokesman Todd Slosek.

The inquiry comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration embarks on a major reorganization of the $6.5-billiona-year youth and adult correctional system.

The amount Schwarzenegger plans to spend on rehabilitation remains unclear, although he recently proposed adding $18 million to programs aimed at reducing recidivism for adults and providing more help for juveniles.

The governor also reversed an earlier decision to cut $50 million from such programs.

"Hallelujah," said Rena Weinberg, president of Criminon's parent organization, the Assn. for Better Living and Education, based in Hollywood. "Somebody finally is saying, 'Let's get something changed so people can get help.' "

Criminon executives say that while the Church of Scientology and some of its organizations preach against psychiatry, Criminon focuses on rehabilitating criminals by restoring their self-respect. Its teachings are based on the philosophy of Hubbard, a science fiction writer who founded Scientology in the 1950s.

"L. Ron Hubbard's social betterment programs," Weinberg said, "are very much about helping."

But she added: "One of psychiatry and psychotropic drugging's worse nightmares is Scientologists. Let's be real."

Some observers say there is no difference between the church and its secular arms.

"They're trying to draw a fine line," said former Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, who sponsored Proposition 63 last year to increase funding for mental health services outside prisons. Scientology was the most vociferous foe of the measure, which passed.

"The bottom line," Steinberg said, "is that all of their programs fall under the umbrella of Scientology, and Scientology's views on mental health treatment are well-known."

An opening Criminon course for inmates is based on a Hubbard booklet called "The Way to Happiness" and includes 21 sections, followed by questions.

The readings cover basic ideas: People should brush their teeth and bathe, get adequate rest and be temperate and monogamous. They should honor parents, treat children well, be tolerant of religious practices and not steal or kill.

"The way to happiness does not include murdering your friends or your family," one lesson notes. "It does not include being murdered yourself."

Inmates who take the courses study such directives and respond to written questions in short essay answers. Outside supervisors grade their responses. To help the supervisors, Criminon provides instruction manuals.

One Criminon instruction manual obtained from Corcoran prison says:

"If [inmates] are on psychiatric drugs, encourage them to get off. Psychiatrists are heavily into the prison system. Most jails and prisons have a staff psychiatrist that goes in daily and gives dosages of various and sundry mind-altering drugs to the inmates. Most of the time this is a ploy to keep the inmates sedated so that they don't cause trouble."

*

Manual Called Outdated

Criminon executives said in interviews that the manual, which was kept at the prison's administrative offices, was outdated.

A different manual provided by Criminon leaders last week makes only a passing reference to psychiatry, saying a reason inmates may seem angry is that "some of them are on psychiatric drugs and have strange side effects as a result."

Weinberg said Criminon instructors do not preach resistance to conventional mental health care.

Since 1995, California taxpayers have paid more than $1.7 billion to provide psychiatric services in prisons. That year, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of Sacramento ordered the state to improve the care of mentally ill prisoners.

Roughly a fifth of California's 163,000 inmates are diagnosed with some type of mental illness. At Corcoran, a fourth of the 5,000 inmates have such a diagnosis.

Schwarzenegger's top corrections official, Roderick Q. Hickman, whose agency must comply with Karlton's order, said he was not aware of Scientology's antipathy toward psychiatry. Nor was he aware of Criminon at all until recently.

"In my experience, I have never seen it," said Hickman, who started his career in 1979 as a prison guard. "I have never seen an inmate or heard an inmate tell me they are involved in a Criminon program."

Actress Jenna Elfman, a Criminon booster and a Scientologist, met with Hickman in Sacramento shortly after Schwarzenegger appointed him early last year and provided him his first detailed information about Criminon.

Hickman said that while he has not given Criminon official sanction to operate, prisoners have a constitutional right to correspond with anyone. Inmates correspond with an array of outsiders, from Christian missionaries to devil worshipers, he said. So long as there is no security threat, they can correspond.

Officers at all state prisons inspect letters coming in and out of the institution, though Hickman said correspondence course material generally would not raise inspectors' concerns.

Some who work in the prison system are dismayed that Criminon has operated without the oversight or involvement of mental health experts, given Hubbard's disdain of psychiatry.

A prison official involved in mental health care issues in the corrections system, who requested anonymity for fear of being fired, said Criminon's beliefs seem to be "completely at odds with the accepted standards of care for mentally ill people."

"Our treatment is based on research and empirical data," the official said. "It is subjected to the rigors of the scientific standard. Theirs is not?. The more that is being uncovered, the more disturbing it is, and the more extensive it seems to be. People didn't bother to check."

A decade after Karlton's order, mental health care in prisons remains troubled. In some instances, court records show, inmates must wait weeks for treatment. In other instances, said attorney Keith Wattley of the public-interest Prison Law Office, which represents inmates in the case before Karlton, prisoners are overmedicated or given unsuitable medication.

"Oftentimes, [prison authorities] medicate without providing other therapy," said Wattley, who hopes that pressing the suit before Karlton will help improve the system. "Most clinicians will say that is not appropriate."

By pressing the suit before Karlton, however, inmates' attorneys hope to improve the system. Attorney Jane Kahn, who has represented inmates in the case before Karlton since 1992 and focuses on Corcoran, said in a reference to the Criminon presence that she was "concerned about a program that might create a hostile work environment."

As part of Karlton's order, a federal monitor reviews care of mentally ill prisoners and inspects the prisons. On a tour of Corcoran last year, the monitor and attorneys for inmates and the state noticed a paper posted in a cellblock housing some of the most acutely ill prisoners. It was a quote attributed to a well-known Scientologist, saying psychiatry should be "outlawed."

Scientology's goal, said professor Stephen Kent, a University of Alberta sociologist who studies the group, "is to destroy psychiatry and replace it with Scientology's own treatments. Criminon is simply one of many Scientology organizations that hope to see this goal realized."

Kent reviewed the Criminon instruction material at The Times' request.

"If inmates, through Criminon, adopt Scientology's rigid ideological stance against psychiatry," he said, "then mental health professionals within the prison and parole systems are at risk."

Nancy Pomerantz, Criminon's executive director, said she and other supervisors do not ask inmates whether they are on anti-psychotic drugs.

Pomerantz said the organization has provided instruction to almost 1,800 California inmates during the last decade. She said 95 Corcoran inmates have completed 200 Criminon courses and 750 are on a waiting list for them.

She said more inmates have participated at the state's other highest-security prison, Pelican Bay, in Northern California, which also houses mentally ill criminals. Pelican Bay officials were not aware of inmates taking Criminon courses, said corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

"We will service anybody who asks us," Pomerantz said. "We will help anyone who wants our help?. We're in and have been in almost every prison in California."

One former San Quentin inmate, Paul Sayler, 31, said he began taking Criminon courses while on parole last year. He said the instruction gave him "rules to follow, because the code I had kept getting me going in and out of prison."

"It changed my attitude," said Sayler, who continues to take courses and was encouraged by Criminon leaders to speak with The Times.

Documents obtained from Corcoran dating from 1999 state that inmates were corresponding with Criminon as early as 1989. They include a glossy, 87-page book containing writings by Hubbard.

A Hubbard essay in the book says: "There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who by ordinary criminal law could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder."

An associate warden, a chief deputy warden, a captain and a chaplain were aware of Criminon and may have been supportive of its use at Corcoran, according to the documents obtained from the prison. One of the main promoters is Gary Goddard, director of the prison's educational services.

Slosek said Goddard may have sought to "create an illusion" that Criminon has been officially sanctioned.

Goddard is quoted in a Criminon brochure extolling the program as "packaged in such a way that I can even use it with Secure Housing Unit inmates," a reference to the highest-security cellblocks.

Goddard has written memos to superiors praising the group. In a system in which spending on rehabilitation has lagged, Goddard said in one such memo, one of Criminon's benefits is that its material is free.

In a June 28, 2004, memo addressed to Corcoran Warden A.K. Scribner, Goddard said Criminon "has a long history of success in the rehabilitation of inmates on an international scale."

The memo said 226 inmates in the highest-security housing units there had requested enrollment. Goddard faxed a list of the inmates to Criminon last June. About 120 of those remain at Corcoran. Of that group, 67 are included in the facility's mental health caseload, according to an internal analysis done by the prison.

Scribner did not receive the June memo, said his spokeswoman, Sabrina Johnson.

Last month, Scribner met with a delegation of Criminon executives and Indonesian law enforcement officials as they toured Corcoran, Johnson said. Criminon provides services in Indonesian prisons. Scribner did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Goddard addressed an e-mail dated Aug. 5, 2004, to Hickman. The memo noted that Hickman had urged managers to "embrace the dynamics of 'out of the box' thinking that meets the needs of high-security inmates and the limitations that we are experiencing regarding budget shortfalls."

"I believe that the Criminon program goes a long way to make a dent in the needs of the inmates that we are attempting to reach," Goddard wrote.

Hickman did not receive the e-mail, spokesman Slosek said.

Criminon has been using its involvement at Corcoran in fundraising pitches. On its website, the group asks followers for money to pay for courses and requests that they "supervise" inmates who sign up.

"An official at Corcoran state prison in California challenged Criminon that if it will provide the books and supervisors, he will arrange for up to 1,000 offenders to do the Criminon program!" the posting says, without identifying the official.

It adds: "This could open the doors to having paid-for Criminon programs that truly work instead of unworkable punishment sequence methods presently employed. Your help is needed to bring the miracles of the criminal rehabilitation technology of L. Ron Hubbard into this setting and create a center where people learn to live productive and useful lives."

Last month, California's Youth and Adult Correctional Agency website posted a directory of community organizations that "have partnered with us to help in our agency reform." At the top of the alphabetized list of more than 100 groups is the Assn. for Better Living and Education. The list includes the group's address, phone number and the services it provides. Criminon is on the list, along with such organizations as Kaiser Permanente Psychiatry and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Hickman said that he had asked Criminon for data showing that its techniques work.

"If somebody believes something and they're willing to help influence someone to change their behavior, I'm not going to push them away," Hickman said. "I'm not advocating them. But I'm not pushing them away."

So far, Criminon has not provided the data he requested. The Assn. for Better Living and Education is paying for a study of Criminon's effectiveness by the Urban Institute, a research organization based in Washington, D.C.

*

Program Is Unstudied

Criminologists say there are no generally accepted academic studies showing whether Criminon's techniques work. Five leading academic experts on recidivism said they had not heard of Criminon or knew little about it and were not aware of any academic studies of it.

"I have never seen any studies on its effectiveness," said professor Edward Latessa, head of the criminal justice division at the University of Cincinnati.

California officials have reviewed a related program, the Narconon Drug Abuse and Prevention Program, which is another secular arm of Scientology and also is based on Hubbard's writings.

California Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, concerned about the use of Narconon in public schools, commissioned a study last year. The report, released in February, concluded that Narconon could undermine research-based drug-prevention efforts.

The program failed to "reflect accurate, widely accepted medical and scientific evidence," the study said. O'Connell sent a letter informing California public schools of the study's findings.

In an interview, he said he does not believe the Narconon program should be used in public schools, though he lacks the power to prohibit it; that decision rests with individual school districts.

Weinberg said public schools' use of Narconon has increased since O'Connell issued his report; she predicted that Criminon would expand too.

"People want what we've got," she said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.

23
Open Free for All / Ouch: Miracle Water Story
« on: May 22, 2005, 02:29:00 PM »
Russell John Beckett, a 54-year-old Australian veterinarian introduced the world to mineral water that sells for $50 a case. (The recommended dose is 2 liters a day, about $5 worth.)  The price is justified by testimonials from several people who claim the water cured them of various diseases. Paul Sheehan, a believer in the miracle water, had an article published in the Australian Herald's Good Weekend magazine that touted the water as good for arthritis, fatigue, and osteoporosis. Even though he mentioned that no scientific testing had been done, TV networks picked up the story and soon  


queues of up to 600 sick people - some of them in wheelchairs, some using walking-sticks - formed outside the premises of Bert's Soft Drinks in the southern Sydney bayside suburb of Taren Point, then the only place the water could be obtained....
In the hysteria, people drove from Melbourne to obtain supplies. Customers were rationed to three cases each (a case, then costing $30, contains 24 600 ml plastic bottles). Dennis Shelley, a director of the family-owned bottling company, was quoted in the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader as saying that 10,000 cases had been sold in a single day, $300,000 worth. (Australian Herald)


Imagine what the sales would have been like if Sheehan had had more evidence than just five success stories regarding people, one involving a dog, and another involving a cat who died.

Beckett "discovered" his miracle water by deducing that the water would assist in longevity because sheep and cattle in New South Wales seemed to live longer than other sheep. Beckett attributed this fact - if it is a fact -  to creek water drunk by the animals rather than to breeding or good animal husbandry. Beckett says he's sure the magnesium carbonate in the creek water is the miracle ingredient, so he began selling bottles of water with the mineral in it.

Beckett apparently is misleading the world not only about this miracle water but about his credentials as a scientist. He's been described as having a doctorate in biochemical pathology from Sydney University, even though the university doesn't offer such a degree. His claims as a researcher have also been called into question.

Some potential customers might be impressed by the patents granted* to the miracle water, especially if they choose to ignore the fact that being granted a patent doesn't mean the stuff has been tested or that it works.

In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration forced Beckett to remove the more outrageous therapeutic claims from his website. But this was not until he'd formed six companies with his son, his brother, and his friend (Dennis Shelley) to market his product, "Unique Water." Beckett moved on to Canada with his partner's daughter, Tanya Shelley, where he and a Korean associate marketed his miracle water as Aqua Gilgamesh. Efforts to locate either Beckett or Shelley by the Australian Herald have been unsuccessful.

24
Open Free for All / Article: "stealth" candidates for suicide
« on: May 20, 2005, 03:22:00 PM »
washingtonpost.com

The Choice of Life

In the Aftermath of a Son's Suicide Attempt, a Family Wonders What Went Wrong -- and How the Warning Signs Escaped Notice

By Gail Griffith
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 17, 2005; HE01


On Saturday evening, March 10, 2001, my 17-year-old son, Will, returned from an evening of bowling with friends. He sat at the kitchen table and told me he'd had a great night: He bowled over 100 twice in a row, he said, and then he, his     friend and cousin went to a pizza joint afterward. He appeared cheerful and light.

"You seem to be feeling a lot better, Will," I told him. It wasn't a casual remark; Will had been diagnosed with major depression in the fall of 2000, and after an agonizing and worrisome few months, he appeared to be shaking it off. I thought the latest medications were finally beginning to take effect. Or maybe it was just the passage of time, but by all markers, he looked as though he was genuinely on the mend.

"Yeah, Mom, I think I am better. No, really, I think I'm okay."

I kissed him on the forehead and went to bed buoyed by our exchange. For the first time in months I felt confident that we, that he, had turned the corner.

Will watched the basketball playoffs with his stepsister and her friends for an hour or so. He then went to his bedroom, wrote out four suicide notes and at 3 a.m. ingested 100 times the normal dose of the sedative antidepressant Remeron, washed down with a bottle of Snapple Iced Tea.

I discovered Will late the next morning in his bed, semi-conscious, gagging and incoherent, his heart racing and skin covered in sweat. We rushed him to the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital. After a day-long battle by a medical team to stabilize his vital signs, we came face to face with the devastating realization that our son had attempted to take his own life. It was the worst moment of my life.

Thankfully, Will survived.

How do you explain the suicidal impulses of a child? We give our children life; we think we know everything about them. And why shouldn't we? We tell them what to think and do from the moment they are born. So it comes as a terrible shock to learn that your child is harboring such a deadly secret.

Suicide is not a rational act; it is, rather, the worst possible outcome of a treatable illness, depression. A child in the throes of depression is suffering mental anguish not unlike the bodily pain of a wrenching physical illness. And the process of healing is no different: The sooner you obtain relief, the better the prognosis.

In the immediate aftermath of Will's suicide attempt, our family and a set of clinicians came together to analyze what went wrong. We began an urgent and heart-rending process to determine the next course of action -- a treatment plan for Will that at a minimum might safeguard against another suicide attempt and at best might conquer his depression.

As we grappled with the situation, we learned a lot about our son, and about the limited treatment options for teen depression.

We immersed ourselves in the controversy over the use of antidepressants to treat teenage patients and weighed the advantages and drawbacks of outpatient vs. residential treatment.

We were stymied by the staggering inadequacies of our managed-care system, and we discovered that our best hope for helping Will was to become at least as well informed as the therapists treating him. For any family in the thick of a crisis, it is a lot to handle.

Teen suicide is now a public health crisis. In the years since Will's suicide attempt, I have watched it rip through families and lamented the paucity of ready solutions. Roughly 2,000 American teens between the ages of 13 and 18 attempt suicide every day. That's a stunning statistic for a society that, on the surface, has so much to offer children.

In 1999 the U. S. Surgeon General issued a report stating that 3.5 million teenagers suffered from depression. Yet 80 to 90 percent of depressed adolescents go undiagnosed and untreated. And if left untreated, depression can lead to suicide.

Stealth Candidates

When depression strikes a teenager, it often shows up in a confusing set of symptoms that are difficult to distinguish from normal adolescent behavior -- moodiness, irritability, irregular sleep patterns, drug or alcohol use, difficulties at school.

But there is another, less common but more troubling pattern of teen suicides, which occurs more often, but not exclusively, in adolescent boys. I call these the "stealth" candidates for suicide -- the kids who appear to be doing just fine, even very well. It's the type of kid my son Will appeared to be.

How often have we seen media reports of the "star athlete" or "president of the student council" or the kid voted "most likely to succeed" -- the teenager with everything going for him -- who comes home on a Saturday night, loads a gun and shoots himself? If there is a suicide note, it is vague in the extreme: "Sorry for the inconvenience." Or "I just couldn't handle stuff anymore."

This type of kid typically closets emotions while aiming at goals and self-imposed standards that are impossibly high or prompted by perceived expectations of their parents. They are loath to disappoint family and friends.

In our pressure-cooker society, how do we convince our children that nothing is as important as their health and well-being?

The first stop on the road to diagnosis is often the family pediatrician or managed care gatekeeper. Few are expert in diagnosing and treating adolescent depression.

If you are lucky enough to locate a competent therapist or psychiatrist to treat a teen (no mean feat), you need to become educated about the therapeutic options for your child and weigh the risks vs. the benefits of antidepressant medication.

As I talk with friends and families of depressed teenagers, I have concluded that parents are ill-equipped to steer their children through the rugged terrain of mental illness. Worse, we have so little confidence in our judgment that our anxiety over doing the "right thing" often results in doing nothing at all.

Sometimes families of troubled teens refuse to accept the overwhelming evidence pointing to a teenager with depression when it is right in front of them. Abusing drugs and/or alcohol, risky    ual behavior, truancy, petty larceny, self-mutilation (including "cutting" and eating disorders) -- each one of these behaviors is in its own way a cry for help. Two or more together should make alarm bells go off.

Parents confronted with the challenge of handling a troubled adolescent often see the problem as a reflection of our own parenting skills, or lack thereof. We worry that we will be judged harshly by the community if we own up to a "failing" kid. Some      s worry that a "mental illness" label will follow their children through school and prevent them from attaining their goals.

If your child were battling cancer, you would not sit by and wait for the disease to run its course. And if your teen is depressed, he or she is up against a life-threatening illness and you need to seek help. Immediately.

My experience with Will leads me to this: If you suspect your teen is depressed, doing nothing is a luxury you cannot afford. No one on the planet knows your child better than you do. Trust in that knowledge, trust your instincts and then fight like hell to get help for your child.

If there is a hurt more wrenching than watching your child suffer, I do not know it.

Ever After

The six weeks following Will's suicide attempt were fraught with frustration bordering on panic. We were aware that, statistically, an adolescent who has made a failed attempt is 10 times more likely to try again if the depression is not treated successfully.

I couldn't sleep through the night without getting up several times to make sure he was still breathing. We never let him out of our sight.

Eventually, with the help of an educational consultant, we found a therapeutic boarding school in Montana with a stellar reputation. Despite Will's reluctance, we enrolled him. There he was monitored 24/7 and received the therapeutic treatment he needed and at the same time graduated from high school (with honors).

After returning home from Montana, he began to contemplate his future. On a job application for a volunteer government program, Will was asked to write about a challenge he had faced in his life and how he managed to overcome it. He wrote:

"A year and a half ago, I suffered from severe clinical depression. I tried several medications, spent time in a psychiatric hospital, but still continued to sink lower and lower. Finally, I came to a point where I was torn between my sense of obligation to my family and friends and my complete disinterest in continuing to live my life. My depression got the better of me and I tried to commit suicide in March of 2001.

"Since then, I have made an almost full recovery -- I have found medications that work for me and I am feeling positive about where my life is going. It is a drastic change from how I felt before and it has taught me that absolutely no problem or negative situation is without a solution."

We -- and Will -- were lucky. Our son survived a suicide attempt and a crippling bout of depression. And although the specter of Will's illness is never wholly erased, for now we are back on level ground.

Moreover, I learned that depression does not need to kill its young victims.

Families, communities and the medical establishment need to step up to the challenge and intervene swiftly to make available accurate diagnoses and effective treatment, so that our children, whose lives too often hang in the balance between risk and reason, are not left alone to choose death over life. ·

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

25
Open Free for All / Sexperts support urge to splurge wads
« on: May 20, 2005, 10:27:00 AM »
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0505/13splurge.html

Sexperts support urge to splurge wads
hand over fist

By Ryann Connell
Staff writer

May 13, 2005

   

Readers: Vote for the article you want to be the People's Pick WaiWai on Saturday!

Taxi drivers reveal stories to Shukan Taishu (3/30) about their seduction by randy female passengers.

Yomiuri Weekly (5/29) exhorts its floundering, last-place baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, to "get mad" and start winning.

Sunday Mainichi (5/29) advises to watch the behavior of Japan's otaku (geeks) for hints in which stocks to buy.

A former member of the Japan Self Defense forces repeatedly treated Defense Ministry bureaucrats to weekend golf and hot springs junkets at public expense, fumes Friday (5/27).

Sapio (5/25) scans the globe for countries where Japan is regarded favorably

Shukan Gendai (5/29) introduces the Yoshiwara "soapland" massage parlor where Kim Jong Nam, son of North Korea's dictator, cavorted on his secret visits to Japan.

Shukan Post (5/27) looks at the 21 years that Iraq captive Akihiko Saito spent as a mercenary soldier overseas.

Shukan Jitsuwa (5/26) reports on Nara Prefecture's first arrest in enforcing an ordinance banning sale and possession of kiddy porn.

Aera (5/23) tunes in on the "distant barks" of salaried workers who joined their companies during the days of the bubble economy.

Shukan Shincho (5/19) looks at winners and losers in the wake of this year's extra-long Golden Week holiday.

Saaya Irie, an 11-year old Japanese female model with an already impressive bustline, helped stop China's anti-Japanese riots in its tracks, giggles Shukan Bunshun (5/19).

Newsweek (5/18, Japanese edition) looks between the covers of "The Japan beloved of foreign authors."

Note: One vote per reader.
Voting closes Thursday night.
The article with the most votes will be published this Saturday in WaiWai.
Turning Japanese is not only good for you, it's vital, according to top physicians speaking to Spa! (5/17).

Turning Japanese in this instance, however, does not mean becoming a denizen of the Land of the Rising Sun, but instead refers to the slang term for masturbation.

Judging by what the hip men's weekly says, a bit of hand-to-gland combat is an essential part of the average man's physical well being. And that's not pulling your ... er, leg.

"As long as you're not at it every waking moment, it doesn't matter how many times you do it a day," Hideo Nakayama, head of the posh Hibiya Clinic in Tokyo's Toranomon district tells Spa! "Masturbation is a wonderful indicator of a person's self-management abilities. If a man can properly control his urge to masturbate, there's no doubt he's going to be a fine worker."

It seems, the men's weekly suggests, that a man's first step to developing a professional approach to their work requires disciplined control of the urge to get a load off his mind, so to speak.

Nakayama says frequency is important when it comes to heaving the heathen handhold.

"Combining both sex and masturbation, a man in his 20s should ejaculate 24 times a month, somebody in his 30s should aim for 10 times a month and a guy in his 40s should look at about half a dozen times," Nakayama says. "Mind you, this should be considered the absolute minimum level to be regarded as healthy. Any fewer times than this runs the risk of attracting ailments such as an enlarged prostate. Making sexual activity a regular practice also carries the benefit of stimulating the brain."

Mitsugu Shiga, the head doctor at the Yokohama Yuai Clinic, recommends manhandling man-handles even more often.

"On average, a man expends about 75 calories every time he masturbates. Considering daily intake levels of calories and protein, a man in his 20s should masturbate three times a day, twice a day if in his 30s and about once if he is a 40-something," Shiga tells Spa!

So, to ensure a healthy level of ejaculation, what ratio of eruptions should be brought about through wrist aerobics?

"At the very least, I'd recommend that about 20 percent of all ejaculations come through Onanism, which provides a sense of self-liberation," Nakayama says. "If ejaculation is achieved exclusively through sex, a sense of obligation takes over and there's a danger that the pleasure of ejaculating could be lost."

The physicians argue that masturbation should not be regarded as an alternative to sex, but instead an act of personal sexual freedom.

"Even so," physician Nakayama tells Spa! "if you concentrate exclusively on masturbation at the expense of ejaculation through sex, it's a bit like putting the cart before the horse. The correct way for a man to think is that an appropriate level of masturbation is a tool to be used for the enjoyment of a fulfilled sex life."

WaiWai stories are transcriptions of articles that
originally appeared in Japanese language publications. The Mainichi Daily News cannot be held responsible for the contents of the original articles, nor does it guarantee their accuracy. Views expressed in the WaiWai column are not necessarily those held by the Mainichi Daily News or Mainichi Newspapers Co.

26
Feed Your Head / Book: The Hypomanic Edge
« on: May 20, 2005, 03:56:00 AM »
http://www.hypomanicedge.com/


---

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

---


http://www.mcmanweb.com/treat_hypomania.htm

Treating Hypomania

Three years ago, I took a careful read of hypomania in the DSM-IV and had one of those knock-me-over-with-a-feather moments. Hypomania was listed as an episode rather than an illness, and not only that, "the episode is not severe enough to cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning or to necessitate hospitalization ?"

Sure, the DSM refers to the type of behavior that could cause you to lose your job, your family, and your assets in a heartbeat, but apparently none of that qualifies as a "marked impairment."

If you took the DSM at face value, you would think that hypomania was little more than the good cholesterol of mood. For bipolar I, mania is clearly the bad cholesterol. Hypomania is not a requirement and barely rates a mention. In bipolar II, the bad cholesterol is depression. If you?re lucky, you get to have hypomania.

The DSM does reserve the "Not Otherwise Specified (NOS)" category for apparently unipolar hypomanics and other diagnostic oddballs, but the understanding is that this designation is only applied on Feb 29 and other rare occasions.

So are psychiatrists simply not treating hypomania? Hardly. Are they treating hypomania exactly as they would be treating mania? That?s worth exploring.

The pioneering diagnostician Emil Kraepelin identified hypomania in his classic 1921 work, but few have written about it since. An early May 2005 PubMed search revealed only 652 entries for hypomania vs 19,537 for mania and 176,667 for depression. A seminal 1976 article by Goodwin, Gershon, and Dunner proposed a new bipolar II diagnosis that would incorporate hypomania, but it took until 1994 for the DSM to get with the program.

In recent years, Akiskal, Hirschfeld, Angst, Cassano, and others have more closely examined the phenomenon of hypomania, as well as the populations in which they occur (see article). Their findings suggest that instead of just two percent bipolars in the general population evenly divided among Is and IIs, we may have as many as six percent, nearly all of them bipolar IIs or people with depression who have some hypomanic features.

Said John Gartner PhD, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Johns Hopkins and author of "The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between a Little Craziness and a Lot of Success in America,"  in an interview with this writer, "the most common form of this disorder is being treated as if it were a rare weird variation."

In his book Dr Gartner views hypomania as a genetically transmitted temperament whose adaptive advantages far outweighs the disadvantages. Thanks to the people brave enough (and crazy enough) to leave their settled existences to strike out for an uncertain life on a strange shore, argues Dr Gartner, America has been blessed with a generous supply of wild wacky creative geniuses and go-getters, plus an abundance of those egging them on. This is often a source of dismay to the Europeans, who are alarmed by our excesses, even as they embrace the many positive aspects of our culture. (See article.)

One of Dr Gartner?s case studies is the brilliant founding father Alexander Hamilton, who had a spot reserved on Mt Rushmore until he stupidly offered up his body for target practice. Which raises some interesting questions. Suppose lithium and other meds had been available to Hamilton. Would the treatment have dulled his brain and pushed him into depression? Would he have been too groggy and depressed to save the nation from certain bankruptcy?

Assuming the meds did successfully stabilize his mood, we still have the small matter of the extraordinary drive and imagination that earned him a place on the ten dollar bill. Suppose the treatment had amputated these very qualities out of his personality. Would his psychiatrist have viewed his complaining as yet another crazy patient addicted to hypomania?

Or would the meds have had a different effect? Would he have prudently skipped his appointment with Aaron Burr and gone on to become America?s greatest President?

So here?s a set of questions for my psychiatrist readers: If Alexander Hamilton were your patient, how would you treat him? Is this the same standard you apply to your other patients?

Treating the Conundrum

There is only one book listed on Amazon with either hypomania or hypomanic in the title. Accordingly, it made sense for this writer to contact its author. It turns out Dr Gartner definitely has enough material for another book:

First Dr Gartner explained that one reason hypomania has been so under-recognized is due to faulty patient screening. A "no" response to the first question in the standard screening questionnaire meant skipping the following ones and moving to the next diagnosis. That first question was along these lines: Have you ever had a time when you were so high that you were out of control?

Said Dr Gartner: "Of course all the hypomanic people said no, because when they?re hypomanic they think they?re at their best. That?s when they?re most productive and happy and feel like themselves. They don?t consider that to be a period when they?re out of control."

Certainly, many of us feel hypomania is our true identity, not just a mood aberration to be medicated out of existence. "That?s very important," concurs Dr Gartner. "When you think about it, how many people have died just to preserve their sense of identity? Think of all the Jews who died because they wouldn't renounce their religion. All they had to say was, yes I?m a Christian. It?s hard for people who are not hypomanic to appreciate how integral this is to someone?s identity and how important it is to preserve that."

This led to the crux of our interview: "First of all, most psychiatrists don?t know when their patients are hypomanic because they haven?t been trained to look for it. Also, no one ever came to their offices saying, I?ve got hypomania, please cure me. When they do become aware that the patient has hypomanic symptoms, then I think their tendency is to over-react, react as if it is the same as mania, which it is not in terms of the risk and the danger."

Some people can obviously benefit from meds, but Dr Gartner makes it clear we are talking of the equivalent to microsurgery involving careful microadjustments "to take the edge off of the edge."

"I liken it to the pitcher in Bull Durham," he related, "the guy who has the 100 mile per hour fastball but keeps beaning the mascot. He needs a little bit more control. He?s got speed. You wouldn?t want to give him so much medicine that he threw a fifty mile per hour fastball. We want to slow it down just enough so that he can deliver the ball where it?s supposed to be."

Think of Hamilton, brilliant as ever, lightening up a tad on Aaron Burr.

This may involve clinicians rethinking their concept of therapeutic doses. Current dosing levels are based on trials involving bipolar I patients in the acute (initial) stage of mania. Even lithium, the most studied mood stabilizer, has not been tested for hypomania. The treatment guidelines are silent on the topic. In this so-called era of evidence-based medicine, we simply have no evidence.

Dr Gartner referred to a study that found that hypomanic bipolar IIs who had the best course of adjustment were people who were able to maintain a hyperthymic (mildly elevated) mood state. By playing it safe on the side of overmedicating their patients, Dr Gartner maintains, the meds may push their patients into depression. On top of this, patients often have to contend with weight gain, loss of libido, and cognitive dulling.

You know what?s coming next ? patients go off their meds. They?ve had enough, they?re not themselves, and they?re not taking it anymore. Disastrous results often follow, reinforcing the stereotype that "you can?t trust these bipolars."

All because psychiatrists were afraid to take a calculated risk. Oh, the irony.

Yes, But What About Bipolar I?

It?s all well and good to apply a micro approach to hypomania in bipolar II, but what about bipolar I? As many of us who have been there can attest, hypomania is the fresh breeze that heralds the raging manic storm. Think of Hitler marching into the Rhineland. You don?t send in Chamberlain to do Churchill?s job.

But you don?t just bomb Berlin to rubble, either. As Dr Gartner explained, most psychiatrists received their training on the wards of psychiatric hospitals. The patients there are typically 911 cases requiring large doses to bring them down. The psychiatrists treating them are not looking to reduce the doses, because their main concern is to get them out of the hospital. In theory, the psychiatrists handling patients on an outpatient basis should be making the fine adjustments. In practice, they are often worried that lowering the doses will land them in professional hot water.

The treatment guidelines make a clear distinction between acute (initial phase) and maintenance (long term) treatment, recommending that the meds regime be simplified when the situation calls for it. So should the doses be gradually lowered, say below the recommended amounts? As in the case of treating hypomania, there is no evidence to go on.

There is also the element of risk vs reward. For many people, a full-blown manic episode is a rare event, say once or twice in a lifetime. Dr Gartner cited the case of a woman who was given lithium to treat a manic episode and kept on the same dose throughout her life. The lithium, however, contributed to a lifetime of depression.

"It?s really malpractice," Dr Gartner stated. Psychiatrists need to consider how many episodes the person had, how prone they are to episodes, how long ago the episode was, and so on. Whether for bipolar I or bipolar II, said Dr Gartner, the goal is still the same, "to make that person feel happier, healthier, more productive, and more like themselves."

Working With Your Psychiatrist

The era of "just take your meds and shut up" may be drawing to a close, thanks to greater numbers of informed patients willing to initiate a working partnership with their psychiatrists. No one ? last of all Dr Gartner - is saying to ignore your psychiatrist and go off your meds. What Dr Gartner sees is along-term relationship that involves both parties gradually inching toward that vital "sweet spot" that feels right to the patient. This may necessitate playing a game of "warm-warmer, cold-colder" for a number of years.

"So it?s not just a question of take this standard dose or achieve this blood level," Dr Gartner emphasizes. "It?s something that?s different for every patient."

Hypomania may be to this decade what depression was to the last, but more as a trait worth preserving ? a legitimate baseline for many - than a pathology that needs eradicating. What requires our attention, says Dr Gartner, are those dangerous one or two seconds that cause us to do things we will later regret. Think of Hamilton posting his fateful letter to Burr.

Meditation and various self-awareness techniques can help in these situations, said Dr Gartner. So can smart psychiatry.

But the initiative needs to come from us. Hypomania is the true terra incognita of bipolar disorder. It may be the key to our personality or it may be a false high. It could represent our divine spark or the fire we shouldn?t be playing with. It may be our true yin-yang, the force and its dark side, Lord Shiva?s eternal dance of creation and destruction.

Ultimately, we are the only ones who can determine how the phenomenon applies to us and the type of outcome we should be seeking, but that kind of insight is likely to be the result of a long journey shared with the people who treat us. Now more than ever we need psychiatrists and therapists willing to listen.

For free online issues of McMan's Depression and Bipolar Weekly, email me and put "Sample" in the heading and your email address in the body.

May17, 2005

27
Open Free for All / Kinky shopper KOed by vibrating knickers
« on: May 19, 2005, 04:15:00 PM »
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/18 ... _knickers/

Kinky shopper KOed by vibrating knickers
By Lester Haines (lester.haines at theregister.co.uk)

Published Wednesday 18th May 2005 12:04 GMT

Passion Pants: wear with careThe following cautionary tale must surely rate in the top five of "most embarrassing things that can happen to you in public - ever". According to UK tabloid the Sun, a 33-year-old Welsh housewife ended up in hospital after wearing Ann Summers vibrating Passion Pants (http://www.annsummers.com/single.asp?gi ... 8&pid=2673) to her local Asda supermarket in Swansea.

Unfortunately, she became "so aroused by the 2½-inch vibrating bullet inside that she fainted" then "fell against shelves and banged her head". This prompted the attendance of the paramedics who "found the black leatherette panties still buzzing". Having disabled the orgasmatronic underwear, they then whisked the senseless shopper to hospital where she made a complete recovery. Staff handed her back the Passion Pants upon
discharge, discreetly concealed in a plastic bag.

To its credit, the Sun does not name the woman. We assume, however, that she will be shopping at her local Tesco for the next ten years or so, or until everyone in the Asda who witnessed her ordeal is dead or has succumbed to total amnesia - whichever comes soonest.

For the record, Ann Summers notes that Passion Pants are "Not for internal use". Now we know why. ®
Bootnote

Thanks to all those members of the neoLuddite Resistance Army who have written in to suggest that this is in fact another manifestation of the Rise of the Machines?. The elimination of the female of the species through vibrating panties? It's a chilling thought, but what a way to go...
Related stories

Vibrating Nokia self-pleasure - yours for £1.50 (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/11 ... ure_yours/)
Romanian hides stolen mobe in vagina (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19 ... one_thief/)
Stolen mobile rings in body cavity (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/14 ... s_in_body/)

© Copyright 2005

28
Open Free for All / Movie: Out of the Shadow
« on: May 19, 2005, 07:52:00 AM »
I saw a presentation of the movie:
Out of the Shadow last night.

I highly recommend it!

29
Open Free for All / Cancer dilemma
« on: May 18, 2005, 08:54:00 AM »
I just heard on the radio, and have
not looked up or found the article that:

Kids treated successfully for cancer
with chemo or radiation have a higher
incidence of illness than health kids.

I am posting this because it relates to
any medical intervention, just about,
that their are risks and rewards.

The dilemma?

Let kids die naturally of cancer so they
can avoid being abnormally sick later
in life.

Or preserve life now through current
medical interventions, and risk life,
for potential higher illness rates later.

If an adult, the decision would be the
individuals.

As a child? I assume the decision is the
parent's.

If they choose natural I think they would
be prosecuted, as I have seen Christian
Scientist (www.tfccs.com/) get challenged
in court when they for religious reasons
deny health care to their kids.

So, again, the dilemma? Be the parent!
Make the decision.

---

You can use adult examples, but remember
we as adults would be making up our own
minds. These examples would not be relevant
to this originating post for this thread
topic.

30
Open Free for All / Peter Bregin: What Makes an Expert an Expert?
« on: May 17, 2005, 04:11:00 PM »
"Breggin is more of a professional drug company-hater than a credible scientific expert"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,62922,00.html

What Makes an 'Expert' an Expert?
Friday, September 13, 2002
By Steven Milloy

   
ARCHIVE
?
PETA Gets to Your Kids
May 17, 2005
?
Obesity Hysteria Survives Despite Official Debunking
May 12, 2005
?
Time to End the Breast Implant Circus
May 02, 2005
?
Vaccine Disease Protections Outweigh Side Effects
April 18, 2005
?
Global Warming Tax
April 08, 2005
?
Vaccination-Autism Link Unproven
April 01, 2005
?
Bank Must Take Stand for Third World
March 28, 2005
?
Second Global Warming Treaty Makes Less Sense Than First
March 23, 2005
?
Mercury Rises Over EPA Pollution Rules
March 14, 2005
?
NASCAR Knocked By Lead-Heads
March 04, 2005
?
Fair Hearing for Breast Implants?
February 25, 2005
?
Kyoto Count-Up
February 22, 2005
?
EPA Makes Public Pay for More Smog
February 08, 2005
?
Scientists Stonewall on Spurious Soda Scare
January 27, 2005
?
U.N.: No 'Natural' Disasters?
January 21, 2005
?
No Beef Behind Red-Meat Cancer Scare
January 14, 2005
?
President Could Help Tsunami Victims With Stroke of Pen
January 11, 2005
?
Environmentalists Surf Tsunami Tragedy
January 03, 2005
?
Better Arthritis Drug Studies Needed
December 24, 2004
?
Kyoto Controversy Continues
December 17, 2004
?
A Few Beefs With Anti-Meatheads
December 11, 2004
?
EPA to Allow Pesticide Testing on Humans
December 02, 2004
?
Obesity Turkey, Vioxx Over-Reaction
November 26, 2004
?
Smoggy Statistics
November 18, 2004
?
Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice
November 12, 2004
?
Sex, Not Science, Featured at Public Health Meeting
November 04, 2004
?
Science-Politics Tension Dates Back Centuries
October 29, 2004
?
Activists, Not Global Warming, a Third-World Threat
October 22, 2004
?
Stumping for Stem Cells
October 18, 2004
?
Bush, Kerry and the Environment
October 07, 2004
?
Suburbs Don't Pose Health Risk
October 01, 2004
?
Snack Foods Don't Fatten Kids
September 24, 2004
?
Kerry's Nuclear Power Problem
September 17, 2004
?
Cool Summer Gives Global Warmers the Freeze
September 10, 2004
?
Government Questions Obesity Scare
September 02, 2004
?
Soda, Diabetes Linked by Scientific Misconduct?
August 27, 2004
?
Enviros Blame Bush for WTC Health Hazards
August 20, 2004
?
Study Linking Whiteners, Cancer Has Cavities
August 13, 2004
?
Scientist Who Warned Against DDT Ban Dies
August 06, 2004
?
Toxic Waste Site Secrets
July 31, 2004
Columbine shooting survivor Mark Taylor is suing Solvay Pharmaceuticals alleging the anti-depressant drug Luvox made shooter Eric Harris psychotic and violent.

U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer, hearing the case in Denver last week, ruled the lawsuit could proceed and Taylor's two scientific "experts" could testify.

One of Taylor's experts, Peter Breggin, claimed in a preliminary report filed with the court that Luvox triggered Harris' rampage. "Absent persistent exposure to Luvox, Eric Harris would probably not have committed violence and suicide," claims Breggin.

Either Solvay's lawyers did a lousy job of arguing whether Breggin should be allowed to testify or the judge doesn't care that Breggin is more of a professional drug company-hater  than a credible scientific expert.

Breggin is a Washington, D.C.-area psychiatrist who touts himself as a "medical expert" with 30 years of experience in product liability suits against the manufacturers of psychiatric drugs.

Not everyone thinks he's such an "expert," though.

A Wisconsin judge declared in 1997: "Dr. Breggin's observations are totally without credibility. I can almost declare him [to be a] fraud or at least approaching that ? I cannot place any credence or credibility in what he has to recommend in this case."

In a 1995 court case against pharmaceutical manufacturer UpJohn Company, the court ruled: "Simply put, the Court believes that Dr. Breggin's opinions do not rise to the level of an opinion based on 'good science.' The motion to exclude his testimony as an expert witness should be granted."

A Maryland court ruled in 1995: "The court believes not only is [Dr. Breggin] unqualified to render the opinions that he did, I believe that his bias in this case is blinding ? The court is going to strike the testimony of Dr. Breggin, finding that it has no rational basis ?"

As for the Taylor case, Breggin claims on his Web site that "stopping a Prozac-like drug such as Luvox can cause withdrawal problems, including mania and aggression ? However, there is incontrovertible evidence that Eric Harris was in fact taking Luvox at the time he committed the murders."

Breggin should be harmless enough for any judge or defense attorney who spends a few minutes reviewing his track record. But watch out, Breggin might be coming to harm a child near you.

The Ritalin Fact Book is Breggin's new effort to scare parents about the most widely prescribed treatment for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Breggin writes in his book that ADHD medications are a gateway to illegal substance abuse -- despite a 1999 study by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse reporting that boys treated for ADHD with stimulants were less likely to engage in substance abuse when they got older.

Breggin writes that Ritalin abuse is widespread and that large batches are stolen in schools. But the General Accounting Office says that, in the 2000-2001 school year, only about 8 percent of principals in public middle and high schools reported a case of theft or abuse of Ritalin.

The Surgeon General reported ADHD medications are successful 75-90 percent of the time. But Breggin writes, "starting with the first dose, any psychiatric drug, from the stimulants to the anti-depressants, can worsen symptoms commonly thought of as ADHD-like."

Breggin also claims that ADHD medications shrink the brain, kill brain cells and cause biochemical changes that can lead to psychosis -- even at recommended doses. Others, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association say ADHD medications are safe.

Considering Breggin's history with the courts, it's a mystery as to why Judge Brimmer would allow him to testify about Luvox as a Columbine factor.

It's not too late for sanity, though.

Parents sued Pfizer in 2001 claiming anti-depressant Zoloft caused 13-year-old Matt Miller to commit suicide. But a federal judge appointed two independent experts to evaluate the scientific reliability of the theories that such medications cause suicide and violence. The experts and, ultimately, the judge concluded the opinions of Miller's experts were "scientifically invalid and inadmissible."

The independent experts were appointed by the trial judge under the holding of the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. That ruling allows federal trial judges to impanel experts to determine whether supposed scientific testimony should be admitted at trial.

Solvay's lawyers haven't yet asked for a Daubert panel, saying they want to depose Breggin first. In any event, they're lucky they have a Daubert option.

Steven Milloy is the publisher of JunkScience.com , an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and the author of Junk Science Judo: Self-defense Against Health Scares and Scams (Cato Institute, 2001).

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