Thoughts from The HEADoc: Quest 4 Sanity Thoughts from The HEADoc: Quest 4 Sanity One Psych doc's personal quest for some degree of sanity in a world not always so sane. Mental Health resource. Articles
Random Thoughts
2007-06-27 17:25:00 I'm a bit late making an entry this week due to personal circumstances. My father has somehow managed to hang on a bit longer under hospice care. I'm able to see this as a bonus since it wasn't expected and I suspect it has been the prayers of others responsible. Work seems to have brought an increase in cases of troubled teens and cases influenced by childhood sexual abuse, neglect, or abandonment. How any man could yield to such behavior is a mystery to me. Nothing troubles me more than seeing a child in distress because of the behavior of an irresponsible adult. At the top of my despicable list will always be repeated sexual offenders, deadbeat dads (or moms), and sociopathic crack users. Such behaviors are inexcusable and unacceptable, and in my opinion not part of what is considered mental illness because of such a strong voluntary component to the behavior. My age has started to show relative to the evolution of thought content and closer consideration of certai... More About: Random Thoughts , Random , Thoughts
Failure to Communicate?
2007-05-28 00:45:00 The essence of effective communication. . . requires a complete exchange of thought and feeling between at least two individuals. Understanding that is mutual is the key to communication. Ron Paul received criticism and applause during the last GOP debate between the candidates for President in 2008. The controversy was created because he chose to break rank and interject some basic common sense and truth into the debate.That is something the country has been deprived of for quite some time from many in leadership positions. Ron Paul was able to take this move because he lacks the multi-millions in campaign contributions the front runners will receive. He knows he cannot win because nice guys do usually finish last in American politics. The real irony is that he was making a proposal to return to traditional conservative values of staying out of the affairs of other countries, spending at home first, and considering communication before bombing the heck out of ... More About: Failure , Communicate , Cate , Comm , Lure
Reform Update
2007-05-12 08:06:00 This week was a busy one... Certain revelations about the delivery system I found to be most concerning and troubling to consider giving thought to. I want sometimes to be able to just say that I don't care anymore and discover a way to turn a profit and forget about the ethical and sociological dilemmas that face the future of public mental health care delivery. No matter how frustrated I become with the realities I'm faced with I expect to always maintain a certain social consciousness and not sell out. At a dinner meeting last night I was chatting with a colleague who made an insightful comment that rang so true; "our patients don't vote" meaning that they don't really matter to the politicians. I then listened to a story of a professional who organized a voting rally specifically for the mentally ill and took a bus load to vote at a recent election. For this act he almost lost his job. Often I get tired of mentioning mental health care reform because very few people care ab... More About: Reform , Update , Form
Brief Look at Partner Abuse (and Battered Bloggers)
2007-03-25 05:28:00 For the regular readers, I'm sure you notice the change in layout and graphics on the site...Nothing is really meant by the change except an opportunity for me to play around with something I really know very little about. Much like a kid with a new toy I sometimes get caught up with the creative potential of my computer. The finished product here was reached by trial and error of things I've learned to do and things I'm clueless about and just happen to stumble upon. A reader visiting the first time might get the wrong idea by some of the images, colors, and hidden humor and think that I'm either crazy or out of sync with mainstream. I usually make an effort to write about things that curious minds will find of interest. I'm aware that perhaps 75% of people will have no idea of what I'm trying to say and 15 to 20% of people wouldn't find it interesting anyway. I know that my blog journal is not appropriate for all but I do appreciate those who... More About: Abuse , Blogger , Partner , Blog , Bloggers
Reboot
2007-03-18 06:09:00 For a number of reasons, personal and work related, I reached my stress limit... which began to activate automatic shutdown mode. This requires a weekend brain reboot in order to make it through the next week. The search for mental and emotional refreshment led me to visit the old home place property I purchased last year. My early childhood and much of my adolescence was spent there beginning almost 50 years ago. It seems unreal the way time has flown by. I needed to compare the vivid mental maps from my memory and my frequent dreams to what really existed there today. I expected to look behind the heavy overgrowth and thicket and see the old house. Not a single block or brick remained. The sweet gum quartet that once provided shade for the front yard and porch stood tall after close to 100 years. Even the surface root I walked on as a toddler was not phased by time except for being larger. I noticed that the old cedar tree that was 3rd base during all those ball games had grown i... More About: Boot
Search for a Silver Lining
2007-03-10 06:56:00 The past week was a week of sadness and grief... Less than twenty four hours after the death of my nurses' husband to cancer, my receptionists' grandmother was taken off of life support and pronounced dead. One of the deceased I knew well and the other I'd never met. My practice partner and I made it through the week without support staff the best that we could. I'm glad the week has finally ended. I wanted to find another topic to write on tonight but nothing seems to inspire me. We all wish we could avoid dealing with death and grief but doing so is the greatest form of denial, for death is fully guaranteed for every living creature. It is interesting that this thing we dread and hate so much is the very thing that gives life such value. Were death not a future certainty we would have no reason to be accountable for the life choices we make. It wouldn't matter if we selected a pathway of pure evil and destruction or if we selected the very same pathway we have chosen in our c... More About: Silver Lining , Search , Silver
Hard Out Here...TGIF
2007-03-02 12:38:02 Just a few hours ago I found myself at a place where I really didn't want to be, but I was there... Instead of aborting my session with a 16 y.o. girl with severe conduct disorder and oppositional-defiant behavior when it started to heat up I decided to explore a little further. She picked the wrong psychiatrist to try intimidating though anger and verbal aggression today. I think what got me going was her calling me stupid and a fake. She was the one court ordered to the care of a group home after another assault charge and repeated incidents of anger related aggression, yet I was the one who is stupid and just seeing her to get paid. She felt telling me how much she hated me would really make me go away, but it didn't. I wanted to know how could she hate me so much after only seeing me twice before today. Had there not been a chaperone and witness from the group home it would have been extremely foolish for me to take this any further. Instinctively, I felt I needed to not let ... More About: Hard , Here
Thoughts for the Week
2007-02-23 12:33:03 I really hate being the prophet of doom and gloom as the things I sometimes write about seem to represent... It is all relative to one's overall world view I suppose. When I was a kid I still remember my older sister one day telling me that one day in the far distant future the polar ice caps will melt and the land will eventually be covered by water. That thought was frightening but I always felt it was hundreds of years into the future. Today's scientific data is suggesting that it will definitely happen in this century if we don't succeed in finding alternate energy sources to burning fossil fuels to curb the rate of the greenhouse effect and global warming. Satellite imaging has shown a section of ice the size of the United States totally melted in one arctic region after several thousands of years of stability. The Greenland glaciers of the North can be seen to be rapidly vanishing. So far Mother Earth has been able to compensate but I'... More About: Thoughts , Thought , Week
A Look at Relationships
2007-02-17 00:29:03 According to Freud, for one to be truly happy they must first be happy in their primary relationship and with their employment... Without happiness in these two areas there is little else that really matters in this ever changing human journey. Couples and marriage counseling is one of the areas of my work that I enjoy most. It's hard sometimes for me to understand how someone with a track record as bad as my own can counsel so well in such a difficult area. I don't toot my own horn that often but this is something I like doing and feel I am pretty darn good at. It may be the fact that clarifying and diagnosing relationship problems is the easy part that requires a short amount of time. The really hard part falls on the couple who have to dedicate themselves to looking inward and making a perpetual commitment to change certain behaviors for the common good. A national divorce rate of about 60% is evidence of what a challenge this is. Maslo... More About: Relationships , Relationship , Ships , Relations , Ship
Recognition of Black History Month
2007-02-10 00:25:02 Booker T. Washington February is Black History Month... I think the largest misconception of the majority population is that something special is being given to a select group of people. The core truth is that education is what it's really all about. It's remedial history to rectify omissions from American History. My opinions usually clash with those with more conservative views and I don't expect anything different here. Personally, I don't care to complain or whine because I'm aware that despite all things considered that I have been blessed and for the most part am quite proud to be an American who happens to be categorized as African American. I wouldn't have it any other way. One thing that makes America great is its ability to pursue justice perpetually and to right the wrongs of the past. Our democracy is an experiment that is less than 250 years old patterned much after the ancient Greek democracy developed by wi... More About: Story , Stor , Recognition
Psychotherapy 101
2007-02-08 12:23:03 Sigmund Freud was named the Father of Psycho analysis. . . He coined a term known as transference and its counterpart. This principle of thought and behavior is common to the psycho dynamics of basic human relationships and encounters and can be either a positive or a negative phenomenon. Transference and counter-transference have both diagnostic and therapeutic significance in certain forms of psychotherapy. Insight oriented psychotherapy, for example, is highly dependent upon these processes. Transference refers to the transfer of emotions and attitudes about significant figures from ones past onto another figure in the present moment. The two figures may be totally unrelated to each other. A useful example in therapy would be a young woman subject relating to her older male therapist in the same manner she would her father who happens to be similar in age and appearance. She may have been abused or neglected by her father as a child. If so, she may develop prominent s... More About: Other , Hera , Psychotherapy , Therapy
Substance Abuse Update (Cocaine's a Helluva Drug...Rick James 2004)
2007-02-08 12:23:03 Today was a good day, much better than most ... Those who follow my writings know of the growing disatisfaction and frustration I have developed toward drug addicts, in general, especially crack cocaine addicts. Despite those emotions, I continue to work part time in a detox facility. 70% of those in addiction recovery will fail within a year of starting treatment, some will fail multiple times within that 12 month period. Who would want to bother treating a group of people with such lack of promise? I grew up around many such people which is probably where the commitment originated. At a recent CME workshop I commented to one of the presenters that I felt I could help, to some degree, any individual who was willing to comply with my recommendations and cooperate with treatment. He told me that I was grandiose in my thinking. Maybe I was. Maybe that is why I have had so many problems within my clinic over the past couple of years since beginning t... More About: Abuse , Rick , Cain , Update , Coca
As a loyal, patriotic American I feel it is my duty to offe
2007-01-14 12:14:01 As a loyal, patriotic America n I feel it is my duty to offer my two cents on a periodic basis... I think our country has become the most divided it has been since the civil war. Some may wonder why. As a country we have become like two siblings having an ongoing disagreement. Freud developed a term known as neurotic transferrence in the context of an individual undergoing psychoanalysis. An individual's behaviors and beliefs are merely manifestations of the impressions made by the parents and all ensuing personal encounters with others during the child's formative years. Developmental Psychology experts would unanimously agree that a direct correlation exists between adults with severe personality disorders and problems with early parental bonding and relationship building during the developmental years. It is common that grown men and women spend their adult lives reliving their childhoods and attempting unconsciously to resolve oedipal and paternal conflicts. P... More About: Patriot , American , Feel It , Feel
A Time for Change
2007-01-11 12:12:11 No resolutions made, so no resolutions will be broken... Rather than New Years resolutions that I know I will break a better solution is to make a simple commitment to change my attitude. By doing so it won't be necessary to itemize the multitude of things I need to do a better job at. The perceived enormity of the changes one may feel pressured to undertake can often lead to more procrastination which is a motivation killer. Denial, I have found to be the trademark of many behavioral problems. Effective change becomes possible only when the state of denial ends. One behavioralist proposes a model that illustrates how effective change occurs. The initial stage is one of contemplation or conscious acknowledgement of existence of a problem. During this stage the individual can verbalize that they own a certain behavior that they no longer wish to possess. This stage may be brief or may linger on indefinitely, depending on how much motivation the person has and whe... More About: Change , Time , Chang , Chan
Final Ramble of the Year
2006-12-31 00:03:01 ; Well, another year rapidly draws to a close... I know I should count my blessings but that isn't the way I feel inside. The only reason I'm afraid to complain about 2006 is that it is clear that 2007 holds no guarantees. It's all relative though. At least I don't have a major disease and I'm not dead. The present time presents a golden opportunity for me to practice what I preach about the yen and the yang and the karma and optimism conquering the pessimism and self creating the future. I must rise to the occasion. 2006 was without a doubt the most unpleasant 12 month period of my life in every aspect. If every negative thing imaginable happens in the New Year I doubt it will be any worse.If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, according to Nietzsche. One thing clear to me is that we must stay focused on life and not death. The fact that tomorrow isn't promised gives the maximum value to our lives. AOL posted a photo lis... More About: Final , Ramble , Fina
DREAMS
2006-12-27 06:00:01 ; . &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; / Boy! It has been a mental challenge to come up with an entry this week... I thought about just saying "forget it" when I looked back at where the trend of my last few entries seemed to be going. I went to sleep earlier and was stuck in a dream where I was a homeless fugitive Negro in 1963 running from an assassin. The scariest part of the dream was not knowing what I was to be eliminated for. I finally just said to hell with this dream when my last friend abandoned me and forced myself to awaken. I have developed the unique ability mentally to sometimes use my dreams for personal entertainment, especially the bad ones. On occasion, I'll force myself to continue an unpleasant dream just to see where it's going to take me and what the outcome will be. Those who have an understa... More About: Dreams , Dream
Reaffirmation to Self
2006-12-26 11:58:01 Several months back I tried to change my approach to what I choose to post... I had to face that Pollyannish thinking doesn't do it for me. My formula from day one was to write what I truly think and feel regardless of how it is perceived by others. I have to go where my conscience leads me whether I really want to or not. That was the true intended purpose of the free speech amendment. The line has been drawn at whether it is appropriate or not to shout "fire" in a building that is not burning. I have never crossed that line and have no intentions of doing so. I have found it to be true that journalistic writing that fails to spark some degree of controversy is worthless because it hasn't challenged the reader to use their own critical thinking skills. No one individual can possibly be right about everything, or most things for that matter, but collectively enough opinions in time will illuminate the truth. That is why division of the masses i... More About: Self , Affirmation , Irma
DREAMS (revisited)
2006-12-18 23:52:01 ; . &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; / Boy! It has been a mental challenge to come up with an entry this week... I thought about just saying "forget it" when I looked back at where the trend of my last few entries seemed to be going. I went to sleep earlier and was stuck in a dream where I was a homeless fugitive Negro in 1963 running from an assassin. The scariest part of the dream was not knowing what I was to be eliminated for. I finally just said to hell with this dream when my last friend abandoned me and forced myself to awaken. I have developed the unique ability mentally to sometimes use my dreams for personal entertainment, especially the bad ones. On occasion, I'll force myself to continue an unpleasant dream just to see where it's going to take me and what the outcome will be. Those who have an understa... More About: Dreams , Site , Dream , Visi , Visit
PSYCHOBABBLE
2006-12-10 11:45:02 Boy! That OJ issue literally resolved itself before I knew what happened. America seems to be awakening in an exciting way and no longer allowing unacceptable behaviors to just automatically be tolerated. I hate it when the negative people get all the attention. We often brag about having the greatest country on earth. Unfortunately, that is not totally true. We do have the greatest potential of any civilization to ever exist but there is much work to be done. To whom much is given much is expected. In psychotherapy, I often emphasize to a patient experiencing psychic pain that there will never be an instant cure or a magic pill to cure what ails them. I never suggest that they cannot be cured and find it crucial to inject hope and begin to lay the ground work for development of self empowerment. If the patient can develop a concept and a vision of that which they seek, cure then becomes an achievable goal. Understanding the process becomes the key initial... More About: Psycho , Psych , Babble
Conspiracy Theory Not So Insane
2006-12-10 11:45:02 By nature I am a free spirit... To me that means that non conformity, skepticism, or dissent are no stranger. It also represents a deep sense of curiosity and desire for search of truth. Personalities like my own (free spirited) occasionally will throw caution to the wind temporarily but are in no way naive' or ignorant. I think our brains just sometimes require a little more stimulus than many other people. We need to seek a thrill every now and then to feel more alive. Some call us foolish, others call us courageous. We are much more likely to respond to conflict through anger than fear. We, however, will never fight for that for which we do not believe in. On the other hand our loyalties run deep when deserved. We know that within truth lies freedom. Death is preferable to being forced to accept untruths. Many people misunderstand personalities like mine, thinking that we do things to make life harder than it has to be. My observation is that we are ... More About: Piracy , Insane , Theory , Conspiracy , Conspiracy Theory
Just Say No Way to O.J.
2006-12-10 11:45:02 OJ vs Fred G. 2 sponsored by I got away to the west coast for a couple of days... for a little continuing medical education. I'm very bad at traveling, mainly due to my ADHD traits. I have time to log in because I missed my flight back and had to reschedule. There has been time to ride the subway around the city which was interesting. My predominant feeling is that I must get away more often. There is a whole world out here that needs to be explored. Frequently, I'm known to prescribe a vacation to a patient confident that it is just what they need. It has been so hard to follow my own advice. I think Southerners in particular should visit as many different places as possible outside of the south. For a young black man, it provides an opportunity to let some of the psychological guards down. I don't realize that so much until I do get away. It becomes more obvious to me that maybe I do carry a bit of a chip on my shoulder or at least am sometimes perceived by o... More About: Just
There is no Santa
2006-12-10 11:45:02 Most of us remember the day we realized the truth about Sant a Claus... That denial was impossible to totally let go. Most continued to pretend for a while longer waiting for our parents to explain why they had lied to us. If our parents lacked the skills to explain in an acceptable way we assuaged our grief by remembering all the nice toys we received and the euphoria we felt from the delusion we had acted out. Collectively, the tradition of lying to our children once a year has been accepted because of the greater good I suppose. Or maybe there is a need on behalf of the parent to have the child endure the same rights of passage into the real world as previous generations. I used this analogy to describe much of how I feel about the current state of reality in America. No longer will I doubt my own imagination and sanity as I have sometimes done in the past. If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck and swims like a duck then I say to hell with Bill ... More About: Here , There
A Time for Healing
2006-12-10 11:45:02 As the comment I was forced to make in my last post showed, things got a little tense for a while... I feel a sense of relief and optimism about the future that I haven't felt in a long time. I really hate to see division, intolerance, hate, and misunderstanding, among people who should be getting along and working together. When you visit my site you will get what the title states, my thoughts. My thinking is usually evolving but it never flip flops. Most people seem to agree with some of my thoughts, while others totally disagree, and yet others couldn't care less. Some people take things too seriously. 75% of what I do here is for entertainment and amusement. I do try and make a statement or share information somewhere in the other 25%. I also find that a few people actually respect my opinion about matters involving society, medicine, and mental health. Maybe my experience does count for something. Anyway, it's just one perspective. I don't do therapy or engage in... More About: Time , Healing , Ealing , Heal
Rambling
2006-12-10 11:45:02 I love my cat Oreo. She never holds a grudge. She somehow tolerates me being tardy with the same old food and not keeping the litter box clean. She doesn't take it personally when I put a sock over her head or a rubber band around her tail as a little practical joke for my own amusement at her expense. I know she then just says to herself "very funny master species." Ha, ha, ha. She has probably taught me more than I could ever think of teaching her about life. Mostly, I've learned to try being more patient and consistent with unpleasant situations and with other human beings. There are some days when I realize that I have the most interesting job in the world, then there are days that I wish I could wring a few necks. Compassion and empathy are natural resources and assets that must be used wisely and sparingly or they burn completely out and become cynicism and sarcasm. When I do start to feel the latter, most of the time, I know it'... More About: Rambling , Bling
Battle of the Blogs (BOTB) Grief
2006-12-10 11:45:02 Lately I've tested my blog more frequently on Battle of the Blog s at the Blog Explosion Website. I win about one out of ten battles. I thought it might help me improve my writing skills and get in better touch with the main stream. In my youth I was always an intense competitor but over the years I've tried to learn to not be that way. I know that being a gracious loser is more virtuous than being an arrogant winner in any event. What makes losing so unpleasant is that there is no immediate reward to losing in anything. It tends to activate our well known grief reaction to loss. ; &nbs p; __________________________________ First there is the SHOCK "I can't believe that blog about nothing important beat me!" In this milieu shock may last a few seconds or it may linger for hours in some. Then there's the DENIAL "Some... More About: Logs , Grief
What's Really at Stake
2006-12-10 11:45:02 We all learn to adapt and adopt more effective coping mechanisms throughout life... or we die. Nature, from a physical standpoint, has one basic priority which is to propagate our genes into time. A lack of control of ones environment is usually compensated for by an increase in reproduction. This assures that no catastrophic event will terminate the gene pool. Over time man has become less ignorant and better at predicting cause and effect and how to protect self from most natural threats. Disasters such as earth quakes, floods, or meteors from space will always be inevitable. We can never prevent such events and it is limited how much preparation can reasonably occur. For events such as accidents involving transportation vehicles, man will continue to improve safety and decrease risk. Though perfection is nearly impossible, man has always accepted the challenge. The main catastrophic event for which there is hope of ending 100% is war. Unless declared a... More About: What , Take , Hat , Real , Really
Vote HEADoc for Congress On Nov. 7, 2006
2006-12-10 11:45:02 As your write in candidate for U.S. Congress , for the following issues I promise to: ; &nbs p; &nb sp; GENERAL Tell no lies or make promises I know I cannot keep. THE WAR ON TERROR Let the majority of Americans vote on how to approach the War On Terror and Let the sons and daughters of Senators and Congressmen be equally represented on the battle field. Find Osoma Bin Ladin! HEALTH CARE Provide a reasonable health insurance plan for all working citizens and their families. The money will come from immediately ending all managed care and returning the savings directly to the consumer. Doctors will offer their own comprehensive plans on a fee for service basis. Patients will save money by engaging in preventive medicine strategies. Patients who engage in high risk behaviors will simply run out of funds a... More About: Vote , Head
Searching for Sanity
2006-12-10 11:45:02 Not much inspiration to write this week... I saw about sixty patients during the past week. The vast majority had either lost a loved one in the past year, been beaten or raped by a loved one in their lifetime, or wake up in pain daily from losing the battle to an addiction or co dependent relationship. There were a few cases that were uplifting. Without such this job would become unbearable. I've come to accept that my purpose is more to walk with people through the troubled times and try to educate and equip them to one day fight the battles alone. One of my mentors in residency training taught me of the three types of patients a psychiatrist will encounter; 1) Those just passing through. You may only see them once. They either get what they need at the time or decide you can't provide it. They then move on usually not returning more than a time or two. 2) Visitors are the second patient type. You may see them every few months. They are usually reliable and in general co... More About: Search , Archi , Searching
HEADoc on Music and Movies
2006-06-14 03:51:00 Newer isn't always better. As we grow older and more mature this rings more true. As always, others might have a different view of things. Since this sight is about my thoughts, it really doesn't matter so much what others think. Being from the old school, I like to collect and listen to old recordings. For example, Al Green was always my favorite performer. I found that the hits that actually made it to the radio when I was growing up were only a small fraction of the work of his lifetime. Today, every time I play through a re mastered CD of old recordings there's usually a new gem to listen to that I may have never heard before. I may have been 12 years old when the album was released but it's brand new to me. It's a little like time travel of the mind. I've done the same with The Beatles, Smokey Robinson, and several other artists. Some things can't be improved. One thing that was improved and that I was blown away by recently was the movie King Kong. On occasion, a... More About: Movies , Music
100th Monkey
More articles from this author:2006-04-15 08:41:00 Dr. Deepak Choprah speaks of a theory that I find very intriguing called the One Hundredth Monkey Theory. Those seeking a deeper meaning shouldn't find it so hard to accept. It simplifies the phenomenon of critical mass and group collective mental learning. The concept of critical mass means that once a certain percentage of a certain population are in harmony and unison with an idea or belief, that belief becomes propagated as reality by a power beyond human control. An example would be how the entire heart rhythm is initiated by the pacemaker cells which happen to constitute approximately one percent of the total cardiac cells. The most popular experiment to test the hypothesis involved a population of monkeys who were provided with an abundance of one of their favorite foods, sweet potatoes. However, because the potatoes were immersed in sand and grit they were inedible. After some time had passed one of the younger curious monkeys made a break through discovery that washing th... 1, 2, 3 |
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