Patricia Farrell's Blog

E-mail Harassment From Anonymous Sources

2015-05-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

Two or maybe even three years ago, I wrote a blog on the serious issue related to the use of Korean women as, possibly, involuntary providers of sex (comfort women) for Japanese soldiers during WWII. The issue has created a firestorm in the East as well as in Asian communities here in the US. No doubt it is for good reason because no one wants anyone from their culture (on either side) to be seen as this dastardly.

If it was done, it is truly horrific and I believe that one of the Japanese Prime Ministers did apologize for actions during WWII. Korean women, it would seem, weren't the only persons toward whom undeniably unspeakable acts were perpetrated. American soldiers were subjected to vivisection and that's something we need to remember, too. I'm not sure where you'd rate this on a scale of inhumanity, but I think it's at the top of it. Cutting a living person open and then doing "experiments" on beating hearts and lungs, removing organs, etc. is more gruesome than even our worst horror movies. Hannibal Lecter, of course, comes to mind here.

My blog has touched a particularly sensitive nerve in someone in Japan and they are raining down incredibly long email assaults into my Inbox. What do they want me to do? I stopped reading after email number five or so because it was a constant harangue with supporting links. When I say these emails were long I am not exaggerating. They seemed to go on for pages.

Finally, in an attempt to stop this Yahoo mail user, I sent a note requesting some degree of civility from him and explaining that I'm not the person he needs to address his dialog to in the first place. What happened when I did that? You guessed it. It bounced back to me telling me that in .jp there is no such Yahoo account and the message was undeliverable.

Seems our man is using some sort of routine that will allow him to send out emails with a fake return email address to avoid getting harassed in kind for his missives. Clever but, if he truly wants to dialog, why hide who he is? I'm not going to bother giving this more thought because I've gotten a solution.

Do you use Google mail? Okay, then when you come across something like this, go to your Settings, create a Filter, Create Filter and check the box that indicates "Delete" these emails. Hopefully, I will never receive another of these again. Now it's wait and see time.

Wonder who else is getting these emails. I'll bet it's a bot that someone created and it's going out to hundreds, if not thousands of weary people who'd like some relief.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Windows Is Confusing Me and I'm Concerned

2015-05-09T04:36:00.001-07:00

The computer platforms wars have been raging for quite some time now and we've seen everything from Windows (multiple iterations) to Apple OS (also multiple iterations) to Linus (freeware) and I'm not sure about any other obscure platforms. But the one thing that is of great concern to me now is the shift from a simple computer purchase for an operating system to what Adobe is doing and Microsoft has begun to do; subscription services.

I want to be clear here. I'm not a big fan of subscriptions services that change the upgrades we've come to expect into subscription services we have to pay for monthly. Sure, it may come out to something like $200 a year, but let's think who's being left in the dust here.

CEOs, numbers crunchers and the rest of you appear to be seeing the market as one big consumer glob of people with ready cash and a thirst for yet more tweaks to your platforms. In this mode of rather constricted, in-the-box thinking, you are throwing a portion of the market overboard. Of course, I'm thinking of all those people out there who struggle to keep a computer in their homes for their kids and worry about the wi-fi bill or the elderly who more and more need computer access for homecare, ordering prescriptions and getting information that is vitally needed.

Switching out of Windows? May seem like a good idea to you as the right time to push on into that new technology that you are eagerly anticipating, but to me, I'm concerned about the little guys. But, perhaps, I'm being too much of a Nervous Nelly here.

In your heart-of-hearts you fully plan to keep offering support for things like Windows XP (doesn't business love this already and aren't they refusing to give it up?), Windows 7, and Windows 8. But for how long? Who knows, in this climate of change, when their computer just won't struggle, it won't work as well and then will come its demise. I should say this is abandonment because that's what it will be. Left in the dust again to, once more, be a cut-off population that has its lack of value stamped down hard on them.

Put yourself in the position of school kids in Mississippi or older folks in various parts of the country who were overjoyed when they actually got their hands on a computer. Sure it may have had to take a used one, but it worked, it actually worked and the wonders of the Internet were like discovering a whole new world of wonder. Comes the dawn and the undoing of all this wonder or the sudden need to pay for something that is unaffordable. A blow to them? No more like a tornado and all the dashed dreams that accompany it.

Am I reading this wrong? Are you going the Adobe route? There's a pick-and-choose menu of apps you may want, but it's at least $20 a month for each. Sure "One Adobe account, infinite possibilities" but, boys and girls, only if you can afford them. Tell me how many poor school systems that desperately need technology to get their kids up to speed in our technological age or elderly can fork over $20 a month for ONE app when they need three?

Oh, you have a whole package that sells for $49.95 a month. Do you know what that means? It is forget it time and dreams are dashed. Wonderful corporate move. Or are you going to make a special section for schools and the elderly? Why not a charitable section like that? Not in your corporate plans? Consider the PR you can get from it and the young new graphic designers you will be grooming and the medical consequences. You have a mighty PR advantage here. Are you going to use it? Smart move if you do

I was in a store yesterday that gave "student" and "military discounts" prominently displayed, but I didn't see "senior citizens" discounts. Yes, Ralph Lauren wrote them off for discounts. Probably thinks, wrongly so, that the older crowd doesn't wear jeans and shirts and sweaters, etc. Yes, they do Ralph and your people are being blatantly discriminatory. Don't you wear jeans and you're not exactly a spring chicken any longer, are you? Let's not forget your Brooklyn roots no matter how you've changed your name.

Windows has already made their move toward the subscription model, I know and I, for one, may be looking for another way to produce what I need not using Windows. Why should I pay for something I can get just as good for free. I love the Free Software Foundation and I think I should give it more attention in my tweets in the future.

The Internet used to be a wonderful, sharing place everyone could go to get things they needed (free) and help each other with projects. All of that help has been subsumed in "forums" set up on the sites of major developers. I have to tell you, I haven't always found the forums all that helpful, especially when it came to Apple and Canon. Yeah, I, like so many others, need "baby speak" when you explain how to do something. Get your experts to talk to real people on a regular basis. Even consider focus groups of new users.

What will we see in the End of Windows 10? I don't know, but I'm skeptical and I'm concerned. I root for the little guy and he/she seems to need a lot of rooting these days.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Moses and Baltimore Reconsidered

2015-05-06T15:04:00.002-07:00

History, whether told through myth, manuscript or word of mouth, often contains one or more grains of useful insight, but you have to look carefully for them. The hidden bits of wisdom, applicable to what's happening in our world today, may provide a new appreciation of our culture or even guidance for all.

Thinking about the recent disturbances in Baltimore led me to wonder how our culture here in the United States or the rest of the world needs to change. Intolerance for the beliefs of others, discrimination against anyone who doesn't fit the currently acceptable ethnic standard and bias in general is abhorrent. Not everyone will agree because some will cling to the belief that they are superior to others and in keeping this one-up, one-down status quo, they will insure their importance if only in their own minds or those who share their beliefs.

As a family elder once told us, "They go to church on Sunday and talk disparaging about their neighbors on Mondays." A well-connected lawyer uttered a similar bit of wisdom to me. "I don't go to church because I'm religious. It's more of a business arrangement for me so it's important for me to be seen and to meet others who might be useful to me." Now the latter statement says it all.

When will there be meaningful change that will make the ugliness of Baltimore and Ferguson be bits of dishonorable history in the textbooks of the future? How will we achieve what everyone wants here in terms of equality in education, work opportunities, civil rights and the chance to live and prosper with their families? It didn't seem to be something that could be easily achieved. Perhaps Freud had the answer, in a way, if only people had read books other than his tracts on patient defense mechanisms.

Religion is quite interesting and religion and certain cultural history was something which latched onto the famous man's imagination. He wanted to answer one question for himself in "Moses and Monotheism" and it was why did the Jews wander for 40 years in the desert? Wasn't Moses familiar enough with the desert environment (he had lived there for a number of years) to lead his people directly to the Promised Land? Then, why would he deliberately, and it must have been deliberate, keep them in the desert before they finally came to the desired destination? One answer might lie in the fact that Moses may be more myth than reality. Was he a Jew or an Egyptian? Arguments exist on both sides of that question.

For Freud the answer lay in the experiences, the beliefs and even the biases of the people he was leading. Depending on what you read and how you are willing to interpret it, Moses either felt his charges were unworthy of the designated land or there was another, more important objective. The older generation, who held beliefs about others and themselves which were ill-suited for the new nation, had to be permitted to die off. The new place they would inhabit would be free of this psychological baggage and would start anew with a fresh perspective.

Do we have to wait for several generations to pass and for young ones to come along who will truly believe in equality and fairness for all? Remember that famous song about how bias and hate is spread? You put it into "their dear little ear" and they carry on the tradition. Hope in a younger generation may be misplaced. They may carry on what they have been taught. Salvation from the inequity, therefore, won't be so easily achieved.

Social media may provide a new means to achieve equality for all and it is here that the seeds of freedom may be sown if it is used with the best of intentions. The medium, however, is a supermarket of thought where hatred and goodness sit side-by-side. Teasing out what each bit of instant information has as its intent requires more than the short attention spans we've been led to believe are characteristic of our younger generation. Again, the problem area is apparent even here. After all, it is available for everyone even those who would spew hatred and incite people to act irrationally against others.

Will we still have a new generation where people will refer to Native Americans as "filthy Indians?" Not if we work to remediate it.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Is the App the New News Breakthrough?

2015-05-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

Scribes used to labor for years transferring the knowledge at hand laboriously into huge, beautifully illuminated manuscripts. There mission was simple; make it available for the ages and for the intellectuals who could read. A fine job was completed, especially in Ireland where they took on the task of saving all that could be saved from those who would obliterate and extinguish any ideas that existed in written form. Want to know more? Read "How the Irish Saved Civilization."

A bold invention, the printing press, saved the monks from years of labor and in so doing made literature and various forms of discourse readily available--but still only for those who could afford it. Books were a showy form of one's social standing but were probably read, too. The press also produced, in the United States, the initial broadsides that would quickly alert the colonists to how British rule as affecting their lives. Ultimately, we have to see it as the instrument that helped fire up the American Revolution and make this national rise from a colony to a country.

Cameras, men and women with the fortitude and dedication to reporting the news from the battlefront and from home, were the next technological advance that would bring change. Who can forget those iconic photos of people like Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Robert Capa, and Dorothea Lange. They brought wars and community privation into our homes so that we became more fully informed citizens. It was an awakening thanks to technology, bravery and creativity.

Television and streaming video thanks to Internet connections from far afield made it possible to imbed photojournalists and media mavens in the fields of current conflicts. First the Vietnam war came into our living rooms each night and then the combat zones of the Middle East. It was news, but of course edited to fit the time slot and the slant.

Breaking away from the more traditional, and likely funded forms of journalism, technology has given a quantum leap to news coverage thanks to cell phones with extraordinary apps. Citizen journalists or just concerned people viewing injustice or crime has given pause to many who acts with impunity before.

Now, in the latest political campaigns that are heating up, politicians will, like never before, be faced with the harsh reality of their poorly thought out statements. This is instantaneous, widespread, unadulterated coverage that will make some cringe and others will welcome the free coverage via the Internet. How will it affect the political climate? Only time will tell.

Even as I write, we are learning that a newer app, Snapchat, may turn things truly upside down for the politicians and the American people. It's not the first internet media to test its new teeth in a political campaign, but it may be the most jarring. Directed at over 100 million users, it is aimed at a younger, more emotionally charged audience that just could be willing to repeat the actions of their parents during the 60s when marchers filled the streets in vocal protest against what they saw as an unjust war in Vietnam.

Snapchat is both bewildering and fascinating in its new push toward content provided and pushed out by people on the street as well as in-studio journos. Sure it may be a bit disjointed at first, but as it gathers steam (and it has billions of dollars with which to work) and expertise, its force will become evident. The scrambling by other social media is apparent as they attempt to respond to this latest incursion into the form.

Forget about Niki Minaj and think about something called a "geofence." It's where an area of coverage is designated and everyone, citizens on the ground as well as experienced reporters, can contribute to an instantly created media push on an issue. The cell phone is the new printing press and Gutenberg would have been floored by its power.

Long live the cell phone.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Traffic Lights Tell It All

2015-05-03T16:20:00.003-07:00

Neighborhoods in some parts of New York City and other major cities have extremely wide expanses of roadways. While these may seem to be symbols of how important they are to traffic flow (with a nod to Robert Moses in NYC, I suppose), they are also something else. They cut across communities where those on foot must try to run to the islands of safety in the middle, wait for a lull in the cars or a light change again, and then scurry to safety.

One roadway in a middle-class community in NYC, Queens Boulevard, has been deemed The Boulevard of Death or The Boulevard of Broken Bones. The boulevard runs through one of the major shopping centers in the borough and is the intersection for major subways lines and overburdened rail stations. As the borough experiences a new resurgence of growth, thanks to high rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn, so will it see many more pedestrians on the street.

Twelve lanes of traffic in many sections prevent easily crossing Queens Boulevard for even the most fleet of foot. Consider how the elderly in this area anticipate a crossing of this roadway. Hearts must begin racing at just the thought and then the true racing begins as they push their grocery carts or walkers to reach the other side. Too many never make it. Actually, it was supposed to be a freeway but WWII interfered with the plan. So, between 2003 and 2013, 36 deaths were reported on the boulevard statistics.

Traffic lights have been changed so that a few more seconds are provided for the dash across the huge expanse. The notoriety of the roadway, however, has given it a place in rough-and-tumble video games like Grand Theft Auto IV. Small shrines of plastic flowers or crosses can be found occasionally to mark someone unsuccessful run to the far side. Yes, they went to a far side, but not the one they have hoped for.

The small memorials are quickly scooped up lest they display a lack of government involvement in pedestrian safety. Doesn't look good for tourists, either or persons considering moving to the area. Imagine if you had a child who had to cross that road. You would shudder each time they ventured there or you would forbid them to cross without a vigilant adult. Even an adult is no guarantee they'll make it safely to one of the islands and complete the crossing in one piece.

But traffic lights stand for something else, too, and not only on Queens Boulevard. Too frequently much-needed lights are not installed in unsafe areas. Less affluent areas may have fewer than needed. What prompts the lights to be brought in? Think about it for a moment. The question is simple: How many kids or adults have to be killed or maimed by speeding cars before a light is installed? It's certainly no problem hooking up to the incredible grid that snakes beneath the asphalt so that shouldn't even be a consideration here.

How much is a life worth as opposed to the cost of a traffic light? Are traffic lights really, really expensive, say millions of dollars? Or do we devalue life in specific areas of this great city and wait for a lawsuit to spring into action? Anyone seeing my question would probably explode into paroxysms of anger at the thought of a suggestion of such callousness on my part. Pardon me, but it's not me being callous. Too often people or kids are hit by cars and the cases are cataloged in media stories time and time again and no action is taken. I know, personally, of a grandmother who was trying to cross one of these intersections and she was hit by a car so hard that she was literally lifted out of her shoes. Yes, she died.

Concerned citizens (aka concerned mothers) shouldn't have to march with baby carriages, block interactions and try to rile up the media and everyone else to achieve safe crossings for all. When you consider that some of these roadways are the equivalent of speedways for reckless drivers, no one who is a thinking person can expect anything but tragedy to be the result. In some areas, the kids have to walk in the roadway because sidewalks are either missing or torn up.

Who is doing the inspections of the roadways? Yes, the infrastructure of major cities is in appalling condition and getting worse. A young couple was killed last week by a chunk of an overpass that fell into their car. Should we accept this in a time of serious unemployment where many could be helped to regain their dignity and provide safety for all?

Ah, but the end is nigh, dear readers because we've now been told that in 2018 The Boulevard of Death will be improved and made safer. Just how they'll do this hasn't been fully outlined. Okay, so you're on the job with Queens Boulevard, now how about Crossbay Boulevard and the raceway that has proven to be for people living in the near-beach communities? Will that receive some added attention?

Budget cuts always seem to enter into these good plans, don't they? Sort of like the current suicide hot line in NYC that the mayor's wife has been promoting while the mayor just recently cut the funding. Good intentions there, but someone didn't get the message about retaining funding, right? How did that happen with the two involved individuals engaging in nightly pillow talk? They don't talk? Who knows.

And, while I'm at it, how does the "Broken Windows" community policing program fit into it all? If we are concerned with maintaining lawfulness, shouldn't this extend to ticketing speeders, people who run red lights and fail to give way to pedestrians crossing the street? Isn't this part of the idea or are we only concerned with how property looks and how one act can theoretically bring on a barrage of lawlessness?

No, it's not such a stretch. A roadway where drivers repeatedly drive 5, 10, 15, 20 or more miles per hour over the speed limit with impunity is just as good a sign of disrespect for the law as a building left with broken windows. Stop looking up and start looking down to street level.

Should we turn that famous reminder, "Caveat emptor" (Buyer beware) into "Pedestrian beware?" I recall seeing a sign on a roadway fence in California that ran across a stretch of undeveloped land. It read, "Beware! You are about to enter the most dangerous area in the United States, the state highway system." Really, folks, it's not the highway system necessarily that's so dangerous.

http://www.drfarrell.net

No Reservations Are Safe Seemingly

2015-05-01T14:52:00.001-07:00

Despair may have been part of the baggage they carried on that long, terrible trip forced march from their homelands to the desolate places called "reservations." Undoubtedly, that despair was inherited by a young generation who had not known their proud heritage, their language and their culture as it once had existed. All around them, they saw only the ravages of hopelessness, opportunism, alcoholism and early death. Escape seemed and may still seem impossible. The old saying, "You can take someone out of the country, but you can never take the country out of them" may have a cruel twist to it in their case.

We call them Indians because Columbus in his ignorance thought he had found the new route to the golden riches of the New World. They aren't Indians. They are Native Americans and we have failed them miserably as they are still under the rule of The Bureau of Indian Affairs. Indian Affairs? Should we even have a bureau for them unless it does something more than restrict what they can do? Don't we owe these wonderful people more than they have been given and shouldn't they be more than sports team symbols? What have we failed to learn from them and what scourge have we imposed on the entire nations that are held within the desolate lands where they live in poverty?

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is only one of many but it may hold a key to some of the inherent ills that our government has nourished. Should you not be conversant with the horrendous history of American actions toward the native peoples, read about The Trail of Tears. Native peoples were forced off their millions of acres of lands in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida, land they had occupied for many generations. The forced march from their homelands would lead them to an inhospitable relocation and a bitterness that was only natural.

The trip of 1,200 miles, on foot and with many in chains, would result in 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks and 5,000 Cherokee dying along the way while the remainder of the group struggled. Their lands would be quickly snatched up as a lucrative means of growing cash crops.

Native peoples were treated like unwanted immigrants in their own land and dismissed as something akin to inferior or feeble-minded beings. A culture that revered the earth and its spirits had, over the centuries, developed healing arts as well as religious rituals. Even these were restricted until recently when the BIA revised its rules to allow for gathering of specific plants or foliage by native peoples for their cultural needs. Imagine having someone tell you that you couldn’t practice your religion because they held control over the herbs used in the ceremonies.

A foreign country has been created within the United States which controls this country's borders, its behaviors and its citizens. The youth within this country are governed by new regulations from the BIA whereby "the (existing) model will be updated to provide better federal guidance to tribes in an effort to insure proper respect for the rights and responsibilities of Indian juveniles arrested for alcohol or drug-related offenses and those of their parents, guardians or custodians."

Seems the native people still require guidance even though the BIA admits that "Tribes know best what will work in their communities..." How do "tribes know best" if they require guidance from an outside governmental body that is managed by persons not from that tribal culture? Just curious to me.

Who knows best here? And what do they know "best" about? How will the new Model Indian Juvenile Code work and what impact will it have--especially when they're still referring to the tribe as "Indian" and not Native Americans? The bias is so inculcated into the minds of those writing the new regulations that they don't even see how offensive this can be to Native Americans.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 103 young members between the ages of 12-24 tried to kill themselves between this past December to March. Too many succeeded in their attempt and one of them was a 12-year-old girl. What would make a promising, bright young girl believe that death was better than life on this spit of land?

Consider high unemployment, alcoholism, hunger, poverty and the violence that attends these factors and what do you have? It's not exactly a trip to Disneyland each day you get up in a dingy trailer you share with a large, downtrodden extended family. When they leave the reservation on any kind of trip, what do they hear? The New York Times article quoted one man who said his granddaughter heard herself being referred to as "filthy Indians." Wonder where that woman grew up and what she heard as a child that led her to utter this offensive comment.

Need mental health help on this reservation? You can, of course, get it if one of the six professionals can see you as they struggle to attend to 40,000 inhabitants living there. The deaths of the nine who succeeding in ending their lives and the reason for their desperation can never be pinpointed by a note, a phone call or any other communication.

Oh, let's not forget that communication on the reservation may not be up to even 20th century standards. Some kids have never used a computer, who can afford Internet service (even if it were offered) and phones can be a luxury. I knew a student teacher who found a reservation library with no books, a "science" lab with no equipment save for a broken glass beaker and kids who refused to believe there was such a thing as an ocean to the west of where they lived. Strangled puppies hung from trees and broken bottles littered the ground. The young teacher was hit by harsh reality even before he set foot in a classroom there.

The United States if roiling with marches against racism, yet here's a group that has no marchers with signs calling for fair treatment. Shouldn't we want fairness for all? Doesn't everyone's life matter, no matter their color or ethnicity?

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Doctor's Dead

2015-04-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

A patient in a chemotherapy hospital ward looked forward to the regular therapy sessions with her therapist who always brought laughter, a ready hug when needed and inserted more than a ray of sunshine in an otherwise taxing stay. Despite the diagnosis and the possibility of a shortened life, the patient somehow felt that everything could be okay if she stayed positive and had this wonderful therapist as a guide in her life's journey. It was comforting and she was always there when needed.

After the patient left when her series of treatments were completed and she found herself once again at home, involved in life and striving to stay healthy, she decided another "touch-up" session would be a good thing. Calling the office for an appointment always seemed like such a natural thing and there was no apprehension about a session. Other patients weren't quite so sanguine in their approach to sessions, she knew, but this therapist was willing to work outside the lines. The hug, for instance, would never be acceptable to a more traditional therapist and laughter and joking usually wasn't the stuff of sessions, either. But not here. This was a place of more than therapy. There was an unspoken kinship.

The phone rang several times and then the connection was made. "I'd like to make an appointment," she fairly chirped. Silence. Not good, the patient, thought for one brief moment and then she heard the words she'd never expected. "I'm sorry, but the doctor died." The thud she felt was like a hammer to the heart. Dead? How could such a vibrant, joyful woman be dead? Accident? Sudden horrific illness? What?

Slowly, she explained how long she had seen the therapist and the woman on the other end understood. The therapist, she soon learned, was, throughout all those wonderful and enlivening sessions, fighting her own cancer battle and cancer had won. Obviously, there was a demarcation line even in these sessions and the therapist's impending death was not to be discussed or even hinted at. Anger could have been her reaction, but that would have negated and minimized the therapist's own sacrifice in the service she provided to this patient. The sessions were to address the needs of the patient, not the therapist.

How many of the healthcare professionals who treat us are struggling with their own illnesses or demons that will remain unknown to us? The statistics concerning physician deaths by suicide may provide a window for us. And the stats are eyeopening.

Every year, we're told, 400 physicians commit suicide and it's often a hidden statistic because obituaries and short death biographies in the journals often decidedly omit suicide as the reason for death. In some cases, it may be insurance considerations, but more likely there's a reluctance on the part of the medical community to shine a light on this topic. Better to keep the family safe from the shame of suicide, I suspect, is their main motive and to present the person in a favorable light.

The topic has come home to me in a rather circuitous manner. Querying a physician, about a specific medical procedure, I was told that there was a superior physician who could have provided the treatment but he had died. How, I asked? A few moments of thinking and the physician told me, "It was suicide." When I returned home, I immediately did a Google search and read the local newspaper account of this brilliant man's life and ultimate death outside his home, in the snow. Suicide was the cause, but how he did it was left out.

What had driven him to this? As I did more research, I discovered that he not only pioneered a specific procedure, but he taught internationally, had recently opened a hospital in another country, remarried and was preparing for some major changes in his life. Still relatively young, he had years left to utilize his skills for the benefit of others. What happened? No one will ever know because the town newspaper was the only source with that one article. The gates of secrecy had closed forever on this man and his final departure from medicine.

Burnout in physicians is too often shrugged off as the mind-numbing workload and impossible brutality and bullying of senior staff (particularly of interns and residents) is seen as a weeding out process and nothing more. If that's so, I guess the two talented men who had just begun their residences in prestigious New York City hospitals and who had killed themselves, weren't able to cut the mustard. Wimps, perhaps? How callous of anyone to even think that.

The burnout rate in medical students has been estimated to be about 50% by graduation. What happens to burned out medical students? Many of them will continue on to complete their degrees, but how do they manage that? Some, as the young woman found dead in a major NYC hospital stairwell (she was featured on the school's admissions brochure), will use easily available drugs to keep up the pace and avoid sleep as well as tolerating the continuous bad behavior of house staff and attendings. I recall one student telling me that, while observing a surgery and standing on a small stool to view the procedure, the surgeon wheeled around and kicked the stool out from under her. A nurse saved her from falling on the instrument tray. Another told me that he returned home each day from medical school in tears because of the dreadful day he's just had. Every day.

Depression is found in physicians just as it is in the general population. In fact, 12% of males and 18% of female physicians suffer from it. What about medical students, interns and residents? Once serious, deep and chronic depression fails to remit, physicians are much more successful at suicide because of their knowledge of lethal methods. Is admitting to depression discouraged and even looked down on by members of the profession? Probably and there could even be the concern that it will damage a career or put an end to one that is just beginning.

Such a concern appears to match up very well with the military where help may be available but requesting it may lead to short-circuiting career advancement. Then, of course, there's impairment brought on by medication should that be needed. Who wants a surgeon with any cognitive impairment brought on by medication to operate in their hospital or on their patients?

Medicine, despite what many people might think, is not such a great field to pursue as a career, even if you do manage to jump through all the hoops needed to just get into medical school. Things have only gone downhill as more and more paperwork is required and office staffs are stretched and everyone from student to physician is required to do more in the same amount of time--a time that is often extended by lack of sleep.

Where are physicians heading and why are we experiencing a dire need for increased numbers of physicians in this country? They are opting out of medicine, retiring early and looking at sites like D.O.C. (the Drop Out Club) that offers entree into another field where they can use their medical expertise out of a medical setting.

Failure to enlighten all those in the field about suicide potential and burnout insures a ready supply of physician-related obits and young docs jumping off buildings or overdosing in hospital stairwells. Just imagine yourself in a situation of constantly being expected to provide all the answers to health-related problems without anyone ever recognizing your needs. It's more than overwhelming. When medicine has the highest rate of suicide, something is wrong and something must be done.

Physicians begin to heal thyself as a profession or we all suffer.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Mediterranean Diet Makes Brains Bigger?

2015-04-29T20:41:00.001-07:00

The news is on professional sites and in the news media. Astounding evidence from a single study of a group in an upper New York City area appeared to indicate that adhering to the Mediterranean diet resulted in "bigger brains" and, apparently, a lower incidence of Alzheimer's. The study intrigued me especially since the media were almost shouting about "bigger brains" from the diet.

Bigger brains in older Manhattanites? Could that only be a good thing or was there something else here? Remember, if you have a bigger brain, doesn't that indicate something not necessarily good? Don't we try to avoid traumatic brain swelling (i.e. bigger brains)? There's only so much room in our packed craniums, so how could we manage bigger brains? Turns out the "bigger brains" terminology was all wrong.

What the researchers really found was that, in a non-demented sample (that's important here) there was less shrinkage or atrophy in this sample when measured with highly sophisticated imaging equipment. Atrophy is something that happens with normal aging, it seems, and doesn't necessarily mean you're headed for dementia, although that's what it sounds like, doesn't it?

Brain cell death begins even before birth and throughout our lives these cells sluff off like our skin cells. They are replaced and continue to grow. In fact there's a storehouse of stem cells just waiting to be called up to action in one of the several brain holes (okay, they're called ventricles) however, and exercise and learning appear to be two of the most exquisite means to get nerve cells to sprout even more. Sounds really promising, so get out your treadmill or bike and go to it to keep those little cells on that trajectory to growth.

The most interesting thing about the recent study, however, wasn't the diet aspect. As one very well-known expert on Alzheimer's and dementia, Dr. David Knopman of the Mayo Clinic stated, the fact that those in the study were on this diet may not necessarily be the key to defeating Alzheimer's.

There are many more factors that need to be considered. For me, one of the factors missing in the study was that these were all non-demented individuals. I think that a better design would have compared those on the diet and those not on the diet and see which group may have had less atrophy and, more importantly, less cognitive impairment. Also, when did each individual start the diet?

The particular area of Manhattan where the study participants lived is heavily populated by one or two distinctive ethnic groups and that further limits what we can say about the results. Lifestyle, cultural differences, religious beliefs, socialization and other factors also need to be entered into our multiple regression formula here. I do assume that was the mathematical approach they took here. A diet heavy in fish and light on beef may be good for health, but it's not necessarily the determining factor in brain atrophy, neurogenesis or dementia. Stress remains paramount in everything. Did anyone measure the stress levels of this group or how community identity affected stress?

We've seen rather shocking brain imaging studies of a young girl who had a brain that was so deficient in cells that it was more like a ring of cells rather than a plump ball. It could remind you of the neural ring found in the "brain" of earthworms that we had to dissect out in our college biology class. The study I saw indicated that the girl was functioning normally even though she had a major deficiency in brain mass. So, is mass the key here or can we function on less massive brains? Quite an interesting question to me.

Word to the wise: Question the studies. I know it's challenging for media writers to make some of them sufficiently news worthy, but let's not get so carried away that it's absurd when the actual study is reviewed.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Rehabing the Aging Brain: Fact or Fiction and Why Do It?

2015-04-28T10:40:00.001-07:00

Everyone gets older, if they care for their health and manage their stress level. But as we grow older, what negative consequences await us? Are we going to become slower in our cognitive efforts and, consequently, less creative and less work worthy? These are not inconsequential things to consider and, considering the bias there is toward older workers, is everyone over 50 or 60 headed to be put out to pasture whether its financial or emotionally possible or not?

Too many workers in this age group are already being viewed as unsuited for our full-throttle technological age. Gray hair is, at all costs, to be avoided unless, of course, it's just that "hint of gray" that is acceptable. Is it going to continue to be "Gray go away?" time in corporate America and in the entrepreneurial area?

Toss all that experience, forget the mistakes they can help us avoid and go blindly ahead with that age cut-off for hiring or any work consideration. Send them all to that dim golden age we've promised and, in an age of conservative lack of social consciousness, who cares what happens to them?

Let them all fend for themselves. It's not our concern. We just need to concentrate on getting that new iWatch, working on ramping up ad income on mobile devices and slurping up the latest cuisine or alcoholic beverages we can get, plus grabbing all those red-soled shoes. What an age. What a statement about how crass and how poorly we manage. The talent is there, but we are blind to it.

Along comes the new class of reformers who will "save" us from this dismal fate. Well, perhaps not save, but create the illusion that, if we do something right now, we can turn the tide of fortune for ourselves. Although the methods being offered may have true benefit, how do we change the bias that will still exist? Therein lies the rub.

Older workers are the workhorses of the marginal income jobs. They are reliable, have an incredible work ethic, a sense of respect for authority and, most telling of all, they have few, if any, options. They have been corralled into an employment pasture that provides no exit gate to a better life or job. In time, what will happen to them and how will they cope?

Look at the growing alcohol sales in the older population. Surely, that's one indication of despair and not increased socializing. It's a means to contend with the subtle, hostile erosion of self-esteem.

Consider, too, the distressing incidence of suicide among the elderly. A woman in her 80s jumps from the terrace of a New York City high rise building. A couple is found in their bedroom with the car running in the closed garage. A man goes into a nursing home, shoots his wife and then himself. How often does this happen? No one wants to tout these sad instances, but we must all face the realities regarding why it happens. Lay some of the blame at the doorstep of our ageist culture.

The back story to all of this lies, of course, in a return to valuing all of our citizens, regardless of their age or ethnicity. We marvel when a hospitalized 14-year-old girl invents (thanks to the forethought of the hospital administration) a device to help kids with CF clean their nebulizers.

Great, but what about the older worker who demonstrates just as much creativity? Oh, yes, we marvel when a tidbit is provided on that because this is a person in the unemployable heap of humanity. Wunderkinds are touted, but the swelling group of elderly must stand silently by and hope for a menial job. They wonder, too. But they wonder how things got this wrong and they were so abandoned because they know they still have horsepower in them and you can teach an old dog new tricks.

How do you teach these old dogs new tricks? It starts early on, but it's still viable in middle age and approaching senior citizenship or even beyond. The basic ingredients are still there. Simple things can be done to tune up that sluggish creativity after 25 years of age and open new neural areas of the brain--areas that hold promise, but only with specific work. Think about what is termed neuroplasticity.

Start with learning something new and challenging. How many times have I heard an older person express not just reluctance but something akin to fear about computers. Ever use a typewriter? Computers are no more frightening and they are just stupid machines that depend on software written by someone else. Learning to be computer literate is available at free local community programs, colleges and senior citizen centers or even corporate programs to enlist new, older employees.

Speak only one language? Learn a new one, no matter how difficult it seems at first. Recall how much effort learning to read was when you first entered school? Yes, it was difficult and you had to work at it and you succeeded.

Computer programming is another language and there are many simple languages (Python for one and Learn Python the Hard Way--my favorite) that are useful in today's business climate. These programs, many written to get kids easily involved into programming, are online and available free. Search for these free programs which you can take in your own time and can even download the videos to view later. It's there and it will start your brain power on a new path. It also begins a process of evaluation and questioning of information and projects that charges up your interest.

In medical school, they teach interns a simple mantra, "Watch one, do one, teach one." And it's a way to help your own learning. Once you begin to learn something, you teach someone else how to do it. The process brings up questions that help you to learn your area even better. Wonderful to help yourself and someone else.

You are sitting there waiting for what? For senility to come your way? Forget about it. Fight for your right to be a "brainful" person by working at it like you work on your muscles to keep from falling. This is the new gym that you take with you wherever you go and no one can take it from you once you've built it. Just like education, it's yours for life, so live it.

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Alcoholism That May Be Overlooked

2015-04-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

Alcoholism is no joke and the seriousness of the problem can only be appreciated once you begin to look at some of the statistics. And, of course, don't forget the ancillary problems wrought by imbibing too much of the grape and the mash over a lifetime. I'm speaking, naturally, about the increased risk of liver and kidney disease, brain damage (think Korsakoff's), immune system dysfunction and cardiac conditions. Korsakoff's alone is a terribly disabling condition that is often confused with a garden-variety psychiatric disorder, unless a truthful interview is carefully performed by a knowledgable professional.

Most persons with a history of alcohol abuse won't be forthcoming in their interviews and I recall being told by a psychiatric supervisor that whatever the person responds when asked how much they drink, multiply it by four. I took that advice with a grain of salt and I soon learned to phrase my questioning to ferret out those who would tell me, "Oh, I have an occasional glass of wine with dinner." The actual truth, in one woman's case, was that she had a bottle of wine with dinner and then, of course, after dinner drinks and a gallon of wine was in the garage--"for emergencies." What type of emergency would require a gallon of wine? Odd thing to say.

On a recent trip to Florida, I made the entirely unscientific observation that there was an inordinate number of front-of-store displays of wine. Bottles of wine were in the "two-for-one" displays category and I wondered why. Then I began to look at the grocery carts being wheeled about by older couples and soon discovered either gallon jugs or multiple bottles of various wines. Hmmm, I thought, looks like there's a bit of tippling going on here. Was it just celebrating the season, having guests over or a sign of something else?

My observations were soon solidified when I read an article in the local newspaper that centered around the increasing abuse of alcohol in the "affluent" elderly population. Were the elderly in this area truly "affluent" or were the stats skewed and poorly computed? Couldn't tell because, after all, it was a newspaper article and not a reviewed professional journal. The journal would have been very specific regarding how the statistics were collected and would have provided info on the group studied. Okay, if the group were elderly and affluent, then the article was right on target.

However the groups had been selected, my experiences in the super market with the displays and the alcohol in the carts, would seem to point to more drinking in this population but I would have to compare it to elderly in other areas. Couldn't do it.

This surge in alcohol consumption has, by some, been deemed a hidden group of persons undiagnosed with alcoholism. In that sense, it is probably like the former "kitchen sink drunk" syndrome we read about a few decades ago. Housewives, when women were expected to remain in the home and not have careers, were tippling in their kitchens and it wasn't only the cooking sherry, although it might have started there.

Women, according to the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, are at greater risk to suffer from alcohol addiction. Partly a function of metabolism and, perhaps, the internal/external pressure to meet societal expectations, this tendency toward abuse stands as a warning for women. But what about older women? Remember we saw that article that stated alcohol use is hitting an upswing in certain Southern U.S. climes? When the kidneys don't work as they once did and the liver is assaulted, to use one term, by multiple prescription medications for illnesses in advanced age, it would seem older women are at greater risk. Then, too, there's the difficulty of widowhood.

Mixing alcohol with many prescription medications with decreased liver clearance and you have now increased risk for medical consequences in addition to alcohol impairment. A bit of prescription antidepressants or even other meds can bring on the fisticuffs in the liver and the result is higher levels of alcohol. Depends on which substance gets to the receptors in the liver first and hangs on there.

Booze is probably the only non-prescription "medication" available for those who are anxious, have social anxiety disorder in general or are so stressed by life's trials that relief is needed. Sure, some physicians even prescribe one drink with dinner. Yes, I've seen the scripts written in upscale nursing homes where the liquor was kept in a locked cabinet at the nursing station.

One statistic notes that "9% of Medicare beneficiaries (age 65 and older) drink more than 30 drinks a month and more than 4 drinks on any one occasion." How close to becoming an addicted person does that place them? Pretty close and certainly uncomfortably close to environmental dangers, including driving and walking up or down stairs.

Considering how inefficiently alcohol is metabolized in the older adult's body, this can contribute to one of the most significant problems in aging--falls. Check the stats on falls and how well people recover or don't once they're of an advanced age, and it can be eyeopening. Some will go to physical rehab where, hopefully, their alcohol abuse will be discovered, but not all will recover so quickly. For some it will be a downward spiral from which they will never recover. Not a bright picture there.

The experts are in agreement here. "Aging lowers the body’s tolerance for alcohol, and older adults can develop problems with alcohol even though their drinking habits haven’t changed. Older adults can experience the effects of alcohol, such as slurred speech and lack of coordination, more quickly than when they were younger,” says Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., acting director of the NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which developed the topic. “If you’re older and you drink, it is important to understand the implications this may have for your health, safety, relationships and lifestyle. The newest topic on NIHSeniorHealth provides an excellent overview of these issues in a format that is tailored for older adults.”

Disturbingly, some statistics point to 49% of admissions for elderly to nursing homes have a problem with alcohol abuse. In just three years, an estimated $100 billion will be spent on adults who have problems with alcohol. When you consider that we are facing a significant uptick in senior citizens in less than half a decade, the situation is more than dire.

Where do we go from here? For starters, what is the reason for all this drinking in seniors? Are we neglecting some aspect of their lives, devaluing them in society, being less-than-helpful in their future prospects or some hidden factor? We need to explore all of this and it needs to be done pronto. In a world that is increasingly ageist and millenial-focused, we are marginalizing our seniors and failing to appreciate how they can contribute to all of us. Neglect them and you can face a sorry future for yourself. Count on it.

Are senior citizen complexes or "retirement communities" providing an answer? I doubt it. I recall hearing a woman, who lived in an upscale senior citizen development, say, "I don't want funerals to be my primary social event of the month." Parsing out the whole spectrum of the community and segregating the elderly actually results in one version of a ghetto, in my humble opinion.

Refusing residents the right to have pets or small dogs is another way we take the joy from the lives of our elderly. Restricting residence to only those over 55 automatically thrusts the entire community into a certain mindset that may not be beneficial for everyone. Alcohol appears to be providing some relief for too many of the residents.

Who are the elderly in your life and where are they right now?

http://www.drfarrell.net

Dangerous Editing Is Inevitable

2015-04-24T04:40:00.001-07:00

Editing, to most of us, is a simple practice of plucking out the inconsistent verb tense, the unsuitable adjective or reframing the sentence completely. All of these are acceptable or actions to be discussed, fought over and, ultimately, which come to some acceptable resolution. That is if you're wandering in the realm of books and writing efforts of either fledglings or accomplished titans. But not all editing is so benign.

Recent warnings about genetic editing by scientists eager to be the first in their field to produce changes in human embryos have fallen on deaf ears. While enough of the researchers realize the danger, the ethics and the frightful potential to the human race or the child born of these manipulations, some throw caution to the wind. It is this latter group that has taken genetic editing into their own hands and where the most concern is being expressed.

Pushing the boundaries of science has always been a goal of anyone working in the field. So much is unknown and every discovery gives rise to yet one or even 10 more incredibly challenging and interesting questions. The questions begin a new race even as they are presented in scientific journals. A few voices caution regarding hasty actions, but the race is on despite any ethical challenges. Who wants to be the first to actually deliver Plato's three types of humans, the gold, the silver and the bronze?

The bronze, of course, would be the obedient populace. The gold would lead (the one percenters) and the silver would comprise the legions who would fight to protect the gold against the bronze. Something out of H.G. Wells or from the fertile mind of Mary Shelley? Perhaps and perhaps not far fetched.

Some wish to replicate the result or push the envelope with a new technique, others to quash the brashness of the researchers who proposed the advances in the first place. Perhaps in everyone's mind the elusive Nobel shines as a beacon to which they are drawn. Wouldn't their parents be glowing with pride, too? Not so fast.

Watson and Crick took the initial findings of Rosalind Franklin and, in the wake of her premature death, went on to be known as the discoverers of the Double Helix, the very core of our DNA. Death denied Franklin her place in the equivalent of the Mount Olympus of science. But her contribution, nevertheless, cannot be denied, albeit it is given short shrift in articles lauding the two men in their discovery.

A simple breakthrough in a tobacco virus was all it took and how could anyone know what it would reveal? It opened up truly incredible possibilities for future gains against diseases of every stripe. The door was opened, too, to a world of unnaturally created creatures to do all manner of work or to inhabit a world of intellectual slavery at the service of their masters. Not so preposterous when you consider the full range of genetic possibilities here. We're not talking about simple disease thwarting but the creation, possibly, of a range of mutants.

The Chinese have been racing to establish themselves in the area of genetic manipulation and one has to wonder at what price. There are no obstacles in their path as their government sanctions their efforts and no letters to the editors of scientific journals will slow their pace, either. The scientists live in a world that is only bent on discovery at all cost. Taking human embryos and exploiting a new gene potential resulted in the "failure" of 85 of them to either die or morph into mosaics which were unacceptable.

Ethicists will have to ponder this challenge long and hard and the rest of us will be left wondering what exactly will be the genetic change that results in something that will live. Will it advance science's quest against disease or be used for some more nefarious plan? We can only hope reason checkmates ego or a national quest in some area of dominance.

Should there be a new UN-type governing body to which scientists all over the world subscribe? Is the world entitled to know it is safe from science gone rogue?

http://www.drfarrell.net

Testing the Motives of the Test

2015-04-22T08:22:00.001-07:00

The education world is shuddering and rife with turmoil as it hasn't been tested since the early days of disputes for equal education for all kids. That test came in the now-famous Brown vs. Board of Education. At that time, busing was seen as the answer to providing a quality education to children from disadvantages areas. Mix the kids up in schools in other neighborhoods and that will solve it beautifully. Not such a good answers after all.

Why can't children from all school districts receive a quality education in their own school system and benefit from the fruits of their labors there? Sure, school boards and property owners may not be willing to risk asking for adequate budgets, so kids go to schools that are shabby, deficient in supplies, classes and even properly functioning libraries. Science, physical ed and the arts? Forget about it.

Forget, too, about the technology that is so vital to being a meaningful and fully qualified student/adult/worker in today's competitive world. These kids are doomed from the first day they set foot into those schools. No one, who is truly being honest about the situation, will dispute that and they really can't dance around it. We all know that, too. Poor families can't afford shoes much less computers or pay for wi-fi access. Local libraries may not even be funded sufficiently to provide technology for all the kids who come seeking it.

Parents are finally realizing and using their power and it involves taking to the streets and pulling their kids out of the questionable tests now being mandated. The signs held by the parents (primarily mothers) ask simply, "What's the motive for the test?" Fair question.

Not only is that question fair, but what is the plan that will be implemented when results, such as they may be, are gleaned from a run through the computers at the boards of ed? Many questions to be answered, but who's responding to that benign question? I haven't seen anyone who has stepped up to the podium and offered any, much less a cogent, response to the question.

Okay, boys and girls, who's up for some tough questioning at a town meeting? No one? Weren't you elected to these posts or were you appointed as a political or business favor? Do you have any specific skills that would make you a viable spokesperson? Or background and experience (no, please, not Michelle Rhee) that would enable you to tackle this tough nut?

One parent, who agreed to what was a brief sound bite, asked, "Why should the kids be missing 12 weeks of education just to prepare for a canned test?" I have to agree. Shouldn't the kids be learning instead of learning to take the test?

And what are the tests really testing? Test taking, as anyone who has ever studied it knows, can be learned and those who have had to take tests for licensure sign up for expensive study course to take those tests. It doesn't really mean they know the material; they know the test and how to succeed at it.

Education is not learning facts. Do you know why the War of 1812 was fought or what The Three-Fifth Compromise was all about? Can you discuss the implications of each and then apply this to present-day American foreign policy? If you can, that would seem to indicate you've learned how to utilize information in a meaningful way. How about discussing the Pythagorean Theorem and its utility in everyday life? Well, maybe not so much the latter, but certainly you should have learned how to use information to reason and apply that information.

What do you know about computer coding? Are you even conversant with the most basic of computer languages and can you use any form of geek-speak? I'm not asking much. I'm asking you, an adult living in a world that is zooming daily with technological advances, to be comfortable in that world. Imagine if you were a kid who couldn't even read at the second grade level and you're about to graduate from high school--if you even made it that far. Did you miss out?

Yes, of course, you'd have to be able to read to take those dastardly tests, but could you understand what the question posed was fishing for? Reading is one thing. Reasoning is another matter entirely. Are we teaching kids to reason or take tests? If you use computerized, forced-choice tests, as I know all these tests are, you cannot possibly appreciate how accurately assessing the kids must be done. Novelty, in a response, is thrown out the door because it doesn't fit the algorithm and that's a major failure and, probably, unappreciated flaw. Intelligence tests suffered from just such a flaw until changes were made.

Parents deciding not to send their children to the testing are engaged in a national dialog found in the Opting Out movement. There's a lot wrong with standardized testing. The wish to have our children receive quality education and to enter their careers and contribute to this country is unquestionable. No one wants their child to end up homeless, in a shelter, using drugs or have an incarceration history follow them for the rest of their lives.

Every child is a precious commodity, not just to their parents, but to everyone. We should want only the best for them, but the standardized testing road being taken won't lead to the goal we seek for them. More than re-evaluation is needed here. Then, too, how do we effectively evaluate teachers?

How will you contribute to this opportunity for improvement in our educational system?

http://www.drfarrell.net

Ben Affleck's Brand Problem

2015-04-21T03:42:00.002-07:00

Historians and hackers have both created or destroyed illusions about those who make up our intellectual or entertainment universe. And now the hackers appear to be holding sway in this battle of the brands being played out thanks to the recent hack of Sony e-mails. Forget the privacy issues and look at what has been revealed and how it may or may not affect the fortunes of those involved.

Ben Affleck, perhaps believing it might be a good move for his brand to be involved in the PBS genealogy search program, "Finding Your Roots," ultimately made a poor move in terms of his brand. Burnishing it was one thing, getting caught up in a quagmire of controversy about attempting to purge an ancestor's slave ownership has been the unpleasant result.

No one would have known that the esteemed Harvard professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., had sought counsel from the Sony executives when Affleck requested edits to his portion of a program. Hackers took care of all of that thanks to their efforts to put 30K Sony emails on the Internet. The emails do little to help Dr. Gates' brand, too, and the fallout has affected more than Affleck as it plays out on network TV and in other media. They are picking at your bones, Affleck.

Pick up any history or biography of famous people and you'll soon find out that slave ownership wasn't unusual. If you had property and you lived in the USA, you had slaves. It isn't a bit of history about which anyone is proud but it's a fact of life and we have to live with it. Neither you nor anyone else who has family who owned slaves is responsible for their actions. You are responsible for only your actions now.

Thomas Jefferson had slaves and he had children with his slaves. Read a bit about Sally Hemmings if you need an American history refresher course on the plight of African slaves in America. Senators in Congress had family who had slaves and so did George Washington. How many fabulously wealthy American families today have slave owners in their family tree? Go ahead and count them.

But your actions, in this particular instance, show something over which you do have power and that's called character. Weakness is never applauded. Playing strong roles in important films can establish a firm presence in the filmmaking world. Being seen as squeamish isn't a good thing.

How you act now, despite all that has been pushed out against you in a negative way, is what matters. Your brand is still valuable but you need to act decisively and, to me, and who am I to be your damage control person, it's simple.

Get your people on the horn and set up a one-to-one interview with Diane Sawyer. Admit that you acted hastily and, yes, you were concerned that the information could have a negative impact on your brand. But you've had time to really think this whole thing over and you were wrong.

Listen, Bill and Hillary Clinton sat down for just such an interview with Steve Kroft (who has had his own brand problems) when he first ran for President and they denied Bill had affairs. No one is going to blame you for being somewhat afraid or concerned. It's your career and you didn't want anything to damage it or your reputation as someone who supports just causes. Please, if the Clintons could do that, you can tell your truth.

Stand up now and put your head together with your team. I know there are several things to be done besides the interview. Get your plan together and don't wait. And let Dr. Gates handle his own brand problems and I think he may have a bit to handle here as well.

Not the end, Ben, but an opportunity if you choose to see it that way.

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Many Voices of Women

2015-04-20T11:09:00.001-07:00

Voice, one college professor told our fledgling English seminar, is something to be developed and to be distinctive. It was to be as personal and identifiable as to set us apart and so we wrote. I wrote in the style of Saul Bellow and was told it was more Bellow than even Bellow. I surmised that was something of a back-handed compliment and I'm still not sure.

But does everyone have a "voice" and are they all heard? While I think the first is true and might be a quality headed for development, the second is far from true. Check out any discipline in art and science and even religion and there's a striving to be heard that has been denied, covered up by using a man's name or pulled out of the books we have available to us. Who's that person sitting to the right of Jesus (left in the painting when viewed head on) in the "Last Supper" painting? Man or woman, possibly Mary Magdalene? Woman disciple? But who's trying to figure that out when they're a bit taken aback by the fact that there may be too many hands in the painting.

Are you interested in religious history? Wonderful area to see how the voices of women, in particular, have been left for only the most determined to mine. Often written in languages most of us find less-than-available for our translation much less interpretation, they are only in the past few decades coming to light. And not everyone is welcoming these new tracts with a great display of open arms.

Two of my favorite authors, Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman, have written numerous books on religion and the gospels now attributed to women. Some scholars even propose that there was a woman disciple who wrote her own gospels.

Greek traditions held that women may have special powers and there were goddesses and soothsayers galore for them and the Romans. A woman's voice was not only heard, but it was paid special attention.

Fast forward to modern day USA. Women's voices were part of the feminist "revolution" (awful word for equality movement) and even before that women writers were striving to be heard. Not specifically laying out the problems in their own lives, they did what one successful film director/writer has done--they wrote about female characters who were undergoing personal changes. How about "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf? True, it's an extended essay based on lectures she gave at women's colleges. But any woman who reads it gets the point.

Other women would come along and write in terms of their own times and experiences like Nora Ephron, a writer I adore. Ah, should anyone say they adore someone? Who can say. OK, say I find her refreshing in her approach to life. And maybe even entertaining and cooking.

Gone too soon, but Ephron's works live on to enliven the minds of anyone who wants to dip into the life and times of NYC in the 60s and 70s and beyond. You don't have to watch "Mad Men," just read Ephron. It's all there.

Women seemed to be on the brink of breaking through even in the late 19th and early 20th century when Alice Guy-Blache was forging her mark in directing and producing films. She's memorialized in a small film museum in Fort Lee, NJ where the nascent film industry took root on the farms and the famous volcanic cliffs. A few women followed, but women's voices in film were largely provided by male screenwriters at the behest of men who ran the studios. Did any woman besides Ida Lupino have office space on any of the studio lots? The powerful bosses believed that ticket buyers were mostly male and only a male voice could appeal sufficiently to get the box office shares they sought.

Now, thanks to one incredibly talented actor, Meryl Streep, there is a new incubator for women screenwriters over 40. Over 40? Will anyone truly option something written by an over 40 woman or will they have to use the ruse in Woody Allen's "The Front."

Streep is starting with a small group and, I suppose, she'll see how it works out. Okay, Bobby, care to put some New York muscle into an incubator for women screenwriters of your own in NYC?

Appeal for women's voices is obviously there since we saw "Sleepless in Seattle" as a success and so was "When Harry Met Sally," and "Silkwood" and "Julie and Julia." Careers have been successfully launched or received major pumping up from appearing in those films. Who can forget, "I'll have what she's having?" A line to die for in a screenwriters repertoire.

And "Sex and the City" hasn't been a slouch in the ratings area, either. SJP has ridden that series right into stardom. Chris Noth rocketed right on to "The Good Wife" and I'm sure Sex played a major role in his being cast as Peter Florrick.

Have we truly heard women's voices in film? I don't think so. You might ask Kathryn Bigelow about that one. I think she's qualified to answer unless she believes that doing so could endanger her directing career. Of course, Meryl has a bit to say about it, I'm sure.

Who's going to do the interview? Hands, please.

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Licensing Dilemma Continues

2015-04-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

Healthcare is a burgeoning field with varied career opportunities and that fact is not lost on many who want to benefit but don't see themselves putting in the hours or the expense needed to become appropriately licensed to practice. State governments haven't helped in the matter as potential clients, or patients or whatever you choose to call them, seek services. There is a growing need for certain specialists all over the country and the need for relief creates more opportunity.

Not all states require health-related services to be a licensable one and even the very question of "health" or "medical" has proven to be a sticking point. Do you need a college degree? Can you get certified in an area of something related to healthcare by attending a few seminars? Who should be the gatekeeper to insure adequate preparation in the area?

In some instances, lobbyists may insure that licensure isn't required for a service, but finding out which group has the most muscle isn't usually something an individual does when they need help. And help is what these people are seeking. Often the person in need will turn to someone who indicates they have certification in an area of specialization and that may be okay, but what's the problem? Are you aware that you can sit down right now, create your own certification group and begin offering whatever you want to anyone who will pay your fee?

Well, might not be all that easy, but it sure is close to it. Awhile back a group formed and offered to provide certification in a specific area and all you had to do was pay $250, take a short 10-question "test" and voila, you were a member and you were certified. Nifty certificate was shot out in the mail to you, ready for framing and up on your wall for all to see. I saw one of the certificates on a therapist's wall and it started a process of re-evaluation in my mind.

Consider the fact that to work on someone's hair you need a license and you have to actually pass tests to get one. You can only wash hair in a hair salon if you don't have a license. But to work on the inside of someone's head, say hypnotherapy, you may not need a license at all. How can that be? Ask your local licensing boards how they view this and you may get an answer that indicates it's in a grey area that's really not medical. But what is it?

If someone says they "induce a trance" or change your sense of perception, what does that mean? Are they doing something physical to you (more than cutting hair) or is it all smoke and mirrors? Personally, I believe that if you are going to use a technique that states it involves behavioral or perceptual change, I think there needs to be some regulation.

But, you say, what about those people who do their acts in lounges or on stage? Don't they do the same thing and they don't require a license, do they? No, they don't because it's entertainment, but should they be permitted to do this? That's where the real question lies. If it's a method that can cause psychological change, should they be allowed to do this at their whim? What about people who are on TV and who have specific qualifications in a medical-related field and interact with guests or the audience? Should they be licensed or is it okay because that's entertainment, too?

I had an editorial job once and the subject of hypnosis came up while talking to another editor. It's something that is interesting for many of us and I've taken seminars on it, read books and articles and had a colleague who practiced it. But before I was a psychologist and I was editing for a living, I did have a layperson's interest.

One of the editors told me that his wife had been hypnotized by her dentist in order to help with her dental phobia. It worked extraordinarily well until he came home one day and found her smiling as she sat on the couch and watched TV. What was the problem? She was bleeding from her mouth and didn't even know it. Somehow, the dentist hadn't done his job quite well enough and she left the office still in a painless trance.

Are you really in an altered state of consciousness when you are hypnotized? Perhaps. Let me ask you a question. Do you take the same route to your job or some other activity on a regular basis? You may be so familiar with the route that it's somewhat boring.

Sometimes, do you find that you've arrived at your destination and you had no memory of the trip? Self-hypnosis may not be all that alien to us because those trips seem to be a variant of what we call hypnosis. For some, it's a state of mind brought about by meditation or yoga or something else. Should anyone who presents themselves as a yoga instructor be licensed? Maybe, I don't know, but it's something to give a bit more thought to in the future.

Mesmerizing, a word often used in relation to hypnosis, has been around for a long time and the word comes from the work of Anton Mesmer who actually theorized that there was something called animal magnetism, or an energy form found in everything. He believed that being able to effect control of this magnetic force in humans could be beneficial and he performed some rather weird experiments to check his beliefs. One involved having a woman swallow a preparation containing iron and then applying magnets to her body.

Look around and see if you can find someone right now wearing a copper bracelet or some other copper containing device that is promoted for healing purposes. Ah, Anton, your spirit lives on! Might there be something to this? Do we have energy fields that respond to metals on the outside of our bodies? There are medical miracles yet to be discovered.

Freud thought hypnosis was a wonderful way to help people with their obsessions and phobias and he studied with Janet in Paris for a time. As one of the the stories go, however, Freud suddenly ceased using the technique when a patient abruptly jumped up during a session and kissed him. The thought of such a complete release from conventional behavior frightened the Victorian gentleman and he dropped the method from his bag of tricks. He thought it might even be dangerous. It was, after all, said to be used by the reclusive and odd monk, Grigori Rasputin, who attended the Russian royal family.

Hypnosis still fascinates and, for some, it is the miraculous treatment of last resort. When more traditional approaches don't work quickly enough to help with disturbing thoughts or behaviors, there's always hypnosis. The reports in journals have provided information on smoking cessation, eating disorders and even sexual arousal problems, but, like everything, you have to wonder how faithfully the report actually details the results. Too many people are too eager to present positive results which bolster their support of a particular "treatment."

Is hypnosis a treatment? If it is, then it should be regulated by a licensing body. If it's entertainment, should it be allowed because of the inherent problems it might create? Does it truly exist at all? Ah, such disturbing questions, but we've got to ask them. Let the discussion begin.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Alzheimer's and All Those Memories

2015-04-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have agreed to begin helping with yet another project to preserve the memory of those who have gone before us so that they may not be forgotten and that others may find them in Internet databases. It is a labor of love born of gratitude for the gift I was given by one such database. I will do it gladly but in so doing I know I will discover names or facts that give me pause to think about that person who is now but a cipher on my computer screen.

So little to represent so much--a life compressed into one line in a database. Doesn't seem adequate but it will begin to weave a trail for others to follow and, in so doing, find their own past and family connections they never knew existed. So much like "Who Do You Think You Are" the TV series that has proven so popular. Thank you, Lisa Kudrow, for bringing this to us.

Other databases to which I've contributed my skills have caused me to stop as I read about a body found at the foot of a pier in New York City or on the sidewalks of that same city. The sudden realization that someone had lost their identity gave me pause and I did stop many times to consider this person and their life.

I've seen the cruelty of staff at Ellis Island where they recorded incorrectly, on purpose I believe, the names of those seeking a better life here. Who would have the last name of "Bastard?" No, it wasn't because of the accent, it was a cruel joke played by people who resented these poor immigrants and left them with a mark to bear that would cause humility and laughter at the bearer's expense. I suspect the same was done to the Africans who were brought in chains to this country and given names that would be poor jokes.

One database I recently completed was for those who had been convicted of crimes that ranged from forging checks, operating stills to wearing military uniforms to which they were not entitled. Some had a line mentioning their involvement in prostitution or drug trafficking. A select few had so many aliases that it was hard to know where to put all of them. All of these names, however, were related to someone who would later come to search for a past they hadn't known. Not everyone will be happy at the nuggets found in the files.

In an age of growing concerns with dementia and diminished capacity the internet database assumes new importance as the go-to resource when family sources fail. But who do you go to for the information? Therein lies a goldmine for some, a demanding labor of love for others. Not everyone who has accepted the challenge as unrelated, corporate keeper of the flame does it without compensation and it is a thriving business. A few of the services remind me of corner drug dealers who offer just a "taste" for free and then, just when you think you're on to something, they hit you with a requirement for that good old credit card info.

Seekers of information, however, don't always have to fork over the plastic for information, but it can be a daunting task with the paywalls that have been erected. Volunteers, however, all over the world are setting up databases that are free and I would advise you to ferret them out. Yes, Ancestry.com does a bang-up job, but not everyone can or wants to pay the monthly/yearly fee. Then, too, if you find European information you'd like to investigate, they want you to pay again for this international search service they have. Not quite fair to my mind.

Are you interested in your own family history? My advice would be to start immediately by collecting every scrap of paper, family Bibles, photos and whatever else lies in your or someone else's home. Next, take your video-enabled devices and sit your older relatives down for a few sessions of "who are your relatives, where do they live or have they lived, and mention all the names you can." Copy everything onto an external hard drive for your computer or use one of the cloud storage system that are either free or very reasonable. I don't recommend any because I think you should make your own decisions here.

The videos are going to be one of your greatest means of keeping your family historians alive for you for decades to come when they're gone. You will be glad you did it. We no longer need to depend on crumpled photo albums with missing identification for those photos they hold.

Scan everything and keep the albums if you must, but digitize everything. And Photo Shop can be a real help here in bringing those photos to better light than they've seen in years. I like both the Bridge raw feature as well as PS's auto adjustment (three possibilities here) and Content Aware which allows you to fix features of photos. Don't want to fork over that monthly subscription fee for PS? OK, try Photo Essentials or free photo editing software.

One final word here. Don't believe that there's absolutely nothing you can find. Sometimes the names or dates are incorrect and what one database doesn't have, another will. The sources should all be explored and even city records shouldn't be seen as sounding the death knell for info. Clerks and filing systems are fallible, so research more, my friend. I've seen it happen in my own case where the city told me they had no record and a free database found what I needed. Once I got the case number, the city was able to produce the material.

Take a note from the film "Still Alice" and don't let the memories slip away before you can capture them for everyone.

http://www.drfarrell.net

New Yorker Lessons from the Sociologists

2015-04-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Judith Regan, the undisputed queen of come-backs and a powerhouse in anyone's right, wrote a short article for The Hollywood Reporter yesterday (which I read today) and it caught my eye for many reasons. For starters, Regan is someone I always pay attention to because she's one sharp lady. I might say she's my Faith Popcorn when it comes to media matters, major hitters and publishing. I like reading her perspective and her no-holds-barred discourse on all of it. Lady, you sure do have your share of moxy.

New York ain't what it used to be, Regan writes, and I must, as a native New Yorker, have to agree with her. The changes have been fast and furious and I recently decided I don't really like it much anymore. Not that it's lost its luster as a diamond among the world's cities. New York City has wrapped itself in so much artifice and banter, comme the nouveau riche, that it's like one of those tacky Statue of Liberty hats they sell in the Broadway tourist traps.

I suppose I sound like one of Edith Wharton's characters from "Age of Innocence." No, I don't know that I need a silver knife to cut a cucumber, but I do know kitsch when I see it or hear the verbal equivalent of it. How do those housewives manage to keep all that stunning discussion going? Quite marvelous.

Regan bemoans the lose of affordable housing for the New York-bound, starry-eyed young adults who come to make their fortune in this fabled Oz of sorts. Now, she writes, they have to settle for a crash pad in Queens, of all places.

Well, Queens was never really that bad, Judith. I grew up there. I only knew the reputation Queens had for those who were confined to the urban areas of Brooklyn when I attended an out-of-town seminar. "Oh, Queens," the woman said, "my husband said that was where the people with money lived. He lived in Brooklyn." Not really, madam, because Queens was always a mix of the wealthy (think Jamaica Estates and Forest Hills Gardens) and those in cold-water flats. I imagine it still is as the property developers encroach on gritty Long Island City, Astoria and its environs. The seamy waterfront is now becoming swell for the newcomers.

Thinking back on courses I took in college on sociology, I can see what Louis Wirth, Max Weber and others envisioned as the concentric ring arrangement in cities. The city, by virtue of its size and population, sorted itself out into rings which were populated by groups in terms of income and culture. The central portion was retained by the wealthy and the trapped poor who lived in communal pockets.

Now, if you look at New York City development, you will see that former dense communities of ethnics and the artistic have been demolished in favor of the absentee, very wealthy owners. What they bring to the city isn't community but a lack of it. How much connection can there be when the tenants don't tenant? It creates empty streets and social disconnection. Have they created a new urban ghetto only, this time, one exclusively for the new-rich?

No wonder you've grown disillusioned with NYC, Judith, because it sure has changed and even the poor and abandoned are having a hard time of it. There was a time in NYC's life when free showers were available for all but I suppose the one near Bellevue Hospital has been demolished.

I still remember walking by that squat, granite structure and wondering who bathed there. Did anyone still use it or know of its existence? I had no idea. I walked by the bakery/restaurant on First Avenue (long gone) and thought it was a wonderful combination of commercial ventures. Now entrepreneurs in the city have rediscovered this type of eatery for the foodies now so prevalent.

I have to agree with you, Judith, the City sure has changed. But I don't know if the factory town of Los Angeles is that much better as I imagine it, too, is being gobbled up by the One Percenters. And so it goes.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Medical Illness and Treatment Literacy

2015-04-12T05:00:00.002-07:00

Medical illness is a part of life. No matter what your age, your ethnicity or where you live, you will, at one time or another, experience an illness and you will need medical treatment. Successful treatment of any disorder, be it psychological or medical, contains two central components; the medical expertise employed and the patient literacy. The literacy portion does mean that patient education and compliance must be addressed for the optimal result wished.

How well does the average patient understand what they're being told by a healthcare professional? Not very well at all according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control which produced a pamphlet in 2009 addressing this very issue of literacy as it related to older adults. The question of what is presented and how it is presented for most effect is paramount. After all, the best medical treatments cannot do the best job for the patient if there's a lack of meaningful communication.

Patients, of all stripes and ages, sit compliantly listening to their healthcare professionals and, often, not fully understanding what is being said. The professional fails to appreciate the fact because they're so accustomed to the medical jargon that they assume the patient will surely know. without question, what is being conveyed to them.

Often, the patients don't understand and they may feel either embarrassed, and this prevents them from asking, or they're feeling rushed so the next patient can come in. Bookings in professional offices may be scheduled too tightly and there's little time for meaningful discussion. I know of one physician who triple books. Of course, this is unethical, but he does it just the same.

What approach might work best for this particular population of patients? First, let's consider what the National Assessment of Adult Literacy found were problem areas:

71% of adults older than age 60 had difficulty in using print materials
80% had difficulty using documents such as forms or charts
68% had difficulty with interpreting numbers and doing calculations

Materials that fail to address these seminal issues are not receiving passing grades when it comes to helping provide optimal care for the group. The 2010 health agenda stated that:

Limited health literacy has been linked to increased health disparities, poor health outcomes, increased use of health care services, and several health care safety issues, including medical and medication errors. Improving health literacy for all Americans has been identified as one of the 20 necessary actions to improve health care quality on a national scale.

Although there may currently be greater access to healthcare and professional services, this does not insure greater utilization in terms of outcomes. This is where educational efforts must be most robust. How do we do it?

We can't ignore this imperative because by 2020 there will be 71.5 million Americans age 65 and older and they will, almost without question, need a complete array of complicated services for chronic diseases. Consider the fact that a 2003 survey found that this group has the highest proportion of individuals with "below basic" healthcare literacy.

Is it any wonder when you consider how sophisticated medical/professional care has become since they were born? No doubt it is much more demanding cognitively and there is a crying need for communicating in terms that are meaningful to them. Not only that, but we must remember that not all of them are computer literate or possess our wonderful technology.

I recently attended a meeting where seniors had to register their cars. It was explained that they could access this information online at the town's website. A woman turned to me and said, "But I don't have a computer." What's the solution for her?

The current objectives, therefore, must be to re-educate healthcare professionals in all fields and to establish a means of offering clear, easily understood guidelines for patients to follow. Jargon has to be avoided at all costs. If the patient can't fully understand what they're being told, it might as well not be told to them at all. It's just that simple. Compliance and complete understanding must be the watchwords.

Are your medical professionals following these new golden rules? Find out for yourself.

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Other Side of Fame

2015-04-11T04:36:00.001-07:00

Each year, starry-eyed young adults take what money they can scrape up and head for the city lights. Stardom is the goal and they know that, "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." At least that's what "New York, New York" tells us and it's probably true but the reality of that "making it" is often discovered in frightening and painful ways.

Stardom isn't sitting on a seat at a soda fountain (another Hollywood fable about Lana Turner) or suddenly being seen on the street and photographed by a friend of a friend who knows someone who's looking for someone just like you. Fables all, except in one or two cases.

I know of one, but I'll spare you all the details. Just let me say that she was a retired, elderly teacher from a small town in Pennsylvania and all she wanted was to live in Manhattan, see her kids regularly and get a part-time job near her apartment. She made it. Didn't hurt that one of her daughters worked in Woody Allen films, but she happened on the scene when the only "old lady" in ads was near death and the agency desperately needed a replacement. She was it. Her goal was never to be a model, but that's what she became for the remaining years of her life.

Madonna, in several interviews has related the unsettling tales of rape, sleeping on any couch she could find and washing in hallway bathrooms. A lot of details, of course, were left out but you get the picture. She had to suffer through all of it with that unyielding desire to make it and she did in incredible fashion. Catholic school girl that she was, she understood the realities and she faced them head on.

As rough as it was and still is, if you follow the gossip and blind items in the media, there are other realities that are far more sinister than the director's couch or the office grope. These aspects of stardom and fame come full force at us when we listen to things like the panic-stricken Sondra Bullock in her 911 call. An intruder was in her home and she feared for her life.

Stalkers are a part of life for the famous and they come suddenly out of nowhere. Some are so obsessed that they break into a home to try on the star's clothing. Others follow them, hiding in doorways to catch a glimpse of them. In gruesome details, we read about those who kill the one they adore as in the case of Rebecca Schaeffer, a young star on the rise and in a hit TV series. Her death prompted a change in the California laws regarding stalkers, but they still persist. David Letterman's stalker is one case in point. John Lennon's murder stands out for all time.

Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo had their stalkers but not in such blatant fashion. Then the star-struck were satisfied with a quick look at them entering their Manhattan apartment buildings or getting off a hidden photo of them. Times were different but the adoration was still there.

I used to appear on many TV and radio shows and get lots of ink in magazines at one time. I never gave much thought to my "fame" and I never thought I was in any way famous. But one day, walking alone across a parking lot in a large mall, a man suddenly came barreling toward me. Breathlessly, he asked if I were, "Dr. Farrell." Taken aback, I said I was and he went on for a few minutes about how he'd watched me on TV. It was a brief encounter, but it shook me and I was relieved when he left as I got into my car. I could only imagine what might have happened. Friends would later tell me that I was lucky. I guess I was.

It's too easy to scoff at the burly security guys who surround the rich and famous. We're not sufficiently involved in the frightening aspects of fame, so we shouldn't be too quick to judge when they get a little rough. A crowd too close can be catastrophic and the end of a career or a life.

Those shots outside the Dakota in 1980 still ring in everyone's ears and they sound a warning to all.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Where Did You Go to School?

2015-04-10T03:45:00.002-07:00

A question that seems so simple and without any taint of negative intent is often heard at many social gatherings. The question, simply put, is, "And where did you go to school?" Charming entree into a conversation that may range far and wide and forge comfortable connections that are the oil of society. School can be mighty in our social life, our professional life and our intellectual life. It has incredible power.

Today, in many parts of the United States, indeed in many parts of the world, children who want to go to school will find it not just unavailable but unsafe. Youngsters, especially girls, may avoid even the mention of the wish for an education and the simple question is simple no more. To be among the intellectual class, too, is to be targeted for extinction. After all, bearers of knowledge are potential creators of hot beds of ideas that can be ruinous for the plans of some. Protect ignorance at all costs would appear to be their mantra.

If all of this sounds a bit off-kilter, perhaps it's because we fail to see that education, which can both free and demand, is not such a simple matter. Consider the many contexts in which you think of education and you could find yourself coming up against a wall you never noticed existed in your perception of the world. Education is dangerous, isn't it? For some, it's absolutely tantamount to tyranny or can foster spiritual rebellion that must be quelled at all costs. Should education be permitted, it can only take its first breath in the air of acceptable distortion of that which has existed so that it meets the needs of some and not the many.

Entire societies of people have been deprived of the most basic education in order to keep them subservient. Teachers were driven into hiding where they nurtured those who would come to learn to read and write in secret. The spark of intellect would remain a small ember despite the cruelty that oppressors rained down on them.

Currently, in the United States, we are hearing of teachers dropping out of the profession they wanted to love and aspired to. Why? Because it is mired in bureaucracy and stilted in its approach to education. It's no longer education, but drill sessions to meet test requirements. I can recall when admission tests for colleges suddenly realized that multiple-choice tests weren't really the best gauge of educational potential and intellectual gifts. But the entrenched school boards with their 19th Century mind sets can't even see what they're doing. Lock stepping the same old educational roe doesn't provide education; it provides little of anything except perhaps a step up to higher political office.

In the United States, some have siphoned funds off from education sufficiently to leave it a bare bones fund that may seem like education but, in fact, may be a poison in disguise. How is it a poison? When you fail to provide all that is needed to insure that education is something wondrous, interesting, gripping, and to be looked forward to each day, you begin the mental dulling equivalent of a daily small dose of arsenic. Eventually, the deed is done. The child hates school, turns from it and is easy prey for the "teachings" of others.

Failure to fund adequate schooling for all means running the risk of becoming not just a nation of the ill-informed, but an unstable one. Burning books may have gone out of style, but limiting library access can be seen as a subtle form of intellectual starvation. Limiting the topics of books to be provided on even a generous budget can also serve the same purpose. Many books do not a scholar make.

Across the developing world (yes, we're still developing), UNESCO has found that many children have no schools to attend. A recent BBC article carried a headline indicating that projections on education wouldn't be met. It stated there are "58 million children without access to primary school and 100 million who do not complete a primary education." You know what the result of this paucity of education means for those countries and for the world.

But, aside from this no-go zone of the educational wilderness, let's get back to the initial, innocent question of where you got your schooling. It's a brand, you see, and the brand is pushed mightily because it has a certain cache that will provide just what is needed. Well, it seems that bozos and plagiarists graduate from those schools, too, dear friends.

Does it really matter what the name of the school was or more that you had instructors or professors who inspired you? Does it matter that you were home schooled by parents who wanted to spare you the dulling experience of the local schools and couldn't afford the more tony ones? Don't you, the end product, matter more? No, not to some who are still held tightly in the clutches of that "school name is everything" embrace. Caged minds can benefit no one, not even the caged.

So, where did you go to school? Let's talk about that.

http://www.drfarrell.net

What I Learned in PR

2015-04-09T05:59:00.003-07:00

A wonderful opportunity in medical research led me to a job in a major public relations firm in NYC for a time. While there, I learned some very valuable lessons which I added to the lessons I'd already learned at meetings of a major national women's club. Together, the lessons have proven to be a great benefit to me personally and professionally and I am grateful to all who participated in my education. I mention this today because PR also taught me that opportunities are everywhere and there are more than you can handle, if you just look.

One thing I learned is that you never go to a meeting without a pad, a pen and a number of questions or suggestions that need to be explored. The second thing was that brainstorming is extremely valuable whether you are directly involved in the project or just serving as an outside ideas person. All of this has been brought to the fore for me recently as I discussed a meeting of a local environmental group.

People who are involved in environmental or any other issues are good people, I'm sure. But being a good person doesn't get the job done. Being organized, having strong leadership, deadlines and planning are key. The group had many shortcomings in all of these areas. Here are some points to consider:

1. Meeting monthly can be fine if there are also meetings of committees that take place prior to the monthly group meeting. You can't expect to get everything accomplished at one giant meeting. Well, let's not say giant because this group only has about 15 people in it.

But reports from committees are important and follow-up actions are a part of the plan. Naysayers, too, aren't helpful. Don't just say something didn't work.

2. Provide reasons why prior efforts didn't work, what you tried, what you could have done. Really do an analysis of what might have been wrong with the original approach and seek ways to remedy this.

A committee chair without this attitude might as well resign. Wanting to be a king pin may suit a personal need but it doesn't move the entire group's agenda forward in meaningful ways. Ego must take a back step here.

3. Use tools of mindmapping and allow that to provide a physical representation of the group's actions, committees, goals and whatever else needs to be seen. A visual representation can really fire up the ideas engine in everyone. You can get free programs, so use them if your finances are a bit on the thin side. No one needs to buy expensive software to get really important jobs done.

4. Invite "outsiders" in to offer a fresh perspective on where you may need to make adjustments to your plans. Let them cast a wide net and don't poo-poo everything you're hearing. Write it down, take it home and think long and hard about it before the next meeting. Then come prepared to discuss all the points made and why it might or might not work. Be open minded.

I can't tell you how many brainstorming meetings I was invited to for products/service where I hadn't worked but they wanted my input. It ran from home appliances, wines, to ways to get people to do cancer screenings or weight loss. Fresh eyes, you see?

5. Assign people to specific portions of your plan and give them a deadline. Prepare a copy of this deadline (listing everyone and their charge).

6. Set up a point person for media and have them outline a media plan for outreach to media who might be interested or can become interested. Work the phones and email to really drill down on this. You need publicity and this is absolutely free if you get your message across in an appealing way. What's your best hook here? You may want to brainstorm this, too.

7. Have you considered joining other community groups where you might get ideas and support for your group? Yes, business groups enter into this equation. You might even end up with a sponsorship arrangement and some funding.

8. Who's going out to make presentations to the community in local libraries, churches, schools, etc.? Do they have leave-behind matrials for the presentations? A one-page leaflet can do the job and it's easy and cheap enough to develop.

Give everyone their marching orders and Good Luck to you in your efforts.

http://www.drfarrell.net

What Were the Designers Thinking?

2015-04-08T05:45:00.001-07:00

Design, as we've seen from the unique and beautiful creations that have come our way thanks to the creativity of designers, is not only pleasing to the eye but, in its best iteration, functional. And that appears to be where the designers of the Kindle readers have fallen down on the job.

Sure, you get that wonderful e-reader that brings you an entire, brain-swelling library of whatever strikes your fancy in literature, science, math, computers, art or a hundred other topics, but where is the problem? I always told my graduate students to look for the problem in any research studies they read because there is always a problem that was unforeseen by the author(s). It may lie in some seemingly small detail, a fact not investigated or which may appear insignificant, but it's there. Therein may lie the key to whether it's a good study or one with a major flaw.

Full disclosure here: I do have a Kindle Fire and I think it's brilliant but I don't use it as much as I might. I bought it before the smaller, lighter Kindles came out, but that's okay with me. I can handle it, but what I can't handle and which the ads fail to disclose is that it's clumsy. Not really heavy initially, it grows in weight as you try to either balance it with one hand or find some position where you can position it on a knee, a book or something else. Then it begins to become annoying and the blush is off the rose, so to speak.

I'd already bought a zippered cover for it to protect the delicate screen and now there was to be more. Not wanting to toss my Kindle Fire aside as just one more piece of techie junk, I decided to try to find something that would free me from this annoyance and allow me to read again. Reading is a passion and I want to read far and wide so my Kindle is packed with too much to mention here. It runs the gamut.

Scouring the Amazon site, I found a few pedestal-type stands that were nice but at almost $20 for a piece of bent aluminum or plastic, I found that really too much. Not that I couldn't fork over that much, but why did it have to cost me anything in the first place? And not all stands fit all the Kindles. Go figure that design goof out.

Not only that, but I don't seem to be alone because most of the stands are out of stock. Does that tell Amazon something important here? And does it present an opportunity for some slick person to come up with a nifty, less expensive solution? Sure it does.

When Steve Jobs worked with Jony Ive did they not look at how people would hold the iPad and how it needed to have something to stabilize it easily? This bit of design had to be integrated into the iPad cover so that it protected, elevated (for typing) and stabilized it for weary hands. They did it and, in the process, also allowed the device to shut down once the cover was closed. Genius! Presently, I've misplaced my cover and that's really annoying because the case with keyboard I bought for it is a clunker that weighs a ton. No genius there.

I did replace the iPad cover with something from a small company here in the USA. The cover is good looking black leather with a built-in stand and works well, but it doesn't shut the iPad off. Bummer.

An Internet hunting trip for a stand was in order and I quickly found that, although there are many stands around, not all fit the Kindle Fire and then there's the catch. What's the catch? The stand may sell for $5.99 but the shipping will add on another $11 or so. Sneaky business, I say. If you want to send it back, there's another shipping charge so it's a complete loss of your money for a product that doesn't make the grade.

One on eBay for sale looks nice, but it's one of those auction things and the stand, when viewed from the side has quite a thin base for its flip stand. It should be wider, guys and gals, to keep from tipping over. Even I, not a designer, know that. And please don't offer me anything that looks like something from the wallpaper in my great-grandmother's living room. All of them look pretty dreadful and unimaginative. Where's Jony Ive when you need his talent for another product?

I'll continue to use my Kindle and grumble, but I'll also see if I can design a stand on my own from materials that are light and have a hinge on them. Who knows, maybe I'll even get a patent on it. That's the ticket.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Wanting to Be Remembered

2015-04-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

The poet Shelley was really on to something when he created one of his most famous sonnets, Ozymandias. An original draft of the work directed at the famous Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II is available. It is both a commentary on the ephemeral existence of potentates and the wishes of the lowly workers who served in his kingdom and hid their names in inaccessible areas of the pyramids they would construct.

Who doesn't want to be remembered in some way? Who wants to pass through this life and then disappear from all memory? Obviously, no one and we have sufficient proof of this drive for immortality in ancient paintings on cave walls, scrolls squirreled away in mountainsides, plaques on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the bronze plaques on baseball fields, the many statues standing in parks all across the globe and now even the Internet. Once our photo and history is released to this potentially interstellar archive, we live forever no matter what the memorial on Earth may be.

Much of the wish for remembrance in prior ages centered around grave stones, exquisite mortuary structures or trendy niches in elaborate and expensive mausoleums in places like Forest Lawn in California. Others will spend eternity, such as it may be, in positions of prominence in national libraries or beneath altars in crypts for only the special.

Some will lose all semblance of remembrance in the desolate plots of Potters Field in New York City where a new park is planned. How will they not desecrate the grave sites with their anonymous numbers? Here lie the forgotten and unclaimed. They, too, lived lives that should be remembered, but seemingly no one cared enough.

Many years ago, a project was started to right a wrong of the latter type at psychiatric hospital grave yards. I worked at one of the hospitals which had been in existence since the time of Dorothea Dix. Across the street, in a hidden back area, were grave sites, unmarked and uncared for it seems for almost a century. The right to be remembered fired up a group that dedicated themselves to combing through mountains of moldy papers, stacks of crumbling records and newspaper articles--whatever they could get their hands on to prove these people existed and had died and deserved some remembrance.

I believe the care of psychiatric hospital long-forgotten cemeteriess is spreading and I also believe it pays tribute to people who lived and died in situations no one would want for a loved one. Someone had loved each and every one of these former patients and yet they were buried as nothing more than something to be discarded and forgotten.

What started me thinking about this topic today was a rather comical, if you choose that appellation, incident in Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park. Seems someone, or a group of someones, erected a bust of Edward Snowden, the NSA info leaker. City officials, naturally, hurriedly removed the offending artwork, but the deed was done. Snowden had his day in the sun in Brooklyn.

Snowden, however, has no problem with being remembered because his place in history has been assured by the ongoing investigations and machinations surrounding his leak of information, sensitive or otherwise. He even has an award-winning documentary (Citizenfour) detailing his efforts. Some may see him as a hero, others a traitor. Really depends on which side of the argument you stand; should we know what our government is doing or should we remain ignorant. Snowden opted on the side of freedom of information and saw it as a moral obligation on his part no matter the consequences to his freedom.

Strange how some see a person as a traitor and others as a patriot. Once, while visiting Niagara Falls in Canada, I went on a tour of the Falls led by a Canadian guide. We reached a certain point where he indicated an "American spy," a woman, had been caught. The comment was quite startling to me as I saw her as a patriot in our American Revolution and here she was being called a spy. Really set me back a bit. I don't recall her name and that is a true shame because she's a woman who should be remembered. I also think the Canadian guide should, by this time, have revised his commentary to include that she was an American patriot in our fight for freedom from Great Britain.

A statue or a cell for Snowden? History will tell the true story and it may not be pretty but we will have to wait for it. Until then, we can consider the evidence for ourselves, such as it is, and hope that it helps us all be more secure in our democracy.

http://www.drfarrell.net

The Other Booster Seat Generation

2015-04-05T12:56:00.003-07:00

Kids are strapped into booster seats on a regular basis. If not, the driver or parent may be subjected to legal charges for failure to protect the child from harm in an auto. The seats also allow the child to have a view of their surroundings in a comfortable seat while affording them a view of the passing landscape. The driver, too, has a lesser degree of stress because they don't have to attempt to drive while keeping a child upright or from moving about and causing problems related to steering or braking.

Although there are booster seats for children, who really don't need to be raised up since they aren't driving, there's another group that may be considered for some "seat assistance" devices. I am referring, of course, to our elderly drivers, many of whom have shrunk over the years by virtue of loss of musculature and spine changes. How much they have shrunk may not even occur to many drivers and they ramble about failing to consider that they aren't properly positioned in the driver's seat.

Today, while shopping in a supermarket, I watched from my car as a woman slowly moved her car out of a space and into the main driveway portion of the parking lot. The move was painfully slow and it was apparent that she was having problems judging the perimeter of her car relative to other parked cars.

I didn't mean to stare, but I couldn't shift my eyes away. The woman was barely visible and her head didn't even come up to the top of the steering wheel. Sitting in her seat and maneuvering her formidable car, she couldn't even see over the dashboard. The front of her car was only a memory and its dimensions couldn't be appreciated from her current vantage point.

Watching her, I wondered why she, or someone else, didn't see the need for something to raise her up in her seat. This lady couldn't get a decent look at her car or those around her. This was either a denial of the obvious or some impairment regarding driving.

The woman brought to mind the recent near-tragedy on Long Island, New York where a 97-year-old woman drove her car off a dock. Fortunately, an off-duty patrolman saw the accident and jumped in to save her. Had he not carried a special tool to break car windows with him, she would have perished--all the windows were rolled up and all the doors were locked.

What caused the accident? The thinking is that she mistook the gas pedal for the brake and instead of stopping, her car shot forward straight into the air and into the brackish water. The mistake is a fairly common one and can happen to anyone who might be preoccupied or anxious about something. We don't know what exactly happened with this woman, but we do know she owes her life to that patrolman.

I'm not saying that senior citizens are responsible for more accidents than younger drivers. We know that's not the case and seniors are generally careful about driving in bad weather, don't use substances as younger drivers might and are not inclined to "put the pedal to the metal" as others do.

The suggestions for making seniors even safer drivers, in my opinion, fail to recognize the changes in the physical dimensions of senior frames. I didn't find one research article or media tip that discussed the physical shrinkage in height that seniors experience. None of the tips included getting some type of seat accessory that would raise the driver high enough to see over the dashboard.

Sure, there are special seat accessories for those with certain handicaps. One is a swivel seat that allows sitting down before you turn to the driving position behind the wheel. It's a really good idea, but it doesn't address the fact that some drivers are almost invisible in their cars as they cruise down the road. Ever see one of those cars on the road? I have.

Remember when auto companies said they were changing the design of cars to accommodate a graying America? What happened to the changes they were considering? I don't think I've seen one auto ad that talks about the advances of seat placement or other improvements. The only thing that is offered now, on the higher priced cars, is an electronic seat positioner that will raise the driver up. I happen to need this feature because I have those petite short arms.

Currently, it's up to the senior driver or their family members to insure that they have an adequate view of the road ahead and behind them. I don't think a bit of seat height enhancement carries the stigma that hearing aids do. So, why don't we see these in auto dealerships or online shops?

Seniors drivers deserve to keep their independence as long as they can do it safetly. Being able to drive is one aspect of that independence, so let's make it as safe as possible.

http://www.drfarrell.net

Stigma, Mental Health and Others, In All Its Ugliness

2015-03-31T05:25:00.001-07:00

Stigma is a hot button topic right now because of the GermanWings crash where the co-pilot is suspected of having had a mental disorder of some type for which he received treatment and also had had suicidal ideation. But stigma isn't something new and its been around for as long as we have been on this Earth.

Mental health professionals have had to contend with this unseen stain on someone's reputation and standing in a community or workplace forever. We've had to try to help people resolve it in as many creative ways as we could and there have been media stories devoted to its eradication, but it's still here. There was even a major book by Erving Goffman, "Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identify" which is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in the subject.

After having worked in mental health for over a decade, I was emotionally confronted by a woman, who was the president of a national organization devoted to anxiety research. She told me that I didn't know what stigma was. She knew because she suffered from Panic Disorder and quickly related her erstwhile symptoms to anyone who would listen. It was a frightening experience for her, indeed, but she now displayed what Goffman said was an certain exclusion from stigma once she stepped into the limelight of professional (paid) advocate in an organization. Read about this in his book.

I was, I must admit, quite shocked because I had seen stigma up close and personal in the hundreds of patients with mental disorders who crossed my path, but she turned a deaf ear to any of that. I had seen the fear stigma engendered and the terrible price people paid to hide their illnesses. Some even resorted to suicide to free themselves and I knew it. What price had she personally paid, I wondered, to lash out so when the word stigma came up?

She preferred to see me as simply someone who had been hired by a firm to assist in her organization's high profile status. It had gone to her head IMHO, to put it in the vernacular.

It was useless trying to tell her that I already had a doctorate in psychology and plenty of clinical experience because she couldn't hear it through the heady cloud in which she lived and which had been created by her new position. Yes, the position and the organization had been created by a major pharmaceutical firm that failed to see she hadn't written a single article or book or participated in any research and was a mid-level professional in the field.

Still, she was the boss here. Was she still fighting her own sense of stigma? I remained quiet when she expounded on her personal, terrible experiences with panic attacks. Remember the old adage about, "He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day?" I was well aware of it. I kept my own counsel on stigma and its many forms and torments.

The case of the GermanWings co-pilot has, once again, uncovered the ugly presence of stigma in our society, much of it job related. Should a worker tell an employer of their mental disorders? Should they reveal that they take any type of psychotropic medication and, how could they handle those all-important drug screenings if they hid their disorder?

While managing an Internet board for a major corporation in healthcare, I can't recall how many panic-stricken messages I received about medications. The one that stands out is that people wanted to know how long medications could be detected in blood or urine samples. Others wanted to know either how to quickly eliminate the metabolites from their body or how best to maintain their jobs when their employers found out they may not have been entirely truthful on their job applications regarding mental disorders. You can imagine the panic that ensued at times. Some even wondered if it would affect their application to college or graduate school or even medical school.

Placed against this background of lack of understanding, inadequate knowledge about mental health/illness (some still believe anyone with a mental illness is extremely powerful and dangerous), it is understandable that the co-pilot might have seen suicide as his only way out. He may have felt he would lose the one thing he loved (flying) and he was having vision problems. Who helped him to understand that neither might have been true? I don't think anyone really did an adequate job in either. Someone had a duty to protect here and that will come out in further investigation.

Stigma is all around us. It works in ways that keep it under the radar in too many instances and this prevents its being addressed for the benefit of those who are the targets of it. First Lady Betty Ford understood stigma when she came forward and admitted she had a drinking problem. New York City's Mayor de Blasio's family understands it as their daughter talked about her depression. Certainly, the deaf have suffered stigma and even those with cancer are victims of it. Watch the Ken Burns special on PBS, "Cancer: The Emperor of Maladies" and you'll hear how people with cancer were, and maybe still are, pariahs in our culture.

Persons with disabilities suffer from it as do patients with Multiple Sclerosis, alcoholism, HIV and any physical or mental disturbance we consider abnormal. Should we be doing this? Obviously not, but ignorance foments fear and fear is the very nexus of stigma.

http://www.drfarrell.net