Mind and Body - Page 60

November 27, 2015

Tiger Woods - and the Rest of Us

As mistress after mistress comes forward, admitting to a sexual liaison with Tiger Woods, it would be easy to focus on his voracious appetite for sex and his fall from grace in the eyes of his fans and miss some very important lessons about the rest of us in 21st century America.

November 27, 2015

White House Party Crashers: Reality Terrorists

If Michaele and Tareq Salahi faked their way into President Obama's first state dinner at the White House, they join Richard and Mayumi Heene (Balloon Boy's parents) and Nadya Suleman (Octomom) as massive examples of the vulnerability of our shared reality to manipulation by "reality terrorists."

November 27, 2015

The Mail Order Drug to Get High

Recently, I treated a patient struggling with depression and substance abuse who had found a legal way to get high. He had ordered Kratom capsules on the Internet. Lots of his friends have ordered up supplies, too. I hadn't heard of Kratom, and you probably haven't, either, but I think you will.

November 27, 2015

The 9/11 Trials and Our Psychological Well-Being

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have decided to bring five of those who plotted the 9/11 hijackings to Manhattan to stand trial in federal court.

November 27, 2015

Inside the Mind of the Fort Hood Shooter

Major Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist who allegedly murdered 13 people and wounded 29 more at Fort Hood, apparently had been trying to contact al Qaeda and had attended the same mosque as the radical imam Anwar al Aulaqi. He reportedly was torn between being a Muslim and serving his country in a war against Muslims. He seems to have written on the Internet that he felt suicide bombers could be heroes, sacrificing their lives for the greater good.

November 27, 2015

Sexual Addiction

One of the fortunate-and sometimes unfortunate-aspects of human biology is that we contain within us the physiology for extraordinary pleasures. When we are psychologically in balance, our capacity to derive enjoyment from our senses and our bodies, whether through eating or exercise or sex, enriches our lives immeasurably. But when we face underlying turmoil or pain or unhappiness, we can use our inborn capacities for pleasure as shields against thinking and feeling our emotions-literally harnessing our brain chemical messengers and neurotransmitters like infusions of drugs.

November 27, 2015

Pilots Lost in Cyberspace

The two pilots who overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles, remaining out of communication with air traffic controllers for over an hour, have blamed their silent detour on being distracted by their laptops. Captain Timothy Cheney and First Officer Richard Cole have denied falling asleep, instead explaining that they were reviewing their schedules on their computers.

November 27, 2015

Balloon Boy

If it turns out that Richard and Mayumi Heene did plan the hoax that transfixed our nation, then they are the most dramatic examples yet of our celebrity, media-obsessed culture turning people into narcissistic monsters and children into props in their made-for-TV lives. The Heenes, who are storm chasers, veterans of "Wife Swap" and producers of their own YouTube video series, knew what kind of drama would glue Americans to their TV sets. This one had so many critical elements: A little boy in danger of losing his life, a chase scene involving a shiny balloon, the specter of helicopters and jets in the sky and "panic-stricken" parents. If only the Heenes had also been scantily clad, they might have actually gotten a contract for a new reality series signed before their plan deflated like . . . well . . . a balloon full of hot air. But to Richard and Mayumi Heene, you see, reality doesn't matter. Real emotions don't matter. The well-being of their children doesn't matter. Danger doesn't matter. Only fame matters. It is their drug. They crave the anesthetizing atmosphere of public recognition and the money that often follows. They want to slip the confines of their real lives and float away from their inner feelings of being small and anonymous and powerless. In this way they are no different than that old variety of addicts who left their kids to fend for themselves while looking to score crack cocaine or heroin. They are no different, even, from heroin addicts who "sell" their own children. Think about the "adventures" on which they had already brought their children. They had peddled them to a network, exposed them to a surrogate parent and TV cameras in their own home-twice. They had encouraged them to post videos of themselves online, for anyone who might like to watch (including would-be perpetrators of violence against children). They had reportedly kept them in street clothes when putting them to bed, then awakened them in the middle of the night to go running after hurricanes and tornadoes. That's about as much fun for kids as trolling dark, drug-infested streets for dealers. And it amounts to the same thing: Two parents braving danger and putting their kids in harm's way in order to get wired. The Heenes are, as I have said, no better than heroin addicts who would trade their kids for their drugs. But they are no worse. I have treated addicts of every kind, some of them seemingly beyond redemption, and again and again I have found frightened, traumatized human beings inside. These human beings were hell-bent on running away from painful events in their lives, and, with help, some of them were able to stop running, turn around, face their demons and defeat them. There is always that possibility for healing, and it is always worth the effort to make that healing happen. Safety and reality have to come first, however. To that end, if it is proven that the Heenes perpetrated a stunt that required their children to lie on national television and participate in a crime that used the nation's precious resources and the efforts of real heroes on a scam, then they should surrender custody of their children. That would be a terribly painful event for their sons, each of whom has, no doubt, forged very powerful bonds with these very pained parents. But I wonder if it would matter one bit to Richard and Mayumi Heene, as long as the tearful goodbyes were carried live on all the networks. Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His book, "Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty" has launched a new self-help movement including

November 27, 2015

An Epidemic of Depression (Every Winter)

With the change in seasons now fully upon us, days are getting shorter, and the risk of seasonal affective disorder is turning into very real suffering for literally millions of Americans. Most of this suffering can be prevented, if people recognize the cause of their symptoms and get help.

November 27, 2015

Iran: Lessons From the Locked Psychiatry Unit

Part of my residency training in psychiatry was spent working on the locked unit at the Shattuck State Hospital in Massachusetts. It was there that I learned strategies to keep people safe when voices or visions or delusions made them threaten others with harm-whether verbally or physically. The strategies were very important, because some of the folks on the unit had never been violent, while others had been court-ordered to the Shattuck after committing very violent crimes, including murder. We needed to protect not only the staff, but patients, too.