Category: Public Policy and Politics

NYT: Phony Diagnoses Hide High Rates of Drugging at Nursing Homes

Yvonne Blakeney’s husband, David, a dementia patient, was diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after arriving at a nursing home. Credit: Sean Rayford for The New York Times

Today, 1 in 9 [nursing home] residents has received a schizophrenia diagnosis. In the general population, the disorder, which has strong genetic roots, afflicts roughly 1 in 150 people.

from Thomas, K., Gebeloff, R., & Silver-Greenberg, J. (2021, September 11). Phony Diagnoses Hide High Rates of Drugging at Nursing Homes. The New York Times.

“This Jungian Life” Podcast on the Archetype of War

Photo of a mural tribute to the lost community members of the civil war in Nuevo Gualcho, El Salvador. (Mural tree reads, "Names to never forget...") Credit: Amelia Hunt. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A tribute to the lost community members of the civil war in Nuevo Gualcho, El Salvador. (Mural tree reads, “Names to never forget…”) Credit: Amelia Hunt. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The people can always be brought to do the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal

Episode synopsis: “Recent events in Afghanistan have again put war at the forefront of collective consciousness. War’s destruction belongs to the mythic realm. Mars, the Roman god of war, was a primordial force whose altars were placed outside city gates. Although acknowledged, he was not accepted. His paramour, Venus, is warfare’s seductress, offering spectacle, pageantry, and glory.”

“Like all the gods of Mt. Olympus, Mars and Venus live in us as opposing forces of aggression and eros. We are charged with holding the tension of these impassioned opposites and making them conscious, lest we project shadow onto designated enemies or wage war internally as neurosis. We can stand in the complexity of conflict, suspend action, and allow the gods a place inside our psychic city gates.”

— from Stewart, D., Marchiano, L., & Lee, J. (2021, September 2). Episode 179 – The Archetype of WAR

NYT: Teachers, Police, Other Public Workers Left Out of Mental Health Coverage

Linda Michaels, a psychologist in Chicago whose patients include city workers whose insurance plans have cumbersome requirements for mental health coverage. “I just don’t get it, during this pandemic year,” she said. Credit: Evan Jenkins for The New York Times

Health plans for state and local workers can opt out of the federal law requiring them to treat mental health like other medical conditions.

from Abelson, R. (2021, August 31). Teachers, Police, Other Public Workers Left Out of Mental Health Coverage. The New York Times.