Providentia

Providentia- Year 1

This post marks the one year anniversary of this crazy blog that I started on January 17, 2007. I have completed more than 200 posts, had 80 comments, and 16 trackbacks. Since my first post, I have had 11,613 visits to my site and visitors have come from every continent on Earth (except Antarctica- are there no web providers down there?). I have been contacted by various memorable people and I'd like to think that I have had some impact. I have yet to break into the Technorati 100,000 but that may change in time. My site usage stats appear respectable and there does seem to be decent penetration but my bounce rate.., er, not that I spend a lot of time checking my stats (that would be silly).

This blog began as just a hobby for me and that isn't like to change for the forseeable future. I enjoy having a forum that I can use to rant about things that matter to me and just to pass on the interesting tidbits that I have learned. If there are those who feel a little bored by the historical posts that I keep cranking out, all that I can say is that there are episodes from history that shouldn't be forgotten. Not without running the risk of having history repeat itself, anyway.

So, happy anniversary to me and I hope there will be many others. Feel free to drop me a comment sometime (especially if you're in Antarctica).

December 1 Is World AIDS Day

This December 1, spare a thought for the estimated 33.2 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS (95 per cent of them in the developing world). This year alone, some 2.5 million people will become newly infected with HIV (including countless children). The World AIDS Campaign's slogan in marking World AIDS Day is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise". Leadership is the theme for this year as a special plea towards governments and non-governmental organizations to provide the leadership needed to overcome ingrained resistance to strategies that have proven effective in preventing the spread of AIDS including condom distribution and providing retroviral drugs to prevent the transfer of HIV from mothers to their unborn children.

Despite numerous promises from industrialized nations to provide low-cost generic medications to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, they have routinely failed to deliver. Sadly, it does not appear to be a political priority as new causes crowd out old ones. In the meantime, people are dying and the resources in many Third World countries are strained to the breaking point trying to deal the patients and their families (this includes an estimated 14 million AIDS orphans). This problem isn't going away.

Click here for more information on how you can get involved.

Latest Paul Cameron Study Targets Canadian Gay Statistics

In a new research study by Dr. Paul Cameron, chairman of the Family Research Institute, and his son Kirk, demographic information provided by a 2003 Canadian community survey was used to estimate the prevalence of homosexuality in the general population and to make inferences about gay mortality.  Based on the sample of 121,300 adults, the Camerons concluded that only 2 per cent of 18 to 44 year old respondents described themselves as homosexual with the percentage dropping to less than 1 per cent of respondents over 60.  While admitting that the overall 1.4% figure can not be regarded as the "bedrock truth",  Paul and Kirk Cameron accused the Canadian government of distorting the data by not reporting on homosexual activity in respondents over the age of 60 thereby increasing the "homosexual footprint".   They accuse governments around the world of "covering up" the early mortality of homosexuals and draw on their own research despite the controversy that has surrounded their methodology and findings.

While the true prevalence of homosexuality in modern society remains a politically charged question,  using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey for a purpose for which it was never designed can only add further distortion to an already murky issue.   The survey was designed to examine a range of health-related questions in Canadian residents through a series of face-to-face interviews across the country.  In the words of the survey researchers, the survey was developed to "provide regular and timely cross-sectional estimates of health determinants, health status and health system utilization for 136 health regions across the country ".  There was no sinister intent in the survey and artificially inflating the "homosexual footprint" was not part of its stated goal. 

It would be best if Paul Cameron looked elsewhere for material on which to base his diatribes.  The full Cameron study can be read here.

"Love Won Out" Conference Protested

A conference in Phoenix, Arizona sponsored by Focus On The Family, a conservative evangelist organization, has come under protest due to its message on how homosexual "don’t have to be gay and that a homosexual identity is something that can be overcome".  Focus on the Family, founded by evangelist and psychologist, James Dobson launched "Love Won Out" in 1998 and has sponsored numerous conferences designed to promote the message that homosexuality can be overcome through faith and determination.  The roster for the conference include several "ex-gay" speakers telling their message of overcoming same-sex leanings.  The conference's organizers expect approximately one thousand participants. 

Protesting the conference is a diverse group of pastors and laypeople who maintain that the conference engages in "spiritual abuse" of gays and lesbians.  They are countering the conference's message with a "Love One In" campaign in which gays and lesbians tell their own stories of coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Reverend Nancy Elsenheimer, one of organizers of the protest, has said that the conference caused gays and lesbians to experience “more shame and more alienation for themselves, their communities and their families.”

While the reparative therapy approaches  for changing homosexual tendencies are no longer supported by mainstream mental health organizations, they continue to be endorsed by endorsed by conservative organizations such as Focus on the Family and Exodus International.  Despite the absence of reliable, peer-reviewed research, reparative therapy continues to be endorsed by "ex-gay" Christian groups and is fueled by anecdotal evidence of success.  There remains considerable controversy over the potential harm that reparative therapy can pose due to unreasonable expectations of success and perpetuation of negative attitudes towards homosexuality.  Particular concern has been raised over the forced treatment of adolescents in "ex-gay camps" (usually with the collusion of parents fearing the same-sex leanings of their children) , and the growing tendency of reparative therapists to target younger patients.   

This is not a problem that will go away easily despite a growing acceptance of gays and lesbians, especially since anti-gay activists continue to feel that they are doing God's work by opposing homosexuality.  Ultimately, no living human can speak for God on this matter, not even James Dobson.   

Blaming the Victim

More than four years following his disappearance in 2002,  Shawn Hornbeck is now safely home after being found alive with another child in January of this year.  With one ordeal being over, another one seems well underway.  The inevitable question of why Shawn failed to escape his kidnapper has led to verbal attacks from numerous directions.  Shawn's parents have come under fire for daring to speculate publicly that their son was abused and Shawn himself has drawn fire from Bill O'Reilly who vilified him for failing to escape with all the nasty insinuations that he could muster. 

Certainly, blaming the victim (especially a child victim) is nothing new.  In a 19th century short story written by Guy de Maupassant titled Madame Baptiste, a woman lives her entire life under the stigma of having been molested as a child and is given the nickname of "Madame Baptiste" (Baptiste being the name of the man imprisoned for molesting her) by her fellow villagers.   In the story, it is said of her:

The little girl grew up, stigmatized by disgrace, isolated, without any companions; and grown-up people would scarcely kiss her, for they thought that they would soil their lips if they touched her forehead, and she became a sort of monster, a phenomenon to all the town. People said to each other in a whisper: 'You know, little Fontanelle,' and everybody turned away in the streets when she passed. Her parents could not even get a nurse to take her out for a walk, as the other servants held aloof from her, as if contact with her would poison everybody who came near her

There is a sense of forboding as the story winds down to its tragic, inevitable end and you get the impression that the author knew of all too many real-life Madame Baptistes in his lifetime.  While attitudes may have changed somewhat, there is still a tendency to turn child victims into pariahs.  Thish often translates into a reluctance by parents to having their children come forward at all for fear of what they would face.  Ultimately, it is this sort of attitude and the notion that a child who has "lost his or her innocence" should be shunned for it that can be a greater source of trauma for the victim than the actual abuse.

Shawn Hornbeck and all others like him deserve better than this.   

Naming and Shaming

I just ran across another new link offering absolutely FREE access to public databases in the United States to locate the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders and invoking the inevitable paranoia of not knowing if a neighbour or schoolteacher is listed.  Of course, not every state provides this information and residents of Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont are urged to call their lawmakers to resolve this terrible state of affairs.  The fact that public databases such as this have been used by at least one vigilante to kil sex offenders is something that is either ignored or applauded.  The term sex offender is a broad one covering a whole range of offending but it inevitably invokes the mental picture of the trenchcoat-wearing pervert stalking schoolyards and waiting to abduct children.  The fact that most of those who offend against children are those who are known and trusted by parents: teachers, scout leaders, pastors, neighbours, or even members of the family tends to be ignored.  There is this sad belief that all that is needed is to chase known sex offenders out of a given neigbhourhood to make it safe for children to which parents seem to cling.  Unfortunately, there are no safe places anywhere and it is a parent's job to stay vigilant, always. 

Speaking as a Canadian psychologist who deals with sex offenders, I have to say that I am profoundly glad that public information such as this is not available in Canada (although there are those who agitate for it).  Part of the task of rehabilitating sex offenders is to place them in the community where they can hold down jobs and interact with family and friends who act as a safety net to keep them from reoffending.  Chasing a sex offender out of a neighbourhood deprives them of the very social support that keeps them from being a danger to those around them.  There is nothing praiseworthy about chasing away a sex offender if it means putting someone else's children at greater risk.  Despite this basic point, naming and shaming campaigns will likely continue and will likely remain counterproductive.

Introduction

I am a psychologist in private practice in the Toronto and Hamilton areas and have decided to launch this blog to keep you nice people up to date on topics in psychology and public health, particularly as it relates to life in Toronto and thereabouts.  For the most part, I'll be including news-blurbs and factoids that will be interspersed with personal comments and entirely biased observations.  Feel feel to submit your comments on my topics, with or without venom (but preferably without).  My areas of practice focus on forensic psychology and clinical neuropsychology so I have an interest in various areas of treatment criminal offenders and people who have sustained brain injuries so I'll tend to focus on those areas but there'll be more general topics as well. 

I intend this blog to be a work in progress and I have no idea how it'll evolve over the years (hopefully) to come. 

Just to start you people off:

Dealing with Stigma 

Stephen Hinshaw, chair of the Department of Psychology, has come out with a new book titled "The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change" (Oxford University Press, 2007).  The focus of the book is on the continuing problems that those who suffer from mental illnesses face in terms of housing and job discrimination, and basic issues with obtaining a driver's license, legal issues,  and maintaining child custody.   As Hinshaw points out, this is not something that is getting better.   

One of the primary problems that people with mental illness are forced to deal with is the stigma associated with being thought "crazy".  This is an image which is certainly reinforced by the ever-present media image of mad slashers and chortling psychos that seem to grace the movie screens and best-selling books.  While it may make for gripping suspense (or not), it certainly does a disservice to people dealing with mental illness who are forced to fend off suspicion of their being potentially violent or unstable.   Meanwhile, there are all too many former mental patients being forced to fend for themselves as fewer and fewer psychiatric hospital beds become available.  I worked as a psychologist in a maximum-security prison for fifteen years before going into private practice and I can certainly attest to the high numbers of mentally ill who wind up in prison because they don't seem to have anywhere better to go, except the streets.  In the years since I left the prison, I have seen all too many of my ex-clients living on the streets or in otherwise substandard housing and I'm not seeing the situation getting better.  I'm  sure I'll be venting on this in future posts so I'd better sign off for now.