Providentia

Can Rituals Help Us Deal With Grief?

It's safe to say that grief is universal.

Everybody experiences loss, whether it's the loss of a loved one, the ending of a romantic relationship,  or any sort of a serious setback in life.   The process of dealing wiith that grief often involves mourning "rituals" that vary across different times and cultures.   Funeral customs can be vary widely for people of different religions.   For Jewish mourners for example, along with the elaborate funeral customs associated with a death, mourners are also expected to tear a garment and, in the case of certain forms of Judaism, for men to be forbidden to shave their beards.   On the other hand, Hindu males mourning a loss are expected to shave their heads and beards as part of the mourning ritual.   

How mourners respond emotionally to a death can also be carefully controlled by mourning rituals.  Crying during funerals is considered disruptive by Tibetan Buddhists while other cultures, including Latino Catholics, consider crying to be a sign of respect.  Rituals can also vary depending on whether you are a man or a woman.   For example, crying at a funeral is considered to be more acceptable for women than for men overall.   Male mourners are often expected to be more stoic in dealing with their loss.   But mourning doesn't just happen with the loss of a loved one. 

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

Can Dementia Be Linked To Smoking Cessation?

Like caffeine, nicotine may be regarded as a stimulant. The neurotoxic and neuroprotective properties of nicotine had not been thoroughly investigated until recently. Also nicotine has a neuroprotective action in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. It protects neurons against the neurotoxicity caused by β-amyloid, the major component of senile plaques. People choose to smoke because they appreciate the psychoactive, stimulant effects of nicotine. Smokers report that smoking helps them concentrate, reason, and perform - observations consistent with studies demonstrating that nicotine improves attention, learning, reaction time, and problem solving. In a case study published in Neurobiology of Aging, a 65-year-old previously healthy Turkish man was admitted with altered mental status. After smoking for nearly 50 years he suddenly stopped smoking. His family members reported some changes in his behavior. He was apparently well 2 weeks before admission when he started showing episodes of intermittent confusion. Within 1 week he was unable to read a newspaper, dress himself or drive. A mental status exam revealed a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 18, with no limitation of language function. Motor exam was normal. Routine blood, urine tests and an electroencephalogram (EEG) showed no abnormality. Brain computed tomography showed multiple lacunal infarction and mild atrophy. His cognitive functions improved after initiation of nicotine preparations. Conclusions: In this case we emphasize that after cessation of smoking dementia symptoms may be seen.

For the abstract.

Followers of Frozen Religious Leader Waiting For His Return

Months after Ashutosh Maharaj died of a heart attack, his hopeful followers are patiently waiting for him to return to them.   Though doctors declared the founder of the Divine Light Awakening Mission to be clinically dead, his followers that he is in a state of deep meditation, or samadhi, and that he will awaken in time.   Due to concerns about the state of his body,  the Indian guru has been placed in a specially-prepared freezer in the town of Nurmahai, Punjab.  

According to Ministry spokesman, Swami Vishalanand, their leader will step out of the freezer on his own when he is ready.   "Mahara-ji (a Hindi term of respect) is still sending messages through followers in their meditative stage to protect his body until he returns," he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.  Vishalanand added that, "He is not dead. Medical science does not understand things like yogic science. We will wait and watch. We are confident that he will come back."

The decision to place the body in a freezer has sparked a fierce legal battle.   A man claiming to be his hitherto-unknown sonm, Dalip Jha,  is demanding the body for cremation while other critics are claiming that the body  is being preserved so that the followers can retain control over the Ministry's assets.    While the Mission is disputing Dalip's relationship with the Maharaj, they are also refusing to allow DNA tests or a formal autopsy to verify the death.   The Punjab state court has rejected calls for cremation by stating that it is up to the followers to decide what to do with the body.  

Founded in 1983, the Divine Light Awakening Mission is believed to have hundreds of centres and thousands of followers around the world.   Due to conflicts with Sikh leaders over religious issues, the Punjab government placed Ashutosh Maharaj under  full-time police protection in recent years.    Pending a revew of security policy relating to his death, police guards are still in place around Maharaj's ashram to prevent anyone from taking the corpse without the permission of the followers.  

In a previous case involving the death Indian guru, Balak Brahmachari, in 1993, police were forced to intervene when disciples insisted that their leader as in a "meditative trance".   After seventy days, the visibly rotting corpse was removed from the religious center by more than 400 police officers due to fierce protests by the devotees.   The body was later cremated by family members.

Unless Ashutosh Marahaj succeeds in returning to life, the current impasse is likely to continue.   Followers insist that only their Maharaj can appoint a successor for the Mission and remain confident that he will return to them.  

 

 

Understanding Hoarders

According to the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), hoarding disorder is described as a pattern of compulsive behaviour involving accumulating numerous possessions that are often of little value to anyone else.    While we all have possessions that we really don't need (hence the popularity of garage sales), compulsive hoarders take the problem to extremes that can even endanger their lives.    Older hoarders, who may also have problems with dementia, can develop a more extrement form of hoarding behaviour, known as Diogenes syndrome,   Also known as senile squalor disorder, these cases can include compulsive hoarding of garbage, along with severe self-neglect,  unsafe living conditions, social withdrawal, apathy, and a lack of self-restraint leading to grim consequences for hoarders and their families.   

Media stories of compulsive hoarders whose bodies have been found in their home, virtually buried under tons of newspapers, garbage, etc. are not uncommon and some hoarders have even become media celebrities.  Most people diagnosed with a hoarding disorder are also likely to have related mental health problems, including chronic depression, generalized anxiety, pbsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety.   Hoarders often report serious problems with family, friends, and local authorities that can aggravate their symptoms.   Even the children of hoarders can develop long-term emotional problems that persist long after they have left the family home.  

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

 

 

 

 

Stalking Psychiatrists

Stalking is a well-recognized social phenomenon, one that particularly affects health care professionals, especially psychiatrists and other mental health workers; however, the nature and effects of stalking of psychiatrists have not been examined in detail.  A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law is a qualitative thematic analysis of the free-text responses of 2,585 psychiatrists in the United Kingdom (approximately 25% of all U.K. psychiatrists), almost 11 percent of whom described being stalked according to a strict research definition, and 21 percent of whom perceived themselves as having been stalked. It demonstrates that threat minimization, negative psychological impact, awareness of vulnerability, and difficulty obtaining help were major themes in how psychiatrists viewed their experiences of being stalked. It shows how some psychiatrists coped better than others and makes suggestions for appropriate professional support.

For the abstract

Syracuse Man Indicted in Exorcism Murder of Three-Year Old

When police in Syracuse, New York discoverd the body of three-year old Ameen Washington on November 5, 2011, they didn't have to look far to find their main suspect.   The boy's father,  28-year-old Marcel Washington openly admitted killing Ameen in an attempt to exorcise the "Shatan" or devil that he believed was possessing him.  

According to family members, Washington had been showing increasingly erratic behaviour in the weeks leading up to Ameen's death.   His mother described her son reporting deeply paranoid ideas such as believing that people were whispering about him and his sisters felt he was acting "out of character".    Even his girlfriend, Enida Ibrahimovic,  who had been dating him for several months prior to the killing reported that he was acting in a bizarre manner.   Still, nobody would have believed that he posed a risk to his son.    "It all just happened so fast," said a cousin,   "People who knew him are in total disbelief."

Despite these clues, he showed no indication of posing any risk to his son and was seen as a caring father.    Still, on November 5, Washington reportedly placed his son in a cold shower and demanded to know if Ameen "worshipped only God."    After hearing his son say "no", he then placed his face under water for ten minutes.   In the statement Washington provided to police,  Ameen's struggling convinced him that "Shatan" was resisting and he continued holding him under water until the struggling stopped.   When he removed Ameen from the shower, he saw foam coming out of the boy's mouth and he laid him on the bed until the foam finished draining out.  

When Washington noticed that Ameen had no pulse, he believed that he was still alive because "the pulse of the Shatan is very hard to track."    Though he fled after realizing his son was dead, he subsequenty turned himself into police with his sister at his side.   During the lengthy police interrogation that followed, he While he was arrested shortly afterward, he was emotionally upset at times as he described his reasons for attempting to exorcise his son.    He also voiced little remorse for Ameen's death stating that "his child was better off dead than living with a devil inside of him."  

A self-professed Muslim, Washington reported seeking guidance from the local religious community over his concerns about his son being possessed.   He also claimed that Ameen was acting in a bizarre fashion and that a community elder told him to take the boy to the local Mosque where he could be treated by prayer.  

While Washington was arrested in 2011, he wa only indicted for second-degree murder last month due to the delay in completing a psychiatric assessment.   While his defense attorney has declined to provide the results of  his assessment, the question surrouunding Marcel Washington's mental state at the time of his son's death are likely to dominate the trial.   In the meantime, family members continue to grieve over Ameen's death and openly wonder whether they could have done anything to prevent it.  

For more information

 

 

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Does getting too much or too little sleep affect your health?  Or even how long you are likely to live?

Even though Lewis Terman began researching the relationship between sleep and health in 1913, how much or little sleep you need to have a healthy life is still open to debate.   Certainly, health researchers have long known that sleep problems are linked to a wide range of medical issues.   Whether it be increased depression, anxiety, or hostility, work-related problems, loneliness, or poor physical health in general,  numerous studies have demonstrated the damage arising from loss of sleep.   Amount of sleep can impact  medical problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

Perhaps even more importantly, getting enough sleep at night can be a good predictor of overall risk of premature death.    As early as 1964, a research study showed that adult males sleeping an average of seven hours of sleep at night had the lowest mortality risk.     Even getting too much sleep can have a negative impact on mortality.   A 1979 research study found that adults sleeping more than ten hours or fewer than four hours had an increased mortality risk.   Reviews of different studies examining sleep duration found that people getting too much sleep were at increaed risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer.   Though getting too little sleep was also linked to higher mortality, there was no clear pattern involving cause of death.    

Which still raises the question of why having too much or too little sleep can lead to health problems.  Or even if there a direct causal link     To rule out other possibilities and to understand the long-term impact of sleep problems on overall mortality, a new research study published in Health Psychology looks at the link between sleep duration (number of hours of sleep each night) and life expectancy. 

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today post.

Social Media and Psychosis

A report published in General Hospital Psychiatry report the case of a young man diagnosed with schizophrenia who presented with stalking behaviors that may have been caused by problematic use or participation in social media networks (SMN). We review the possible role of SMN in the formation of his romantic delusion and offer suggestions for clinicians around incorporation of SMN questions into assessments. It is imperative to identify populations at risk of SMN-related stalking behaviors to stratify mental health resources and interventions. Additional studies are needed to further clarify the role of SMN in psychotic disorders.

For the abstract

Third Trial Underway in Psychologist Murder

When David Tarloff fatally stabbed psychologist Kathryn Faughey to death in her New York office and seriously injured her colleague, psychiatrist Kent D. Shinbach, on February 12, 2008, nobody suspected that a long legal odyssey was about to begin.    And yet the 45-year-old Tarloff is now facing his third trial seeking to resolve a question that has stymied previous juries:  was he sane enough to know right from wrong?  

Tarloff, a chronic psychiatric patient with a long history of hospitalizations, had gone to the office of Dr. Shinbach to rob him so he could have money to move his invalid mother to Hawaii.   His plan apparently involved forcing the psychiatrist to withdraw $50,000 from an ATM and then kidnapping his mother to Hawaii where they could live together in a villa.   After purchasing knives and a mallet, Tarloff went to the East 79th Street office and asked to see Dr. Shinbach who was already busy with another patient.   Tarloff then ducked into Dr. Faughey's office where she was working alone.   In what investigators referred to as a "furious swirl of violence", he then stabbed the 56-year-old psychologist repeatedly.    The sound of her screams brought Dr. Shinbach into her office where he was attacked as well.    Though he survived the attack, the 70-year-old psychiatrist was left in critical condition.     Tarloff was later arrested and charged with murder.

Despite a diagnosis of schizophrenia and lengthy psychiatric history, prosecutors are disputing that he was mentally ill at the time of the attack and insist that he should receive a prison sentence.  During his first hearing in 2010, a mistrial was declared because a psychotic episode led to his being hospitalized.    His hearing last year led to a deadlocked jury and a mistrial that had some jurors apologizing to the Faughey family afterward.   As David Tarloff's third trial begins, the question of his mental state at the time of the killing seems as perplexing as ever.   

While his defense attorneys describe him as a "sick individual" who had been off his psychiatric medication at the time of the killing,  assistant district attorney Evan Krutoy stressed that Tarloff had carefully planned his robbery of Dr. Shinbach and had killed Kathryn Faughey because she was "an obstacle" who had gotten in his way.   “He knew what he was doing was wrong,” the prosecutor said. “He knew what he wanted and he took it by force."   His defense attorney, Frederick L. Sosinsky on the other hand, states that Tarloff was actively delusional at the time and had later insisted that God had spoken to him and sanctioned the violence.   The various trials have also dealt with conflicting expert testimony presented by both sides.  

While Tarloff often seems perplexed over the court proceedings attempting to determine his fate, Kathryn Faughey's family members are still waiting for this long legal ordeal to end.  “I hope the jury sees through the performance by the defense,” the victim’s brother, Michael Faughey, said in an interview with the New York Times. “We have to relive Feb. 12, 2008, every single day of these trials.”

 

 

Protecting Children From Guns

Guns and young people definitely don't mix.

According to Center of Disease Control statistics, there were 2,711 firearm-related deaths of infants, children, and adolescents in 2010 alone.  For young people between the ages of ten and nineteen, homicide and suicide are the second and third leading causes of death with 83.8 percent of homicides  and 38.8 percent of suicides being firearm-related.   For children between the age of one and nine, homicide was the fourth leading cause of death in 2010. 

Research into gun deaths involving young people has turned up specific risk factors that appear to increase the likelihood of becoming a victim.   Not only are homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths involving firearms more common in states with a high rate of gun ownership, but many of those deaths are directly linked to unsafe firearm storage in the home.    Young people who commit suicide often use a gun belonging to a parent or other family member which they are able to access due to lax security.     Despite the publicity that often surrounds gun deaths resulting from unsafe storage, many parents fail to take proper precautions.   In one study published in 2007,  only a third of gun-owning parents of small children report safe firearm storage in their homes.   Handgun owners are also more likely to keep their guns loaded rather than storing ammunition separately.  

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today post.