Providentia

Mexican Cardinal Conducts Nationwide "Exorcism"

Not long following a controversial announcement by Pope Francis that the devil was "punishing Mexico with criminal violence" to undermine the Christian faith of the Mexican people, an exorcism was quietly carried out in the cathedral of the city of San Luis Potosi on May 20.   Using a rarely-used form of exorcism known as "Exorcismo Magno", a team of exorcists, including a cardinal, an archbishop, and priests and lay people from across the country conducted the exorcism to drive demons out of Mexico.  The rationale for the ritual stems from the spiraling episodes of violence in Mexico, including the recent killing of 43 students by corrupt police and drug cartels.  

Presided over by Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, the archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara, the closed-door ritual also included the Archbishop of San Luis Potosi,  Jesús Carlos Cabrero of San Luis Potosí as well as Spanish demonologist and exorcist Father José Antonio Fortea.    No announcement was made of the ritual beforehand to prevent any "misguided interpretations of the ritual."  

In explaining the need for the Exorcismo Magno, Father Fortea told the Catholic News Agency that “To the extent sin increases more and more in a country, to that extent it becomes easier for the demons to tempt (people).”   He also warned that “to the extent there is more witchcraft and Satanism going on in a country, to that extent there will be more extraordinary manifestations of those powers of darkness.  The exorcism performed in San Luís Potosí is the first ever carried out in Mexico in which the exorcists came from different parts of the country and gathered together to exorcise the powers of darkness, not from a person, but from the whole country.  This rite of exorcism, beautiful and liturgical, had never before taken place in any part of the world.  Although it had taken place in a private manner as when Saint Francis (exorcised) the Italian city of Arezzo.” 

While he also warned that the people of Mexico should not expect immediate changes to nationwide levels of violence, "if with the power we’ve received from Christ we expel the demons from a country, this will certainly have positive repercussions, because we’ll make a great number of the tempters flee, even if this exorcism is partial.  “We don’t drive out all the evil spirits from a country with just one ceremony. But even though all will not be expelled, those that were removed are not there anymore. 

Though aware of the widespread skepticism news of this exorcism is likely to provoke, Father. Fortea emphasized that “when the exorcists of a country drive out its demons, it has to be done in faith. You’re not going to see anything, feel anything, there’s not going to be any extraordinary phenomenon. We have to have faith that God conferred on the apostles a power, and that we can use this power.”

While Archbishop Jesús Carlos Cabrero simply explained the ritual as a “blessing for the people”, Father Fortea hopes that it will become an annual event to ensure Mexico's stability.   In the meantime, gang violence in Mexico continues unabated.  Make of that what you will.

Finding a Life Partner (Part Two of Two)

Continued from Part One

Getting help to overcome shyness, introversion, or other barriers to intimacy can be harder than you  might think.  While parents or friends will be sympathetic, they may not be in a position to offer advice on issues such as sexual intimacy problems.   Even when well-meaning parents or friends try to help by introducing their children to potential partners, there can still be conflict since they often don't share the same taste in potential mates.    

Ultimately, how successful we are at attracting a mate depends on how much exposure we have to potential partners.  Though there are certainly opportunities for meeting people, whether through social "mixers", singles events, or other social settings, people with poor social skills or who lack the self-confidence to flirt effectively may not fare that well.  While we are expected to learn these kind of social skills through regular social contact with children of both sexes throughout early adolescence, young people may find themselves at a disadvantage if they are considered physically unattractive, “gawky”, naturally shy, or just slower to mature than other young people their age. 

Though many “late-bloomers” may succeed in overcoming their adolescent social problems and develop into early adulthood with few problems, this isn’t always the case. Not getting the proper social experience as young adults may help reinforce self-image problems and lead to a long-term pattern of social isolation.

Another issue that Apostolou discusses in his article (link is external) refers to two separate mechanisms that are equally important in forming intimate relationships.   The first of these is the Mate Attraction Mechanism which focuses on the social skills needed to attract potential mates in the first place.   This includes skills such as flirting, “small talk”, and being able to “screen” potential mates to decide who is most acceptable. 

Then there is the Mate Retention Mechanism which includes all of the relationship skills needed to maintain a long-term intimate relationship.   Since it involves different skills than mate attraction,  there may be conflicts for people who are able to attract mates but who lack the necessary skills to keep this relationship for long.   People who have trouble forming long-term relationships may find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of short-term relationships which can reinforce their poor self-esteem and make them unable to break out of this cycle.  

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shaver Mystery (Part One of Two)

For Richard Sharpe Shaver, the long odyssey reportedly began in 1932 when he first overheard the secret plotting of the underground race of evil robots he would later call "deros."   At the time,  Shaver was a 25-year-old welder working in a Pennsylvania factory and it was while he was operating his welding equipment that he became aware that he was receiving telepathic messages.   As Shaver would later explain,  "some freak of its coil's field atunements" of the welding gun that he was using was making him unusually sensitive to these thought messages, first from the workers around him and then emanating from "caverns deep beneath the Earth."  The thought messages he was receiving from underground seemed deeply malign and included torture sessions being conducted on human prisoners.   

For whatever reason, whether it was his insistence that he was hearing these voices that got him fired or whether Shaver simply quit, he was soon out of a job and wandering the country as a vagrant for a while.   Many of the details that he would later provide about his early life were hard to piece together considering how they were often contradictory.   Though there is some evidence that he was briefly hospitalized for psychiatric problems, this didn't seem to keep him down for long.

In a letter that he would write to the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories, Shaver claimed that he had learned of an ancient proto-language which he called "Mantong".   This was the original language from which all human languages arose and Shaver insisted that the Mantong language, and the alphabet that it used, could decode secret messages in any word or phrase.  The Amazing Stories editor at the time, Raymond A. Palmer,  was intrigued enough to contact Shaver so that he could learn more. 

In telling Palmer about himself, Shaver said that he had formerly been in the merchant navy but had been invalided out after smashing his ankle on board ship.  This injury also left him unfit for the draft, which was why he was working in a war plant at the time of his first encounter with the underground civilization = sending him messages.  At Palmer's request, Shaver wrote a novella which he titled "A Warning to Future Man."  While Amazing Stories associate editor Howard Browne dismissed Shaver as a crackpot, Palmer decided to rewrite parts of it (he and Shaver would later dispute who had done most of the writing) and thus the "Shaver Mystery" was born.

In May 1944, Amazing Stories gave advance notice to readers stating that "For the first time in its history, Amazing Stories is preparing to present a true story.  We aren't going to ask you to believe it.  We are going to challenge you to disbelieve it."   As Palmer built up the story in later issues, he insisted that the author, Richard Shaver, seemed completely sincere in the details he provided about the underground civilization and the ancient origins of Earth's civilizations. 

Finally came the story itself in the March 1945 issue (published on December 8, 1944).   Titled "I Remember Lemuria"  (Palmer had changed the title), the story was set in Atlan, the first great civilization on Earth.   According to Shaver,  the Earth was once in a Golden Age during which the Sun radiated "integrant energy" which kept the early race of Titans who lived in Atlan eternally youthful and to grow to gigantic size.    Unfortunately,  the Sun eventually degenerated to its current state after losing its "carbon shell" 20,000 years go.  This "disintegrant energy" being radiated by the Sun caused the  Titans to "wither and die" and, as  a result,  they began to make preparations to save themselves.    The early Titans also split into warring factions, the good Titans being led by their goddess/queen Vanue and the evil faction was led by a Titan named Zeit.  

With the surface of the Earth being uninhabitable, the Titans built vast underground cities only to learn that they weren't even safe there.  Eventually, they decided to evacuate the Earth  completely 12,000 year ago, along with the simple humans they kept as slaves.  The few Titans who stayed behind  became known as "abandonderos"  and they further split into "teros" (integrative robots) and "deros" (detrimental robots).   The teros remained on the surface where they became the ancestors of modern humans while the deros found their way into the underground cities and the advanced machinery the Titans had left behind.

Are you with me so far?  Good.  

While the deros had all of this advanced machinery, they were unable to understand it except in rudimentary fashion.  Among these devices were the "telaug" (telepathic augmenter) and a disintegrating ray, both of which the deros have been using ever since to cause havoc for the descendants of their ancient enemies living on the surface.   Not only have the deros used this technology to cause disasters throughout our history, but they are also the basis for all the legends of ghosts, devils and gremlins.   As for their physical appearance, Shaver described them as looking like "fearfully anemic jitterbugs, small with pipestem arms and legs, pot bellies, huge protruding eyes and wide, idiotically grinning mouths."   Many of the rich and powerful families around the world have been replaced by dero puppets to ensure their control over society.  All UFO sightings and stories of mysterious disappearances are due to the periodic visits deros make to the Earth's surface during which they kidnap humans to take underground to be tortured and eaten.  

And what torture it was!   As Shaver (ably assisted by Palmer) related, dero brains were coated with disintegrant energy which made them especially prone to sadism.     With thousands of humans being abducted each year to serve as playthings, slaves, and eventually as food, the deros reportedly turned torture into an art form.   One dero pastime involves disassembling victims and then leaving them alive as living decorations.  Women are either given "sex stim" and transformed into living furniture so that deros can watch them undulate or else given growth hormones to enlarge their breasts so that they can be milked like cows to provide the deros with beverages.   Considering that this was back in the 1940s, you can imagine the impact this had on sex-starved "nerds" in post-WWII society.   If anything, the stories that got written were much tamer than what Shaver originally envisioned (Palmer had to leave out  many of the racier details for fear of 1940s censorship). 

According to Shaver, he had been in prison for vagrancy when he had attempted to communicate telepathically in an attempt at escaping with the help of the mysterious underground aliens he had communicated with in the past.   As he would later describe in an interview:

What happened is a girl comes leading the turnkey who acts like he is walking in his sleep. He turns the key and lets me go. She leads us both down the hall to the outer door, which he again opens and we both walked out. I followed her with somewhat mixed and numb sensations for about a mile in the night outside of the town. Then we walked into a hill–a section of the hill closed down behind us very like ‘Sesame, close!’, and we were in. A lot of stairways and slopes and dim light, and all the time I knew ‘she’ was just a sort of transparent projection, but you had to get close to see the difference from real.   And so I was in. I spent a day or so talking with them, and they filled me in on the whole complex situation inherited from our misguided forebears who kept the secret so well that today nobody knows anything about their past. Between us we decided something should be done about the situation of ignorance. I was there for only twenty-four hours or so, when I walked out and went on my way. Later I began to write fiction about it.

The woman was part of an underground tero movement fighting against the evil dero overlords who had tried to enslave them.   They also fought against "freebooters" who were associated with criminal gangs on the surface and who aided the deros in kidnapping people and keeping dero activities concealed.  What impressed people most about what Shaver was saying about his stories was his absolution conviction that what he wrote was real.    If his story seemed inconsistent at times he insisted that this was due to the effects of dero "cutting rays" which were used to lobotomize people who had learned too much about them.  How Shaver was able to escape these all-powerful deros to write about them was left up to the imagination. 

For Palmer and Shaver, it was a marriage made in Heaven.   Palmer supplied the editorial savvy (and much of the writing ability) while Shaver supplied the fantastic stories that made The Shaver Mystery possible.  And, for it while, it worked spectacularly well.  Amazing Stories was more popular than it had ever been before with issues flying off the newsstands.

Continue to Part Two

 

 

Raiding the Molly-House

It was on a Sunday night in February, 1726 when constables descended on a notorious establishment in Holborn to raid what was then one of the most infamous "molly-houses" in London. Approximately forty patrons were taken into custody. Given the very real dangers that homosexuals of that period faced (including the death penalty if prosecuted), the existence of safe houses where they could meet secretly was a vital part of the underground network that existed at the time. There tends not to be much reliable information about these secret meeting places (known as molly-houses after the common slang term for homosexuals) aside from various satirical tracts and court documents. One tract published in 1729 estimated that there were as many as thirty molly-houses operating in London (including back-rooms of taverns, inns and private houses).

Of all these establishments, there are none more famous than the molly-house run by Margaret ("Mother") Clap which, based on available testimony, was far more than just a place for sexual meetings. Most homosexuals of the time tended to be simple working-men who enjoyed coming together for gossip, friendship, and having fun in comfortable surroundings. The ever-present threat of exposure and disgrace made places like Mother Clap's house a necessary source of emotional support. Despite allegations that arose in the trial that followed the mass raid, non-sexual entertainments played an important part in attracting customers. Sundays were an extremely popular night and it was not uncommon for as many as forty patrons to visit.

The case against Margaret Clap and her customers was largely based on the testimony of Constable Samuel Stevens who had posed as a customer several months previously. In his testimony, he reported that "Sometimes they would sit in one another's laps, kissing in a lewd manner and using their hands indecently. Then they would get up, dance and make curtsies, and mimic the voices of women, O, Fie, Sir!—Pray, Sir—Dear, Sir—Lord, how can you serve me so?—I swear I'll cry out. —You're a wicked Devil—and you're a bold face—Eh! ye little dear Toad! Come, buss!—Then they'd hug, and play, and toy, and go out by couples into another room on the same floor, to be married, as they called it."

Other testimony was just as damning and the outcome of the trial was never in doubt. Margaret Clap was sentenced to spend time in the stocks where she was frequently assaulted by angry citizens as they passed. She would die that same year, possibly as a result of injuries that she sustained during her sentence. Of the men arrested with her, at least three were executed at Tyburn later that year and the rest would have their lives thoroughly ruined over the disgrace visited on them by their conviction.

Laws against homosexual acts (typically referred to as "sodomy" at the time) were harshly enforced and public executions for "crimes against nature" were far from uncommon. In the Netherlands alone, a sodomy scare in the 18th century led to the execution of 276 men during one three-year period.   Well into the 19th century, sodomy would continue to be a capital offense in most countries (although Pennsylvania would be the first U.S. state to abolish the death penalty for sodomy in 1786).   It would not be until 1861 that England would formally abolish the death penalty for homosexuals (although long prison sentences were still the norm).   Canada actually lagged other countries in not removing sodomy from the list of capital crimes until 1869. While it is easy to be complacent about our present tolerance for sexual minorities, the progress that has been made is still sadly fragile. "Crimes against nature" statutes continue to remain on the books in many U.S. states and consensual homosexual acts are still illegal in many parts of the world. Executions are certainly still occurring and are likely to continue to occur for the foreseeable future.

In 2001, the National Theatre premiered a new musical titled "Mother Clap's Molly-House" described as a "black comedy with songs, a celebration of the diversity of human sexuality, an exploration of our need to form families, and a fascinating insight into a hidden chapter in London's history". Margaret Clap would have enjoyed it.

How Safe Are Your Client Files in the Cloud?

In June 2013, Edward Snowden released top-secret intelligence documents that detailed a domestic U.S. spying apparatus. A new article published in the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice reviews and contends that current APA ethics and record-keeping guidelines, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act do not adequately account for this new information and other emerging threats to client confidentiality. As psychologists bear the responsibility for being informed, protecting and maintaining client records, and preventing breaches, it is vital that the field establish specific best practices and present regular security updates to colleagues.

For the abstract

Police Still Investigating "House of Horrors" in India

On June 10, 77-year-old retired businessman Arabinda De committed suicide  by setting himself on fire in the bathroom of his family home in Kolkata, India.   After the body was removed,  police became concerned about his 44-year-old son Partha De who appeared extremely despondent over the grisly death.    While at the Shakespeare Road police station however, Partha eventually broke down and told officers that he "may have committed what may be a crime in the eyes of the law."   He also added that "I did it because I loved them, my sister and the dogs, and I couldn't let them go." 

Apprehensive over these revelations, a police squad was sent to investigate the flat where Partha De had been living with his family.   What they found has generated headlines across India.   Along with a sound system continually blasting out sermons by U.S. evangelist  Joyce Meyer, police also found the skeletal remains of Partha's 50-year-old sister Debjani De as well as Partha's two dogs in Partha's bedroom.   In a scene that some newspapers have suggested is straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Debjani's corpse was placed in Partha's bed with a small collection of teddy bears at one end of the bed.   The floor was littered with food and thousands of spiritual books were scattered throughout the house.

While Partha insists that this sister died last December 29 of natural causes, police are still investigating the circumstances of her death.   She had reportedly become despondent over the death of the two dogs earliers in the year and had started fasting to "invite God's help" according to her brother.  While the cause of death appears natural, Partha and his father began arguing over the younger De's refusal to cremate his sister's body as religious tradition indicates.    Partha said that he managed to convince his father that Debjani would return to life. 

Prior to 2005, Partha De as an IT technician and Debjani De as a music teacher.  After their mother's death however, their lives were never the same.  They soon quit their jobs to live at home while supporting themselves with the rent they received from two tenants.   While other family members lived nearby, including Arabinda's brother with whom they were all estranged, they did not allow visitors and nobody appeared aware of the odd smells that were coming from the home.

While Partha has been charged with criminal offenses, including failing to alert authorities about his sister's death, investigators have already ruled out homicide in the deaths of his father and sister.  At this time, he is being held in Kolkata's Pavlov Hospital under close supervision.   Police are also investigating Partha's diaries which contain lurid details about his relationship with his sister and his general problems with sexuality.

As for Partha De, he remains convinced that his sister and his dogs are still with him.  "The patient has been diagnosed as suffering from psychosis," said Dr Ganesh Prasad, Superintendent of the hospital in an interview with NDTV. "He is saying my sister and the dogs are with me. Right now, I can't make you understand but they are with me. They can't leave me. I love them so much. How can they leave me?"

The investigation is proceeding.

 

Finding a Life Partner (Part One of Two)

Why do so many people have trouble forming long-term intimate relationships?

From an evolutionary standpoint, making successful mating choices should be the most natural thing in the world. After all, every human alive today is the product of a long line of more-or-less successful pairings dating back to before our species came into existence. But still, the problem with finding a life partner is something that far too many of us experience.

According to the 2010 Japanese National Fertility Survey (link is external), 61 percent of men and 49 percent of women between the ages of 18-34 were single.  Of those, 80 percent reported that they wanted to get married at some point but had been unable to find the right partner. In fact, the most common reason given for not being married was "not knowing how to start a relationship with the opposite sex." Though staying single voluntarily is becoming an increasingly popular choice in many societies, the proportion of people who fail to marry or have children despite wishing to do so remains high. In fact, many women cite their inability to find the right partner in explaining their choice to seek alternative options such as artificial insemination.

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

 

The Perfect Man

Visitors to the Harvard Shaker Historic Village District in Harvard, Massachusetts can still see many of the historically preserved buildings that mark the oldest Shaker settlement in Massachusetts and the second oldest in the United States.   Though the property had long since passed from the hands of the original Shakers, the buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 because of their place in history.   Of these, the historic Square House, built in 1769, remains the cornerstone of the settlement due to its connection with Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, and many of her early followers (known as Mother's First Born).

But the Square House actually predates the Shakers, having been built by the followers of renegade preacher Shadrack Ireland, someone who has been largely ignored by history.   Which seems a pity considering that Ireland was likely one of the most bizarre religious leaders in the history of the United States (quite an honour given the competition).   Ireland was especially memorable  for the strange circumstances of his life, the relationship he had with his follower, and what happened to his body after his death.

Though little is known about Ireland's early life, one of the few facts available was that he worked as a pipe maker in Charlestown, Massachusetts where he had a wife and six children.    Described as a "strange secretive man and full of fancies", Ireland underwent a religious conversion sometime in the 1750s.  Though he had been part of the First Great Awakening and a New Light preacher, Ireland's revelations about religion put him in a class by himself. 

According to his own account, Ireland's spiritual journey began in the spring of 1753 when he "experienced such a change, both in body and in mind, that he was become perfect and immortal, and a number more with him."   Abandoning his wife and family, he moved to Grafton, Massachusetts where he gathered a group of followers, not least of which was Sarah Prentice, the wife of a fellow Reverend, Solomon Prentice.   Among various teachings that upset the sensibilities of many of his neighbours was Ireland's insistence on strict abstinence from all sex for anyone not deemed to be "perfect".   For those who were perfect though (including Ireland), they were to marry "divinely chosen partners" and produce "sinless children."  

Ireland quickly became notorious, both for his pretensions and his taking of "spiritual wives."  This began with a woman named Abigail Lougee and eventually Sarah Prentice as well.   The publicity drove him out of Grafton and he eventually settled in Harvard, Massachusetts where the largest group of his followers were located.   It was there that he personally constructed the Square House where he would live for the rest of his life. 

Despite lurid rumours of what Ireland and his followers were up to in their closed community,  he continued to attract followers, many of whom visited him in Harvard for spiritual advice.   Though his "spiritual wife" Sarah was second in command of the community, she still remained in contact with her original husband (even if she insisted on addressing him as her "brother" and denied any carnal association with him or anyone else).   Solomon Prentice was certainly not happy with this state of affairs and there are reports suggesting that he beat her on several occasions.   This led to his being fired from his job as preacher and being unable to find a new post.   Through it all, Sarah and Solomon would remain married until his death.

As for Sarah, guided by Ireland's teachings, she declared herself immortal and uncorruptable like her mentor and the rest of his strange congregation.  They continued to live at the Square House though Shadrack became increasingly paranoid as he grew older.   What exactly he was afraid of is open to speculation though he kept regular vigil from a special place near the roof of the house.  Not only was this safe place only reachable using a secret staircase, Ireland also had a bell that he could ring to give an alarm.   When he wasn't in his bolt hole, he spent his time on a nearby hill where he preached to his followers (but still able to keep watch).

As he grew older, he also provided his followers with strict instructions relating to what they should do if his "spirit left his body."   Since he insisted that he was immortal,  any appearance of death would be strictly temporary and his followers needed to be certain not to bury the body by mistake.   This odd congregation continued to function despite the political upheavals that were affecting the American colonies at the time.  Though rumours kept flying about what was happening in the small community (including stories about orgies, etc.),  Ireland's followers managed just fine.

Until of course, their "immortal" leader died in 1788.  According to one account describing what occurred:  "The night he died he walked the floor in great distress of mind and groaning with deep groans. He said, 'I feel the wrath of God.' . . . Abigail Lougee called Abigail Cooper to get up and light a light. They got a light as quick as they could, but he was gone when they got to him, as I understand."   

Ireland's death marked a major crisis of faith for his small circle of followers.   There was also the more basic question of what to do with the body afterward.   Would their leader stay dead or would his spirit return to it?    Eventually, they decided to wait and see what would happen next.   Unfortunately, in an era before embalming, this was probably not the best thing to do with a dead body.    As his followers kept a constant vigil, the smell became bad enough that some of them were forced to flee the bedroom.  Eventually, Ireland's body was placed in a white coffin and kept in the Square House cellar for another few months of waiting.   After a year, he was eventually buried in an unmarked grave nearby.  

With the fall of their immortal leader, Ireland's small community was left devastated.   Though another disciple, David Hoar, ran things for a while, it was the arrival of Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, who truly put an end to Ireland's immortal dream.   Lee, who had immigrated to New York along with some of her followers, became quite successful in winning over disaffected churchgoers throughout New England.   This included Shadrack Ireland's group and she converted many of them, including Ireland's "spiritual wife", Abigail Lougee.  

To win over the Perfectionists, Ann was emphatic in denouncing Shadrack Ireland and what he had promised them.   As she told Ireland's followers,  "You are old people now, all of you, and you think you will never die.  Look at yourselves!  You carry about you all the marks of mortality, just as other people do.  Your skins are wrinkled, your hair turns while and is falling; your eyesight is failing;  you are losing your teeth and your bodies are growing feeble. "  

Shortly afterward, the Shakers purchased the Square House in which Ann then took up residence.  This led to a rather bizarre episode soon after she moved into the house.   According to Harvard Shaker records, Ann was reportedly awakened by Shadrack Ireland's ghost and, as she later told her followers, "Shadrack Ireland is here.  He began in the spirit and ended in the most total darkness of the flesh."   To banish the ghost, she and her followers "went into the labors or danced" with the shaking dancing that earned them their name.   This apparently worked since Ireland was never heard from since.  

The Square House became the centre of the Harvard Shaker community and Shadrack Ireland was nothing more than a troubling memory afterward.   By then, most of his followers had become Shakers, and their search for immortality was apparently over.  

As for Shadrack Ireland, he remains virtually forgotten except as a footnote in the history of the Shakers.  His body is still somewhere on the grounds of the Harvard Shaker village presumably though nobody knows where it was buried.    A sad end for a "perfect" man. 

 

How Dangerous is Presenteeism?

Presenteeism refers to the phenomenon whereby employees continue to attend work while unwell. Existing research suggests that presentee workers may suffer consequences to their health and mental strain. In a study published in the International Journal of Stress Management, researchers investigated whether such consequences also have downstream effects in terms of the errors people make at work. They studied the effects of presenteeism among a large sample of pharmacists (N = 1,205), an occupation in which errors made can be safety critical, with implications for patient health. Seventy-six percent of the pharmacists in the sample were classed as presentee, having attended work while unwell enough to have taken time off on at least two occasions over the previous year. Presentee pharmacists made significantly more minor errors and serious mistakes, such as dispensing errors, compared to nonpresentee pharmacists. They also experienced greater feelings of anxiety and depression. Mediation analyses suggested that higher anxiety rates explained why presentee employees made more errors at work. Presenteeism therefore has significant health costs for both workers and their beneficiaries and can be classed as an important work-related stressor.

For the abstract.

Becoming a Dementia Friend

Dementia can be cruel.

For the estimated 747,000 Canadians suffering from various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, even simple activities such as going shopping for food can be an ordeal.   While most people with dementia are over the age of sixty-five,  some conditions can strike even earlier which may make it difficult for others to recognize what is happening.  Since the number of people with dementia is expected to skyrocket over the next twenty years, providing them with the help they need to function is more essential than ever. 

Which is why the Canadian government and the Alzheimer's Society of Canada have launched a new initiative:  the Dementia Friends program.   Part of an international movement inspired by the Dementia Friends United Kingdom program, and modeled after Japan's Dementia Supporters, the program allows Canadians to learn more about dementia and to register as a Dementia friend.   In announcing the program, Health Minister Rona Ambrose declared that "Our Government understands the tremendous impact dementia has on those diagnosed with it, their families and their communities. Dementia Friends Canada will change the way we think, act and talk about dementia in this country. I encourage all Canadians to become a dementia friend and help make life better for Canadians affected by it.”

According to the press release, Dementia Friends Canada will focus on recruiting volunteers, whether on an individual basis or through participating businesses.  As part of the launch, the Canadian Bankers Association and Credit Union Central of Canada have pledged their support and urge other businesses to contact the Alzheimer's Society of Canada to take part in the campaign.  

To become a Dementia friend, the program's website provides a simple three-step process that begins with watching an online video describing the warning signs of dementia.   These can include loss of memory, disorientation, problems speaking, and abrupt changes in mood or behaviour.   After viewing the video, you can then register to become part of the society's mailing list and to agree to apply what you've learned in real life. 

Dementia friends are encouraged to become more sensitive to the problems that many dementia patients often experience when they are out in public.  Though many people with dementia are still able to function independently, at least in the early stages, they can run into problems when doing routine tasks such as shopping or going out with friends.    Simple actions like being patient, speaking slowly and calmly, and asking easily understood questions can help people with dementia and keep them from feeling overwhelmed.  

The program website also contains a number of useful resources to encourage greater awareness about dementia.  This includes a list of common myths about different forms of dementia as well as tips on how to communicate with people experiencing memory problems.    Above all else, we are encouraged to "see the person, not the disease", learning about dementia and how to deal with those people in need will help ensure that they can live their lives with the dignity to which they are entitled.