CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead (suicide reported)

[PDilemma]

^^^^^^this is why I don't whine about paying taxes. Some of my American family snigger at me for the high taxes I pay and tell me how our government needs to butt out of people's lives. Then I look at them like this >

This. We had to write a check of over $1500 at tax time this year. I don't resent paying it. I just wish that the schools would withhold it properly so I don't have to write the check in April every year. And property taxes don't piss us off that much either. Public schools are funded almost exclusively by property taxes here and any plan to lower them simply lowers school funding rather than compensating for the loss elsewhere. We need good schools and we can afford a few more dollars a month on our house payment each year to make sure we have them.

 

[Twilight1]

I don't mind paying more taxes to aid schooling, hospitals, public services like bus services etc.

My unit is one of only a few in Canada that specializes in both addiction and mental health. My hope is that with our ongoing clinical research that validates our holistic approach, more units will bring this additional support onto the units presently available and see the value of the additional costs.

At the end of the day, people are individual and should be treated as such. Cookie cutting treatment does not work, we need to listen to their individual needs and help them achieve it... or aid them in moving forward towards it.

 

[Gazpacho]

I feel the need to write more about "sanctuary harm", the trauma caused by psychiatric treatment experiences.

This is from the research article "Patient's reports of traumatic or harmful experiences within the psychiatric setting" by Frueh et al. The percentages are staggering.

Data revealed high rates of reported lifetime trauma that occurred within psychiatric settings, including physical assault (31 percent), sexual assault (8 percent), and witnessing traumatic events (63 percent). The reported rates of potentially harmful experiences, such as being around frightening or violent patients (54 percent), were also high. Finally, reported rates of institutional measures of last resort, such as seclusion (59 percent), restraint (34 percent), takedowns (29 percent), and handcuffed transport (65 percent), were also high. Having medications used as a threat or punishment, unwanted sexual advances in a psychiatric setting, inadequate privacy, and sexual assault by a staff member were associated with a history of exposure to sexual assault as an adult.

Two more academic research articles are here and here. These are pdf links. I particularly recommend reading the "Results" section of the first one.

And this is from a first hand account:

Dempsey experienced seclusion several times while on psychiatric wards, when the delusions of her mental illness made her fear "dissection" at the hand of "aliens" - the nurses - prompting her, naturally, to attempt to leave.
At this point, a group of nurses and sometimes security staff would appear and grab her, carry her into a small bare cell, force her on a mattress on her stomach, strip her, put her into pyjamas and forcibly sedate her with injections in her buttock.
"And I'm terrified of (the injection)," she says, "because I think they're injecting something into me that's going to harm me, so I'm pleading with them not to do it".
Then, "with the voices, petrified of what is going on in my head", Dempsey would be left alone in the seclusion cell.

 

[skateycat]

Voluntary hospitalization is another very challenging prospect for the care-giving family members...Our home revolved around her older sisters illness and often her disease was controlling all of us. There are certainly moments I would take back if I could but the absolute unrelenting stress was unimaginable. It is maybe somewhat therapeutic for me to express my feelings here as I don't ever even discuss them with my husband. Just too painful!

My dad and mom really struggled with parenting / caregiving my older brother when he was struck by schizophrenia a few months after he graduated high school. Mom passed away two years ago, and my dad and my sister and I probably need to talk about the eventual passing of the torch in terms of being a source of support to him. ((((puglover))))

 

[skatesindreams]

CNN will air "Remembering Anthony Bourdain," a special report on the life and legacy of the chef, storyteller and writer, tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Those of us who still miss Anthony Bourdain will want to read this appreciation:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/opinions/bourdain-west-virginia-mccarroll/