Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Ecstasy (Molly) for PTSD?


From the New York times comes news of possible use of Ecstasy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. In our new book, Healing the Brain, we take a close look at PTSD, what it is and how it affects people of all ages. 


C.J. Hardin, a veteran who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, at a memorial in North Charleston, S.C. He is a patient in the study of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Credit Travis Dove for The New York Times

CHARLESTON, S.C. — After three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, C. J. Hardin wound up hiding from the world in a backwoods cabin in North Carolina. Divorced, alcoholic and at times suicidal, he had tried almost all the accepted treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder: psychotherapy, group therapy and nearly a dozen different medications.

“Nothing worked for me, so I put aside the idea that I could get better,” said Mr. Hardin, 37. “I just pretty much became a hermit in my cabin and never went out.”
Then, in 2013, he joined a small drug trial testing whether PTSD could be treated with MDMA, the illegal party drug better known as Ecstasy.

“It changed my life,” he said in a recent interview in the bright, airy living room of the suburban ranch house here, where he now lives while going to college and working as an airplane mechanic. “It allowed me to see my trauma without fear or hesitation and finally process things and move forward.”
 
Based on promising results like Mr. Hardin’s, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission Tuesday for large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug — a final step before the possible approval of Ecstasy as a prescription drug.

If successful, the trials could turn an illicit street substance into a potent treatment for PTSD.
Through a spokeswoman, the F.D.A. declined to comment, citing regulations that prohibit disclosing information about drugs that are being developed.

“I’m cautious but hopeful,” said Dr. Charles R. Marmar, the head of psychiatry at New York University’s Langone School of Medicine, a leading PTSD researcher who was not involved in the study. “If they can keep getting good results, it will be of great use. PTSD can be very hard to treat. Our best therapies right now don’t help 30 to 40 percent of people. So we need more options.”
But he expressed concern about the potential for abuse. “It’s a feel-good drug, and we know people are prone to abuse it,” he said. “Prolonged use can lead to serious damage to the brain.”
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a small nonprofit created in 1985 to advocate the legal medical use of MDMA, LSD, marijuana and other banned drugs, sponsored six Phase 2 studies treating a total of 130 PTSD patients with the stimulant. It will also fund the Phase 3 research, which will include at least 230 patients...

Read out book and learn about PTSD.


 

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Should kids play football? No.


In this excerpt from the Dana Foundation's blog post by Dr. Guy McKhann, he looks at the choice faced by parents regarding letting their kids play football. We cover this topic in our new book, Healing the Brain.


Don’t Let Kids Play Football” is the title of a New York Times OpEd column by Bennet Omalu. Dr. Omalu gets credit for being the first to recognize the distinctive neuropathology associated with repeated head injuries in an NFL player. Omalu was on call when an autopsy was needed for former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster.

Not being a football fan, Omalu was one of the few adult males in Pittsburgh unfamiliar with Webster, a star center for 17 seasons. Some time after Webster’s retirement in 1990, he gradually began to deteriorate mentally, first with depression and paranoia, then gradual loss of cognition, so that at the time of his death, he was essentially demented. Because of his football notoriety, his troubles were documented in the local newspapers.

Omalu realized that he was seeing a very unique pathology. The gross brain appeared normal, but when he cut into it and made stained sections, he noted the marked accumulation of the protein tau. Tau, in the form of tangles, is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, as is the accumulation of another protein, beta amyloid, in the form of plaques. In Webster’s brain there were very few amyloid-containing plaques and the tau accumulation was in a different distribution than what one would see with Alzheimer’s. Omalu and his colleagues published two papers in the journal Neurosurgery: one on Webster and another on fellow Steeler Terry Long. They described their findings, suggesting that repeated head injuries might be associated with this pathology. All hell broke loose. The NFL powers that be were not happy that their sport might be associated with brain damage. Several physicians involved with NFL teams wrote the journal asking that the papers be withdrawn. (Withdrawing a paper rarely happens, and is done when there is clear misconduct such as fraud). The papers were not withdrawn.

Deciding that challenging the powerful NFL was an impossible task, Omalu left Pittsburgh and became a medical examiner in California, out of the limelight. However, Dr. Ann McKee, a well-regarded neuropathologist in Boston, picked up the slack and let the world know she and her colleagues were available to do the neuropathology on athletes, and military personnel, with head injuries. She was joined by a neurosurgeon, Robert Cantu, and Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and professional wrestler, who became concerned about his own history of head injuries. Chris has become the liaison between the Boston investigators and the athletic world, active in obtaining permission and access for the Boston group to do autopsies.

As of September 2015, they’ve analyzed the brains of 91 former NFL players and found the distinctive pathology in 87 (96 percent).

The clinical course in the others is much like that of Mike Webster: exposure to a series of head injuries over years, a period of normal functioning after retirement, and gradual decline in cognitive functions. What’s going on in these brains? We really don’t know. However, one possibility is that the accumulation of tau is initiated by head trauma. Even after the trauma stops, the accumulation continues until tau reaches a level that is toxic to nerve cells. This process may take years and might be exacerbated by the person’s use of alcohol or drugs.

So should kids play football? I have nine grandchildren. My youngest, twin seven-year-old boys, are into gymnastics and swimming, so they’re not at risk of head injuries (though they enjoy pummeling each other). The others are into soccer, lacrosse, mountain climbing, and cross country skiing. What would I tell them? I think that there is a lot of hand-waving about the susceptibility of the developing brain. In some instances the younger brain is more resistant to injury. An eight-year-old can survive and make a remarkable recovery from a stroke, while a similar stroke in an 80-year-old would be devastating. However a diffuse injury (one that is spread more widely), associated with a head injury, may have effects on brain development.
I don’t know where to draw the line regarding age. I suggest that prior to age 18 kids play less violent forms of football, like touch or flag football, to significantly reduce the chance of head injury.

GET THE BOOK!


Monday, November 28, 2016

Was Nancy Reagan right?

Nancy Reagan championed her "Just Say No" program in the '80s, drawing praise and criticism. In one way she was right. For an addicted brain, saying no is incredibly difficult. However, for a non-addicted brain, saying no may be the only effective prevention option. Read this excerpt from Healing the Brain.

III. PREVENTING DRUG ABUSE: THE BEST STRATEGY

Why is adolescence a critical time for preventing drug addiction?

As noted previously, early use of drugs increases a person’s chances of developing addiction. Remember, drugs change brains—and this can lead to addiction and other serious problems. So, preventing early use of drugs or alcohol may go a long way in reducing these risks. If we can prevent young people from experimenting with drugs, we can prevent drug addiction.



... Calhan High School.jpg
Wikimedia Commons
In high school, teens may encounter greater availability of drugs, drug use by older teens, and social activities where drugs are used.

Risk of drug abuse increases greatly during times of transition. For an adult, a divorce or loss of a job may lead to drug abuse; for a teenager, risky times include moving or changing schools. In early adolescence, when children advance from elementary through middle school, they face new and challenging social and academic situations. Often during this period, children are exposed to abusable substances such as cigarettes and alcohol for the first time. When they enter high school, teens may encounter greater availability of drugs, drug use by older teens, and social activities where drugs are used.

At the same time, many behaviors that are a normal aspect of their development, such as the desire to try new things or take greater risks, may increase teen tendencies to experiment with drugs. Some teens may give in to the urging of drug-using friends to share the experience with them. Others may think that taking drugs (such as steroids) will improve their appearance or their athletic performance or that abusing substances such as alcohol or MDMA (ecstasy or “Molly”) will ease their anxiety in social situations. A growing number of teens are abusing prescription ADHD stimulants such as Adderall® to help them study or lose weight. Teens’ still-developing judgment and decision-making skills may limit their ability to accurately assess the risks of all of these forms of drug use. Using abusable substances at this age can disrupt brain function in areas critical to motivation, memory, learning, judgment, and behavior control.  So, it is not surprising that teens who use alcohol and other drugs often have family and social problems, poor academic performance, health-related problems (including mental health), and involvement with the juvenile justice system.

READ THE BOOK! 

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Gay youth, health, and Trump


President Lyndon Johnson set up the Kerner Commission in the late 1960s to investigate the underlying causes of nationwide riots (Newark, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Detroit, etc.). The commission's stunning conclusion was that America was two societies, separate and unequal, increasingly moving apart. As I began to talk to varied audiences with A Thousand Moms, I realized that a similar gap existed today with the gay community. Despite important successes, e.g., marriage equality, mainstream America didn't know about the LGBT community and rather than learning from an increased public awareness of LGBT issues, they remained profoundly unaware of gay life and the severe and unique stresses that can attend it--except in extraordinary circumstances. 

A Thousand Moms' mission is to educate parents, teachers, social workers, counselors, clergy, and the concerned layperson so that in an optimum world, they can support LGBT youth with a deeper understanding of a group of people seemingly from a completely different world. I wrote Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and LGBT/Q Youth because I had the training to do it--15 years as an editor to the world's top neuroscientists at the Dana Foundation--and access to my partner Fred's experience in child development. I was also peeved that my previous employer, in its massive reference on the brain, mentioned gay people only once. The reference blithely said that people attracted to the same sex seem to commit suicide in larger numbers and we don't know why. (Or care.) 

So this book is about the brain, but really about surviving extraordinary stress and trauma and protecting our heath. I have been given many accolades for the book, the best one calling it pioneering. But kind words have not translated into wide interest and in this world of self-publishing, the task of getting the word out has been very difficult. Therefore I am now circulating sample chapters so people can get a feel for the book and make an informed decision about getting a copy. Many books on LGBT life get called reference books or "a contribution to the literature," which means being put on a book shelf to die quietly. I am determined not to let that soft bigotry stop this important information from reaching people who can help LGBT youth--and adults--and make a real difference in our lives. We have a public health crisis in the gay community, still and perhaps worsening. And come a new administration that promises rollbacks, not progress, we are going to need education, awareness, and support more than ever. Please take a look at this sample e-book and share it. 

CLICK HERE!



Saturday, November 26, 2016

Gay youth need support post-Trump

What's a gay youth to do faced by an increasingly hostile social environment brought on by the Trump election? The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented a rise in hate crimes against all minorities since the election and the LGBT community is included. We look at how gay youth can find a supportive hand in this climate in our new book, Healing the Brain.

Finding Support

Coming out is one of the most stressful periods in a gay teen's life.
In a best-case scenario, the teen's parents might have suspected their teen's sexual orientation, and are happy and accepting of the declaration. But in the worst case, the teen's parents might cut off financial support, reject the teen, and kick him or her out of the household.

In “Homophobic Teasing, Psychological Outcomes, and Sexual Orientation Among High School Students: What Influence Do Parents and Schools Have?” published in The School Psychology Review, anti-gay teasing was found to have negative mental health outcomes in gay teenagers who lack supportive school and home environments. Researchers Dorothy L. Esperage and others examined 13,921 high school teenagers, of whom 932 were “questioning” their sexuality, and an additional 1,065 identified themselves as homosexuals.

While all teenagers will experience negative outcomes when parents are unsupportive, for gay teenagers, this effect can be particularly strong, leading to greater instances of depression. The study stated that questioning and openly homosexual students were more likely to report depression, suicide attempts, and drug use when their parents rejected their sexuality.

But gay students who received support were less likely to report these negative outcomes, even if they experienced victimization in school environments. Family acceptance of homosexuality led to higher self-esteem, more support against victimization, and reduced depression among the participants. Since each family scenario differs on a case-by-case basis, the teen should decide if coming out to his or her parents would cause more harm than good. If so, the teen must identify individuals in the teen's life who will be accepting and supportive of the teen's decision to come out. For some teenagers, this might be an aunt, uncle, or sibling, while others find support in school counselors or close friends.



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Trump's low road to the White House

The human brain has developed over millenia. Like a non-stop power plant, the brain added new structures to basic ones (controlling basic functions like breathing). The crowning achievement is the cortex, the largest brain structure, where higher thought and reasoning take place.

Scientists have learned that sensory input, e.g., sounds, do not have to travel to the cortex to induce fear. Impulses need only travel to a primitive brain structure called the amygdala. 

When FDR delivered his first inaugural address, he appealed to reasoning, though his topic was the fear of a nation shattered by the Great Depression. Like dictators and demagogues through history, Donald Trump goes straight for the lower brain with pointed, uncomplicated messages that require little thought. For example, his nicknamesl for nearly all of his opponents (Low Energy Jeb, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary) make for instant recognition and easy identification--and great ratings for cash-starved cable media. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Trump echoes right wing talk radio hosts, who offer short, immediate solutions that fit neatly into a brief format. No exhausting engagement of the thinking brain required. Fear is our most powerful emotion and when Donald Trump boasted he knew how to win this election, like ad men from Madison Avenue, he knew what worked: the low road to the White House. Hillary Clinton and the Democrats had a long, arduous path to the thinking brain to overcome the power of fear and other powerful emotions.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Heterosexism and the holidays

Thanksgiving marks the start of the trifecta of holidays that spike anxiety in LGBT youth and adults of all ages. In this excerpt from Healing the Brain, we look at the invisible but all-too-real phenomenon of heterosexism, the feeling of gay people that they must give deference to a straight-majority culture.

Despite, or in some cases because of social progress in marriage equality and other matters, pervasiveness of alienation in the lives of the current generation of gay youth is well established. Nevertheless, little is definitively known about the strategies these youth use to cope with stigma and discrimination based on their sexual minority status. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth face an array of daunting challenges in addition to many of the developmental stressors facing straight teens.

One of the most difficult stressors gay youth face is heterosexism. This term describes the acculturated and pervasive (intentional or non-intentional) concept that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes any non-heterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community. The experience of being stigmatized is at the root of a range of health problems faced by sexual minority adolescents including increased depression, suicide risk, and other mental health disorders. Few researchers have examined the emotional consequences of day-to-day encounters with heterosexism, but many have noted the challenge of maintaining a positive sense of self in the face of chronic negative feedback based in heterosexist attitudes. Recent research has revealed elevated levels of social anxiety in sexual minority adolescents, as well as associations between social anxiety and increased risky sexual behavior.

Forms of heterosexist experiences vary widely, ranging from casual anti-gay remarks to severe physical violence or total social exclusion. Youth encounter heterosexism in diverse settings, including home, school, church, parks, and on the street. Sources of heterosexism were equally wide-ranging, including family members, schoolmates, friends, and religious leaders.

Few researchers have examined the emotional consequences of day-to-day encounters with heterosexism.

Heteroterosexist attitudes by family appeared to be especially stressful for gay youth, in part due to these youths’ emotional and financial dependence on their families. The holiday season, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, accounts for many family disruptions over the issue of a child’s sexulity. Youth see this period and the typical gatherings of their nuclear family as an opportunity to begin talking about their true selves. Not coincidentally, this time of year is when the highest incidents of family disruptions occur. Large cities such as San Francisco and New York see an influx of gay youth fleeing their homes and ultimately seeking social services. Relatedly, when television covers an LGBT matter, be it marriage equality or the trauma of the Orlando, FL mass killing at a gay bar, conflicts ensue in families. In 2011, when New York State passed marriage equality, the Ali Forney Center of New York reported a 40 per cent increase in drop-in rates at its youth shelter in New York.


 

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Radio Free Europe...oops, America

Growing up, many of us heard of Radio Free Europe, an attempt to reach those behind the "Iron Curtain." Here's some information about Radio Free Europe, still operating, and our podcast, designed to be a Radio Free America. Listen to our latest show, LGBT 911.

From Wikipedia:  Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government-funded broadcasting organization that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed".[3] RFE/RL is a 501(c)(3) corporation that receives U.S. government funding and is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing all U.S. federal government international broadcasting services.[4]
During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe (RFE) was broadcast to Soviet satellite countries and Radio Liberty (RL) targeted the Soviet Union. RFE was founded as an anti-communist propaganda source in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free Europe. RL was founded two years later and the two organizations merged in 1976. Communist governments frequently sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters. Radio transmissions into the Soviet Union were regularly jammed by the KGB. RFE/RL received funds from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until 1972.[5] During RFE's earliest years of existence, the CIA and U.S. Department of State issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between them and RFE staff.[6]
  
Listen to our latest show, LGBT 911.
 

Friday, November 18, 2016

Concussions are serious

From our new book, Healing the Brain, we look at the danger from concussions and CTE. Parents need to decide whether to allow their children to play football or soccer, among other threats.

It is fairly remarkable that “Concussion,” the movie, exists. Ten years ago, the public did not know much about concussions and other forms of brain trauma. People weren’t watching football games and thinking about the long-term neurological effects of the brutal body contact. A veil was lifted on a topic rarely discussed as more and more football players reported disturbing neurological symptoms after their careers had ended. A disturbing series of suicides were reported. Around 2009, the National Football League (NFL) started getting criticism for its outdated concussion policies. In 2013, a book and corresponding documentary that tackled the issue, League of Denial,” were released. At the end of 2015, Hollywood brought us a major motion picture that stars Will Smith as a neuropathologist fighting to reveal the truth about head trauma in football players.
Parents around America began to reconsider their willingness to allow their children to play the sport, one that plays a major role in the sports and cultural life of the country.
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI—caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, stretching and damaging the brain cells and creating chemical changes in the brain.

Concussions Are Serious

Medical providers may describe a concussion as a “mild” brain injury because concussions are usually not life-threatening. Even so, the effects of a concussion can be serious.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is the term used to describe brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas. CTE is a diagnosis only made at autopsy by studying sections of the brain.
CTE is a very rare condition. It has been found in the brains of people who played contact sports, such as football, as well as others. Some symptoms of CTE are thought to include difficulties with thinking (cognition), physical problems, emotions and other behaviors.
The condition is a very controversial condition that is still not well-understood. Researchers do not yet know the frequency of CTE in the population and do not understand the causes. There is no cure for CTE.
Some of the possible signs and symptoms of CTE may include: difficulty thinking (cognitive impairment), impulsive behavior, depression or apathy, short-term memory loss, difficulty planning and carrying out tasks (executive function), emotional instability, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts or behavior
Other suspected symptoms may include: irritability, aggression, speech and language difficulties, motor impairment, such as difficulty walking, tremor, loss of muscle  movement, weakness or rigidity, trouble swallowing (dysphagia), vision and focusing problems, trouble with sense of smell (olfactory abnormalities), and dementia
The full list of symptoms of people with CTE at autopsy is still unknown. It is unclear what kind of symptoms, if any, it may cause. Little is known right now about how CTE progresses.

When to See a Doctor

CTE is thought to develop over many years after repeated brain injuries (mild or severe). However, see your doctor in case of the following:
  • Suicidal thoughts. Research shows that people with CTE may be at increased risk of suicide. If you have thoughts of hurting yourself, call 911, your local emergency number or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255).
  • Head injury. See your doctor if you have had a head injury, even if you didn't need emergency care. If your child has received a head injury that concerns you, call your child's doctor immediately. Depending on the signs and symptoms, your doctor may recommend seeking immediate medical care.
  • Memory problems. See your doctor if you have concerns about your memory or other thinking (cognitive) or behavior problems.
  • Personality or mood changes. See your doctor if depression, anxiety, aggression or impulsivity occur.


Thursday, November 17, 2016

Parents: How do your kids stay off drugs?

Parents worry whether their children can resist the temptation of drug addiction. What's at stake and what are the risk factors your children face? Read this excerpt from Healing the Brain:


Why is adolescence a critical time for preventing drug addiction?

As noted previously, early use of drugs increases a person’s chances of developing addiction. Remember, drugs change brains—and this can lead to addiction and other serious problems. So, preventing early use of drugs or alcohol may go a long way in reducing these risks. If we can prevent young people from experimenting with drugs, we can prevent drug addiction.



... Calhan High School.jpg
Wikimedia Commons
In high school, teens may encounter greater availability of drugs, drug use by older teens, and social activities where drugs are used.

Risk of drug abuse increases greatly during times of transition. For an adult, a divorce or loss of a job may lead to drug abuse; for a teenager, risky times include moving or changing schools. In early adolescence, when children advance from elementary through middle school, they face new and challenging social and academic situations. Often during this period, children are exposed to abusable substances such as cigarettes and alcohol for the first time. When they enter high school, teens may encounter greater availability of drugs, drug use by older teens, and social activities where drugs are used.

At the same time, many behaviors that are a normal aspect of their development, such as the desire to try new things or take greater risks, may increase teen tendencies to experiment with drugs. Some teens may give in to the urging of drug-using friends to share the experience with them. Others may think that taking drugs (such as steroids) will improve their appearance or their athletic performance or that abusing substances such as alcohol or MDMA (ecstasy or “Molly”) will ease their anxiety in social situations. A growing number of teens are abusing prescription ADHD stimulants such as Adderall® to help them study or lose weight. Teens’ still-developing judgment and decision-making skills may limit their ability to accurately assess the risks of all of these forms of drug use. Using abusable substances at this age can disrupt brain function in areas critical to motivation, memory, learning, judgment, and behavior control.  So, it is not surprising that teens who use alcohol and other drugs often have family and social problems, poor academic performance, health-related problems (including mental health), and involvement with the juvenile justice system.







 

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

LGBT community and holidays: Stress on steroids, post-Trump

The holiday season brings stresses for everyone and for gay youth, in particular. This year in particular, gay youth and adults face a daunting task at the family dinner table. Here is an excerpt from our new book, Healing the Brain.


Few researchers have examined the emotional consequences of day-to-day encounters with heterosexism.

Heteroterosexist attitudes by family appeared to be especially stressful for gay youth, in part due to these youths’ emotional and financial dependence on their families. The holiday season, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, accounts for many family disruptions over the issue of a child’s sexulity. Youth see this period and the typical gatherings of their nuclear family as an opportunity to begin talking about their true selves. Not coincidentally, this time of year is when the highest incidents of family disruptions occur. Large cities such as San Francisco and New York see an influx of gay youth fleeing their homes and ultimately seeking social services. Relatedly, when television covers an LGBT matter, be it marriage equality or the trauma of the Orlando, FL mass killing at a gay bar, conflicts ensue in families. In 2011, when New York State passed marriage equality, the Ali Forney Center of New York reported a 40 per cent increase in drop-in rates at its youth shelter in New York.

Coping Strategies for Gay Youth
Obtaining information and support through the Internet
For many youth, the Internet served as a means of locating gay-affirmative support that might otherwise have been difficult to obtain. One individual posted poetry about his experiences on a website and received feedback that helped him to increase his sense of self-esteem and reduce feelings of isolation. For this youth, the process of writing poetry had other benefits as well, including cognitively reframing his predicament and venting.

Setting boundaries

A common example of such a strategy involved avoiding individuals who expressed heterosexist attitudes. Youth might stop talking to such a person, or take other active measures to avoid having to encounter them, even if they had formerly been friends.

Some youth express the importance of avoiding heterosexist people, though such strategies could leave them vulnerable to additional psychological, physical and material challenges. For example, leaving home without obtaining alternative sources of support appeared to be a particularly risky means of coping.

Adam left his small-town home for Los Angeles due to pervasive heterosexism and anti-gay violence he encountered there. He left with only enough money for train fare and a few essential items, a situation that might have been precarious had he not been able to rely on an aunt living in Los Angeles. He moved in with her and greatly appreciated her support, saying “At least I have one family member that was behind me. But that was the only one.” Another youth, who left home for similar reasons had no money whatsoever, but was able to earn income as a dancer in bars. A third respondent, whose brother regularly beat him and called him a “fag,” coped by living at friends’ homes most of the time.

Passing by telling half-truths

When youth could not avoid the topics that might lead to exposure of their sexual orientation, they often hid their sexual orientation by a careful use of half-truths. For these youth, passing often involved steering a middle course between overt lying and social or familial rejection.

Passing by keeping a low profile in heterosexist environments

Gay people often encounter heterosexist messages in religious settings. Rather than avoid such settings entirely, many respondents continue to attend church, while remaining closeted in that particular environment. In this way, respondents felt they were able to derive benefits from such experiences in spite of hearing heterosexist messages. This was explained by one respondent, who said that he continued to attend church in spite of his discomfort because he valued his relationship with God. Another respondent utilized passing to minimize the embarrassment he and a gay friend would otherwise experience in church when straight men stared at their stereotypically gay attire.

Covering sexual orientation

Some youth who had fully disclosed their sexual orientation nevertheless adopted strategies to minimize its obviousness. Respondents whose families discouraged them from disclosing their sexual orientation to others sometimes used covering as a compromise between their families’ wishes and their own. The following respondent recounts an argument in which his parents insisted that he keep his sexual orientation a secret at school.


Listening selectively in stigmatizing environments

Youth often use attentional deployment strategies in religious settings, sometimes by simply ignoring anti-gay messages when they were expressed in church. In order to ignore such heterosexist messages, youth first had to listen to and critically evaluate the ideas they were hearing.

Ignoring provocations

LGBT youth who encounter prejudicial statements directed at them often opted to ignore them. The following respondent reported that when he was younger his mother and sister often said things to him that made him “not feel good about myself”. He described that he “used to go so crazy, I yelled at them... like knocked over the TV and stereo, knocked over the whole house.” As he got older, he learned to ignore provocations and this helped him to avoid yelling and acting out violently at home. He also stated that he usually uses a similar strategy when encountering prejudice in public settings.

 Get the book!


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Coping with Trump: Some Tips



Abraham Maslow wrote his masterpiece, Toward a Psychology of Being, in 1965. It has stood the test of time as a realistic, achievable, positive outlook on living. We present it here and in our book, Healing the Brain.

Maslow: The 12 Characteristics of a Self-Actualized Person


Abraham Maslow describes the good life as one directed towards self-actualization, the pinnacle need. Self-actualization occurs when you maximize your potential, doing the best that you are capable of doing. Maslow studied individuals whom he believed to be self-actualized, including Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein, to derive the common characteristics of the self-actualized person. Here are a selection of the most important characteristics, from his book Motivation and Personality:

1) Self-actualized people embrace the unknown and the ambiguous.
They are not threatened or afraid of it; instead, they accept it, are comfortable with it and are often attracted by it. They do not cling to the familiar. Maslow quotes Einstein: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”

2) They accept themselves, together with all their flaws.
She perceives herself as she is, and not as she would prefer herself to be. With a high level of self-acceptance, she lacks defensiveness, pose or artificiality. Eventually, shortcomings come to be seen not as shortcomings at all, but simply as neutral personal characteristics. “They can accept their own human nature in the stoic style, with all its shortcomings, with all its discrepancies from the ideal image without feeling real concern [...] One does not complain about water because it is wet, or about rocks because they are hard [...] simply noting and observing what is the case, without either arguing the matter or demanding that it be otherwise.”

Nonetheless, while self-actualized people are accepting of shortcomings that are immutable, they do feel ashamed or regretful about changeable deficits and bad habits.

3) They prioritize and enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
“[They] often [regard] as ends in themselves many experiences and activities that are, for other people, only means. Our subjects are somewhat more likely to appreciate for its own sake, and in an absolute way, the doing itself; they can often enjoy for its own sake the getting to some place as well as the arriving. It is occasionally possible for them to make out of the most trivial and routine activity an intrinsically enjoyable game or dance or play.”


4) While they are inherently unconventional, they do not seek to shock or disturb.
Unlike the average rebel, the self-actualized person recognizes:
“... the world of people in which he lives could not understand or accept [his unconventionality], and since he has no wish to hurt them or to fight with them over every triviality, he will go through the ceremonies and rituals of convention with a good-humored shrug and with the best possible grace [... Self-actualized people would] usually behave in a conventional fashion simply because no great issues are involved or because they know people will be hurt or embarrassed by any other kind of behavior.”

5) They are motivated by growth, not by the satisfaction of needs.
While most people are still struggling in the lower rungs of the ‘Hierarchy of Needs,’ the self-actualized person is focused on personal growth. “Our subjects no longer strive in the ordinary sense, but rather develop. They attempt to grow to perfection and to develop more and more fully in their own style. The motivation of ordinary men is a striving for the basic need gratifications that they lack.”

6) Self-actualized people have purpose.
“[They have] some mission in life, some task to fulfill, some problem outside themselves which enlists much of their energies. [...] This is not necessarily a task that they would prefer or choose for themselves; it may be a task that they feel is their responsibility, duty, or obligation. [...] In general these tasks are non personal or unselfish, concerned rather with the good of mankind in general.”

Self-actualized people have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naïvely, the basic goods of life.

7) They are not troubled by the small things. Instead, they focus on the bigger picture. “They seem never to get so close to the trees that they fail to see the forest. They work within a framework of values that are broad and not petty, universal and not local, and in terms of a century rather than the moment.[...] This impression of being above small things [...] seems to impart a certain serenity and lack of worry over immediate concerns that make life easier not only for themselves but for all who are associated with them.”

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs holds that self-actualized people are motivated by growth and development.


8) Self-actualized people are grateful. They do not take their blessings for granted, and by doing so, maintain a fresh sense of wonder towards the universe. “Self-actualizing people have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naïvely, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have become to others [...] Thus for such a person, any sunset may be as beautiful as the first one, any flower may be of breath-taking loveliness, even after he has seen a million flowers. [...] For such people, even the casual workaday, moment-to-moment business of living can be thrilling.”

Because of their self-decision, self-actualized people have codes of ethics that are individualized and autonomous.

9) They share deep relationships with a few, but also feel identification and affection towards the entire human race.
“Self-actualizing people have deeper and more profound interpersonal relations than any other adults [...] They are capable of more fusion, greater love, more perfect identification, more obliteration of the ego boundaries than other people would consider possible. [...This devotion] exists side by side with a widespreading [...] benevolence, affection, and friendliness. These people tend to be kind [and friendly] to almost everyone [...] of suitable character regardless of class, education, political belief, race, or color.”

10) Self-actualized people are humble.
“They are all quite well aware of how little they know in comparison with what could be known and what is known by others. Because of this it is possible for them without pose to be honestly respectful and even humble before people who can teach them something.”

11) Self-actualized people resist enculturation.
They do not allow themselves to be passively molded by culture — they deliberate and make their own decisions, selecting what they see as good, and rejecting what they see as bad. They neither accept all, like a sheep, nor reject all, like the average rebel. Self-actualized people: “make up their own minds, come to their own decisions, are self-starters, are responsible for themselves and their own destinies. [...] too many people do not make up their own minds, but have their minds made up for them by salesmen, advertisers, parents, propagandists, TV, newspapers and so on.”

Because of their self-decision, self-actualized people have codes of ethics that are individualized and autonomous rather than being dictated by society. “They are the most ethical of people even though their ethics are not necessarily the same as those of the people around them [...because] the ordinary ethical behavior of the average person is largely conventional behavior rather than truly ethical behavior.”

12) Despite all this, self-actualized people are not perfect.
“There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. [...] And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.”

Because the brain enables behavior, to achieve the goals of Erikson and Maslow requires a non-compromised, healthy brain. In the pages that follow you will see how excessive stress, substance abuse, emotional and physical trauma, and more can increase the challenges for everyone. A brain not in optimal health diminishes the chances of achieving self actualization.

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