Monday, July 25, 2016

There are no perfect people.

I quote the esteemed Abraham Maslow in my new book:

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.”

$9.95 154 pages, illustrated

Order here.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The low road to fear and 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 have a long, arduous path to the thinking brain to overcome the power of fear and other powerful emotions.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Working in an non-stop world


Bill Maher mentioned on his show the story of the French legislating against stress, particularly workplace stress.


And my thoughts go to those who suffered from more senseless violence in Nice.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Press release: Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and LGBT/Q Youth

If you can share this with a media person--or anyone--we would surely appreciate it!

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE CONTACT​: David Balog, A Thousand Moms,
Schenectady NY 518 952­1257; athousandmoms@yahoo.com

After Orlando Shooting, New Book Takes Timely Look at Gay Stress 



The recent mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando has sent deep shockwaves through Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities worldwide. For most gay people, a bar is the first place to explore their identities and a continuing place for socializing. “A feeling of safety has been taken away, magnifying everyday stressful experiences,” said Fred Elia, president of the Schenectady ­based LGBT support group A Thousand Moms. Elia also noted that this particular hate crime targeted both the LGBT community and people of color. "It hit a lot of nerves," he said. In an attempt to understand and reduce LGBT stress,

A Thousand Moms has released Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and LGBT/Q Youth. According to Dr. Bill Buffie, a contributor to the book: “Despite the prevalence of same­sex households and campaigns to protect human rights, gay persons find the very nature of their being constantly debated within our legislative bodies, the courts, and the mainstream media. They are subject to ridicule and are commonly the targets of demeaning and derogatory slang terms or insensitive jokes. Their morality and value as human beings are frequently questioned by individuals and organizations ignorant or unaccepting of current medical and social science literature concerning the gay population.”

Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and LGBT/Q Youth examines the effects of chronic stress on the brains and behavior of gay youth. Chapters cover increased vulnerability to learning difficulties, substance abuse, depression, and suicide.

The author, David Balog, is a science and medical writer. He worked for many years at the Dana Foundation in New York City. This non­profit organization focuses on building public support for brain research. There Balog created and wrote the highly successful Dana Sourcebook of Brain Science. He says, “Healing from the effects of chronic stress is crucial for gay youth to lead full lives. The process can only start with knowledge of the situations gay youth face and ways to reduce that stress and the ensuing problems.” ­­
--30­­--

Monday, July 11, 2016

Minority Stress and LGBT/Q Health

From my new book, Healing the Brain....

To order, click here.

Chapter Four

Minority Stress and LGBT/Q Health


Adapted from “Public Health Implications of Same-Sex Marriage,” Am J Public Health. 2011 June; 101(6): 986–990. William C. Buffie, MD. (Dr. Buffie has provided medical information for A Thousand Moms.)

One only has to consider the rash of recent teen suicides resulting from anti-gay bullying to begin to comprehend the magnitude of the public health problem faced by this country and its LGBT sexual minority. Despite the prevalence of same-sex households and campaigns to protect human rights, gay persons find the very nature of their being constantly debated within our legislative bodies, the courts, and the mainstream media. They are subject to ridicule and are commonly the targets of demeaning and derogatory slang terms or insensitive jokes. Their morality and value as human beings are frequently questioned by individuals and organizations ignorant or unaccepting of current medical and social  science literature concerning the gay population….

Being cast in such a light strongly contributes to the phenomenon known as “minority stress,” which members of this community experience in their struggle for validation and acceptance in our heterosexist society.

LGBT individuals are constantly subject to subtle, inadvertent, or insensitive attacks on the core of their very nature, even by people who profess no disdain or disrespect for them.




Unique to the LGBT form of minority stress—as opposed to minority stress engendered by societal prejudice based upon race, ethnicity, gender, or disability—is that one's sexual orientation usually is invisible to others. As a result, in addition to being the target of overt discrimination, LGBT individuals are constantly subject to subtle, inadvertent, or insensitive attacks on the core of their very nature, even by people who profess no disdain or disrespect for them.

For instance, if someone has a lesbian colleague but doesn't know the colleague's orientation, an innocent question—such as asking her if she has a boyfriend, rather than asking “Are you seeing someone special?”—implies a judgment regarding what is “normal.” When the “other” is invisible, faceless, or nameless, it is common for those in power to ignore the reality of the other's existence and the challenges the other faces. This interplay of power and prejudice, whether overt or covert, constitutes the phenomenon of heterosexism. Similarities to the racism and sexism so prevalent during the civil rights movements of past generations are obvious.

Internalizing Predjudice

This sexual-minority status, as explained by Riggle and Rostosky, is defined by a culture of devaluation, including overt and subtle prejudice and discrimination, [one that] creates and reinforces the chronic, everyday stress that interferes with optimal human development and well-being.

LGBT individuals, stigmatized by negative societal attitudes directed at the essence of their being, struggle on a daily basis to balance the dual dangers of publicly engaging their need for equality and validation and remaining closeted to find some calm through an escape from public scrutiny. Many gay persons internalize such discrimination and prejudice. Fractured social-support mechanisms and minority-stress–associated low self-esteem contribute to a high prevalence of self-destructive behaviors, such as substance abuse, suicide, and risky sexual behavior.

Institutionalized stigma and its attendant internalized prejudice (i.e., minority stress) stand at the forefront of this cycle, begetting higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, depression, suicide, and drug use

Hatzenbuehler et al. studied more than 34 000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants and found empirical evidence of the negative health effects of discriminatory policies relative to marriage equality. They surveyed participants in 2001 and 2002 on a range of psychological health indicators, and they administered the same survey in 2004 and 2005, after 14 states approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to opposite-sex unions. In the second set of responses, participants reported significantly higher rates of psychiatric disorders, with increases of 36% for any mood disorder, 248% for generalized anxiety disorder, 42% for alcohol use disorder, and 36% for psychiatric comorbidity. In the comparable control group from states without such amendments during the same time period, there were no significant increases in these psychiatric disorders.

Although causality may be difficult to establish, the association and prevalence of these disorders suggest that institutionalized stigma and its attendant internalized prejudice (i.e., minority stress) stand at the forefront of this cycle, begetting higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, depression, suicide, and drug use—all of which, when combined with suboptimal access to health care and fractured family-support systems, eventually contribute to higher overall mortality as well as morbidity from various cancers, cirrhosis, hypertension, and heart disease….

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Good stress, bad stress


Some stress can be good. It gets us up in the morning. Chronic stress can cause damage to nearly every part of the body.

Learn more! Healing the Brain