LIBYAN REVOLT

In spite of attempts to shut down the revolt by barring the internet and through violence, it appears the Libyan people will persist in their efforts for justice and equality. Libya has huge wealth from oil, however its people exist on around $2 per day. The West is complicit in the creation of this misery as it has propped up many client-states. This revolt, as the others throughout the Arab world are the unraveling of this system of client-states. The people's voice will be heard!

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON CIAVERELLA

It is a positive development to hear of the conviction of former Judge Mark Ciavarella who brought great distress to the lives of hundreds of children. However, what appears to have occurred is that the main issue that brought Ciavarella to justice was not based on concern for young people but solely based on money. The tax evasion issue, where money was involved was the fundamental issue. Ciavarella's actions went on without comment or anyone assisting the youth for years, but when money is the issue and its not getting into government coffers, then that is where the problem is seen. We need to work hard for real juvenile justice reform, this conviction is only the beginning.

BIEBER AND OTHER THOUGHTS

I have noticed that in our society, we are becoming more and more anti-intellectual, and those who who are the 'prophets' within our society, warning of the inherent social dilemmas are typically ignored by the mainstream media. I can think of Noam Chomsky as one example. I can also note that my message of a humane psychiatry is rarely discussed by the mainstream media, and most of my media interviews with the exception of one have been through alternative sources. The reason is that the mainstream media is bought. But not only this, corporate interests infiltrate most of everything. Our athletes wear corporate sponsored gear, our politicians are backed by corporate interests where we really have no choice but to support one corporate backed person over another. Recently, someone asked me my thoughts in regards to Justin Bieber. I feel bad for this young man actually. He is exploited by those around him and he does not know it. He may be enjoying fame now, but as with many young people caught up in this sort of thing, years later, things typically do not go well. We are a society based solely on seeking entertainment wherever it may be, we are apathetic, numb, and we do not want to have to actually respond to any real questions or challenges about where we are going and the course of our society.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
http://selfgrowth.com/experts/dan_edmunds.html

COMMENTS BY ANDREW FELDMAR

THE FOLLOWING IS A PIECE WRITTEN BY PSYCHOTHERAPIST ANDREW FELDMAR, I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THE SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.


I have been listening to people and conversing with them under the pretext of psychotherapy for over 45,000 hours by now. The theater of therapy requires preofessionalism, science, technique, illness, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment plan and evaluation. The reality of therapy consists of two people meeting. There is a space, a time and two people participating in each other’s lives. For better or worse. For Freud, analysis has no other aim than to allow two human beings to meet, in privacy and in truth. Truth is not fact. To tell the truth requires courage, because truth is always personal. We lie because we are afraid. Afraid that our own truths are not good enough. If I am concerned with my manner of living and what’s right or wrong with it, whom do I invite to critique my life? Therapy is based on the premise that it’s better to know where we stand than to avoid reality, however painful that reality is. If I had no secrets that I deny exist, deny even to myself, then perhaps I wouldn’t need another to help me disclose the secrets I’ve been hiding from awareness. In a new book, M. Guy Thompson states succinctly, “the things we hide come back to haunt us in indirect ways. We eventually suffer from the secrets we harbor, the same secrets that alert us to the things we fear about reality. This secrets contain a truth, not because they necessarily reveal the nature of reality, but because the things we conceal seem too real to accept”. The issues referred to above are ethical and political, not scientific, medical or psychological.

The Meeting of Two Persons: What Therapy Should Be (Lecture at 13th Annual ICSPP Conference, Syracuse, NY) by Dr. Dan L. Edmunds

The Meeting of Two Persons: What Therapy Should Be (Lecture at 13th Annual ICSPP Conference, Syracuse, NY) by Dr. Dan L. Edmunds

'Sane in an Insane World' - Freedomain Radio Interviews Dr Dan Edmunds

PAST COMMENTS REGARDING KIDS FOR CASH SCANDAL AND MARK A. CIAVARELLA

Focus should be shifted to true rehabilitation

Published: Thursday, January 29, 2009 Updated: Thursday, January 29, 2009 6:08 AM EST Editor: It is a positive development that Luzerne County Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan are being brought to justice for their actions in profiting from placing youth in detention facilities.

However, it is necessary for us to examine the problems inherent with residential and detention facilities themselves. In these settings, youth are placed often under conditions that lead them to further emotional distress. The decisions to place children is often not based on a genuine interest in the child�s best interests, but what will be profitable and the easiest way out of having to actually rehabilitate youth and meet their emotional needs.

It is no wonder that the socio-economically disadvantaged youth are the ones that are so frequently seen in this system. How does placing a child into a detention center or residential facility, which often is geared toward the concept of staff forcing conformity through rewards, punishments and often deprivation, teach a child who seeks to use power inappropriately that this is wrong?

How does a militaristic system teach anything but that children must submit to someone stronger than themselves? It only reinforces wrong ideas about power and domination.

These facilities are bound to create new emotional problems for these children. But the system profits here, as well, because then they are able to label and drug the children and make money in the process of billing for this injustice.

A youth is removed from the home, programmed, and when they conform to the expectations, released back to the setting that led to their distress and misbehavior to begin with. It becomes a vicious cycle.

These facilities are also very costly and their efficacy is questionable. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law noted the ineffectiveness of these facilities in treatment of youth as well as the many documented abuses that occur in such places.

Community-based options have proven effective and need to be more readily available and implemented.

We need to shift our focus to true rehabilitation and to addressing actual social problems, not locking our children away, drugging them into submission, and ignoring their needs.

DAN L. EDMUNDS, Ed.D.