WHY SOCIALISM by Albert Einstein

Why Socialism?

By Albert Einstein


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This essay was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).


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Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.

Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.

For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society. Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supra-national organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”

I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days. What is the cause? Is there a way out?

It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with any degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and simple formulas.

Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life. Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society. It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two drives is, in the main, fixed by inheritance. But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of behavior. The abstract concept “society” means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is “society” which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word “society.”

It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art. This explains how it happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence his life through his own conduct, and that in this process conscious thinking and wanting can play a part.

Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through communication and through many other types of influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.

If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay. In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption.

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers, the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals.

For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call “workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.

Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of the smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital, the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the “free labor contract” for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from “pure” capitalism.

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men, in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured? Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.

—All material © copyright 2000 by Monthly Review

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THOUGHTS ON RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

When I wrote ODDITIES OF RELIGION, I humorously addressed some experiences within religious traditions that I saw as irrational. Now, I must clarify that in this I am not being completely antagonistic towards religion or spirituality. I have met many ethical and compassionate people who are religious. My point is that having religion does not imply that one will be ethical, it is not a guarantee and that there exists within religious traditions many absurd and arbitrary rules and conditions. I believe we need to be more critical in our thinking and so even those who are religious I would urge to explore more carefully why they believe what they do. I think we all need to examine our beliefs and why we hold to them. One can stand in awe of nature, the stars, the wonderful things within life itself, and not necessarily be religious as well. In the past, maybe we needed more of mythology to comfort us, to give us explanations, to decrease our angst, but as we become more aware of our world and there become more rational explanations, then we have less need for these mythologies. However, I do worry for some what we choose to replace our former religions with. For example, I have argued that psychiatry has become a replacement religion. It provides a creed, offers its 'sacraments', and tries to reduce angst for some. However, I would argue that psychiatry is often lacking in rational science and objectivity and can be at times just as irrational as other religions. I have stated that ethics must always proceed technology, so as we begin to use objective science and we develop new insights, it must always be combined with ethics, and what is for the betterment of humanity.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

CENTER FOR FREE AND CRITICAL THINKING AND ACTIVISM

The Center for Free and Critical Thinking and Activism was established in 2008 by noted psychotherapist, Comparative Religion Scholar, activist, and author Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

The Center's purpose is to promote scientific inquiry, exploration of philosophical concepts, examination of comparative religion, and mythologies. In addition, the Center promotes holding beliefs based on logic and reason rather than ascribing to dogmatism, authority, or tradition. The Center encourages the skeptical questioning of ideas, concepts, beliefs, and authority.

The Center also encourages social activism. The Center is committed to erasing oppression in all its forms and is dedicaed to radical democracy where racism, class divisions, and inequalities cease and where there is true justice, not just for an elite few. We work for the liberation of oppressed persons, for basic human rights, cultural freedom, and ecological responsibility.

We oppose imperialism and militarism. We struggle against corporate exploitation of workers and the disadvantaged.

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NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL AUTISM ACCEPTANCE PROJECT

Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D., noted psychotherapist and author of NAVIGATING THROUGH THE MAINSTREAM has developed the Northeast Pennsylvania Autism Acceptance Project. The objective is to provide lectures, workshops, and trainings to parents, educators, special education departments and others that are focused on promoting autonomy, understanding, tolerance, inclusion, self-determination, and meaning in the lives of autistic and developmentally different persons. To arrange a consultation or seminar, contact DoctorEdmunds@DrDanEdmunds.com
or view the http://geocities.com/voice4autism

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THE ODDITY OF RELIGION: DR. DAN L. EDMUNDS' NEW BOOK HUMOROUSLY CHALLENGING RELIGIOUS DOGMATISM

Dr. Dan L. Edmunds' new book offers a humorous look at religious dogmatism. Dr. Edmunds had served as a chaplain and is a scholar of Comparative Religion who has had firsthand experiences with multiple religious traditions, therefore he is quite adept in explaining religious belief and also showing the irrationality of much of it. Dr. Edmunds is iconoclastic, but at the same time, he leaves us with encouragement and means to truly embrace life and to live as ethical human beings.
THE ODDITY OF RELIGION can be ordered through:
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Below is an excerpt from this recent book:

FROM DR. EDMUNDS NEW BOOK, 'THE ODDITIES OF RELIGION' (2009) At age 15, I was studying about the Middle East in Middle School, I was 15. As a project, I decided to interview some individuals at the local Islamic Center. It was here I encountered Ali, a kind gentleman from Saudi Arabia. He later invited me to his home for dinner and introduced me to others in the Muslim community of Fort Collins. I spent another two years studying Islam, learning the Qur'an and Hadith. To this day, I still remember how to recite Surah Al Fatiha, Surah Al-Ikhlas, and Surah Al-Kauthar as well as how to chant the Adhaan. I began working for a man, Ahcene, from Algeria, and every Friday attended the congregational prayers with him.

Islam was a simplistic religion based on the oneness of God, however I must admit I was distressed and remain distressed about the militant nature of the religion. As I mentioned some of the strange rules with Judaism, I found some of the same with Islam. There were certain guidelines about being ‘pure’ before prayer. I was given a handbook on what nullifies ‘wudu’ (the cleansing before prayer), one of them was breaking wind. So, if you fart before prayer, you need to wash again, if you fart during prayer, you have to do your prayer over. Allah does not like farts. More distressing was the fact that I saw women treated as second class. At the mosque, they were sent to the basement and were apart from the men. At dinners, they ate separately and only interacted with the men to serve their food. They had little voice. During Juma’a prayer on Friday one time, it was taught about the pleasures awaiting those who enter Paradise, but most of these pleasures were reserved for men, and the description of Paradise seemed much like a drunken orgy. It appeared to me that Muhammad was taking fragments of the religions at the time to consolidate power and bring unity to the Arab world, thus he was a radical political leader, a warlord and dictator.

During my high school years, I was friends with a Mormon girl who when I moved back to Florida from Colorado I decided to keep in touch with. I stayed with my grandfather for a week and gave her his address. Though, my family later located elsewhere, the Mormon missionaries ended up with this address and for almost 6 months each week would look for me and bring brownies. My grandfather would take the Brownies and never told them we were not living there, I guess after awhile they must have figured it out. When traveling through Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, I noticed a small shrine on the side of the road. Curious, I stopped to find that it marked the supposed site where John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith. Wow! Here I had been working in Tunkhannock, PA on the banks of a holy river, and I never knew it! How mistaken I was to think that the Susquehanna was just a smelly, polluted river! I began to think, maybe it might be like the Ganges, if I drink the water, I might be cured or healed, or go to Heaven. I remember my Mormon friend explaining to me this concept of people becoming spiritual beings to inhabit planets. Her mother had been wedded to her father in a Temple wedding, so by virtue of this, they were married eternally. However, the woman he presently remarried after the mother’s death was only wedded in the church itself, so their marriage would end at death. She also explained to me how she had baptized some of my relatives by proxy. This is why they keep genealogical records so they can baptize dead folks and give them the opportunity to become Latter Day Saints once they are dead. I think Elvis is a Mormon now.

When I was in graduate school at the University of Scranton I recall there being an extensive discussion surrounding the idea of transubstantiation, that is the changing of bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ by the priest using the words of institution, “Take, eat this is my Body” and “Drink this all of you, this the My Blood, the Blood of the New Covenant.” One of the Jesuit priests gave a discourse on how that in Roman Catholic theology that it was the priest stating these words that were most important and which led to the transubstantiation. I then asked what would occur if a priest were to walk past and bakery and mutter these words, if all the breads in the bakery would then become the Body of Christ. I can think of many who would probably much rather enjoy stopping off at their local bakery for a Body of Christ than having to endure sitting through a Mass.

When I was actually involved for a time in the Roman Catholic Church (I had been baptized and confirmed at age 18 in St. Brendan’s Roman Catholic parish in Ormond Beach, Florida), I recall two stories involving my parish priest. Once, about 5 minutes before Mass, I was asked to bring the priest’s elderly mother over to the Church. I did not realize that she had locked the keys of the rectory inside. The priest began cursing at me and telling me I should have been watching his mother more carefully. Immediately after this tirade, he went up the altar steps to celebrate Mass. I have to admit I was a bit disgusted with him, but a few weeks later I guess retribution came as he was walking up the altar steps the bottom of his alb caught on fire. I along with others had to get cups of water to put the fire out. The priest was not injured and he carried on.

I had a discussion, once again in a theology class, over the Roman Catholic concept of divorce. I had personally known individuals who had been married, had children, and then later had their marriage annulled. In each of these situations they had paid vast amounts to the Church and the annulment process was heard by a tribunal of elderly Roman Catholic fuddy duddy clergy. I questioned what they would know about this marriage and divorce process to begin with and why it rested upon their authority to make a decision. Aside from that, I asked the question that if these people had their marriage annulled, and there were children involved, then this made the children illegitimate, as the annulment implied that no marriage ever actually existed. No one ever responded to this. I also found the devotion to the “Sacred Heart” plainly unusual. I remember asking if we are going to pray to the Heart, why not the Sacred Spleen, or the Holy Gall Bladder? Beyond this, was the wax body parts I saw in some Italian churches and medals of body parts in the Greek church that were made and hung from an icon or placed in front of a statue to honor a particular ‘healing’.

I worked for a time as a chaplain in a nursing home. I found a lot of value in spending time with the elderly and it saddened me to see how for many of these folks their families were often absent. Even more disturbing was the fact that many of these people were lifelong members of churches, were considered in ‘good standing’ and even while in the nursing home would often send donations to the churches. I came to learn from the activities director that they had spend almost 6 months with no success trying to get a Roman Catholic priest to come and minister to these persons. I offered my services and was well received. I basically became an inter-faith minister. It did not matter to me the belief system of those I was dealing with, I was not looking for some future or even present reward. I looked mainly at that it was the right thing to do to be with these people, lend them an ear, and be comforting to them. I hope that someone will do the same for me when I am elderly. However- this situation caused me some trouble, let me explain: At the time I was serving as a chaplain I was still attached to an Eastern Orthodox Christian jurisdiction. I was told that I was to only minister to those of the Orthodox faith, and that I was to ask each person of their background before I ministered to them. I found this unfortunate and absurd, and in my rebellious and stubborn spirit, I refused to acquiesce. This was one of the last straws that led me out of the Orthodox Church entirely. There were many other issues, let me begin with that-

I first became interested in the Eastern Orthodox Church when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Florida. Having been in the Roman Catholic Church, I was taught that Orthodoxy was our sister Church. I visited a Greek Orthodox parish for the Divine Liturgy at Easter. It was a beautiful service with wonderful chanting, sweet smelling incense, brilliant Iconography. I was very impressed by the aesthetics as well as the historical nature of Orthodoxy. However, this very first visit to the Orthodox Church would be very telling and sum up a lot of my later objections. During the middle of the service, the priest interrupted the service and began yelling, “Sit down! Sit down! When you are standing it makes me nervous, and when I get nervous, I get annngggggry! And you do not want the priest angry at Pascha!” I could not believe my ears. I somewhat ignored the outburst and continued to take in the rest of the service.

A few years after this experience, I was ordained as a deacon in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. I recall encountering a Bishop who was a very haughty man who enjoyed having the people kiss his hand and certainly thought he was ‘all that’ because of his rank and title. It was my first Paschal service serving as a deacon and I had invited my family. The Metropolitan Archbishop was present, a jovial old fellow. I explained to him that my relatives were not Orthodox and would just be observing. He seemed fine with that, however the other bishop began pushing them into unfamiliar rituals and scoffed at them when they did not oblige. For instance, the Gospel book was presented for the congregation to venerate by kissing it. The bishop, having been told my family would only be observers, had the Gospel book shoved into their face. The bishop just stood there waiting for them to kiss it. My uncle politely nodded his head but would not kiss it. He later remarked to me, “I guess we are just not book kissers.” The following year, I was ordained to the priesthood. It would be soon after that I would spend some time in monastic life. While the time for contemplation and reflection was of value, I later began to question the real value of what I was involved in. How is spending my life in isolation from others really making any impact in the lives of others? In concluded it was not, and that was largely how I later entered the counseling field.

At one monastery, I had a number of interesting experiences (if you have not noticed, a lot of my experiences have been ‘interesting’). First, I walked into a room where there were chairs to sit, and also in this room was a small bed, more of a cot, with a picture on it. I was very curious as to what this was all about, so I asked the Abbot-Bishop of the Monastery. He explained to me that a Russian bishop had lived and died there and that had been his bed. He later went on with stories about how this Bishop could bi-locate and he had performed other miracles and that he was definitely a saint. At that moment, a nun (who I had great admiration for her boldness and willingness to tell it how it is) whispered to my friend, Deacon Zacharias, “nah, he was just an old senile man who used to chase me with his cane.” Deacon Zacharias later jokingly told me that if I did not behave in the monastery that this Russian Bishop’s hand would creep across that bed and grab me!

In this same monastery, I would experience what I came to turn the ‘putting out of the lights’ ceremony. It was Orthodox Christmas Eve. We had just finished the services for the evening and I left the monastery to stay in a hotel as I would be visiting my grandparents who were in town. Deacon Zacharias stayed behind at the monastery for the night. As I was leaving the church after services, I noticed a woman with a scowl walking in. I thought, I wonder who she is, never seen her before, and man, she looks rather unhappy. Well, the next morning, I would discover that this woman had to be escorted out of the Church by police as she went into the Church to smash things and kept repeating, “I am the devil, I must put out the lights.” Deacon Zacharias has always been a great friend of mine and he is autistic. His response to this situation I found hilarious, but it worked. He informed me that he told her “you do not have any devil, and if you do, maybe I can smack it out of you.” He said it was then that she actually stopped her bad behavior in the church and stopped trying to smash things. It was thereafter the police came and took her away. I later found out that the Abbot had met this woman before and had performed some sort of exorcism ritual over her. Obviously it did not work, but Deacon Zacharias’ plan to ‘get the devil out of her’ certainly did!

I went to visit a Greek Monastery in New York City. After the Liturgy, I was invited to lunch. The Archbishop was seated on a platform above everyone else. I was told that when I approached the bishop I was to bow my head, fold my hands, and say “Evlogeite, Master!” (Bless, Master), and after receiving a blessing and kissing his hand I could take my seat. I wanted to use the telephone while there, but told I would have to go through the same ritual (I decided the call was not that important). We were seated by rank. So, the supposedly more important you were the closer you got to sit to the Archbishop. I was not that important, so we sat towards the end of the table. The nuns did not eat with us, they only brought the food and wine. And boy was there much wine consumed by a group of monks! Basically, I was appalled by this hierarchical nonsense and saw no purpose in it other than men behaving arrogantly and using presumed authority to control and manipulate others. I would later learn that these bishops were involved in a scam involving a supposedly weeping icon. These two ‘monks’ were millionaires! I later learned of other scams of similar nature, one at a Russian monastery in Texas where they later admitted that their claims of having a weeping Icon was plain fraud.

I did have a very positive experience meeting the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, but this too would latter be shattered. I went to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Columbus, Ohio and the Patriarch was visiting. Many of the women had tattoos of crosses on their foreheads and they would cover their mouths after receiving communion. The service was similar to a Greek Orthodox liturgy but there was drumming included. I was invited to lunch and spoke with the Patriarch who appeared kind and down to earth. However, I would later learn that there was a schism in the Ethiopian Church and that this Patriarch had been accused of capitulating to an oppressive regime in Ethiopia. This sort of thing also happened in the Russian Orthodox Church, where compromise of principles occurred frequently. The worst of the worst was to discover that a Greek Bishop I had spoken with many times, and who people held in esteem, was guilty of molesting a child. This sort of thing is one of the worst travesties I can think of, because in the church, young people are unfortunately taught that their clergy are representatives of God. If they are taught to put faith in these people and see them in this pivotal role and then this trust is shattered, just imagine what this must do to a person. It was after this incident that I began to really have my doubts about remaining in the Orthodox Church, and it was the things that happened as a chaplain that I mentioned prior that I decided to finally depart.

Through my experiences, I came to some conclusions- first, that my initial desire to explore and embrace religiosity was based on a desire to be benevolent to others; however religion does not always teach benevolence, religious people are not always benevolent, and that one does not need religion to be benevolent. I also began to see how that religion is used by some as a means of oppression. I witnessed many who went through various rituals because it was 'what they were supposed to do' but it lacked any real sense of meaning for them and in many instances these rituals lacked any real sense of rationality. This was the other conclusion I came to, that religion often lacks any rationality; it plainly at times makes no sense. I find it interesting how new religions can be criticized as "cults" by the 'mainstream' religions, yet these 'mainstream' religions belief systems can often be seen as rather 'far out' though because there is a vast number adhering to it, it has become accepted. If we talk about body thetans, we are looked at strangely. If we talked about talking bushes and virgin births, we are not. To me, if we are to discuss "God", then it would be all the physical laws and our own innate potential as humans to be benevolent to one another. I have found that people often are looking to escape from life, to reject their own nature, and to try to alter nature. Rather than live joyfully, they live in drudgery expecting some idealized future existence. And often fear and rewards are employed to 'keep people in check'. Religion may have served as purpose in a time where people were distressed and sought meaning and stories and myths provided them comfort. But now, when we have the ability to explore our world far beyond previous eras, and we have more vast tools to be rational and make sense of our world, then religion becomes less of something that individuals should need to turn to. However, it remains because many in power impose it, families impose it on their children, and some retain it because for social reasons, to benefit themselves, or because they cannot find meaning in rational ways. Often rather than seeking to help and support one another, or looking to transform ourselves and our society, we await something from above to come and do everything for us, so we never take any real action, or we rattle of our laundry list of requests (or sometimes demands), hoping that they will be heard, and when nothing changes, we think, well maybe it was not the Divine will. Hopefully, we can come to a realization of just what it means to be a human being and how precious our lives really are!

DR. EDMUNDS RESPONDS TO POLICE SHOOTING OF EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED WOMAN AND 'COPS AS COUNSELORS' ARTICLE- SCRANTON TIMES TRIBUNE JUNE 17, 2009

Regarding the June 14 article, "Cops as Counselors": We cannot expect police officers to have the training of a mental health professional. However, it is necessary that they be provided some training on addressing the needs of those in crisis.

It is unfortunate that because of this lack of training that the potential for unnecessary escalation of crisis exists. It is unfortunate as well to see how dismal the mental health system is, which often treats people in crisis as objects, not people. For many individuals in crisis, both police and mental health professionals use force and coercion rather than compassion.

I recall in my work with a young man experiencing an extreme state of mind where he had delusional thinking and the hearing of voices. When police became involved, this often made him more afraid and agitated. I sought to connect with him, to build a relationship of understanding, and to join with him where he was. It took patience, but this was always a more effective means of de-escalation.

I suggest that there be a team of individuals to accompany police to crisis calls, people who may be familiar with the person in crisis as well as those with an appropriate level of training in dealing with crisis.

Some may argue about the inherent cost of such a program. However, I think it would be a huge investment in people's lives and offset the expense of unnecessary psychiatric hospitalization.

Lastly, I must comment on the choice of interviewing NAMI representatives as spokesmen for distressed people. This organization purports to be an advocacy group for the mentally ill. However, after Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa requested information from this organization, it was learned that they receive vast funding from the pharmaceutical industry. This makes them spokesmen for that industry, not the true needs of those in distress.

DAN L. EDMUNDS Ed.D.


www.DrDanEdmunds.com

I DOUBT IT: FROM BELIEF TO UNBELIEF

Recently, I wrote an essay detailing my experiences with various religious groups and my period of serving as a chaplain. I also commented on why I have come to a rejection of certain religious thought and conceptions. It was suggested to me to expand that essay into a book and I am presently undetaking that endeavor, with the title to be of the forthcoming work, "I Doubt it: From Belief to Unbelief"

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
Professor of Comparative Religious Studies and Human Services
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

RESPONSE TO SCRANTIN TIMES ARTICLE, 'COPS AS COUNSELORS"

Editor:
I am writing in regards to the article, "Cops as Counselors" (Sunday, June 14, 2009). We cannot expect police officers to have the training of a mental health professional however it is necessary that they be provided some training on addressing the needs of those in crisis. It is unfortunate that because of this lack of training that the potential for unnecessary escalation of crisis exists. It is unfortunate as well to see how dismal the mental mental health system is, which often treats people in crisis as objects, not people. For many individuals in crisis, both police and mental health professionals use force and coercion rather than compassion. I recall in my work with a young man experiencing an extreme state of mind where he had delusional thinking and the hearing of voices. When police became involved, this often made him more afraid and agitated. I sought to connect with him, to build a relationship of udnerstanding, and to join with him where
he was. It took patience, but this was always a more effective means of de-escalation. I suggest that there be a team of individuals to accompany police to crisis calls, people who may be familar with the person in crisis as well as those with an appropriate level of training in dealing with crisis. Some may argue the inherent cost of such a program, however I think it would be a huge investment in people's lives and offset the expense of unncessary psychiatric hospitalization. Lastly, I must comment on why the author of this article chose to interview NAMI representatives as spokespeople for distressed persons. This organization purports to be an advocacy group for the mentally ill however after Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa requested information from this organization, it was learned that they receive vast funding from the pharmaceutical industry. This to me, makes them a spokesperson for that industry, not the true needs of those in distress.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

PRISON ABOLITION

I am a supporter of the prison abolition movement. The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate. There is vast racial and class disparity within this system and prisons have failed to provide anything rehabilitative to these individuals. There are countless individuals who have committed non-violent crimes who are separated from their families, languish without any skills, are put in settings where violence is actually promoted, not discouraged. We find many situations where a young, poor person will be sent to lengthy time in prisons, whereas those with the resources to hire extensive (and expensive) legal representation are not sent to prison. Many residential 'treatment' centers for juvenile offenders can be seen in the same way, they are not always rehabilitative but rather seek the young persons conformity. The efficacy of such programs are questionable and there have been countless documented abuses in these facilities, not to mention that many of these young persons are typically disadvantaged. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, in 2002 alone, states and the federal government spent more than $4.2 billion on residential treatment for children and youth with less than stellar outcomes. Program evaluations showed a very low rate of success for residential 'treatment' programs.
The disadvantaged are always the ones who are more likely to be psychiatrically drugged for reasons of social control and who are typically oppressed. I believe that we can find a more rehabilitative and restorative model of justice, and that we must focus our efforts on community based alternatives. In addition, if we focused more time and energy on the roots of crime, which largely is a social justice issue, and we transformed ourselves and how our society operates, particularly in regards to the disadvantaged, we would see a vast decline in crime. But as people feel hopeless and desparate, the chances of their entering into criminal actions for 'survival' remains high. When persons are released from prison, they are often set up for failure, as who wants to hire a convict? Thus, a cycle is started, and thr ruling class benefits, because these days the prison system has become a for profit industry. We must come to a greater sense of equality, fairness, and then it may be that what we term 'justice' may really arise.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

MY ENCOUNTER WITH RELIGION

MY ENCOUNTER WITH RELIGION
by Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
Professor of Comparative Religion and Human Services
Founder, International Center for Humane Psychiatry


When I was 4 years old, I had my first encounter with the realm of religion. I was dressed in white shorts with matching white dress shirt and tie. I accompanied by great grandmother to the services at First Baptist Church in Apollo Beach, Florida.
I went to a summer camp at the YMCA in Town N' Country in Tampa for a few weeks. This YMCA later burned down and the land was boughtr by Buddhists who turned it into a Temple. When I was 18, I visited this Temple with my mother and brother. We were treated with much warmth and compassion by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who offered us food and conversation.
My next encounter would be at a Lutheran summer camp that I attended with my cousin at my mother's insistence when I was 7. Even though I was only 7, I can remember to this day being disturbed by their frequently sending envelopes home with me asking for donations. This was on a weekly basis. I did not enjoy this camp, maybe even though a child I could read something about the insincerity of some of the people there. It was not until 13 that I attended any other religious service. A family friend with Lou Gehrig's disease invited us to two different groups he attended, one was a Messianic Hebrew congregation, the other a Full Gospel Church. This family friend was a man with a great heart, so I decided to attend with him. It was during this time, I encountered my first time seeing persons 'slain in the spirit' and 'prayer in tongues'. I did not find anything spiritually uplifting about what I saw at all but was actually terrified by what looked like a person having a seizure. I had some Reform Jewish friends at school, and after my exposure to the Messianic Hebrew Congregation, I wanted to see what authentic Judaism was. I attended Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins and participated in a summer course on learning Hebrew. I found many friends at the Temple, but felt in spite of this that there was some exclusivity because of my not being born and raised in a Jewish home. I spent two years attending the Temple, but finally decided that I did not fit into the Jewish community, though I had respect and admiration for Judaism. I was studying about the Middle East in Middle School, I was 15. As a project, I decided to interview some individuals at the local Islamic Center. It was here I encounterd Ali, a kind gentleman from Saudi Arabia. He later invited me to his home for dinner and introduced me to others in the Muslim community of Fort Collins. I spent another two years studying Islam, learning the Qur'an and Hadith. To this day, I still remember how to recite Surah Al Fatiha, Surah Al-Ikhlas, and Surah Al-Kauthar as well as how to chant the Adhaan. I began working for a man, Ahcene, from Algeria, and every Friday attended the congregational prayers with him.
Islam was a simplistic religion based on the oneness of God, however I must admit I was distressed and remain distressed about the militant nature of the religion. My friend, Margaret, was a Mormon, and she often asked me to come to chuch dances and services from time to time. However, I never could accept the ideas of Joseph Smith being the restorer of the 'true' church or Jesus visting the Native Americans. I find them family oriented people, but their beliefs were too unusual for me to embrace. I recall meeting a man who was a Bah'ai and was interested in how they seemed to be sycretistic and read from many different scriptures. I attended Methodist, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches on various occassions with friends when invited. My family moved back to Florida. When I was a child, there was a YMCA that was in my neighborhood where I went swimming. and down the road from us was a Roman Catholic Church. I began volunteering there, and became involved in a ministry for the physically challenged. I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church after a period of study and inquiry. When I left for college, I remained an active and devout Roman Catholic, however I began to take great interest in the Eastern Rite. In Gainesville, there were no Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, so I attended the closest thing, a Greek Orthodox Church. I was enthralled by the beauty of the Liturgy and at the time was reading Eugira's diary, a 4th century account of the worship of Christians in Jerusalem. The worship I saw took me to that time and place. I began having discussions about Church history, Church Fathers, etc. with a group of Catholic and evangelical friends. We began attending Orthodox services. We formed into a campus mission and were eventually received by the Russian Orthodox bishop. I continued my degree in Religion and later petitioned to an Ukrainian Orthodox bishop to become a deacon in the Church. I was ordained to the diaconate in February 1996, only being 21. A year and a half later, at 22, I would be ordained to the priesthood. Prior to all this, while in college, I would be given the assignment of writing on a religious group for a class that we had never encountered before. There was a Hare Krishna temple in the area, so I chose to visit there. I remember entering a room and seeing a wax statue of Swami Prabhupada. Behind a curtain was an image of Krishna. The room was full of incense, bells were rung and food and flowers sat in fron of the image of Krishna. A small accordion was being played and bhajan being chanted. After, there was a meal and discussion on the Bhagavad Gita.
After my ordination to the priesthood, I visited monastic communities and lived monastic life for a time. I remember enjoying visting a small chapel in Tarpon Springs, FL. However, over time, I began to dislike the hypocrisy and authoritarianism within the Church. I recall many infightings and political disputes. I was particularly disturbed by the ethnic quarrelings I witnessed as well. Too make a long story short, I made my depature from active ministry, and began simply serving as a chaplain to the elderly. For a brief time I served as an interim pastor at a United Church of Christ, a group somewhat divergent from what I had been involved in, but compassionate people lacking a pastor at the time. Through my experiences, I came to some conclusions- first, that my initial desire to explore and embrace religiousity was based on a desire to be benevolent to others, however religion does not always teach benevolence, religious people are not always benevolent, and that one does not need religion to be benevolent. I also began to see how that religion is used by some as a means of oppression. I witnessed many who went through various rituals because it was 'what they were supposed to do' but it lacked any real sense of meaning for them and in many instances these rituals lacked any real sense of rationality. This was the other conclusion I came to, that religion often lacks any rationality, it plainly at times makes no sense. I find it interesting how new religions can be criticized as "cults" by the 'mainstream' religions, yet these 'mainstream' religions belief systems can ofen be seen as rather 'far out' though because there is a vast number adhering to it, it has become accepted. If we talk about body thetans, we are looked at strangely. If we talked about talking bushes and virgin births, we are not. To me, if we are to discuss "God", then it would be all the physical laws and our own innate potential as humans to be benevolent to one another. I have found that people often are looking to escape from life, to reject their own nature, and to try to alter nature. Rather than live joyfully, they live in drudgery expecting some idealized future existence. And often fear and rewards are employed to 'keep people in check'. Religion may have served as purpose in a time where people were distressed and sought meaning and stories and myths provided them comfort. But now, when we have the ability to explore our world far beyond previous eras, and we have more vast tools to be rational and make sense of our world, then religion becomes less of something that individuals should need to turn to. However, it remains because many in power impose it, families impose it on their children, and some retain it because for social reasons, to benefit themselves, or because they cannot find meaning in rational ways. Often rather than seeking to help and support one another, or looking to tranform ourselves and our society, we await something from above to come and do everything for us, so we never take any real action, or we rattle of our laundry list of requests (or sometimes demands), hoping that they will be heard, and when nothing changes, we think, well maybe it was not the Divine will.

THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR HUMANE PSYCHIATRY PRINCIPLES

Below is the principles of the International Center for Humane Psychiatry, established in 2006 by Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.


The International Center for Humane Psychiatry was founded in 2006 by Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D., B.C.S.A., and is an emancipatory movement of mental health professionals, psychiatric survivors, educators, activists, and others concerned about human rights in the mental health system.


Our work is to fight against oppression and coercion in the mental health system, to eradicate the hierarchical barriers between 'doctor and patient', to eliminate the medicalization of emotional distress, and to develop means of helping distressed persons where their autonomy, experience, and dignity is respected. We seek to return a conscience to the field of mental health and create an environment where people undergoing distress feel validated, empowered, and capable.

We believe in the power of the human spirit and each person's potential to be resilient. We believe that the forging of relationship is a key to emotional healing as well as the ability to help a person explore themselves, their world, society, and the human condition. We we seek to join with people in setting life goals, understanding the human condition and experiences without looking upon the person as defective. ICHP encourages involvement in issues related to social justice and believes that our working together to create a world free from poverty, greed, conflict, and discrimination will go a long way towards the development of true mental health.

We seek to be pro-active and preventative in our care for persons. We promote drug free, relationship based approaches for troubled and distressed children and adults and encourage the development and implementation of community based programs. We advocate for juvenile justice reform and for an education system that inspires a zeal for learning and is respectful of children's innate strengths and abilities. We believe in the development of community based options. We are opposed to force and coercion in the mental health system.

We seek to provide a place of sanctuary for people in crisis or undergoing extreme states of mind, where they can feel supported and validated, and not be subjected to any 'treatments' they do not desire. We believe distressed people thrive in environments that are non-threatening and they feel safe.

We collaborate with and offer consultation to parents, educators, and children and their families to develop relationship based approaches and problem solving towards resolving issues of distress, realizing that people are resilient and capable of healing from distress. We have been successful in helping individuals not have to resort to psychiatric drugs or to be able under the direction of their physicians significantly reduce their use.

We believe the key to this healing is by the forging of relationship and the construction of meaning. We believe that compassion is one of the highest ideals. We believe that psychiatric drugs do not teach new ways of living, thinking, loving, and being, whereas people do. We are particularly concerned about the vast prescribing of psychiatric drugs (many which carry warnings of suicidal ideation, violence, agitation, and aggression) upon individuals' well being. We are concerned about the unethical conflicts of interest existing between medical psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry.

We seek to provide to those individuals undergoing serious distress a place where they feel safe, secure, and can begin to begin the process of discovery and overcome fear and emotional chains.

We do not feel that locking individuals away in institutions solve human problems, rather it is through compassion, empathy, and seeking to understand our human condition that true mental health will arise. We believe that placing persons in mental hospitals is equivalent to incarceration however the distressed person has committed no crime, rather they are subject to a psychiatric ceremonial where the pschiatrist seen as 'sane', interrogates the person, makes a judgment, and then declares a sentence. We believe that psychiatric diagnosis often stigmatizes and limits opportunity for individuals. We believe that modern society is driving people 'mad' and that we must have radical transformation of ourselves and our values as well as return to a greater sense of community. We believe those who call themselves therapists must be actively involved in issues of social justice, helping end oppression and encourage liberation for marginalized persons. We recognize that distressed individuals must be treated as persons with respect and dignity. We believe in recognizing that even the most troubled persons and families have innate strengths. We believe that persons need to be given informed consent and not seen merely by a diagnostic label. We believe that ethics must proceed technology. We believe that bio-psychiatry has often used brutal methods (such as electroshock, insulin coma, toxic drugs, and lobotomy) and has evoked much harm in the lives of individuals and does not provide any true answers to the problems of life. We believe that there is no objectivity and science to the process of psychiatric diagnosis and that those diagnosed are often stigmatized and oppressed in society by virtue of this label.

We encourage drug free relationship based, problem solving, and holistic approaches and encourage individuals who choose to use helpful adjuncts such as meditation, acupuncture, tai-chi, and yoga. The International Center for Humane Psychiatry is one of few entities taking a strong stand on social justice issues and seeking to create a mental health system that does not treat people as objects, but persons.

We believe that it is also necessary for us to assume personal responsiblity and accountability for own own actions and choices and to not resort to the use of or embracing of labels to exonerate ourselves and institutions.

CHILDREN OUR TREASURE AND ROOTS OF DISTRESS NOW AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM

I have very pleased that ROOTS OF DISTRESS and CHILDREN OUR TREASURE are now available at Amazon.com
I have recently been delivering lectures in regards to ROOTS OF DISTRESS which addresses the communications and dynamics within families that leads to emotional distress and how destructive cycles are often perpetuated. It also explores the social factors that lead people to 'madness'. Aside from this, I offer a plan as to what we can actually do to meet people's real needs and to prevent our own and the suffering of others.
CHILDREN OUR TREASURE was my first text published in 2006 which explores the role of the psychiatric establishment in regards to children, critically explores ADHD and psychiatric drugs, and explains relationship based means of meeting our children's true needs.

I am hoping that soon my recent text, NAVIGATING THROUGH THE MAINSTREAM, which is based on acceptance of autistic persons and how to aid them through challenges will also soon be available on Amazon.

Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

TREATING PEOPLE AS PEOPLE, NOT LABELS

It is very exciting to see the expansion of our work. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, and possibly even beyond Northeastern Pennsylvania, we are the only alternative to drugs and labels, we are the only ones offering a perspective of journeying with the client and seeking to understand their experience. In addition to seeing clients in Tunkhannock, PA, I am now beginning plans to also have a location in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Many individuals have come from across Pennsylvania and from neighboring States looking for an alternative to a system that has evoked more harm than good upon them.
I have been delivering talks on my recent book 'ROOTS OF DISTRESS' which details the familial, social, and political processes that leads to emotional distress and offers a plan for taking action. In addition, my first book "CHILDREN OUR TREASURE", which addresses drug free approaches for children who have received the label of ADHD as well as exploring the psychiatric system in regards to children is now available to be ordered through Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/CHILDREN-OUR-TREASURE-Childrens-Bio-Psychiatric/dp/B002AD1R0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243784603&sr=8-1

EDITORIAL IN THE MIAMI HERALD REGARDING THE TRAGIC DEATH OF 7 YR. OLD GABRIEL MYERS AND THE ROLE OF MIND ALTERING PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS

Miami Herald
Answers needed in case of child’s suicide
April 24, 2009
Editorial
OUR OPINION: Mistakes apparent in death of seven-year-old Gabriel Myers



By the time it becomes necessary for the Department of Children & Families to intervene in a child’s life, the youngster almost certainly has already been severely traumatized by neglect and abuse. The agency faces tough, agonizing choices, but the objective never changes: Always act in the best interest of the child. That didn’t happen in the depressingly sad case of 7-year-old Gabriel Myers, who threw a tantrum last week and hanged himself in the shower of a foster home.

Clearly, somebody dropped the ball. Now it becomes the responsibility of police, DCF and other agencies to determine what happened, how it happened and why. Then, DCF and all of the other public entities and individuals who had a hand in this matter — including the state lawmakers — should determine what must be done to prevent another child from suffering a similar fate.

Doctor `red-flagged’

A good place to begin the examination is with the menu of potent, mind-altering drugs that Gabriel was taking under a doctor’s prescription. The boy was being treated by a Broward psychiatrist who had been red-flagged by a state agency as having ”problematic” prescribing habits, according to a state Medicaid drug-therapy expert. The term applies to doctors with a high volume of prescriptions of mental-health drugs or who prescribe potentially risky drug combinations.

DCF has of history of relying too heavily on psychotropic drugs to manage children in its care. After a series of Miami Herald stories describing the problems, the Florida Legislature passed a law that attempted to control and limit the use of psychotropic drugs on children. The legislation cited a DCF study in 2004 showing that 13 percent of all children in state custody were receiving and least one psychotropic drug. The study also showed that 25 percent of the children living in foster care were being treated with psychotropic drugs, a rate five times higher than in the general population of Medicaid-eligible children.

Sound judgment needed

Laws can be prescriptive, provide guidance, set parameters. They specify fines and penalties when the intent, if not the spirit, of a statute isn’t followed. No matter how well it is crafted, though, no law can substitute for the human intuition and sound judgment of caring individuals.

People who cared about Gabriel, including a guardian ad litem and some of his relatives, believed that the psychotropic drugs he was being given could have been doing more harm than good — something the 2005 law attempted to address and cautioned against. More to the point, allowing potent drugs to be used inappropriately to control a child’s behavior would be a short cut that is contrary to DCF’s mission.

With Gabriel’s death, the question to be answered is whether the DCF is living up to its goal of acting in the best interest of the child.

THE LABEL

I remain in denial.
I shall not face the truth.
I shall escape in any way I can.
I will use who ever I may for my plan of escape.
I dislike those who use labels for themselves.
I will use one not commonly heard.
Through this, I can find my excuses, I can find my way out.
Never mind my sins, this label will absolve me.
Never mind the sins of my family, it will absolve them too.
I will retreat, and no one will know who I really am.
I will keep in that way.

AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES

The supposed dramatic increase can be attributed to the fact that autism is an umbrella term in which certain behavioral characteristics which can arise from various causations are being placed together. It is an adjective, not a noun, Autism is not a entity in itself. Children with actual physical conditions can display the traits of autism, however there mauy also be other factors as to why a child expresses behaviors that fall under this categorization. In addition, children who in the past were labeled with mental retardation are now being reclassified in the category of autism. Also, various developmental challenges are being classified as PDD and there exists the diagnosis of Asperger's. These are considered part of a spectrum and thus are accounted in the rates of autism. Lastly, there is some indication that the diagnosis of Asperger's is frequently overly used and suggested for children who may exhibit any form of social awkwardness. The umbrella of autism can include the behaviors exhibited by those having actual actual organic disease, but this cannot be verified as the sole causation of autism (Sanua, 1983).
Hammersley, et. al (2003) reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry a linkage between childhood trauma and the development of later auditory hallucinations. McKenzie (2003) notes that those who develop features appearing as psychosis often experience a traumatic event in the first 18 months of life. In regards to autism, in examination of the over 70 children I have directly been involved with in therapy, it appears that there are a number of common themes. The majority of the children were Caucasian. Therefore, it would be of interest to further examine multi-cultural aspects of autism. The rates of autism have appeared more prevalent in Western cultures. The majority of the 70 children experienced birth trauma or a traumatic event usually in the first year of life. It is seen that autistic children have a rate 12 times higher of birth trauma than their non-autistic siblings. The rate of complicated pregnancy with these children was high. In addition, a majority also had exposure to toxicity- either through parental drug use, elevated levels of protein within the amniotic fluid, or heavy metal toxicity. Some children had a medical condition (such as cerebral palsy). All of the children displayed social deficits, however those in the more severe range of autism who had language and communication barriers, had both factors of toxicity as well as trauma within the first year of life. This is not to blame parents for the occurrence of the traumas. Most of these events, with the exception of parental drug use during pregnancy is beyond the control of the parent. It also appears that environment and the use of appropriate interventions has the ability to override the factors causing developmental challenges however where there existed a chaotic environment for the child that such reactivated the prior trauma and futher complicated the ability to resolve challenging behaviors. Thus, psycho-social challenges can further the isolation and withdrawal exhibited and continue to halt development. Psychotropic medications would be a means by which a new toxin would be introduced and the anti-psychotics such as Risperdal carry significant risks as far as potential for tardive dyskinesia, weight gain, and other adverse events. Their mechanism of actions is merely to subdue behavior and blunt the brain. Therefore, if children have developed challenges due to toxicity, then adding more toxins will not be to their benefit. It will be necessary as well to examine the trauma. This appeared to often be birth trauma or in some cases a physical condition (such as cerebral palsy) and many of these children were hospitalized in neo-natal care which would imply a separation from parents. This separation and the experience of intensive medical intervention could have a role in the sensory integration problems these children experience and why some autistic children may experience difficulties in regards to affection and touch. In addition, these children often have higher pain threshholds which could be accounted for in some instances to exposure to substances in utero which have caused them to develop a higher production of natural opiates. There appear to be more males than females diagnosed with autism. This is possibly due to males being more susceptible to the impact of environmental toxins. In addition, the males may have had higher testosterone levels in utero. Baron-Cohen (2004) noted that those children with higher testosterone levels showed more significant social deficits. As mentioned prior, appropriate intervention in a conducive environment can be overriding to these challenges. Therefore, an intervention plan should be established which does not seek to force or coerce the child towards conformity to what is 'typical' but is respectful of the inherent differences in the autistic person and helps them to navigate through the mainstream. We need to come to a greater level of acceptance of autistic persons and encourage their self determination and self-advocacy.

COME JOIN THE MASQUERADE and LISTEN

COME JOIN THE MASQUERADE

Come Join the Masquerade!
The spoiled rich boy wants to be a Bohemian!
Did you hear? He wants to be a Bohemian!
He will discard his riches and all the glittering trappings.
He will roam the streets and live among the simple ones, sharing his arts and tricks.
He will discard the ways of his people.
He will receive mommy and daddy's riches, but dare not let the simple ones know.
And he will say to the simple ones, "I know you well, I am one of you."
And the simple ones, seeing the mask will receive him.
But when they uncover the mask, they will find something more gruesome underneath, and the spoiled rich boy will escape again to the arms of mommy and daddyn and the bosom of the elite.


LISTEN

All I ask is to be heard.
Yet when I look at you, you turn away.
You do not have time for me. Your world created my pain, and when I seek to share a glimmer of my experience, you look at me with revulsion. Staring at the watch, pretending to listen, but really distant. And some of you seek to mock me further. Is it not the wish of us all simply to be heard? And because there is no one to listen, no one to understand, I retreat into myself, and I find my own to listen.



Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

WHITE COLLAR, COLLEGE EDUCATED, DRUG DEALERS

Psychiatrists are college educated, white collar drug dealers who have received sanction to deal their drugs. Their drugs disable the brain, causing a chemical imbalance (which never existed before), subdue the person, and somehow the person becoming docile is interpreted as 'progress'. Rather than society truly addressing oppression in all its forms, we allow the psychiatrists to numb, so we do not have to think.

Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com
International Center for Non-Psychiatric Alternatives

STORY OF DR. RUFUS MAY FROM THE INDEPENDENT (UK)

I have been very inspired by the life and work of Dr. Rufus May. His humane approaches towards distressed persons is something I seek to encourage as well and I appreciate his explanation from actual experience of how the current mental health system operates and what we need to do to develop more understanding and compassion.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com













The mad doctor: The extraordinary story of Dr Rufus May, the former psychiatric patient

At the age of 18, Rufus May was diagnosed as an incurable schizophrenic and locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Now, he is a respected psychologist and a passionate campaigner on mental health issues. He is also the guest editor of this special issue. Here, he tells his extraordinary tale


Sunday, 18 March 2007


When I was aged 18, I witnessed first hand how society's approach to mental health wasn't working. I was admitted to Hackney hospital - a psychiatric hospital - and told that I could not leave. On the verge of adulthood, and feeling lost after my girlfriend had left me, I had invested in a spiritual search for guidance. The messages I picked up from the Bible convinced me I had a mission. Seeking to discover what my mission was, I slowly deduced that I was quite possibly an apprentice spy for the British secret service. I was eventually admitted to hospital when I became convinced that I had a gadget in my chest that was being used to control my actions.


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Psychiatric hospital was like another world entirely. Queues for the medication trolley punctuated the boredom and general sense of hopelessness. Any resistance to the regime was quashed by forcible restraints and powerful injections. Many friends felt too scared to visit me.

That experience coupled with being given a diagnosis of schizophrenia made me feel like a social outcast. When my parents were told my condition was probably genetically inherited, the die seemed irrevocably cast. Ward rounds felt like elaborate religious rituals conducted by the consultant psychiatrist, with an audience of medical students and student nurses observing, while my insanity was confirmed and long-term drug treatment prophesied. I found the medication made me feel empty and soulless; I could not think past considering my basic needs. The drugs made me physically weaker and affected my hormones so I became impotent.

I was concerned about this. However, to the outside world, because of the mind-numbing effects of the drugs, I was less focussed on my spy and spiritual beliefs. The doctors pronounced that I was responding well to the medication. I was determined to stop taking the tablets and injections as soon as I could find other ways of staying calm and centred.

The majority of fellow patients were revolving-door patients. I myself was told I'd be back. It was true: I was readmitted twice before I managed to escape the role of mentally ill regular customer. But I was luckier than most: as well as my parents visiting me daily, a close friend came back from selling pots and pans to US servicemen in Germany and began visiting me daily too. I started to pick up on her belief that this breakdown, or whatever it was I was having, was something I could get over.

When I was 12 years old, I had witnessed my mother make a strong recovery from a disabling brain haemorrhage, so instinctively I knew that I could turn my life around with the right support. So I decided not to believe in the doctor's wisdom and planned to get a job as soon as I left hospital. While I was still in hospital, I started going to churches and community centres offering to do voluntary work. Although I must have seemed a bit odd, I found many kind people who were willing to give me tasks to do and slowly I started to rebuild some social skills.

When a friend and fellow patient, Celine, took her own life after being heavily over-medicated, it became a turning point for me. It was a Caribbean funeral and hundreds of people turned up for it. It contrasted strongly with the absence of support she had had when she had been alive and hearing abusive voices from her past.

I realised then that I had found a cause that needed no delusions to support it. Like Celine, I had gone through the strange process of being talked to as if I was not there, of professionals trying to suppress my odd and disturbing behaviour with drugs without trying to understand why I was acting as I was. No one seemed willing to think what was it like to walk in my shoes.

We, as a society, were making people madder and maybe I could do something about changing that. What if I could make a different kind of come-back to the psychiatric ward, as a mental health professional? Then perhaps, in Trojan horse style, I could help dismantle the myths of the psychiatric hierarchy. The more I thought about this, the more I realised I would have to keep my former identity as a psychiatric patient strictly under-cover.

When a junior psychologist informally questioned my diagnosis of schizophrenia, suggesting I had had a temporary psychotic episode instead, it made me think maybe psychology was a way of doing things differently. So my mission was becoming clearer: I would train as a psychologist. I knew I needed to sort myself out to some extent before attempting this journey.

My first job, straight out of psychiatric hospital, was working as a night security guard in north London's Highgate Cemetery. I now think that patrolling the heavily wooded grounds in the dark was a deeply therapeutic activity. With no time to daydream, I had to stay aware and face my fears of the dark and the unknown. I also think just walking in close proximity to nature was a very healing process.

It was during this time that I successfully came off my psychiatric medication, against doctors' advice. I then spent several years doing a range of jobs and learning creative ways to express myself, using dance and drama. I shifted my focus from thinking about myself to trying to help others, while making sure I looked after my mind and body. I used the outdoor gym on Parliament Hill, sport and breathing exercises as natural ways to manage my moods. I was careful to avoid unreliable or abusive friends and stick with people who had stuck by me. Studying sociology helped me understand the wider structures of society, demystifying such things as the class system and power relations between men and women.

I was reminded of the prejudice against the subject of mental illness when a right-on community centre refused to support me and a group of amateur drama students putting on a play about a nervous breakdown. Nevertheless, from drama classes I learnt the art of re-inventing oneself through improvisation. I will always remember how one of my drama teachers impressed upon us all the message that "this life is not a rehearsal". My confidence in acting was to become useful over the next 10 years of carework and psychology training, where I chose to keep quiet about my previous role as a psychiatric patient, to avoid the possibility of discrimination.

For me, the dividing line between the mentally ill and the sane was more a question of social boundaries than actuality. I had found some very mad people in hospital very helpful and some of the so-called "well" nurses quite bullying and hostile, it suggested to me that to some extent madness was in eyes of the beholder. I also knew that my own madness had been meaningful; for example, my fantasies about being a spy had given my life meaning and my search for a spying mission was a metaphoric search for a meaningful quest in my life.

My training as a psychologist in the early 1990s, coincided with a time when psychology as a profession was beginning to interest itself in trying to understand and work with madness, an area which was usually associated with the more medical, drug-prescribing profession of psychiatry. For the past 10 years I have been working as a psychologist covering a broad range of mental-health problems. I know that to really help someone who is deeply suffering or confused, we need to be very creative and offer a wide range of resources.

In Bradford we have self-help groups where people are encouraged to help others as well as themselves. We also create spaces where for example art, spirituality and physical relaxation can be explored in a number of different ways. We have Tai Chi classes, dance classes and African art classes, as well as political and cultural discussion groups. If people hear troubling voices, I want to understand these beings that haunt them. I will sometimes communicate directly with the voices and try to facilitate a peace process between the voices and the person hearing them.

I must be living proof that people can resist so-called command hallucinations, because initially many voices feel threatened by me and tell the voice hearer to attack me. I am still unscathed, which is a strong testimony to the fact that people who hear voices can learn to resist the most bullying and aggressive of them. So instead of encouraging people to suppress their experiences, which I think generally makes them worse, I try to assist people to face their demons in their own time.

Is society any madder than 20 years ago when I was in hospital? It seems to me that some things are getting worse and some things are getting better. People are getting bolder in talking about their experiences of distress and madness. This is refreshing; the status quo, in which well-meaning professionals and charity heads are the only experts, is starting to be challenged. Britain is a leading light in this consciousness raising, where people are coming out more and more about their experiences of emotional distress. Consequently, a broader range of ideas and approaches to what helps us heal troubled minds is being listened to.

At the same time, the might of the pharmaceutical industry is stronger than ever before; drug companies are ruthlessly promoting the simplistic and misleading "chemical imbalance" theory of mental distress, while marketing our discontent as diagnosable medical illnesses. In the US, they have been very successful, with roughly 10 per cent of women taking anti-depressants and an astonishing 10 per cent of children being treated for ADHD with the amphetamine derivative Ritalin. Each year in this country, prescription rates rise for psychiatric medication.

While I am not against all use of mind-altering drugs, this trend is worrying. I think that when drugs appear to work, the main effect is that of masking a patient's problems, but as soon as you remove them the problems bounce back, often with a little more oomph due to the fact they have been artificially suppressed. You also need more and more of the drug to achieve the same effect, because our brains build up a resistance to all mood-altering substances. We are then likely to experience the more negative effects of the medication and develop a dependence.

So drugs are limited in their usefulness and are perhaps best used as a last resort and for short periods of time. This is not going to be popular in the board rooms of Big Pharma, the Big Brother of mental health. But if we are going to make progress in our quest for healthier communities, we are going to have to limit the pharmaceutical industry's influence on how we understand our minds and approach the recovery process.

SOME EXCERPTS FROM MY RECENT TEXT, "ROOTS OF DISTRESS"

ROOTS OF DISTRESS addresses the social, familial, and political processes that drive people 'mad' and leads to serious emotional distress. It examines the methods of communication within families, the social problems we face, and explores means of creating transformation in ourselves and how we interact with others and our world. The text is available to be ordered at http://stores.lulu.com/voice4kids.
Also available at this site are prior works-
CHILDREN OUR TREASURE: MEETING OUR CHILDREN'S TRUE NEEDS OUTSIDE OF THE BIO-PSYCHIATRIC PARADIGM(2006)
COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF DRUG FREE APPROACHES TO ADHD (2007)
EXPERIENCE: THE SOUL OF THERAPY (2008)
NAVIGATING THROUGH THE MAINSTREAM (2009)
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Our behaviors are how we communicate distress; they are for some the only form of communication they know.
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Is our work solely leading people to become proper conformists, to do what others are doing? Is our work solely to make people adapt to totalitarianism, to do what they are told to do? It has always been these two processes that have led to the most dangerous of outcomes. When freedom and autonomy are taken, and individuals can no longer be individuals, when critical thinking has ceased, we have entered a dreadful place. Maybe we are already there.
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Being a deviant from the structure can have dire consequences for the child, from within the family structure itself and as a result of the energies wasted in a struggle to change something where they have not been empowered to evoke change. They are left only to comply. Their unhappiness and discontent will be ignored to preserve the 'integrity of the family structure."
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Familial secrets exist, trust is lacking, and children are guarded about their expression. Children may be lied to and dilemmas between family members masked or suppressed. The real nature of things may be shrouded in confusion and 'mystery'. Mixed messages may arise, or the members of the family may see themselves placed in 'damned if you do and damned if you don't situations." Some family members may frustrate themselves in striving for the 'ideal' structure which never arrives.
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In the dysfunctional structure, as in oppressive societal regimes, there are those who seek rebellion. Rebellion against the structure becomes more pronounced in the stage of adolescence where already the teenager is beginning to exert a greater sense of autonomy and desire to be apart from the familial structure. However, because children lack the resources for which to engage in a rebellion that could be successful, the rebellion is always squashed. What does this leave the child to do? They can do little but endure and await the period where they can break free from the structure that they find oppressive.

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What exactly is a person? We live, but what does it mean to actually live? Who are we? Where are we going? What exactly are we doing? Must we do anything? Must we go anywhere? It is innate in us to search out for meaning, wherever it may lie.
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What is success? We may find many, many answers. It is often our view of what success is that shapes our vision, our goals, and ultimately who we are and will become. Our views of success should be tempered with the reality of our mortality.

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PSYCHIATRIC LABELING IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT

We must look at the various psychiatric labels that are put upon persons as social constructs. If we take for instance, the label of "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)" this tells us alot about the society in which we reside. We have become a society based on competitiveness and where each must 'fight their way to the top', this becomes taught early on in schools and particularly the college admission process. We see the aftermath of these ideas in the corruption we are seeing as well as our current economic woes. ADHD is thus a direct product of a capitalistic society. And what is labeled as personality disorders and schizophrenia and other psychoses are resultant of familial, social, and political traumas, basically oppression inflicted on individuals. But, we have become a mechanical society, bent on seeking to fit in, thus individuals are finding various means to alter themselves (never really knowing or udnerstanding their actual selves) be it through cosmetic surgery or altering their personality and moods through the use of psychiatric drugs. We are being told that "if you become depressed because you lost your job, or you are being discriminated against, or your neighborhoods are not safe, do not worry- there is a drug that will make you feel better" all the while nothing in the environment changes. If we expect people to be more fulfilled, for a real sense of 'mental health' to arise, then we must focus on a radical transformation of ourselves and our society. If we choose not to do that, we will only become more and more mechanical, and we must ask- can such a society truly survive? Will there come a time where we are all driven mad?

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

A few stories from my past therapeutic work...

I recall with with fondness, a 5 year old boy I had worked with who had been given a diagnosis of autism. He was completely non-verbal when I first encountered him. He came into my office and began to bang on the computer keyboard. So, out in the main room of the clinic was a large pit of plastic balls. So, I told him, "I am going to have to scoop you up and throw you in the ballpit." He smiled and walked away, only to return to the keyboard with his hand outstretched towards the keyboard, not touching it, just grinning. Just as he touched it, I picked him up and said, "yep, to the ballpit with you." He giggled and smiled, and then returned to the keyboard again, but this time he did not touch it, he just fell into my arms and then for the first time spoke to me, "Throw me in."
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In working with a gentleman with Down's Syndrome, I came to discover that he had a dream of being a minister and spent alot of time reading spiritual texts. He frequently would ask me the question- "how do I have a pure heart." And we would have various discussions on ways to treat others kindly and so forth. When he would be argumentative with his mother, she only need say "that's not a pure heart" for him to take a kinder tone. In wanting to help him to fulfill his desire for ministry, I wrote to the Bishop of the LCAC and explained I wanted to have a ceremony and give some sort of responsibility to this person so that he would feel his dream of being a minister had been fulfilled, if only partially. So, this is exactly what we did, a service was held at which he participated and he was admitted to the role of a cleric and given various responsibilities within his means. This event brought enormous joy to him and his family. Similarly, many years prior, I had helped an autistic person with the same dream to become ordained as a deacon in his church, and he later assisted me in my work as a chaplain at a facility for the elderly.
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AUTISTIC LIBERATION

I was informed of an autism telethon being hosted in my area (Northeastern Pennsylvania) and is to benefit "The Northeast Regional Autism Center at Friendship House". First, this program much like the Autistic Society of America are operated by non-autistics who believe that they know what is best for the autistic individual and whose basis is on forcing and coercing young autistic persons into being 'normal' (whatever that may mean). So, individuals who support such programs are led to believe they are helping, or that they are 'helping those poor autistic children." But they are not, maybe without even realizing it they are supporting their oppression. They fail to realize that autistic persons are seeking respect, dignity, and autism (just as left handedness or sexual orientation) is a part of who they are. Autistic persons may need supportive people to help them 'navigate through the mainstream' but they do not need programs that try to force them to be something they are not. I speak this as a person who it was suggested that I may be within 'the autism spectrum" but I have never been one for labels. I fully support the Autism National Committee and autistics.org- the real voice of autism as these groups are actually operated by autistic persons. I am also pleased to see that there exists an Autistic Liberation Movement. As this movement has stated many times-autistic individuals are persons, not puzzles.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

FINALLY, NAMI TIES TO BIG PHARMA ARE TO BE LAID BARE

*It is very pleasing that FINALLY the corrupt schemes of NAMI is becoming to become made known to the public. Hopefully individuals will begin to realize that NAMI is NOT an advocacy organization but rather a front group for pharmaceutical companies.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com












Bloomberg News - 6 April 2009





Grassley Probes Financing of Advocacy Group for Mental Health


By Nicole Gaouette


U.S. Senator Charles Grassley expanded his investigation into drug
company influence on the practice of medicine by asking a nonprofit
mental-health-advocacy group about its funding.


In a letter sent today to the National Alliance for Mental Illness,
based in Arlington, Virginia, Grassley asked the nonprofit group to
disclose any financial backing from drug companies or from
foundations created by the industry.


The Iowa Republican, in a series of hearings and investigations, has
focused on financial ties between the drug industry, doctors and
academic institutions. His efforts have led New York-based Pfizer
Inc. to begin disclosing consulting payments to U.S. doctors, and
Harvard Medical School in Boston to reexamine its conflict-of-
interest policies. Now Grassley is expanding his inquiries to
nonprofit groups.


"I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical
industry shapes the practices of nonprofit organizations which
purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions," Grassley
wrote in his letter.


Officials at the National Alliance for Mental Illness didn't return
calls for comment.


The group identifies itself as the largest grassroots organization in
the U.S. for people with mental illness and their families. The group
came under scrutiny in 1999, when the magazine Mother Jones reported
that 18 drug companies gave the group $11.7 million from 1996 to
mid-1999. The article reported that at one point an executive of
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. worked out of the nonprofit
group's headquarters.


A 2007 annual report showed that the group's corporate partners at
that time included Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth; London-based
GlaxoSmithKline Plc; Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac; and the
Washington-based trade group Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America.


Financial Report


A separate financial report shows the National Alliance for Mental
Illness brought in $10.5 million in contributions in the year that
ended June 30, 2007. The donors aren't broken out.


Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection,
a New York-based nonprofit that promotes ethical research, said the
National Alliance for Mental Illness may have drawn Grassley's
attention because it lobbies Congress for mental-health funding.


"Academics and physicians give an appearance of authority," Sharav
said by telephone. "Industry gives them the money. Grassley has been
going after each group systematically, and the dots are being
connected."


In January, Grassley and Senator Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat,
reintroduced the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which would require
manufacturers to report on payments to doctors and any physician-
owned facility.


Pfizer Announcement


Grassley's investigations have led to changes in industry and
academia. Pfizer made its announcement about disclosing physician
payments in February. In March, the American Psychiatric Association
said it would no longer accept industry support for symposiums and
meals at its annual meetings.


On April 1, Stanford University School of Medicine, near Palo Alto,
California, said it would post on a Web site all income faculty
earned from royalty payments and outside consulting.


In the March 31 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association, a group of researchers and physicians called for
professional medical associations to transform their operations to
avoid conflicts of interest posed by "extensive funding from
pharmaceutical and device companies." The group included Steven
Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist.

In looking back upon the work of the radical psychiatrist, David Cooper, I was particularly impressed with his term of 'liberation zone'. In this psychotherapy should be a place where a person is able to feel free to be themselves and to be able to shake off the shackles that constrain them and lead them to distress and despair. In my book, ROOTS OF DISTRESS ( http://stores.lulu.com/voice4kids ), I have commented extensively on the social and political processes leading to emotional turmoil as well as emphasizing the need to return to understanding experience as well as creating community.
I have expressed as well the frustration with seeing children who are trapped in situations of mistreatment, situations that perpetuate distress and lead to madness, and that manys approach is to solely have them conform or 'adapt' or 'cope' with the injustices. Or worse, they are removed from the situation only to be subjected to new circumstances (hospitalization, residential 'treatment') that only further perpetuates distress and causes alienation. So, I suggest that we need to look carefully at this term of 'liberation zone'. We need to establish places where our sense of community can flourish, where children (and adults as well) can work through the injustices perpetuated upon them, to feel safe again, a place of true sanctuary. If we began to develop these sort of places, then we would be truly contributing to the well being and 'mental health' of persons. But, a situation as this would run very counter to our societal greed, of our expectation to make profit at the expense of another, or really to make profit off the suffering of another.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

NEW CONCEPTIONS OF FAMILY

Many times I have seen the mistreatment of children who are subjected to horrors within their families, but because they are 'minors', nothing much is done. They are subject to 'endure' their private horor until they reach the age of majority, but by that time many are driven mad, the damage has been done.
Maybe we should redefine what 'family' is? What if children were allowed to build attachments to those they so chose? A child who would leave these scenarios and enter homelessness is once again subject to the horrors and control inflicted upon them by ruthless adults be it through prostitution or other travesty.
Maybe it is necessary to break down the barrier between being a youth and being an adult. Adults certainly have generated actions that have led to great despair and destruction. Maybe the innocence of the child could hold more value. What creates persons of hate? What creates persons who establishes barriers with others? We are not born this way, rather it is what adults teach to their children that causes them to act in these ways. Could it be any worse to give children rights? To respect their autonomy, to guide rather than control? The concept of the kibbutz, where persons live and collaborate together, and in where some kibbutzim, all have all role in guiding the children, could be a concept that expanded could be a better way to conduct a society.

SEEKING TO CREATE SANCTUARY FOR THOSE UNDERGOING EXTREME STATES OF MIND

In my text, ROOTS OF DISTRESS, I described the story of "Alan", a young man who had been painted by many as seriously troubled and unreachable. The excerpt is as follows:Alan was seen by most as an obstinate young man who had completed departed from any sense of reality. His hallucinations had earned him the diagnosis of a psychotic disorder not to mention he frequently displayed aggressive behavior when provoked by authoritarian "in your face' type of individuals. Reading the charts from before, it painted a monstrosity, but gave little detail to what Alan’s experience might have been. When I first encountered Alan, I did not demand that he speak to me or that he not speak to me. I made no demands. I solely informed him that I was a supportive person who wanted to know him for who he is. This opened the door to intense dialogues. Together we explored questions about life that we both may have never thought much on before. The topics would drift to purpose, impermanence, suffering, the human condition. He related to me the pain of years of abuse, how he felt dehumanized and humiliated by the various people he thought would help him. He told me of his feelings of being alone, of being nothing. This feeling of nothing for him was an end at the time, but really it was the beginning. It was the door for him to question life, to question what he had been taught, to become. He related to me about his hallucinations, and his imaginary friends became mine as well. I asked about their habits, and their words. I noticed that these beings he saw were him at various points in time. As I met each of these beings, I learned something a bit more about the experience of Alan. Gradually as his emotional needs were met and he began to see himself once again as a singular person in the present moment of time and space, these beings began to depart. I saw in Alan the resilient human spirit and I will not forget him.



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I recall as well the deep intense fear that Alan experienced. I recall on one occassion that Alan's father had been intoxicated and very abusive, Alan would run away from his home with no destination in mind. On one of these occassions, I went to search for Alan. At first, he ran from me, and I called out to him and let him no who I was and that I was safe and he would be safe. In the frame of mind he was in, he saw only enemies and he later told me that though he heard my voice, he was not sure if something ore someone was going to come do him harm. I knew that Alan needed a period of respite, and I admit I was also curious to know how Alan would be apart from the chaos of his family life. Whenever he was seen as 'troublesome', he would be taken to the hospital where he would be injected with anti-psychotics and various other 'treatments' would arise. Alan became accustomed to these trips to the hospital, but admitted that he felt he had no control over his life, he had no autonomy, and he did not feel heard or understood. I desparately wanted to create a sanctuary for Alan, if I could only provide it for a short time. I was able to arrange a situation where Alan could spend a week away from his home, I would meet with him as he so chose, and he would be able to feel he had some autonomy and was not going to be forced into anything or treated abusively. During this period, Alan settled greatly, and he appeared to smile and laugh more, it appeared a time where he was genuinely happy. The behaviors that many labeled as disturbed and disturbing faded. However, as I sadly predicted, when the time arose for him to return leave, he became agitated and depressed. On the evening before Alan was to return home, I was at a dinner gathering at which I delivered a speech. I did not realize Alan would also be attending. Following the dinner, Alan appeared to be angry and he stormed out of the building and began wondering the grounds, and then going into the nearby woods. I went to talk to Alan, he refused to go back to his family home with the person who brought him to the dinner. He told me he would only return if I accompanied him. So, though it was late in the evening, and I must admit Alan wore me out in his escapade through the woods, I rode with him to his home. I met with the family, and tried to mediate the situation, but though it was not possible to remove him from the challenges there entirely again, I sought to establish a support network for Alan, and met with him frequently. As I have also mentioned in some of my past writing, it appears sadly that many young people are trapped in situations that are almost like a prison sentence, and though we seek to be compassionate, and we seek to help ameliorate the situation, there appears many things beyond our control to change. But, if we can offer our time and our willingness to listen, as well as help the individual develop their strengths, their passions, and build for the future when they can part from this 'prison', we have accomplished much.

Where did the wraparound programs go?

In my prior research I conducted, I found that wraparound programs were an effective means to reach troubled and distressed youth and was a positive alternative to more restrictive settings. The concept of wraparound was to connect the child and their fmaily to community resources and to 'wrap' services around them to help them navigate through challenges. Today, this has all changed. With managed care companies at the helm, profits come first, not children and their families. Psychiatric drugs are often pushed to remain part of the services. There is no focus on community building and positive resources, everything has succumbed for the most part to the bio-psychiatric establishment and to the interests of a number of elites profiting from the system. Reumbursement rates for those going into the field to seek to help children have not changed in years, and agencies providing wraparound are barely staying afloat, some closing, while the managed care companies rake in money (all coming from taxpayers). What we will soon find with current societal conditions and with this lack of providing real support to families, is a generation of children largely drugged, numb, and apathetic. We will find a rise in anti-social behaviors. The money that these managed care companies sought to cut to put into their pockets will now cost taxpayers far more as children's needs become more costly because they never received the support they really needed.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Senator LeAnna Washington Seeks Sanction on ex-Luzerne County Judges

-Senator Washington has always been a dedicated advocate for children and had been previously involved in legislative hearings on the dangers of psychiatric drugs for children.-




Sanction on disgraced ex-Luzerne judges sought



BY ROBERT SWIFT
HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF
Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 6:17 AM EDT
Senator: This should never happen again

HARRISBURG — A Philadelphia senator is the first to seek a legislative sanction against disgraced former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

Sen. LeAnna Washington, D-4, Philadelphia, has sponsored a resolution condemning the two judges who pleaded guilty last month to taking kickbacks to help develop a privately owned juvenile detention center.

The senators’s resolution raises questions about a miscarriage of justice, citing the 25 percent of juvenile defendants sent in recent years to the detention center run by PA Childcare LLC in Luzerne County and noting that many youths appeared before the judges without legal representation.

“These two administrators of the court blatantly conspired with others to defraud county government and most egregiously conspired to have our youth subjected to confinement when in many instances it was not warranted,” said Ms. Washington in a statement.

The resolution calls on the state Supreme Court to study the state’s juvenile justice system and exercise greater oversight over its operations.

“We as legislators, as well as the Supreme Court, need to take a long critical look at the entire juvenile justice sys�tem to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” added Ms. Washington.

Ms. Washington is the rank�ing Democrat on the Senate Aging and Youth committee.

Prospects for quick action on the resolution appear uncertain. Some senators and in-house attorneys believe the Senate should refrain from voting on resolutions or holding public hearings until the federal investigation into the Luzerne County courts wraps up.

SOME BRIEF THOUGHTS ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

Within capitalism, there has always existed the exploiter and the exploited. Today's economic crisis is the result of a select few bent on extreme greed being able to accumulate as much wealth and resources from others without consideration of those who they exploited to amass their wealth. There must be 'winners' and 'losers', the winners are those who have been able to play the game and obtain the resources. But this does not take into account that many were never allowed to be part of the 'game' to begin with, and that many of the 'winners' never played by the rules or chose to frequently change the rules. This has also been a part of how our government has interacted with other nations. The government has often occupied other nations or intervened in its affairs solely to advance the 'game' and to protect the interests of corporations and the elite. When our government commits violent acts and attrocities, we are told it is 'war', when others do it, we are told it is 'terrorism'. Both are wrong. While enslaving others, we are told that we are fighting for 'freedom', but whose freedom?
This translates to many going without basic human necessities or at best being in 'survival mode', and such is what is leading to a rise in anti-social behaviors as many are feeling hopeless and in despair, and families are being forced to 'abandon' their children to take on more work and responsibilities just to survive. At the same time, there are others who have accumulated many resources, but it is accomplished by exploiting others.
Hopefully, rather than falling into overwhelming and debilitating despair, we can begin to tackle the core issues, and to strive towards building a society where persons basic human rights and necessities are provided, where we begin to come together in community again, where workers are respected and provided an appropriate wage, where there is freedom and a real sharing together in the future direction of our nation.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

CREATING PEACEFUL MINDS

All human beings have suffered from negative minds and delusions, yet we tend to become focused on ourselves, shifting blame for our errors to others, and creating barriers with others based on our own conceptions. Is it possible for us to love others without exception? Even those who we feel have wronged us? Even those we feel are deluded? Even those we feel are the 'lowest of the low?' If we can begin to look at individuals as having been shaped by their experiences and their circumstances, we will begin to develop love and hearts of compassion. If we realize that we all enter the world the same, but our experiences shape us, we can begin to see how that it is not only others, but ourselves who over time have developed negative minds, have taken upon us deluded thought. Yet, within each of us, lies that innate benevolence, the potential to do that which is good, to be happy, and to have peace with others. If we strive to create peaceful minds and to develop patient acceptance, we will see that this will influence our interactions with others, if even but a small way. This seed, once watered, will grow within ourselves, and if others are influenced and also seek to do the same, it is then possible that we can create a society where poverty, injustice, greed, violence, etc. are no more. We created them in our minds, we can erase them with a new mindset.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info