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Tips for Talking to Your Doctor About God

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Medical Correspondent, gives five tips for people and families who are hesitant to bring up their religion and faith in God to their doctors in the face of a medical problem. Her article also has a link to the Christian Medical and Dental Association for those looking for doctors on the same religious page as them.

The Psychological Aspects of Abortion

Mall, D. & Watts, W.F. (eds.). (1979). The Psychological Aspects of Abortion

. Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America. Symposium sponsored by the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University.

 

OVERVIEW

 

Although the papers in this book are critical of elective abortion, the participants are Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish and the papers not normally Catholic or Christian. These essays confront the beliefs that "abortion is psychologically safe" and that "carrying an unwanted child to term is more traumatic than abortion." It presents data to question the automatic prescription of abortion for the difficult cases of rape and incest.

 

Sandra K. McMahkorn’s study concludes that "pregnancy from rape need not devastate the victim and that abortion could, in fact, even compound feelings of guilt and self-blame." Similarly George E. Maloof analyzes how "a family turned inward through incest impairs the contribution each member owes to the whole and to the building of an integrated society." He sees the answer not "in aborting a rare incestuous pregnancy but in helping the incestuous family to grow outward. A profession which employs a single modality of treatment such as abortion to a situation amenable to others has simply boxed itself in and shows an alarming lack of imagination." The writers here challenge us to think in terms of creative alternatives while presenting data on options that have worked. Several essays refer to studies and present evidence of psychological problems suffered by women after abortions. Such evidence has been too scarce in the discussion from both sides of the issue.

 

One paper notes, "Without question, abortion is psychologically a symbol of the despair which seems to be endemic in modern society. It is a totally negative response to environmental pressures. Without the benefit of an affirming love, abortion is always an empty response—a gesture of denial..."

 

A bibliography of books, journal articles and studies concludes each chapter—although these are from the 1970s and 1960s.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

  1. What is life?
  2. What do you really want for yourself?
  3. How can we stand with you as a caring and supportive community?
  4. How can you come to fully love yourself and all others?
  5. No matter what has happened, how can you be reconciled to yourself and others?

 

IMPLICATIONS FOR PARENTS AND FAMILIES

Adolescent pregnancies, incest, and abortions are family matters that call for family response. Two general responses include avoidance and denial, which perpetuate family problems; and openness and discussion, which promise growth. Families hurt, but can heal and grow.

 

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

In addition to counseling, social work, intervention, and sex education, schools should provide a learning atmosphere that offers natural opportunities for considering the traumas of life, the hope for solutions, and the values that will enhance a society in which all human life has the opportunity to grow.

 

IMPLICATIONS FOR YOUTH LEADERS

 

As society tends toward convenient, standardized solutions, youth leaders have the opportunity to deal individually and relationally with young people, to explore challenging options, and to ask hard questions that demand reflection.

Dean Borgman cCYS


Body Work

Gaines, Judith. (18, March, 2001). “Body Work.” The Boston

Globe Magazine.

 

 

OVERVIEW

A cannula is a needle-like tube used to remove fat during liposuction. It’s about eight inches long. Of course there are also knives for breast implants, or inking needles for tattoos, and so on. Take your pick. Cosmetic surgery, says Gaines, was a $15 billion industry in 2000 in America – this country’s fastest growing medical specialty. About one in every 28 Americans has upgraded their body via cosmetic surgery.

 

But that’s just the beginning. Short of surgery, the body enhancement mindset has led to a spa-sanctioned splurge on laser and chemical peels, collagen and botulinum injections, and skin sanding. According to Gaines, “Americans as never before are treating their bodies like works of art, redesigning them to do what nature and nurture have not.”

 

There are a number of reasons for this, some demographic, some commercial. And the increasingly mainstream acceptance of body modifications seems to march hand in hand with technological advances and the lessening of medical risks. “Appearance is the coin of the realm,” says Gaines. “The body increasingly is treated like a commodity, a casing that can be manipulated to become as attractive as its occupant can afford.”

 

One demographic catalyst is that the baby boomers are turning 50 (one every 15 seconds), and they have the financial means to get the bodies they want. In 2000, according to the US Census Bureau, boomers accounted for 43 percent of all cosmetic surgery. There has been a fifty percent increase in the number of men opting for surgery since 1992. Also, with fewer medical complications to worry about, and with a promising life-expectancy, more elderly patrons are having work done.

 

On the procedural side, there are also improvements that make body modifications less invasive and safer. Anesthesiology, laser equipment, ultrasonic probes, and endoscope tubes and fiber-optic cameras have advanced in ways that mean less cutting, less bleeding, less pain, and easier recovery periods.

 

All of this costs money, to be sure, but the procedures are not out of reach for the middle-class. Gaines reports that 65 percent of cosmetic surgery patients have household incomes of less than $60,000. Surgery has become “an affordable fashion statement.”

 

Average costs in 2000:

 

·        Liposuction, $2,300 (most popular)

 

·        Breast augmentation, $3,100

 

·        Face lift, $5,135

 

·        Laser resurfacing, $2,400

 

New domains of the body are also being explored for aesthetic adaptation. Ribs are removed to make waistlines appear smaller. Ears are sculpted. Tongues split. And Gaines notes that among 15-30 year-old women there is a growing demand for genital surgery. Older domains, such as piercing and tattooing, are now receiving an aggressive revival of interest.

 

Mik Miller, a long-time body piercer who pierces approximately 200 tongues, navels, noses, nipples, and genitals each week, says that with the rise in business there is a loss in ritual. “There’s no mystique anymore.”

 

 

Some think the increasing commoditization of tattoos and piercing reflects the globalization of culture and the collapse of class barriers. Others worry that this obsession with the body actually reveals how detached we are from our bodies. Social analyst Andrew Kimbrell observes: “Our over-worked, high-speed lifestyles have severed any relationship between our bodies and the cycles of nature, including our body’s own natural rhythms. Our narcissism, he continues, has “turned us into a nation of body-image ‘junkies’.” 

 

 

But the medical establishment takes a more practical view. People today are “entitled” to look good, says Dr. Richard Ehrlichman. Consumer interest, plus smart technology, skilled surgeons, and the subtraction of social stigma seems to have made this viewpoint both possible and common. 

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

 

1.      What role does consumerism play in shaping the mentality that embraces artificial body enhancement?

 

2.      Do teenagers today expect to take advantage of the improving technology/cost of such surgeries?

 

3.      How can we moderate or challenge this apparent obsession with body image?

 

 

IMPLICATIONS

The combination of narcissism and technological know-how often conspire to make things possible for us that are not natural. In some cases this may be a genuine gift. However, the task for discernment and guardedness is vital, especially for today’s teenagers. The principle that all people are created in the image of God cannot coexist with the assumption that people can also be created in the image of culture.

Educators screen teens for signs of depression

 

Daley, B. (1999, October 11). Educators screen teens for signs of depression. The Boston Globe. pp. B1, B4.

OVERVIEW

We know depression is widespread among teenagers and young people from their suicide rates. Not all depression leads to suicide, of course, nor are all suicides due to depression. People may spend a lifetime in depression without killing themselves, and there are impulsive, angry, and romantic suicides.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds in the U.S., the fifth-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds, and these figures have more than doubled for both age groups since 1950. Better reporting may explain some—but certainly not all—of this increase.

In October of 1999, Holliston High School became one of 15 high schools nationally to screen all its students for signs of depression. It was part of National Depression Screening Day. A difficulty in screening teenage depression is our inability to determine the difference between real depression and the emotional lows typical of teenage mood-swings. Questions on the instrument used included; "Do you feel everything you do is wrong?"

Senior Rebecca Healy, 17, offered insights from her perspective:

‘A lot of teens are upset and some are clinically depressed, but it can be hard to tell between the two. A lot of teenagers hide depression. There is a stigma attached to it, because if you are clinically depressed, you see a psychiatrist, and then you might be crazy. It’s very sad. That’s why they feel so lonely.’

The exact nature of childhood sadness and teenage blues is the issue here. Douglas G. Jacobs, a Harvard psychiatrist who founded the National Depression Screening Day, understands that although " ‘teenage angst can be related to a specific event, depression lingers whether times are good or bad.’ "

The blues have one symptom and depression has multiple symptoms. Depression doesn’t go away.

According to Carol Glod, a researcher at McLean Hospital and associate professor at Northeastern University:

‘We know children can be depressed. But we need to figure out how teenage depression is different from adult depression. Right now we’re using the same criteria_But how is it unique to adolescence?’

For a variety of reasons, twenty parents of 1,100 students at Holliston chose to keep their children from the survey. But Karen Bresnahan, parent of a senior, was enthusiastic about this screening:

‘I believe children can be depressed. As parents, we do everything and anything to help our kids. It’s wonderful the schools care, too.’

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

IMPLICATIONS

  • How serious do you consider the problems of depression and suicide to be?
  • Do you see suicide as the other side of homicide in terms of symptoms or expressions of adolescent angst and rage?
  • Do you have any thoughts as to the difference between adult and youthful depression?
  • How would you determine the difference between someone who has the blues and someone who is clinically depressed? What constitutes a genuine cause of alarm and need for intervention?
  • What do you think of a National Depression Screening Day?

  1. Family, friends, and adults relating to teenagers need to be aware of this problem and prepared to intervene appropriately.
  2. Interventions appropriate for someone chronically down in the dumps and someone clinically depressed are different as are the style of interventions by family members, friends, teachers, counselors, and youth workers.
  3. Families, schools, churches (temples or synagogues), the media and community clinics, need to find effective ways in which to work together.
Dean Borgman cCYS

Landscapes of the night: How and why we dream

 

Evans, C. (1983). In Evans, D. (ed.). Landscapes of the night: How and why we dream. New York City: The Viking Press.

OVERVIEW

Evans purports that the mind is like a computer and that sleep is needed in order to "file programs" that have been learned throughout the day. The result of this filing is dreams.

He describes three prevalent theories on human sleep. He shows that each theory is based on extensive experimentation, yet he also illustrates how each group fails to explain certain questions essential to determining why and how people dream.

Next, he presents scientific data relating to sleep and sleep deprivation. Offered with this data are other data on dreaming, a common partner to sleep research.

These studies lead him to propose a new theory about the brain and its relation to dreams. He notes through this research that humans need sleep and need to dream. When deprived of sleep, people begin to hallucinate (experience waking dreams), and they start to experience mental breakdown. When people are not deprived of all sleep, but are deprived of dreaming sleep, the same occurs. Then, one "makes up" dream time when he or she next has uninterrupted sleep.

Evans contemplates how a computer works. When programs must be rewritten or updated, a computer is often taken "off-line" so that it can be modified without changing other programs. Evans equates this process with sleep in humans. When we sleep, our brains are "off-line," not accepting outside input. During that time, the brain sorts through information gathered during the day and processes or "files" it appropriately in short- or long-term memory. The dreams one remembers are the bits of this process that seep into our conscious minds, usually in the process of waking.

After proposing his idea, Evans "troubleshoots" possible problems. He suggests that his theory answers the principal questions of how and why we sleep/dream, but he also realizes that, as new material emerges, his theory will be adjusted.

Evans agrees that, in dreams, one can work through problems and gain solutions. He approaches the supernatural from the perspective of the paranormal and disregards any "psychic" possibilities of dreams.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

  1. What do you think about the author’s analogy of the mind being like a computer? What do you think about his suggestion that sleep allows one to "file" programs previously gathered?
  2. How can this information help someone working with a young person trying to understand his or her dreams?

IMPLICATIONS

  1. Dreams may be the result of one’s subconscious mind working through and assimilating information in ways that one’s logical, conscious mind is not capable of doing.
  2. Dreams may be useful in solving problems. As the mind sorts new information and conflicts, fresh combinations may emerge.
  3. Records of dreams may be useful in determining patterns for personal growth. When reviewing dreams, one can recognize consistent patterns. These patterns may reveal hidden conflicts needing resolution.
Holli Oakley and Kathryn Q. Powers cCYS

 

To help students talk about the pressures of life and to help them understand why suicide is never the best option

To help students talk about the pressures of life and to help them understand why suicide is never the best option.

OVERVIEW

LEADER PREPARATION

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SEX RESOURCES

 

SEX RESOURCES

See also the topics Contraception, Pregnancy, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Harassment and STD's in the Encyclopedia.

ORGANIZATIONS

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Snapshot of America's Teens

Albert, Bill and Laura Lippman, et al. (2005) Freeze Frame: Snapshot of America's Teens. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Pregnancy. 121pp.
(Download this review as a PDF)


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