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Judge Rules Veterans With PTSD Can Move Forward With Lawsuit Over Discharge Classification

November 19, 2018 John Bowden, Thehill.com , , ,
A federal judge in Connecticut ruled Thursday in favor of thousands of veterans seeking to sue the federal government alleging they were discharged due to infractions related to untreated mental illnesses and denied Veterans Affairs benefits as a result. The Associated Press reports that Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Haight Jr. ruled Thursday that the veterans, who were given less-than-honorable discharges after service in Iraq and Afghanistan, could move forward with a lawsuit against Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. The less-than-honorable discharges, the veterans allege, made it harder for veterans who were discharged to receive care for their mental illnesses developed as a result of their service in America's wars.

American Anomie

September 26, 2018 Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com , , ,
The French sociologist Emile Durkheim in his classic book “On Suicide” examined the disintegration of social bonds that drive individuals and societies to personal and collective acts of self-destruction. He found that when social bonds are strong, individuals achieve a healthy balance between individual initiative and communal solidarity, which he called a “life-sustaining equilibrium.” These individuals and communities have the lowest rates of suicide. The individuals and societies most susceptible to self-destruction, he wrote, are those for whom these bonds, this equilibrium, have been shattered. Societies are held together by a web of social bonds that give individuals a sense of being part of a collective and engaged in a project larger than the self.

The Enemy Between Us: How Inequality Erodes Our Mental Health

August 21, 2018 Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, Opendemocracy.net , ,
When people are asked what matters most for their happiness and wellbeing, they tend to talk about the importance of their relationships with family, friends and colleagues. It is their intimate world, their personal networks that mean the most to them, rather than material goods, income or wealth.  Most people probably don’t think that broader, structural issues to do with politics and the economy have anything to do with their emotional health and wellbeing, but they do. We’ve known for a long time that inequality causes a wide range of health and social problems, including everything from reduced life expectancy and higher infant mortality to poor educational attainment, lower social mobility and increased levels of violence. Differences in these areas between more and less equal societies are large, and everyone is affected by them.

Capitalism VS. Mental Health, The SS “Light” And Zuck Testifies To His Employees

April 20, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com , ,
Next up, you may know that Zuck appeared before Congress last week but did you know that what he REALLY did was appear before his employees? And Orwell's got nothing on the DHS and their new media list. Finally, this is your brain on capitalism. Dr. Harriet Fraad is a mental health expert as well as a political radical. She sees first hand what capitalism does to our mental health - how the psychology of the system shapes everything from our personal relationships to mass shootings. Be it the “dethronement of white men,” white elitist “feminism” or how we all suffer under the patriarchy, Dr. Fraad lends a necessary mental health lens to the conversation of capitalist oppression.

America’s Farmers Killing Themselves In Record Numbers

December 11, 2017 Debbie Weingarten, theguardian.com , ,
Rosmann, an Iowa farmer, is a psychologist and one of the nation’s leading farmer behavioral health experts. He often answers phone calls from those in crisis. And for 40 years, he has worked to understand why farmers take their lives at such alarming rates – currently, higher rates than any other occupation in the United States. Once upon a time, I was a vegetable farmer in Arizona. And I, too, called Rosmann. I was depressed, unhappily married, a new mom, overwhelmed by the kind of large debt typical for a farm operation. We were growing food, but couldn’t afford to buy it. We worked 80 hours a week, but we couldn’t afford to see a dentist, let alone a therapist. I remember panic when a late freeze threatened our crop, the constant fights about money, the way light swept across the walls on the days I could not force myself to get out of bed. “Farming has always been a stressful occupation because many of the factors that affect agricultural production are largely beyond the control of the producers,” wrote Rosmann in the journal Behavioral Healthcare. “The emotional well-being of family farmers and ranchers is intimately intertwined with these changes.”

Teachers Condemn DeVos Rescinding Special Education Guidance Docs

October 26, 2017 Staff, www.badassteachers.blogspot.com , ,
By Staff of Badass Teacher's Association - The Badass Teachers Association, a grassroots national education activist organization with over 200,000 teachers and education activists in their network, strongly condemn Sec. DeVos for rescinding special education guidance documents. Guidance documents are the federal interpretation of regulations that make it easier for states and districts to understand, and to help them draft policy. BATs has stated before and will reiterate, that federal guidance is needed to ensure that all children receive a free and appropriate education. Federal guidance is needed so that education is rooted in equity, equality, and fairness for all children regardless of zip code or capability. “Knowledge is power- DeVos has chosen to keep parents in the dark about the educational and legal rights of their children with disabilities. In rescinding USDOE guidelines, she is allowing states and local districts to interpret the law in their interest without consistency, thus abandoning a commitment to equity of protection for all children. This decision sets us back to the days when parents were on their own in securing a free, appropriate public education for their disabled children.” ~ Terry Kalb, Co-Director BATs Special Education Committee, and Special Education Advocate

Trump Administration Rescinds Special Ed Guidance

October 23, 2017 Michelle Diament, www.disabilityscoop.com , ,
By Michelle Diament for Disability Scoop - The Education Department said Friday that it has rescinded 72 guidance documents — 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs and nine from the Rehabilitation Services Administration — some of which have been on record for decades. The move comes as the agency works to follow through on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February requiring the federal government to “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.” Over the summer, the Education Department sought public comment on “regulations that may be appropriate for repeal, replacement or modification.” Now, officials with the agency’s Office of Special Education Programs said they are working in phases to comply with the order. “The first phase involved reviewing guidance that OSERS has published on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab. Act), as amended,” said Kimberly M. Richey, acting assistant secretary of special education and rehabilitative services, in a statement announcing the decision to withdraw numerous guidance documents. “Initially, we evaluated the guidance to determine those that were outdated, unnecessary or ineffective.” Guidance documents flagged by the review touch on special education funding, least restrictive environment, private placements, employment and more. Some were issued as recently as 2014 while others have been around since the 1980s.

Jails Replace In-Person Visitation With Video Screens

October 15, 2017 Mike Ludwig, www.truthout.org , , ,
By Mike Ludwig for Truthout. The rash of suicides alarmed mental health experts and local watchdogs, and Arce's death has advocates calling out the lack of equal access to services for disabled people in prison. Despite concerns about the mental health of its prisoners and alleged discrimination against disabled people, the local sheriff's office no longer allows in-person visitation at the jail, which serves major suburbs of New Orleans. Critics say changing the visitation policy could take a heavy toll on people who are already in an emotionally challenging position.

Journalists Sue Chicago Police Over Hidden Records Of SWAT Responses To Mental Health Crises

August 8, 2017 Andy Thayer, www.loevy.com , , , ,
By Andy Thayer for Loevy and Loevy - CHICAGO – Independent journalist Sarah Lazare and community activist Debbie Southorn sued the Chicago Police Department today demanding release of records about Chicago SWAT deployments responding to mental health crises. A copy of the suit can be found here. These records are of particular public importance because all of Chicago’s mental health clinics have been closed or privatized in recent years, and SWAT teams are used to respond to mental health incidents. As Lazare and Southorn note in an article published yesterday at The Intercept, “Since 2013, Chicago police have deployed SWAT teams at least 38 times to respond to mental health incidents and suicide attempts,” as revealed by records produced in response to a previous FOIA request. * Laquan McDonald, killed by police officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014. McDonald had been “diagnosed with complex mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder” noted the Chicago Tribune, and had been hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals three times by the time he was 13.

To The Four White Policemen Who Beat Me

October 23, 2016 Ali Afshar, www.hdp.press , ,
By Ali Afshar for Human Development Project. California - You may or may not know that the incidence and relapse rates of schizophrenia in African-Caribbean males in Western countries has been reported as being much higher than equivalent white male cohorts. This knowledge was forefront in my mind when I saw a man in his twenties muttering to himself, handcuffed and surrounded by 4 white male police officers on El Camino, in Northern California. As a physician, I have a duty (shit, I swore an actual oath) to preserve the health of all humans. There was no way I was going to drive past this situation without making sure that guy was going to be fine. As I pulled over to ask if the gentleman was OK, I was immediately threatened with a ticket for blocking traffic. I re-parked my car legally and returned. My exact words were “I want to help to make sure this guy is OK”. The officers were aggressive and angry, instantly.

Police Already Made 2016 Deadlier Than 2015 By The End Of June

July 5, 2016 Staff, www.mintpressnews.com , ,
By Staff of Mint Press News - MINNEAPOLIS — As controversy continues to swirl around the issue of police violence in the United States, the media continues to be our main source of data about the scope of the problem. The Washington Post, which tracks fatal shootings by police as part of its Fatal Force project, reports that there have already been 20 more fatal shootings this year compared to the same period of 2015. In April, the Post’s Fatal Force project won a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s most prestigious award, in the national reporting category.

Financial Despair, Addiction & Rise Of Suicide In White America

February 8, 2016 Chris McGreal, www.theguardian.com , ,
By Chris McGreal for The Guardian - “I am in such pain every night, suicide has on a regular basis crossed my mind just simply to ease the pain. If I did not have responsibilities, especially for my youngest daughter who has problems,” he said. The 56-year-old former salesman’s struggle with chronic pain is bound up with an array of other issues – medical debts, impoverishment and the prospect of a bleak retirement – contributing to growing numbers of suicides in the US and helping drive a sharp and unusual increase in the mortality rate for middle-aged white Americans in recent years alongside premature deaths from alcohol and drugs.

Life For The 1% Has Gotten Worse Since Occupy

October 19, 2015 Jana Kasperkevic, www.theguardian.com , ,
By Jana Kasperkevic for The Guardian - It’s a rainy Wednesday morning and Clay Cockrell is sitting in his office at Columbus Circle across the street from 1 Central Park West, which houses Trump International Hotel and Tower. In front of the tower is Central Park, where Cockrell holds his popular walk and talk therapy sessions. Dressed in comfortable pants and a flannel shirt, Cockrell, a former Wall Street worker turned therapist, spends large parts of his days walking through Central Park or the Battery Park in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street, as a confidant and counsellor to some of the New York’s wealthiest.

Newark’s New Disciplinary Board Could Control And Limit Police

September 16, 2015 Daniel Ross, www.yesmagazine.org , ,
By Daniel Ross in Yes! Magazine - Just over a year ago, Ezell Ford, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man, was shot and killed by two LAPD officers in South Los Angeles. Ford was unarmed, though the officers involved insist that a struggle had occurred between one of the officers and Ford prior to the shooting. After a lengthy investigation, the Los Angeles Police Commission—a five-member civilian review board that oversees the LAPD—determinedin June of this year that one of the officers was wrong to draw his weapon and open fire. But because LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has final say over disciplinary matters, it is possible that he could refrain from meting out any punishment to the officers involved—something that has happened multiple times before. These situations have led to heated disagreementsbetween Beck and the Commission about his lack of punitive action in cases where the board has determined wrongdoing by an officer.

Nearly 25% Killed By Police Are Mentally Ill

July 4, 2015 Amanda Warren, www.activistpost.com ,
By Amanda Warren in Activist Post - People keep asking for more officer training. Think about that request. Asking for the ability to instantly detect mental illness or disabilities and leave them alone. But what we want is to end unnecessary, on-site executions for everyone except for extreme life-threatening situations. An emotionally distraught person is not a threat. Home invasions should be stopped immediately and SWAT should have nothing to do with emotional calls or wait until after midnight to bust into someone's home. Police departments continue to bulk up thanks to the 1033 program that provides armored vehicles and war-like gear. They promise they won't use them but for extreme situations but they crash homes if there has been an anonymous tip of emotional distress (no escalation here).
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