Caroling Friend
Fifteen years ago on his Bigger Bang tour Mick Jagger found me between a rock and a hard place, in a crossfire hurricane. Preloaded, titrating, kissing perfect strangers. Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today. If I don’t get some shelter Ooh Yeah, I’m going to fade away During Jumpin’ Jack Flash I stood on a chair … Continue Reading
What I find intriguing is how the soul-identity of a person living with dementia is incrementally, imperceptibly transferred for safe keeping with loved ones. Personhood is conferred less and less by actual cognitive prowess and character and more and more through social bonds. This type of transcendence is completed when we pass on and leave behind … Continue Reading
Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Chronic work stress. Vicarious trauma. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Demoralization. Moral distress. Moral injury. Moral compromise. These are all less stigmatizing terms than Adjustment Disorder with depression and/or anxiety. BURNOUT: 1) Exhaustion 2) Mental/emotional detachment from our jobs which have become less rewarding 3) Poorer work performance; “This isn’t me”. 4) … Continue Reading
What is dementia? What are the causes? Alzheimer’s is one of many types of brain diseases which have in common progressive difficulties in brain functioning: memory, judgment, planning. While we can describe dementia under the microscope, how it actually occurs is largely unknown. Scientists study how accelerated aging in dementia is associated with substances (such … Continue Reading
Addiction; Predator and Prey When an eagle seizes a salmon too heavy to carry yet its talons cannot release it, they both plummet. The predator becomes prey of the sea. My dearest friend lost her 39 year old son in this epidemic of poisonings with the contaminant Fentanyl. He was addicted to heroin; with compulsions, lack … Continue Reading
Your professor pays you many compliments, offers a research position and invites you to stay with them after hours to work… Your counselor is overly complimentary about your attractiveness and offers to help you work on your marriage without the presence of your partner while complaining about their own marriage. Your boss/preceptor invites you to … Continue Reading
Bipolar Alcoholism I once self-medicated with alcohol but now have 13 years of sobriety. I’m a 57 yr old mother of 3 with 2 grandsons. Thirty-eight years have been spent as the wife of a saint. I’m a daughter, sister, friend, teacher, mentor, and colleague. Many people have been affected by my soul sickness. Besides … Continue Reading