What would you ask a philosopher?

If you could, what would you like to ask a philosopher?

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Editor's note:

There are five basic philosophical questions which we all struggle with throughtout our lives:

1. Why was I born?
2. What is the purpose of my life?
3. What happens when I die?
4. What is the good life?
5. What will make me happy?

Success stories - V.A. Wait Times Now Shorter Than for Private Doctors

From New York Times on 01/22/19

Wait times for an appointment at Veterans Affairs hospitals have decreased since 2014 and are now, on average, shorter than those in the private sector, a new study shows.

Researchers used V.A. data to calculate wait times for about 17 million appointments. The public sector data came from a survey conducted by a physicians’ search firm in nearly 2,000 medical offices in 30 major and midsize metropolitan areas.

The study, in JAMA Network Open, covered four specialties: primary care, cardiology, dermatology and orthopedics.

In 2014 the average wait time in V.A. hospitals was 22.5 days, compared with 18.7 in the private sector, a statistically insignificant difference. But by 2017, mean wait time at V.A. hospitals had gone down to 17.7 days, while rising to 29.8 for private practitioners.

Editors note:

There is a new tag being used on Markham's Behavioral Health "success stories." As Johnny Winter sings in his great blues song, Bad News, "Bad news travels like wild fire. Good news travels slow. That's why you hear that bad news every where you go. Talkin about bad news."

Here on MBH we also provide good news in the form of "success stories."

There is an organizational development model called "Appreciative Inquiry" which focuses on what is going right instead of what is going wrong. Also, Solution Focused BriefTherapy (SFBT) in psychotherapy focuses as much on what is working as well as the problems.

So look for the success stories and pass them along. They will provide satisfaction, hope, inspiration, and gratitude.

Media literacy - Can you believe your lyin eyes?

Editor's note: An area why this idea of misperception is especially egregious is in witness testimony in criminal trials where innocent people are falsely identified and purported to have done things they did not do. Witness testimonies are often inaccurate and unreliable. We tend to see what we think we should see rather than what is really there.

Media narrative about gun violence is not based on the facts

From Psychatric Services, December, 2018 by Jeffrey Swanson

Since 2000, more than 1.5 million people in the United States have been injured by a firearm, and a half-million have died. This total surpasses the combined U.S. military combat death toll of World Wars I and II. Of these gun deaths, 59% were suicides, and 37% were homicides (1). Mass shootings accounted for less than one-tenth of 1% (2). 

Still, the national conversation about gun violence tends to focus on senseless rampages by troubled young men while public officials pay lip service to an oversimplified, gun-ignoring solution: “fix mental health.” 

The mental-illness-and-mass-shooting narrative, as curated by the media, can perpetuate public misunderstanding and impede serious, broad-based efforts to both prevent gun deaths and improve mental health care.

For more click here.

Record number of firearms found by TSA at U.S. airports

From The Week on 02/08/19

Record 4,200 firearms found at airport checkpoints last year

A record 4,200 guns were confiscated at U.S. airport checkpoints nationwide last year, according to a government tally released Thursday. The figure marked a 7 percent increase over the previous year. The guns were found at 249 airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The most guns were found in states with loose gun laws in the Sun Belt, from Georgia to Arizona. Guns were found in carry-on bags at Dallas-Fort Worth airport 219 times in 2018. Asked about the rising numbers, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said they probably just reflected a broader trend. "I think more people are just simply carrying weapons in the country," he said. [CBS News]

What about biased punishing of black girls in our society?

Dr. Monique W. Morris gave an interesting TED talk which was published on 02/05/19 about black girls being unfairly targeted for punishment in schools.

Dr. Morris' talk led to my thinking about Sandra Bland and Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele who started and organized Black Lives Matter and wrote the book, "When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir."

When people deny that racism exists they are ignorant of some basic facts and dynamics in our society. Dr. Morris in 14 minutes gives us a little peep into what its like to be a black girl in our society.

For the full TED talk video click here.

Availability of guns increases the risk of suicide

From Psychiatric Services, December, 2018

"The national attention currently focused on reducing gun violence provides an opportunity to consider how to use this momentum to make significant headway in preventing suicide. Year after year, about two-thirds of all firearm deaths are suicides (1). 

Evidence indicates that the availability of firearms is related to suicide rates.

 In regions that experience changes in levels of gun availability, suicide rates change in the same direction; people who buy firearms are more likely than otherwise similar peers to die by suicide; and people who die by suicide are more likely to live in homes with firearms compared with seemingly similar people who did not die, as well as those who died from other causes (1). 

There is evidence and a broad consensus among experts who favor both restrictive and permissive gun policies that not all individuals who are prevented from firearm suicide will die by another method of suicide (2).

For more click here.

Editor's note:

The great myth in American society is that the possession of guns makes people safer. The public health data leads to the opposite conclusion. The possession of guns makes it more likely that the gun owner and immediate others will die by a gun than not.