People and shortcomings. It could be anxiety, or too drink too much

by Jack Russell - Social Justice and Ethics Sun Jul 27, 2008 01:13

Again, I must return to the psychology route, in the midst of some educational input at school.

We have options and one is to change our attitudes to drink.

Taking the risk to drive a person home while drunk or taking legal or illegal drugs is a criminal offence, and the more findings of death due to dangerous driving, or plain drinking, our legislature will have to invoke harsh penalties.

Always ask the question about driving and drinking> Someone in the party might not drink and drive. Look to your own attitudes, would you be prepared to not drinkm or drugtake mfor the night......it enchances your sense of nobility and honour and carves out a path for others........

Michelle Clarke

Quotation: Flying High Morwegian playwright
'A bird never wants a cage'

Similarly, the sports car, the driver, the power of speed, the taking of a chance......being young and to be constrained from do these actions is similar to the bird never wanting a cage, The problem here is.......science, accidents, evidence, pathology.......confirms that attitude of people and particularly revised proof a successful means to avoiding accidents. This is convered by the Take Responsibility lectures covered in Harvard University.

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Wed Sep 24, 2008 18:51

Today, the news is about Ennis Hospital - the Regional Hospital, that has served decades to its community and whose dedicated staff work hard to ensure the best service to ill people. But life is not that rational. These people are human and errors can be made. These errors have always been made and silently perhaps details ignored or covered up and most likely for the most positive of reasons.

Then insurance claims enter Ireland.....things alter. I will say no more but that it shifts balance......

As it happens in my humble life, my family when they became ill were admitted to Ennis Hospital. First was an uncle in the late 1960's with a strangulated hernia - he died. My mother a young GP visited him to find him illl and drove him some 20 miles to the Ennis Regional hospital. That was 1969.....he was lucky that she inadvertedly called otherwise he would have been found dead.....Okay different times, but reality.

In the 1980's. Again my cousin, okay a smoker, in her 60's became ill. No fuss, our family had many doctors. She went for the tests and alas.....it was the dreaded result, the big C......and we were sad but we had time to talk and remember funny parts and people. She died in a nursing home peacefully.

Then her sister. We came for a holiday and she too a smoker all her life, in poor health from a car accident, was low in energy with a kind of rattle in her chest. Again we looked to Ennis Hospital - the xray and then we waited through the holiday weeks and she died at home. Yes, it was peaceful and surrounded by people who loved her. There was no room for blame. Perhaps this is is do with the fact that family in the past generation had died from cancer - 2 uncles, 2 aunts.......And another sister, received the C diagnosis.

Eduardo Frei, Chilean Prime Minister spoke about the word BLAME - Blame is about wanting to be dependent......it is about an often unhealthy need......Has anyone a view on this?.
.
There is a broadcasting commission in Ireland. What does it do? I just ask why do we each day face death by failure of medical profession in such an aggressive way in the media. Surely, we are removing family from a period of grief to media coverage and attack......when quiet solitude may afford a better environment.

To come back to fears, phobia and anxieties. Health inadequacy is so in your face today, I wonder are there any other people like me so afraid of the system, that they enter denial. Denial that says - I have a lump, let's forget about it. I am sure such people exist. In fact, I know these people, in a last ditch effort go to hospital and are holy reliable on the doctor to sense their fears and deal with their case in the best way. We talk about Honour, we talk about the Hippocratic Oath - the aiin being to do no harm. These again likes silent illnesses (psychiatric, acquired brain injury and so many) exist and are not considered as a voice.

Cancer is a common cause of death and it has been. Regional hospitals have certain capacities and staff are human beings. We have Professor Keane assigned to the task of upgrading the Irish system to centres of excellence - can we not put things back into prorportions. Mistakes are made; our objective is to lessen them; our hospices excell; the Children's hospitals are very highly regarded. Why seek out so publicly the medical person deemed to make the mistake - surely a quiet enquiry taking account of circumstances......and let us TRUST IN DR. KEANE. He makes the changes going forward. We can only learn in life.....witch hunts is about ignorance. We need Hope, we need Vision, We need to know that people access health without fear and stress..........we don't need people neglecting their health and drinking or even taking drugs as a survival kit...

Sanitisation of Health. The move from the Waked Funerals to the Funeral Homes to embalming. Kubler Ross has written a book on the 5 stages of Grief. Maybe it is time fous to take a more holistic view of health to death and let complaints be made within the context of the hospital employment, in secrecy and ask that staff be proactive in registering suspicions. As a manic depressive, there are little highs lows that could affect judgment in my case.....this is only human but it must recognised. Where is compassion gone?

To the Taoiseach
Quotation on Economics
'What is Economics?
A science invented by the upper class in order to acquire the fruits of the labour of the underclass
by August Strindberg (1849-1912)

Michelle Clarke

by Jack Russell - Social Justice and Ethics Fri Sep 26, 2008 23:36

What happens?

A very emotional one sided attempt to debate. People who have sadly been let down by our Medical Healthcare system.

The display of emotion, the reliance on people power. How sensible is this form of outcry.

Wer need a Code of Honour for all. I feel so sorry for the children and families of these casualities of a faulty system. We need some facts ..... what is the percentage of error.....

Jack Russell

by JRJ Mon Sep 29, 2008 14:11

Michelle I enjoyed your article on alcohol and anxiety. The present trend in Ireland is alcohol and drug abuse awash around every city and town in Ireland, and sadly it's a cosmetic to conver up people's anxieties. There's a body of people in Ireland, and I think they're the most underestimated and undervalued people in Ireland: the Samaritans. They have saved lives throughout this island quietly and professionally. I hope the upcoming budget does not affect them adversely. Keep up the good writing Michelle on mental health and alcohol abuse.
JRJ

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Tue Sep 30, 2008 18:36

JRJ

Delighted to receive your response. You are absolutely right about the Samaritans, at times of dark need, I have sought comfort there.

Anxiety and Stress receive so little attention. I don't know why other than the vested interest of those marketing the products. I have relied heavily on Valium and Librium in my day but as my psychiatrist informed me, if the need existed, the tablet helped and when they anxiety evaporated often for long periods at a time, I had no need for the anxiety tablets.

Alcohol and illegal drugs never really posed a problem. You see I knew early on about mood disorder and I sure did not want to add anything to my cocktail to cause further unwanted problems. Life alas means taking personal responsibility for some people in particular.

Quotation - The Little Book of Rebels
Herorism
'I am a hero with coward's legs

Spike Milligan (b. 1918 British humourist, animal rights activist

by Kevin T. Walsh - Social Justice Ethics and Morality Mon Mar 23, 2009 18:42

Just a brief note Michelle.

I am sitting here listening to Drive Time and scrolling through old postings.

Yes, alcohol is a problem. I recall meeting Pat Spillane in Baggot Street some weeks back. He commented on the harm and abuse of alcohol - in the particular the of life through suicide and car accidents. Pat Spillane went on to say 'I work in RTE in the spring and summer for the GAA commentary - it supplements my income apart from the pub. I realise it is the law now but it saddens me to see two old men in their late 70's smoking their pipe in the rain and exchanging conversation - o yes, we have become such a a politically correct society.

We all know the debt we face ad infinity but where is the individual responsibility of people. How dare they expect the Government to intervene and prevent trade moving north of the border particularly for the demon drink.....they say Irish trade is losing 100 m. here.

This reflects on the people who choose to go North (their lack of responsibility and morality) to the ever increasing national debt......corruption led, I grant you.

Some lateral thought is needed.

Do we really need pubs closing down in Ireland and off licenses suffering......Everything in moderation surely.

We need serious lateral thought in Ireland............an equation of sorts taking account of cost and morality

Stretching to New Limits
'One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions
By Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) US Writer.........................(Embrace change and what it takes with it and with a bit of luck we will not be handing this woeful national debt we only found about this year to our children or childrens' children)

by Stressed Pensioner - age and vulnerability Fri May 29, 2009 16:12

this long and hopefully weekend is a time for people think about others and establish social networks.

there are some good points in these articles about de-stressing tools and also about anxiety

a concerned pensioner who invested in the blue chip stocks........our banks.........I now have to repent in leisure

by Savant - Social Justice Thu Jun 25, 2009 16:57

Stressed pensioner........how did you get through the long weekend? I hope the stress wasn't too severe.

By now, stressed pensioner, you must be feeling the ruling impetus of anxiety. Everything is governed by people losing jobs, having no prospects of work, children feeling the strain of their parents anxieties', old people who have lost out on pension funds they had provided for, people who had opted for the investment property and the rent proviso instead of the old pension contributions.

What is going to happen to Ireland?

The IMF evidently are worried about our credit rating....we are one of their 185 protege's. They may have to intervene fast if we do not show some resolve to establish NAMA/NTMA and form the resolve to make it work.

To make it work we need to start at both the top and bottom of the pyramid and hopefully arrive over a decade back at equilibrium. We can do it, we have dealt with recessions before. We have diaspora that no what recession is like and can feed back into this country and create markets and opportunities.

For instance we could pair ourself to a third world country and through reciprocation, the diaspora and past experience create a market.

I will give an example. When I lived in Zimbabwe, opportunities existed. I recall one very bright young lady, who study design in England and who returned to Zim. She employed local women and they crocheted and knitted up designer clothes which she sold in Zimbabwe and to Harrods in the UK. Her main focus was designer childrens' clothes.

You may say how did the women know how to crochet. Well, simple, they were taught by the missionaries. Ireland in fact has many orders in Zimbabwe and they in turn as they developed brought developers like John Sisk.....Sisk's had several sites running at the same time in Zimbabwe in the 1990's. The Mashonaland Irish Association had its Centenary over a decade ago.

Let us look to the IMF and World Bank who are closely affiliated to the Government of Zimbabwe and the Reserve Bank, and move forwards.

One interesting point about Ireland and emigration. Many left Ireland but on the Western coast particularly, crochet work was done by the women and marketed in the US mainly in the early 1900's.

Yes, let anxiety be accepted but also harnass its productivity because talent is waiting to be born again.

by Comyn - ABI and Mental Health Wed Aug 19, 2009 16:32

Ireland, England, Europe.....everywhere violence is being perpetrated either by the hand, the sword, the words. We are cultivating a society based on fear mirrored by agression as a defence. Then you add in alcohol in vast quantities and illegal drugs, boredom, excess time, lack of motivation and you have what we have here in Ireland at present - yes a cocktail of disaster.

Another Trinity student, a fine man by all accounts yet it is said he battled with depression and all the underlying factors that form the underbelly of the depression. A young man is dead from a number of stab wounds, another man is wounded, a woman is also wounded. These wounds are visible and can be treated but what is the cost to all the young people of this murder and of course self-murder. Perhaps the time has come to revert from using the term suicide and take up with the stark reality term 'self-murder' the term that was used when to commit suicide was a criminal offence.

There are a myriad of self help groups focused on depression, suicide prevention etc, yet it seems to be now that more people than ever are reacting to hostile situations in a violent way. What is fuelling this anger? We seem to be able to justify the Actus Reus and Mens Rea glibly with a defence of say mental illness but what is in fact happening is that those who would qualify under the old defence of McNaghten rules are no longer protected by this defence. Why?

Education is about learning and maybe it is time to learn more about Cognitive Behaviour but at school level. I suppose people don't even realise that one can study a masters in Cognitive Behaviour and it bases itself on philosophy, psychology, neuro-psychiatric subjects. The only reason I know is I found through the links button on the web.

Too many disagreements are ending up with Fists flying. Head injuries are happening by the day in Ireland and yet we are very low down the list with the provision of proper neurological services. There was a time when ABI was death but now it is a life sentence....you only have to listen to BBC to hear about those who return from war in say Iraq and are condemned to a life of minimal funding from the Armed Services.......we know the story, the narrative is straight forward.

Today there is an article in the Independent. A father pleads for help to bring his sick daughter home. The photo shows an near angelic face but with eyes of determination and sadness. The father has been refused a bank loan to take her home....yes to her home in Ireland...to her little boy, her family, her friends....

Catherine O'Leary was admitted to Cork University Hospital after a series of mini strokes......she like many of those wounded by accidents, fist fights, sports injuries, gangland crime is in 'Locked IN' Syndrome. This woman had brain surgery in February. She is paralysed from the neck down.

People need to engage with anger management. People need to evaluate the qualities and temperaments they have and they need to know when to stop taking more drink or drugs and what the likely outcome could be.

There is a saying Need to Know.....Services exist, disabilities have evolved over the passed decades to highlighting people who have suffered and their rehabilitation. We must not lose sight of this as the Economic and Political depression envelops the Island of Ireland.

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Aug 22, 2009 17:32

This woman was transferred from Cork Hospital in the hope that she would receive more advanced treatment in the UK. Ireland is under resourced in Neuro-Psychiatric departs and for the multi-disciplinary teams that are required to assist the person to a changed lifestyle.

England must not have been a success for her. I fail to understand how her father is seeking a loan to take the mother home to Cork, to her little son and family. Surely, the State can pay. This is quite an exceptional case.

We need to beware that at any time we may fall into an ABI, 'Locked-in Syndrome' so therefore people ought to make themselves aware of the new legislation due.

Personal Guardian Bill 'Court appointees will act on behalf of mentally impaired'

We need to incorporate the humanity component and the visionary aspect also.

by Swift - Anxiety, Depression and Health SupplementsAls Wed Nov 18, 2009 17:15

Parents, children, adults, workers, non workers.

Time to take responsibility. If you notice that you are find it hard to socialise without a drink or worse without illegal substances, refer to those who know what it is like.

Dr. Harry Barry has written a book (I haven't got the name) but he has also written in the Irish Independent Health supplement about Social Anxiety disorder and how treatable it in fact is. This disorder is often the one that can prompt a suicide so being alert to the signs is most important.

Look out for characteristics e.g. perfectionism and being a hard task master 'on yourself' and often in relation to

by Swift - Concerned Citizen Wed May 23, 2012 15:39

Try stress, anxiety, patternicity, fears - nothing has really changed!

Young people are choosing to smoke. Just look outside shops, restaurants, pubs.

We are not saying we want a Nanny State but can we use whatever opportunities available to us to highlight the plight and links to cancer that this craving addiction is about.

Worth looking towards the UK newspapers today. There is a strong possibility that people with addictions will be docked % of their unemployment/disability benefit in the UK. If this happens in the UK, it will follow in Europe and without doubt in Ireland.

Time is here to address addiction head on. The plan in the UK is to put pressure on Job Centres to encourage avenues like Drug/Alcohol services to help beat the 'curse' and if you don't comply you lose out financially....

eHealth is about personal responsibility. Collections for cancer is so popular, it is seen as one of the more deserving causes. What if people really took account of contribution of smoking/alcohol to the condition .... would we then move towards stigma related to cancer support. The Irony is that mental health is highly stigmatised and yet the overall problem caused by fear, anxiety, stress emanates in this illness diagnosis so this should mean that Public Health has an obligation to make this a Centre of Excellence based on an assumption that there could be strong links between mental health factors and cancer links.

Education is essential. Minister Reilly may be over stepping the mark about smoking in cars and parks. If only people could take some personal responsibility towards their own health without needing Nanny state laws.

by Brian Flannery - Justice Wed May 30, 2012 13:13

Since 2008 from the Fall-Out of the Night of the Long Knives and the complete chaos that came out of the infamous so-called meeting of the late Brian Lenihan and the headless figures in the Department of Finance that brought on this Fiscal Compact and the other infamous word Austerity. I would like to expand on the word Anxiety. I have witnessed friends committing suicide, 500,000 people are out of work and the people at work are living almost day to day hand to mouth. Then I look at the 1% of the so called Elite that brought this country to its knees and I watch them coming and going from their holiday homes in Spain and further afield and I often wonder what Justice means in relation to the Harp above the Bench of our Judiciary.

Anxiety is here not just now out of addiction or alcohol abuse but for the mass of Irish people it has been caused by blind greed and corruption by certain individuals that still walk around this town and who believe that they are totally above the law. I often wonder what type of anxiety state was Fingleton in after he sat down before the bank failed and gave himself a pension of £26 MILLION. Anxiety - No: But Blind Greed and non Regulation YES.

I will finish by saying that addiction of alcohol abuse is on the increase because parents are out of their heads with worry watching their children leave the shores of Ireland on a weekly and daily basis. Tomorrow a Vote No needs to be carried because the so called elite need the Yes vote to protect their wealth, pensions, and overall their personal agendas. We slag off the Americans but at least Madoff (Ponzi fame) is doing 100 yrs plus and he is entitled to a high dose of anxiety.

Brian Flannery

by lefty Wed May 30, 2012 23:58

I second that Brian.
It seems to me that there is a disconnect in people's minds between giving all our money to the banks and these everyday extra taxes and hardships, people on trollies while wards lie empty and across the board retreating levels of social supports.

I don't understand why everyone is not out on the street baying for 60%+ politicians paycuts and blood.

The banks get money at 1% from the ECB then buy soverign bonds with 5-6% interest rate and trouser a certain 4-5% interest. No wonder they aren't lending anything into the local economy. Meanwhile our society collapses and all our best and brightest emigrate in order to pay these scum back

A no vote for me. I'm tired being scammed by right wing liars like FF/FG/Labour

Iceland had the right idea.

FG want a lucrative firesale of state assets and a source of cheap slave labour and a floating tax haven for corporate vultures, a hellish polluted fracking nightmare, all coillte lands and trees sold off to a hedge fund with bertie ahern on it's bord, Our ESB sold for a song, and a GM backdoor into europe, destroying our prospects for selling high premium organic food into the european market. Vote no then kick them out on their smug 1% asses

by Chestnut - Rule of Law preservation Wed Jun 06, 2012 16:02

Well written leftie. Now the challenge is to aim for best deal for Ireland and most definite a write down of debts must be high up on the agenda.

Aside: typos in articles going back the years, surely these can be edited now?