Use Psychology to Lose Weight - Dieters Can Learn From This Study - Smaller Portions Can Translate To Smaller Meals
July 30th 2006
Portion Size
Researchers from Pennsylvania say that a meal size has a lot to do with psychology. The size may depend on the size of the plate or package or what is served. This may help explain how culture has a lot to do with obesity.
For instance, in France the food package size of yogurt is a little over half-the-size of the American counterparts. The researchers say that the French don’t eat two packages of food; they just accept the one package as the size of a meal.
The researchers used environmental cues to manipulate people’s ideas of how big a food unit is. They put a bowl of M&Ms on a table of an upscale apartment building with a sign that read “Eat Your Fill. Please use the spoon to serve yourself." They varied the size of the spoon from a quarter cup to a tablespoon.
On days when the spoon was a quarter cup, people took more. They repeated the experiment in a snacking area with 80 small Tootsie Rolls or 20 big ones. Over a 10 day period they found that people took more by weight when the larger Tootsie Rolls were left out. The same outcome was seen with large and small pretzels.
This information may help dieters. Food companies have begun to produce 100-calorie packages. A recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that super-sizing meals has an added cost in health care associated with it.
In this newer study, Andrew Geier of the University of Pennsylvania says food companies should display the serving or portion sizes more prominently on the package. He works with overweight patients and tells them when ordering in a restaurant to ask the server to cut the meal in half and box-up one portion to take home.
Geier says the portion size strategy has its limits. Associated press reporter, Malcolm Ritter said “He had one dining hall at his university provide 10-ounce glasses for soda, and a second provide 16-ounce glasses. He predicted that students at the first hall would drink less soda. In fact, they drank more.”
Only later did he find out what went wrong. Geier said "They were taking two glasses at a time. I guess I went below what is culturally construed as a unit of soda."
8/21/2006
The Psychology of History
The Psychology of History
Few statesmen have been as prescient as Winston Churchill. During World Wart II he said someone is going to write this history and it’s going to be me. The Prime Minister had a sense of destiny from a very early age and always kept an eye on the historical archetype.
Naturally, most leaders want history to be kind to them. During the infamous Watergate episode thirty years ago, President Richard Nixon revealed in the taped White House conversations that he was more interested in the big sweep of history than a petty robbery at his opponent’s headquarters. Indeed, he saw himself as the new Marco Polo opening up China and the only credible American political figure who could establish an uneasy détente with the old Soviet Union. Nixon’s dark, Jansenist, vengeful streak would do him in. He spent the last twenty years of his life trying to salvage a reputation. He knew the game. When you don’t like history, rewrite it or re-envision it.
As historians know, history is always being rewritten and-envisioned. This activity is imperative, of course, as new information becomes available. Sigmund Freud suggested, without consciousness, we will always fall victims to our personal and collective histories. Japan, for example, has never really embraced its role in World Wart II. But all nations have their fictions, often opting for sophomoric histories that reinforce a national innocence. In its relationship to American Indians the Unites States has long been in denial. As psychologist C.G Jung notes, what we suppress will become public in other forms, such as how the culture treats non-white ethnic groups. From a psychological perspective, this is called “shadow work.” If our history casts a shadow, we are obliged to consider the consequences. This is not easy work.
In Indian Mirror: The Making of the Brazilian Soul, Roberto Gambini has attempted such shadow work, examining the historical and cultural elements that contribute to Brazilian soul. More specifically, he has tried to resurrect the idea of an ancestral soul rooted in Indian tribal consciousness.
A note of clarification. Though I have been to Brazil many times, I am hardly a student of the culture. But I am a student of Jungian psychology, which is the lens through which Gambini looks at the making of the Brazilian soul. Jungian psychology is archetypal psychology. That is, Jung postulated that all cultures share certain common archetypes such as the Wise Old Man, the Primitive, the Senex, the Crone, the Warrior King and the like. These are pre-conscious cultural traits that humans have in common.
Gambini builds his argument around the Jungian notion of projection, perhaps the most common psychological phenomenon. In short, everything that is unconscious in ourselves, we will discover in our neighbors. Gambini notes “projection is not a pathology of a disturbed personality, but a real fact through which everything unknown in the psyche may be expressed.” This is the tool the author will use to examine Brazilian history.
Gambini writes “One day, wandering around downtown Sao Paulo, I suddenly found myself in front of the restored façade of the primitive Jesuit chapel and of the school for Indian boys, which, in 1554, was the birthplace of what today is one of the greatest urban conglomerates in the world.” At this place he found three volumes of Jesuit letters, reproduced in the Portuguese of five centuries ago. Since the missionaries had already told their version of their arrival in Brazil, Gambini would talk on behalf of the Indians.
The author’s psychological analysis begins in fact, using 200 letters written by the Jesuits between 1549 and 1563, “in which they portray the new land and its native inhabitants.” The letters were published in 1954 and are considered important documents, especially for the study of the Jesuits. However, as the author remarks, “they have never been examined from a psychological point of view, as if such an approach would have nothing relevant to offer to the understanding of a highly complex human interaction that is at the very root of Brazilian society. Gambini postulates that, if a psychological theory is valid for the individual, it should also apply to collective situations. This is a bold enterprise with numerous risks.
Nonetheless, it is very difficult to argue with the writer’s basic premise. The letters to and from the first Brazilian missionaries are filled with the language of projection. Brazil was to be the New World, the Second Eden, and a Paradise. But the shadow of Christendom, symbolized by the serpent of evil, found the ideal land in America for projection. The Indians would be converted, the land tamed, Catholic morality imposed. Gambini writes that the “Jesuits knew they would find less-than-human beings in Brazil and it was precisely to change or improve them that they went abroad. The first contact was a confirmation of the truthfulness of a specific image that had for the first time been presented to Europe in 1492 through Columbus’ letter describing the Caribs in the Antilles. But this first ‘journalistic’ report was already archetypal, for the image of primitive man is as old as mankind.”
In the religious pantheon, primitive man was dark, ape-like, and uncivilized. This idea was already in the European psyche. As the letters make clear, the Jesuits believed the catechization of the Indians was a re-enactment of the Creation, a recapitulation of an eternal myth. The majestic iconography of the invaders would soon appropriate and
overwhelm the culture of the Indians. The letters and maps show very clearly how Europeans projected their religion, morality and fantasies on the land and its inhabitants.
A central Jungian idea is to stay with the image, for this is the royal road to soul making. Gambini’s book is an appeal to modern Brazilian culture and consciousness to understand and learn from what has been repressed. “What happened in Brazil, the author writes, “was a psychic mingling and not a communion of souls, because the conquerors do not admit that those he vanquished had human qualities of some value. We are, in fact, a population of mixed races—mixed biologically, genetically; but the psychic mixture, the mutual fertilization among the souls has not taken place yet.
“The Porto Seguro landmark requires another interpretation. The first mass requires another reading. And so, in the same way, a whole gallery of images taken over by official history should be replaced by another one that tells the history of the soul. But we shall only reach this through empathy, imagination, recovery of silenced voices and the retrieval of bizarre images—some of which have been included in this book—that truly portray what in fact happened when these two segments of humanity encountered. To work with images may be the only way left to reconnect with the lost language of the soul.”
“Indian Mirror” represents a courageous attempt to re-envision history using some basic tenets of Jungian psychology. As Jung himself learned in his remarks about German cultural and psychological identity, there is danger in such prescriptions and descriptions. Finding certain Warrior Gods in the German psyche did not do much to help us understand Nazism or the average German.
I don’t think Gambini falls into this trap. Obviously, he is enamored of Jung and is sometimes too prescriptive is describing Jung’s psychology. Importantly, the author’s remarks are based on the very real content of the 200 letters, which represent the collective psychology of the age and the Catholic Church. In my opinion these letters beg for a psychological interpretation.
According to the author “Brazilian consciousness is unable to face the Indians. It does not know what they are. Indians have not room in it. Either one takes their land, creates a national park, invites them to an ethnic show or writes an academic thesis. And why? Because Indian consciousness has a different structure. Negroes are closer to the categories of ruling consciousness, even because they were forced to a closer togetherness. With the end of slavery, they were assimilated to the lowest level of the Brazilian society. A lot is said about contribution of both races to the make-up of the rich Brazilian culture, but much is silenced about what could not be assimilated.”
In Gambini’s opinion, for Brazil to fully mature, it must look at the unconscious elements, as they relate to the Indians, that have been repressed. This is a bold challenge and perhaps an impossible task. Jung himself had few fantasies about the ability of an individual to become conscious (withdraw projection). He didn’t necessary apply his psychology to nations. When he did, Jung was not convincing.
However, that does not invalidate Indian Mirror which argues there is another history of Brazil best amplified by the use of Jungian psychology. The book represents an important contribution to the Shadow Work that has been going on in Brazil for a long time. This is history inviting the artist in, one person at a time. Such is the nature of consciousness and conversion.
Few statesmen have been as prescient as Winston Churchill. During World Wart II he said someone is going to write this history and it’s going to be me. The Prime Minister had a sense of destiny from a very early age and always kept an eye on the historical archetype.
Naturally, most leaders want history to be kind to them. During the infamous Watergate episode thirty years ago, President Richard Nixon revealed in the taped White House conversations that he was more interested in the big sweep of history than a petty robbery at his opponent’s headquarters. Indeed, he saw himself as the new Marco Polo opening up China and the only credible American political figure who could establish an uneasy détente with the old Soviet Union. Nixon’s dark, Jansenist, vengeful streak would do him in. He spent the last twenty years of his life trying to salvage a reputation. He knew the game. When you don’t like history, rewrite it or re-envision it.
As historians know, history is always being rewritten and-envisioned. This activity is imperative, of course, as new information becomes available. Sigmund Freud suggested, without consciousness, we will always fall victims to our personal and collective histories. Japan, for example, has never really embraced its role in World Wart II. But all nations have their fictions, often opting for sophomoric histories that reinforce a national innocence. In its relationship to American Indians the Unites States has long been in denial. As psychologist C.G Jung notes, what we suppress will become public in other forms, such as how the culture treats non-white ethnic groups. From a psychological perspective, this is called “shadow work.” If our history casts a shadow, we are obliged to consider the consequences. This is not easy work.
In Indian Mirror: The Making of the Brazilian Soul, Roberto Gambini has attempted such shadow work, examining the historical and cultural elements that contribute to Brazilian soul. More specifically, he has tried to resurrect the idea of an ancestral soul rooted in Indian tribal consciousness.
A note of clarification. Though I have been to Brazil many times, I am hardly a student of the culture. But I am a student of Jungian psychology, which is the lens through which Gambini looks at the making of the Brazilian soul. Jungian psychology is archetypal psychology. That is, Jung postulated that all cultures share certain common archetypes such as the Wise Old Man, the Primitive, the Senex, the Crone, the Warrior King and the like. These are pre-conscious cultural traits that humans have in common.
Gambini builds his argument around the Jungian notion of projection, perhaps the most common psychological phenomenon. In short, everything that is unconscious in ourselves, we will discover in our neighbors. Gambini notes “projection is not a pathology of a disturbed personality, but a real fact through which everything unknown in the psyche may be expressed.” This is the tool the author will use to examine Brazilian history.
Gambini writes “One day, wandering around downtown Sao Paulo, I suddenly found myself in front of the restored façade of the primitive Jesuit chapel and of the school for Indian boys, which, in 1554, was the birthplace of what today is one of the greatest urban conglomerates in the world.” At this place he found three volumes of Jesuit letters, reproduced in the Portuguese of five centuries ago. Since the missionaries had already told their version of their arrival in Brazil, Gambini would talk on behalf of the Indians.
The author’s psychological analysis begins in fact, using 200 letters written by the Jesuits between 1549 and 1563, “in which they portray the new land and its native inhabitants.” The letters were published in 1954 and are considered important documents, especially for the study of the Jesuits. However, as the author remarks, “they have never been examined from a psychological point of view, as if such an approach would have nothing relevant to offer to the understanding of a highly complex human interaction that is at the very root of Brazilian society. Gambini postulates that, if a psychological theory is valid for the individual, it should also apply to collective situations. This is a bold enterprise with numerous risks.
Nonetheless, it is very difficult to argue with the writer’s basic premise. The letters to and from the first Brazilian missionaries are filled with the language of projection. Brazil was to be the New World, the Second Eden, and a Paradise. But the shadow of Christendom, symbolized by the serpent of evil, found the ideal land in America for projection. The Indians would be converted, the land tamed, Catholic morality imposed. Gambini writes that the “Jesuits knew they would find less-than-human beings in Brazil and it was precisely to change or improve them that they went abroad. The first contact was a confirmation of the truthfulness of a specific image that had for the first time been presented to Europe in 1492 through Columbus’ letter describing the Caribs in the Antilles. But this first ‘journalistic’ report was already archetypal, for the image of primitive man is as old as mankind.”
In the religious pantheon, primitive man was dark, ape-like, and uncivilized. This idea was already in the European psyche. As the letters make clear, the Jesuits believed the catechization of the Indians was a re-enactment of the Creation, a recapitulation of an eternal myth. The majestic iconography of the invaders would soon appropriate and
overwhelm the culture of the Indians. The letters and maps show very clearly how Europeans projected their religion, morality and fantasies on the land and its inhabitants.
A central Jungian idea is to stay with the image, for this is the royal road to soul making. Gambini’s book is an appeal to modern Brazilian culture and consciousness to understand and learn from what has been repressed. “What happened in Brazil, the author writes, “was a psychic mingling and not a communion of souls, because the conquerors do not admit that those he vanquished had human qualities of some value. We are, in fact, a population of mixed races—mixed biologically, genetically; but the psychic mixture, the mutual fertilization among the souls has not taken place yet.
“The Porto Seguro landmark requires another interpretation. The first mass requires another reading. And so, in the same way, a whole gallery of images taken over by official history should be replaced by another one that tells the history of the soul. But we shall only reach this through empathy, imagination, recovery of silenced voices and the retrieval of bizarre images—some of which have been included in this book—that truly portray what in fact happened when these two segments of humanity encountered. To work with images may be the only way left to reconnect with the lost language of the soul.”
“Indian Mirror” represents a courageous attempt to re-envision history using some basic tenets of Jungian psychology. As Jung himself learned in his remarks about German cultural and psychological identity, there is danger in such prescriptions and descriptions. Finding certain Warrior Gods in the German psyche did not do much to help us understand Nazism or the average German.
I don’t think Gambini falls into this trap. Obviously, he is enamored of Jung and is sometimes too prescriptive is describing Jung’s psychology. Importantly, the author’s remarks are based on the very real content of the 200 letters, which represent the collective psychology of the age and the Catholic Church. In my opinion these letters beg for a psychological interpretation.
According to the author “Brazilian consciousness is unable to face the Indians. It does not know what they are. Indians have not room in it. Either one takes their land, creates a national park, invites them to an ethnic show or writes an academic thesis. And why? Because Indian consciousness has a different structure. Negroes are closer to the categories of ruling consciousness, even because they were forced to a closer togetherness. With the end of slavery, they were assimilated to the lowest level of the Brazilian society. A lot is said about contribution of both races to the make-up of the rich Brazilian culture, but much is silenced about what could not be assimilated.”
In Gambini’s opinion, for Brazil to fully mature, it must look at the unconscious elements, as they relate to the Indians, that have been repressed. This is a bold challenge and perhaps an impossible task. Jung himself had few fantasies about the ability of an individual to become conscious (withdraw projection). He didn’t necessary apply his psychology to nations. When he did, Jung was not convincing.
However, that does not invalidate Indian Mirror which argues there is another history of Brazil best amplified by the use of Jungian psychology. The book represents an important contribution to the Shadow Work that has been going on in Brazil for a long time. This is history inviting the artist in, one person at a time. Such is the nature of consciousness and conversion.
Psychology group's policy draws dissent
Psychology group's policy draws dissent
By LINDSEY TANNER
Associated Press
CHICAGO - The American Psychological Association is under fire from some of its members and other professionals for declaring that it is permissible for psychologists to assist in military interrogations.
An online petition against the group's policy has garnered more than 1,300 signatures from members and other psychologists. Protest forums are being planned for the APA's convention next month in New Orleans. And some members have threatened to withhold dues or quit.
The unrest stems from an APA policy, issued last year, that says that while psychologists should not get involved in torture or other degrading treatment, it is ethical for them to act as consultants to interrogation and information-gathering for national security purposes.
That stand troubles some members of the organization in light of the reported abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
''The issue is being couched as psychologists helping out with national security at the same time that psychologists are opposed to the issue of torture,'' said Chicago psychologist William Gorman, an APA member who signed the petition and works with refugee survivors of torture. ''That stance in the present context appears to me incongruous.''
News reports have said that mental health specialists who are helping U.S. military interrogators have helped create coercive techniques, including sleep deprivation and playing on detainees' phobias, to extract information.
The American Medical Association last month adopted what many view as a stronger stand against physician involvement in prisoner interrogation, echoing a position held by the American Psychiatric Association, whose members are medical doctors. The U.S. military has indicated it will therefore favor using psychologists, who are not medical doctors and are not bound by the other groups' policies.
The Physicians for Human Rights, a Cambridge, Mass.-based advocacy group, issued a statement Wednesday urging APA leaders to ''explicitly prohibit psychologists from participating in interrogations.''
Salon.com reported Wednesday that six of the 10 people on the APA task force that drafted the psychologists' policy have close military ties, including four who have worked at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib or Afghanistan.
New York psychologist Steven Reisner, an APA member and vocal opponent of the policy, said those ties make the group's stance even more troubling.
Gerald Koocher, APA's president, said that none of the task force members was involved in torture and that their military ties were not a conflict of interest.
Some professionals, including Reisner, a faculty member at Columbia University's International Trauma Studies program and at New York University's medical school, want the 150,000-member organization to rewrite the group's ethics code to bar psychologists from any involvement in detainee interrogation.
Reisner said fliers and forums are being prepared for the group's Aug. 10-13 convention ''to generate a momentum of embarrassment and outrage that the APA has thus far been facilitating these interrogations rather than stopping the violations of human rights.''
Responding to member concerns, the APA's ethics committee is drawing up guidance on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior by psychologists involved in interrogations, Koocher said.
The APA also said that its governing council is expected to vote on a resolution on Aug. 9, a day before the convention, reaffirming the group's opposition to torture and other inhumane treatment.
The group also has invited Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army's surgeon general, to attend the convention and answer questions about military use of psychologists.
By LINDSEY TANNER
Associated Press
CHICAGO - The American Psychological Association is under fire from some of its members and other professionals for declaring that it is permissible for psychologists to assist in military interrogations.
An online petition against the group's policy has garnered more than 1,300 signatures from members and other psychologists. Protest forums are being planned for the APA's convention next month in New Orleans. And some members have threatened to withhold dues or quit.
The unrest stems from an APA policy, issued last year, that says that while psychologists should not get involved in torture or other degrading treatment, it is ethical for them to act as consultants to interrogation and information-gathering for national security purposes.
That stand troubles some members of the organization in light of the reported abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
''The issue is being couched as psychologists helping out with national security at the same time that psychologists are opposed to the issue of torture,'' said Chicago psychologist William Gorman, an APA member who signed the petition and works with refugee survivors of torture. ''That stance in the present context appears to me incongruous.''
News reports have said that mental health specialists who are helping U.S. military interrogators have helped create coercive techniques, including sleep deprivation and playing on detainees' phobias, to extract information.
The American Medical Association last month adopted what many view as a stronger stand against physician involvement in prisoner interrogation, echoing a position held by the American Psychiatric Association, whose members are medical doctors. The U.S. military has indicated it will therefore favor using psychologists, who are not medical doctors and are not bound by the other groups' policies.
The Physicians for Human Rights, a Cambridge, Mass.-based advocacy group, issued a statement Wednesday urging APA leaders to ''explicitly prohibit psychologists from participating in interrogations.''
Salon.com reported Wednesday that six of the 10 people on the APA task force that drafted the psychologists' policy have close military ties, including four who have worked at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib or Afghanistan.
New York psychologist Steven Reisner, an APA member and vocal opponent of the policy, said those ties make the group's stance even more troubling.
Gerald Koocher, APA's president, said that none of the task force members was involved in torture and that their military ties were not a conflict of interest.
Some professionals, including Reisner, a faculty member at Columbia University's International Trauma Studies program and at New York University's medical school, want the 150,000-member organization to rewrite the group's ethics code to bar psychologists from any involvement in detainee interrogation.
Reisner said fliers and forums are being prepared for the group's Aug. 10-13 convention ''to generate a momentum of embarrassment and outrage that the APA has thus far been facilitating these interrogations rather than stopping the violations of human rights.''
Responding to member concerns, the APA's ethics committee is drawing up guidance on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior by psychologists involved in interrogations, Koocher said.
The APA also said that its governing council is expected to vote on a resolution on Aug. 9, a day before the convention, reaffirming the group's opposition to torture and other inhumane treatment.
The group also has invited Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army's surgeon general, to attend the convention and answer questions about military use of psychologists.
Psychology of the fight
Psychology of the fight
By IRWIN J MANSDORF
How can you fight, win, but still come out losing? Well, it's all in the psychology of the fight, and like most classical wars, the confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah is featuring the use of psychological warfare to lower the enemy's morale and gain a strategic advantage.
But unlike most classical wars, this one also features some clearly ruthless and unconventional psychological methods.
Seizing on a technique that has been shown to bear fruit, Hizbullah has included civilians in its battle plans. And its armamentarium of civilians is just as psychologically important as the missiles being hurled toward Israel every day.
Those missiles - generally inaccurate, occasionally lethal and always frightening - are designed less to create physical damage and more to wreak havoc, fear and panic. While these are all psychological targets, they nonetheless serve a clear military purpose: to weaken home front resolve and pressure Israel to cease its operations in Lebanon.
How Hizbullah views Israel's resolve is best described by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who compared Israeli society to a "spider's web," sophisticated and complex, but also fragile and easily destroyed by a sweep of one's hand. For Hizbullah, sweeping away that web exposes the soft underbelly of a society that cannot tolerate soldier's deaths and surely would not stand up to rocket barrages.
PSYCHOLOGISTS say that predicting future behavior is a matter of looking at past behavior, and that is what Hizbullah did in planning the ambush of an Israeli patrol and the kidnapping of two soldiers, an event that precipitated the current battle.
In the past, Israeli responses were limited in their scope, and Hizbullah willingly absorbed any losses they sustained as a result. According to their thinking, a limited Israeli response puts them in a favorable negotiating position, one that strengthens their popularity and image as the only fighting force that exacts tangible results when confronting Israel.
But when Israel's response was stronger than Hizbullah expected, and when the home front seemed to able to psychologically withstand days and scores of rockets, Hizbullah needed to move from conventional psychological warfare to more unconventional methods.
Here is where they turned to their ace in the hole, the civilian population.
HOW CAN Hizbullah win this war?
No one, not even Hizbullah, expects an outright military defeat of Israel. But for Hizbullah, victory lies not in physically vanquishing Israel - although the more Israeli causalities, the better - but rather in ensuring that Hizbullah stays alive and intact as a fighting and political force after hostilities end.
Being able to demonstrate its ability to fight and survive is key to maintaining the organization's image as the premier "resistance" movement in the Islamic world and moving closer to their ultimate goal of leading the efforts to eventually destroy the Jewish state.
So, for the moment, Hizbullah does not need to "win," only to survive.
For Israel, the goal is much clearer: to ensure that Hizbullah no longer presents a threat to it. And while Israel uses conventional military and political means to reach that goal, Hizbullah's survival is a matter of using psychological warfare that involves a brutal manipulation of its own population.
IF THERE IS one thing Hizbullah has learned from history, it is that civilian deaths play to its advantage. That's the way it was after the accidental Israeli bombing of Kfar Kana during Operation Grapes of Wrath resulted in pressure on Israel to end hostilities and agree to a formula that allowed Hizbullah to continue as a formidable force in Lebanon.
Learning from that experience, Hizbullah looks to the civilian population to provide a critical weapon, a psychological one whose target is world opinion. It is here more than on the battlefield that Hizbullah hopes to stop Israel.
By concealing rockets in the homes of ordinary citizens, by having its fighters dress like civilians and operate out of civilian areas, and by preventing large numbers of people from moving out of battle zones Hizbullah knows that civilians will be struck. Unable to stop Israel on the battlefield, it is relying on the psychological impact of civilian death and destruction on the nightly news all over the world to reach its goal.
BUT A FUNNY thing happened on the way to the newsroom. While many indeed have spoken of Israel's use of "disproportionate force," the expected reaction and outcry against Israel did not materialize. And the most important player in this equation, the US, far from condemning Israel, has continued to back Israel's military goals, namely, to continue fighting until Hizbullah is significantly degraded and its standing and influence are marginalized.
Hizbullah has also miscalculated in judging the strength of that "spider's web" Nasrallah so mockingly referred to. Far from being the weak collection of fibers the sheikh expected, it is turning out to be far stronger, surprising not only Hizbullah but many in Israel as well.
Israelis, having endured some very intense years of home front violence, seem no longer to be the same people that shook and cowed in fear at Saddam's Scuds in 1991. Israelis appear to have been inoculated against the fear of terror, and have developed psychological antibodies to repel the emotional impact of Hizbullah's missiles.
Hopefully, the world will learn from Israel that dealing with terror involves being able to withstand bombs and missiles, and also repelling any psychological pressure a terror group may use, including the tragically cynical exploitation of civilians.
Failing to do so may enable the good guys to win the battle, but not the war.
The writer, a licensed psychologist in Israel and the US, deals with the effects of war and terror. Founder of MATAN crisis intervention services, he was a consultant to the post-9/11 crisis intervention program in New York. This op-ed was written prior to the Kafr Kana incident
By IRWIN J MANSDORF
How can you fight, win, but still come out losing? Well, it's all in the psychology of the fight, and like most classical wars, the confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah is featuring the use of psychological warfare to lower the enemy's morale and gain a strategic advantage.
But unlike most classical wars, this one also features some clearly ruthless and unconventional psychological methods.
Seizing on a technique that has been shown to bear fruit, Hizbullah has included civilians in its battle plans. And its armamentarium of civilians is just as psychologically important as the missiles being hurled toward Israel every day.
Those missiles - generally inaccurate, occasionally lethal and always frightening - are designed less to create physical damage and more to wreak havoc, fear and panic. While these are all psychological targets, they nonetheless serve a clear military purpose: to weaken home front resolve and pressure Israel to cease its operations in Lebanon.
How Hizbullah views Israel's resolve is best described by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who compared Israeli society to a "spider's web," sophisticated and complex, but also fragile and easily destroyed by a sweep of one's hand. For Hizbullah, sweeping away that web exposes the soft underbelly of a society that cannot tolerate soldier's deaths and surely would not stand up to rocket barrages.
PSYCHOLOGISTS say that predicting future behavior is a matter of looking at past behavior, and that is what Hizbullah did in planning the ambush of an Israeli patrol and the kidnapping of two soldiers, an event that precipitated the current battle.
In the past, Israeli responses were limited in their scope, and Hizbullah willingly absorbed any losses they sustained as a result. According to their thinking, a limited Israeli response puts them in a favorable negotiating position, one that strengthens their popularity and image as the only fighting force that exacts tangible results when confronting Israel.
But when Israel's response was stronger than Hizbullah expected, and when the home front seemed to able to psychologically withstand days and scores of rockets, Hizbullah needed to move from conventional psychological warfare to more unconventional methods.
Here is where they turned to their ace in the hole, the civilian population.
HOW CAN Hizbullah win this war?
No one, not even Hizbullah, expects an outright military defeat of Israel. But for Hizbullah, victory lies not in physically vanquishing Israel - although the more Israeli causalities, the better - but rather in ensuring that Hizbullah stays alive and intact as a fighting and political force after hostilities end.
Being able to demonstrate its ability to fight and survive is key to maintaining the organization's image as the premier "resistance" movement in the Islamic world and moving closer to their ultimate goal of leading the efforts to eventually destroy the Jewish state.
So, for the moment, Hizbullah does not need to "win," only to survive.
For Israel, the goal is much clearer: to ensure that Hizbullah no longer presents a threat to it. And while Israel uses conventional military and political means to reach that goal, Hizbullah's survival is a matter of using psychological warfare that involves a brutal manipulation of its own population.
IF THERE IS one thing Hizbullah has learned from history, it is that civilian deaths play to its advantage. That's the way it was after the accidental Israeli bombing of Kfar Kana during Operation Grapes of Wrath resulted in pressure on Israel to end hostilities and agree to a formula that allowed Hizbullah to continue as a formidable force in Lebanon.
Learning from that experience, Hizbullah looks to the civilian population to provide a critical weapon, a psychological one whose target is world opinion. It is here more than on the battlefield that Hizbullah hopes to stop Israel.
By concealing rockets in the homes of ordinary citizens, by having its fighters dress like civilians and operate out of civilian areas, and by preventing large numbers of people from moving out of battle zones Hizbullah knows that civilians will be struck. Unable to stop Israel on the battlefield, it is relying on the psychological impact of civilian death and destruction on the nightly news all over the world to reach its goal.
BUT A FUNNY thing happened on the way to the newsroom. While many indeed have spoken of Israel's use of "disproportionate force," the expected reaction and outcry against Israel did not materialize. And the most important player in this equation, the US, far from condemning Israel, has continued to back Israel's military goals, namely, to continue fighting until Hizbullah is significantly degraded and its standing and influence are marginalized.
Hizbullah has also miscalculated in judging the strength of that "spider's web" Nasrallah so mockingly referred to. Far from being the weak collection of fibers the sheikh expected, it is turning out to be far stronger, surprising not only Hizbullah but many in Israel as well.
Israelis, having endured some very intense years of home front violence, seem no longer to be the same people that shook and cowed in fear at Saddam's Scuds in 1991. Israelis appear to have been inoculated against the fear of terror, and have developed psychological antibodies to repel the emotional impact of Hizbullah's missiles.
Hopefully, the world will learn from Israel that dealing with terror involves being able to withstand bombs and missiles, and also repelling any psychological pressure a terror group may use, including the tragically cynical exploitation of civilians.
Failing to do so may enable the good guys to win the battle, but not the war.
The writer, a licensed psychologist in Israel and the US, deals with the effects of war and terror. Founder of MATAN crisis intervention services, he was a consultant to the post-9/11 crisis intervention program in New York. This op-ed was written prior to the Kafr Kana incident
The psychology of killing
The psychology of killing
Human evolution may allow us to commit genocide, but that’s no excuse
By James E. Waller
The field of evolutionary psychology, or EP, illustrates that people are part of the natural world and, like other animals, have their own particular psychological tendencies that animate behaviors. Those behaviors can be both good and bad — responsible for both love and hate — and can both be understood by EP.
“Immediate influences” explain why a behavior occurs, such as how hunger impels people to eat or lust impels them to have sex. “Ultimate influences,” conversely, refer to deeper influences from humans’ evolutionary past — why a behavior evolved by natural selection — such as the need for nutrition and reproduction that gave us the drives of hunger and lust.
It is these ultimate influences, flowing from the deep evolutionary streams of human nature, that help us understand how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing.
EP: Full steam ahead
EP — a marriage of cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology — is leading the charge in investigating human nature as an ultimate influence on behavior. Essentially, EP is a multidisciplinary way of applying knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology to research the structure of the human mind. In a kind of reverse-engineering, EP researchers examine the human mind today for clues as to how it evolved in the past. It’s a complicated process because human nature included hundreds, perhaps thousands, of psychological adaptations, each designed for different, domain-specific conditions. Today’s human brain can be compared to a Swiss Army knife, with its various blades and gadgets meant for different tasks.
A detailed evolutionary heritage
Humans are obligated to examine the impact of what they are and who they are in understanding the origins of genocide and mass killing. While the roots of genocide and mass killing cannot be attributed solely to the deep traces of design left in the mind by natural selection, people can no longer dismiss as an unsupportable theological or philosophical assumption that human nature has a dark side. Evil deeds are at least partially grounded in human nature. An impulse to do evil is not the defining characteristic of human nature, but the impulse is certainly within human capacity.
How does our evolutionary heritage help us comprehend the perpetration of genocide and mass killing? To begin with, humans have evolved natures with broad arrays of psychological adaptations. On the positive side, some of these adaptations affirm a capacity for goodness. These include love, friendship, cooperativeness, trustworthiness, preferential and reciprocal altruism, nurturance, friendship, compassion, communication, a sense of fairness and even self-sacrifice — in short, the things that hold society together.
EP warns, however, that self-congratulation about humanity is premature. Beneath the social surface is a seamy underside of human nature that is much less flattering. Prosocial adaptations are qualified by the reality that people reserve major doses of goodness either for close kin or for nonkin who show signs of someday returning the favor. Underlying these so-called acts of charity are selfish and aggressive traits that are part of inherently self-centered human nature. Sometimes altruism and cooperation turn out to be the most effective ways to compete.
The Swiss Army knife of adaptations includes even darker ultimate motives — such as intergroup competition for dominance, boundary definition and fear of social exclusion — which often tear society apart by providing the critical building blocks for within-group niceness and between-group nastiness.
For instance, studies worldwide show that ethnocentrism (focusing on our group as the “right” one) and xenophobia (fearing outsiders or strangers) are not only universal in people, but also that these tendencies start in infancy. We have an evolved capacity to see our group as superior to all others and even to be reluctant to recognize members of other groups as deserving of equal respect. Some even suggest that our tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them” is one of the few true human universals.
A group of the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert, for instance, call themselves by a name that literally means “the real people.” In their language, the words for “bad” and “foreign” are one and the same. Similarly, the cannibal inhabitants of the delta area of Irian in Indonesian New Guinea call themselves the Asmat, which means “the people — the human beings.” All outsiders are known very simply as Manowe — “the edible ones.” It is these types of “darker” universal adaptations that can be evoked by governments, propaganda and militaries in the recruitment of genocidal killers.
As William James, the first great American psychologist, opined more than a century ago, “We, the lineal representatives of the successful enactors of one scene of slaughter after another, must, whatever more pacific virtues we may also possess, still carry about with us, ready at any moment to burst into flame, the smoldering and sinister traits of character by means of which they lived through so many massacres, harming others, but themselves unharmed.”
EP vs. the social fabric of life
Understanding the powerful, innate, ultimate, “animal” influences lying at the core of human nature is only the first step, however, in understanding how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing.
Natural selection may have designed certain adaptations that provide the capacity for extraordinary evil, but no other species shows the degree of premeditated mass killings of its own that humans have shown over the centuries. Indeed, it is quite unfair to other species to compare them with humankind.
EP describes the ultimate evolutionary capacities common to everyone. But this understanding must be couched in the context of the more proximate and immediate cultural, psychological and social constructions that activate these capacities.
Taming the animal instincts within
While it is not reasonable to hope for dramatic or quick evolution of humanity, the dark side of human nature is not behaviorally inevitable.
People can and should identify the psychological adaptations that can most usefully serve cooperative and peaceful goals and build on them. There are certainly innate tendencies for cooperative, caring and nonviolent relations that enhanced human ancestors’ survival rates and reproductive success in a world of limited resources. Such pro-social tendencies would have been favored by natural selection and would still be retained at some level as long-term adaptations. Fostering cultural practices and resources that activate these adaptations can be done to produce mutually beneficial outcomes for formerly antagonistic groups. As biologist Lyall Watson reminds us, “The roots of war lie deep in nature, it seems, but then so too do the roots of peace.”
Humans are not slaves to an unyielding genetic leash. The mentally ill aside, people are not forced by some internal monster of the mind to commit such atrocities as genocide or mass killing. Evolutionary adaptations are best understood not as immutable genetic programs, but simply as predispositions to learn. Genes endow a capacity to learn and to adapt to life in a variety of environments, and as a result, people are not constrained by innate psychological adaptations.
As a matter of fact, the more psychological adaptations humans have, the more capabilities they have. It’s the large number of psychological adaptations — and their infinite range of combined interactions — that make human behavior more flexible and intelligent than other animals.
James E. Waller is a professor of psychology and Edward B. Lindaman Chair at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash.
Human evolution may allow us to commit genocide, but that’s no excuse
By James E. Waller
The field of evolutionary psychology, or EP, illustrates that people are part of the natural world and, like other animals, have their own particular psychological tendencies that animate behaviors. Those behaviors can be both good and bad — responsible for both love and hate — and can both be understood by EP.
“Immediate influences” explain why a behavior occurs, such as how hunger impels people to eat or lust impels them to have sex. “Ultimate influences,” conversely, refer to deeper influences from humans’ evolutionary past — why a behavior evolved by natural selection — such as the need for nutrition and reproduction that gave us the drives of hunger and lust.
It is these ultimate influences, flowing from the deep evolutionary streams of human nature, that help us understand how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing.
EP: Full steam ahead
EP — a marriage of cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology — is leading the charge in investigating human nature as an ultimate influence on behavior. Essentially, EP is a multidisciplinary way of applying knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology to research the structure of the human mind. In a kind of reverse-engineering, EP researchers examine the human mind today for clues as to how it evolved in the past. It’s a complicated process because human nature included hundreds, perhaps thousands, of psychological adaptations, each designed for different, domain-specific conditions. Today’s human brain can be compared to a Swiss Army knife, with its various blades and gadgets meant for different tasks.
A detailed evolutionary heritage
Humans are obligated to examine the impact of what they are and who they are in understanding the origins of genocide and mass killing. While the roots of genocide and mass killing cannot be attributed solely to the deep traces of design left in the mind by natural selection, people can no longer dismiss as an unsupportable theological or philosophical assumption that human nature has a dark side. Evil deeds are at least partially grounded in human nature. An impulse to do evil is not the defining characteristic of human nature, but the impulse is certainly within human capacity.
How does our evolutionary heritage help us comprehend the perpetration of genocide and mass killing? To begin with, humans have evolved natures with broad arrays of psychological adaptations. On the positive side, some of these adaptations affirm a capacity for goodness. These include love, friendship, cooperativeness, trustworthiness, preferential and reciprocal altruism, nurturance, friendship, compassion, communication, a sense of fairness and even self-sacrifice — in short, the things that hold society together.
EP warns, however, that self-congratulation about humanity is premature. Beneath the social surface is a seamy underside of human nature that is much less flattering. Prosocial adaptations are qualified by the reality that people reserve major doses of goodness either for close kin or for nonkin who show signs of someday returning the favor. Underlying these so-called acts of charity are selfish and aggressive traits that are part of inherently self-centered human nature. Sometimes altruism and cooperation turn out to be the most effective ways to compete.
The Swiss Army knife of adaptations includes even darker ultimate motives — such as intergroup competition for dominance, boundary definition and fear of social exclusion — which often tear society apart by providing the critical building blocks for within-group niceness and between-group nastiness.
For instance, studies worldwide show that ethnocentrism (focusing on our group as the “right” one) and xenophobia (fearing outsiders or strangers) are not only universal in people, but also that these tendencies start in infancy. We have an evolved capacity to see our group as superior to all others and even to be reluctant to recognize members of other groups as deserving of equal respect. Some even suggest that our tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them” is one of the few true human universals.
A group of the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert, for instance, call themselves by a name that literally means “the real people.” In their language, the words for “bad” and “foreign” are one and the same. Similarly, the cannibal inhabitants of the delta area of Irian in Indonesian New Guinea call themselves the Asmat, which means “the people — the human beings.” All outsiders are known very simply as Manowe — “the edible ones.” It is these types of “darker” universal adaptations that can be evoked by governments, propaganda and militaries in the recruitment of genocidal killers.
As William James, the first great American psychologist, opined more than a century ago, “We, the lineal representatives of the successful enactors of one scene of slaughter after another, must, whatever more pacific virtues we may also possess, still carry about with us, ready at any moment to burst into flame, the smoldering and sinister traits of character by means of which they lived through so many massacres, harming others, but themselves unharmed.”
EP vs. the social fabric of life
Understanding the powerful, innate, ultimate, “animal” influences lying at the core of human nature is only the first step, however, in understanding how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing.
Natural selection may have designed certain adaptations that provide the capacity for extraordinary evil, but no other species shows the degree of premeditated mass killings of its own that humans have shown over the centuries. Indeed, it is quite unfair to other species to compare them with humankind.
EP describes the ultimate evolutionary capacities common to everyone. But this understanding must be couched in the context of the more proximate and immediate cultural, psychological and social constructions that activate these capacities.
Taming the animal instincts within
While it is not reasonable to hope for dramatic or quick evolution of humanity, the dark side of human nature is not behaviorally inevitable.
People can and should identify the psychological adaptations that can most usefully serve cooperative and peaceful goals and build on them. There are certainly innate tendencies for cooperative, caring and nonviolent relations that enhanced human ancestors’ survival rates and reproductive success in a world of limited resources. Such pro-social tendencies would have been favored by natural selection and would still be retained at some level as long-term adaptations. Fostering cultural practices and resources that activate these adaptations can be done to produce mutually beneficial outcomes for formerly antagonistic groups. As biologist Lyall Watson reminds us, “The roots of war lie deep in nature, it seems, but then so too do the roots of peace.”
Humans are not slaves to an unyielding genetic leash. The mentally ill aside, people are not forced by some internal monster of the mind to commit such atrocities as genocide or mass killing. Evolutionary adaptations are best understood not as immutable genetic programs, but simply as predispositions to learn. Genes endow a capacity to learn and to adapt to life in a variety of environments, and as a result, people are not constrained by innate psychological adaptations.
As a matter of fact, the more psychological adaptations humans have, the more capabilities they have. It’s the large number of psychological adaptations — and their infinite range of combined interactions — that make human behavior more flexible and intelligent than other animals.
James E. Waller is a professor of psychology and Edward B. Lindaman Chair at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash.
Math and psychology
Math and psychology: Truesdell's approach to poker pays off
By MISTY MAYNARD Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006 9:36 PM EDT Print this story | Email this story
Justin Truesdell earns his living playing games.
About 18 months ago, Truesdell, who graduated from St. Patrick School, learned how to play poker. Within months, he found himself earning more playing the card game than he did at his job, so he quit, and became a professional poker player.
"It's a tough game," Truesdell said. "But it's all math and psychology."
Math just so happens to be Truesdell's "forte." In school, Truesdell said he competed in the academic league in the math category. After graduating high school, Truesdell enrolled at Centre College, where he completed his marketing degree. He was working with Cingular selling cell phones when he started playing poker for fun, only to discover how lucrative it could be for him.
Truesdell now spends about 10 hours a day, four to seven days a week, playing poker, mostly online. He said he starts his day with more money than he made in a month at his previous job.
Recently, Truesdell competed in the World Series of Poker tournament. It was actually through an online site, pokerstars.com, Truesdell entered into a qualifying tournament for the World Series of Poker competition -- and he made the cut. The site paid Truesdell's entry free, and sent him to Las Vegas for the tournament.
For two months, Truesdell said he lived in Las Vegas, playing in smaller tournaments, building up to the main event. More than 8,700 people participated in the tournament, but only about 10 percent of those actually made money from their efforts. Truesdell managed to make more than $16,000 through the tournament.
The tournament, Truesdell said, will be "all over" ESPN in a couple of weeks, and could possibly show the local poker professional.
"I got filmed three times, (they) got my name and hometown," he said, though if he actually appears on television depends on editing.
Truesdell said the players received 10,000 chips, and they would play until someone got all the chips.
"It's about surviving until you can't survive anymore," he said.
While he may be playing a game, Truesdell said it can get intense, with the stress level rising as the stakes rise.
While he travels across the country now playing poker, he said he hopes to make enough money to one day start his own business. The 25-year-old said he will likely continue to play poker for the next five years or so. When he retires from the professional poker arena, Truesdell said he is not exactly sure what he will do.
"I'm young, I'm playing it by ear right now," he said. "I've got a good degree I can always fall back on."
With Truesdell earning most of his living through online poker sites, he is concerned with a proposed "Internet gambling prohibition," which would outlaw Internet poker. He said the ban is mostly being sought to prevent children from using their parents credit cards online, but said there are actually few cases of that occurring. Most of the time, Truesdell said the people who play online are those who work all day, and enjoy a game of low-stakes poker in the evening.
Though his family is supportive of Truesdell's current poker profession, he said he does sometimes receive negative comments from people.
"A lot of people look at me and ask me when I'm going to get a job," he said. "They have no clue that I do much better (playing poker)."
Truesdell said to many, poker is just a game, but he looks at it as if it were a business. He said playing online, he does not have to beat the house, he simply has to beat the other players.
"As long as you're smarter than the average person, or know more about the game than the average person, you can make money," he said.
By MISTY MAYNARD Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006 9:36 PM EDT Print this story | Email this story
Justin Truesdell earns his living playing games.
About 18 months ago, Truesdell, who graduated from St. Patrick School, learned how to play poker. Within months, he found himself earning more playing the card game than he did at his job, so he quit, and became a professional poker player.
"It's a tough game," Truesdell said. "But it's all math and psychology."
Math just so happens to be Truesdell's "forte." In school, Truesdell said he competed in the academic league in the math category. After graduating high school, Truesdell enrolled at Centre College, where he completed his marketing degree. He was working with Cingular selling cell phones when he started playing poker for fun, only to discover how lucrative it could be for him.
Truesdell now spends about 10 hours a day, four to seven days a week, playing poker, mostly online. He said he starts his day with more money than he made in a month at his previous job.
Recently, Truesdell competed in the World Series of Poker tournament. It was actually through an online site, pokerstars.com, Truesdell entered into a qualifying tournament for the World Series of Poker competition -- and he made the cut. The site paid Truesdell's entry free, and sent him to Las Vegas for the tournament.
For two months, Truesdell said he lived in Las Vegas, playing in smaller tournaments, building up to the main event. More than 8,700 people participated in the tournament, but only about 10 percent of those actually made money from their efforts. Truesdell managed to make more than $16,000 through the tournament.
The tournament, Truesdell said, will be "all over" ESPN in a couple of weeks, and could possibly show the local poker professional.
"I got filmed three times, (they) got my name and hometown," he said, though if he actually appears on television depends on editing.
Truesdell said the players received 10,000 chips, and they would play until someone got all the chips.
"It's about surviving until you can't survive anymore," he said.
While he may be playing a game, Truesdell said it can get intense, with the stress level rising as the stakes rise.
While he travels across the country now playing poker, he said he hopes to make enough money to one day start his own business. The 25-year-old said he will likely continue to play poker for the next five years or so. When he retires from the professional poker arena, Truesdell said he is not exactly sure what he will do.
"I'm young, I'm playing it by ear right now," he said. "I've got a good degree I can always fall back on."
With Truesdell earning most of his living through online poker sites, he is concerned with a proposed "Internet gambling prohibition," which would outlaw Internet poker. He said the ban is mostly being sought to prevent children from using their parents credit cards online, but said there are actually few cases of that occurring. Most of the time, Truesdell said the people who play online are those who work all day, and enjoy a game of low-stakes poker in the evening.
Though his family is supportive of Truesdell's current poker profession, he said he does sometimes receive negative comments from people.
"A lot of people look at me and ask me when I'm going to get a job," he said. "They have no clue that I do much better (playing poker)."
Truesdell said to many, poker is just a game, but he looks at it as if it were a business. He said playing online, he does not have to beat the house, he simply has to beat the other players.
"As long as you're smarter than the average person, or know more about the game than the average person, you can make money," he said.
Psychology of the Sports Fan
Psychology of the Sports Fan
Some people have a passing interest in sports, while others are . . . TRUE FANS
By Jim Patrick
The Salt Lake Tribune
Joe Mannino seems like a normal enough guy. He's in his 30s, he has a wife and a daughter and people expect normal enough things from him.
Except when it comes to soccer.
An hour and a half before a recent Real Salt Lake game, Mannino was sitting out by the parking lot of Rice-Eccles Stadium in a $65 RSL jersey. He was waiting on a press credential from a Mexican newspaper to arrive for him to get into the press box. This isn't how he sees every game, but he clearly is excited about going to the RSL game.
Maybe a little too excited.
He faced a tough choice a few weeks ago. His daughter had a church ceremony that conflicted with an RSL event.
Tough call.
"In the end, I made the right choice and did the family thing," he said. "But at the end of the day . . . ," his voice trails off.
He would have preferred to be at the game.
Ed Hirt, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Indiana, has studied what drives sports fans.
"Being a fan has a self-esteem benefit," Hirt said. "It's the same thing as a parent with a kid who lives vicariously through the kid's achievements. There are things like that in everyday life. We drop names all the time about connections we have, people we went to school with. By doing that, we're trying to associate ourselves with something bigger than ourselves."
There's no shortage of fans doing that in Salt Lake.
If you want to see some fans that identify themselves - strongly - with a team, show up at an RSL game. You don't even have to leave the parking lot to witness the devotion. Fan groups such as The Loyalists gather at the edge of the parking lot to eat, drink and get pumped up for the game. Members of The Loyalists debate on just how fanatical their fanship is.
"I'm insane. My wife would probably say that," Scott Stucki said.
Said Loyalists president Glenn Webb: "I don't know if it's crazy or unbalanced. We're normal people with normal lives. People expect normal things from us."
And yet, they aspire to some abnormality.
Members of the group talk about an exhibition game RSL played against Mexican team Morelia a few weeks ago as an eye-opening event. Those fans had tears in their eyes when their team took the field.
Hirt, the Indiana psychologist, says a large part of the behavior is fans taking their cues from other fans. In the case of soccer, RSL fans are looking at die-hard international soccer fans and trying to emulate them.
RSL and Major League Soccer are different from other top-level professional leagues in the United States. RSL practices are open to the public, and fans can get right next to players, more or less, as they go about their drills.
Imagine if the New York Yankees had fans down on the field as Alex Rodriguez took batting practice.
Albert Baumann was at a recent practice. Wearing jeans and a blue-and-white striped shirt with a pair of glasses tucked into a pocket at the top, the 69-year-old bearded man barely looks like a radical fan. But, try asking him how often he comes to practice.
"I never miss a practice," said Baumann, a former goalkeeper who played 2 1/2 seasons in the top German league, the Bundesliga. "This is my life, you know. I'm an old man. I have nothing else to do. They feel like family to me."
Fans used to be able to get this close to players for a Utah sports institution: the Utah Jazz.
BIG-TIME FANS
The Jazz are so popular in Utah that, at one point, seemingly every sports team in the state had two Z's in its name, in an effort to play off the Jazz's success.
Howard Nakagama was around when the Jazz first came to Utah. He's fished with Mark Eaton and used to get to travel on the team bus or stay at the team hotel when the team went on trips.
"Now, it's probably next to impossible to do all of those things," Nakagama said. "But back when they first made the playoffs, it was pretty easy to do."
Not any more.
Tickets alone pose a problem for fans trying to go to 41 home Jazz games. With a few $10 seats relegated to the upper reaches of the stadium, and with parking and food exacting a premium, going to a game is a once-in-a-while affair for most Jazz fans. Hence the rise of TV viewership for Jazz games.
Daniel Wann, an associate psychology professor at Murray State, wrote the book "Sport Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators." In it, he details why people would be fanatical about a team they watched play live and in person once or twice a season.
They include:
l Eustress - the need for positive stress
l Escapism
l Entertainment
l Gambling
l Group affiliation
Jazz fans, Hirt said, probably feel a strong sense of community derived from being a fan. Just turn on a sports radio station and listen to how people talk about the Jazz. This past Wednesday, callers to a local radio show were bemoaning a shot Michael Jordan hit over Bryon Russell.
"We never got over that one," one caller said.
That was eight years ago.
STAYING THE COURSE
Some groups of fans are explained more easily.
College fans, for example, are primarily college-aged or alumni from the institution. As they grow older, many college fans become less rabidly involved with their teams.
But what about NASCAR fans and golf fans?
Hirt says they're a different breed. They look for drivers or golfers who exemplify something people like about themselves. Tiger Woods represents being the best athlete in the game. Dale Earnhardt was a straight shooter who would shove you out of the way for a win.
"With golf, or with auto racing, there's a sense of the entourage," Hirt said. "Some of the facets of being a fan are there, but there's a sense of what that sport means to you. That person you root for reflects something about yourself.
"It's more like the fans of a rock band."
Salt Lake Bees manager Brian Harper has seen the best and worst of sports fans. In 1991, Harper was the starting catcher for the Minnesota Twins and played in the "Thunderdome," as the Metrodome was renamed for its rowdy constituency.
As manager of the Bees, Harper gets heckled by a few members of the home crowd.
"I have a couple of fans on me all the time in Salt Lake," Harper said. "There are times where, as a player, fans don't understand how difficult it is to play at this level."
Still, Harper says he runs into fans around Salt Lake all the time and enjoys the experience. On the road, a Bees fan on summer vacation showed up in Omaha, Neb., to watch the Bees play.
As a player in the majors, Harper said the most crazed fans were in the Northeast, where Boston and New York Yankees fans routinely taunt each other.
"Fans differ from region to region," he said. "On the East Coast, fans are rabid. In the Midwest, they're knowledgeable but not crazy.
Out West, they're more laid-back, but still very knowledgeable." Mannino, the RSL fan, comes from the West Coast, but he seems to have more in common with a rabid Yankees fan.
A full-blooded Italian, Mannino roots for Juventus in the Italian premier league. Juventus was plagued by a match-fixing scandal last winter and had a bad season.
"My real team is Juventus over in Italy," he said. "They got relegated to the second league this year and I felt like somebody killed my sister."
Mannino says there's no point at which being a fan is unhealthy. Hirt disagrees.
"The funny thing about it is, you are drawing your self-esteem from others," Hirt said. "It's nice to feel like a member of a group, but, when nothing comes from within, that seems pretty dangerous. If your whole life is derived from this identity as a fan, you've got to relate more to life than that. Like, maybe they need to spend some time with their family."
Many Sports, Many Fans
Percentage of adults in the United States who identified themselves in 2004 as fans of various sports:
Sport Pct. Change
NFL 67.5 (2.0)
MLB 60.1 (2.4)
College football 56.1 (0.5)
NBA 48.5 (none)
Figure skating 46.8 (-2.5)
College basketball 46.3 (1.5)
Extreme sports 43.6 (-1.6)
NASCAR 43.4 (0.5)
Sport Pct. Change
Horse racing 37.4 (5.1)
Fishing 36.6 (1.9)
PGA 36.4 (-2.4)
Boxing 38.2 (0.6)
NHL 32.7 (-4.1)
WNBA 32.0 (-2.1)
WTA 31.5 (-5.4)
- TNS Sports Poll
Attendance
Total 2004 attendance in millions:
Baseball 120.3
Football 72.0
Basketball 67.2
Hockey 60.7
Auto racing 35.9
Horse racing 30.6
Rodeo 23.6
Golf 12.5
Soccer 7.2
Greyhound racing 6.4
Some people have a passing interest in sports, while others are . . . TRUE FANS
By Jim Patrick
The Salt Lake Tribune
Joe Mannino seems like a normal enough guy. He's in his 30s, he has a wife and a daughter and people expect normal enough things from him.
Except when it comes to soccer.
An hour and a half before a recent Real Salt Lake game, Mannino was sitting out by the parking lot of Rice-Eccles Stadium in a $65 RSL jersey. He was waiting on a press credential from a Mexican newspaper to arrive for him to get into the press box. This isn't how he sees every game, but he clearly is excited about going to the RSL game.
Maybe a little too excited.
He faced a tough choice a few weeks ago. His daughter had a church ceremony that conflicted with an RSL event.
Tough call.
"In the end, I made the right choice and did the family thing," he said. "But at the end of the day . . . ," his voice trails off.
He would have preferred to be at the game.
Ed Hirt, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Indiana, has studied what drives sports fans.
"Being a fan has a self-esteem benefit," Hirt said. "It's the same thing as a parent with a kid who lives vicariously through the kid's achievements. There are things like that in everyday life. We drop names all the time about connections we have, people we went to school with. By doing that, we're trying to associate ourselves with something bigger than ourselves."
There's no shortage of fans doing that in Salt Lake.
If you want to see some fans that identify themselves - strongly - with a team, show up at an RSL game. You don't even have to leave the parking lot to witness the devotion. Fan groups such as The Loyalists gather at the edge of the parking lot to eat, drink and get pumped up for the game. Members of The Loyalists debate on just how fanatical their fanship is.
"I'm insane. My wife would probably say that," Scott Stucki said.
Said Loyalists president Glenn Webb: "I don't know if it's crazy or unbalanced. We're normal people with normal lives. People expect normal things from us."
And yet, they aspire to some abnormality.
Members of the group talk about an exhibition game RSL played against Mexican team Morelia a few weeks ago as an eye-opening event. Those fans had tears in their eyes when their team took the field.
Hirt, the Indiana psychologist, says a large part of the behavior is fans taking their cues from other fans. In the case of soccer, RSL fans are looking at die-hard international soccer fans and trying to emulate them.
RSL and Major League Soccer are different from other top-level professional leagues in the United States. RSL practices are open to the public, and fans can get right next to players, more or less, as they go about their drills.
Imagine if the New York Yankees had fans down on the field as Alex Rodriguez took batting practice.
Albert Baumann was at a recent practice. Wearing jeans and a blue-and-white striped shirt with a pair of glasses tucked into a pocket at the top, the 69-year-old bearded man barely looks like a radical fan. But, try asking him how often he comes to practice.
"I never miss a practice," said Baumann, a former goalkeeper who played 2 1/2 seasons in the top German league, the Bundesliga. "This is my life, you know. I'm an old man. I have nothing else to do. They feel like family to me."
Fans used to be able to get this close to players for a Utah sports institution: the Utah Jazz.
BIG-TIME FANS
The Jazz are so popular in Utah that, at one point, seemingly every sports team in the state had two Z's in its name, in an effort to play off the Jazz's success.
Howard Nakagama was around when the Jazz first came to Utah. He's fished with Mark Eaton and used to get to travel on the team bus or stay at the team hotel when the team went on trips.
"Now, it's probably next to impossible to do all of those things," Nakagama said. "But back when they first made the playoffs, it was pretty easy to do."
Not any more.
Tickets alone pose a problem for fans trying to go to 41 home Jazz games. With a few $10 seats relegated to the upper reaches of the stadium, and with parking and food exacting a premium, going to a game is a once-in-a-while affair for most Jazz fans. Hence the rise of TV viewership for Jazz games.
Daniel Wann, an associate psychology professor at Murray State, wrote the book "Sport Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators." In it, he details why people would be fanatical about a team they watched play live and in person once or twice a season.
They include:
l Eustress - the need for positive stress
l Escapism
l Entertainment
l Gambling
l Group affiliation
Jazz fans, Hirt said, probably feel a strong sense of community derived from being a fan. Just turn on a sports radio station and listen to how people talk about the Jazz. This past Wednesday, callers to a local radio show were bemoaning a shot Michael Jordan hit over Bryon Russell.
"We never got over that one," one caller said.
That was eight years ago.
STAYING THE COURSE
Some groups of fans are explained more easily.
College fans, for example, are primarily college-aged or alumni from the institution. As they grow older, many college fans become less rabidly involved with their teams.
But what about NASCAR fans and golf fans?
Hirt says they're a different breed. They look for drivers or golfers who exemplify something people like about themselves. Tiger Woods represents being the best athlete in the game. Dale Earnhardt was a straight shooter who would shove you out of the way for a win.
"With golf, or with auto racing, there's a sense of the entourage," Hirt said. "Some of the facets of being a fan are there, but there's a sense of what that sport means to you. That person you root for reflects something about yourself.
"It's more like the fans of a rock band."
Salt Lake Bees manager Brian Harper has seen the best and worst of sports fans. In 1991, Harper was the starting catcher for the Minnesota Twins and played in the "Thunderdome," as the Metrodome was renamed for its rowdy constituency.
As manager of the Bees, Harper gets heckled by a few members of the home crowd.
"I have a couple of fans on me all the time in Salt Lake," Harper said. "There are times where, as a player, fans don't understand how difficult it is to play at this level."
Still, Harper says he runs into fans around Salt Lake all the time and enjoys the experience. On the road, a Bees fan on summer vacation showed up in Omaha, Neb., to watch the Bees play.
As a player in the majors, Harper said the most crazed fans were in the Northeast, where Boston and New York Yankees fans routinely taunt each other.
"Fans differ from region to region," he said. "On the East Coast, fans are rabid. In the Midwest, they're knowledgeable but not crazy.
Out West, they're more laid-back, but still very knowledgeable." Mannino, the RSL fan, comes from the West Coast, but he seems to have more in common with a rabid Yankees fan.
A full-blooded Italian, Mannino roots for Juventus in the Italian premier league. Juventus was plagued by a match-fixing scandal last winter and had a bad season.
"My real team is Juventus over in Italy," he said. "They got relegated to the second league this year and I felt like somebody killed my sister."
Mannino says there's no point at which being a fan is unhealthy. Hirt disagrees.
"The funny thing about it is, you are drawing your self-esteem from others," Hirt said. "It's nice to feel like a member of a group, but, when nothing comes from within, that seems pretty dangerous. If your whole life is derived from this identity as a fan, you've got to relate more to life than that. Like, maybe they need to spend some time with their family."
Many Sports, Many Fans
Percentage of adults in the United States who identified themselves in 2004 as fans of various sports:
Sport Pct. Change
NFL 67.5 (2.0)
MLB 60.1 (2.4)
College football 56.1 (0.5)
NBA 48.5 (none)
Figure skating 46.8 (-2.5)
College basketball 46.3 (1.5)
Extreme sports 43.6 (-1.6)
NASCAR 43.4 (0.5)
Sport Pct. Change
Horse racing 37.4 (5.1)
Fishing 36.6 (1.9)
PGA 36.4 (-2.4)
Boxing 38.2 (0.6)
NHL 32.7 (-4.1)
WNBA 32.0 (-2.1)
WTA 31.5 (-5.4)
- TNS Sports Poll
Attendance
Total 2004 attendance in millions:
Baseball 120.3
Football 72.0
Basketball 67.2
Hockey 60.7
Auto racing 35.9
Horse racing 30.6
Rodeo 23.6
Golf 12.5
Soccer 7.2
Greyhound racing 6.4
UAB researcher in child psychology wins national award
UAB researcher in child psychology wins national award
Birmingham Business Journal - August 10, 2006
A University of Alabama at Birmingham psychologist has won the Society of Pediatric Psychology's Routh Early Career Award.
David Schwebel, an associate professor and vice chairman of UAB's psychology department, focuses his research on risk factors that lead to childhood injuries, including temperament, overestimation of physical ability and parent-child relationships. He is also director of undergraduate studies for the department and a scientist with both the UAB Injury Control Center and the UAB Center for the Advancement of Youth Health.
Schwebel's most recent research projects include the development of a behavioral intervention to reduce behaviors that can lead to unintentional playground injuries at pre-schools, and the development of a virtual reality software program designed to teach young children how to cross streets safely.
Schwebel is the principal investigator on several projects, including research supported by the Centers for Disease Control, the Federal Highway Administration and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has published articles in nearly 30 academic journals, including the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Health Psychology, Child Development and the Journal of Safety Research.
The Society of Pediatric Psychology is a division of the American Psychological Association.
Birmingham Business Journal - August 10, 2006
A University of Alabama at Birmingham psychologist has won the Society of Pediatric Psychology's Routh Early Career Award.
David Schwebel, an associate professor and vice chairman of UAB's psychology department, focuses his research on risk factors that lead to childhood injuries, including temperament, overestimation of physical ability and parent-child relationships. He is also director of undergraduate studies for the department and a scientist with both the UAB Injury Control Center and the UAB Center for the Advancement of Youth Health.
Schwebel's most recent research projects include the development of a behavioral intervention to reduce behaviors that can lead to unintentional playground injuries at pre-schools, and the development of a virtual reality software program designed to teach young children how to cross streets safely.
Schwebel is the principal investigator on several projects, including research supported by the Centers for Disease Control, the Federal Highway Administration and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has published articles in nearly 30 academic journals, including the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Health Psychology, Child Development and the Journal of Safety Research.
The Society of Pediatric Psychology is a division of the American Psychological Association.
Pop's Psychology Explains All
Pop's Psychology Explains All
Steve Franks has fun inserting lessons from his police officer dad into "Psych," his show about a cop's slacker son who has eerie detective talents.
By Lynn Smith, Times Staff Writer
August 6, 2006
In the days when Steve Franks was pitching his idea for "Psych," USA Network's new comedy about a fake psychic detective, he always began by talking about his dad.
His father was an LAPD cop who liked to call himself "a trained observer" and wanted to groom his only son to follow in his footsteps. Whenever they went to a restaurant, he would test young Steve by telling him to close his eyes and recall: How many people have hats on? Where is the exit? What's the name on the hostess' nametag?
Anyone who saw — and can recall — the July 7 pilot will recognize this childhood memory in the opening scene: a little boy being peppered by questions while having lunch with his demanding dad — a uniformed police officer. The show flashes back and forth between that past and the present, where Shawn (James Roday) is a footloose twentysomething living in Santa Barbara who clearly has not fulfilled his father's dream. But his powers of observation are so acute, he helps the police solve crimes by pretending to be psychic.
"I guess I was wired for this sort of show," said Franks.
USA will air 8 episodes on Fridays this summer and four more in January. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Psych" has drawn an average 3.3 million viewers in its first three weeks, a respectable showing for cable. In an effort to draw broadcast viewers to USA, sister network NBC will air the first episode of "Psych" on Monday, and the second a week later.
"Psych" could be seen as a meditation on the authoritarian father/unambitious son syndrome — the son knows whatever he does will never be good enough, so he avoids responsibility altogether. ("If you're going to play, Shawn, play right," the father (Corbin Bernsen) tells the young boy in one episode.)But mostly "Psych" is about "the search for fun, what place fun has in your life, and how much is too much fun," Franks said. "I'm trying to bring fun back to TV. You don't see it that much."
Some critics have complained there's too much silliness in the show. " 'Psych' is, for the most part, merely jokey," wrote Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker. Dulé Hill ("The West Wing") contributes to the comedy as Shawn's reluctant assistant and best friend; he played one scene with dollops of shaving cream on his head. USA President Bonnie Hammer said she prefers to characterize the humor as "irreverent." Along with "Monk," she called "Psych" a perfect fit with the network, which is aiming to send Friday night viewers off to sleep with a chuckle. Its current motto: "Characters Welcome."
Besides his own family, Franks said he was inspired by the lighter crime-solving shows he grew up with, such as "Magnum, P.I.," "The Rockford Files" and "Moonlighting," which featured charming wise guys coasting through life who could fast-talk their way out of any situation.
Besides just watching TV, Franks was something of a "television savant" who played industry games of his own making when he was in grammar school. Just for fun, he would create his own imaginary television shows and then draw up charts and grids, scheduling one against the other, guessing how the ratings went — and then extending or canceling them accordingly.
Parental guidance
When Franks was 16, his father took him along to the set of "Moonlighting," where he had an extra job working security. That experience made Franks realize that a television career might actually be a possibility in real life.
After graduating from UC Irvine, Franks sold a script for the Adam Sandler film "Big Daddy" (1999) to Columbia, and then pitched about half a dozen TV shows with little success. Long before psychic shows such as "Medium" became hot, Franks said, he came up with the idea of a psychic detective who wasn't really psychic. What it lacked, he said, was a way into the main character.
As it turned out, it was Franks' mother, not his father, who provided the key, he said. She was also an acute observer and could pick out the culprit on TV crime shows in minutes. Shawn displays that same skill in scene two of the pilot.
Franks said some well-known actors were interested in the lead but wouldn't read for the part — a prerequisite, Franks said, given the quirkiness needed to play it. Roday ("The Dukes of Hazzard") was the only candidate who grasped the type of comedy Franks was after, he said.
"We do a lot of word jokes about vocabulary and syntax," Franks said.
Later, Roday discovered that he grew up with a father similar to Franks'. Roday's dad was an Air Force training instructor, a disciplinarian prone to driving home object lessons. He also hoped in vain that his only child would follow suit in a military career.
Over time, though, Roday said his father came to accept his determination to become an actor. "He was fully on board by the time I finished college," he said.
In addition to acting, Roday writes and directs, and contributed to an upcoming episode directed by John Landis in which Shawn's father helps solve a case. In the show, the dad imparts a life lesson: "The truth is right in front of you. Don't overcomplicate things."
Roday said he plays his character as a young man still seeking approval from a father who's unable to give it. There's been talk about whether Dad might give his son a kiss in one of those flashbacks. "I don't know if that works or not," Roday said. "We shot it both ways. We might not be there yet in terms of knowing the answer."
But now that the thematic and comedic elements have been pinned down, he said the writers are starting to explore other areas, such as more complex mysteries and relationships.
The flashbacks of Shawn's childhood worked so well in the pilot that they are now a staple of each episode.
"It's become my favorite part of writing the show," Franks said. "Now I realize I can tie it thematically, or tonally, or take a specific incident and re-create something in the past and see how it plays out in the future. Something I was using as a pitch is now a frame," he said.
Besides, he added, "it's a chance to see Corbin Bernsen in a wig, which is always fun."
Franks said relationships in his own family are less strained than those among the Spencers. While Spencer's parents are divorced, Franks' are still together. "My dad is my hero," he said.
His father has also made peace with the fact that his son is not a cop. Said Franks: He loved the pilot and is now "calling me every other day with story pitches."
Steve Franks has fun inserting lessons from his police officer dad into "Psych," his show about a cop's slacker son who has eerie detective talents.
By Lynn Smith, Times Staff Writer
August 6, 2006
In the days when Steve Franks was pitching his idea for "Psych," USA Network's new comedy about a fake psychic detective, he always began by talking about his dad.
His father was an LAPD cop who liked to call himself "a trained observer" and wanted to groom his only son to follow in his footsteps. Whenever they went to a restaurant, he would test young Steve by telling him to close his eyes and recall: How many people have hats on? Where is the exit? What's the name on the hostess' nametag?
Anyone who saw — and can recall — the July 7 pilot will recognize this childhood memory in the opening scene: a little boy being peppered by questions while having lunch with his demanding dad — a uniformed police officer. The show flashes back and forth between that past and the present, where Shawn (James Roday) is a footloose twentysomething living in Santa Barbara who clearly has not fulfilled his father's dream. But his powers of observation are so acute, he helps the police solve crimes by pretending to be psychic.
"I guess I was wired for this sort of show," said Franks.
USA will air 8 episodes on Fridays this summer and four more in January. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Psych" has drawn an average 3.3 million viewers in its first three weeks, a respectable showing for cable. In an effort to draw broadcast viewers to USA, sister network NBC will air the first episode of "Psych" on Monday, and the second a week later.
"Psych" could be seen as a meditation on the authoritarian father/unambitious son syndrome — the son knows whatever he does will never be good enough, so he avoids responsibility altogether. ("If you're going to play, Shawn, play right," the father (Corbin Bernsen) tells the young boy in one episode.)But mostly "Psych" is about "the search for fun, what place fun has in your life, and how much is too much fun," Franks said. "I'm trying to bring fun back to TV. You don't see it that much."
Some critics have complained there's too much silliness in the show. " 'Psych' is, for the most part, merely jokey," wrote Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker. Dulé Hill ("The West Wing") contributes to the comedy as Shawn's reluctant assistant and best friend; he played one scene with dollops of shaving cream on his head. USA President Bonnie Hammer said she prefers to characterize the humor as "irreverent." Along with "Monk," she called "Psych" a perfect fit with the network, which is aiming to send Friday night viewers off to sleep with a chuckle. Its current motto: "Characters Welcome."
Besides his own family, Franks said he was inspired by the lighter crime-solving shows he grew up with, such as "Magnum, P.I.," "The Rockford Files" and "Moonlighting," which featured charming wise guys coasting through life who could fast-talk their way out of any situation.
Besides just watching TV, Franks was something of a "television savant" who played industry games of his own making when he was in grammar school. Just for fun, he would create his own imaginary television shows and then draw up charts and grids, scheduling one against the other, guessing how the ratings went — and then extending or canceling them accordingly.
Parental guidance
When Franks was 16, his father took him along to the set of "Moonlighting," where he had an extra job working security. That experience made Franks realize that a television career might actually be a possibility in real life.
After graduating from UC Irvine, Franks sold a script for the Adam Sandler film "Big Daddy" (1999) to Columbia, and then pitched about half a dozen TV shows with little success. Long before psychic shows such as "Medium" became hot, Franks said, he came up with the idea of a psychic detective who wasn't really psychic. What it lacked, he said, was a way into the main character.
As it turned out, it was Franks' mother, not his father, who provided the key, he said. She was also an acute observer and could pick out the culprit on TV crime shows in minutes. Shawn displays that same skill in scene two of the pilot.
Franks said some well-known actors were interested in the lead but wouldn't read for the part — a prerequisite, Franks said, given the quirkiness needed to play it. Roday ("The Dukes of Hazzard") was the only candidate who grasped the type of comedy Franks was after, he said.
"We do a lot of word jokes about vocabulary and syntax," Franks said.
Later, Roday discovered that he grew up with a father similar to Franks'. Roday's dad was an Air Force training instructor, a disciplinarian prone to driving home object lessons. He also hoped in vain that his only child would follow suit in a military career.
Over time, though, Roday said his father came to accept his determination to become an actor. "He was fully on board by the time I finished college," he said.
In addition to acting, Roday writes and directs, and contributed to an upcoming episode directed by John Landis in which Shawn's father helps solve a case. In the show, the dad imparts a life lesson: "The truth is right in front of you. Don't overcomplicate things."
Roday said he plays his character as a young man still seeking approval from a father who's unable to give it. There's been talk about whether Dad might give his son a kiss in one of those flashbacks. "I don't know if that works or not," Roday said. "We shot it both ways. We might not be there yet in terms of knowing the answer."
But now that the thematic and comedic elements have been pinned down, he said the writers are starting to explore other areas, such as more complex mysteries and relationships.
The flashbacks of Shawn's childhood worked so well in the pilot that they are now a staple of each episode.
"It's become my favorite part of writing the show," Franks said. "Now I realize I can tie it thematically, or tonally, or take a specific incident and re-create something in the past and see how it plays out in the future. Something I was using as a pitch is now a frame," he said.
Besides, he added, "it's a chance to see Corbin Bernsen in a wig, which is always fun."
Franks said relationships in his own family are less strained than those among the Spencers. While Spencer's parents are divorced, Franks' are still together. "My dad is my hero," he said.
His father has also made peace with the fact that his son is not a cop. Said Franks: He loved the pilot and is now "calling me every other day with story pitches."
Where psychology meets music: Classical plays a role
Where psychology meets music: Classical plays a role
By PIERRE RUHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a shop lined with shelves of pricey merchandise, the music is blaring and it's in your face. The lyrics are suggestive of sexual promiscuity and two-timing girlfriends.
But this isn't rock or rap thumping in a hip boutique, it's opera — Pavarotti singing the famous "La donna e mobile" — and the shop is EatZi's, a prepared-food market and bakery in a Dunwoody strip mall. From opening until close, the soundtrack is opera.
supervisor. In her four years with the Dallas-based gourmet chain, she says, "a few people have complained that it's too loud, but more people say they love it, they love this atmosphere. We're mostly a to-go place in a European style, so it's opera and it's loud. That's a part of our identity."
But there is more to this suburban sophistication than meets the ear, according to experts who study the potent intersection of music, marketing and psychology.
When peddling Provençal sea salt — or deterring crime, or boosting efficiency in a hospital's operating room — classical music seems to be played as much for its psychological properties as for the art-for-art's-sake aesthetic of the concert hall.
In retail, says James Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati, "music can create moods and reinforce the store's image by associative learning — where 'classy' music implies 'classy' store."
Beyond these obvious effects, he adds, "music can help shape customers' time perception, lower sales resistance, and increase willingness to spend."
For most people, classical music is complex and relatively unfamiliar. So exposure to opera shrinks what psychologists call a person's subjective time, relative to what the clock says: By working harder than usual in a short period of time, your brain overcompensates by making you feel like you've spent less time in the shop.
Coupled with the music's sonic complexity, aggressive loudness can help lower a shopper's ability to critically evaluate beautifully packaged merchandise or a sales pitch. Together, these two factors can encourage longer visits, more impulse buying and more overall spending. (That is, unless the shopper happens to be a music connoisseur, since hearing even a snippet of a familiar song expands the subjective timer.)
EatZi's gets opera from a satellite radio service called DMX Music, which broadcasts everything from ambient background sounds to country and top-40 pop. EatZi's subscribes to the "Arias and Overtures" program, which the DMX Web site pitches to retailers this way: "Classical and ambient music invites customers to linger in upscale boutiques, [and] says 'distinguished' the moment you walk in ..."
Kellaris says such music also serves as an "aspirational reference," a soundtrack to fantasies of upward mobility.
"The deli is telling us, in effect, 'Our antipasto is expensive, but if you eat it you'll be as sophisticated and prosperous as people who vacation in Tuscany or hold season tickets to the opera.' "
A SWAT team of sound
It seems music that reduces brain power in one audience enhances gray matter in another — and some people find the stuff repellent.
On a recent sweltering afternoon on the dimly lit platform of the Decatur MARTA station, a warbly allegro from Handel's "Water Music" filled the air. While the quieter nuances of the piece were lost in the station's vast space, its bold rhythms and pomp came across clearly.
For $56 a month, MARTA subscribes to a satellite service from ambient music provider Muzak. Although the company is famous for fare such as the mind-numbing renditions of Beatles songs heard in elevators and waiting rooms, Muzak offers more than 100 different audio programs, from disco-fueled "HI-NRG" to contemporary Christian.
MARTA riders hear Muzak's "light classical" program. It's beamed into all 36 stations (although the audio equipment is broken in many locations).
Muzak describes the program as suitable for "banks, fine dining establishments, medical facilities, garden centers, grocery stores, museums, arts facilities, bookstores," and the target audience as 29-79, "not exclusively Classical aficionados, but comfortable to all."
What Muzak fails to mention is the program's apparent crime-fighting abilities.
The effect has been documented in England. In 2004, after gangs infested London Underground stations in some of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods, British Transport Police turned to a weapon of last resort. In six months, they cut robbery by 33 percent, staff assaults by 25 percent and vandalism by 37 percent.
Their ammo?A shock-and-awe assault of Mozart minuets and Pavarotti arias, pumped onto station platforms like sonic napalm — the very same repertoire that helps EatZi's sell a $12.99 applewood-smoked bacon and Jarlsberg cheese quiche.
MARTA deputy general manager Franklin Beauford says he hadn't heard of classical music's crime-deterrent potential, and doubts its efficacy. "It's my experience that criminals don't pay attention to what they're listening to, pickpockets and vandals don't care what the music is," he says. "And when the trains come though a station you can hardly hear it, anyway."
For MARTA, he says, the music is merely a means to provide "a pleasant environment and enhances the transit experience for our customers."
'Remarkable' effects
Then there's the medical use of classical music.
Marc Rynearson is a classical programmer at DMX Music. He created the "Arias and Overtures" heard at EatZi's and is developing music for hospitals.
"Waiting rooms get one sound, a chapel gets music that's very beautiful and reflective with a spiritual context, such as instrumental pieces from a Bach cantata," he explains. "In the maternity ward, tempos will be a bit faster, and we'll create a gentle atmosphere with cute instruments like the oboe and the harp, and include lots of lullabies. There's documentation that the effects of classical music on mind and body are remarkable."
The new DMX mix, however, won't include a "product" for operating rooms, where some doctors are playing deejay themselves.
On a typical day at the DeKalb Medical Center, Dr. Sidney Stapleton will reach into a satchel, pick out a CD and slide it into a small boom box. Then he scrubs and prepares for surgery.
Once his patient has been anesthetized, a nurse hits the play button. Music, such as Russian pianist Yevgeny Kissin easing into a Beethoven sonata, quietly but insistently fills the operating room, a counterpoint to the regular beeps of the monitors. Everyone in the room listens while they work.
Only about a quarter of surgeons at the center play music in the O.R. — the decision to do so, and the repertoire, is at the discretion of the senior surgeon. Most who do their cutting at DeKalb choose a soundtrack of light rock or country.
"I find classical music makes for a great environment in the O.R.," says Stapleton, 66. "Often, when the music's playing, there's less chatter, and everyone's more efficient, you can concentrate when you need to, and the time passes quickly."
He's learned to limit his choices. The tiled acoustics of the operating room forbids music with too wide a dynamic range — the quiet parts are inaudible, the loud parts unbearable — so big romantic symphonies, opera and choral music are off-limits, he says. Baroque orchestral music and a spectrum of piano music, from Bach to Prokofiev, usually gets the call.
Still, he concedes, "if the operation is too challenging, I won't bother with it and, anyway, it's not fair for me to hold the [O.R. staff] captive with my musical preferences."
When they're awake, patients usually like what they hear, he says. During a routine procedure not long ago, Stapleton put on one of his favorites: Pianist Dinu Lipatti playing a Bach-Busoni chorale.
"I got a thank-you note from the patient," he recalls. "She wrote: 'What a delightful experience to be ushered into anesthesia to the sound of Bach.' "
By PIERRE RUHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a shop lined with shelves of pricey merchandise, the music is blaring and it's in your face. The lyrics are suggestive of sexual promiscuity and two-timing girlfriends.
But this isn't rock or rap thumping in a hip boutique, it's opera — Pavarotti singing the famous "La donna e mobile" — and the shop is EatZi's, a prepared-food market and bakery in a Dunwoody strip mall. From opening until close, the soundtrack is opera.
supervisor. In her four years with the Dallas-based gourmet chain, she says, "a few people have complained that it's too loud, but more people say they love it, they love this atmosphere. We're mostly a to-go place in a European style, so it's opera and it's loud. That's a part of our identity."
But there is more to this suburban sophistication than meets the ear, according to experts who study the potent intersection of music, marketing and psychology.
When peddling Provençal sea salt — or deterring crime, or boosting efficiency in a hospital's operating room — classical music seems to be played as much for its psychological properties as for the art-for-art's-sake aesthetic of the concert hall.
In retail, says James Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati, "music can create moods and reinforce the store's image by associative learning — where 'classy' music implies 'classy' store."
Beyond these obvious effects, he adds, "music can help shape customers' time perception, lower sales resistance, and increase willingness to spend."
For most people, classical music is complex and relatively unfamiliar. So exposure to opera shrinks what psychologists call a person's subjective time, relative to what the clock says: By working harder than usual in a short period of time, your brain overcompensates by making you feel like you've spent less time in the shop.
Coupled with the music's sonic complexity, aggressive loudness can help lower a shopper's ability to critically evaluate beautifully packaged merchandise or a sales pitch. Together, these two factors can encourage longer visits, more impulse buying and more overall spending. (That is, unless the shopper happens to be a music connoisseur, since hearing even a snippet of a familiar song expands the subjective timer.)
EatZi's gets opera from a satellite radio service called DMX Music, which broadcasts everything from ambient background sounds to country and top-40 pop. EatZi's subscribes to the "Arias and Overtures" program, which the DMX Web site pitches to retailers this way: "Classical and ambient music invites customers to linger in upscale boutiques, [and] says 'distinguished' the moment you walk in ..."
Kellaris says such music also serves as an "aspirational reference," a soundtrack to fantasies of upward mobility.
"The deli is telling us, in effect, 'Our antipasto is expensive, but if you eat it you'll be as sophisticated and prosperous as people who vacation in Tuscany or hold season tickets to the opera.' "
A SWAT team of sound
It seems music that reduces brain power in one audience enhances gray matter in another — and some people find the stuff repellent.
On a recent sweltering afternoon on the dimly lit platform of the Decatur MARTA station, a warbly allegro from Handel's "Water Music" filled the air. While the quieter nuances of the piece were lost in the station's vast space, its bold rhythms and pomp came across clearly.
For $56 a month, MARTA subscribes to a satellite service from ambient music provider Muzak. Although the company is famous for fare such as the mind-numbing renditions of Beatles songs heard in elevators and waiting rooms, Muzak offers more than 100 different audio programs, from disco-fueled "HI-NRG" to contemporary Christian.
MARTA riders hear Muzak's "light classical" program. It's beamed into all 36 stations (although the audio equipment is broken in many locations).
Muzak describes the program as suitable for "banks, fine dining establishments, medical facilities, garden centers, grocery stores, museums, arts facilities, bookstores," and the target audience as 29-79, "not exclusively Classical aficionados, but comfortable to all."
What Muzak fails to mention is the program's apparent crime-fighting abilities.
The effect has been documented in England. In 2004, after gangs infested London Underground stations in some of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods, British Transport Police turned to a weapon of last resort. In six months, they cut robbery by 33 percent, staff assaults by 25 percent and vandalism by 37 percent.
Their ammo?A shock-and-awe assault of Mozart minuets and Pavarotti arias, pumped onto station platforms like sonic napalm — the very same repertoire that helps EatZi's sell a $12.99 applewood-smoked bacon and Jarlsberg cheese quiche.
MARTA deputy general manager Franklin Beauford says he hadn't heard of classical music's crime-deterrent potential, and doubts its efficacy. "It's my experience that criminals don't pay attention to what they're listening to, pickpockets and vandals don't care what the music is," he says. "And when the trains come though a station you can hardly hear it, anyway."
For MARTA, he says, the music is merely a means to provide "a pleasant environment and enhances the transit experience for our customers."
'Remarkable' effects
Then there's the medical use of classical music.
Marc Rynearson is a classical programmer at DMX Music. He created the "Arias and Overtures" heard at EatZi's and is developing music for hospitals.
"Waiting rooms get one sound, a chapel gets music that's very beautiful and reflective with a spiritual context, such as instrumental pieces from a Bach cantata," he explains. "In the maternity ward, tempos will be a bit faster, and we'll create a gentle atmosphere with cute instruments like the oboe and the harp, and include lots of lullabies. There's documentation that the effects of classical music on mind and body are remarkable."
The new DMX mix, however, won't include a "product" for operating rooms, where some doctors are playing deejay themselves.
On a typical day at the DeKalb Medical Center, Dr. Sidney Stapleton will reach into a satchel, pick out a CD and slide it into a small boom box. Then he scrubs and prepares for surgery.
Once his patient has been anesthetized, a nurse hits the play button. Music, such as Russian pianist Yevgeny Kissin easing into a Beethoven sonata, quietly but insistently fills the operating room, a counterpoint to the regular beeps of the monitors. Everyone in the room listens while they work.
Only about a quarter of surgeons at the center play music in the O.R. — the decision to do so, and the repertoire, is at the discretion of the senior surgeon. Most who do their cutting at DeKalb choose a soundtrack of light rock or country.
"I find classical music makes for a great environment in the O.R.," says Stapleton, 66. "Often, when the music's playing, there's less chatter, and everyone's more efficient, you can concentrate when you need to, and the time passes quickly."
He's learned to limit his choices. The tiled acoustics of the operating room forbids music with too wide a dynamic range — the quiet parts are inaudible, the loud parts unbearable — so big romantic symphonies, opera and choral music are off-limits, he says. Baroque orchestral music and a spectrum of piano music, from Bach to Prokofiev, usually gets the call.
Still, he concedes, "if the operation is too challenging, I won't bother with it and, anyway, it's not fair for me to hold the [O.R. staff] captive with my musical preferences."
When they're awake, patients usually like what they hear, he says. During a routine procedure not long ago, Stapleton put on one of his favorites: Pianist Dinu Lipatti playing a Bach-Busoni chorale.
"I got a thank-you note from the patient," he recalls. "She wrote: 'What a delightful experience to be ushered into anesthesia to the sound of Bach.' "
Star World examines the psychology of 'Criminal Minds'
Star World examines the psychology of 'Criminal Minds' next month
By ASHWIN PINTO
Indiantelevision.com Team
MUMBAI: From 3 September 2006 English general entertainment channel Star World will air the show Criminal Minds on Sundays at noon and 10 pm, Mondays at 1 pm and on Saturdays at 5 pm.
Best described as a psychological suspense thriller, with lots of deductive action, Criminal Minds follows an elite squad of profilers who analyse the country's most twisted serial criminal minds, anticipating their next move before they strike again.
The show stars Mandy Patinkin Chicago Hope as head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, the series also features Thomas Gibson as a disarming family man, Matthew Gray Gubler as a socially-retarded genius, Shemar Moore as an expert on obsession crimes and Lola Galudini as an agent specialising in sexual offenses, who was herself assaulted years ago.
In the first episode, when a fourth woman goes missing in Seattle during the course of four months, the team is brought in to profile her captor and find him before he strikes again. Gideon, who has taken a six month leave of absence since running lead on a case in Boston that ended in a disaster, is asked to help crack the case. While the team works to hunt down the serial killer, Hotch is asked to discreetly evaluate whether or not Gideon is really ready to return to full-time duty.
In the second episode the team investigates a series of fires set on a college campus. Since most of the evidence from the fires has been burned beyond recognition, Gideon and his team must rely on psychological analysis to identify the firestarter. Utilising their knowledge of serial arsonists, they set up a general profile. When the fires start, claiming the lives of several victims, the search heats up, forcing them to look beyond the textbook profile to catch the killer.
The channel will also air the second season of Enterprise from 9 September every Saturday at 10 pm. The science fiction show is set in the 22nd century, nearly 100 years before the events shown in the television show Star Trek. Enterprise takes place during the early pioneering days of deep space exploration, when interstellar travel is in its infancy and the United Federation of Planets is still decades away.
Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) is the prototype for Starfleet captains to come; he's bold, intensely curious, and eager to venture where no man has gone before. Unlike the seasoned, sometimes unflappable officers of the 24th century, the crew of Enterprise exhibits a sense of wonder and excitement, as well as a little trepidation about the strange things they'll encounter. With their star charts mostly empty, they'll have to prove they're ready for life among the stars.
By ASHWIN PINTO
Indiantelevision.com Team
MUMBAI: From 3 September 2006 English general entertainment channel Star World will air the show Criminal Minds on Sundays at noon and 10 pm, Mondays at 1 pm and on Saturdays at 5 pm.
Best described as a psychological suspense thriller, with lots of deductive action, Criminal Minds follows an elite squad of profilers who analyse the country's most twisted serial criminal minds, anticipating their next move before they strike again.
The show stars Mandy Patinkin Chicago Hope as head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, the series also features Thomas Gibson as a disarming family man, Matthew Gray Gubler as a socially-retarded genius, Shemar Moore as an expert on obsession crimes and Lola Galudini as an agent specialising in sexual offenses, who was herself assaulted years ago.
In the first episode, when a fourth woman goes missing in Seattle during the course of four months, the team is brought in to profile her captor and find him before he strikes again. Gideon, who has taken a six month leave of absence since running lead on a case in Boston that ended in a disaster, is asked to help crack the case. While the team works to hunt down the serial killer, Hotch is asked to discreetly evaluate whether or not Gideon is really ready to return to full-time duty.
In the second episode the team investigates a series of fires set on a college campus. Since most of the evidence from the fires has been burned beyond recognition, Gideon and his team must rely on psychological analysis to identify the firestarter. Utilising their knowledge of serial arsonists, they set up a general profile. When the fires start, claiming the lives of several victims, the search heats up, forcing them to look beyond the textbook profile to catch the killer.
The channel will also air the second season of Enterprise from 9 September every Saturday at 10 pm. The science fiction show is set in the 22nd century, nearly 100 years before the events shown in the television show Star Trek. Enterprise takes place during the early pioneering days of deep space exploration, when interstellar travel is in its infancy and the United Federation of Planets is still decades away.
Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) is the prototype for Starfleet captains to come; he's bold, intensely curious, and eager to venture where no man has gone before. Unlike the seasoned, sometimes unflappable officers of the 24th century, the crew of Enterprise exhibits a sense of wonder and excitement, as well as a little trepidation about the strange things they'll encounter. With their star charts mostly empty, they'll have to prove they're ready for life among the stars.
Experts meet to apply Asian perspective to psychology
Experts meet to apply Asian perspective to psychology
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Psychologists from Asia and several western nations will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali this week to develop an Asian perspective to their work, including theories on preventing terrorism.
"Long-time studies and experience have proven that not all western theories fit the eastern context," Sarlito Sarwono, chairman of the one-year-old Asian Psychologist Association, was quoted by AFP as saying late Tuesday.
Western theories and paradigms dominate the science of psychology. But
developments including the rise of Asian economies, terrorism in Indonesia and disasters in Asia have prompted more thought about Asian perspectives, he said.
Psychologists from around the world now see "that the Asian community
should be seen from an Asian perspective, and not the psychological approaches developed in the west," Sarwono told a press briefing.
Monty Satiadarma, the organisation's secretary, said the congress hoped "to provide more opportunity for Asian psychologists to develop approaches for Asian problems."
Among the topics to be covered at the two-day weekend seminar will be terrorism psychology, Sarwono said.
Bekto Suprapto, who heads Indonesia's anti-terror detachment, will give a
briefing on the country's handling of terror cases, while Sarwono will present psychological profiles of some key detained terrorists.
Indonesia has suffered a spate of bombings by Islamic extremists in recent years, including the October 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people -- mostly western holidaymakers.
Using Asian approaches, the symposium was aimed at helping the world
develop more effective programs to prevent terrorism, the association said.
"It is necessary to find a way to prevent future terrorism and to develop
counselling techniques for the detainees to prevent them from becoming terror recidivists," Sarwono added.
About 150 participants from nine Asian countries as well as Australia,
Canada and the Netherlands will attend the meeting. (*)
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Psychologists from Asia and several western nations will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali this week to develop an Asian perspective to their work, including theories on preventing terrorism.
"Long-time studies and experience have proven that not all western theories fit the eastern context," Sarlito Sarwono, chairman of the one-year-old Asian Psychologist Association, was quoted by AFP as saying late Tuesday.
Western theories and paradigms dominate the science of psychology. But
developments including the rise of Asian economies, terrorism in Indonesia and disasters in Asia have prompted more thought about Asian perspectives, he said.
Psychologists from around the world now see "that the Asian community
should be seen from an Asian perspective, and not the psychological approaches developed in the west," Sarwono told a press briefing.
Monty Satiadarma, the organisation's secretary, said the congress hoped "to provide more opportunity for Asian psychologists to develop approaches for Asian problems."
Among the topics to be covered at the two-day weekend seminar will be terrorism psychology, Sarwono said.
Bekto Suprapto, who heads Indonesia's anti-terror detachment, will give a
briefing on the country's handling of terror cases, while Sarwono will present psychological profiles of some key detained terrorists.
Indonesia has suffered a spate of bombings by Islamic extremists in recent years, including the October 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people -- mostly western holidaymakers.
Using Asian approaches, the symposium was aimed at helping the world
develop more effective programs to prevent terrorism, the association said.
"It is necessary to find a way to prevent future terrorism and to develop
counselling techniques for the detainees to prevent them from becoming terror recidivists," Sarwono added.
About 150 participants from nine Asian countries as well as Australia,
Canada and the Netherlands will attend the meeting. (*)
Expert seeks to set up psychology society
Expert seeks to set up psychology society
By LAMA SALEH
A BAHRAIN psychologist is calling for the setting up of the country's first society aimed at improving the standards and work conditions in the psychology field.
Mohammed Talaat Mohammed Abdul Aziz, who is also a business consultant at a local company, says there are about 1,000 psychologists in the private and public sectors in Bahrain who will benefit from various programmes aimed at keeping pace with global developments.
However, Mr Abdul Aziz says that at least 300 professionals need to sign for the setting up of the society to be recognised by the Social Development Ministry.
"The society will also be targeting several social problems and groups, including providing psychological, social and emotional support for divorced women, widows, retired individuals, and children whom have been physically and sexually abused," said Mr Abdul Aziz, who hails from Egypt.
"This society will direct its attention to issues that are not dealt with by the ministry, but its activities will be carried out in co-ordination with it."
He said that the society's activities would also be co-ordinated with the Health Ministry.
US and European models of such societies will be followed to enable Bahrain to provide more services and methods required to tackle social problems, said Mr Abdul Aziz.
"Researches will be conducted on the Bahraini population about problems they face in order to highlight the issues, and propose different solutions," he said.
Mr Abdul Aziz hopes the society's projects and activities will be financed through donations and memberships.
"The projects will include establishing a school for psychology that offers courses based on a western curriculum to get different ideas and improvements to psychological studies in Bahrain," he said. Mr Abdul Aziz urged all psychologists to co-ordinate their efforts to co-ordinate efforts in the setting up of the society that would increase psychological awareness based on international standards. For more information, contact Mr Abdul Aziz on 39710871.
By LAMA SALEH
A BAHRAIN psychologist is calling for the setting up of the country's first society aimed at improving the standards and work conditions in the psychology field.
Mohammed Talaat Mohammed Abdul Aziz, who is also a business consultant at a local company, says there are about 1,000 psychologists in the private and public sectors in Bahrain who will benefit from various programmes aimed at keeping pace with global developments.
However, Mr Abdul Aziz says that at least 300 professionals need to sign for the setting up of the society to be recognised by the Social Development Ministry.
"The society will also be targeting several social problems and groups, including providing psychological, social and emotional support for divorced women, widows, retired individuals, and children whom have been physically and sexually abused," said Mr Abdul Aziz, who hails from Egypt.
"This society will direct its attention to issues that are not dealt with by the ministry, but its activities will be carried out in co-ordination with it."
He said that the society's activities would also be co-ordinated with the Health Ministry.
US and European models of such societies will be followed to enable Bahrain to provide more services and methods required to tackle social problems, said Mr Abdul Aziz.
"Researches will be conducted on the Bahraini population about problems they face in order to highlight the issues, and propose different solutions," he said.
Mr Abdul Aziz hopes the society's projects and activities will be financed through donations and memberships.
"The projects will include establishing a school for psychology that offers courses based on a western curriculum to get different ideas and improvements to psychological studies in Bahrain," he said. Mr Abdul Aziz urged all psychologists to co-ordinate their efforts to co-ordinate efforts in the setting up of the society that would increase psychological awareness based on international standards. For more information, contact Mr Abdul Aziz on 39710871.
Kids who witness abuse at home may bully others
Kids who witness abuse at home may bully others
Friday, August 18, 2006; Posted: 9:59 p.m. EDT (01:59 GMT)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Children who witness abusive behavior in the home are more likely to bully other children and are at greater risk of depression and anxiety, a new study shows.
In comments to Reuters Health, Dr. Nerissa S. Bauer said she hopes parents who are experiencing violence in the home and who have young children "will consider the effects of the violence on the children. It can manifest itself in various different ways, one of which is actual physical bullying of other children."
A number of studies have shown that children exposed to domestic violence are at increased risk of behavior problems, but there has been little specific research on bullying, noted Bauer. In many ways, she added, bullying mirrors abusive relationships between adults, in that it involves recurrent aggression by a more powerful person over a less powerful one, with the intent to harm.
In the current study, Bauer and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle looked at the relationship between exposure to intimate partner violence and bullying involvement in 112 children aged 6 to 13. Half of their parents reported perpetrating verbal, physical or sexual violence against an intimate partner, or experiencing this type of violence, at least once in the past five years.
About one-third of the children said they bullied other children in the past year, with girls more likely to bully others than boys. Nearly three-quarters of the children said they had been victims of bullying by others.
Bauer's team found that children exposed to intimate partner violence were no more likely to be victimized by others or to exhibit relational-type bullying behavior, meaning teasing or excluding others without physical violence.
However, they were more likely to be physically aggressive to other children, and were more likely to report symptoms of anxiety or depression.
"Teachers who deal with children who consistently bully others may want to consider circumstances in that child's life including the home environment," Bauer said.
Friday, August 18, 2006; Posted: 9:59 p.m. EDT (01:59 GMT)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Children who witness abusive behavior in the home are more likely to bully other children and are at greater risk of depression and anxiety, a new study shows.
In comments to Reuters Health, Dr. Nerissa S. Bauer said she hopes parents who are experiencing violence in the home and who have young children "will consider the effects of the violence on the children. It can manifest itself in various different ways, one of which is actual physical bullying of other children."
A number of studies have shown that children exposed to domestic violence are at increased risk of behavior problems, but there has been little specific research on bullying, noted Bauer. In many ways, she added, bullying mirrors abusive relationships between adults, in that it involves recurrent aggression by a more powerful person over a less powerful one, with the intent to harm.
In the current study, Bauer and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle looked at the relationship between exposure to intimate partner violence and bullying involvement in 112 children aged 6 to 13. Half of their parents reported perpetrating verbal, physical or sexual violence against an intimate partner, or experiencing this type of violence, at least once in the past five years.
About one-third of the children said they bullied other children in the past year, with girls more likely to bully others than boys. Nearly three-quarters of the children said they had been victims of bullying by others.
Bauer's team found that children exposed to intimate partner violence were no more likely to be victimized by others or to exhibit relational-type bullying behavior, meaning teasing or excluding others without physical violence.
However, they were more likely to be physically aggressive to other children, and were more likely to report symptoms of anxiety or depression.
"Teachers who deal with children who consistently bully others may want to consider circumstances in that child's life including the home environment," Bauer said.
The positive psychology of childhood
The positive psychology of childhood
MAREN SCHMIDT Kids Talk
Posted on Monday, August 21, 2006
This is the eighth in a series about seeing from a child’s perspective.
Children under the age of seven are in a developmental period for creating social relationships. Children want to connect and develop bonds of trust, respect and love with the people around them. Children are designed to want to connect positively with the adults in their lives. Children are naturally motivated to love.
Unfortunately, the dynamics of relationship building for the child can be thwarted by obstacles created by the adults in the child’s world. When children hit stumbling blocks to positive engagement, we may witness defiant behaviors, tantrums and discouragement in the child.
When a child cannot constructively engage with parents or other adults in his or her life, we may see the child act disobediently to get attention. If not redirected in a positive manner, the child may learn to ignore adults and become passive, resistant or ambivalent about these relationships.
The child’s innate tendency is to be involved in purposeful activity to help others. When a child is concentrated on an activity with positive connections to the people around him or her, we observe a happy and joyful child.
When we see a child behave in a way that is not constructive, we are almost assured that the child has lost a necessary and vital connection to the adults in his or her life. An unhappy child gives us a clue that the child has an impediment to an essential adult relationship.
When a child loses this supportive connection to adults, the child’s motivation and behavior is ruled by fear; fear of losing love and fear of losing the adults in his or her life. What we perceive as misbehavior is a child’s cry for help and love.
If our efforts to connect to the child are not based on love and genuine concern, and instead are based on our own fears, such as our children being an embarrassment to us, we will not be able to reconnect and use the inborn positive psychology of the child.
Our yelling, our punishing or our using natural or logical consequences to try to change behavior should be a signal to us to change our behavior. When we find ourselves choosing to ‘ do to’ our children instead of ‘ working with’ our children, we need to realize we have lost contact with our children’s love, respect and trust.
When a child feels disconnected to his or her parents the child goes through three stages of emotional reactions. First is protest, in which the child cries and refuses to be consoled by others. Second is despair, in which the child is sad and passive. Third is detachment, in which the child actively disregards the parent.
To reconnect to the positive psychology of the child, we must strive to see the child’s innate love, respect and trust for others, and how those qualities motivate behavior.
We must consider what actions, words or physical barriers keep the child from expressing or experiencing our love. We need to watch for situations that create emotional reactions in the child of protest, passivity or disregard. A misbehaving child is a discouraged child who does not feel joined to the ones he or she loves.
Do we respect the child’s efforts and rights ? We need to listen to our children and take their point of view seriously and respectfully. Respect can help us reconnect.
Do we act in such a manner to always instill trust in our relationship with the child ? We need to encourage our children to talk to us so that we will know what we are doing right, where we need to improve, and how we might change. Even a two-year-old can give us valuable feedback on how our actions are, or are not, establishing a trusting relationship.
Children are designed to want to connect in a constructive loving way. Children’s behavior lets us know if they feel connected to us or not. Use the child’s innate positive psychology to create a lifelong bond of love, trust and respect. Next week: The Child’s Inherent Love of Nature.
• • • Kids Talk is a column dealing with childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland. She has more than 25 years experience working with children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. Contact her at mar en @ shininglightreading. com or visit www. KidsTalkNews. com.
MAREN SCHMIDT Kids Talk
Posted on Monday, August 21, 2006
This is the eighth in a series about seeing from a child’s perspective.
Children under the age of seven are in a developmental period for creating social relationships. Children want to connect and develop bonds of trust, respect and love with the people around them. Children are designed to want to connect positively with the adults in their lives. Children are naturally motivated to love.
Unfortunately, the dynamics of relationship building for the child can be thwarted by obstacles created by the adults in the child’s world. When children hit stumbling blocks to positive engagement, we may witness defiant behaviors, tantrums and discouragement in the child.
When a child cannot constructively engage with parents or other adults in his or her life, we may see the child act disobediently to get attention. If not redirected in a positive manner, the child may learn to ignore adults and become passive, resistant or ambivalent about these relationships.
The child’s innate tendency is to be involved in purposeful activity to help others. When a child is concentrated on an activity with positive connections to the people around him or her, we observe a happy and joyful child.
When we see a child behave in a way that is not constructive, we are almost assured that the child has lost a necessary and vital connection to the adults in his or her life. An unhappy child gives us a clue that the child has an impediment to an essential adult relationship.
When a child loses this supportive connection to adults, the child’s motivation and behavior is ruled by fear; fear of losing love and fear of losing the adults in his or her life. What we perceive as misbehavior is a child’s cry for help and love.
If our efforts to connect to the child are not based on love and genuine concern, and instead are based on our own fears, such as our children being an embarrassment to us, we will not be able to reconnect and use the inborn positive psychology of the child.
Our yelling, our punishing or our using natural or logical consequences to try to change behavior should be a signal to us to change our behavior. When we find ourselves choosing to ‘ do to’ our children instead of ‘ working with’ our children, we need to realize we have lost contact with our children’s love, respect and trust.
When a child feels disconnected to his or her parents the child goes through three stages of emotional reactions. First is protest, in which the child cries and refuses to be consoled by others. Second is despair, in which the child is sad and passive. Third is detachment, in which the child actively disregards the parent.
To reconnect to the positive psychology of the child, we must strive to see the child’s innate love, respect and trust for others, and how those qualities motivate behavior.
We must consider what actions, words or physical barriers keep the child from expressing or experiencing our love. We need to watch for situations that create emotional reactions in the child of protest, passivity or disregard. A misbehaving child is a discouraged child who does not feel joined to the ones he or she loves.
Do we respect the child’s efforts and rights ? We need to listen to our children and take their point of view seriously and respectfully. Respect can help us reconnect.
Do we act in such a manner to always instill trust in our relationship with the child ? We need to encourage our children to talk to us so that we will know what we are doing right, where we need to improve, and how we might change. Even a two-year-old can give us valuable feedback on how our actions are, or are not, establishing a trusting relationship.
Children are designed to want to connect in a constructive loving way. Children’s behavior lets us know if they feel connected to us or not. Use the child’s innate positive psychology to create a lifelong bond of love, trust and respect. Next week: The Child’s Inherent Love of Nature.
• • • Kids Talk is a column dealing with childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland. She has more than 25 years experience working with children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. Contact her at mar en @ shininglightreading. com or visit www. KidsTalkNews. com.
5 Centenarians Offer Secret to Long Life
5 Centenarians Offer Secret to Long Life
Associated Press - August 17, 2006
ROLLA, Mo. - Five neighbors at a central Missouri retirement community who are all centenarians get asked all the time: "How did you live to be 100?"
If you want to live to 100 or more, this rare group of five golden girls says the key to longevity is working hard at a job you love and taking care of your body while you're at it.
Even though an estimated 70,000 people in the country are currently at the century mark or beyond in age, it is unusual to find five 100-year-olds living in one place is unusual.
The average life-span of Americans is about two or three years short of an 80th birthday party. And most people don't want to cut out coffee, soda, alcohol, cigarettes and eat healthy.
"People tell me all the time, 'I don't want to live to be 100,'" said Mildred Leaver, who turned 100 in June.
Her four centenarian friends at the Rolla Presbyterian Manor retirement community shook their primped gray heads in agreement. They hear it too: "Who wants to live to be 100?"
"I think that's just sad. Aging is attitude and I don't feel old," said Leaver, a former educator who still drives her Buick around town.
For an idea of just how special this centenarian quintet is, look at Presbyterian Manor's 16 other communities across the Midwest. Only four other residents of the more than 2,000 have lived 100 years or longer - and each lives in four separate retirement communities.
It doesn't take long to see that Leaver and her neighbors Mildred Harris, Grace Wolfson, Gladys Stuart and Viola Semas, have a lot more in common than their longevity and lifelong healthy habits. All are 100 except Stuart, who is 101.
Even though their sight and hearing aren't what they used to be, they've all avoided illnesses that many elderly people are stricken with. It's been 50 years since Leaver beat cancer for the first and only time.
The common thread that connects these women is the decades of service to jobs each loved as a farmer, designer, school principal, bookkeeper and secretary. In the early years of their lives, gainfully employed women like them were just as rare as 100-year-olds are today.
Wolfson said art and her 25-year career as an aerospace illustrator helped her live 100 years and through the best times in her life.
The immigrant from Budapest, Hungary, who turned 100 this summer, said she's still inspired artistically today. Her art hangs in the retirement community, where a party was held this month in honor of the five women.
Harris said hard farm work and an abundance of fruits and vegetables in her back yard kept her going. She's also a big advocate for not smoking.
"No tobacco. I watched my husband just cough and cough until it killed him," Harris said.
A long career in bookkeeping kept Semas' life as balanced at the money she managed. Semas said she still loves numbers, especially winning ones on a Bingo chart.
All of the women say life in a retirement community was nothing like what they envisioned.
"They do a really good job of keeping us entertained, active and enjoying life," said Stuart, a retired secretary and the oldest of the five at 101.
Anita Carroll, 50, director of Presbyterian Manor, said the stigma about retirement homes and nursing homes is changing. "People don't come here to die, they come here to live," Carroll said.
When Leaver, the lifelong teacher and school principal moved into the community a few years ago, Carroll instantly recognized her: Leaver was her principal in elementary school.
"You took care of me for all of those years," Carroll told Leaver when she moved in. "Now I'm going to take care of you."
Associated Press - August 17, 2006
ROLLA, Mo. - Five neighbors at a central Missouri retirement community who are all centenarians get asked all the time: "How did you live to be 100?"
If you want to live to 100 or more, this rare group of five golden girls says the key to longevity is working hard at a job you love and taking care of your body while you're at it.
Even though an estimated 70,000 people in the country are currently at the century mark or beyond in age, it is unusual to find five 100-year-olds living in one place is unusual.
The average life-span of Americans is about two or three years short of an 80th birthday party. And most people don't want to cut out coffee, soda, alcohol, cigarettes and eat healthy.
"People tell me all the time, 'I don't want to live to be 100,'" said Mildred Leaver, who turned 100 in June.
Her four centenarian friends at the Rolla Presbyterian Manor retirement community shook their primped gray heads in agreement. They hear it too: "Who wants to live to be 100?"
"I think that's just sad. Aging is attitude and I don't feel old," said Leaver, a former educator who still drives her Buick around town.
For an idea of just how special this centenarian quintet is, look at Presbyterian Manor's 16 other communities across the Midwest. Only four other residents of the more than 2,000 have lived 100 years or longer - and each lives in four separate retirement communities.
It doesn't take long to see that Leaver and her neighbors Mildred Harris, Grace Wolfson, Gladys Stuart and Viola Semas, have a lot more in common than their longevity and lifelong healthy habits. All are 100 except Stuart, who is 101.
Even though their sight and hearing aren't what they used to be, they've all avoided illnesses that many elderly people are stricken with. It's been 50 years since Leaver beat cancer for the first and only time.
The common thread that connects these women is the decades of service to jobs each loved as a farmer, designer, school principal, bookkeeper and secretary. In the early years of their lives, gainfully employed women like them were just as rare as 100-year-olds are today.
Wolfson said art and her 25-year career as an aerospace illustrator helped her live 100 years and through the best times in her life.
The immigrant from Budapest, Hungary, who turned 100 this summer, said she's still inspired artistically today. Her art hangs in the retirement community, where a party was held this month in honor of the five women.
Harris said hard farm work and an abundance of fruits and vegetables in her back yard kept her going. She's also a big advocate for not smoking.
"No tobacco. I watched my husband just cough and cough until it killed him," Harris said.
A long career in bookkeeping kept Semas' life as balanced at the money she managed. Semas said she still loves numbers, especially winning ones on a Bingo chart.
All of the women say life in a retirement community was nothing like what they envisioned.
"They do a really good job of keeping us entertained, active and enjoying life," said Stuart, a retired secretary and the oldest of the five at 101.
Anita Carroll, 50, director of Presbyterian Manor, said the stigma about retirement homes and nursing homes is changing. "People don't come here to die, they come here to live," Carroll said.
When Leaver, the lifelong teacher and school principal moved into the community a few years ago, Carroll instantly recognized her: Leaver was her principal in elementary school.
"You took care of me for all of those years," Carroll told Leaver when she moved in. "Now I'm going to take care of you."
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND SUICIDE BOMBINGS
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND SUICIDE BOMBINGS
Written by Lee Chowaniec
Saturday, 19 August 2006
The following media release was sent to me. The sender states, “this is well worth reading, not to give you an insight into the suicide bomber, but into the nature of our so-called enemy, the Terrorist, if this is a War on Terror and not one on Islam. If this suicide bomber is really our enemy, then God help us."
It should be mentioned that City Lights Pictures Releasing has acquired worldwide rights to the torn-from-the-headlines terrorism documentary "Suicide Killers." Pierre Rehov's feature examines the phenomenon of suicide bombers through interviews with their family members, along with prisoners whose bombing attempts have been thwarted. The film's revelations about the bombers' true motivations are both surprising and shocking. The film will be released in New York the week of August 25, 2006.
On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas.
Pierre’s upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview on MSNBC about his work on the new film.
Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?
A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow themselves up.
Q - Why is this film especially important?
A - People don’t understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.
Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know that other experts do not know?
A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute so is contempt toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible.
It is no coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but also are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil.
Since Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption becomes their only solution.
Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their families and survivors of suicide bombings?
A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying, "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had become a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize.
This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed.
They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy
Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power, beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?
A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life. They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God, the ultimate authority, and above all human laws. They therefore experience this single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become God's sword.
Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the psychopathology.
A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes, generally inferiority complexes they must have been fed with religion. They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts, but not criminals Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental culture, they would have hated violence but they constantly battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be
willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise.
Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?
A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.
Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?
A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.
Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.
A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty, placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.
Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?
A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel).
Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?
A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein ($25,000 per family) and Gasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very attached to their families, might find in this financial support another reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.
Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?
A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?
Q - What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?
A - The U.N is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or ex-communist countries. Their hands are tied. The U.N has condemned Israel more than any other country in the world, including the regime of Castro, Idi Amin or Kaddahfi. By behaving this way, the U.N. leaves a door open by not openly condemning terrorist organizations. In addition, through UNRWA, the U.N. is directly tied to terror organizations such as Hamas, representing 65 percent of their apparatus in the so-called Palestinian refugee camps.
As a support to Arab countries, the U.N. has maintained Palestinians in camps with the hope to "return" into Israel for more than 50 years, therefore making it impossible to settle those populations, which still live in deplorable conditions. Four hundred million dollars are spent every year, mainly financed by U.S. taxes, to support 23,000 employees of UNRWA, many of who belong to terrorist organizations (see Congressman Eric Cantor on this subject, and in my film "Hostages of Hatred").
Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb’ simultaneously. Explain what you mean.
A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't know it.
Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism in general?
A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to defeat
him in order to make peace one day with the German people.
Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers? Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?
A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict. Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training camps in
Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe, hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
Written by Lee Chowaniec
Saturday, 19 August 2006
The following media release was sent to me. The sender states, “this is well worth reading, not to give you an insight into the suicide bomber, but into the nature of our so-called enemy, the Terrorist, if this is a War on Terror and not one on Islam. If this suicide bomber is really our enemy, then God help us."
It should be mentioned that City Lights Pictures Releasing has acquired worldwide rights to the torn-from-the-headlines terrorism documentary "Suicide Killers." Pierre Rehov's feature examines the phenomenon of suicide bombers through interviews with their family members, along with prisoners whose bombing attempts have been thwarted. The film's revelations about the bombers' true motivations are both surprising and shocking. The film will be released in New York the week of August 25, 2006.
On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas.
Pierre’s upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview on MSNBC about his work on the new film.
Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?
A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow themselves up.
Q - Why is this film especially important?
A - People don’t understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.
Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know that other experts do not know?
A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute so is contempt toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible.
It is no coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but also are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil.
Since Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption becomes their only solution.
Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their families and survivors of suicide bombings?
A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying, "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had become a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize.
This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed.
They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy
Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power, beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?
A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life. They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God, the ultimate authority, and above all human laws. They therefore experience this single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become God's sword.
Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the psychopathology.
A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes, generally inferiority complexes they must have been fed with religion. They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts, but not criminals Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental culture, they would have hated violence but they constantly battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be
willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise.
Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?
A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.
Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?
A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.
Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.
A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty, placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.
Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?
A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel).
Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?
A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein ($25,000 per family) and Gasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very attached to their families, might find in this financial support another reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.
Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?
A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?
Q - What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?
A - The U.N is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or ex-communist countries. Their hands are tied. The U.N has condemned Israel more than any other country in the world, including the regime of Castro, Idi Amin or Kaddahfi. By behaving this way, the U.N. leaves a door open by not openly condemning terrorist organizations. In addition, through UNRWA, the U.N. is directly tied to terror organizations such as Hamas, representing 65 percent of their apparatus in the so-called Palestinian refugee camps.
As a support to Arab countries, the U.N. has maintained Palestinians in camps with the hope to "return" into Israel for more than 50 years, therefore making it impossible to settle those populations, which still live in deplorable conditions. Four hundred million dollars are spent every year, mainly financed by U.S. taxes, to support 23,000 employees of UNRWA, many of who belong to terrorist organizations (see Congressman Eric Cantor on this subject, and in my film "Hostages of Hatred").
Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb’ simultaneously. Explain what you mean.
A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't know it.
Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism in general?
A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to defeat
him in order to make peace one day with the German people.
Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers? Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?
A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict. Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training camps in
Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe, hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
FEMA aids in post-Katrina mental health
FEMA aids in post-Katrina mental health
United Press International - August 19, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, Aug 18, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency will direct more than $34 million to aid mental health services in Louisiana for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Thursday's grant by FEMA is the second-largest grant of its kind, topped only by the $132 million New York City received after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
The money will reportedly be funneled to the office of mental health within Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals, and to Louisiana Spirit, an organization set up by DHH for those traumatized by the hurricane.
"We are very excited about the difference this grant will make in the complete recovery of residents of Louisiana," DHH Secretary Dr. Fred Cerise said.
The money will help pay for an existing hot line -- (800) 273-8255 -- that people can call for help. To date, Louisiana Spirit says it has served 802,000 residents.
Louisiana Spirit employs volunteers and trained professionals who have gone to storm-affected areas seeking people who need psychiatric help. Polls taken in the aftermath of the hurricane reportedly showed a vast need for psychiatric assistance in hurricane-ravaged areas.
URL: www.upi.com
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
United Press International - August 19, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, Aug 18, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency will direct more than $34 million to aid mental health services in Louisiana for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Thursday's grant by FEMA is the second-largest grant of its kind, topped only by the $132 million New York City received after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
The money will reportedly be funneled to the office of mental health within Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals, and to Louisiana Spirit, an organization set up by DHH for those traumatized by the hurricane.
"We are very excited about the difference this grant will make in the complete recovery of residents of Louisiana," DHH Secretary Dr. Fred Cerise said.
The money will help pay for an existing hot line -- (800) 273-8255 -- that people can call for help. To date, Louisiana Spirit says it has served 802,000 residents.
Louisiana Spirit employs volunteers and trained professionals who have gone to storm-affected areas seeking people who need psychiatric help. Polls taken in the aftermath of the hurricane reportedly showed a vast need for psychiatric assistance in hurricane-ravaged areas.
URL: www.upi.com
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
The Medical Spa: A Marriage of Science and Beauty
The Medical Spa: A Marriage of Science and Beauty
Medically reviewed by:
Joseph Berg, MD
Orem, UT
by Charles Downey
PlasticSurgery.com Staff Writer
Maureen Gallagher, a top New York City runway and catalogue model for two decades, is no stranger to cosmetic and plastic procedures. So far, she’s had four surgical rejuvenations which keep her working and in the money.
“Some years ago, I found the secret to youth is not pulling facial skin tighter but replacing the fat in your face that naturally dissipates over time,” Maureen told PlasticSurgery.com.
But during her most recent facial rejuvenation, Maureen came upon something relatively new at Ajune, (the word is a French contraction for “to youth,”) the Center for Beauty Synergy in New York City, and a facility adjoining the surgical clinic of plastic surgeon Dr. Mauro C. Romita. Two weeks before Maureen’s mid-face lift, she had a series of eight rubdowns known as “lymphatic drainage massage” at Ajune, a medical spa in Manhattan.
“I think lymphatic massages reduced the usual swelling by about half,” says Maureen.
However, if the word “lymphatic” sounds too far out, you could also spring for a Parafango body wrap or a La Stone Therapy.
In addition to being endlessly relaxing and sustaining, Ajune’s massages and various wraps have a medical purpose: before and after surgery, the various pamperings are said to make surgical procedures go easier, with less swelling and bruising after operations because circulation and metabolism are increased.
In the ever-expanding world of plastic and cosmetic surgery, the medical spa, a marriage of science and beauty, is becoming a major trend. It has become a sort of one-stop beauty and loveliness shop for skin treatments plus surgical rejuvenations that feature, at a minimum, laser treatments, facial peels, microdermabrasion, collagen and Botox.
Experts at the International Spa Association, the Day Spa Association, the International Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association reckon anywhere from 500 to 1200 such medical spas now exist in the U.S., with more being planned.
“I can’t believe I look better now than I did when I was 28,” Maureen said after the most recent procedure. “It helps my job tremendously if I continue to care for my skin after plastic surgery.”
Adds Mauro C. Romita, M.D., Ajune’s founder and director: “My approach to the medical spa was to treat all aspects of beauty because surgery is not the only answer to every person’s case. Lymphatic drainage massage, for instance, helps patients heal better from deeply invasive procedures like a full facelift or a tummy tuck because the massage also helps remove the fluid that builds in reaction to surgery. As swelling minimizes, circulation improves, bringing more nutrient-rich blood to the site. The bottom line is, a massage therapist makes a plastic surgeon’s job easier.”
Another scenario where spa services helps plastic surgery is found in facial procedures. As the skin is cleansed of pimples and other impurities through facials, acne treatments, scrubs or light surgical procedures like microdermabrasion, skin improves its ability to perspire and clean itself. And that makes you look fresher and more youthful, longer.
“I often jot down for clinicians in the spa what type of aesthetic work should be done before I operate,” says Dr. Romita. “The whole idea of a medical spa is doing non-invasive -- but effective -- treatments.”
In Southern California, after 29-year-old Jessica (she did not want to be fully identified) gave birth, she decided it was time to take care of the stubborn fat on her inner and outer thighs which no amount of dieting or exercise seemed to reduce. So she had liposuction at SpaMD in LaJolla, California.
“The place gave me a much more private feeling than if I were at a hospital,” Jessica says. “To me, most hospitals and many clinics are cold, sterile and smell of medicine and illness. But at the medical spa, the first thing I saw in the lobby was a waterfall.”
She also liked the massages that were included in her surgical procedures and plans on going back for more on a regular basis.
The two concepts – the spa and a plastic surgery clinic -- go together like love and marriage because more people, like Jessica, want a bit more pampering and soothing aftercare along with their facial and other surgical rejuvenations. Moreover, the concept works from the opposite direction, too. While you’re taking the waters or getting a massage at a spa, why not make an appointment with the staff physician for a little Botox or Restylane? And go home looking really refreshed? Thus, the concept of medical spas is actually a convergence of two, well-established mega-businesses – the $8.3 billion world of plastic and cosmetic surgery and the $11 billion healing spa industry.
A handful of medical spas are organized under several trade associations like the Day Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association. Some facilities combine a spa with wellness, diagnostics and anti-aging services while others specialize in cosmetic dentistry, along with the typical day or destination spa amities. The Blue Water Spa, a Raleigh, North Carolina, facility that bills itself as a plastic surgery medical spa, offers the full range of plastic and cosmetic surgery operations.
Other surgical centers install themselves in popular travel destinations spots and offer fun in the sun and surf – providing the surgeon says O.K. – after the stitches and makeovers.
But the bottom line in all medical spas seems to be offerings the techniques required to beautify, soothe and care for skin and some cosmetic procedures like the ever popular Botox and favorite fillers like Restylane. Thus, many dermatologists and cosmetic doctors are rapidly adding skin specialists who offer aesthetic skin treatments that sound almost good enough to eat. For instance, Ajune in New York City offers, among other spa and aesthetic services, The Ajune Classic Ginger Massage, the Godiva Chocolate Body Wrap and a Shea Butter Body Emulsion. Or, if you’ve already had lunch, you might want to consider The Rainwater Body Polish, The Pacificia Pebble Pedicure or the Green Tea Wash.
“The medical spa concept is growing so rapidly because younger patients are having cosmetic procedures in their 20's instead of waiting until they are showing some serious aging in their 40's,” says Wendy Lewis, a New York City plastic and cosmetic surgery consultant who advises patients in search of exactly the right plastic surgeon for a particular procedure.
“More plastic surgery patients want to feel pampered and get away from sterile places associated with sickness,” says Eric Light, president of the Strawberry Hill Group, a consulting firm which has helped set up many U.S. and oversees medical spas during the last three decades. “The emerging trend we are seeing in American cosmetic and plastic surgery is starting to look more like what is offered at spa and wellness centers in Europe,” he says. “For many Americans, the notion has become a question of, not so much fixing the damage of aging, but preventing the damage from happening for as long as possible.”
Examples of leading medical spas on the cutting edge of the trend, according to Light, include New York City’s Juva; the Blue Water Spa in Raleigh, North Carolina; the WellMax Center at LaQuinta in Indian Wells, California; the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia and the Millennium in Newport Beach, California.
“About seventy percent of our patients come in for cosmetic procedures and end up being evaluated for diet, nutrition, lifestyle changes and hormone balancing,” says Richard M. Foxx, M.D., director of the Medical and Skin Spa at Aqua Serena in Indian Wells, California.
Kathleen, 48, (she also asked not to be identified) works in contract sales for housing developments and owns a condo in Indian Wells, California, where she frequently entertains clients. She travels weekly from her home about 100 miles away in Bakersfield and frequently uses the fitness center and spa near her vacation dwelling.
“That medical spa is in a lovely setting and not at all like making an appointment at a doctor’s or dermatologist’s office,” she says. “I stopped in to see what the medical side was about, started with some Restylane and Botox and then started having glycolic facials. I work in an industry dominated by men so I need to maintain my appealing looks. And it works. People usually notice the changes in my face right away.”
While many patients turn away from medical settings, others embrace them. So one of the most recent developments is the medical spa set in a hospital.
“Our cosmetic and plastic surgery patients appreciate the security of having their procedures done in a hospital, rather than a clinic or the surgeon’s office,” says Barry L. Eppley, M.D., D.M.D. a professor of plastic surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. His medical spa, OLOGY (Greek for “study”) was so named because so many things in medicine end with the suffix “ology.” Dr. Eppley’s facility offers Ayurvedic (Sanskrit for “life” and “knowledge”) spa treatments with aesthetic skin and facial treatments like one known as “Shirodara,” (warm oil dripped onto the forehead and then massaged into the scalp) and another called “Vichy shower hydrotherapy” (getting a warm shower while reclined on a table,) along with the more commonly known and used laser treatments, fillers and other cosmetic surgery procedures.
“Spa treatments have been medically shown to have health benefits, including lower blood pressure, reduced stress, decreased healing times, less pain and decreased need for medication,” says Dr. Eppley.
Hospitalized patients at the Clarian West Medical Center in Indianapolis, OLOGY’S home, can also order massage, relaxation therapy and other delights, at their bedsides. Inpatients at the Hackensack University Medical Center Hospital in Bergen County, New Jersey, can also use the many services of its day spa, BEYOND. Yet another hospital-based medical spa is offered at the Condell Medical Center Inner Spa in Libertyville, Illinois,
“The post-op period is the most uncomfortable for plastic surgery patients,” says Julio S. Gallo, M.D., a surgeon at The MIAMI Institute which offers cosmetic surgery and dentistry, dermatology and wellness counseling.
“When patients leave the clinic, they travel down a hallway, take an elevator up a floor and walk into their five-star suite at the Four Seasons on Miami’s Brickell Avenue,” says Dr. Gallo.
If you’re interested in any type medical spa, check on the following items, suggests Pradeep Sinha, M.D., Ph.D. at the Atlanta Institute for Aesthetic Facial Surgery:
“Is the facility affiliated with a licensed physician or medical director? Not all medical directors, even if they are M.D.s, are plastic surgeons,” says Dr. Sinha. “Be sure to ask.”
“And, be wary of places that do not include an evaluation or a first meeting with the surgeon as part of the process,” says Dr. Sinha. “Be sure and inquire about the equipment in the facility and make sure it’s top of the line.”
The growth of medical spas makes you think of Italian actress Sophia Loren’s advice about eternal beauty. She once said: “Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than her own belief that she is beautiful.”
Medically reviewed by:
Joseph Berg, MD
Orem, UT
by Charles Downey
PlasticSurgery.com Staff Writer
Maureen Gallagher, a top New York City runway and catalogue model for two decades, is no stranger to cosmetic and plastic procedures. So far, she’s had four surgical rejuvenations which keep her working and in the money.
“Some years ago, I found the secret to youth is not pulling facial skin tighter but replacing the fat in your face that naturally dissipates over time,” Maureen told PlasticSurgery.com.
But during her most recent facial rejuvenation, Maureen came upon something relatively new at Ajune, (the word is a French contraction for “to youth,”) the Center for Beauty Synergy in New York City, and a facility adjoining the surgical clinic of plastic surgeon Dr. Mauro C. Romita. Two weeks before Maureen’s mid-face lift, she had a series of eight rubdowns known as “lymphatic drainage massage” at Ajune, a medical spa in Manhattan.
“I think lymphatic massages reduced the usual swelling by about half,” says Maureen.
However, if the word “lymphatic” sounds too far out, you could also spring for a Parafango body wrap or a La Stone Therapy.
In addition to being endlessly relaxing and sustaining, Ajune’s massages and various wraps have a medical purpose: before and after surgery, the various pamperings are said to make surgical procedures go easier, with less swelling and bruising after operations because circulation and metabolism are increased.
In the ever-expanding world of plastic and cosmetic surgery, the medical spa, a marriage of science and beauty, is becoming a major trend. It has become a sort of one-stop beauty and loveliness shop for skin treatments plus surgical rejuvenations that feature, at a minimum, laser treatments, facial peels, microdermabrasion, collagen and Botox.
Experts at the International Spa Association, the Day Spa Association, the International Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association reckon anywhere from 500 to 1200 such medical spas now exist in the U.S., with more being planned.
“I can’t believe I look better now than I did when I was 28,” Maureen said after the most recent procedure. “It helps my job tremendously if I continue to care for my skin after plastic surgery.”
Adds Mauro C. Romita, M.D., Ajune’s founder and director: “My approach to the medical spa was to treat all aspects of beauty because surgery is not the only answer to every person’s case. Lymphatic drainage massage, for instance, helps patients heal better from deeply invasive procedures like a full facelift or a tummy tuck because the massage also helps remove the fluid that builds in reaction to surgery. As swelling minimizes, circulation improves, bringing more nutrient-rich blood to the site. The bottom line is, a massage therapist makes a plastic surgeon’s job easier.”
Another scenario where spa services helps plastic surgery is found in facial procedures. As the skin is cleansed of pimples and other impurities through facials, acne treatments, scrubs or light surgical procedures like microdermabrasion, skin improves its ability to perspire and clean itself. And that makes you look fresher and more youthful, longer.
“I often jot down for clinicians in the spa what type of aesthetic work should be done before I operate,” says Dr. Romita. “The whole idea of a medical spa is doing non-invasive -- but effective -- treatments.”
In Southern California, after 29-year-old Jessica (she did not want to be fully identified) gave birth, she decided it was time to take care of the stubborn fat on her inner and outer thighs which no amount of dieting or exercise seemed to reduce. So she had liposuction at SpaMD in LaJolla, California.
“The place gave me a much more private feeling than if I were at a hospital,” Jessica says. “To me, most hospitals and many clinics are cold, sterile and smell of medicine and illness. But at the medical spa, the first thing I saw in the lobby was a waterfall.”
She also liked the massages that were included in her surgical procedures and plans on going back for more on a regular basis.
The two concepts – the spa and a plastic surgery clinic -- go together like love and marriage because more people, like Jessica, want a bit more pampering and soothing aftercare along with their facial and other surgical rejuvenations. Moreover, the concept works from the opposite direction, too. While you’re taking the waters or getting a massage at a spa, why not make an appointment with the staff physician for a little Botox or Restylane? And go home looking really refreshed? Thus, the concept of medical spas is actually a convergence of two, well-established mega-businesses – the $8.3 billion world of plastic and cosmetic surgery and the $11 billion healing spa industry.
A handful of medical spas are organized under several trade associations like the Day Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association. Some facilities combine a spa with wellness, diagnostics and anti-aging services while others specialize in cosmetic dentistry, along with the typical day or destination spa amities. The Blue Water Spa, a Raleigh, North Carolina, facility that bills itself as a plastic surgery medical spa, offers the full range of plastic and cosmetic surgery operations.
Other surgical centers install themselves in popular travel destinations spots and offer fun in the sun and surf – providing the surgeon says O.K. – after the stitches and makeovers.
But the bottom line in all medical spas seems to be offerings the techniques required to beautify, soothe and care for skin and some cosmetic procedures like the ever popular Botox and favorite fillers like Restylane. Thus, many dermatologists and cosmetic doctors are rapidly adding skin specialists who offer aesthetic skin treatments that sound almost good enough to eat. For instance, Ajune in New York City offers, among other spa and aesthetic services, The Ajune Classic Ginger Massage, the Godiva Chocolate Body Wrap and a Shea Butter Body Emulsion. Or, if you’ve already had lunch, you might want to consider The Rainwater Body Polish, The Pacificia Pebble Pedicure or the Green Tea Wash.
“The medical spa concept is growing so rapidly because younger patients are having cosmetic procedures in their 20's instead of waiting until they are showing some serious aging in their 40's,” says Wendy Lewis, a New York City plastic and cosmetic surgery consultant who advises patients in search of exactly the right plastic surgeon for a particular procedure.
“More plastic surgery patients want to feel pampered and get away from sterile places associated with sickness,” says Eric Light, president of the Strawberry Hill Group, a consulting firm which has helped set up many U.S. and oversees medical spas during the last three decades. “The emerging trend we are seeing in American cosmetic and plastic surgery is starting to look more like what is offered at spa and wellness centers in Europe,” he says. “For many Americans, the notion has become a question of, not so much fixing the damage of aging, but preventing the damage from happening for as long as possible.”
Examples of leading medical spas on the cutting edge of the trend, according to Light, include New York City’s Juva; the Blue Water Spa in Raleigh, North Carolina; the WellMax Center at LaQuinta in Indian Wells, California; the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia and the Millennium in Newport Beach, California.
“About seventy percent of our patients come in for cosmetic procedures and end up being evaluated for diet, nutrition, lifestyle changes and hormone balancing,” says Richard M. Foxx, M.D., director of the Medical and Skin Spa at Aqua Serena in Indian Wells, California.
Kathleen, 48, (she also asked not to be identified) works in contract sales for housing developments and owns a condo in Indian Wells, California, where she frequently entertains clients. She travels weekly from her home about 100 miles away in Bakersfield and frequently uses the fitness center and spa near her vacation dwelling.
“That medical spa is in a lovely setting and not at all like making an appointment at a doctor’s or dermatologist’s office,” she says. “I stopped in to see what the medical side was about, started with some Restylane and Botox and then started having glycolic facials. I work in an industry dominated by men so I need to maintain my appealing looks. And it works. People usually notice the changes in my face right away.”
While many patients turn away from medical settings, others embrace them. So one of the most recent developments is the medical spa set in a hospital.
“Our cosmetic and plastic surgery patients appreciate the security of having their procedures done in a hospital, rather than a clinic or the surgeon’s office,” says Barry L. Eppley, M.D., D.M.D. a professor of plastic surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. His medical spa, OLOGY (Greek for “study”) was so named because so many things in medicine end with the suffix “ology.” Dr. Eppley’s facility offers Ayurvedic (Sanskrit for “life” and “knowledge”) spa treatments with aesthetic skin and facial treatments like one known as “Shirodara,” (warm oil dripped onto the forehead and then massaged into the scalp) and another called “Vichy shower hydrotherapy” (getting a warm shower while reclined on a table,) along with the more commonly known and used laser treatments, fillers and other cosmetic surgery procedures.
“Spa treatments have been medically shown to have health benefits, including lower blood pressure, reduced stress, decreased healing times, less pain and decreased need for medication,” says Dr. Eppley.
Hospitalized patients at the Clarian West Medical Center in Indianapolis, OLOGY’S home, can also order massage, relaxation therapy and other delights, at their bedsides. Inpatients at the Hackensack University Medical Center Hospital in Bergen County, New Jersey, can also use the many services of its day spa, BEYOND. Yet another hospital-based medical spa is offered at the Condell Medical Center Inner Spa in Libertyville, Illinois,
“The post-op period is the most uncomfortable for plastic surgery patients,” says Julio S. Gallo, M.D., a surgeon at The MIAMI Institute which offers cosmetic surgery and dentistry, dermatology and wellness counseling.
“When patients leave the clinic, they travel down a hallway, take an elevator up a floor and walk into their five-star suite at the Four Seasons on Miami’s Brickell Avenue,” says Dr. Gallo.
If you’re interested in any type medical spa, check on the following items, suggests Pradeep Sinha, M.D., Ph.D. at the Atlanta Institute for Aesthetic Facial Surgery:
“Is the facility affiliated with a licensed physician or medical director? Not all medical directors, even if they are M.D.s, are plastic surgeons,” says Dr. Sinha. “Be sure to ask.”
“And, be wary of places that do not include an evaluation or a first meeting with the surgeon as part of the process,” says Dr. Sinha. “Be sure and inquire about the equipment in the facility and make sure it’s top of the line.”
The growth of medical spas makes you think of Italian actress Sophia Loren’s advice about eternal beauty. She once said: “Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than her own belief that she is beautiful.”
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