Hate - Today the Jewish survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp gather for the 75th liberation anniversary

When I went to elementary school I learned about the concentrations camps and we watched documentary segments of the horrors. We learned about hate and how it was wrong. When I was older but still in elementary school, we read “Black Like Me” and again learned about hate and how it was wrong. When I went to Europe and visited some of the concentration camps which should always remain, as a reminder of what we are capable of, I felt the pain of our history. I am seeing a resurgence of hate which I didn’t see when I was younger. I live in a multi cultural city and so I am surrounded by the various cultures, religions, food etc…Recently on CP 24 news a host referred to “Brown power” referring to herself and her co host, which raised a concern for me. It was said in playful jest, but I pondered why one still has to think of themselves as a bit about, and that is what power is all about. One having power over another. I do believe we are equal. One may have a better job, a better career, a healthier perspective, better opportunities etc….but deep inside we suffer, we want, we need, we love, we experience joys and happiness etc……Many of us have a conscious and experience guilt unless we are psychopaths, criminal or not. Though we are different, we have similarities. What makes ordinary people become terrorists, Nazis, KKK etc……Where do we learn to hate? I do have a soft spot for the Jewish community. What other group of people did anyone ever try to extinct? How much of a loss did we as a nation suffer? How much potential for humanity was taken away because of hate. While watching a program last night one of the survivors was speaking about the children being gassed while the Nazis watched and laughed. I believe we should have a zero tolerance for hate. We are doing a very bad job at taking care of each other, of nature, and of our planet. It will all be our demise if we do not open our eyes and see that we have a responsibility to speak up when there is a wrong. I am thankful for the education I have had and for the wonderful mentors and positive influences. However, not everyone has the same exposure. Some are born into hateful families, abusive families, and their quality of education may be amiss. Why not take some time to reflect and think about what you love and what you hate and why. Why not say something next time you hear when one is putting another down just for spite or to make themselves look better or superior? I am going to write an excerpt from my second book to express my own feelings of when I went to visit a concentration camp as a tourist during my second career: “During one break I went to visit a concentration camp in France. The countryside was beautiful and wooden buildings neatly marked the rows of the hills. Everything was so manicured. I went into the buildings, saw the ovens, saw the showers where the people were killed and the contrast of the beauty of nature and the cruelty of humanity was too much to bear. In one of the buildings, after looking at the shrunken heads and souvenirs from the torture of Jews, tears flowed down my cheeks. I did not cry, but the tears kept coming, and I leaned against the wall horrified at what I was seeing. I would visit one more concentration camp in Germany, Dachau. I remember looking at a black and white photograph of a young beautiful man, a Jew, hanging dead by a rope. They had drained his body of oxygen. I stared at that beautiful face that death could not tarnish, and felt sadness for this man. He would have been so easy to love. I explored the grounds. I saw where people were tortured, where they slept, and the black and white pictures depicted their emaciated bodies. There was hopelessness on their faces. I stopped at a wall which still had blood stains from the people who had been shot against it. Another building had a shrine in honour of two women British Officers who had died bravely in the concentration camp. Why had I never heard about the women who served and died as soldiers? I did not cry or tear up this time. I had hardened, I suppose, during the time of my tour. One thing I was sure of: although I knew that I could kill, I would never, under any circumstances, torture. I was in the military because I believed in peace, because I believed that people and countries need to be protected by those who could do this. Anyone who had anything to do with this should pay the price with their own lives or spend[…]” Excerpt From: Silva Redigonda. “For love of country : military policewoman.” iBooks. www.silvaredigonda.com “Lest we Forget”

Abnormal psychology notes: Psychophysiological

There are a number of different things that effect general health. There are more things in the environment that can be positive or negative - pollution, mercury, smoke are all negative and there are psychological variables which impact health. Some Stressors are unique for people. Some stressors everyone finds stressful. Eg. burns, beaten up and car accidents - same. Some people have a lower threshold for finding the same. There are family resemblance approaches to stress. If everyone can agree but not really put into words. Eg. Family pictures - looks like a family, characteristics seen - could not explain, but knew same. The grandfather of research in understanding stress is Hans Seyle - 1930’s. He did experiments (with animals which I won’t share because it was cruel) to get a general idea or way animals or people respond to stress - general adaption syndrome. He saw different patients with different stressors and saw the same patterns. There is an alarm reaction 1. Autonomic system activation response (fight or flight syndrome) heart rate goes up. Blood to peripheral is adaptive in short. 2. Adaption which happens because the body can’t keep arousal for very long without - would run out and exhaust quickly. Adaption is attenuated. One or two things happen - can either adapt reasonably well or physical consequence of prolonged stress. Symptoms - development of ulcers - by per secretion of acid in stomach which eats away lining of stomach. 3. Exhaustion Phase - some damage to vital part of body which causes death to individual (not simply psychological). Schater stated that emotion getting arousal and then try to figure out why aroused. Then attribute label to arousal - verbal label. This was considered nonsense to the prof because animals show arousal as well and don’t do the verbal thing. Fear responses - anogesia due to fear pathways that lead to conscious brain. The trick for people is how do you deal with stress? - defence mechanism changed to coping mechanism. There are different ways in which people cope. Here are three basic approaches. 1. Focus on the problem and try to resolve it effectively (eg. test } stress. Task would be to review notes and read book over. 2. Emotion Focus Coping: Deep breathing exercises. Talk to friends about how they handle problems. 3. Avoidance Base Coping - Measure stress (social readjustment scale) react to stressor. There is a lot of stress in everyday lives and a number of scales are constructed to measure this. Sometimes people run into a stressor that can’t be avoided or do a lot about eg. medical - terminal. The will is in order but there is nothing objective to do to change what one is facing. Look at emotional part of what one is facing. Utilize support - structural social support - network of people available to them. Quality of interaction with social support network. If positive, social support network can guide to alter behavior to improve one’s situation. To be continued with social network can work positive or negative………………Next week cont with The New Missal (theology) or tid bit of one of my books which I write for fun and am not spending enough time on.

The New Missal - Continuation (theology notes)

I indicated that I would write alternatively regarding psychology and theology and perhaps also my books. So, without further ado here goes. Catholicism - We have an interrupted tradition, the importance of recognizing, symbols, places etc….which do change and it is interesting to see, meaning it continues to evolve. The older Roman Missal fulfillment is in the new. We are moving forward, not stalling. Whenever we look at reform in Roman Catholicism, it is to go back. RC and PC - the apostolic way of life - called to use again and again. When we find ourselves again we look backward and move forward. Meal and sacrifice - back to Christ. Meal and sacrifice needs to be held together. The evolution of the mass - mediates between culture and norms over and over again through time. Every mass mediates. In the celebration of the mass, using and transforming them we are overcoming. There is a constant exchange with the old and new. Early Christians find themselves separated from Judaism. It is not a pleasant separation. It is very different at the same time there is separate execution persecution from the Roman Empire. How do you proclaim the gospel to the Greeks? What happens to the celebration of the mass? The earliest record we have of the structure of the mass: Justin Martyr (150 A.D.). We make sufficient time to read the writings of the people etc…Basically this is the mass as we know it. Where is this worship taking place? In a typical Roman style house. This was a division of rooms which is contrary to communal, then a building structured for all. This causes a change in the singing, the aesthetics. There is fuller sound and therefore a fuller voice. There is an instrument now. As you see there are new possibilities which allows developments in how the community is created. Now a huge shift happens with Constantine. We now need a very large space - the jump from smaller to bigger. Now Christianity needs Catechism. There is no formation. Before this liturgy emphasized individually. Now with more people there is a need to be taught. They are not only participants but also students. The presider now needs to be in a position to be seen. - a basilica - new ritual forms need to be integrated; how to bring people together in a unified stance. The Alter is apart so people can observe and relate. There are costumes now - the roles have to be readily available. Colour becomes important. The cost is a separation from the presider and community. There is a need for more eg…specialized books for the specialized groups. There is an introduction of choirs. It feels like the choir envelopes us. A single voice feels the space and low growls. It brings us in. It creates an aura of mystery. There are developments and costs. The movement from lexorandi to rule of worship to lex credendi to rule of faith. The rule of faith is going to set rules of worship. It has to revise to make it clearer. Up to that time there was no theological pause. There is going to be a new focus on Jesus Divinity. On one hand the liturgy is where God is taking place. But what gets lost is a bit of Jesus as a person. For the first time there is an official way. This takes place in the Middle Ages. Rome, North Africa and Europe. Latin is always more political. Western liturgy of genius of this world. The liturgy is connected with this life. While the E, more eschatology of liturgy. After this Greek is abandoned. Celebrates are in Latin. Rome makes decision initially - opens up new possibility - Latin poetic. Prayers becomes much less diabolical. There is a whole range of richness in celebrating the here and now. It does not always work in other languages so we are going to see another change. In the North it will be accepted. Liturgy becomes slower and more contemplative. There are structural changes to the Northern climate. Lighting is also different. The use of windows channel lights into the space and in a particular time of the day, the light becomes a rich warm light from the reflection. The architecture is transforming the basilican form. Folk art is being incorporated. Eg. Adam and Eve in the garden. As a result the Roman site is very messagized and Germanized. This is a rural experience. Now it is cosmological almost magical. Now you will have text about the universe and nature because it is not urban. The downsize of North European culture- it has a very cosmic dent. The holy is the source of the world. Part of the cost is the notion of taboo. You need specialists to deal with the holy. The cost is a focus on the body and blood in themselves. The chant changes again. It is contemplative. A sense of a beauty of the text is having significance. It is more complex. It is all about text. The cost - marks who will hear this everyday, more than the rest of the people. People are in a bigger place. The people in Northern Europe feel the presence of themselves. To be continued with …………..The Roman rite has always progressed in essentially the same form…………

PTSD - EMS - Veterans

A new year has begun and I am wishing you all a Happy New Year. Today I want to provide you with some more notes from the conference I attended at Badge of Life several months back. One of the speakers was Dr Katy Kamkar a psychologist. She indicated that mental health disabilities are seven times more likely to occur than physical disabilities. Of course she talked about stigma regarding personal, self; workplace (DSM transferred PTSD - to emotion as one of them). Reducing stigma is by mental health education - evidence based and good orientation. Addressing stigma by focusing on the individual rather than the illness. www.cos-mag.com/psychological health- safety/columns/first responders - suffering from moral injury. / 20-warning signs of compassion/fatigue (similar to PTSD but not). Cortisine is low in burn out - Protective factor. Trust in Leadership - supportive climate. Self Compassion - relation with self. Dr J Douglas / Dr Margaret McKInnon Phd, Uof T, Psychologist, Homewood Research Institute. She experienced a plane crash - fire. As a result she suffered from PTSD was treated and became a psychologist. That experience led her to her interest of study. She indicated that only 56% of people with PTSD get treatment. 13%-30 % have a dissociative type. Hyper-arousal - re-experiencing & Hypo arousal - depersonalization, deregulation, emotional numbing and analgesia Re: Brain scan - What would it be like if people were to see inside you? Brain scanning brains when recalling events that led to trauma. Measures looking at patterns. Neuroscientifically - informed treatment. There was more which I am not free to report here. There was more hush hush from other speakers which I will respect. What I can report is what a Nurse from St John Ambulance from Churchhill, Australia reported. (They would be back home now and my thoughts are of the speakers as they face the horrific fires and devastations in Australia. It is heartbreaking. ) The nurse reported that in a 2015 study it was revealed that every four weeks an emergency worker in Australia ends their life. Now there are 420,000 volunteers in the Emergency Services section. They offer six hours of service a week. EMS on bicycles are normally first to arrive. One in three volunteers report being diagnosed with a mental health condition in their life time. Volunteers have higher psychological distress, compared to one to five. Now back at home we had another speaker talk about HELP. I am sure I mentioned them before from a brochure but I will elaborate from the conference. The speaker was Kyle Bellehumiuer (I hope I spelled his name right). You can look up the info at www.HELP - PTSD com. It is a non profit setting. There is a four day event for Canadian Forces veterans and EMS. There are six locations in Ontario and is expanding. There are small groups - three to twelve. There is a $150.00 registration fee and it costs $1700 per participant which is covered by community relations egala.org.ca . Help - the focus is on the now and future not the past story. There is a 67% decrease in PTSD after four days (self - report). There is another organization - Boots On The Ground, a first responder peer support - Carl Waggett. He retired two years ago and started this program. 20 Peel Police Officers, 24/7 peer support to all serving and retired members. In Toronto, Dr Vivien Leigh - will send out two volunteers to have coffee and meet. There are 130 volunteers. There is a theme of a loss. Another site you can check out for Ottawa Police is wellness@ottawapolice.ca . I hope this information is helpful for anyone who reads this. What I have found in my practice is that the longer people wait to get help the harder it is to heal. However, it is never too late. Though the focus here has been on emergency responders which is an obvious interest to me, PTSD can happen as a result of any trauma. People who are sexually attacked, in a car accident etc, can all suffer from PTSD. I really recommend that if you experience any trauma do not wait to get help. I know there is a stigma out there. When I venture into the real world I am always reminded about stigma by the questions I am asked. And education is so important which should begin in the education system. There are so many resources in the city which are lacking in remote areas. However our government has a responsibility to help all people. It is good to know that others are stepping up and setting their own organizations to help peers. Please take an opportunity if you are a responder or veteran to consider trying out what I have discussed here. The resources are free and there will not be any outsiders. Do not hesitate to let me know if you do decide to do so and let me know if I can share what you liked or did not like about where you went. I have found that people like to isolate themselves. The noise, the people, the buildings are all too much. I will end again by thinking of Australia and hope you all have a great start to the year. Perhaps it is a year to reach out………… www.redigondapsychotherapy.com