Dr. Rod Hoevet

To anyone who pays attention, the DSM is - at best - a joke. This article shows the history of why its actually useless.

Why DSM is mostly false 95.2% false, to be exact

Every single mental health professional needs to see this.

Every single person who has ever been or will ever be in Psychotherapy needs to see this.

https://youtu.be/YNWy1ksxIDo

The 7 Principles Of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Jonathan Shedler, PhD is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), faculty member at the San Francisco Center...

Facebook Documents Show How Toxic Instagram Is for Teens, WSJ Reports - Mad In America From CNBC: Facebook has repeatedly found that its Instagram app is harmful to a number of young people - the demographic that makes up over 40% of its user base. The company is also working on a version of Instagram for kids.

How positively [not] shocking. The shortsighted rush to normalize and legalize Ma*****na is lunacy. Who will possibly be surprised when the negative outcomes [neurological, psychological, behavioral, academic] contine to pile up. If only we had a historical precedent to look back on that taught us inhaling a toxic substance into your lungs was a bad thing and probably shouldn't receive widespread legalization...

Doctors around the country are seeing an increase in a condition where pot smokers start puking uncontrollably and compulsively taking boiling hot showers Ma*****na is becoming increasingly legalized across the United States, leaving doobie-smokers and civil liberties activists alike celebrating the growing acceptance of the recreational drug.

Our world is full of misused and abused sensuality, skimpy clothes and calls from our leaders to legitimize s*x work. But this is proof of mental illness? Something is amiss...

https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2021/07/britney-spears-poses-in-racy-maid-costume-sparks-mental-health-c/

Of course we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but this is an important reminder during these times we are in. Science is not flawless. When someone hurls an accusation that another is "anti science" because they have questions, doubts or concerns, they are presuming science is above all reproach but that's not true.

A long time ago, the best science told us the Earth was flat, that people needed a balance of blood, phlegm and bile to be healthy and that drilling a hole in the skull would release demons causing mental illness. Yes, we've grown since then but we have not found scientific holy ground. We need look no further than the popular, common OTC medication Zantac [now linked to cancer] to see that "science" changes. Studies are flawed, results are skewed, assumptions are faulty, new information becomes available and, yes, as this article suggests, some people lie.

We need to exercise grace with each other and realize that science is not absolute truth.

https://reason.com/2021/07/09/how-much-scientific-research-is-actually-fraudulent/

How Much Scientific Research Is Actually Fraudulent? It may be more than you think.

Our government and world is neck deep trying to combat misinformation online, alleging that such wrong information can 'cause' violence and other problems. That same government and many world leaders tell us to trust and follow science.

Yet, research has shown us a definitive link between mental health issues and social media - which promotes false narratives, glorified and falsified images, and users seek to outdo one another with their experiences and attractiveness.

If we stand against so-called damaging misinformation and put our faith in science, where is the outcry and crusade against this known evil? With so many developing body image problems, depression, and engaging in self harm and su***de, shouldn't our same campaign against 'fake news' apply here?

This is a good idea in principle. However, in order to make this work, there are several factors that need to be correctly planned and managed.

1] The truly mentally ill are very rarely dangerous. This is an important philosophy to realize because it informs #2.

2] Substance abuse is NOT mental illness and, more importantly, substance users/abusers ARE at higher risk for violence. Mental illness and substance are not the same although they sometimes overlap.

3] Mental health professionals who fulfill these roles need to be highly trained and experienced to recognize both #1 and #2 and even more critically, to recognize risk. I was excited to learn that St. Louis was developing a program like this until I saw who they wanted to hire. The job will be filled by under qualified, unlicensed undergraduates. This is silly, dangerous and doomed to fail.

The Mental health field's history is plagued with this sort of poorly thought through, planned and reasoned approach. In a few years, after it has had no impact and millions of dollars have been wasted, we will wonder why.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/04/us/police-alternate-response-mental-health/index.html

More than a dozen cities push to minimize or even eliminate police presence at mental health calls More than a dozen cities are developing "alternative" or "co-response" programs to minimize or eliminate the role of police officers responding to 911 calls involving mental health, homelessness, or substance abuse.

Another example of reckless media villainizing the mentally ill and allowing the false narrative to live on. The girlfriend believed his "mood swings" to be Bipolar Disorder so that's enough for the media to put it in the headline. This man is a criminal, maybe a psychopath, but mental illness has nothing to do with it.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/multiple-deaths-reported-after-mass-shooting-at-valley-transportation-authority-light-rail-yard-in-san-jose

‘Bipolar’ San Jose Shooter Was Accused of R**e, Spooked Neighbors From brutal s*xual-assault allegations to a father who said he was shocked at the turn toward bloodshed, Samuel Cassidy left behind a long trail of horror and confusion.

Yet [wounded] people prevail and continue to do difficult and effortful tasks to hold themselves and their families and society together. To me this is miraculous - so much so that a dumbfounded gratitude is the only appropriate response. There are so many ways that things can fall apart, or fail to work together, and it is always wounded people who are holding it together. They deserve some genuine and heartfelt admiration for that. It's an ongoing miracle of fortitude and perseverance.

Jordan Peterson, Ph.D.

Excited to have been invited to join the FriYAY podcast this week and talk about the impact of the pandemic on mental health. Check it out!

https://mylearning.nps.gov/library-resources/the-friyay-series/

The FriYAY Series - NPS: Common Learning Portal FriYAY is a podcast and webinar series that covers a variety of topics spanning practical things like how to stay motivated, ways to expand your creativity, connect with others, and tips to keep you grounded!

We commonly hear that jails and prisons are loaded with mentally ill people. They aren't. This illusion was created by flawed data and bad assessment, which actually harms the mentally ill who already struggle to find adequate treatment & escape stigma.

Jails & Prisons Are Not Full of Mentally Ill People It’s not uncommon to hear that there are large numbers of severely mentally ill persons in correctional institutions around the country. In fact, some publications boldly claim that jails and priso…

Perhaps people have always been unreasonable. Even if we look back to the origins of humanity, maybe there has never been a reasonable time. Perhaps there has never been a time when people listened to each other, truly considered thoughts and ideas (even when they were opposed to their own) and offered measured or reasonable responses to those disagreements. Maybe it’s always been the way it is now: chaotic, accusatory, blaming, erratic, unpredictable and irrational. [ 1,969 more word ]
http://drrodhoevet.com/2020/06/22/america-has-borderline-personality-disorder/

America Has Borderline Personality Disorder Perhaps people have always been unreasonable. Even if we look back to the origins of humanity, maybe there has never been a reasonable time. Perhaps there has never been a time when people listened…

Here is my latest:
Are Personality Disorders Mental Illnesses? The Legal Implications.
http://drrodhoevet.com/2020/05/20/are-personality-disorders-mental-illnesses-the-legal-implications/

Are Personality Disorders Mental Illnesses? The Legal Implications. The legal system often struggles to define and manage mental illnesses in criminal cases, but personality disorders make the issue of definition and culpability even more complex.

We are a nation of sheep and lemmings. We seem to suffer a widespread inability or unwillingness to spend the necessary time to gather information that would lead to educated and beneficial decisions. Instead, we settle for easy and often wrong answers. While there are multiple examples, here are a few of the most obvious.

Politics: very few Americans truly have any idea what is going on with elected officials. One need only watch a video of college students being interviewed about government structure or common policies (or even famous politicians from the past) to see this reality. Politicians need do little more than spend millions of dollars on advertising (truth and transparency optional) to entice enough voters to secure an election. Politicians wisely understand that the voters are largely ignorant, will not research the issues and that they only need a talking point or two to vote for said candidate.

Mental illness: As I've written about previously, many blindly accept that crimes are perpetrated by crazy and imbalanced people, even though copious amounts of research show that the overwhelming majority of criminal acts are not. We are also willing to naively accept that mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances, which medications can correct, even though there is no evidence that chemical imbalances exist.

The current - and controversial - example of our culture-wide willingness to mindlessly follow instead of inform ourselves is face masks in response to the novel coronavirus. The NIH has conduced several studies over the past few months investigating the use and effectiveness of face masks for preventing the transmission of the virus. The short version of the current research is that we don't know much. This makes a lot of sense since the virus is new and scientists need time to figure out many, many things.

The NIH research studies are filled with statements about how masks "might," "may," or "could" help, but may not. Again, this is understandable given how new this phenomenon is. One study definitively found that surgical and cloth masks (that most people are wearing) are useless (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7153751/). (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7118603/; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177146/). Of course, there are others who argue that masks may even be harmful (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/certain-type-n95-mask-harm-covid19-spread). And lastly, the misuse of masks makes the whole thing pointless (https://www.popsci.com/story/health/do-face-masks-work/).

What's the point? Even NIH - our nations foremost body of knowledge on health issues - isn't recommending the universal use of masks and even told us that some masks are pointless. Further, we all know people are widely misusing them when they do wear them. Yet some companies (e.g. Costco, Menards) are forbidding customers without them, and some (Governor Cuomo of New York) are accusing non-wearers of being grossly disrespectful to others.

Why are we doing this? As with the other examples above, most of us do not look for the best (or any) information and then make a reasoned decision. Instead, we just do or vote, or believe what everyone else is doing, voting or believing. It doesn't matter if it works or if it's wrong. It doesn't even matter if it's harmful. It only matters that someone said we should, so we do. Oh, and that also gives us the right - heck, maybe the obligation - to glare at, judge and chastise others who do not. What if we thought for ourselves and used reliable information to make informed decisions?

https://www.facebook.com/cosmothekman/videos/766269210821590/?t=29

I'm intrigued by all the speculation that there will be major mental health fallout secondary to the pandemic. Prior to all of this, we were a very disconnected people. Social occasions like restaurants were marked by people "together" but fixed on their respective phones. Although our world was more connected due to technology, true human connectedness was dying. People were "friends" on social media, but were losing the ability to talk and interact in real life with actual people.

This growing trend makes me wonder why being forced to stay home would be such a hard transition for people. The same technology we had been lost in, that had replaced our face to face relationships, exists during the lockdown. Our "connectedness" didn't really change at all. Has the transition really changed much for most people?

Why are we so sure that this isolation and distancing will have such a widespread impact on mental health?

Television shows, news broadcasts and movies - even Disney movies - frequently portray the grossly incorrect notion that mentally ill people are dangerous and prone to committing violent acts. This reinforces the public's perception that we should fear and avoid the mentally ill and that their civil liberties should be restricted to prevent the likelihood they will act out aggressively.

This misconception is widespread, but is perhaps most noticeable in the context of mass and/or school shootings. In the wake of these horrible tragedies, one can almost set their watch by celebrity and political figures who are quick to use their platform to misinform the public. They often make statements about how only a 'crazy' person could or would engage in such violence or how the most recent shooting is evidence of the flawed American mental health system. They often use these situations to justify their political position, which invariably involves stripping away some rights from the mentally ill.

While it is undoubtedly true that no mentally healthy person would kill others and that the mental health system is dramatically flawed, the destructive, stigmatizing and flatly untrue implication is that a mentally ill person committed the act. In truth, a criminal committed the act and was quite unlikely to have a mental health problem.

Crimes are almost never committed by mentally ill people. When they are, it is usually an even smaller percentage of an already very small group that commits the acts. What's more, that incredibly small group almost always has numerous other risk factors that are far more related to their behavior than the mental illness is (e.g. history of violence, substance abuse).

The very sad and almost entirely overlooked fact is that a mentally person is more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than the perpetrator of one.

See this video by my former college professor, Dr. Eric Elbogen, who summarizes the research on this subject.

https://youtu.be/wCeFEr5ioqo

Mental illness and violence

Jails and prisons are not immune from the effects of mental illness. In fact, in the late 1960s, a process now known as deinstitutionalization began and over the subsequent 20 years or so resulted in a 90% decrease in the number of psychiatric patients in hospitals. While the concept was understandable, there were several unforeseen impacts.

First, communities were ill equipped and underfunded to manage the breadth and depth of mental health issues being dumped upon them. Even now in 2020, this hasn't changed much. Second, severely mentally ill people who are truly in need of psychiatric hospitalization often cannot get it. As hospitals emptied, many were closed or had bed numbers drastically reduced along with staffing. Thus, when a patient has an acute mental health crisis, there is a good chance there will be no available space to stabilize them.

Third, many of the acutely and chronically mentally ill patients ended up either homeless or incarcerated. Over the last 3 or 4 decades, we have seen the effects of mental illness in jails and prisons. Mental health professionals are needed more than ever to address the incarcerated population, but this is not the only need. When mentally ill inmates are released, they find themselves in a similar situation to their counterparts from the early years of deinstitutionalization. It can be difficult to access mental health care in the community due to lack of resources. To make matters worse, many of those mentally ill inmates may be required to get evaluations and/or treatment as a condition of their probation or parole. This has the potential to create a hopeless paradox for the offender!

I can fill this gap. If you or someone you know needs a probation or parole assessment or other mental health services, give me a call!

Mental illness is much rarer than most people think. We often see disorders like Schizophrenia portrayed on news stories, television shows or movies. The public is often led to believe these are common occurrences. In truth, Schizophrenia affects less than 1% of all people. Similarly, the term "bipolar" has become a household word, with most people using it to refer to rapid, unpredictable mood swings. This is not remotely what true Bipolar Disorder is. Like Schizophrenia, it's incredibly rare, affecting only 1-2% of people. Even depression is misunderstood and the term used to describe even routine (normal) sadness.

These problems arise due to multiple factors, among which are individuals who are diagnosed and treated by under-qualified professionals. You wouldn't go see your dentist for an opinion about cancer, so why would your OB/GYN or primary care physician be the go-to option for mental health concerns?

There are often many poor outcomes associated with these diagnoses and treatment approaches as well. One is having a permanent incorrect diagnosis in one's medical records. While this might seem unimportant, such diagnoses can inhibit access to some parts of society, create stigma and have other significant (and often unknown) impacts on one's life. Wrong diagnoses can also lead to unnecessary and potentially harmful treatments, legal complications and the perpetuation of misinformation about mental illness.

In my practice, I often see individuals who have experienced many problems due to be being wrongly diagnosed for years. If you have mental health questions or problems, the best option is to start with a specialist who can expertly advise you.

I recently read an article that was written by a woman who was a child during the Spanish Flu of 1918 (https://dustyoldthing.com/1918-spanish-flu-eyewitness/). One of the hallmarks of her memory was that her family helped take care of their community and nurse them back to health. Her assessment was that although this pandemic was catastrophic, it ended up bringing the community closer together as they took care of one another.

As I reflected on this, it occurs to me how different of a time 2020 is. Yes, this pandemic is catastrophic, just like theirs and although there are assuredly instances of people coming together for the common good and caring for one another, it seems like we are more divided than ever. It's remarkable how something like a public health crisis can be politicized and many feel forced into one camp or the other. Wear a mask or don't wear a mask. Reopen or remain locked down. Attend a drive in church service or stay at home. And so many others.

The pathway back to what Ms. Boone talked about in her interview will never be forged by our political leaders. They will not - cannot - lead us there. Mayors, governors and representatives will never write enough laws or give the right kinds of speeches to make us treat each other as a community. Simply put, they cannot force us to do the right thing.

What Ms. Boone and her family understood was something that is perpetually dwindling in 21st century America: selflessness. The key to reintroducing this radical concept back into our culture begins at home within our families. It must be a personal value we teach and discipline ourselves to practice - especially when we don't want to. In order to do this, we ourselves must believe in it.

Here is an 11 minute interview Ms. Edna Boone did in 2008: https://youtu.be/7k20VFZeLKY

1918 influenza pandemic survivor interview: Mrs. Edna Boone, interviewed 2008 Mrs. Boone, 100 year-old resident of Mobile, tells how her family was the only family in a small rural Alabama area that did not contract the flu during the ...

In these odd times of social isolation, it's even more important to pay attention to mental health. Don't be too quick to overlook changes in your mood, sleeping or eating. With all that has changed in our lives in the last couple of months, issues like these could be evidence of a more significant problem.

Check out my blog, Contemporary Phrenology:

https://drrodhoevet.com/home/contemporary-phrenology/

My latest post: Mental Illness, Guns & Violence: What’s Really Going On?

Contemporary Phrenology Archived Posts Follow My Blog Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

It's now easier to email Dr. Rod Hoevet

Dr. Rod Hoevet updated their business hours.

Dr. Rod Hoevet updated their website address.