The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
- Daniel Burrell: Win or Come Home In Afghanistan
- Dr. Peter Breggin: Learn to Help Children Without Psychiatric Drugs
- Kim Bensen: "He chose poorly..."
- Mark Goulston, M.D.: Q: Feeling Anxious? A: "Just Listen"
| Daniel Burrell: Win or Come Home In Afghanistan | Top |
| Speaking last week to the UN General Assembly, President Obama told world leaders that we need a "global response to global concerns." This call for greater engagement and multilateralism is the right approach for US foreign policy. It is an imperative, however, not just on issues such as Iran, where our allies have been cooperative in supporting tougher sanctions, or on nuclear non-proliferation, where Moscow and Beijing have recently showed a willingness to lead with America, but also on the more divisive issue of Afghanistan. America is trending deeper into the Afghan war without adequate resources or political support, at home or abroad. This issue is now the greatest test of the President's foreign policy leadership. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released last week indicates waning domestic support for US involvement in Afghanistan, and even stronger opposition to troop level increases. Only 39% of Americans favor the war and 63% percent believe that we should hold stable or reduce our forces on the ground, not increase them. Counteracting this deterioration in popular support will require a change in the current US approach, requiring greater NATO involvement, but also clear conviction by the President that increased troop levels, technical support, and supplies will make the conflict winnable. Without a clear path to accomplishing this, the President cannot ask that more American or European lives be placed at risk, and he should begin the process of limiting US involvement in Afghanistan. But to the extent that Obama remains committed to the Afghan conflict as a war of "necessity, not choice," with success hinging mostly on resolving the "adequate resources" question, he must be willing to communicate a more forceful message to NATO countries -- that continued US involvement and leadership in Afghanistan will be closely tethered to a correlating European response, commitment to shared objectives, and a unified strategy. The consequences of not re-fashioning US policy in this way seems clear, especially in light of the recent memo written by General McChrystal assessing US involvement in Afghanistan. In that memo he stated that "failure to provide adequate resources ... risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs and ultimately, a critical loss of political support," and that "any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure." President Obama must confront this stark reality by acknowledging what his predecessor couldn't - that there are real limitations to US power and resources. But he must also take a series of steps to set parameters around further US involvement in Afghanistan, as well as to win back popular support among the American public: First, the President must tether any further troop commitments, US or European, to a legitimate political resolution of the Afghan election. NATO's main role in Afghanistan is to assist the Afghan government in exercising and extending its authority and influence across the country, paving the way for reconstruction and effective governance. But clear evidence of fraud and electoral manipulation would create resulting illegitimacy for the government that would make the mission much less tenable politically and far more likely to fail militarily as well. This is especially true in light of recent concerns raised by the US government's highest-ranking UN diplomat in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, about electoral inconsistencies and potential fraud. Second, if there is a resolution to the election that is workable, the President needs to re-make the case for the Afghan war to the American public in an address that clearly defines the mission, our reasons for being there, the changing strategic focus on the ground, a military assessment, and the resources needed to win. Popular support for the conflict relies primarily on coherence in these areas and justifiably, the public is seeking answers. Over the past six months, however, the President has been quiet on Afghanistan much to the detriment of popular support. His last major address on the subject was in March, but since this time we have had substantial troop level increases, more than 21,00 in total, losses in soldiers lives, and deterioration of overall US strategy. The President needs to regain the initiative now at a time when members of Congress and significant portions of his own party are moving rapidly away from their commitment to the conflict. Finally, Obama must convene a summit of NATO member countries to address the needs of Afghanistan and decide on a unified, multilateral objective. This must also be coupled with a formal request that more troops, supplies, and technical assistance be sent using European resources, not American ones. This request has been back-channeled in recent months by Obama and his team to European leaders and officials, but it has stopped short of being the defined policy of the US or as a predicate for our ongoing commitment in Afghanistan. This must change in light of what our generals have communicated about the state of the conflict, the risks, and relevant needs. Internationalizing the war effort and executing a successful Afghan troop "surge" is the right policy for the President to follow. The stakes of failing in Afghanistan are simply too high to accept failure. But success will only be realistic if we send a signal to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda that NATO is an immovable, inexhaustible, tireless force that is willing to stay the course for years to come if necessary. Right now, using the playbook from Iraq, insurgent groups see weakness in the European and American commitment and believe that an overstretched US military, in particular, will not be able to defeat them over time. This is fueling the current opposition and making the strategy on the ground more difficult and complex. President Obama can only forestall a failure in Afghanistan by recognizing the need to build consensus around the mission, to spread the costs widely, and to harness overwhelming force and resources. If he cannot accomplish this or has wavering commitment to it given recent assessments of the military challenges, it is time for US forces to come home More on UN General Assembly | |
| Dr. Peter Breggin: Learn to Help Children Without Psychiatric Drugs | Top |
| There is one week to go before the best conference in the world about psychiatry, mental health, and the well-being of our families and children. Experts from around the world will explain how the psychiatric diagnosing and drugging of our children does more harm than good, and present far better alternatives based on sound psychological, moral, and educational principles. I will be joined by psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, and interested citizens from across the country and from around the world--all concerned about protecting children from psychiatric abuse while empowering them through improved family and school life. The conference is put on by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.icspp.org) Friday October 9 and Saturday October 10, 2009. It starts each day at 8:15 AM at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel in Syracuse, New York. Although ICSPP advocates for individuals of all ages, this year's conference focuses on children and their families. None of the speakers are paid and none of the leadership of ICSPP makes any money from this volunteer organization. None have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. These are professionals genuinely dedicated to reforming psychiatry and mental health services and to providing children and families the kind of help that they really need. I'll be giving a talk toward the end of each day, but you won't want to miss any of the outstanding presentations. Learn how psychiatric diagnoses disempower children and mislead their parents and teachers. Learn how psychiatric drugs retard the development of children, cause serious adverse effects, and teach children to give up responsibility for themselves. Learn how our society's reliance of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs prevents us from finding real solutions to the problems in our families and schools. And learn about far more effective interventions that help children to grow up in our families and schools by providing for their real needs for discipline, love, and inspired education. Information on the conference can be obtained at www.icspp.org. You can also register at the conference a week from now at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel on Friday, October 9 or on Saturday October 10. If you decide to come, please say hello to me. Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Ithaca, New York, and the Founder and Director Emeritus of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. His latest book is Wow, I'm an American: How to Live Like Our Heroic Founders . Pre-publication copies can be obtained with a bonus interview by Dr. Breggin on his website, www.breggin.com. | |
| Kim Bensen: "He chose poorly..." | Top |
| As I write this, our little boys are in bed, my husband is overlooking bagel shipments, and my older two children and I are watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade while the first fire of the season crackles in the fireplace. We just saw the scene where the old knight says, "He chose poorly." It's classic. Talk about the understatement of the year! In case you haven't seen the movie in a while, there's this bad guy (of course), and he follows Indiana (sigh) into a hidden room full of ancient goblets. Inside there are many gorgeous, solid gold, gemstone encrusted chalices that are fit for a king. Whoever drinks from the cup of Christ, the Holy Grail, will supposedly have immortality. Whoever chooses the wrong cup will suffer immediate death. But which one is it? So this bad guy chooses the most beautiful of all the goblets, thinking it surely must be the one. He drinks deeply. It's obvious that his choice is a poor one because moments later the flesh melts from his skeleton and then his head explodes. Cool! It's at this point that the ancient knight protecting the Holy Grail delivers his classic line, "He chose poorly." Well, this blog isn't meant to be any great epiphany. But after a day full of choices, most good, one or two which could have been better, that movie line really hit home to me. Earlier today my eight year old decided to make a surprise chocolate cake for his older brother. It was a surprise to me as well. As I stared down at my arch nemesis, cake, the old feelings of desire welled up from nowhere. I was momentarily dazzled by it's beauty. Lost in desire, I could almost taste it's moist sweetness and feel the creamy frosting on my tongue. (Sorry, I know this is a little over the top.) But at that moment I wasn't thinking about what after-effects that cake would bring. I was thinking about cake. That is the moment, the moment of choice. Do I indulge? If I do, do I stop at one piece? What will satisfy me? Cake was not planned into my day. I have no idea how many calories it has and frankly I really don't care. I start thinking, "When will I have this opportunity again? How many times in life will my eight-year-old make his first cake for his brother? It's a once in a lifetime event! How can I not have a piece?!" Alright, I know it's ridiculous. Do I really want to blow everything on cake? And I've seen Andrew bake before - lick and stir, lick and stir. But even knowing what's probably IN the cake, even knowing how damaging it can be to me - it's not easy to work it through in your mind when you're staring at ... cake. One piece of cake probably won't show up on the scale at the end of the day. But even a bite can be a mental invitation for me to have another and another and well, you get the picture. A bite can put me "off" my diet. And if I'm "off" then I quickly start thinking about everything else I want to eat before I get back "on." The mental games in the on-again/off-again world of the dieter can begin with one piece of cake. Today I didn't eat a piece, but I have before. Yes, there are times when I regret my choices and the words "You chose poorly" echo in my mind. No, my head doesn't explode. I may not suffer immediate death when I make a poor food choice, but I do suffer the consequences. No matter what happens, when all is said and done, it's a blessing to know that each day is a new day, with new choices to be made. | |
| Mark Goulston, M.D.: Q: Feeling Anxious? A: "Just Listen" | Top |
| Anxiety is the state of having your brain, mind and behavior be out of alignment with the task in front of you. - Mark Goulston Consider someone in their early forties or older who has a, b and c skills that have earned them a living. Skills that they do masterfully and nearly automatically and ones they now need to replace with something altogether new. A few years ago I worked with the controllers of a large international bank that was beginning to outsource many of their functions overseas. Many of these people were CPA's and MBA's who hadn't thought strategically in decades and now had to think that way, because all the auditing and actuarial functions they had been doing could be done less expensively abroad. Their brains, minds and behaviors as auditors were completely out of alignment with thinking strategically. And then there was the case of a large insurance company whose independently owned franchisees have been selling auto, home, property and casualty coverage (i.e. protection from risk) that have now been told to sell (risky and complicated) financial instruments. In both cases, the push back was enormous. The list of explanations and excuses from the bank and the insurance company was long and extensive. The bank controllers claimed that services coming from India would upset clients and the small insurance office owners claimed that selling financially risky products would turn everything they did for their customers upside down. Every counter explanation of the need to move forward to the new platforms and new offerings was met with, "Yes, but." And every "Yes, but" was clearly fueled by anxiety. The only thing that eliminated that anxiety was listening. When managers were trained on how to listen without an agenda and instead keep asking out of genuine concern "what's really going on?" the resistant controllers at the bank and mom and pop insurance franchise owners opened up and revealed it. In the cases of the controllers and insurance office owners, both were embarrassed to admit that they had become so comfortable doing what they did -- that was no longer sufficient to be competitive -- that they hadn't learned anything of this scale in decades. The controllers hadn't thought strategically in many years and the insurance agents had never sold financially risky products. Both groups were scared that they couldn't learn new things and felt too embarrassed to admit that they felt too stupid to do so. However, once they both owned up to this, they exhaled and breathed a huge sign of relief and were able to get this humiliating weight off their chest. An interesting thing occurs after people are able to talk from what they're really scared, ashamed or frightened about and feel not just understood, but -- as I write about in my new book, "Just Listen" -- "feel felt." At that moment not only do they physically relax, but it is as if their brain relaxes and as if the three parts of their brain (the "fight or flight" lower reptile, the emotional middle mammalian, the rational upper human brain) relax the way they are bonded/neurologically welded together and can realign with each other in a way more aligned with the present situation. Nearly every break though that most people have had with another person is preceded by their stopping talking over or at each other, beginning to truly listen and hear the other person and then begin talking with each other. It's only after that point that they realize they had misunderstood (i.e. their brains, minds and behaviors had been misaligned) each other. After that it was easy to point out to them that they had each learned many new thinks with regard to technology, with regard to new rules and regulations and with regard to new sales approaches and that learning these larger items -- which they could do in a step by step fashion -- would utilize the skills and abilities to learn that they already had. The second thing that eliminated their anxiety was their learning to listen more deeply to their clients and customers and find out what was really on their minds, much as their managers had just listened to them. That enabled them to stop being so self-absorbed and do the thing that makes any service or sales person more successful, which is to stop selling and instead listen to what is truly on your client or customer's mind and help them with that. If the above speaks to you and you were listening and would like to pick up some tips on how to do that better and more effectively, please visit the Just Listen website and sign up for the exclusive FREE RESOURCES. . Also if you're a working mom and anxious and would like to find out how to become less anxious and even happier, you'll want to check out my good friend, Cathy Greenberg 's great new book, What Happy Working Mothers Know . I was pleased to have contributed to the large body of research Cathy used to write this cutting edge book. | |
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