BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Beyond therapy: Some evil can't be cured by Norman Doidge What, other than our wish that it be otherwise, makes us think that every human vice is treatable by some form of psychotherapy? That this wish is not just naive, but, at times, harmful is illustrated by a recent Canadian study on group treatment for 238 sex offenders (rapists, incest offenders) from Warkworth penitentiary in Ontario. These prisoners included some well-documented psychopaths. All were taught to "empathize" with victims, and understand their "offence cycle" as part of treatment. After their release, it was found that those who had scored highest in terms of "good treatment behaviour" and who had the highest "empathy" scores were the more likely to reoffend on release into the community. Hannibal Lecter Charm School teaches good manners, but not morals. The important study by Seto and Barbaree replicated -- unintentionally -- a 1992 Canadian study that found treated ...

MAY 12 AWARENESS DAY Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) Fact Sheet Chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) is also called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It is recognized by the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and Social Security Administration as a serious, disabling illness. CFIDS is characterized by unrelenting exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, cognitive disorders and other symptoms (read on). Many people with CFIDS are denied disability benefits because doctors and employers wrongly believe they are lazy or have a mental illness rather than a serious physical condition. Although its name trivializes the illness as little more than mere tiredness, chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), brings with it a constellation of debilitating symptoms. CFIDS is characterized by incapacitating fatigue (experienced as p...