Copy of Effective Treatments for Alcoholism and Addiction

June 25, 2020

For most people, alcohol is accepted in our culture as a pleasurable accompaniment to social activities. However, a substantial number of people have serious trouble with their drinking. Alcoholism, which is also known as "alcohol dependence syndrome," is a disease that is characterized by the following elements: craving, loss of control, physical dependence, and increased tolerance. According to recent statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "Nearly 14 million Americans--1 in every 13 adults--abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Several million more adults engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems. In addition, approximately 53 percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem"(http://alcoholism.about.com/library/niaaa01.htm).

In addition, not only does alcohol abuse increase a variety of health risks, it also increases the risk of death from automobile crashes, recreational accidents, and on-the-job accidents. It is estimated that alcohol-use problems cost society approximately $100 billion per year (NIAAA website, 2013). The purpose of this article is to gain a greater understanding about alcoholics and the most effective strategies for treating alcoholism.

There is a plethora of research that is enhancing the practice among involuntary clients, or in this case, alcoholics. Scientists at Medical centers and universities throughout the country are studying alcoholism and have cutting edge information about it. Today, NIAAA funds approximately 90 percent of all alcoholism research in the United States. According to their website, “NIAAA is sponsoring promising research in vital areas, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol’s effects on the brain and other organs, aspects of drinkers’ environments that may contribute to alcohol abuse and alcoholism, strategies to reduce alcohol-related problems, and new treatment techniques” (NIAAA website, 2013). The goal of this qualitative research interview is to further understand effective ways of treating and preventing alcohol problems.

First and foremost, Alcoholism is a complex issue that involves a multitude of factors; such as biological, psychological and social. “Alcoholism is due to many interconnected factors, including genetics, how you were raised, your social environment, and your emotional health. Some racial groups, such as American Indians and Native Alaskans, are more at risk than other of developing alcohol addiction. People who have a family history of alcoholism or who associate closely with heavy drinkers are more likely to develop drinking problems. In addition, those who suffer from a mental health problem such as anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder are also particularly at risk, because alcohol may be used to self-medicate.”

Recent research supported by NIAAA has demonstrated that for many people, a vulnerability to alcoholism is inherited. These findings show that children of alcoholics are about four times more likely than the general population to develop alcohol problems. Children of alcoholics also have a higher risk for many other behavioral and emotional problems. But alcoholism is not determined only by the genes your inherit from your parents. It is important to recognize that aspects of a person’s environment, such as peer influences and the availability of alcohol, also are significant influences.

The Addiction Recovery Center in Medford employs the use of several evidence based theoretical frameworks that have shown positive results. She introduced me to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), “a professional society representing over 3,000 physicians and associated professionals dedicated to increasing access and improving the quality of addiction treatment; educating physicians, other medical professionals and the public; supporting research and prevention; and promoting the appropriate role of physicians in the care of patients with addictions” (ASAM website, 2013). When a client applies for substance abuse services at the ARC, they are screened and assessed with the ASAM criterion, which evaluates a multitude of factors; such as physiological effects of drug withdrawl, psychological impact, physical complications, readiness to change and history of relapse. (http://www.asam.org/research-treatment/screening-and-assessment)

There are a number of theoretical models that the ARC approves in their treatment program. Depending on the severity of the addiction, the ARC recommends individual counseling, family counseling, group counseling and residential treatment housing. However, due to lack of time, she was only able to talk about a few; such as Motivational Enhancement Programs, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and 12-Step Facilitation Therapy. According to Noel “Treatment varies depending on the type of drug and the characteristics of the patient. The best programs provide a combination of therapies and other services. These models are designed to raise drinkers’ awareness of the impact alcohol has on their lives, as well as the lives of family, co-workers and society. They are encouraged to accept responsibility for past actions and make a commitment to change future behavior. Substance abuse therapists help alcoholic patients understand and accept the benefits of abstinence, review treatment options, and design a treatment plan to which they will commit” (Chaney, 2013).

The National Institute on Drug Abuse released a publication (2012) titled “Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide” that highlights several evidence based treatment models that are working in treating alcoholism and other addictions. Each approach is designed to address certain aspects of drug addiction and its consequences for the individual, family, and society. Some of the approaches are intended to supplement or enhance existing treatment programs, and others are fairly comprehensive in and of themselves. The two approaches they mention are: Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Therapies. The Pharmacotherapies consist of an assortment of medications that can be used in conjunction with individual, group and family therapies; such as Naltrexone, Acamprosate, Disulfiram and Topiramate. When used in combination with counseling, these prescription drugs lessen the craving for alcohol in many people and helps prevent a return to heavy drinking.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, “Behavioral approaches help engage people in drug abuse treatment, provide incentives for them to remain abstinent, modify their attitudes and behaviors related to drug abuse, and increase their life skills to handle stressful circumstances and environmental cures that may trigger intense craving for drugs and prompt a relapse” (NIDA, 2013, 34). They identify a number of behavioral therapies shown to be effective in addressing substance abuse; such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Contingency Management Interventions/Motivational Incentives, Community Reinforcement Approach, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, The Matrix Model and 12 Step Facilitation Therapy.

While I can’t discuss all of these theoretical models, I will discuss Motivational Enhancement Therapy and 12-Step Facilitation Therapy. Using a nonjudgmental approach, Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) employs Motivational Interviewing (MI) to analyze feedback gained from client sessions. The goal of MET is to aid the client in clarifying his or her own perceptions and beliefs in order to direct him or her in a decisive way. According to GoodTherapy.Org: http://www.goodtherapy.org/motivational-enhancement-therapy.html

MET is administered in a receptive atmosphere that allows a client to receive feedback from the therapist for the purpose of fortifying the client’s resolve for transformation and to empower the client with a feeling of self-control. Rather than engaging the client’s defense mechanisms through confrontational discourse, the therapist works with the client to create positive affirmations and a sense of inner willingness to facilitate change. Once that is achieved, the client becomes receptive to the healing process and progresses toward wellness (2013, 23).

Motivational interviewing principles are used to strengthen motivation in the client and build a plan for change. Coping strategies are suggested and discussed with the patient and the therapist continues to encourage commitment to change or sustained abstinence.

Another effective treatment model is 12-Step Facilitation Therapy. This peer-support approach encourages people to become involved with a 12-step program that complements professionally supervised therapy. Programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Smart Recovery and Women for Sobriety are typically recommended with all forms of alcoholism therapy because they provide alcohol-dependant Individuals with an encouraging, supportive environment. These support group meetings focus on abstinence and fosters each individual's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.

While there is a lot of cutting edge research on alcoholism and methods of effective treatment, there is always room for further investigation. Not only is there a need for more genetic research, there is a need for alternative treatment approaches and effective medications that can be used in conjunction with therapy. In addition, addiction recovery treatment programs aren’t able to meet the needs of everyone; therefore, there is a need for research on alternatives methods for the treatment of alcoholism. Supposedly NIAAA has sponsored a study called project MATCH, which tested whether treatment outcome could be improved by matching patients to three types of treatment based on particular individual characteristics. This study found that all three types of treatment reduced drinking markedly in the year following treatment.

References:

La Clinica Website. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.laclinicahealth.org/

Travertini, Elise. (2013). Personal Interview about Agency.

Absence of Women from Developmental Theory:

May 06, 2020

'There will be narratives of female lives only when women

no longer live their lives isolated in the houses and stories of men."

---Carolyn Heilbrun, 1995

Unfortunately, it wasn't until the feminist movement that real concern for women’s development began to interest scholars, which partly explains why there is a lack of research that specifically addresses women artists and issues of identity. In addition, beginning with Freud, theories of human development have traditionally been conceived in terms of male development, with female development either ignored or treated as an afterthought. Consequently, until very recently we knew little about female development, in that much of the theory of development has been written to describe male phenomena (Adelson and Doehrman, 1980; Gilligan 1979)

Carol Gilligan (1979) has revealed that women were missing even as research subjects at the formative stages of social psychological theories. Therefore, the potential for bias on the part of male investigators was heightened by the tendency to select predominately or exclusively male samples for research. In addition, Belenky and Clinchy have revealed that:

This omission of women from scientific studies is almost universally ignored when scientists draw conclusions from their findings and generalize what they have learned from the study of men to lives of women. If and when scientists turn to the study of women, they typically look for ways in which women conform to or diverge from patterns found in the study of men. With the Western tradition of dividing human nature into dual but parallel streams, attributes traditionally associated with the masculine are valued, studied, and articulated, while those associated with the feminine tend to be ignored (1979: 6).

Thus, we have learned a great deal about the development of autonomy and independence, abstract critical thought, and the unfolding of a morality of rights and justice in both men and women. We have learned less about the development of interdependence, intimacy, and contextual thought (Bakan 1966; Chodorow 1978; Gilligan 1977, 1979, 1982; McMillan 1982). Developmental theory has traditionally established men's experience and competence as a baseline against which both men's and women's development is evaluated, which has led to the misreading of women's experiences.

Various researchers have complained that concepts of autonomy, independence, and abstract achievement do not describe the focal issues of growing up female. For example, Gilligan's (1982) influential study of moral development showed that women conceptualize and experience the world "in a different voice," a voice that is more person centered and empathic, more emotionally connected and less abstract than the male voice. Men and women, concludes Gilligan, operate with different internal modes.

Where a dominant image for men is that of hierarchy, competition and autonomy, women respond to their lives through the images of the web, or concerns about connectedness or relationships to others. As a result of these fundamental differences, experiences such as achievement and affiliation are different for men and women, even though behavioral manifestations may look the same. In addition, Miller and her research group (Miller, 1984; Kaplan,1982; Klein, 1984) have posited the existence of a "relational self' in women that is central to their growth. "Development according to the male model overlooks the fact that women's development is proceeding but on another basis...women's sense of self becomes very much organized around being able to make and then to maintain affiliations and relationships" (Milter, 1976: 3).

Nancy Chodorow (1978), a feminist sociologist and practicing psychoanalyst has used object relations theory to explain how socially constructed gender roles have shaped the development of a woman's identity. She argues that women, because they are mothered by someone of the same sex, form a different inner patterning of relationships that prevents them from ever becoming as separate and autonomous as men. She writes:

From the retention of preodipal attachments to their mother, growing girls come to define and experience themselves as continuous with other; their experience of self contains more flexibility or permeable ego boundaries. Boys come to define themselves as more separate and distinct, with a greater sense of rigid ego boundaries and differentiation. The basic sense of self is connected to the world; the basic masculine sense of self is separate (1978: p. 169).

All of these researchers share a growing recognition of the importance of relatedness to women and the necessity of finding some social psychological constructs to describe women's personal experiences of identity formation as distinct from mens.

Women Artists and Identity Formation: Summary of the Findings

April 14, 2020

This qualitative research project examines the processes by which various woman have come to assume identities as artists as well as the transformations in self perceptions that occur upon having adopted an artistic identity. Prior research on women artists and identity formation has tended to take either a strictly "externalist" approach (social constructionist or structuralist) or an "internalist" approach (psychological or biological), assuming that identity transformation is determined by either socio-cultural factors, or, internal psychodynamic mechanisms. Some theorist suffice it is a more complex process. Yet, by examining the conditions by which women artists' formulate identities, my research reflects the complex interplay of both internal and external factors responsible for the birthing of their artistic identities. Therefore, the formation of an artistic identity is both a subjective, internal process as well as objective, social phenomena. It is both self created and socially constructed.

The data in this research resulted in the construction of a transformational model of artistic identity. It explains the movement from a "pre artistic identity" or "naive" identity to a "neophyte" identity, which marks the point of conscious realization or internalization of an artistic identity. The quest for identity by naive artist is best conceptualized as an incubation period which includes an individuals self perceptions prior to the conscious realization of identity and the changes in self perceptions that occur as a result of the internalization of an artistic identity. Therefore, during the incubation period, the process of identity formation is mostly an unconscious orienting process and doesn't start to come into consciousness until an individual becomes sensitized to both internal and external cues about one's self.

The naive identity consists of four sequential phases that lead up to the neophyte identity: encounter, polarization, individuation, and integration. Each phase represents a small snap-shot within a larger transformational process. In addition, the movement from one phase to the next is dependent on two identity catalysts: internal cues and external cues. The catalysts are necessary ingredients that provide stimulation and information to an individual about herself which both aid as well as constrain the formation of an artistic identity.

In the encounter phase one is engaging in various creative expressions, which stimulates the flow of information (identity cues) from both internal and external sources. In other words, knowledge of self is impossible without the experience of oneself as an artist. However, in the beginning stage, one's orientation tends to be more "other -directed"-meaning there is a tendency to rely more on external cues as the main source of self-knowledge. At some point, the internalized messages about oneself from external influences come to be "polarized" or internally inconsistent, resulting in sharp dichotomies in self-perceptions, internal conflict and feelings of anxiety, which marks the polarization phase.

In order to resolve one's internal conflict, one has no choice but to differentiate herself or "individuate" from external influences--both familial and societal-- in order to create a sense of autonomy from others. This marks the beginning of the individuation phase. During this phase, there is shift in orientation from "other-directed" to "inner-directed" and a tendency to rely more on internal cues as a source of self knowledge, which aid in one's ability to become conscious of her desires. Once one is confirmed in her desires, she is then able to become aware of internalized beliefs and values that aren't in alignment with her desires and resocialize herself by consciously choosing her own values with which to identify.

During the integration phase, one is able to resolve her internal conflict through her ability to internally create meaning out of information she has received from internal and external sources. By bridging her submerged world of emotions, intent and desire with her intellectual, objective, social world she isable to consecrate her internal polarities, which brings about the conscious realization and internalization of an artistic identity. This triggers a radical transformation in self perceptions, a heightened sense of awareness and clarity of vision. She is now ready to abandon her old identity as a naive artist and replace it with her new identity as a neophyte.

Intuition in the Formation of Identity and the Scientific Questioning of Intuitive Knowing.

April 13, 2020

“…because we live in a culture that doesn’t respect intuition, and has a very narrow definition of knowledge, we can get caught into the trap of that narrowness. Intuition is another kind of knowledge—deeply embodied. It is knowing just as much as intellectual knowing.”

Judy Luce, 1989

There is no doubt that the formation of identity is a creative process in which intuition plays a major role, although the question of how much one can rely on intuition underlies and fuels much of the concern regarding its functions as a valid source of self knowledge. Traditionally, western science has tended to stress the importance of empirical data and objective reality (sensation) on the one hand, and a systematic, impersonal method (thinking) on the other hand. As a result, feelings and intuition have been under-emphasized as a valid source of knowledge because they have been perceived as antithetical to the notion of science since they are vague, inherent, subjective qualities of thinking (Krieger, 1991; Jaggar, 1997; Shepherd, 1993).

In fact, “some extreme materialists see intuition as the foe of reason, or as a kind of quackery, and eschew as superstition anything they cannot measure with the five senses” (Shepherd, 1993: 221). This belief holds that “there is an authentic division between intuition and intelligence, where intellect wears the white hat and intuition the black hat, or no hat at all” (Laughlin, 1997:23).

Although there is no doubt that intuition occurs in all of us all of the time and is fundamental to the formation of identity, the experience of intuition is private, which makes it an unverifiable or ineffable kind of knowledge that can’t always be quantified and tested over time. The unpredictable, spontaneous, and subjective nature of intuition, coming as sudden flashes, can’t always be broken down into its component parts to be studied. In addition, just as an excessive reliance on too much rationalism can misconstrue reality, so can an excessive reliance on too much intuition. Like any quality carried to an extreme, intuition has a tendency to distort reality.

Carl Jung stressed that we must never passively accept the revelations of our intuition as absolute truth, but rather we must interact with them, raise questions, and present objections (Jung 1958). In other words, both reason and intuition have the tendency to distort reality when they are in isolated positions. Linda Shepherd writes, “neither sensation nor intuition are relational or evaluative functions. Sensation gives us information about the world and intuition reveals possibilities and provides insight about the nature of things. But neither can be isolated or substituted for the other because they work together as a whole” (1993: 213).

There is now evidence that modern society is moving beyond a purely either/or perspective on the issue of valid knowledge (Boucouvalas 1997). Researchers have asserted the indispensable unity between reason and intuition in all creative acts (Koestler 1959; Bastick 1982; Jung 1971). Some have even argued that science itself, with all its supervaluation of left brained deductive reasoning, could never have proceeded without the creativity of intuition (Bastick 1982; Jung 1971; Vaughan 1979). Carl Jung acknowledged the important functioning of intuition in the creative process as well as in the development of self. He maintained that:

It is almost absurd prejudice to suppose that existence can only be physical. As a matter of fact, the only form of existence of which we have immediate knowledge is the psychic. We might well say, on the contrary, that physical existence is mere inference, since we know matter in so far as we perceive psychic images mediated by the senses (Jung, 1958: 12).

Various feminist scholars have also acknowledged the value of intuition in the creative process, particularly its ability to provide a connected and holistic understanding of ourselves and the world around us (Chodorow, 2000; Luce, 1989; Kreiger, 1991). For example, Linda Shepherd writes, “the acceptance of intuition can give us greater access to information, augment the limited perspective of the five senses, and prompt us to transcend our linear view of time and space. Intuition can help bridge the boundaries that seem to separate us from others and from nature” (1993:223). In other words, when we deny the validity and importance of intuition, we are essentially denying our sense of relatedness to others, to nature, and to our inner selves.

In our age of diversity, it seems essential to transcend the either/or way of thinking that previously juxtaposed in an antithetical manner the rational and intuitive modes of knowing. Perhaps now with all the current research on intuition, outer knowing, with no need to further prove itself, can take its rightful place as a partner alongside inner knowing. Still, a total acceptance of the validity of psychic phenomena by the scientific community has yet to be established and will most likely require us to redefine and expand our current understanding of physics and psychology. The study of intuitive phenomena calls for a different approach to research that has yet to be determined. New methods need to be found that handle reports of subjective experiences to cope with the difficulty of replicating psychic phenomena and to deal with the uniqueness of individual experiences.

Exerpt from Thesis Research: Women Artists: The Transformation of Identity as Self Created and Socially Contructed, 2001.

A Gift from the Bodhissatvas of Compassion

April 12, 2020

Every heart is connected to the Great One Heart. It is from this heart of hearts that we are un- conditionally loved, nourished, healed and re- deemed. The Hebrew word for “compassion” is derived from the word for “womb.” God is the primal matrix, the Great One from which all beings are born and all love streams forth. We experience on a very tangible level this immense love pulsating through our veins.

This heart connection to source is our lifeline or umbilical cord.

While it is difficult for humans to fully grasp the immense love of the Great One Heart, we are all intimately connected to it and can learn to cultivate a deeper and richer understanding of this love if we so desire. Not all humans acknowledge Great Spirit as the ground of their being, but this does not stop the unwavering flow of love from source. We may choose to intellectually deny the Creator, but we continue to partake of divine love in each breath we take, for God/Goddess resides in every cell of our bodies and nourishes our souls on spiritual and physical levels.

If we decide to cultivate and understand on a deeper level the compassion of the Great One Heart, we must first open our heart to receive Spirit’s love, which requires a certain degree of reverence, surrender or transformation of the ego, for it is only when we surrender to the Beloved in our brokenness and pain that the Great One Heart can then fill our cups with unconditional love and forgiveness. This is what it means to claim our divine gift as the beloved. It is because of Great Spirit’s compassion for us that we can then love ourselves and extend compassion to others.

When we know, deep in our hearts, that we are a re- flection of God’s awesome love, we are exhibiting authentic self-love. We have claimed wholeheartedly the gift of our belovedness which, as Jesus teaches, is avail- able to all those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. The tendency to deny or reject one’s self or elevate self above others usually stems from an insecure ego that has fallen prey to the illusion that its self-worth comes from worldly definitions as opposed to a direct connection to Source. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved. Our belovedness is the core truth of who we are. Every time we listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls us Beloved, we will discover within ourselves a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the

Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper.

When we have been transformed and melted like butter by the love of the great heart, we can then choose to become a vessel of this love and commit our lives to assisting those who are still suffering. We might choose to become what Christians call stewards of God’s love or what Buddhists call a Bodhisattva of compassion, a being (satva) committed to liberation (bodhi). This kin- ship with the suffering of others is the discovery of our soft spot, the discovery of Bodhicitta or Mercy. It is said to be present in all beings. If this is the case, everything that exists in creation does so because of the Great Mother’s compassion.

This love is so great that it moves us to explore what it means to live a compassionate life and seek enlightenment

A Bodhisattva of compassion is one who has empathy for the distress of others, coupled with a desire to alleviate suffering in the world. The word compassion is derived from the Latin words parti and cum, which together mean “to suffer with.” Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. It challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely. Compassion requires us to feel weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable and powerless with the powerless.

Compassion requires us to withhold judgment and practice empathy. It also requires us to set healthy boundaries that honor our highest good as op- posed to falling prey to a codependency that enables dysfunction. Compassion requires that we value the wisdom of grief and solitude. It also requires us to be humble and forgive those who have trespassed against us, so that even though we can feel the suffering of others, we also maintain the witnessing part of ourselves that allows us to see the bigger picture simultaneously.

We have much to learn from Buddha’s and Christ’s messages of compassion, for they are some of the deepest sources of strength and validation of the arduous path of the bodhisattva or faithful steward. Both Masters understood that life is filled with suffering and that we must learn to live in ways that reduce the suffering of those around us. We, too, must learn to find ways to alleviate our own suffering and transform it into well-being and peace.

We need to look deeply into the nature of suffering to see the causes of suffering and to find the way out. This requires every one of us to focus on our own healing, as it is the only thing we can really control. We can’t alleviate war and suffering in the world until we have first alleviated the war within ourselves.

We all have the capacity to feel compassion, but not all of us desire or choose to cultivate and implement it in our daily lives. For most humans, the practice of compassion is easier said than done since it goes against the grain of the ego, which is self-serving and competitive by nature. In Sanskrit, bodhi means “awakened” and chitta means “mind” or “heart.” Bodhichitta -- “awakened heart-mind” -- is the compassionate wish to realize enlightenment for all beings, not just for one’s self.

Through bodhichitta, the desire to attain enlightenment transcends the narrow interests of the individual self. Bodhichitta is an essential part of Mahayana Buddhism. Without bodhichitta, the path to enlightenment is mired in selfishness. However hard we work, we are still wrapped up in our own heads, our own pain, our own wants. The path to awakening opens when we become aware of others as well as our- selves. One of my favorite Tibetan Buddhist teachers, Pema Chodron, explains the cultivation of bodhichitta in more detail:

Those who train wholeheartedly in awakening unconditional and relative bodhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill and harm but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world. These are men and women who are willing to train in the middle of the fire. Training in the middle of the fire can mean that warrior-bodhisattvas enter challenging situations in order to alleviate suffering. It also refers to their willing- ness to cut through personal reactivity and self-deception, to their dedication to uncovering the basic undistorted energy of bodhichitta.

We have many examples of master warriors—people like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King—who recognized that the greatest harm comes (198) from our own aggressive minds. They devoted their lives to helping others understand this truth. There are also many ordinary people who spend their lives training in opening their hearts and minds in order to help others do the same. Like them, we could learn to relate to ourselves and our world as warriors. We could train in awakening our courage and love.

In our legalistic societies, we have been conditioned to believe that there is little incentive in the human world to cultivate compassion because it might make us too soft, and therefore, more likely to be eaten alive by those who have chosen to shut their hearts down. We have been taught to view suffering as something to be avoided at all costs. Hence the call to compassion is a call that goes against the grain and requires a total conversion of heart and mind. Why would we want to open our hearts when the world will just break them over and over again?

In the midst of so much human suffering, we might assume that it would be easier to shut our hearts down and not have any expectations of hope for the future at all. Yet, in our heart of hearts we all know that a world without compassion would be a living hell, a human wasteland, and therefore the choice to uphold God’s grace amidst great suffering and despair can be seen as a choice for a better world for all. We do this for one reason and one reason only, because it is at the very core of who we are as humans; it is the greatest blessing any of us could ever ask for. In embracing human suffering and healing our hearts, compassion breaks down walls and unites all of humanity in the Great One Heart. It is the gateway to our spiritual evolution as a human race. It is the true utopia that we all seek.

Those who choose to cultivate compassion in their lives soon come to learn of the spiritual riches in the Great One Heart, which makes the false riches of the socially constructed, egoistic material world look like plastic, disposable toys. When we come from a place of compassion, we are holding up an ancient light of truth that has been revered throughout history and can never be destroyed. It is the truth that we are One in the Great Matrix of Consciousness. It is the truth that each one of us is a reflection of the Ultimate Reality. This is the core message of the Bodhisattva and the central message of Jesus’ teachings as well as many other teachers of compassion. Their teachings are designed to awaken each person to his or her Divine Self and to cultivate a direct connection to Source.

The path of the bodhisattva is indeed a radical call, a call that goes to the roots of our being. Those who choose to implement compassion in their lives are the weavers and the menders, the bridge builders, the integrators, the diplomats and the nurturers. They work in the trenches of our communities in an assortment of vocations. They have embraced their grief and experienced the redemptive power of God’s unconditional love. They are the salt of the earth, the lighthouses in the storm that guide us back to our Divine Self. They are the true educators of spirit, the wounded healers, totally perfect in their imperfection because they have been touched by the healing powers of Grace. Their one wish is to awaken all souls to the power within themselves.

It is because of the Great One Heart that the Bodhisattvas of compassion come as humble admirers of the Beloved in others, grateful and joyous, for they know that Love is the only true power. They remind humanity that we have a lot to look forward to. However, we have an immense amount of healing work to be done, for the illusion is much like a weed that wants to strangle out the truth. Bodhisattvas are quite aware of the social in- justices in the world and the human ignorance that produces those injustices. They are deeply pained by them all, just as God is pained by it all. However, rather than run from the places of poverty and despair, which most people tend to do, they go directly to these places where “angels fear to tread.”

Most of them choose to serve without recognition, blue ribbons and purple hearts. They have chosen the difficult task of opening and healing their hearts so that they can then assist in healing what is broken on larger levels. They don’t expect recognition because they know that those who are still suffering are experiencing a spiritual void—a starvation of the soul-- and therefore aren’t coming from a place of gratitude. Most of them work in humble servitude and know their human limitations. They don’t expect to save the world; this is too heavy of a burden for one person to carry. They do, however, wish to assist in the raising of human consciousness, even if it means working with just a few individuals in their lifetime, for awakening others to their Divine Self is the most powerful source of social change. In this sense, they are radical agents of social change. And while they are the very glue of humanity, most bodhisattvas will never be featured on the cover of a magazine for their humanitarian deeds. In keeping their eyes on God, they know where their true source of recognition comes from.

Some people say that it could take many lifetimes of practicing compassion before one can become an authentic, realized Bodhisattva. Therefore, one must be patient with one’s self and practice forgiveness over and over, embracing imperfection and humbly asking for redemption. We can create struggle in our spiritual lives when

we compare the images we hold of ourselves with those of enlightened teachers, of figures like Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, or Mother Theresa. Our heart naturally longs for wholeness, beauty, and perfection. This can be very discouraging, for most of us are not yet masters. Spiritual evolution is a process that will inevitably reveal all of our faults, but this is meant to make us stronger, more humble and teachable.

While it is difficult for us to understand and make judgments about the nature of spiritual evolution, there are a number of paths of service and rites of initiation that one can experience in order to cultivate the Bodhisattva’s state of consciousness. Some of the more obvious character traits of the Bodhisattva are humility, joy, empathy, kindness, patience, forgiveness, faith, surrender, gratitude and a commitment to service. Most Bodhisattvas have experienced a dark night of the soul, which is an experience of complete darkness, separation and despair, sometimes involving ego death and rebirth. It is a time of utter pain and disillusionment, where one’s sense of self is shattered. However, it is in these places of dark- ness that the greatest healing can take place; that is, if one is able to see the compassion that lies underneath the pain.

It can take many dark nights before one is able to truly see the luminous wisdom that exists in the dark- ness. Some of us may never embrace the wounded parts of ourselves that exist in the shadows, but if we seek the path of liberation from suffering, healing the wounds of the heart, mind, body and emotions is an essential focus to bring about real internal healing.

Bodhisattva’s don’t feel the need to draw attention to themselves, because they don’t need any validation from others in order to be whole. Fully awakened to their complete and utter dependence on God, their cups are overflowing with love and ecstasy, yet they are intimately connected with experiences of pain and suffering as well as the suffering of others. They understand the weakness of the human spirit and are completely dependent on the Great One Heart.

They pray a lot and ask that God will keep their hearts free from the illusion of competition and ego. More importantly, they know that the human race has been forgiven for its ignorance and that God has bestowed the ultimate gift of grace on us. Human suffering and pain are therefore inevitable manifestations of the human drama. Pain can either take us down a road of self-destruction or it can be used as a catalyst for redemption. More often than not, pain is used by God to wake us up so that we can be drawn closer to the central heart or the inner integrity, which is our true destiny.

Another important trait of the Bodhisattva is humility. Bodhisattvas generally avoid self-aggrandizement, a sign of spiritual weakness. They also stay away from self- deprecation, since feelings of both superiority and inferiority are signs of ego imbalance. They have great compassion for those who struggle with low self-esteem because they have experienced the psychological torture that it brings. They also know that it is extremely difficult to see through the illusion of fame and ego, because there are so many incentives on a day to day basis to worship the maya of the world.

Even the most enlightened humans fall prey to the ways of an insecure ego at times, but they know that going back to source, to self-reflection, prayer and humility will return them to balance. This is the Goddess’s promise to all of us; that if we respect and honor the compassionate boundaries that are set for us by our inner spiritual guides, we will not be thrown off- base by the demands of the world.

Awakening the Heart through Art

The world over, art has been used as a compassionate tool to raise consciousness and alleviate suffering. Musicians, writers and artists of all kinds have used their gifts to support the evolution of consciousness, whether by raising money for the poor or as a therapeutic modality to resolve conflicts, heal toxic emotions and bridge gaps in communities. All of the artists and writers in this book have in one way or another devoted their lives to a path of service through art and/or other healing modalities.

If we look at history, we see that most of the great visionaries and prophets were marginalized, particularly women and minorities. While all of the artists in this book have chosen a difficult path, they are also committed to their own spiritual and personal growth. Furthermore, they see the gifts that all of God’s children bring to the healing of the planet, and therefore have made a conscious attempt to avoid competition or spiritual elitism.

Most of them are doing their own shadow work and understand that awakening doesn’t necessarily hap- pen overnight. However, they also understand that the process of awakening involves cultivating a humble heart and what Buddhists refer to as “beginner’s mind,” which means that they are open to learning from all walks of life. We are all teachers and students in this life. It might take many lifetimes to reach enlightenment, and there- fore we can come to accept learning experiences with gratitude. We can greet conflict with open arms and value the life lessons in all relationships. As a result of our ignorance, we need others to help us see our denials or our denied shadows. We simply can’t evolve alone.

Blessings on your easter day, from the deep wells of compassion and grace!

Written by: Victoria Christian

Excerpt from : Feminine Mysticism in Art: Artists Envisioning the Divine

www.mysticspiritart.com

Five Issues Facing The Elderly

March 09, 2020

Today, people are living much longer than ever before, leading us into uncharted waters. From 1946 through 1960, the United States experienced the Baby Boom years. Today, the earlier Baby Boomers are entering into retirement age. As a result, there will be an increase in the aging population, which will not only bring more job opportunities in the Gerontology field, but will also require massive changes to the Health Care Industry. With professional experience as a medical social worker and geriatric care manager, I am interested in learning more about the various needs of the elderly population, particularly the baby boom generation. My work experiences and observational study of senior citizens have sensitized me to several issues and challenges the elderly population faces; such as declining physical and mental health, financial vulnerability, housing, loneliness, and abuse.

Physical and mental health decline are major concerns that seniors have to contend with as they age. The human body is a system that wears out with long and repetitive use and the capacity to think, act, relate, and learn starts to falter and deteriorate. Aging breeds illnesses such as memory loss, immobility, and organ failure, hearing loss and poor vision. Susan Levy, M.D. (2010) says “The Most widespread condition affecting those 65 and older is coronary heart disease, followed by stroke, cancer, pneumonia and the flu. Accidents, especially falls that result in hip fractures, are also common in the elderly” (p. 1).

In my observational study of elders at an assisted living facility, there was a general tendency for the elders to be impatient, irritable and non-communicative. This was most likely the result of physical pain or neurological and psychiatric problems, ranging from depression and anxiety disorders to Alzheimer’s disease and other debilitating forms of dementia. Shekhar Saxena, (2010) head of the mental health department at the World Health Organization reports that “Within the next 18 years, the number of people, worldwide, suffering from dementia will likely double to 65.7 million and triple by 2050, due to people living longer. The organization has determined that there are around 35.6 million sufferers today, costing over $600 billion a year for care and treatment” (p. 1).

Another issue facing senior citizens is financial vulnerability and the rising cost of medical care. The financial dilemma is common among seniors who are no longer able to work. However, a lack of financial capacity creates a stressful life and invites the entry of problems other than physical and mental health issues. While I will never know the financial status of the elderly people I observed, I do know that they are the lucky few who are able to afford assisted living, which can be quite expensive. It appears that my grandmother’s generation, or the elders I observed, are doing pretty well economically; however, the current health care system will not be able to handle the financial and medical needs of the baby boomer generation. There will be a rise in health care needs as well as an increase in financial vulnerability with the baby boomer generation.

Housing is a major concern for the elderly. Most seniors would like to stay in their homes for as long as they can. Reluctance to move is particularly true for those who own their own home. Some have the financial ability to afford caregivers, but others don’t. Due to failing health and cognitive decline, elders may have to move in with a relative or consider an assisted living facility or nursing home. However, the housing options don’t look very promising for a growing aging population.

As the overall population ages, the numbers of the most vulnerable will grow as well. A new report from the Center for Housing Policy, Housing an Aging Population—Are we Prepared? claims that “By 2050 the 65+ population is expected to grow from 40 million today to more than 88 million; put another way, one in every five Americans will be 65+.” Demand for housing will more than triple over the same period to 19 million” (2012: 3). The report also found that older adults are more likely than younger adults to have housing affordability challenges. As a result, the aging of the population is likely to increase the overall proportion of the country with severe housing cost burdens. The report also finds that many older adults lack access to affordable services that could help them age in place. Older adults with low and moderate incomes often lack access to various housing choices, such as an assisted living facility.

Perhaps no other age group feels the sting of loneliness more than the elderly. I have personally witnessed this in my profession and feel strongly that it leads to depression. I think it is natural for elders to want to retreat as they age, but they also need encouragement to be socially engaged as much as they are able. While individuals living alone tend to experience the most isolation, several activity directors have informed me that assisted living facilities have a difficult time getting the residents to be involved in various activities. There is a natural tendency to isolate as a result of failing health, but there is still a need for one on one interaction with a human.

According to a new study by UCSF researchers (June, 2012), loneliness can cause suffering to people at any age, but it can be especially debilitating to older adults and many predict serious health problems and even death. One of the more surprising findings of the teams analysis is that loneliness does not necessarily correlate with living alone. The UCSF study also found that people 60-years-old and older who reported feeling lonely saw a 45 percent increase in their risk for death. Isolated elders also had a 59 percent greater risk of mental and physical decline than their more social counterparts.

As the population of older Americans grows, so does the hidden problem of elder abuse, exploitation and neglect. Elder abuse is the infliction of physical, emotional, or psychological harm on an older adult. Elder abuse can also take the form of financial exploitation or neglect of an older adult by the caregiver. In a report by The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study (1998), “Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological, or other forms of abuse and neglect. Those statistics may not tell the whole story. For every case of elder abuse and neglect that is reported to authorities, experts estimate that there may be as many as five cases that have not been reported” (p. 1).

Some older people are repeatedly abused, but even one incident of abuse can be traumatizing to the elderly person according to authors Carmel Bitondo Dyer, Marie-Therese Connolly, and Patricia McFeeley in Elder Mistreatment: Abuse Neglect and Exploitation in an Aging America. The author’s say that even one incident of victimization can be potentially harmful and even fatal for an older person:

A single act of victimization can “tip-over” an otherwise productive, self-sufficient older person’s life. In other words, because older victims usually have fewer support systems and reserves—physical, psychological, and economic—the impact of abuse and neglect is magnified, and a single incident of mistreatment is more likely to trigger a downward spiral leading to loss of independence, serious complicating illness, and even death (p. 339).

An additional issue is that often older people who have been

abused or neglected do not wish to testify against their family members who have abused them, out of a misguided sense of loyalty, or of love. Fortunately, each state in the United States has an office of adult protective services to investigate the abuse or neglect of adults. Interventions provided by Adult Protective Services include receiving reports of adult abuse, exploitation or neglect, investigating these reports, case planning, monitoring and evaluation.

References:

Susan, Levey, M.D. (JUNE, 2008). What Are the Most Common

Issues of Aging? Retrieved from: http://www.agingcare.com/article.

Shekhar, Saxena. (2010). Latest Dementia Statistics from the World Health Organization. Retrieved from: http://careforyou.us/latest-dementia-statistics-from-the-world-health-organization/

Barbara Lipman, Jeffrey Lubell, Emily Salomon. (2012). Housing an Aging Population: Are We Prepared? Center For Housing Policy, Washington, DC. Retrieved from: http://www.nhc.org/publications/index.html

Leland, Kim. (June, 2012). Loneliness Linked to Serious Health Problems and Death Among Elderly. University of California, San Francisco. Retrieved from: http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/06/12184/loneliness-linked-serious-health-problems-and-death-among-elderly

The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study. (1998). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Aging. Retrieved from: http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/Elder_Rights/Elder_Abuse/Index.aspx.

Carmel Bitondo Dyer, Marie-Therese Connolly, and Patricia McFeeley. (2003). “The Clinical and Medical Forensics of Elder Abuse and Neglect.” In Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in an Aging America. Washington, D.C., National Academies Press, 339.

Interpersonal Neurobiology, Attachment Theory, and the Use of Self in Psychotherapy

February 05, 2020

There have been a number of psychological theories that have influenced the Social Work and Counseling Professions. However, I will only discuss some of the primary concepts of Interpersonal Neurobiology and Attachment Theory. In addition, I will explain my “use of self” as the therapist in each theory, which relinquishes the social worker as an “expert” and replaces it with a more collaborative approach that involves using one’s self as a reparative object. Being able to be present therapeutically on behalf of another person requires a range of skills and abilities, including the intentional and disciplined use by the counselor of his or her experience, relational skills, and knowledge/wisdom in the benefit of the client.

Interpersonal Neurobiology:

Interpersonal Neurobiology is an interdisciplinary field which brings together many disciplines in science including but not limited to anthropology, biology, linguistics, mathematics, physics and psychology to determine common findings about the human experience from different perspectives. Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. is a pioneer in the field called Interpersonal Neurobiology, which seeks the similar patterns that arise from separate approaches to knowledge. Aside from Siegel, some of founding theorists are Stephan Porges, Edward Tronick and several more.

One of the primary concepts of interpersonal neurobiology approach is “Integration,” which ultimately promotes a flexible and adaptive way of being that is harmonious as opposed to chaotic. The brain is always in a process of working towards integration. According to Dr. Siegel, integration is viewed as the core mechanism in the cultivation of well-being and healing. He writes:

In an individual’s mind, integration involves the linkage of separate aspects of mental processes to each other, such as thought with feeling, bodily sensation with logic. For the brain, integration means that separated areas with their unique functions, in the skull and throughout the body, become linked to each other through synaptic connections. These integrated linkages enable more intricate functions to emerge—such as insight, empathy, intuition, and morality. A result of integration is kindness, resilience, and health. Terms for these three forms of integration are a coherent mind, empathic relationships, and an integrated brain (Siegel’s website, 2014).

Another major concept in the emerging field of Interpersonal Neurobiology is the concept of “neuroplasticity,” which entails the rewiring of the brain through the use of mindfulness practices, or, what Dr. Dan Siegel refers to as “Mindsight.” At its core, interpersonal neurobiology holds that we are ultimately who we are because of our relationships. We simply can’t grow and evolve without intimate relationships (Seigel’s website, 2014).

Some of the assumptions of the nature of the problem are similar to attachment theory, such that the lack of early childhood attachment with a caregiver leads to an insecure attachment, which inevitably causes neural disintegration—a chaotic or fragmented sense of self and mind. According to IPNB, the nature of the problem is both biological and social. An individual is born into the world with a genetic imprint (DNA); however, in the process of human development one can either experience secure attachments with very little trauma’s, or, insecure attachments with several stressors and trauma’s in early life and throughout one’s life span. If the later occurs, an individual’s brain has a greater risk of becoming wired in a way that is unintegrated and may hold dissociated traumas, losses, and chemical loads that are toxic to the growing brain.

According to IPNB, our relationships have the potential to literally change the brain, particularly the most intimate ones, for example, with our primary care givers or romantic partners. While it was once thought that our early experiences defined who we are (social constructionism), interpersonal neurobiology holds that our brains are constantly being reshaped by new relationships. This offers tremendous hope to all trauma survivors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and their patients. Thus, positive relationships produce positive changes, which yields healing for those who have suffered from trauma (Badenoch, 2010).

Integration requires the implementation of a practice referred to as “mindsight,” another major concept of IPNB. According to Dr. Siegel’s website, “Mindsight describes our human capacity to perceive the mind of the self and others. It is a powerful lens through which we can understand our inner lives with more clarity, integrate the brain, and enhance our relationships with others. Mindsight is a kind of focused attention that allows us to see the internal workings of our own minds” (Siegel, Website). What is particularly fascinating is that when an individual develops the skill of mindsight, they actually change the physical structure of the brain. And we can grow these new connections throughout our lives, not just in childhood.

The emerging field of neurobiology is also changing the way in which therapist think about therapy, what they think happens during therapy, and how they think they should engage in the joint project together. Bonnie Badenoch’s book Being a Brain-Wise Therapist, brings IPNB into the counseling room, weaving the concepts of neurobiology into the ever-changing flow of therapy. She uses examples from her own therapeutic practice, which involves inculcating mindfulness practices into therapy. Implementing the use of mindfulness practice aids in the building of neural intregration and mental health.

In the book she clarifies her “use of self” as a reparative secure attachment in the therapeutic process with clients. According to Bonnie, one of the unfolding processes in therapy is the reactivation of the attachment system, often accompanied by anxiety and vigilance, since for most patients, the initial attachment process did not go well.

In the therapeutic process, attachment seeking behaviors are activated. As the longing for attachment dawns, therapist have the “precious opportunity to help their patients mend/rewire even the earliest relational fears, adding the new information of compassion, care, safety, stability, and warmth that is our contribution to the interpersonal system. ” (Badenoch, 2010: 54). Supposedly, human’s neurologically regulate each other right brain to right brain. The Therapist acts as the central nervous system regulator, which allows for the healing to take place.

Bonnie further explains that “The very heart of secure attachment is contingent communication, which involves receiving people’s signals (nonverbal more than verbal) and responding in a way the lets them “feel felt” (Badenoch , 2010: 57). It is important to commit deeply to going into a patients world, no matter how painful. Being able to provide a sense of safety for patients is central to providing regulatory experiences. Bonnie writes “When this wish to comfort is accompanied by streams of accurate empathy, the stage is set for profound healing. This kind of connection is at the heart of helping our patients develop balance through dyadic regulation (which leads to the capacity for self regulation” (Badenoch , 2010: 92).

Through repeated experience, the client will internalize a warm, caring presence that can comfort them when the therapist is not physically available. This builds confidence and self-reliance in the client. According to Bonnie there is an increased neural integration as a result of the comfort, empathy and bonding in the therapeutic alliance. Overtime, the patient moves from insecurity to an earned secure attachment (Badenoch, 2010).

Attachment Theory:

Attachment Theory is focused on the relationships and bonds between people, particularly long-term relationships including those between a parent and child and between romantic partners. According to attachment theory, “the presence of a principal attachment figure as a source of emotional security significantly affects human development. During infancy, the caregiver’s role is to provide a secure base from which the child can explore his/her surroundings. The caregiver’s response to this need will affect the child’s attachment behaviors” (Bettman & Jasperson, 2010: 98).

The theory of attachment was originally developed by John Bowlby (1907 - 1990), a British psychoanalyst who was attempting to understand the intense distress experienced by infants who had been separated from their parents. Bowlby believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. He suggested attachment also serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the child's chances of survival. ( )

The central theme of attachment theory is that humans grow and evolve through forming attachments at an early age. Infants need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for the child’s successful social and emotional development, and in particular for learning how to effectively regulate their feelings. Primary caregivers who are available and responsive to an infant's needs allow the child to develop a sense of security. The infant knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world. If the caregiver is unstable and unreliable, this creates an insecure attachment, which causes severe anxiety and depression. ( )

The assumptions of the origin of the problem are due to faulty socialization, insecure attachment and the development of an insecure working model (theory matrix). Attachment theory is not a developmental theory as there are no stages one must go through in order to achieve health. There is a critical attachment period that occurs between 0-3 years of age. If bonding doesn’t occur from 0-3 a secure attachment becomes more difficult to attain (Theory Matrix). Another assumption in attachment theory is that the same motivational system that gives rise to the close emotional bond between parents and their children is responsible for the bond that develops between adults in emotionally intimate relationships. The later assumption was formulated by later researchers who further developed the theory, one of which is Mary Ainsworth.

Expanding greatly upon Bowlby’s work, a psychologist by the name of Mary Ainsworth performed a study titled "Strange Situation" (1970’s) that revealed the profound effects of attachment on behavior. Ainsworth found that children will have different patterns of attachment depending primarily on how they experienced their early caregiving environment. Early patterns of attachment, in turn, shape – but do not determine - the individual's expectations in later relationships.

In the study, researchers observed children between the ages of 12 and 18 months as they responded to a situation in which they were briefly left alone and then reunited with their mothers. Based upon the responses the researchers observed, Ainsworth described three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment. Later, researchers Main and Solomon (1986) added a fourth attachment style called disorganized-insecure attachment based upon their own research.

Attachment styles also have an impact on behaviors later in life. For example, Children diagnosed with oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD),conduct disorder (CD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently display attachment problems, possibly due to early abuse, neglect or trauma. Clinicians suggest that children adopted after the age of six months have a higher risk of attachment problems. ( ). On the other hand, those who are securely attached in childhood tend to have good self-esteem, strong romantic relationships and the ability to self-disclose to others. As adults, they tend to have healthy, happy and lasting relationships.

The therapists “use of self” is an integral part of helping the client to move towards more health and integration. For attachment theory, the “use of self” is similar to Interpersonal Neurobiology. The therapist acts as a reparative secure attachment figure and provides a safe container that allows the client to regress to the ruptured attachment. The therapist responds with attunement and repairs attachment ruptures. Through the practice of empathetic listening, facial expression, eye contact, tone of voice, tempo, breathing, the therapist creates a kind of wordless but dense and charged felt presence, which permeates the being of both therapist and client. At some point in the therapeutic process, the client internalizes and “earned secure attachment” and will hopefully generalize it to other relationships.

This paper identified some major concepts and assumptions in Attachment Theory and Interpersonal Neurobiology. It also clarified several ways in which the therapist uses themselves as a reparative object for healing trauma’s and insecure attachments. Both theoretical perspective draw from similar roots, but are different in their approach. What is fascinating to me is how they are completely transforming the way in which therapy is done and what is occurring in the brain of both the therapist and client during the therapeutic process. Interpersonal Neurobiology is taking Psychotherapy to a whole new level by scientifically proving things that have always been doubted by pragmatic Behaviorists. For example, Wylie and Turner’s article The Attuned Therapist, explains the “seemingly immense divide between psychological and biological sciences and how Interpersonal Neurobiology has been a new “integrative bridge” which includes the whole human system—mind, brain, body and relationship.

According to Wyle and Turner, “Psychology was dominated by a behavioral model during the ‘60’s and ‘70s, then by cognitive models in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and now affect and psychobiological processes are taking center stage” (2011, 48).

For many years there was little knowledge about the biology of emotion and feeling—what they were, where they were in the brain, what caused them, how they influenced behavior. However, according to Wyle and Turner, for the past 15 years, neuropsychological scientist and therapists claim that we are in the throes of an “emotional revolution,” that is more integrative and validating of the power of the emotions and interpersonal relations to change the physical structuring of the brain (2011).

After decades of cognitive and behavioral therapists purposely seeking to put emotions out of sight and out of mind, they’re being forced to relearn the ancient emotional systems have a power that is quite independent of neocortical processes. She writes, “In our increasingly technological world, therapy seems to be directing our attention to the very core of our primeval being, the ancient emotional systems that are the source of love, hatred, rage, desire, compassion, of our unquenchable need for connection with others of our own species.” ( 49). I am particularly fascinated by the cutting edge work of Nancy Chodorow who wrote book called The Power of Feelings. Not only is this work challenging dominant paradigms in Sociology and Psychology, but it is changing and improving the way in which we do therapy.

References:

Badenoch, Bonnie. (2008). Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology. W.W Norton & Company, New York, NY.

Bettmann, Joanna and Jasperson, Rachael. (2010). Anxiety in Adolescence: The Integration of Attachment and Neurobiological Research into Clinical Practice. Clinical Social Work Journal, 38:98-106.

Wylie, Mary Sykes & Turner, Lynn. (2011). The Attuned Therapist. Psychotherapy Networker, March/April.

Dan Siegel’s Website. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.drdansiegel.com/about/interpersonal_neurobiology/website

La Clinica Website. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.laclinicahealth.org/

Personal Interview with Valerie Barnum. (2013). Client at La Clinica School Based Health Center, Phoenix Elementary School.

Copy of Effective Treatments for Alcoholism and Addiction

November 27, 2019

References:

La Clinica Website. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.laclinicahealth.org/

Travertini, Elise. (2013). Personal Interview about Agency.

Loss and Love: Heart Wisdom on Grief

November 19, 2019

Welcome all of you tattered and exquisitely beautiful souls. Thanks for receiving our offering and showing up for one another in our deepest grief and existential despair. It takes courage to show up in your vulnerability and rawness, so I commend and honor you.

We are all experiencing the collective trauma of the environment crisis, but also rampant social problems, and the narcissistic injury that our president has inflicted on us since his election. It has been an endless and horrifying barrage of abuse and while I know the human spirit is strong, our flames are weak.

We gather here today to honor our individual and collective grief. And the need for our community to come together and support one another in our collective trauma.

The intention for this ritual is to also cultivate more reverence for the sacred process of grieving. Our deep grief is not something to simply “get over.” On the contrary, it is something to learn to appreciate and value as a necessary part of life. We need to have just at much reverence for loss as we do for love.

Another intention is to get out of mind and into our hearts—our emotions, our bodies, and our soul. In the west there is an overemphasis on “rationality” and “rational modes of knowing.” We see a championing of the mind over the emotions— and are literally taught to live in our minds and devalue the wisdom of our emotions, bodies, and spirits.

It is also our intention to offer a safe, nonjudgemental, healing ground to release any deep grief you have been suppressing and any further support you might need in the future.

We truly are all in the same boat and things are very dark and bleak right now. We will most likely be experiencing this darkness for awhile now. However, we must find a way to unite in our love for the earth, in our love for the diversity of species on this gorgeous planet, and in our love for one another.

With all the loss and collective trauma in the world today, we need to offer support to one another as so many are feeling silenced, marginalized, isolated, alone, and wounded. I want to honor all of the people who are so paralyzed in their pain that they can’t leave the house. I work with a lot of these people in my job as a home health social worker. You would not believe how many vulnerable people are feeling isolated and terrified right now.

I have felt the depths of despair myself, particularly when I first learned of the environmental crisis in 2015. I was just finishing graduate school and I just released the first edition of my book Feminine Mysticism in Art. I reached out to Andrew Harvey for an endorsement, which he obliged. And on his website I saw some interviews that he posted. I listened to an interview he did with Guy McPherson and Carolyn Baker—they had just released a book called “Extinction Dialogues: How to live with Death in Mind.” Guy is a climate scientist and Carolyn Baker is a phenomenal psychotherapist and author of multiple books on the decline of global capitalism. I immediate purchased the book and was forever changed.

It looks me six months to read it. I felt terribly alone and isolated. At the time, I was finishing graduate school and there were only a few people in this community that knew about the devastating reality of global warming. I reached out to these people and continued to seek guidance from personal mentors. I had many sleepless nights—panic attacks in the middle of the night, despair, low grade depression, spaciness, inability to focus, memory impairment.

It is common to isolate when one is experiencing deep depression and despair. However, I don’t recommend isolating for long periods of time as it can lead to a downward spiral to suicidal ideation and even suicide.

We all know the pain and wounds are deep. WE have all been terribly wounded by capitalism—particularly those who have been horribly discriminated against due to race/class/gender/and not to mention LGBTQ concerns.The system of social inequality is continuing to get worse, and we are more divided now than we have ever been due to social inequality, fierce competition, and hyper individualism (every man for himself).

However, there is also another larger social trend happening at the same time. We are evolving at a rapid pace, which feels like the quickening. The veils are being lifted and there is a massive tidal wave of awakening occurring.The new paradigm has been emerging for awhile now, but it has been stifled by corruption of the power elite and the corporatocracy that our political system has sadly become

We are witnessing the merging of science and mysticism, new humanitarian social systems, and regenerative agriculture. We are also witnessing the reclaiming of indigenous wisdoms and a renewed connection to the earth. We all have a direct access to the spirit world, and literally possess a universe in our own minds.

I truly believe that the indigenous peoples hold the deep wisdoms for our individual and collective healing. The purification times are here, as they have prophecised.

And while the scientific facts are undeniably daunting and fatalistic, no one really knows what is going to happen. We all know on a soul level, that the apocalypse is and archetype deeply embedded in the collective unconscious and it is emerging now. The meaning of apocalypse is “A Lifting of the Veils.” As Karl Jung purports, the universal occurs in the collective unconscious and we all have access to it.

The human mind has always been ignorant, and limited in its ability to conceptualize the brilliance of the Infinite Universe.

It is our greatest hope, that in going thru the dark night of the soul, there will be the possibility of new life, redemption, and the new golden age on earth. Some visionaries profess that what lies ahead, after the famine, is 1,00o years of peace and harmony. It is the bridging of heaven and earth—the return to the garden of eden. Wouldn’t that be nice?

It is possible to experience rapid changes during the quickening. We are seeing this change happen now all over the world. It is my hope and prayer that this continues to escalate, as our time is short.

I would also like to say that the environmental grief that we are experiencing is totally different than personal grief as it involves the potential death of human species and most species on planet earth.

We have experienced problems in the past, but not at the epidemic levels we are experiencing now. We are all suffering from some kind of modern day neurosis—anxiety, depression, ADD, fragmentation of the psyche. This neurosis is NOT something to pathologize…it is normal to be experiencing an unraveling of the psyche in a time of chaos and social unrest.

This global dark night of the soul will inevitably stretch all of us beyond our comfort zone and will continue to do so in the near future. It will trigger a full range of negative emotions, such as utter rage, deep despair, shame, confusion, and apathy.

We are being called to surrender to the dark void of transition—to be the mystery at the crossroads.

It will be incredibly difficult for us to befriend our individual and collective pain as it feels totally overwhelming, doesn’t it? When you love with all of your heart, you loose with all of your heart. And this loss, as many of you know, is a painful death of the ego and even hope. Having the courage to grieve is sitting with the most horrific shadow and allowing it to utterly transform you.

We all must be committed to our own personal grief work and the many layers of grief that will unfold in the future. We most likely will be grieving for many years, particularly if we are indeed in a hospicing phase of humanity. Hospice therapist and author, Elizabeth Kuebler Roth, worked with hundreds of people who experienced profound grief and loss at the end of their lives. Her research on grief revealed stages that all people go through in the grieving process (Stages of grief—denial, anger, grief, acceptance).

Most are still in the denial and anger phase, which is normal. One can’t force something through the process, nor can one force someone to grieve. We don’t have to do it all at once. It will occur in layers and stages. And I personally think that we can regress to previous stages. For example, after three years of coming to terms with the reality of the ecological crisis, I have moved to a place of more acceptance. However, I find that I can cycle back through to the anger and grief phases at times.

Another thing I want to say about grief is that we all grieve in our own unique way. One is not better than the other. There is no pressure to cry if that is not want comes for you. Some may feel the need to make sounds or moans, which is welcomed. You might also choose silence.

For those of you who have been through your own dark night of the soul, you know there are gifts that come in the void of uncertainty. What do you think some of these gifts might be?

1) It challenges us to be in the present moment—to get in touch with our intuition and direct access to spirit.

2) It challenges us to surrender to the Great Mystery. To learn how to sit with the void of the unknown and be OK with not having a plan of action.

3) There is wisdom that comes in the complete shattering of the ego—radical humility and equality with everything.

4) Challenges us to re-evaluate our values, beliefs and priorities. (family, friends, earth)

5) Challenges us to practice non-attachment and letting go

6) Asks us to practice radical forgiveness of self and others, reaching out to the community for support.

Doing this deep work is a practice of reverence for the death process. Nature is such a profound teacher of the cycles of life and death, love and loss. Humans have a lot of attachments, don’t we? Grief is also an honoring of our deep love for the good in humanity, as it is ultimately LOVE that will heal our jaded, broken hearts. Love is the light that seeps into the cracks of the dark underworld.

We know the power of this love and we must NOT forget the promise of INFINITE LOVE and GRACE on the earth plan and in the spirit world. Our connection to the spirit world will literally be our life line and meditation will be a way for us to stay grounded and sane during the great turning. So will cultivating community and finding your own medicine offering for healing.

There is no doubt it is difficult for humans to stay in a place of hopelessness. We need to move into inspired action and find the motivation to do what we can in our own personal lives, but also in service to positive social change. It is incredibly healing to get out of your own suffering and assist people who are incredibly vulnerable, whose suffering is much greater than yours.

There is a tremendous amount of redemption that comes when we start serving others. There is much work to be done, my friends. And honoring our grief is a necessary part of the humbling and healing process. So pat yourselves on the back because you are stepping up to do some of the most important work of our time.

Thoughts on The Global Dark Night of the Soul

October 23, 2019

Oh my …..these times are dark! I have been through many layers of grief regarding numerous social problems and environmental crisis. It is clear that this crisis--this dark night of the soul-- is creating a massive awakening on a global scale. While we see neoconservative and corporate agendas stifling the growth to healthier systems, we are also witnesses major positive shifts globally--in social democracy, environmental protection, human rights, and protections to the earth and all living beings on this planet. It has been inspiring to see how effective the youth climate strike has been; however, they also know they are up against centuries of exploitation of the earth and people under the unregulated corporate capitalistic system.

There has been a lot of debate around how much time we truly have to make global changes and if it is even possible. All of this will be known in the near future. It is my hope that we can all unite for change, but I have a healthy skepticism as a social scientist. When we have continually marginalized visionary sociologists for centuries, it doesn't make me very hopeful. We have now passed the tipping point, which is what Al Gore spent his entire life educating various countries about. I am appalled that his book An Inconvenient Truth, was not made mandatory reading by all global citizens.

We have to be utterly realistic about the facts, but also try to find some hope to keep us motivated each day. We are being forced to surrender to the unknown right now, which makes people uncomfortable as we have to sit with all the difficult emotions of facing our individual and collective shadows. The damage done to the earth is unprecedented and some think it is impossible to restore the damage done to our home (Gaia). There is a lot that is NOT being said by our politicians. It think they know that in order to rally for change, we need to accept the sobering facts, but also lead with fierce radical humanitarian and ecological values. As a social research, I embrace evidence based research, but also deeply understand how political spirituality is. The new paradigm is a harmonious relationship and mutual respect of science and mysticism; however, so many are oblivious to the shadow of old paradigm science.

As a therapist that works with vulnerable and traumatize people, resilience and full recovery is not always possible. And we are all very confused about how long we have on this planet as GAIA is already showing signs of massive imbalance in equalibrium.  People need some inkling of hope that we can unite for the Earth and our ability to live on this beautiful planet. It is great to see so many minority women in congress, but particularly advocating for underprivaleged populations and indigenous peoples having more clout in environmental policy.

It is also inspiring to see how many change makers in various disciplines are debating and envisioning The New Systems Shift on a global scale. I have been doing a lot of research myself in regenerative cultures, which have been theorized by numerous social ecologists, environmentalists, sociologists, and economists for centuries now. However, we are now in a postmodern era with complex social problems and never before have we been up against the possible reality of a mass extinction. While many of the problems have been occurring for awhile now, there has been a lot of complacency, anomie, and ignorance.

However, everything is being radically exposed now--we are finally seeing that our democracy has been corrupted and is one of the first things that needs to be repaired.  It is amazing how long it takes for social systems to change, particularly when it is benefitting a corporate power elite who doesn't want change to occur and they own all the vital natural resources. We have given our power away for too long now and we are in a global crisis in every way. This reality has created a multiple of dark night of the soul symptoms which includes higher rates of depression, anxiety, mental illness, addiction, trauma, and suicide.

Working in the trenches of our communities, I see the suffering that people are experiencing up close and personal. The band aid solutions to larger structural change clearly aren't working and we all know radical changes need to be made. So many people are falling through the cracks in our social system, particularly vulnerable people such as mentally ill, disabled folks, and senior citizens.  I won't go in to all of these social problems now as most of us have been inundated with them--one crisis after the next.

More reflections to come….

Love and Loss: Community Grief Ritual

October 23, 2019

I am excited to be co-facilitating a community grief ritual in Ashland, one time per month through the winter.

See facebook event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1452531551565607/

EVENT DETAILS BELOW:

Love and Loss: Community Grief Ritual, dance, and prayer

As the darkness approaches, nights become longer as we fall in to deep surrender to the bitter sweet beauty of fall. It is a time of year of breathe-taking beauty, but it also triggers a range of emotions, particularly deep feelings of despair and loss. Fall can be particularly uncomfortable for those who are living on the margins and are utterly terrified they won't make it through the winter.

With the daily confrontation of the destruction and loss happening on a massive scale on our planet, how do we process this information and come out of numbness and/or overwhelm, and into our inspired action?

Our hearts are breaking wide open with grief as we face the possibility of our very extinction as a human species. It is important that we do this grieving alone, but also in community as it allows people to authentically connect in the heart of loss.

Sometimes the pain can be too much for people to hold on their own, which is why we need to come together as a community and offer our pain to the alter of grief. We need to have our stories witnessed, or, simply receive love in all of our rawness.

We invite each participant brief an offering for the community grief alter, which will be incorporated in to the ritual.

We are all in this together and need to continue to show up for one another, despite our wanting to retract our hearts and isolate. We have all been wounded by capitalism and each of our experiences of grief are valid.

When our grief cannot be spoken, it falls into the shadow and reemerges in us as symptoms in our bodies. So many of us are depressed, anxious, and lonely. We find ourselves moving at a breathless pace, trying to keep up with the mechanistic postmodern culture of insatiable progress at the expense of all life on earth.

At this critical time of transition, it is imperative that we cultivate a deep respect and reverence for the wisdom of death and renewal, for it is through our honoring and releasing of grief that we will ultimately transform and integrate our individual and collective shadow.

We are all experiencing a certain degree of shame and unworthiness regarding the human causes of this mass extinction--some unconscious and conscious.

At times, the shame and deep grief can be completely paralyzing and cause a downward spiral into utter despair and suicidal ideation. However, when you allow the process of emotional release to flow, it will help create movement, catharsis, integration, and new motivation for action and even the cultivation of joy.

In this ritual, we will take you on a profound journey of deep cathartic emotional release, prayer, ritual, poetry, sound healing, and authentic movement. We will pay homage to the archetype of death and pray for Grace to bring renewal to our tattered souls. This is a time for ultimate reverence, surrender, gratitude, and prayer.

So please, come and be transparent with your fragility with us. We will create a loving, safe, nonjudgemental container of cathartic healing, or simply, a release of repressed emotion.

There are many layers to this global dark night and we can't do it all in one sitting. We most likely will be going through stages of grief that will be experienced for years. We envision multiple grief temples in our community.

I will be offering this community grief ritual one time per month through the winter.

Cost of community ritual: The cost is $10-20 sliding scale. No one will be turned away for not having enough money. Bartering and trading is accepted depending on the item.

See Face book for more details, event link here:

About the Facilitators:

Victoria Christian, Sarik Shine, Martin Ball, Blaine Lyndsey, Gwendolyn Terra

Victoria Christian (Christensen), M.A, M.S., is an integral psychotherapist, sociologist, social worker, writer, artist, speaker, and sacred activist. She has helped numerous vulnerable people through the dark night of soul using her own healing gifts, but also incorporating the profound teachings of psychotherapists such as Francis Weller, Tara Brach, Carolyn Baker, and Joanna Macy. She has performed various support groups, which includes grief and loss and environmental grief groups. She received a Masters in Applied Sociology from Northern Arizona University in 2001. She also received her Masters in Social Work from Portland State University in 2015 and has five years of professional experience as a clinical home health social worker and therapist. She also has a private counseling practice calledGuanyin Healing Arts :www.guanyinhealingarts.com

Martin Ball is a southern Oregon Renaissance man with diverse interests and talents: an adjunct professor of Religion at SOU, event organizer, visionary artist, author, public speaker, podcaster, frequent interview subject, nondual integration coach, and multi-instrumentalist musician. In all these areas Martin likes to explore the power of transformative experiences and how they can be embodied and expressed personally and creatively. Musically, Martin is not bound by any particular genre or style, playing a wide variety of electronic and acoustic instruments, creating diverse musical expressions from ambient and abstract soundscapes to richly arranged tapestries of electronic dance tracks. His primary goal is to inspire others to dive deep through sharing his passion and authenticity via education, art, and music. His music can be streamed and downloaded at www.martinball.bandcamp.com or at his personal webpage,www.martinball.net

Gwendolyn Terra is a Mystic Muse, Embodiment and Spiritual Guide, Integration Constellations Facilitator and Sacred Heart Gardener. Gwendolyn is a Master at Heart Openings through Collective Transformation, cultivated over many decades of Conscious Co-Creation practices, Earth Energy Medicine, and Deep Listening as a Sacred Movement Guide and over a decade of working in the Heart “Fields” through Systemic and Integration Constellations. Her background includes over 20 trainings in Conscious Creation, Energy Medicine Shamanic and Embodiment practices she began this journey with a BA in Economics and Psychology leading her on an experiential path of how we can Co-Create a new Heart Led economy and world. Her Divine mission is to cultivate Sacred Spaces designed to Open our Hearts to the Blessings we are and to Nourish the Growth of our Humanity in more IN tuned ways with the Earth, our Spirit, and each other as we learn to live our Divinity in our Humanity. For more info on her go towww.divinemovements.com

Blaine Alexander Lyndsey: Loving friend, passionate human , homestead chef , ecstatic poet. Blaine has been an Rogue Valley resident for 5 years- performing his inspired spoken word at local events, radio, t.v., theatre, competitions, open mics and more! His poetry speaks from the soul with compelling metaphors, emotional connections, societal observations and spiritual underlines. He is currently seeking a publisher and collaborating on new community projects

Sarik Bio Pending

See Face book even link here :https://www.facebook.com/events/1452531551565607/

The Feminization of Poverty in the United States

October 04, 2019

The ‘feminization of poverty’ is currently a phenomenon of great concern to social scientists and social workers. In the United States, the fastest growing type of family structure is that of female-headed households and, because of the high rate of poverty among these households, their increase is mirrored in the growing number of women and children who are poor; almost half of all the poor in the U.S. today live in families headed by women. Women have higher poverty rates than do men for two reasons. First, their economic resources are often less than those of men. Second, they are more likely to be single parents during their working lives and to be unmarried and living alone in their later years. Poverty is more likely to be a chronic problem among female-householder families. Minority women are highly represented among the poor because of their minority status and a higher risk of single parenthood (Devine, Plunkett, and Wright, 1992). Furthermore, the poverty of women is reflected in the poverty of children. “There are almost 13 million poor children in the U.S.: 52 percent of them live in families headed by women and the poverty rate for white, black, and Spanish-origin children living in female-headed households is 46 percent, 66 percent, and 71 percent respectively” (Rodger, 1986: 32). The feminization of poverty is clearly a feminist issue; however, it is also a socialist concern. The eradication of poverty, which is a Democratic Socialist and Marxian issue, requires a feminist analysis and solution.

“The Feminization of poverty” was coined by Diana Pearce to capture a basic contradiction in women’s economic status that emerged between 1960 and 1979. In spite of increased women’s participation in the labor market, affirmative action programs, and increased entry of women into the professions, the number of female-headed families living below the poverty level increased dramatically while the number of male-headed poor families declined. By 1970, women headed 48 percent of all poor families, which contrasted sharply with only 23 percent in 1959 (Erie, Rein and Wiget 1983:100). In addition, because of the increasing number of poor elderly women, the total number of women living below the poverty level jumped in relation to men. In 1969, 37 percent of the adult poor were women; by 1979, two out of three adults living below the poverty line were women (Stallard, Ehrenrich and Sklar, 1983).

The facts documenting the increasing number of women and children can be found in several recent publications (e.g., Stallard et al., 1983; Sidel, 1986; and Rodger, 1986), all of which have documented the ways in which women are particularly vulnerable to poverty, particularly minority women. Poverty is being ‘feminized,’ which is clearly expressed in a quote from the President’s National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity (1981):

All other things being equal, if the proportion of the poor in female-householder families were to continue to increase at the same rate as it did from 1976 to 1978, the poverty population would be composed solely of women and their children before the year 2000 (Rodgers, 1986: 7).

Studies have shown that the causes of women’s poverty are different from the causes of men’s poverty (e.g., Stallard et al., 1983; Sidel, 1986: and Rodger, 1986). Researchers have focused on factors that are specific to the situation of women in modern society. As a group, and regardless of class, women are more vulnerable to poverty than men and that, consequently, women’s poverty has different causes than the poverty of men. Below is a statement by Karen Stallard about the difference between women and men’s poverty:

There is a fundamental difference between male and female poverty: for men, poverty is often the consequence of unemployment and a job is generally an effective remedy, while female poverty often exists even when a woman works full-time…….Virtually all women are vulnerable—a divorce or widowhood is all it takes to throw many middle-class women into poverty (Stallard et al., 1983:20).

To explain the feminization of poverty, we have to invoke some of the things that many women have in common, such as motherhood and low paying jobs. Single motherhood is perhaps the most important determinant of female poverty in the United States (Ehrenriech and Stallard, 1982; Sidel, 1986). Other predictors of female poverty include unemployment, divorce, loss of higher-paying manufacturing jobs, domestic responsibilities including child and elder care, and lower wages (Ehrenriech and Stallard, 1982).

According to Scott (1984) women’s poverty has two sources: (a) their unpaid responsibilities for raising children and other family labor and (b) sex discrimination. In addition, the lack of affordable childcare is a huge detriment. Approximately one-fifth of unemployed women are jobless due to lack of childcare.

Low wages, often due to occupational segregation, discrimination, and insufficient work hours, are major contributors to poverty among women. Females are concentrated in the secondary sector of the labor force, which consists of low-paying jobs. In addition, most newly created jobs are in the lower-paying service sector and are occupied mainly by women (Smith, 1986).

As the preceding research indicates, the feminization of poverty is associated with many interrelated structural and ideological variables. Stallard et al. (1983) sums up the determinant of the feminization of poverty as follows:

It is a direct outgrowth of women’s dual role as unpaid labor in the home and underpaid labor in the work force. The pace has been quickening by rising rates of divorce and single motherhood, but the course of women’s poverty is determined by the sexism and racism ingrained in an unjust economy (51).

Recent literature has produced not only a detailed description, but also some plausible and obvious explanations of the feminization of poverty. In addition to these structural economic factors, Sidle (1986) argues that women’s poverty is also the result of ideological and structural constrains peculiar to women. Women socialized to put family obligations first, to see themselves primarily as wives and mothers, are likely to neglect or overlook the need to develop occupational and educational skills that will help them support themselves if they remain single or their marriage breaks up. In addition, Women’s domestic activities, in spite of their obvious significance, are devalued and time consuming, and interfere with their full participation in the labor force (Sidel, 1986: 25-35). Feminists use the term ‘dual role’ to explain the fact that most women must integrate wage work and housework to make a living. I will now discuss the theoretical approach of Socialist feminism and how it can be used as a tool to explain the feminization of poverty, particularly the connection between the ‘dual role’ of women’s labor and poverty.

The social problem of women and poverty in general is complex and deeply entrenched in the macro systems of capitalism, patriarchy, ideology and discourse. Research has revealed that the feminization of poverty is continuing to increase in the United States and is abhorrently evident in third world countries. According to a report by the Division for the Advancement of Women (2000) “The majority of the 1.5 billion people living on 1 dollar a day or less are women. Worldwide, women earn an average slightly more than 50 percent of what men earn. In addition, the gap between women and men caught in the cycle of poverty has continued to widen in the past decade” (2).

It is clear that the existing capitalistic system in the United States is not able solve the growing problems of poverty and gender/racial oppression. Both socialist feminism and structural social work as a critical theory offer an analysis of poverty that not only emphasizes the structural causes of poverty as opposed to blaming the individual, they are inclusive of a diversity of perspectives, and critical of dominant ideologies and power structures. However, structural social work theory is more informed and cutting edge as it inculcates the jewels of postmodern and modern social theory. While all theories have their biases and flaws, they both advocate for an alternative social vision consistent with progressive social work values in which life is free of domination.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge to uniting in social causes is the deeply entrenched system of competition and rampant individualism, which continues to divide and conquer people. In addition, we are so conditioned to buy into the overly “yang” work- a-holism that keeps people so spun out that they don’t have the energy or volition to challenge status quo or be politically engaged. I am convinced that in order for radical change to occur, it will require both revolution and evolution. Because things are so deeply entrenched and so many people are ignorant of what is truly going on, we need awakened light-workers to work from within the system. However, we also need visionaries who are working from the margins on a grass roots level as they will be the informed leaders and visionaries working behind the scenes. Marxists tend to believe that social work must operate outside the existing system or else it will become incorporated into the present social order and end up protecting it rather than changing it (Mullaly, 2007). This is a good point when one considers how easy it is to get complacent when you are getting a descent paycheck.

The power elite is not going to just hand over their power. As a result, people are going to have to wake up and join forces if any social change is going to occur. Karl Marx was right when he said that the contradictions in capitalism would eventually cause it to self-destruct (Mullaly 2007). We are witnessing its collapse at this very moment in history. With the middle-class slide occurring we might see enough class conflict to produce a revolution. We simply haven’t had enough people suffering enough to act as a catalyst to radical revolution, but this will inevitably change in the near future.

Karl Marx predicted the fall of capitalism in the 1800’s, but he was written off by social theorists who weren’t conscious or smart enough to receive the prophetic vision he revealed to us. Perhaps one of my favorite quotes by Mullaly is this “Unfortunately, too many social workers and social theorists have dismissed Marxism as an interesting but outdated theory of society and social change. Nothing could be further from the truth” (2007:142). There is nothing new under the sun, just more complex versions of social problems that have been occurring for centuries under patriarchy. Civilizations have come and gone and if we can’t rally to make positive changes, nature will find a compassionate way to put an end to our collective neurosis and suicide mission. A tidal wave is coming with the global aging population and most people don’t even see it coming. If we aren’t able to make effective changes now, it will inevitably be made for us-- and it won’t be pretty.

References:

Butler, Judith. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.

Collins, Patricia Hill. (1990). Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

Erie, Steven P., Martin Rein, and Barbara Wiget. (1983). Women and the Reagan Revolution: Thermidor for the Social Welfare Economy. In Families, Politics, and Public Policy, Irene Diamond (ed.) New York: Longman, 100.

Devine, J.A., Plunkett, M., & Wright, J.D. (1992). The Chronocity of Poverty: Evidence from the PSID, 1966-1987. Social Forces, 70, 787-812.

Hartmann, Heidi. (1979). Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Job Segregation by Sex. In, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminist, Zillah Eisensten, (ed.), 206-247.

Mullaly, Bob. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Oxford University Press, Ontario, Canada.

Rodgers Jr., Harrell R. (1986). Poor Women, Poor Families. New York: M.E. Sharp.

Scott, H. (1984). Working Your Way to the Bottom: The Feminization of Poverty. Boston: Pandora.

Sidel, Ruth. (1986). Women and Children Lat: The Plight of Poor Women in Affluent America. New York: Viking.

Smith, J. (1986). The Paradox of Women’s Poverty: Wage-Earning Women and Economic Transformation. In B.C. Gelpi, N.C.M. Harstock, C.C. Novak, &M.H. Stober (Eds.), Women and Poverty Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 121-140.

Stallard, Karin, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Holly Sklar. (1983). Poverty in the American Dream: Women and Children First. Boston: South End Press.

United Nations Department of Public Information. (2000). "Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action: Report of the Secretary-General.” Retrieved from: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/session/presskit/fs1.htm

Williams, Fiona. (1989). Social Policy: A Critical Introduction: Issues of Race, Gender and Class. New York: Blackwell.

The RISING TIDE OF POVERTY IN AMERICA: ITS TIME TO ADJUST THE POVERTY LINE

October 04, 2019

Calculating who is poor is a tricky and complicated affair, despite the good intentions among policymakers to want to improve the well-being of deprived people. The official government data published by the United States Census Bureau shows that, “In 2012, the official poverty rate was 15.0 percent, or just over 46.5 million people. The poverty rate is the share of people below the official poverty line. The poverty line was $22,314 for a family of four, $22,113 for a family of four with two children, and $11,344 for a single individual under age 65” (2012: 14). However, there is a lot of controversy about the accuracy of these numbers, as they are based on an outdated poverty measure that doesn’t include alternative data. Policy efforts to reduce economic poverty may overlook important aspects of what is means to be poor. As Robert Havemen proclaims “these numbers ignore many non-economic considerations that may affect individual well-being, such as living in unsafe surroundings, being socially isolated, or experiencing adverse health or living arrangements not remediable by spending money (2009: 81).

The current official poverty measure was developed in the early 1960s by Mollie Orshansky, and only a few minor changes have been implemented since it was first adopted in 1965 (us census). In the early 1960’s when she developed her poverty plan, President Johnson had declared a War on Poverty, and the nation needed a statistical representation of the poor. Her economy food plan was a bare minimum food plan designed for temporary use during economically challenging times. It was developed by taking the least expensive food plan developed by the Department of Agriculture and multiplying it by 3.

According to Kathleen Short of the US Census Bureau “At the time it was developed, the official poverty thresholds represented the cost of a minimum diet multiplied by three (to allow for expenditures on other goods and services). Family resources were defined for this measure as before-tax money income.”

The Income based poverty line is an absolute measure that is adjusted each year only for changes in prices, not for changes in the standard of living. The benefits to defining poverty in this way is that it keeps the poverty line fixed over a long period of time, which inevitably effects social policy and federal tax policy. It also keeps the numbers relatively low, which looks good for the politicians in office. However, the absolute income poverty measure excludes a large number of people from receiving social services that they need, particularly women, minorities and children. In keeping this outdated poverty line, the wealthy are the one’s who gain because they don’t have to pay higher taxes for social services and the poor people loose necessary services they need as a result of structural oppression.

Interestingly enough, the relatively low tax rate of the United States largely accounts for the nation’s skewed income distribution. And despite the mammoth size of the federal budget of the United States, it is predicated on a tax base that is minimal compared to those of other industrialized nations. “A tenant of the welfare state has been the progressive taxation of income and its redistribution to the poor through social programs; thus, the question of income distribution has become integral to the discussion of tax policy” (Karger and Stoesz, 2010: 244). Unfortunately, research has revealed that tax policy has always contained provisions that benefit special interests. “Bending the tax code in response to lobbying is a long-standing practice in the United States, though today it is often associated with corporate influence or corporate welfare”(Karger and Stoesz, 2010: 243). The Neo Conservatives have made it very clear that they want to completely do away with any kind of social welfare. And keeping the poverty line lower than it should be keeps the tax rates low in the United States.

Some attempts have been made to improve the nation’s official poverty measure. According to Robert Havemen “In 1995, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences reported the results of a comprehensive study of the strengths and weaknesses of the official measure, and proposed a major revision designed to correct many of the criticisms that have been levied against it” (2009:82). Since that report, the Census Bureau has developed a variety of improved poverty measures reflecting the recommendations of the 1995 report. In November 2011 and November 2012, the Census Bureau released the first sets of estimates for the Supplemental Poverty Measure. However, none of these alternatives has been adopted to replace the existing official poverty measure (Census Bureau, 2012).

I would personally modify the absolute income poverty line by using a relative measure of poverty, which increases along with the general standard of living. I would also inculcate a multidimensional approach to poverty that includes hardships that people experience in many dimensions—education, housing, food, social contacts, security, and environmental amenities. Aside from just measuring income, another measure of affluence that I would include is assets, insofar as they are an indication of real wealth. Consisting of savings, real estate, stocks and bonds, and related property, assets not only can be liquidated during periods of adversity, thus offering the owner a buffer against poverty. According to Karger and Stoesz “The distribution of assets is even more skewed than income distribution, with the highest quintile owning more than 80 percent. By contrast, the wealth of the lowest quintile is negative, indicative of debt” (2010: 245).

In alignment with the 1995 study by the National Academy of Sciences, I would include all the items the reform proposed, which are so clearly delineated by Robert Haveman’s article “What Does it mean to be poor in a rich society?”:

The reform proposal would involve a new threshold based on budget studies of food, clothing, shelter, and amounts that would allow for other needs to be met, such as household supplies, personal care, and non-work-related transportation. It would also reflect geographical differences in housing costs. The income measure would also be reworked to include the value of near-money benefits that are available to buy goods and services (for example, food stamps), and would subtract from income required expenses that cannot be used to buy goods and services (for example, income and payroll taxes, child care and other work-related expenses, child support payments to another household, and out-of-pocket medical care costs, including health insurance premiums) (2009:82).

With the implementation of the new poverty threshold, the national statistics of poverty would go up and more people would qualify for social services. However, the corruption in tax policy favoring special interest groups or corporate welfare has to change. People are so disillusioned by the corruption of democracy and for good reason. How are we going to incorporate social change when corporate interests rule the roost? Furthermore, people are highly disillusioned by the way taxes are used, such as funding wars (supposedly fifty cents out of every dollar goes to military costs. If that much went into social welfare we wouldn't be having the problems that we do).

Year after year, the funding for social services dwindles. This is perhaps the most inhumane thing we could do to the very people that are the backbone of the capitalistic system. The system is set up for people to be poor, yet the conservative power elite wants to cut the social services for these people—this is absolutely insane! An assortment of research reveals that although there have been some governmental efforts made to reduce poverty; they are superficial efforts that don’t target the root of the problem, which is unregulated capitalism and corporate greed. In addition, there are a number of social trends that have changed the landscape of the U.S economy, such as globalization, the middle class slide, increasing populations and the diminishing of natural resources. All of these long-term trends drastically affect the U.S. economy and the global economy as well.

More importantly, the new poverty threshold would assist more women, minorities and children who represent the majority of the poor. The "feminization of poverty" is currently a phenomenon of great concern to social scientists and social workers. In the United States, the fastest growing type of family structure is that of female-headed households and, because of the high rate of poverty among these households, their increase is mirrored in the growing number of women and children who are poor; almost half of all the poor in the U.S. today live in families headed by women. Women have higher poverty rates than do men for two reasons. First, their economic resources are often less than those of men. Second, they are more likely to be single parents during their working lives and to be unmarried and living alone in their later years. Minority women are highly represented among the poor because of their minority status and a higher risk of single parenthood (Devine, Plunkett, and Wright, 1992). Furthermore, the poverty of women is reflected in the poverty of children. “There are almost 13 million poor children in the U.S.: 52 percent of them live in families headed by women and the poverty rate for white, black, and Spanish-origin children living in female-headed households is 46 percent, 66 percent, and 71 percent respectively” (Rodger, 1986: 32).

With the growing number of poor people and dwindling of social welfare, we are headed for a major social crisis, and that doesn’t include the environmental crisis looming over our heads as a result of global capitalism. Chris Farrell wrote an excellent article titled “War on Poverty: From the Great Society to the Great Recession” (American Radio Works, 2014). He discusses some of these social trends and social policies that have contributed to the rising tide of poor people, such as global competition, the decline of private sector unions, rapid technological change and the deregulation of finance, the working poor, and low minimum wages for less educated, low- skilled workers. His article is realistic and bleak, but it is right on target. He ends with a quote that describes our current economic, social and environmental crisis in a nut shell:

There are public policies that would improve the job prospects for poor people. But there’s little appetite to initiate or expand anti-poverty programs and probably won’t be anytime soon. American politics is likely to be defined in the new term by rising alarm over the increasing federal deficit and mammoth government debt. Meanwhile, state and local governments are slashing their support for the poor. If the government can’t help, the economy will end up doing the heavy lifting by default. But so far the economy is generating little job and income growth, and even when it does come back, low-skilled workers are likely to be left behind. The risk is that the tragic combination of joblessness and poverty will lead to diminished dream and social isolation which in turn, will feed a cycle of unemployment and destructive behavior. It’s morally and economically wrong.

The war on poverty will never be a war if people are fed a bunch of faulty statistics, which cause them to believe that poverty isn’t a macro, social epidemic. It is clear that band-aid solutions simply aren’t working anymore, particularly in a time of global crisis. The costs of social welfare are far less than the price paid for globalization in the name of corporate greed. Unfortunately, the karmic fall out as a result of “profits over people” is causing a massive global dark night of the soul that will inevitably cause even more suffering. The wisdom that will emerge from this death is more equality, cooperation, compassion and tolerance of diversity.

We need a massive radical humanitarian movement—a new structural social work that transforms society from the inside out. It is not going to come from any politicians. On the contrary, it will come from the people waking up to the lies that they have been fed by policy makers and greedy capitalists. According to one of my social work heroes, Bob Mullaly, social work ideology has much more in common with the socialist paradigms than it does with the capitalist paradigms (2007). Mullaly writes “If social workers truly believe in the values and ideas they espouse, then they cannot subscribe to and try to maintain a social order that contradicts and violates these same values and ideals (2007: 206). The time is now for social workers to unite for change. We simply can’t sit on our laurels anymore; we must do everything that we can to speak out for social change.

References:

Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, Jessica C. Smith. (2013). Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States. United States Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.

Devine, J.A., Plunkett, M., & Wright, J.D. (1992). The Chronocity of Poverty: Evidence from the PSID, 1966-1987. Social Forces, 70, 787-812.

Farrell, Chris (2014). "War on Poverty: From the Great Society to the Great Recession." American Radio Works, Public Radio: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/feaatures/poverty/rising_tide.html

Haveman, Robert. (2009). "What Does it Mean to be Poor in a Rich Society?" Focus, Vol.26, No.2, Fall.

Karger, Howard, Stoesz, David. (2010). American Social Welfare Policy: A Pluralist Approach. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Mishel Lawrence, Bivens Josh, Gould Elise, Shierholz Heidi. (2012). The State Of Working America, 12th Edition. Cornell University Press, New York.

Mullaly, Bob. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Oxford University Press, Ontario, Canada.

Short, Kathleen. (2011). The Supplemental Poverty Measure: Examining the Incidence and Depth of Poverty in the U.S. Taking Account of Taxes and Transfers in 2011. The United States Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, Washington, D.C.

Rodgers Jr., Harrell R. (1986). Poor Women, Poor Families. New York: M.E. Sharp.

CAUSES OF POVERTY AND SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED

October 04, 2019

There are many competing theories about the causes of poverty in the United States with mountains of empirical evidence to justify support for each. Calculating who's poor is not only tricky, but controversial business. The official government data published by the United States Census Bureau shows that, “In 2012, the official poverty rate was 15.0 percent, or just over 46.5 million people”(U.S. Census, 2012, p.14). It's an endless argument whether the actual number is more or less than that, but it's clear that tens of millions of Americans are poor and the numbers are rising due to the Great Recession. And even as the economy gains upward momentum, the prognosis for poor people is grim. In this paper, I will compare and contrast two theories of poverty: culture of poverty theory and a Marxian or Conflict Theorist perspective, which views poverty as the result of economic, racial, and gender discrimination.

Culture of Poverty theorists maintains that poverty and poverty traits are transmitted inter-generationally in a self-perpetuating cycle. It is influenced by Social Learning Theory, of which Albert Bandura created in 1977. It theorizes that behavior in learned from the environment through the process of observational learning of role models, which includes family members and peers. Culture of Poverty theorists argue that poverty is largely the result of social and behavioral deficiencies in individuals that make them less economically viable within society. This suggests that individuals create, sustain, and transmit to future generations a culture that reinforces the various social and behavioral deficiencies (Parrillo, 2000).

In the 1960’s the writings of two men—Daniel P. Moynihan and Oscar Lewis—sparked an intense debate that continues to resonate today. “Oscar Lewis coined the term culture of poverty in his 1961 book The Children of Sanchez. Lewis based his thesis on his ethnographic studies of small Mexican communities. His studies uncovered approximately 50 attributes shared within these communities: frequent violence, a lack of a sense of history, a neglect of planning for the future, and so on”(Parrillo, 2000, p. 110). Many years later, the premise of the culture of poverty paradigm remains the same: that people in poverty share a consistent and observable "culture”, which is characterized by hopelessness, alienation, apathy, and a lack of participation in or integration into the social and economic fabric of society.

During the height of the civil rights movement, Lewis and Moynihan came under heavy criticism during the 1960s and 1970s. According to Vincent Parrillo, “While Lewis was a leftist and understood the structural forces of poverty, it later came to be associated with laying blame for poverty either on the poor themselves or on a government that keeps them dependent. Along these lines, it is the deficient character of the poor along with their deviant behavior and the resultant self-reinforcing environment that restrict their access to economic viability and success” (2000, p. 110). This type of “blaming the victim” mentality is often associated with a conservative perspective, which puts all the responsibility for economic success on the individual. According to Karger and Stoesz “Critics argue that Culture of Poverty theories divert attention away from the real structural conditions and discrimination causing poverty and that supposed characteristics of the COP are also evident in the middle and upper classes”(2000, p. 111).

Unlike neo-conservatives, a Marxist or Conflict perspective does not see social problems and poverty as the result of individual fault. A German Sociologist by the name of Karl Marx, is the father of the social conflict theory. He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867–1894). “Marx's theories about society, economics and politics – collectively known as Marxism – hold that human societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed laboring class that provides the labor for production (Mullaly, 2007, p. 140). Marx called capitalism the ‘dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,’ believing it to be run by the wealthy classes for their own benefit; and he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism (Mullaly, 2007).

According to Bob Mullaly, “Marxists believe that by focusing on the victims inequality, oppression, and alienation and calling them criminals, drug addicts, or poor people, we are actually labeling them as troublemakers. Consequently, we neglect the social conditions of inequality, powerlessness, and institutional discrimination and violence that forms the basis of our troubled society”(2007:148). A Marxist analysis shows that social problems or poverty are the result of structural issues of inequality, oppression, and alienation.

For example, a Marxist analysis of poverty shows that poverty will never be resolved or eliminated in a capitalistic society because capitalism needs it. Poverty carries out an assortment of functions for capitalism such as keeping wages down and profits up. When people are poor, they will accept low wages to purchase basic necessities (Mullaly, 2007). Not only are poor people exploited for their labor, they are forced to compete with each other for low paying jobs and out of desperation work for lower wages. Many Americans work in jobs that barely keep them above water. “About one- fourth of workers earn poverty-level wages, wages at or below the wage a full-time, full-year worker would need to earn to reach the poverty threshold for family of four, which was $22,314 in 2010” (Michel, Bivens, Gould and Shierholz, 2012, p. 419).

In The State of Working America, a number of social theorists revealed several macro trends in the economic system and how they have contributed to the rising tide of poverty and growing social inequality between the rich and the poor. The book offers a detailed discussion of rising economic disparity as evident in growing inequality of wages, incomes, and wealth in America. “As income inequality increases, poverty becomes less responsive to overall growth because too little of that growth reaches individuals and families at the lower end of the income scale” (Michel, Bivens, Gould and Shierholz, 2012, p. 419). This trend is just as Marx predicted—the private ownership of the means of production would inevitably result in a concentration of economic power in the hands of the capitalistic elite, while the poor continue to loose their human rights and grovel for minimum wage jobs that offer no security or benefits.

This is all to evident in the larger social trend that Sociologist refer to as the Middle Class Slide, which explains the worsening inequality between the elite 1 percent of super-rich Americans and the rest of the U.S. populace. The once-dominant middle class is struggling to hold onto descent careers and slipping security. A study released by the Pew Research Center highlights diminished hopes for the roughly 50 percent of adults defined as middle class, with household incomes ranging from $39,000 to $118,000. The report describes this group as suffering its "worst decade in modern history," having fallen backward in income for the first time since the end of World War II (Pew Research, 2012, p.45). According to Pew Research Center “Three years after the recession technically ended, middle-class Americans are still feeling the economic pinch, with most saying they have been forced to reduce spending in the past year. And fewer now believe that hard work will allow them to get ahead in life. Families are now more likely to say their children's economic future will be the same or worse than their own” (Pew Research, 2012, p. 45).

As Karl Marx revealed in the early 1800’s, capitalism needs a workforce that will perform its dangerous work and carry out its menial tasks. People living in poverty often have to perform these menial task and minimum wage service industry jobs just to survive. And a disproportionate number of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and poor white people are on the front lines in fighting America’s wars. What is even more tragic is the way we treat Mexican immigrants. While right-wing American politicians rail against illegal Mexican migrants and propose a border barrier fence costing billions of dollars for ‘security’, these same migrants do the dirty and dangerous jobs that others refuse.

As noted by several social researchers in The State of Working America, “Poverty is even higher among certain demographic groups. “In 2010, the poverty rates of Hispanics (26.6 percent) and of African Americans (27.4 percent) were more than two and half times the poverty rate of whites (9.9 percent). Minority children fared even worse: In 2010, close to half (45.8 percent) of young black children (under age 6) were in poverty, compared with 14.5 percent of white children (Michel, Bivens, Gould and Shierholz, 2012, p. 419).

The connection between poverty, racism and social policy was clearly revealed by Leslie Alexander in her book The New Jim Crow. She shows how institutional discrimination against African American’s is alive and well as we see large percentages of African American men and women incarcerated in the prison system. Leslie writes, “An extraordinary percentage of black men in the United States are legally barred from voting today, just as they have been throughout most of American history. They are also subject to legalized discrimination in employment, housing, education, public benefits, and jury service, just as their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents once were” (2007, p. 16). Leslie claims that the Drug War is the New Jim Crow in America, as it has greatly exacerbated incarceration rates, not to mention the number of African American’s with Felonies hanging over their head. Having felony makes it nearly impossible to find a job and get social services when they get out of prison. Leslie reveals that the discrimination that is happening today is a different form of racial caste in America—it isn’t the blatent forms of discrimination of the past; rather, it is a more subversive form that is more difficult to put your finger on.

What is even more troubling about social inequality and the exploitation of the poor is the ways in which poor people are often used as scapegoats for societal ills. Not only have poor people been dealt a bad had in life, they have to deal with the negative stigma and shame that comes along with receiving social welfare. Jason DeParle clearly reveals this stigma in his book The American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare. This quote by De Parle clearly sums up the double edge sword of social welfare--“It offers the needy to little to live on and despises them for taking it” (DeParle, 2004, p. 91).

De Parle shows how this negative stigma is reflected in a long history of conservative politicians who have falsely blamed government deficits on the high cost of social welfare programs that were needed because poor people were too lazy to work. And a large percentage of the poor consist of women, children and minorities who have been oppressed for many generations as a result of institutionalized discrimination. I recall an astonishing quote by DeParle regarding the relatively low cost of welfare on the total federal budget, he writes, “Even when it’s federal costs peaked at 16 billion a year, AFDC accounted for only about 1 percent of the total federal budget. That was nothing like the $477 billion the country on Social Security and Medicare” (2004, p. 92). And when you consider how much of the federal budget goes to military expenses and subsidies, the cost of AFDC is minor in comparison.

De Parle also demystifies this illusion of “laziness” as he documents the lives of several African American women in poverty as well as the generations that came before them. He clearly shows that all the women worked at various times in their life because they couldn’t afford to live on welfare alone. And when they were required to train for a job in the Welfare to Work Program, the jobs that were offered them were minimum wage service industry jobs with no benefits.

De Parle reveals the ways in which the system of welfare clearly failed to solve the problem of poverty, he writes, “Even as benefits peaked in 1972, the average package of cash and food stamps left a mother with two children in poverty, and over the next two decades, the value of the typical check fell more than 40 percent. Despite some offsetting growth in food stamps, by 1992 the average package of cash and stamps came to just $7,600 a year, nearly $4,000 below the poverty threshold—hence the need for boyfriends and off-the-books work” (2004, 92). Not only did these women have to bend the rules in order to survive, they had to take several minimum wage jobs in order to survive on welfare.

Policy Solutions to Poverty:

The U.S. social welfare state is a complex mix of programs, policies, and services. There are many different approaches to combat poverty such as the curative approach, the alleviative approach (public assistance programs) and the preventative approach (Social Security). The policies that emerged during Lewis’s day tended to take a more conservative, curative approach, which was hostile towards social welfare. The curative approach aimed to end chronic and persistent poverty by helping the poor to become self- supporting through rehabilitative changes in their personal lives, such as assisting the poor into employment (Karger and Stoesz, 2010).

Undergirding the conservative agenda in the 1960s and 1970s was a pervasive belief that if you worked hard enough, you would inevitably rise in social mobility. Those driven by the powerful American spirit of competiveness saw the inability of the poor to compete as a serious character flaw (this attitude is still pervasive even today). As a result, there is a considerable amount of hostility towards public assistance, not to mention many negative myths about it.

Some of the policies and programs that emerged as a result of a more liberal agenda were Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which would later become Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). According to Karger and Stoesz “Originally called Aid to Dependant Children (ADC), the AFDC program was part of the Social Security Act of 1935 and was designed to provide support for children by dispensing aid to their mothers” (2010, p. 281). However, it is clear that these social welfare programs were merely Band-Aid solutions that attempted to ease the suffering of the poor rather than ameliorate the causes of poverty.

A number of studies have revealed the ways in which social welfare has been cut over the years despite the rising tide of poverty in the United States and globally. Some of the Social Policies that have emerged as a result of a conflict theorist perspective have attempted to further increase the safety net for the poor, but they have yet to fully implement a Marxian solution to social problems and poverty. The policies that have emerged are based on a liberal perspective as opposed to a truly conflict theorist perspective or a social democratic perspective, which is what the majority of European countries have moved towards.

The social safety net, namely Social Security, unemployment insurance, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), have prevented more devastating outcomes for poor people. “The safety net in the United States has become weaker over time, and workers at the bottom end rely more heavily on wages and a strong economy to make ends meet. Unemployment insurance is particularly vital to countering increases in poverty in bad economic times. In 2010, unemployment insurance kept 900,000 children and 2.3 million non-elderly adults out of poverty even though one or more workers in these vulnerable households were laid off” (Michel, Bivens, Gould and Shierholz, 2012, p. 419).

Aside from policies, a Marxian perspective has been a catalyst for a number of social movements and policies, such as Affirmative Action and the Living Wage Movement, which is geared to produce living wages for Americans by raising minimum wage to the current cost of living. Very recently, President Obama expressed that he has plans to address the growing social inequality. The ominous gap between the privileged elite and the majority of Americans was the chief focus of President Obama's State of the Union address. Obama said, "Those at the top have never done better, but average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by, let alone to get ahead. And too many still aren't working at all. So our job is to reverse these trends" (Gazette, 2014, editorial section).

President Obama outlined a series of goals to provide more opportunity for average families in years to come such as; expand college access, raise the minimum wage, boost pre-school for 4-year-olds, increase job training, extend unemployment support, change tax laws to reward corporations that bring jobs back to America rather than ship them overseas, guarantee equal pay for women, etc. In addition, the president said he would act on his own, without Congress, to set a $10.10 minimum wage for workers performing federal contracts, and also create new U.S. savings bonds for Americans who lack pensions from jobs (Gazette, 2014, editorial).

We know that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans take home nearly 20 percent of our nations total household income -- representing a kind of inequality that is truly staggering. Addressing this inequality is at the heart of the many strides that have been made over the years by the Obama Administration--The Children's Health Insurance Program, the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Medicaid. All of these programs were created and strengthened by compassionate progressive liberals who understand the structural root of poverty and social problems. And while all these proposed policy changes are great, progressive liberals and radical humanitarians have their hands tied due to the corruption of our government, the demise of democracy, and corporate greed. It has been extremely difficult to improve social programs because the wealthy elite clearly doesn’t want to pay more taxes, despite the fact that American’s pay the lowest taxes out of any other country.

Compare and Contrast:

The debate among theorists is primarily divided between advocates who support cultural/behavioral arguments and those who support structural/economic arguments. This debate tends to manifest itself across political party lines with republicans supporting the cultural/behavioral thesis and democrats looking more to structural causes. These two theoretical lenses are analyzing the same problem, but from a different lens. They both acknowledge the ways in which poverty continues to manifest inter-generationally and needs to be solved. However, they differ in the ways they would go about solving poverty.

Having had grown up in poverty, I deeply understand the inculcation of “poverty consciousness” and internalized oppression. The learned behaviors and normalization of scarcity thinking, substance abuse, and non-conformist values definitely occurs amongst the poor. These learned behaviors inevitably shape one’s values, beliefs and behaviors, but they don’t necessarily have to determine one’s fate. A critique of both social constructionism and conflict theory is that they both tend to be deterministic and gloss over the transformative power of human agency to break out of the forces of social programming. I would also have to say that the culture of poverty is a superficial answer to a deeply complex problem, whereas conflict theorist’s offer a much more radical solution, perhaps one that we are not ready to fully receive as a result of fear. We have yet to see a truly Marxist solution to poverty, but I think it is inevitable as we face growing social inequality and class conflict.

We are facing a major crisis in every social institution, and that doesn’t include the environmental crisis looming over our heads as a result of global capitalism. Republicans, who chiefly serve the wealthy, probably will continue opposing efforts to aid ordinary families. Since the GOP controls the House of Representatives, it has power to block many reforms. But it is important to remember this: The 1 percent can cast only 1 percent of votes. It is my deepest hope that the other 99 percent of Americans back truly progressive candidates who will strive to reverse the ugly spread between the elite and the rest. Unfortunately, finding a way to bring the 99% together on a number of pressing social and environmental issues is going to be a difficult task. We are a conquered people because we have internalized the false notion of competition. And we wouldn’t dare begin to champion values of cooperation and egalitarianism because God forbid those are “socialist values” and we wouldn’t want to have to admit that perhaps Karl Marx was right after all.

I have said this before and I will say it again, what we need is a massive radical humanitarian movement—a new structural social work that transforms society from the inside out. It is not going to come from any politicians. On the contrary, it will come from the people waking up to the lies that they have been fed by policy makers and greedy capitalists. According to one of my social work heroes, Bob Mullaly, social work ideology has much more in common with the socialist paradigms than it does with the capitalist paradigms (2007). Mullaly writes “If social workers truly believe in the values and ideas they espouse, then they cannot subscribe to and try to maintain a social order that contradicts and violates these same values and ideals (2007, p. 206). The time is NOW for social workers to unite for change. We simply can’t sit on our laurels anymore; we must do everything that we can to speak out for social change.

References:

Alexander, Michelle. (2007). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarcerations in the Age of Color Blindness. The New Press, New York and London.

DeParle, Jason. (2004). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare. Penguin Group, London, England.

Karger, Howard, Stoesz, David. (2010). American Social Welfare Policy: A Pluralist Approach. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Mishel Lawrence, Bivens Josh, Gould Elise, Shierholz Heidi. (2012). The State Of Working America, 12th Edition. Cornell University Press, New York.

Mullaly, Bob. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Oxford University Press, Ontario, Canada.

Parrillo, Vincent. (2000). Strangers To These Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States. Allyn And Bacon, Massachusettes.

Pew Research Center. (2012). “The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.”

Social and Demographic trends. Retrieved from:

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/22/the-lost-decade-of-the-middle-class/

Feminine Mysticism in Art, Women's Spirituality Book Award, California Institute of Integral Studies

September 25, 2019

It is a great honor to have California Institute of Integral Studies recognize Feminine Mysticism in Art with a Book Award. It is also a great honor to have Arisika Razak as a contributing writer to the book. She contributed an article titled “ Contemporary Images Of Spirituality and Resistance Amongst African Americans.” This article includes some powerful imagery by AfraShe Asungi, Yasmin Hernandez, Lily Bernard and Abba Yahudah.

Below is some information from their website, which includes the list with FMA in it. Thank You CIIS!

WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY BOOK AWARDS & 25TH ANNIVERSARY LIBRARY COLLECTION

The Women's Spirituality program CIIS is pleased to honor one hundred of the best new books in the genre of Women's Spirituality. These books include a broad diversity of scholars and artists who are contributing to the emerging academic field of Women's Spirituality. The Women's Spirituality program at CIIS is one of the few places where students can earn a PhD or MA that centers on Women's Spirituality and eco-social justice as a global field of studies. Our curriculum emphasizes three tracks: women's mysteries, sacred arts, and healing; women and world religions; and feminist/eco-feminist philosophy and activism. Our faculty and students are especially grateful to the many hundreds of Women's Spirituality authors and artists who inspire and nourish the work we do in higher education to support women's spiritual freedoms, cultural agency, and eco-social justice around the world. After nomination, the books donated to CIIS and will be included in the Women's Spirituality Twenty-fifth Anniversary Library Collection.

Click here for full list of 100 Books:

Exploring The Death With Dignity Act

August 16, 2019

Exploring The Death With Dignity Act

Victoria Christensen

Physician-assisted suicide has become increasingly controversial over the past two decades. Only eight states have legalized the practice, despite hard-fought campaigns in several other states to legalize it as well. In 1994, Oregon voters approved the Death With Dignity Act (Ballot Measure 16) by a vote of 51% to 49%. It became effective in 1998, surviving court challenges and a repeal effort, to make Oregon the first state in the country to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Oregon Death With Dignity Act allows an adult who is an Oregon resident and is suffering from a terminal disease that will cause death within six months, to terminate his or her life through the use of medication. To do so, the person must express voluntarily his or her wish to die, must make a written request for the medication, and be found by the person’s attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease. The Death With Dignity Act is important for social work, particularly medical social work, because it directly affects an individual’s right to die, which in many ways contradicts the medical communities oath to keep people living as long as possible. The DWDA enables qualified patients to avoid unnecessary suffering, to die with dignity, and to respect those patients’ right to autonomy or self-determination. While there is no way I can address the complexity of this issue in this article, I will describe the social problems being addressed by the policy, discuss the history of the Act, provide a thorough description of the goals of the Policy and discuss the current status of the policy in Oregon.

The Death With Dignity Act addresses the crucial social problem of allowing dying patients the right to control their own end of life care. It is common knowledge that the aging population is increasing globally. As a result, there is a pressing need for physician-assisted suicide across the globe; however, the notion of suicide stirs up a number of ethical issues about the choices people should or should not have with regard to death. There are conflicting opinions by multiple groups; such as religious organizations, the medical community, and consumer groups. Marjorie Zucker’s book The Right To Die Debate: A Documentary History (1999) examines the many voices in the debate and explores the controversy in depth. In the introduction, she lays the foundation for the debate and explains why the ethical social problem has emerged in response to the way death in America has changed in conjunction with the progress of medical technology.

While modern medicine has made great technological strides in the Twentieth century to save and improve lives, physicians can and frequently use this technology to prolong the dying process. She writes, “As physicians became increasingly adept at using developing technology and justifiably dependent upon it, they began to be uncomfortable with the notion that some patients ultimately could not be saved. Medical professionals received a great deal of positive reinforcement for refusing to ‘give up,’ and many looked upon the death of a patient as a failure of their own” (Zucker, 1999, xxvi). In response to the way death in America has changed, many health care professionals, lawyers, educators and members of the public began raising ethical and public policy questions; such as, when does the use of technology become overuse or abuse? When in the course of an individual’s illness should technology be focused on providing comfort rather than prolonging dying?

When is enough enough? These questions have led to considerable controversy and a national conversation known as the right-to-die debate (Zucker, 1999).

The arguments in favor of a legal right to physician-assisted suicide are strong and varied. The debate is often portrayed as a battle between social or religious conservatives who oppose the practice and liberals or progressives who support it. Those who support the Death With Dignity Act argue that death can be dreadful with high-tech medicine. Patients who endure intolerable suffering ought to be able to end his/her life before her human capacities are irreparably damaged. Furthermore, there ought to be a legal right to physician-assisted suicide in order to respect the patient’s moral right to autonomy and self determination.

There is research that has documented the most common reasons why someone might want to hasten their life. According to a report about DWDA by the Legislative Committee Services (June, 2010) “Physicians and families reported that patients have several reasons for requesting lethal medication. These include concerns about losing autonomy, losing control of bodily functions, a decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, and physical suffering. Also, many family members added that patients wanted to control the manner and time of their death” (p. 2).

Assisted-suicide advocates often base their arguments on the moral conviction that each individual has an inherent right to determine his or her own destiny. Thus, the right to life includes the right to end life, and it is as wrong to deny that right as it is to deprive a person of any other liberty. They say that suicide is already legal in all states; only assistance in carrying it out is at issue (Zucker, 1999). It is for these reasons and more that the terminally ill wish for a dignified death, and for these reasons that supporters of PAS wish to enable caregivers to provide it.

Death with Dignity is not only a legal issue, but a cultural and spiritual issue, too. Some faith traditions have embraced Death with Dignity as an ultimate act of compassion, and others reject it is as morally bankrupt practice. Some opponents of legalizing physician-assisted suicide believe that intentionally causing the death of someone, even one who is dying, is morally unacceptable. Sylvia Engdahl writes that “Most religions have traditionally held that all human life is sacred and that suicide is therefore immoral. Christians believe that life is a gift from God so only God should determine when it should end; some of them believe that they would be punished in an afterlife for taking their own lives” (2009, pg. 65).

The main objection to the legalization of assisted suicide, apart from religious grounds, is that is may be a “slippery slope” issue. In other words, one thing might lead to another—once a small concession is granted, the door is opened to larger ones. Opponents believe that such laws might extend to people who suffer from chronic illnesses or disabilities that are not terminal, but are costly and life debilitating—perhaps eventually even to the mentally ill. Another argument is that if assisted suicide is legalized, sick people may be pressured into requesting it if they cannot afford medical care to relieve their suffering. Adrienne Asch, a noted bioethicist and authority on the rights of the disabled writes “Disability-rights activists fear that availability of assisted suicide will sway the public Into thinking that some people’s lives are not worth living, and that the ill and disabled may be led to feel that they have a duty to die rather than burden society with their care” (2005, p. 31). In other words, there is a fear that individuals disabled by a terminal illness would be discriminated against because Oregon law would no longer protect their lives in the same way it protects the lives of healthy Oregonians.

Opponents also argue that it is difficult to determine whether or not the patient has six months or less to live. In addition, there is a concern about the psycho-social condition of the dying patient. Daniel Callahan, M.D says that “the most common hazard of legalizing assisted suicide is the possibility that the patient is suffering from a clinical depression in the face of his or her illness and anticipated death. Since depression is potentially treatable, a physician contemplating assisting in suicide must be very much aware of this possibility (1997, 71). In other words, it is common for terminally ill patients to have some degree of depression, and that it is often difficult for some health care providers to detect as they don’t specialize in mental health issues.

Prior to the Death With Dignity Act, there were no previous social policies that addressed assisted-suicide at the end of life. However, prior to the 1950’s there was the beginnings of a Euthenasia Movement. During the 1940’s the Euthanasia Society was formed with the intention to spread it’s message as widely as possible in speeches, on the radio, and in articles for magazines. The society also wanted to promote legislation permitting voluntary euthanasia. Marjorie Zucker thoroughly documents the Euthenasia movement in her book The Right to Die Debate. She documents the impact of changes in medical care on end of life issues. The increased ability to maintain the life of mortally ill patients created a dilemma for physicians: When, if ever, should they stop treatment? While Euthanasia was highly controversial, medical professionals and educators realized the need for continued education. Marjorie writes:

During the period 1953-65, the Euthanasia Society of America functioned as an educational organization, providing speakers to organizational meetings and on the radio. No further attempts were made to pass legislation in this field. However, the increased ability to maintain life in mortally ill patients provided a new impetus to the discussion of euthanasia. Two influential books published in the mid-1950’s contained chapters on euthanasia. One of these books was entitled Morals and Medicine, by Joseph Fletcher, professor of pastoral theology and Christian ethics at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusettes, who was in favor of voluntary euthanasia (1999, pg. 64).

As medicine became more advanced and increased peoples’ life spans, most were living to a reasonably healthy and comfortable age. But for some, life became miserable, and for patients who were unconscious, it became meaningless. As a result, the wish to control one’s fate, especially when one could no longer speak for oneself, led to the development of living wills or advance directives, or, documents that leave instructions for one’s treatment. A man by the name of Luis Kutner, a Chicago human rights lawyer who promoted his strong beliefs in human rights in several ways, conceived the “living will,” a term that he coined. A living will is a document that states one’s wishes about medical treatment at the end of life if one is unable to communicate them directly. Supposedly Kutner spoke at a meeting organized by the Euthanasia Society of America in 1967 and they drew up a living will in response to his proposal and distributed a quarter of a million copies to various medical professionals (Zucker, 1999).

The Act began as a citizen initiative petition in 1994. Ballot Measure 16 was approved by voters by a 51 to 49 percent margin in 1994. Despite the measures passage, implementation was tied up in the courts for several years. A legal injunction delayed initial implementation of the Act until October 27, 1997, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction. The 1995 Legislative Assembly referred Ballot Measure 51 (authorized by House Bill 2954) to voters on the November 1997 ballot, which would have repealed the Death with Dignity Act. Oregon voters chose to retain the Act by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent. (Oregon Legislative Policy and Research Office, 1997)

Oregon and Washington are the only two states in the union that allow physician-assisted suicide. However, there is a long term goal to assist other states with the implementation of the policy. According to the Death With Dignity National Center Website, there has been a growing support of the Movement:

With the 14 years of data showing Oregon's Death with Dignity law is safe and utilized the way it was intended with no evidence of a slippery slope for vulnerable Oregonians and since our win in Washington in 2008, bills which seek to improve end-of-life care have been introduced in state legislatures around the country.

State legislators have the Oregon and Washington laws to use as a guide. While many bills are drafted each year, the majority fail. Some consider it a failure that most bills do not end up becoming law, but we view these bills as a testament to the growing support of the Death with Dignity movement, the will of the public, and the strength of Oregon's and Washington's model legislation.

Measure 16 is regarded as one of the most controversial ballot measures in Oregon’s history. As a result, various agencies are required to do long term research studies that document the progress and issues that arise. The Oregon Health Division is required to annually review a sample of medical records of patients who requested a life-ending prescription. In addition, they generate and make available to the public an annual statistical report of information collected under the Act.

The status of the policy in Oregon is good. Oregon Public Health Division released it’s annual report for 2011, which reflects statistics from the 14th year of implementation, and encompasses data from January 7, 2011- February 29, 2012. Peg Sandeen, MSW and policy advocate of the Death With Dignity National Center provides a concise summary of the report:

Consistent with information from prior years, the data show Death with Dignity is a rarely used option for a small number of terminally ill Oregonians. The report indicates the process was implemented, in every instance, under the strict guidelines written into Oregon law and the established medical standard of care that has evolved since implementation.

During the 13 months covered by the report, 114 qualified patients received a prescription under the provisions of the law. Approximately 62%, or 71 terminally ill individuals, died as a result of ingesting medication prescribed under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Sixty-two different physicians wrote prescriptions under the law. According to the Health Division's report, in the 14 year history of implementation, 935 prescriptions have been written and 596 individuals have ingested medication and died using the standards spelled out in Oregon law.

Similar to prior years, most of the qualified patients who used the medication to hasten death were over 65, had a terminal diagnosis of cancer, and received palliative care service through hospice. Additionally, participants tended to be well-educated (48% with a four year degree or more), had access to some form of insurance (96% with public or private insurance), and died at home (94%). The most commonly reported end-of-life concerns were: less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (90%), losing autonomy (88.7%), and loss of dignity (74.6%) (2012).

It is important to note that the use of the term “Assisted Suicide” has been called into question by the American Public Health Association as it has negative connotations.

While “physician-assisted suicide” is an accurate and descriptive term, it should be replaced with the advocacy-phrase “aid in dying.” Activists needed to make an attempt to redefine the crime of assisted suicide as a legitimate “medical treatment.” Rita L Marker, an attorney and executive director of the International Task Force on Euthenasia and Assisted Suicide revealed that the term has negatively affected the Assisted Suicide Movement. She writes, “In the more than ten years since the passage of the Oregon law, state after state has considered legalizing assisted suicide. Each time, there was early support for the measure. Yet, in each instance, when the official vote was taken, support had evaporated and the proposal went down in defeat” (2009, p. 121).

As a result, assisted suicide proponents, particularly Compassion and Choices, searched for some way to improve their position. Thus, they commissioned research and polling. They found that people have a negative impression of the term “assisted suicide,” but, if euphemistic slogans like “death with dignity” or “end of life choices” were used to describe the same action, response was relatively positive. They embarked on a mission to replace it with kinder, gentler language. In addition, they wrote press releases to the media, the state of Oregon and major public-policy organizations claiming that use of the term “assisted suicide” demonstrated insensitivity to dying patients and to the physicians who assisted them (Marker, 2007).

References:

Zucker, Marjorie. (1999). The Right To Die Debate: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press: London, pg. xxvi.

Taylor, Bill. (2010). Oregon Death With Dignity Act, Legislative Committee Services Report, Salem, Oregon, June 2010, pg 2.

Engdahl, Sylvia. (2009). Assisted Suicide: Current Contraversies, Greenhaven Press: MI, pg. 65.

Asch, Adrienne. (2005). “Recognizing Death While Affirming Life,” Hastings Center Special Report, November-December, p. 31.

Callahan, Daniel. (1997). “Self-Extinction: The Morality of the Helping Hand,” Chapter 3, in Robert F. Weir, ed., Physician-assisted Suicide, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 71.

Long, Lori. (1997). Basics on Ballot Measure 51, Oregon Legislative Policy and Research Office Report, Salem, Oregon.

Sandeen, Peg. (2012). Oregon Death with Dignity 2011 Report. Death With Dignity National Center. Retrieved from: http://www.deathwithdignity.org/2012/03/07/oregon-death-dignity-2011-report

Marker, Rita. (2007). “When Killing Yourself Isn’t Suicide,” National Review, March 5, 2007,pg. 121.

Effective Treatments for Alcoholism and Addiction

July 12, 2019

References:

La Clinica Website. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.laclinicahealth.org/

Travertini, Elise. (2013). Personal Interview about Agency.

THE CAUSE OF POVERTY AND SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED

July 12, 2019

Policy Solutions to Poverty:

Compare and Contrast:

References:

Alexander, Michelle. (2007). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarcerations in the Age of Color Blindness. The New Press, New York and London.

DeParle, Jason. (2004). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare. Penguin Group, London, England.

Karger, Howard, Stoesz, David. (2010). American Social Welfare Policy: A Pluralist Approach. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Mishel Lawrence, Bivens Josh, Gould Elise, Shierholz Heidi. (2012). The State Of Working America, 12th Edition. Cornell University Press, New York.

Mullaly, Bob. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Oxford University Press, Ontario, Canada.

Parrillo, Vincent. (2000). Strangers To These Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States. Allyn And Bacon, Massachusettes.

Pew Research Center. (2012). “The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.”

Social and Demographic trends. Retrieved from:

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/22/the-lost-decade-of-the-middle-class/

Local Author Honored in 2019 Indie Book Awards

June 20, 2019

Feminine Mysticism in Art by Ashland resident Victoria Christian has been named by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group as one of the best indie books of 2019.

Victoria’s book is the winner of the Spirituality category in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the world’s largest not-for-profit book awards program for independent publishers and self-published authors.

The awards are judged by leaders of the indie book publishing industry, including many with long careers at major publishing houses. Their love of a great read and experience in the publishing arena identify books deserving a wider audience.

2019 is the 12th year of the not-for-profit book awards program.

Catherine Goulet, Co-Chair of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, proudly said, "Our program has become known as the Sundance of the book publishing world." Sundance is the famed independent film festival which is now described on its website as “the ultimate gathering of original storytellers and audiences seeking new voices and fresh perspectives.”

In an article at CNN.com titled If it’s cool, creative, and different, it’s indie, journalist Catherine Andrews wrote: “The term ‘indie’ traditionally refers to independent art – music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture – created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing.” That definition remains true for book publishing.

Independent book publishing companies are independent of the major conglomerates dominating the book publishing industry. Indies include small presses, larger independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.

According to Goulet, “Like other independent artists, many indie book publishers face challenges that the industry giants don't experience. The indies have to work much harder to get their best books into readers’ hands.”

“Authors and publishers who compete in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards are serious about promoting their books,” added Goulet. “They aim to stand out from the crowd of millions of books in print.”

According to an October 2018 report by Bowker, publisher of the Books in Print database, the number of self-published titles grew to 1,009,188 in 2017, an increase of 28% over the previous year, surpassing the million mark for the first time.

The most recent statistics from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported more than 2.2 million books published worldwide in a single year.

The Sexual Shadow of the World

June 11, 2019

In the past few years more and more women are having the courage to speak up about the trauma’s they have endured in their families, homes, churches, and work environments. And while it has been painful to see, it give me hope to see all the sexual shadow coming to the light for healing as it has been denied and buried for too long.

As a trauma specialist (clinical medical social worker) I have helped numerous women receive emotional support, validation, find safety, shelter, and receive the short and long term therapy they need to heal. I have had the honor of working with an amazing team of professionals—all of whom provide a highly effective wrap around service for woman and men in crisis or with histories of trauma.

It was important for me to include an article in Feminine Mysticism in Art about the history of women’s sexuality and the sexual shadow. I personally know several women who have been sexually traumatized to various degrees and I deeply understand the ways in which severe trauma changes people’s brains.

It is an honor to have several authors, medical visionaries, and sexual therapists who are experts in women’s sexuality and healing in Feminine Mysticism in Art. Because these issues are coming to the light for healing right now, I wanted to share an article written by Azra Bertrand and Seren Bertrand called The Sexual Shadow of the World. We also have another article that is just as amazing by Linda Savage PhD, Reclaiming Women’s Sexuality.

The Sexual Shadow of the World

The truth is, there is a hidden epidemic of sexual abuse in our world – that is eating away at our communities, destroying the heart of humanity, and ravaging our planet. We can no longer afford to look the other way or turn a blind eye. The recent sexual abuse scandals involving Harvey Weinstein in America, Jimmy Savile in the UK, and in the Catholic Church across the world, are part of a greater cultural apocalypse – a feminine root word which means ‘unveiling what is hidden’. We are finally seeing the hidden rot behind the false surface image of our culture. And before we point fingers of blame and shame ‘out there’ – we must know that this unveiling is gathering pace in every sector, every industry, and even in the family home.

These revelations teach us one lesson about the reality of sexual abuse, one thing we must understand if we want to heal and rebirth our world: most rape and sexual abuse is denied, hidden, repressed, unrecognized and unreported. What we see is only the tip of the iceberg. If we want to know the truth we must look deeper, we must be prepared to face one of the longest, darkest shadows of the world.

The scandals also teach us that a few brave individuals who break the spell of silence, who speak up and challenge the businesses, churches, gurus, media organizations, legal structures, health care systems, and family members who are complicit in the culture of denial – can create a new culture of truth and transparency that leads to tremendous healing. Our voices and our truth, especially when we come together, create change powerfully and quickly. This is the way our world will heal.

5,000 Years of Rape Consciousness

It is important to note that the mass collective culture of rape consciousness is not new, but has dominated the planet for thousands of years. In past eras, it was not even a taboo, as some women, and young girls and boys, were openly used by male power holders, including priesthoods, state rulers, politicians and family members, as if they were objects. These are the ancestral legacies still living on inside us.

Overt, culturally sanctioned sexual abuse still happens in many cultures of the world, but in others – such as the western world – the essence remains hidden from sight, repressed and kept as a forbidden secret. No wonder we feel an immense sense of cognitive dissonance in our lives. On the surface we are told one story, of caring families, caring leaders, caring organizations. Underneath is a completely different story, held in deep shadow.

We live in a tumultuous, difficult, yet important time in history in which the shadow is being revealed. Rather than a charming politician with slick wordspeak, our current epoch gives us an elected president of the United States who publically condones “grabbing ‘em [women] by the pussy.” [1] The air is thick with the stench of sexual predation and dehumanizing rhetoric. Actors cavalierly say in public they love their job as they get to “rape beautiful women.” [2]

Sexual Abuse & Mental Health

The same tidal wave of unveiling and revelations will soon sweep the mental and physical healthcare fields, which, at the moment, are still choosing to stay in denial of the true scope of the problem. When this happens, there will be a complete revolution in the way we look at health – and the impact of these trauma legacies.

Based on my twenty years experience as medical doctor, healer, researcher and community leader, working with more than 25,000 people, I have come to a very controversial, but sadly very real conclusion: sexual abuse is a huge, unacknowledged contributing factor in much of our physical and emotional illness.

The truth is that childhood developmental trauma, including a startlingly high incidence of sexual abuse, is a contributing factor to both chronic somatic illness and to many psychiatric diagnoses listed in the DSM-V, the so-called “Bible” of the mental health fields. [3] This includes depression, anxiety, borderline personality, dissociative identity disorder, and many others. The more intensive the trauma, the longer its duration, and the younger the age at which it happened, the more severe and chronic the psychiatric condition will be.

The same is true in chronic physical health conditions. Childhood traumas, referred to by researchers as “adverse childhood events”, including sexual abuse, account for a large percentage of physical illness, not just in childhood, but throughout our adult lives. A full account of this phenomenon deserves its own book, and indeed many good ones have now been written that detail the hundreds of medical studies supporting this conclusion (Scared Sick, by Robin Karr-Morse is one example).

Sexual Abuse Much More Common Than We Are Told

Conservative and well-respected medical studies state that around 25% of girls and 18% of boys have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18. [4,5] But, it is widely known that these reported numbers do not represent the true amount of sexual abuse. The actual numbers are significantly higher than this

In 2014, the National Academies of Science stated, “sexual assaults are grossly underreported.” At least 80% of childhood sexual abuse goes unseen. [6] Beyond the issue of non-reporting, childhood sexual abuse is often not remembered, for a number of reasons. In many cases, childhood abuse is perceived as so frightening, overwhelming and shameful, that an instinctive, protective amnesia and dissociation kicks in, and the memories are immediately repressed and forgotten. Or children may be given sedative drugs, alcohol or over-the-counter cold medicine, which blur memory further, with events lost in the unknown recesses of the mind.

If sexual abuse occurs when children are young enough, typically under the age of four, they usually do not have the neurologic capacity to form clear conscious memories. The feelings remain, but they are encoded in body memories and vague states of upset or behavioral symptoms that are difficult to understand.

In my clinical experience with women seeking healing for physical and/or emotional issues, the numbers are around 70% or greater who consciously remember sexual abuse, or who carry the symptomatic, behavioral and energetic signature of someone who has been exposed to sexual abuse, or who have this memory buried in their family history and lineage. The abuse can vary in intensity, from unwanted or inappropriate touch, voyeurism, leering, fondling, oral sex, penetration and beyond into the unthinkable. The more violent the incidents, the longer the duration, the closer the relationship of the perpetrator, and the more powerless the child feels to find support and safety, the more disruptive the outcome is to physical and emotional health.

Sexual Abuse A Common Cause of Borderline Personality and Dissociative Identity Disorders

Of all the mental health conditions, borderline personality and dissociative identity disorder, formerly “multiple personality disorder”, are the most closely linked with childhood sexual trauma (often compounded by other developmental traumas). A 2016 study showed approximately 45% of people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder had a known history of childhood sexual abuse. [7] An older study reports this number to be as high as 70%. [8] As shocking as these figures are, we know that they greatly underrepresent the actual percentages. Of course, not every case of borderline personality will involve sexual abuse, and many complex factors contribute to it, but we must explore this possibility, rather than ignore it.

DID and Ritual and Network Abuse

In dissociative identity disorder (DID), a condition in which multiple fragmented personalities are present in a person, a history of childhood trauma is nearly universal; it has been found in 97% of patients, with childhood sexual abuse found in as much as 90% of cases. [9,10,11] However, the patterns of sexual trauma in DID present an even darker and more disturbing picture. Psychotherapists report that 25-50% of their DID patients recover memories of systematic, ritual or network sexual abuse – abuse carried out by multiple people in an organized way. [12]

Psychotherapy professionals who come forward to speak about the presence of network abuse in their patients and communities are generally disbelieved, mocked, humiliated, excluded from professional societies, and stonewalled from publication. Academic researchers who are professionally or personally invested in the climate of denial, or who are hired by the systems of abuse, have launched what has been called the “Memory Wars” – writing scientific papers that claim recovered abuse memories are a result of “false memory syndrome”, that these memories are not real.

But, 60-80% of practicing clinicians, psychiatrists and therapists believe in the reality of trauma-repressed memories, especially in sexual abuse. [13] They are supported by new neurobiological studies and PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) literature that proves the existence of repressed memories caused by emotional trauma, later recovered in a safe therapeutic setting. [14,15,16,17,18] It is now known that we can repress entire events or segments of time as a coping response to an emotional crisis.

Creating New Paradigms of Support

Because we live in a culture that is in such profound denial of the tremendous scale of sexual abuse currently happening on the planet, often, abused women do not receive support. Their traumatic pain has not been recognized, not held with love, not healed. Instead they have often been misdiagnosed, medicated or disbelieved.

Many men are also playing out their repressed childhood sexual abuse wounds, sometimes as victims, but also at times becoming the perpetrator, unconsciously inflicting their sexual pain on a new generation of children. Crippled by the toxic shame they feel, and lacking the emotional tools and cultural support to heal, they can perpetuate the cycle of abuse. We sometimes forget that young boys are also vulnerable, and almost as many boys are sexually abused as girls. In the Catholic Church scandal, 80% of the victims were boys, mostly between the ages of 10 – 14. [19]

Statistics of abuse for transgender women, women and families of color, and those in marginalized or low-income communities are also higher than national averages, and are compounded with complex cultural biases that hinder support.

Protecting Women, Protecting Earth

The magnitude of the consequences of sexual abuse are immense; not just personally, but collectively, culturally, financially, ecologically and spiritually. Anyone who has worked directly with women knows of the slow, painful, agonizing and courageous journey it takes to heal these wounds – how they are written in the body and the psyche, and how much time and energy it takes to reweave trust.

And beyond this, the Womb and genitals of woman – the sacred sites targeted and attacked by sexual abuse – is also the portal through which our vibrational blueprint as a race is birthed, our ‘world womb’. A womb imprinted with pain, fear, and disconnection transmits this pain to the DNA of their future children, epigenetically modifying the expression of their genome – until these womb wounds are healed. [20]

We are literally birthing a world of pain and suffering through hidden sexual abuse.

The developmental trauma (chronic childhood emotional wounding, or “Complex-PTSD”) that is a result of this abuse epidemic, is at the root of much of the world’s suffering, costing us trillions of dollars per year in health care expenses and lost productivity, disconnecting us from earth, and costing us the lived integrity of our true soul self. We don’t feel safe in our bodies, in our culture, or in this world.

As the body of woman is raped, commodified, abused – so is the body of Mother Earth. We are raping the very energy source that created us and sustains us.

Protecting women is about more than “women’s rights” – it is about the very survival of our species. If we defile and destroy that which births us, we will soon die out.

This current crisis of sexual abuse is an incredible opportunity to make the shadow conscious, to speak out, to take action and to begin our healing journey together. Collectively, we are at a prophesized turning point. We have an amazing regenerative capacity within us, biologically, culturally and spiritually. Our experiences of the past do not need to define who we become. We can invoke a spontaneous, regenerative healing of our collective body, and return to balance.

By Azra Bertrand M.D. and Seren Bertrand, authors of the acclaimed book, Womb Awakening – Initiatory Wisdom From the Creatrix of All Life, as well as Sophia’s Return: Healing the Grail Wound, and Sacred Womb Rituals. They are founders of the worldwide Womb Awakening movement, and the Fountain of Life Womb Mystery School. They hold annual in-depth Womb Awakening Apprenticeships, and share shamanic music on Sacred Sounds of the Womb, Elemental Awakening, and other albums. Visit www.thefountainoflife.org. Sophia’s Return, Seren’s personal story of healing from sexual abuse, is offered as a free ebook on the website: https://www.thefountainoflife.org/sophias-return-healing-grail-wound/

Notes:

1."Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women." The New York Times. Oct. 8, 2016. Accessed October 1, 2017: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html

2."Game of Thrones' star Jason Momoa joked about raping 'beautiful women' on show". The Guardian. October 13, 2017. Accessed October 13, 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/oct/12/jason-momoa-game-of-thrones-raping-beautiful-women.

3. Schizophrenia, autism, and some other conditions are more strongly associated with epigenetic and environmental insults before and during gestation than childhood trauma.

4. Finkelhor, D. et al. “Sexual abuse in a national survey of adult men and women: Prevalence,characteristics, and risk factors.” Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal. 14(1), p. 19-28. (1990).

5. Singh, M. M., et al. An Epidemiological Overview of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 3(4), 430–435. (2014)

6. National Research Council. 2014. Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18605.

7. Menon, Preethi et al. “Childhood Sexual Abuse in Adult Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder.” Industrial Psychiatry Journal 25.1 (2016): 101–106. PMC. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.

8. ibid.

9. Chu, James A; Dill, Diana L. “Dissociative Symptoms in Relation to Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse.” The American Journal of Psychiatry; Washington147.7 (Jul 1990): 887-92

10. Coons, P., et al. Confirmation of Childhood Abuse in Child and Adolescent Cases of Multiple Personality Disorder and Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Aug 1, 1994.

11. Vedat Sar, “Epidemiology of Dissociative Disorders: An Overview,” Epidemiology Research International, vol. 2011, Article ID 404538, 8 pages, 2011. doi:10.1155/2011/404538

12. Mulhern, S. “Satanism, Ritual Abuse, and Multiple Personality Disorder: A Sociohistorical Perspective. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. 42(4),1994.

13.Patihis, Lawrence. "Are the 'Memory Wars' Over? A Scientist-Practitioner Gap in Beliefs About Repressed Memory." Psychological Science. Vol 25, Issue 2, pp. 519 – 530.

14.Anderson, MC, et al. "Neural systems underlying the suppression of unwanted memories." Science. 2004 Jan 9;303(5655):232-5.

15.Trei, L. "Psychologists offer proof of brain’s ability to suppress memories." Stanford Report. Jan 8 2004. Accessed October 1 2017: https://news.stanford.edu/news/2004/january14/memory-114.html

16.Elliott, D. M. Traumatic events: Prevalence and delayed recall in the general population. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 811-820. (1997). UCLA Medical Center, Child Abuse Crisis Center, Torrance, CA.

17.Sargant, W., et al. . Amnesic Syndromes in War. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 34(12), 757-764. (1941, June).

18.van der Hart, O., et al. Trauma-induced dissociative amnesia in World War I combat soldiers. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 33(1), 37-46. (1999, February). Department of Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

19. Cullen, K. “More than 80 percent of victims since 1950 were male, report says.” Boston Globe. 2/28/2004.

20. Bertrand and Bertrand. Womb Awakening: Initiatory Wisdom of the Creatrix of All Life. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2017, 224-227.