CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health articles from March 2004

CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health archives from March 2004

Note from the editor.
March 22, 2004... With the long winter slowly yielding to sunnier, milder days, many of us are emerging from our hibernation eager to get physically active once again. According to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, Canadians have become more...

A new look for CAMH.(news from the Centre)
March 22, 2004... Having just celebrated our fifth anniversary, we felt it was the right time to review CAMH's identity; specifically how CAMH portrays itself as an organization. The review has resulted in an updated logo/wordmark, pictured here, and a new...

Toolkit helps pregnant women quit smoking.(news from the Centre)
March 22, 2004... A free toolkit is now available on-line to help pregnant women quit smoking. Designed for health care professionals and pregnant women, the user-friendly toolkit provides accurate information about pregnancy and smoking cessation. The toolkit...

CAMH makes top 10 list of scientific breakthroughs in 2003.(news from the Centre)
March 22, 2004... The journal Science has released its 2003 list of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs. Dr. Jim Kennedy of CAMH'S Neuroscience Research Department was a researcher on two of these studies. These were "The brain derived neurotrophic factor gene...

CBT shows changes in brain patterns.(news from the Centre)
March 22, 2004... The collaborative research efforts of CAMH, the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and the University of Toronto have found that individuals who recover from depression with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)...

A family groups perspective on the non-smoking issue.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2004... I was pleased to read the story entitled "Smoking out psychiatric institutions: tobacco-free policies support healthier environments" in the summer issue. As a member of the Lambton Family Initiative, a support service for family members of...

Correction.(letters)(Correction Notice)
March 22, 2004... The "Resources" sidebar on page 13 of the Winter 2003/04 issue describes the Electronic Journal of Gambling as providing first-person accounts (FPAs) "from professionals working with people with gambling problems." However, the goal of the FPAs...

Nurturing health at the Peace Ranch.(profile)
March 22, 2004... It's the coldest day of the year and the snow is dry and squeaky under foot; yet Alfonz the alpaca comes bustling out, with several sheep, to meet us: gigantic eyes searching us shyly up and down for treats. Surrounded by forested hills and...

Ontario youth use fewer drugs but continue to binge drink.(news)
March 22, 2004... Students are using less tobacco and ecstasy, but are still binge drinking on a regular basis, according to the 2003 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS). Released in November, the OSDUS offers further proof of the need to provide students...

Canadians experience poor mental health, but few seek help, survey finds.(news)
March 22, 2004... A first of-its-kind survey released in September by Statistics Canada has found that one in 10 Canadians has experienced a psychiatric disorder within the past 12 months. Some disorders, such as depression, are as common as diabetes, heart...

Moderate drinkers have smaller brains.(research update)
March 22, 2004... People who consume moderate amounts of alcohol have smaller brains than non-drinkers, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to examine the brains of 1,909 individuals in their mid-50s....

Link found between maternal smoking and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.(research update)
March 22, 2004... Maternal smoking during pregnancy may be associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in offspring, according to researchers at the University of Wales College of Medicine. Families of 1,452 twirl pairs, age 5-16,...

Alcohol intoxication gene found in worms.(research update)
March 22, 2004... A study of intoxication in laboratory roundworms has found a gene that may explain why some people are most resistant to alcohol's effects. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, screened thousands of the fast-breeding lab...

Road rage related to psychiatric distress.(research update)
March 22, 2004... Road rage is related to psychiatric distress, according to research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. Researchers studied data on road rage involvement, demographic characteristics and mental health among 2,610...

Asthma related to various psychiatric disorders.(research update)
March 22, 2004... Asthma may be associated with a range of psychiatric disorders, according to researchers at Columbia University in New York. The researchers studied a sample of adults, age 18-65, in Germany. They based their diagnoses of current (past four...

Multiple psychiatric disorders found among detained youth.(research update)
March 22, 2004... About one-half of juvenile detainees in the United States have at least two mental health disorders and more than one in 10 have both a psychiatric disorder and a substance use problem. The findings are based on screenings of 1,829 residents,...

Neuroticism as a potential risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.(research update)
March 22, 2004... Susceptibility to psychological distress may be linked with the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Researchers at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, hypothesized that propensity to experience psychological distress...

Clients on disability support struggles to survive the system.(news)
March 22, 2004... Citizens of Toronto who are living on government assistance through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) are looking for improvements to the system, two of them being money and dignity. Two ODSP Action Coalitions were formed in...

If you fall down, just pick yourself back up: snowboarding teaches at-risk youth to conquer mountains--and life's challenges.(focus)
March 22, 2004... IMAGINE YOU'RE IN A THERAPY SESSION. WHAT SPRINGS to mind? You're probably sitting in a comfortable office. On the wall behind a desk is the therapist's framed degree. You're talking about your problems, maybe gazing out the window. But...

Active bodies and healthy minds: physical activity promotes recovery from mental illness.(focus)
March 22, 2004... FOR STEVE MCNALL AND OTHERS IN HIS HOCKEY GROUP, Tuesday is the best night of the week. It's when some 18 players--mostly men--meet at their rink in Owen Sound, Ontario, for a pick-up hockey game. They get some exercise, work on their skills...

Runner's high revisited: does exercise addiction have a place in the DSM?(focus)
March 22, 2004... CONSIDER THE MUCH-RESPECTED MARATHONER. THAT tall lanky type who, at the peak of training, is logging 50 kilometres a week in runs. He's intimately familiar with "runner's high," that euphoric feeling that comes with running, making him feel...

Working out the pain: treating eating disorders and unhealthy exercise poses double challenge.(focus)
March 22, 2004... SARA * READILY SPEAKS NOW ABOUT EXPERIENCES THAT for years she kept private: "Puberty found me gaining 30 pounds in a short period of time," she recalls. "Despite my mother warning me that it would be temporary and difficult, this period was...

Good sport/bad sport: how to foster positive participation among youth.(q & a focus)
March 22, 2004... This Q&A is based on an interview with Lenny Wiersma, an assistant professor in the Division of Kinesiology and Health Science at California State University at Fullerton, and co-director of the school's Center for the Advancement of...

Better than Prozac: psychopharmacology then and now.
March 22, 2004... Writing prescriptions is easy, but understanding people is hard. --Franz Kafka, A Country Doctor AUTHOR SAMUEL BARONDES BEGINS HIS NEW BOOK WITH this short but perceptive line. He confesses in the prologue that he has been a fan of...

SANE Down Under.(downloaded)
March 22, 2004... SANE Australia (www.sane.org) is a national organization supporting people with mental illness. One of its focal areas is overall health. For starters, SANE has resources about smoking cessation for both professionals and the public. Health...

Who do hospitals need: more good doctors or more good lawyers?(the last word)
March 22, 2004... MICHAEL BAY IS A HIGHLY RESPECTED Canadian attorney specializing in mental health law. He not only has a deep knowledge of the subject, but also first-hand experience as former chair of the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario (CCB). Given his...

Conferences.(Calendar)
March 22, 2004... CANADA 2nd Canadian Conference on Hepatitis C March 21-30, Vancouver British Columbia Contact Conference secretariat, Malachite Management, 777 West Broadway, Ste. 401 Vancouver BC V5Z 4J7 tel 604-874-4004 fax...

The Passion of cinema.(Editorial)(Editorial)
March 22, 2004... The film is the art form that is in keeping with the increased threat to his life which modern man has to face. Man's need to expose himself to shock effects is his adjustment to the dangers threatening him. The film...

"I didn't see any anti-semitism": why many Christians don't have a problem with the Passion of the Christ.(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... In April 2003 I was a part of a team of seven scholars--four Catholics (including Philip Cunningham, Lawrence Frizzell and John Pawlikowski) and three Jews (Michael Cook, Paula Fredriksen and Amy-Jill Levine)--who reviewed a script of Mel...

Mel Gibson's alter ego: a male Passion for violence.(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... The new millennium now has its own Jesus film: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. At its core is the visual display of a human body systematically beaten into a bloody pulp. Even before opening night, the movie has unleashed controversy,...

Hospitable vision: some notes on the ethics of seeing film.
March 22, 2004... The first exhibition of Impressionist paintings (1874) provoked angry criticism, to which one of the Impressionist painters replied, "You will soon see nature as we do." The power of film might be summarized by a slight revision of that...

If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes: destabilized spectatorship and creation's chaos in blade runner.(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... Twenty-two years after the initial release of Ridley Scott's futuristic drama, Blade Runner (theater release, 1982; director's cut, 1991) (1), we find ourselves in something of a realization of the film's predicted universe: the world has...

Himala: the temptress, the virgin, and the elusive miracle.(Movie Review)
March 22, 2004... The Filipino film Himala (Miracle, dir. Ishmael Bernal, 1982) is set in a marginal barrio awash in folk religiosity and superstition. Desert-like, poor, and believed to be cursed, the veritable nowhereland craves for a miracle. The miracle...

Tarantino's incarnational theology: Reservoir Dogs, crucifixions and spectacular violence (1).(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... Writing about Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's 1995 directorial and screenwriting debut, Manohla Dargis observed: A history of American cinema could be traced on the bruised, besieged male body, from westerns to gangster...

Filmmaking as spiritual practice and ministry.(Macky Alston)(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... Imagine this: for two years you have been filming a minister with cancer. She is convinced she has a long prophetic ministry ahead of her. She believes that, for God, anything is possible and, because she has this sense of call, she is sure to...

Trembling Playground: two young directors discuss film, faith, and the challenges of documenting religion.(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... Among the more critically acclaimed and commercially successful documentaries dealing with religion over the last several years, both Trembling Before G-d (New Yorker Films, 84 mins, 2001; www.trembingbeforeg-d.com) and Devil's Playground (Fox...

Hiroshima, mon amour: a new film coincides with the rebirth of the nuclear age.(Movie Review)
March 22, 2004... August 6th of next year will mark a date of tragic distinction: the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Along with the incineration of Nagasaki, the United States' decision to develop and deploy history's most efficient "weapons of...

Black Rain: reflections on Hiroshima and nuclear war in Japanese film.(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2004... In the literature on atomic bomb-related themes in Japanese cinema we find a number of trends. Some films--surprisingly few--are intended as open social protests of America's use of the bombs. There are critics who see the bombings as the key...

Terrorism: a problem for ethics or pastoral theology?
March 22, 2004... On Sept. 11, 2001, one of the witnesses beholding the stricken towers was a priest later interviewed on the PBS documentary "Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero." With simple eloquence, Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete remembered, "From the...

Belief.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... "And he believed in the Lord; and it was accounted to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:6) no; Belief is more than listening to the echo of the unicorn's voice chanting as it...

Prophecy.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... "Two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in the camp, yet the Spirit fell upon them. They were among those recorded but had not gone out to the Tent, and they prophesied in the camp. A youth ran and told Moses, 'Eldad and...

Forest fire.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... "For whoever does any of these transgressions, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from their people." (Leviticus 18:29) To run away, to flee, escape; I hold My trembling daughter in my arms and run As fire, pursuing us, cuts...

Sand dunes.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... "Who led you through this great and terrible desert, with its snakes, fiery serpents and scorpions, a parched land without any water in it..." (Deuteronomy 8:15) Abraham: Under this sand dune (Its surface smoother than a blade of iron...

Manna.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... "The house of Israel named it manna; it was like white coriander seed, and its taste was like wafers in honey." (Exodus 16:13) When least expected, The manna Comes. Like a burst of lightning in a moonless desert night Suddenly...

Methodology.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... Don't keep your eye on minutiae For too long-radical damage Can come from observing the ion. If funeral goers find cheer in the sun A rash downpour will remind them There are plenty of shoulders to cry on. In Denmark of old,...

Before you were seen.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... Before you were seen poised in the opalescent passageway between daytime and evening, my mind imagined it was a peregrine whose incessant preening penetrated heaven, whose cultivated sheen impressed mountains. Freed from the...

Since you came.(Poetry)(Brief Article)(Poem)
March 22, 2004... Since you came I shun the harsh Aegean sun. Athena I abandon To her perch upon the parched Parthenon. I seek the conundrum of convoluted rooms, of caves and canyons where your intuition subdues the weapon of my reason. In...

Auteur! Auteur!(Books)(Book Review)
March 22, 2004... AUTEUR! AUTEUR! Joseph Cunneen Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film New York: 2003. 200pp. $29.95 (cloth). As the Sixties rolled in, not the least of the revolutionary cultural forces crashing onto American shores was the...

Alternative traditions in early Christianity.(Books)(Book Review)
March 22, 2004... ALTERNATIVE TRADITIONS IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas By Elaine Pagels New York Random House, 2003. 257 pp. $24.95 (cloth) In this attractively written, very accessible book, Elaine Pagels...