CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health articles from September 2006

CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health archives from September 2006

Editorial.(Editorial)
September 22, 2006... Those who are constitutionally disposed to speak in religious language whether they like it or not are in perennial doubt whether religious language has any legitimate uses. Worship, however physically compelling, is deeply compromised by the...

God and social change.
September 22, 2006... During the 1960's I was affiliated with and, for a couple of years, worked full time with SNCC (SNICK), the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee, at the main office in Atlanta, Georgia. The organization is best remembered now for its two...

The subtle violence of nonviolent language.
September 22, 2006... and now nothing will be impossible for them, which they have imagined to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language.... --Gen. 11:6 These thoughts are occasioned by a training video (1) by Marshall Rosenberg, a...

Christian rhetoric: scraps for a manifesto.
September 22, 2006... Too much Christian theology is rhetorically dangerous, by neglect or by design. Academic writing excuses itself from rhetorical care in the selfless service of some precise truth--and then deforms our only means for speaking truth. Popular...

Meeting her maker: Emily Dickinson's God.
September 22, 2006... It's common for secular academics to assume that religious belief--adherence to any religious system or ideology--is fundamentally at odds with the open-minded, exploratory enterprise of critical interpretation. That was certainly my assumption...

Speaking truth and seeking justice.
September 22, 2006... The contemporary apophatic namings of God name God as Incomprehensible. Apocalyptic also desires to name God in terms of the Impossible but not merely to render that naming in language and thought but more importantly to render it in time...

Islam and the Cultural Imperative.
September 22, 2006... For centuries, Islamic civilization harmonized indigenous forms of cultural expression with the universal norms of its sacred law. It struck a balance between temporal beauty and ageless truth and fanned a brilliant peacock's tail of unity in...

Revelation and revolution.
September 22, 2006... For Alain Badiou, the contemporary French philosopher of the radical Left, a subject is what is summoned into being by a response of persistent fidelity to an eternally enduring "truth event" which breaks disruptively, unpredictably, into the...

Islam and America: poetic connections.(Jelaluddin Rumi)
September 22, 2006... One of the best-selling poets in America is a 13th century Muslim named Jelaluddin Rumi. His words are read aloud at open-mike poetry nights and invoked at wedding ceremonies. Mainstream bookstores carry well over a dozen books of his poems and...

Revising night: Elie Wiesel and the hazards of Holocaust theology.
September 22, 2006... Try to imagine the ideological gap that exists between those who struggle to find meaning in the Holocaust and those who deny its reality. Try to see the size of it: an A-Bomb crater, a city-shaped hole in the earth. On the one side we find...

Burning words: a history play.(Critical essay)
September 22, 2006... Goats graze on bitter herbs and make sweet milk of it, and from the selfsame flower do honey bees derive their sweet honey and spiders their deadly poison. --Johannes Reuchlin Time: Action spans the first two decades of the 16th...

To go among the Saracens: a Franciscan composer's journey into the House of Islam.(Francis of Assisi )
September 22, 2006... Francis of Assisi went to Damietta, Egypt in 1219 with the intention of converting Sultan Malek al-Kamel, in the hope that the rest of the Fifth Crusade might be averted. After spending a week with the Sultan (during which he was able to work...

Shofar: an oratorio for soprano, tenor, two bass-baritones, chorus and orchestra.
September 22, 2006... The shofar is the ram's horn of Jewish liturgy, used during the High Holy Day period to evoke the breakdown of the soul's defenses against a consciousness of sin and its ultimate return to God. Robert Stern's music uses the technique of...

Note from the editor.(Editorial)
September 22, 2006... The poor health status of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples is a well-known fact and a serious concern not only for Aboriginal Peoples but for all Canadians. A recent United Nations report shows that Canada's ranking on the UN human development scale...

A view from CAMH.(Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)(mental health of aboriginal Peoples of Canada)
September 22, 2006... When we talk about the determinants of health as being broadly based beyond pure biomedical factors in relation to mental illness and addiction, nowhere is this more palpable than in relation to the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. Housing,...

Stop smoking project makes a good start.(profile)
September 22, 2006... On May 31, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act came into effect, reducing the number of places where smokers can light up. The Act's goal is to protect Ontarians by decreasing opportunities for smokers to smoke. Still, staring scientific truths in the...

Sexual minority youth speak out about homelessness.(news)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... At a downtown Toronto youth centre one recent evening, the summer's worst rainstorm was raging outside. But around the table in the basement, nobody noticed. The group gathered there was eating spicy mango salad, catching up on news and sharing...

International resilience project identifies youth strengths.(news)
September 22, 2006... Most of us are fortunate to live comparatively privileged lives. We enjoy much more than just the life-sustaining basics every day--plenty of food to eat, a roof over our heads, clear running water, accessible medical care and education and,...

Breast milk reduces withdrawal symptoms in babies of addicted mothers.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Feeding breast milk to the babies of drug dependent mothers can ease the infants' withdrawal symptoms, according to researchers at the Royal Hospital for Women in New South Wales, Australia. The study included 190 babies born to drug-dependent...

Nicotinic agonist improves cognition in schizophrenia.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A proof-of-concept trial from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver indicates that the alpha-7 nicotinic agonist DMXB-A can improve neurocognition in people with schizophrenia. An estimated 80% of people with schizophrenia...

Children of depressed parents at risk for mental and physical disorders.(research update)
September 22, 2006... The offspring of depressed parents face an increased risk of anxiety disorders, major depression and substance dependence, research from Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute suggests. The study included 101 offspring...

Gender differences seen in consequences of domestic violence.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Research from Columbia University in New York finds that women are more likely than men to experience psychiatric disorders as a result of domestic violence. Using data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study in New...

Behavioural problems predict substance use in teens.
September 22, 2006... Aggressive teens are more likely to experiment with tobacco and marijuana, according to new research from the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Previous research has indicated that teens with...

School anti-bullying programs can be effective.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Anti-bullying programs can reduce school bullying, especially if they are accompanied by written policies against bullying, according to a two-year study from the Netherlands Organization of Applied Scientific Research in Leiden. The study...

Coffee protects against alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Coffee appears to reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver, especially cirrhosis resulting from long term alcohol abuse, according to new research from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California. Researchers there...

Coming full circle: cultural restoration for First Nations wellness.(mental health management)
September 22, 2006... VOICES CALLING FOR SERVICES TO ADDRESS FIRST NATIONS mental health, addictions, youth suicide and mental illness have increased in recent times, thanks to the fine work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Standing Senate...

Sacred smoke, silent killer: spiritual use or tobacco abuse?(www.cancercare.on.ca.)
September 22, 2006... TO MOST NORTH AMERICANS, TOBACCO IS SIMPLY AN addictive, recreational drug, readily available in cigarette, pipe, cigar, chewing and snuff forms. Tobacco is considered a commercial product made from the leaves of a plant raised by farmers,...

Western medicine meets traditional healing: the experience of Six Nations Mental Health Services.
September 22, 2006... WHEN I FINISHED MY SPECIALTY TRAINING IN 1998 AND became the first female aboriginal psychiatrist in Canada, I regarded the landmark not so much as the height of personal achievement but as the beginning of a working journey to help improve the...

Longing to return home: from intergenerational trauma to intergenerational healing.(addiction treatment)
September 22, 2006... NUMEROUS THEORIES HAVE BEEN OFFERED TO EXPLAIN the high rate of addiction and mental health issues among Aboriginal Peoples. I am a mental health and addictions clinician and First Nations person, so this debate has both professional and deeply...

Arctic pain: Inuit trauma/addiction program tackles massive challenge.(focus)
September 22, 2006... AT AGE 25, GEOFF KILABUCK ALREADY HAS KNOWN 33 PEOPLE who have committed suicide. The suicide rate among Canada's aboriginal (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) youth is six times the national average. Even more staggering, the figure among Inuit...

Doing time to heal: cultural understanding key to treatment with aboriginal offenders.
September 22, 2006... * GEORGE FELT LIKE HE FINALLY FOUND A SUBSTANCE abuse program that worked. In the programs he had been involved with as an imate at Stony Mountain Institution outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, he felt the atmosphere wasn't always respectful or open...

Medication overprescription among aboriginal women.(Interview)
September 22, 2006... This Q&A is based on an interview with Amy Salmon, a researcher with the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health and lead author of a recent report on gender and benzodiazepine use among older aboriginal people. Describe...

Library and Archives Canada.(www.collectionscanada. ca/aboriginal/index-e.html.)(www.collectionscanada.ca/native-residential/index-e.htm)(www.wherearethechildren.ca)
September 22, 2006... For a feast of resources, including visual, visit Library and Archives Canada, Aboriginal Resources and Services at www.collectionscanada. ca/aboriginal/index-e.html. One resource to highlight is Native Residential Schools in Canada: A...

Information Centre on Aboriginal Health.(www.icah.ca)(www.naho.ca)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... The Canadian gateway to health resources for Aboriginal Peoples is the Information Centre on Aboriginal Health (www.icah.ca), a service of the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) (www.naho.ca). The ICAH database includes all types of...

Canada--youth.(www.ayn.ca)(services of Aboriginal Youth Network)(Website overview)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Aboriginal Youth Network www.ayn.ca This national network is operated for and by aboriginal youth, ages 12-29. The Health Centre, which can be entered from the main page or found through the Inside AYN section, covers many topics--abuse,...

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.(www.ofifc.org)(www.ccsa.ca)(Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres)(Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse)(online services)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... As a result of serious social problems, First Nations communities have been hard hit by FASD. They have been very proactive in Canada in putting FASD on the prevention/health promotion and intervention agenda and providing culturally sensitive...

Solvent abuse.(www.canadianhealthnetwork.ca)(www.members.shaw. ca/ysac)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Sniffing or huffing solvents is a widespread problem among at-risk children and adolescents including young aboriginals in rural and remote regions. For a good overview document, read Parents Be Aware: Sniffing Kills, accessible through both...

The far North.(www.ccsa.ca/CCSA/EN/Partnerships/ Territories)(website of Territorial Resource Partnership)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... For an in-depth look at addiction-related issues in each of Canada's three territories, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon, visit CCSA's Territorial Resource Partnership, (www.ccsa.ca/CCSA/EN/Partnerships/ Territories). The...

United States.(www.uchsc.edu/ai/ncaianmhr/journal_online.htm)(www.nativeweb.org)(National Center for the American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research)(NativeWeb: Resources for Indigenous Cultures Around the World )(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... The National Center for the American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research (NCAIANMHR), University of Colorado at Denver, publishes the peer reviewed journal American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the...

Australia.(www.adac.org.au)(www.anu.edu.au/caepr/info.php)(works of Maggie Brady)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Social anthropologist Maggie Brady, author of the well-known The Grog Book, has put Australia on the map for the study of culturally sensitive approaches to indigenous substance use issues, from alcohol (grog) to petrol sniffing. She is a...

Why is progress so slow on supportive housing? A consumer perspective.(Editorial)
September 22, 2006... There are perhaps thousands of fine people who have lent their time and goodwill advocating for more housing. Service providers in the housing business spend countless hours lobbying for more units, writing proposals and developing properties....

Conferences.(Calendar)
September 22, 2006... CANADA Violence Against Women: Diversifying Social Responses International Conference October 22-24, Montreal, Quebec Contact: Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Family Violence and Violence Against Women, Laval University,...