Crazy in America:  The Hidden Tragedy of OurCriminalized Mentally Ill
Author:  Mary Beth Pfeiffer
ISBN:  978-0-78671-745-3
 
APA Style Citation
Pfeiffer, M. (2007).  Crazy in America:  The Hidden Tragedy of OurCriminalized Mentally Ill.  Carroll and Graf Publishers, N.Y., New York.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-America-Tragedy-Criminalized-Mentally/dp/0786717459
​

​Summary of Book
Shayne Eggan was a beautiful girl with a charismatic personality who took after her dynamic and free-spirited Greek mother.  She had a normal and happy life until her mid-teens when she began to respond to the overtures of boys and older men and started to express the belief that others could “read her mind.”  Shayne was hospitalizedfor these delusions and her strange Indian themed hallucinations.  She became a ward of the state of Iowa because her parents` minimal means could not pay for her continued hospitalization and she was determined to have paranoid schizophrenic tendencies which could cause her to become violent.  Shayne believed she was an Indian princess.  She became obsessed with an older Indian man and continued to write to him and believe they would be together long after he was married and had children.  Shayne often became violent, first with her family, and then with others.  She expressed that, “I get so scared that people are going to hurt me, that I have to hurt them first.” During one such psychotic episode, the police were called,andshe lunged at a police officer with a knife because she thought he was going to hurt her.  She was arrested and thus began Shayne`s life in the criminal justice system.  Shayne had a baby in prison who was immediately removed from her care because it was claimedthat Shayne expressed a desire to kill him, which she denied.  Shayne would be releasedafter serving a term but within a few days would often wind up back in prison because her delusions caused her to break into someone`s home, or act out violently when she felt she was being threatened.  Because of her record, instead of a warning or probation, she would wind up back in prison. Once in prison, she could not abide by the strict rules of the institution which would result in an extended sentence or time in solitary confinement, which often made her delusions worse.  The local mental health care facility was not an option because the facility which had housed 1,800 people in the 1940s, housed only 95 patients in the 1990s. From 1995 to 2000, Iowa went from having 204 beds for every 100,000 people to having six
 
Shayne needed immediateintervention and could not wait years for treatment.  She attempted to treat her delusions and hallucinations with drugs, which often exacerbated the problems.  In solitary confinement, Shayne`s delusions became so intense that she dug her owneye out, she explained that this made her feel good.  While prison officials panicked, Shayne played with her hanging eye, and was eventually handcuffed to restrict this behavior.  Later, during another stint in solitary, Shayne attempted to chew off her pinky and lost four teeth in the process.  
 
Shayne is not alone in suffering from her mental illness while incarcerated.  Of the 2.2 million people in American jails in 1999, roughly 330,000 were mentally ill. In 2005 estimates were that 34% of those in prisons were mentally ill.  By 2006, Shayne was one of the lucky ones as she was able to procure a bed at the mental health institute in Independence, Iowa.  By that time, Shayne had lost her second eye in much the same way as her first and was completely blind.  While she is not curedtoday, her symptoms seem more under control, although she still has not accepted her diagnosis. 
 
Shayne’s story is typical of hundreds of thousands of Americans dealing with a criminal justice system that does not allow for the different and often “belligerent” behavior of some individuals withmental illness.  These individuals often have no place to go and as a result of their illness wind up in prison where treatment is lacking if there is any treatment at all.  While Shayne eventually received the treatment she so desperately needed, many others are not so lucky.  
 
In another case study described in the book, Luke Ashely who suffered from debilitating anxiety and schizophrenia self-medicated with drugs.  He was initially arrestedfor possession of two pills of ecstasy.  Eventually, after begging his mother to come and get him out of prison somehow, he hanged himself in his cell as the stress and anxiety of prison was simply too much for him to take.  
 
In another tragic case depicted in the book, Alan Houseman wandered the streets of his Tampa neighborhood where he was recognizedas odd but not dangerous.  He lived with his mother, andafter her death,his paranoia became increasingly more intense.  He would eventually lose his life after being shot by a police officer who confronted him as he urinated in a public parking lot.  His paranoia of law enforcement caused him to ignore orders from the officer, andwhile he attempted to flee (because he believed she was there to take him to a mental health care facility),he was shotmultiple times.  In yet another case, Peter Nadir who was extremely autistic got into a physical altercation with his disabledmother.  Concerned neighbors called the police,andin the pursuit of Peter who would not abide by officers` request,Peter died of asphyxiation.  A police officer who was trying to get Peter under control, was kneeling on his back but also cutting off his ability to breathe.
 
Between 2000 and 2006, 24 people were killed by police officers in the Tampa Bay area alone.  Most investigations into the deaths of these individuals resulted in the exoneration of police officers, most of whom have not been trainedin dealing with the mentally ill.  In 2002, in Florida jails, 23 percent of inmates had a mentalillness, which is three times the figure from 1992.  Florida, like many other states, hasessentially replaced state psychiatric hospitals with state and local correctional institutions.  America`s prison system had the world’s highest per capitaincarceration rate in 2005; 714 per 100,000 people.  In the U.S., 60 billion dollars was spent on prisons while a fraction of that was spenton the proactive treatment of the mentally ill.  In 1980, 57% of people incarcerated in New York had gone to prison for violent offenses.  By 2002, that number was down to 29%.  Many mentally ill individuals attempt to self-medicate by using illicit drugs and because of “get tough”laws on drug crimes many of these individuals find themselves in prison and unable to manage day-to-day prison life because their illness makes it difficult to abide by the strict rules of the system.  Thisoften results in increased sentences because of misbehavior or time in solitary, which often makes the psychotic symptoms worse. While the history of treatment for the mentally ill in America has certainly been far from perfect, we appear to have moved away from a structured and helpful treatment.  
 
Proactive efforts to treat the mentally ill would allow many to lead healthy and productive lives before the symptoms get out of control.  Law enforcement agents need to be trainedon how to deal with mentally ill individuals who may feel threatened or act violently because of their illness.  Community programs are necessary to reintegrate or keep those suffering from mental illness in the community that may mean helping with simple tasks such as paying bills and supporting the individualswith empathy and understanding.  Despite some progress, mental illness still carries a stigma, andmany of those suffering are forced to live on the fringes of society.  America has done little to assist this population, andthe impact has been profound.
 
Other Related Resources
 
Stigma in a Global Context:  Mental Health Study Indiana University 
http://www.indiana.edu/~sgcmhs/
 
The Atlantic: Should the United States Bring Back Psychiatric Asylums?  
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/should-the-us-bring-back-psychiatric-asylums/384838/  
 
John Oliver Last Week Tonight on Mental Health 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGY6DqB1HX8  
 
National Bureau of Economic Research:  Mental Health Treatment and Criminal Justice Outcomes by Richard Frank and Thomas G. McGuire April 2010 
http://www.nber.org/papers/w15858.pdf
 
PEW Charitable Trusts:  Prison Health Care:  Costs and Quality:  How and Why States strive for high-performing systems October 2017
https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2017/10/sfh_prison_health_care_costs_and_quality_final.pdf
 
National Public Radio:  How the Loss of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals led to a Mental Health Crisis
https://www.npr.org/2017/11/30/567477160/how-the-loss-of-u-s-psychiatric-hospitals-led-to-a-mental-health-crisis?t=1537124105158
 
Technology and the Future of Mental Health Treatment:  National Institute of Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/technology-and-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment/index.shtml  
 
Five-point Plan to Improve the Nations Mental Health
https://blog.samhsa.gov/2015/02/18/five-point-plan-to-improve-the-nations-mental-health/#.W56kTS2B36A  
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts 
Anxiety Disorder
Autism
Delusion
Haldol
Paranoid Schizophrenia
Prolixin
Schizoaffective Disorder
 
 

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery
​Authors:  Barbara K. Lipska and Elaine McArdle
ISBN-10: 1328787303
ISBN-13: 978-1328787309

APA Style Citation
Lipska, B. K. & McArdle, E. (2018).  The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Neuroscientist-Who-Lost-Her-Mind/dp/1328787303

​Book Description
Dr. Barbara Lipska dedicated her life to neuroscience and ended up raging a personal battle with her own brain. As a neuroscientist her specialty was schizophrenia, but soon she experienced the very symptoms she studied. The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery follows her personal story of overcoming melanoma that metastasized to the brain. She reminds us that mental illness is a brain disease and provides a blend of brain awareness and personal anecdotes to educate the reader. According to Dr. Thomas R. Insel, former National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) director, when speaking of Lipska, “You have done something so important for people with serious mental illness who do not have an observable lesion. Not only have you reminded us all that mental illnesses are brain illnesses, you have reminded us to be hopeful. People recover.” It is her expertise, desire to help reduce stigma, and optimism that leaves a lasting mark on the reader.
 
Throughout the book, Dr. Lipska divulges personal stories to build together the timeline of her amazing strength and battle with various cancers.  She began her journey in communist Poland in the 1980s where she worked on clinical trials for drugs to treat schizophrenia. Her first marriage quickly fell apart after she learned her husband had melanoma that ended up metastasizing to the brain, the very disorder she later faced. She found comfort in another man, Mirek and went on to marry him and raise her two children from her first marriage. In 1989, she was offered employment at the National Institute of Health in Maryland. Her research quickly took off and, in 1993, she published findings for the Lipska model. Then, in 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy on her left breast. Again in 2011, she received the unimaginable news and learned that she had the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma. She went on to beat cancer for a second time. In 2013, she was named Director of the Human Brain Collection Core at the NIMH. Life seemed to be taking a turn for the better, and she started to train for a half Ironman.
 
In January 2015, her story changed once again for the worse. She was working on her computer when her right hand vanished from her lower right visual field. She did not want to admit that something was wrong, but she was well-versed in the symptoms of cancer. An MRI confirmed she had three tumors and that one was bleeding and appeared to be melanoma. She was going to battle this cancer with the “kitchen sink”, including surgery, radiation, and immunotherapy. She was given steroids to prevent swelling and needed brain surgery to remove the bleeding tumor from her occipital lobe. Fortunately, the raisin-sized tumor was in a non-life-threatening location. Next, she decided to use stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to focus high doses of radiation onto individual tumors. Within one month of the brain surgery she was skiing, and within two months, training for a triathlon again. The family vacationed in Hawaii and spirits were high. After she returned, she received the news that she had been accepted into an immunotherapy clinical trial. Immunotherapy uses the body’s own defenses to fight the disease and has been touted as one of the most encouraging cancer treatments in decades.  Over 12 weeks, Dr. Lipska received four injections, consisting of a combination of two monoclonal antibody drugs that boosted the immune system. The drugs teach the dysfunctional T cells to recognize, attack, and kill off the cancerous cells.  She was not supposed to have any active tumors to complete the trial because the consequences were unknown. However, she learned from a second opinion that she had three new tumors.  Dr. Lipska decided to keep the news a secret and she proceeded with the trial. After the second injection, her body took a turn for the worse. She had an autoimmune reaction and suffered lymphedema from her previous mastectomy. When her lymph nodes were removed, her lymphatic system was blocked and her lymph fluid could not properly drain. This fluid buildup led to swelling in Dr. Lipska’s arm. It was at this time that her personality started to change. She became aggressive, acting like a 2-year-old having a tantrum, but did not have insight into her own behavior. She lashed out at her family, a physical therapist, and termite inspection man. She was angry, paranoid, impatient, and lacked empathy. Her frontal lobe was changing, but everyone wrote it off as stress. In June 2015, a variety of odd behaviors started to occur. She went for a run in her neighborhood with hair dye dripping everywhere and missing her prosthetic breast. She lost her car and, after finding it, damaged it as she frantically tried to escape the parking structure. After her final injection, she got sick on pizza and believed she had been poisoned by plastic hidden in the pizza. Upon her family’s advice she returned to the doctor for her first MRI since joining the immunotherapy trial. She learned that she had new tumors and the immunotherapy did not work. There was a total of 18 tumors, the largest in her frontal and parietal lobe.  She also had significant swelling and inflammation of brain tissue. Once again, she was given high amounts of steroids. This time her therapy included CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery, which used a robotic arm to shoot high-dose radiation into the tumors.
 
Dr. Lipska continued to battle her symptoms for the next two months.  She was argumentative and lost her ability to plan. She became obsessed with food and gained ten pounds. She was told to get her affairs in order, and her family began a rotation of visits. As her symptoms continued to advance, she forgot her husband’s birthday and how to do simple math, but her writing and creativity remained strong.  Dr. Lipska continued to work out, but did not understand the physical strain on her body. One specific incident included a seven-mile hike where she found chanterelle mushrooms that she wanted her husband to gather for breakfast.  After her 2.5 hour walk, she was exhausted and became overwhelmed. Her brain entered survival mode, and she blew up at her husband and family. Soon after this incident, her family noticed her short-term memory was disappearing. In addition, she would lose her balance and not be able to judge distance. One afternoon after demanding to walk home, she got lost and had her first incident of incontinence. When attending the grand opening of a local supermarket, she experienced a sensory overload from the music that sent her into panic mode. She was living a strange irony of the symptoms she once studied. 
 
Her mind finally started to return. She described it like crawling out of a black hole. Dr. Lipska wanted to keep fighting, but the two new drugs that showed promise for her genetic variation were not approved by the FDA and were not covered by insurance. The drug company gave her the drugs for “compassionate use” and she began both types. Her body exploded in a rash, but eventually she had promising results. In July 2015, she had a scan that showed the tumors shrank considerably or disappeared.  There was no way to know exactly which treatment worked, but she was grateful (even though the scientist in her was annoyed). She continued to have brain scans every six weeks. Small tumors have appeared and were treated with CyberKnife.
 
Dr. Lipska has tried to put all the pieces together and figure out how to move forward. Her family doesn’t talk much about those two summer months. She was scared about how her mind failed and has since regularly tested herself to see if her symptoms are returning. She publicly shared her story through The New York Times for the first time and received a positive response. But her story took another twist in August 2016. At the site of her biggest tumor she experienced brain tissue necrosis. This is a delayed and sometimes fatal effect of radiation, where the surrounding tissue of the brain tumor does not heal after the radiation.  Dr. Lipska noticed a blind spot at the top of her visual field in her left eye. She was diagnosed with irreversible optic neuropathy- total blindness in her left eye due to the radiation she received. Lipska refused to give up, retrained her body to deal with the blindness, and even trained for a family triathlon. Two weeks before the race she experienced a leg twitch. She was having seizures due to necrotic tissue in her right motor cortex.  Despite her complications she continued to compete in the triathlon, taking the swimming leg of the race. When she passed the timing piece to her husband, he said, “Life is a team sport! And remember, my love, we’ll conquer this beast!”
 
The prognosis for Dr. Lipska is good, but she is cautious. She is worried it could all happen again with old age. But she knows it is through the support of her family that she got through her journey to madness and back.
 
Other Related Resources
Barbara K. Lipska Webpage
https://www.barbaralipska.com/bio/
 
The New York Times Article written by Dr. Lipska
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscientist-who-lost-her-mind.html
Possible questions include:

1. What symptoms did Dr. Lipska experience that mimic mental illness?
2. What role did her family play in her story with melanoma?
3. How does this story fight the stigma of mental illness?
4. How is this story a testament to optimism?

 
NPR Interview with Dr. Lipska
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/31/598236622/the-neuroscientist-who-lost-her-mind-returns-from-madness
 
Megyn Kelly TODAY interview with Dr. Lipska
https://www.today.com/video/meet-the-neuroscientist-who-lost-her-mind-then-got-it-back-again-1209150019548
 
2018 Gaithersburg Book Festival in Maryland book talk with Dr. Lipska
https://www.c-span.org/video/?445042-12/the-neuroscientist-lost-mind
 
WGBH News interview with Dr. Lipska
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abWumGocVoU
 
WBUR- Radio Boston interview with Dr. Lipska
http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2018/04/23/neuroscientist-new-book
 
Psychology Today posts from authors
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/barbara-k-lipska-phd-elaine-mcardle
 
The Guardian Article
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/30/i-was-a-caricature-of-my-worst-traits-how-brain-cancer-can-affect-the-mind
 
Wall Street Journal article written by James (son-in-law) about the family triathlon
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-triathlon-is-easy-next-to-soviets-and-polio-1495492959
 
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor- Harvard trained brain scientist who suffers from a stroke and then writes about it
http://mystrokeofinsight.com/
http://drjilltaylor.com/book.html
https://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0452295548
https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104154403
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts 
Phineas Gage
 
Adrenal glands
Anosognosia- lack of insight
Antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s
Blood-brain-barrier (BBB)
Brain
Brain bank
Cerebellum
Confidentiality
Consciousness
Creativity
CT scan
Dementia
DSM-5
Dyspraxia
Empathy
Frontal cortex
Frontal lobotomy
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
Gray vs. white matter
Hippocampus
Id vs. superego
Immunotherapy
Language
Lipska model- neonatal hippocampal lesion model of schizophrenia
Lobes- frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
Localization
Mental illness statistics
MRI
Nature vs. nurture
Neuroscientist
Paranoia
PET scan
Pituitary glands
Prefrontal cortex
Psychosis
Schizophrenagenic mother myth
Schizophrenia
Sensory overload
Short vs. long-term memory
Spatial memory
Stigma of mental illness
Thyroid glands
Visual field

Jessica Flitter
West Bend East High School, West Bend, WI
jflitter@wbsd-schools.org
​
The Horse That Won’t Go Away:  Clever Hans, Facilitated Communication and the Need for Clear Thinking
Author(s): Heinzen, T.E, Lilienfeld, S.O. and Nolan, S.A.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4641-4574-2

APA Style Citation
Heinzen, T. E., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Nolan, S. A. (2015). The horse that won't go away: Clever Hans, facilitated communication and the need for clear thinking. New York: Worth, a Macmillan Education imprint.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Horse-That-Wont-Go-Away/dp/1464145741

​Book Description
Psychology is a science! The authors of The Horse That Won’t Go Away emphasize that clear, critical thinking is the “hallmark of psychological science." Sometimes we make mental mistakes that can lead to bad decisions, poor investments, and failed social programs, but clear thinking and the scientific approach helps prevent us from fooling ourselves or others. “Making psychological science available to the public- and helping people apply it to their daily lives” is why the authors wrote this book.
 
The first part of the book tells the story of Clever Hans, the infamous horse that could count. Wilhelm von Osten, a retired math teacher, taught his horse how to tap the ground as he answered various mathematical questions.  This amazing feat took place in Berlin, Germany and gained public attention in the early 1900s.  From there, the story of Clever Hans was fostered by the media, vivid public demonstrations, validation by experts, and incredible explanations.  The authors take you through a detailed description of von Osten’s mission, his endorsement by experts, the media’s misrepresentation of the findings of the Hans Commission, and von Osten’s desire to contribute to the field of science. It was thanks to Oskar Pfungst that we finally found out how Clever Hans was able to complete such amazing feats.  With critical thinking and organized experiment, Pfungst was able to rule out alternative explanations. After the explanation was made public, von Osten himself expressed cognitive dissonance and believed even stronger in his horse's intelligence. At the age of 70, von Osten died "apparently of a broken heart" and was sadly "frustrated in the great goal of his life."   He failed to contribute to science, but his failure opened our eyes to the power of confirmation bias.  Unfortunately, we did not learn from the story of Clever Hans. The United States had their own rock star horses, Beautiful Jim Key on display at the 1904 World’s Fair and Lady Wonder who demonstrated psychic abilities for three questions per dollar.
 
These might just be examples involving horses, but the authors propose a more current example that follows the same pattern. It is known as Clever Hands- the facilitated communication story.  Julian and Thal Wendrow, from Michigan, wanted to communicate with their autistic daughter, Aislinn, who was nonverbal. A keyboard was placed in front of her, and she sat next to a facilitator who held and guided her hand over the letters. Soon Aislinn was composing poems, taking classes, and speaking of her dreams. The miracle therapy seemed to work.  Then, one morning Aislinn communicated with a facilitator at school about sexual abuse that was occurring at home. Her father was arrested and held in jail. The accusations were later found untrue, and he was released, but his and his family’s life was ruined.  The method used by his daughter, facilitated communication, started in Australia and was meant to be used with children with obvious physical disabilities. Then, in the 1990s Douglas Biklen, a professor of special education and sociologist, helped promote its use in the United States for autism, which he viewed as a motor disorder. Biklen was both articulate and persuasive, and the method was quickly adopted in schools. In addition, it was endorsed by the media and famous individuals just like the Clever Hans story.  Just as critical thinking disproved the horse’s supposed intelligence, the method of facilitated communication came apart once researchers demanded the claims be tested. Testimonials and anecdotes would no longer suffice. Experimental tests were introduced, for example, an autistic child was told to spell a word such as “keys” with the facilitator out of the room. The facilitator did not know the word the child was trying to spell, and when the facilitator returned and assisted the child, they were only able to produce nonsense words.  The facilitator has been unconsciously assisting the child in the same way von Osten had been unconsciously cueing his horse. Almost a century later the exact same fatal flaw was occurring.  You would think the story ends here, but instead, facilitated communication has reappeared. In 2004 and 2010 documentaries about autism began to gain the public’s attention once again. Douglas Bilken made a comeback by giving speeches at prestigious institutions and winning awards. Facilitated communication rebranded itself by changing its name to supported typing or rapid prompting.  The Facilitated Communication Institute became known as the Institute for Communication and Inclusion.  Even though the method is unsupported by science, it continues to make its way into homes of families who place much hope into an unsound practice.
 
History is not supposed to repeat itself, and we are supposed to learn from it. However, if you look closely the Clever Hans effect is still present in everyday life. That is, humans still perceive what we want to believe. The authors investigate modern day examples of the effect, such as Potato the math-genius dog, elephants capable of painting self-portraits and landscapes, drug sniffing dogs, the Scared Straight program that terrifies youth in the hope of reducing future criminal behavior, the D.A.R.E. program meant to reduce future drug use, and the Your Baby Can Read video program, to name a few. While the animal tricks sound like fun, the authors point out the other examples play on the human desire to do good for others but can lead to real social harm, such as anxiety, false accusations, and bogus social programs wasting tax payers’ money.  The way to expose these claims for what they are is through critical thinking and the scientific approach. They implore readers to share the story of Clever Hans with each generation.  Von Osten did not make a lasting contribution to science like he wanted, but instead, he taught us the power and necessity of using the scientific approach.  Mental errors without critical thinking can lead to self-deception.  The authors end on the note, “That is why Clever Hans is the horse that won’t go away- and why we don’t want him to.”
Other Related Resources
 
Video Clips Involving Critical Thinking

1. Potato the math-genius dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUeGKNg39mE
2. Maggie the mathematical dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAo0MJbsC_g

 
Book Reviews
A book review of The Horse That Won’t Go Away:  Clever Hans, Facilitated Communication and the Need for Clear Thinking compiled by the American Psychological Association for the Psychology Teacher Network.
http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/ptn/2016/05/clever-hans.aspx
 
A book review of The Horse That Won’t Go Away:  Clever Hans, Facilitated Communication and the Need for Clear Thinking compiled for Psych Central, an independent mental health social network maintained by mental health professionals. 
https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-horse-that-wont-go-away-clever-hans-facilitated-communication-the-need-for-clear-thinking/
 
Facilitated Communication 
A series of articles on the controversial method of facilitated communication from the American Psychological Association, the Atlantic, Scientific American, and the Autism Speaks.
http://www.apa.org/research/action/facilitated.aspx

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/a-controversial-method-for-autism-communication/491810/
 
https://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2012/01/09/all-children-deserve-access-communication
 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-facilitated-communication-is-a-canard-why-teach-it/
 
Apple Video Released on World Autism Awareness Day
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/apple-releases-films-to-raise-autism-awareness/

Psychological Figures and Concepts 
Sigmund Freud
Clever Hans
Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
Autism
Automatic writing
Availability heuristic
Cognitive dissonance
Confirmation bias
Control group vs. experimental group
Critical thinking
Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, Fetal alcohol syndrome, PKU
ESP
Facilitated communication
False positives and false negatives
Hindsight bias
Illusory correlation
Intellectual disability
Intuition
Methods of elimination
Naïve realism
Phrenology
Prefrontal lobotomy
Regression to the mean
Savants
Shaping
Skepticism
Telepathy

​Just Mercy:  A Story of Justice and Redemption
Author:  Bryan Stevenson
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8496-5
 
APA Style Citation
Stevenson, Bryan (2015). Just Mercy:  A Story of Justice and Redemption.  New York: Random House.

Book Description
Just Mercy is an engaging series of true stories related to the fight for equality in the American justice system.  The memoir describes the journey of the author who dedicated his career to helping those who are the most vulnerable in society.  Stevenson holds degrees from Harvard Law and the Kennedy School of Government and chose to dedicate his talents and career fighting for civil rights law in the South. Stevenson is an attorney who has spent his career working to ensure that the most vulnerable individuals in society such as children, the mentally ill, the poor, and the wrongfully convicted receive a fair trial.  His non-profit organization, the Equal Justice Initiative works to offer legal assistance to those who face discrimination in the justice system. 
 
The book is a combination of historical background information and the detailed accounts of many of Stevenson’s most memorable cases.  One early case involved Walter McMillian, a black man who was wrongly convicted and given the death sentence for the murder of a white woman in Alabama. Despite numerous witness that testified that the accused was at a church fish fry at the time of the crime, McMillian was sentenced based largely on the testimony of three other witnesses.  The trial lasted only one and half days.  After spending six years on death row, Stevenson and the Equal Justice Institute were able to prove that witnesses for the prosecution lied on the stand and that the prosecution had illegally suppressed evidence that would have exonerated Mr. McMillian. 
 
The Equal Justice Institute also helped overturn the wrongful conviction of Marsha Colbey who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after giving birth to a stillborn child.  Ms. Colbey, a poor white woman living in rural Alabama could not afford prenatal care and she and her family buried the stillborn child in a grave near the trailer where they lived.  An investigation began when a neighbor noticed Ms. Colbey was no longer pregnant yet did not have a baby.  A pathologist with a history of creating inaccurate and faulty reports declared that the baby was born alive and died by drowning.  During her trial, the pathologist's report was exposed as inaccurate by the state’s own expert witness, who testified that due to Colbey’s age and lack of prenatal care that a stillbirth likely. The expert witness further stressed that he could not declare a life birth much less a homicide in this case.  The state of Alabama obtained a conviction based on evidence regarding Ms. Colbey’s prior drug use and poverty to present a picture of her as a bad mother who deserved imprisonment.  The Equal Justice Institute was able to win a unanimous decision from the state Supreme Court overturning her conviction based on a failure to provide a fair trial by an impartial jury.  The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences agreed to re-examine the evidence in the case and produced a new autopsy report concluding that there was no evidence that the baby was born alive. 
 
Just Mercy highlights many of the problems in the justice system including flaws in investigations, trials, sentencing, and prison.  The book thoroughly investigates issues related to the intersection between psychology and the law.  The books primarily focus on the problems of mass incarceration, and the effects of prison on children, adolescents, the mentally ill and the intellectually disabled.  Numerous aspects and events in this book can be used to highlight topics in social psychology including racial profiling, implicit prejudice, stereotype threat, and discrimination. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author’s Website
The author’ website provides information about the book, the author's biography, links to stories in the book, videos, discussion guides, and ways to get involved in promoting justice.
http://bryanstevenson.com/
 
Author Bryan Stevenson’s TED Talk
The author’s TED talk which has received over 3 million views on the TED site alone.  Considered by many to be the best TED talk ever given.  Stevenson spoke in March of 2012 in front of 1,000 attendees at the TED conference in Long Beach, California.  After an 18-minute presentation, Stevenson received the longest standing ovation in TED history.  Attendees that day spontaneously donated $1 million dollars to his nonprofit (the Equal Justice Institute). 
http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice?language=en
 
Equal Justice Institute Website
The Equal Justice Initiative is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.  EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment.  EJI also prepares reports, newsletters, and manuals to assist advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of reforming the administration of criminal justice.  Photographs and summaries of many of the cases from the book as well as other EJI cases are available on the website.  The website provides a great deal of information on discrimination, the death penalty, mass incarceration, and juvenile justice.
http://www.eji.org/
 
Equal Justice Institute article on the decision of the U.S. Justice Department to end the use of private prisons
http://www.eji.org/news/justice-department-will-phase-out-private-prisons
 
Guardian Article about author Bryan Stevenson – Desmund Tuto calls Stevenson “America’s Mandela.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/01/bryan-stevenson-americas-mandela
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dorthea Dix
Death Penalty
Death Penalty for children, mentally ill, intellectually disabled
Deinstitutionalization
Discrimination
Equal Justice Initiative
Insanity Defense
Mass Incarceration
Megan’s Law
Prejudice (Explicit and Implicit)
Racial Profiling
Stereotype
Stereotype Threat

​The Psychopath Whisperer: The Science of Those Without Conscience 
Author:  Kent A. Kiehl PhD
ISBN: 13: 9780770435868
 
APA Style Citation
Kiehl, Kent (2014). The Psychopath Whisperer: The Science of Those Without Conscience.
New York: Broadway Books.

Book Description
Author Dr. Kent Kiehl is a neuroscientist whose research involves utilizing brain imaging and clinical interviews to study mental illness especially criminal psychopathology.  His research has involved taking mobile fMRI machines into prisons to study the brains of inmates he has determined were psychopaths based on clinical interviews and the Hare Psychopathy Test.  Kiehl is currently a Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Law at the University of New Mexico.  He has compiled brain scans from over 3,000 offenders at eight different prisons.  Dr. Kiehl is the protégé of the world famous expert in psychopaths and creator of the influential psychopath checklist, Dr. Robert Hare. The book opens with Dr. Kiehl’s first encounter with a psychopath during his graduate work at a Canadian prison.  The book traces Kiehl’s career and depicts how a variety of academic experiences led him to become an expert in this field.  His early work using EEGs to examine the brain waves of killer whales, experience with fMRI machines, and clinical work under the leading expert in psychopathy all contributed to this interesting research area.  His research eventually led him to conduct fMRI research on prisoners and has resulted in the discovery of important physiological differences in the brains of psychopaths.  His work provides insight into the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of psychopathy. 
 
The author gives a thorough explanation of a question that comes up in nearly every introductory or abnormal psychology course, “What is the difference between a psychopath, a sociopath, and an individual with antisocial personality disorder?” The term psychopath was first used by the German psychiatrist J.L.A. Koch (1841-1908) to describe individuals who exhibited these traits throughout their entire life history and across most areas of their lives.  Koch narrowed the term to differentiate these individuals from others who were merely criminals.  Koch’s use of the term psychopath was based on biological causes.  This purely biological explanation for psychopathology soon was criticized by the growing influence of Behaviorism.  If individuals were blank slates at birth, then the traits described by Koch would have environmental causes.  The term sociopathy was first used in the 1930’s and was created to describe individuals with the same traits as psychopaths but whose cause was social and not physiological.  The simple answer then is that psychopaths are created by “nature” and sociopaths are created by “nurture.”  For the author, the terms sociopathy and psychopathy are very different.  Sociopathy would involve a very wide range of individuals who behave in antisocial ways as a result of negative environmental influences whereas psychopathy is a concept based on genetics and biology with measurable brain differences. 

Today, psychopathy is diagnosed based on the 20 items of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, the clinical rating tool considered the gold standard for the assessment of psychopathy.  The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised is given by a trained clinician who conducts a semi-structured interview lasting approximately two hours and collects extensive additional files on the individual.  The additional files often include police reports, assessments completed by other mental health workers, family history, employment history, educational records, childhood history, and criminal history.  Based on this information the individual is given a score for each of the 10 traits that describe the affective, impulsive, and antisocial symptoms of psychopathy.  Each item receives a score ranging from 0-2.  A score of 0 indicates that the trait is not present in the individual, a score of 1 indicates the trait describes the individual in some areas of their life, and a score of 2 indicates that the trait is present in all aspects of the individual's life.  The 20 traits on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist- Revised are described in detail in the book and are listed below:

1. Glibness (insincerity or thoughtless) and Superficial Charm
2. Grandiose Sense of Self-Worth
3. Need for Stimulation
4. Pathological Lying
5. Conning/Manipulation
6. Lack of Remorse or Guilt
7. Shallow Affect
8. Callous/Lack of Empathy
9. Parasitic Lifestyle
10. Poor Behavioral Controls
11. Promiscuous Sexual Behavior
12. Early Behavioral Problems
13. Lack of Realistic, Long-Term Goals
14. Impulsivity
15. Irresponsibility
16. Failure to Accept Responsibility for Own Actions
17. Many Short-Term Marital Relationships
18. Juvenile Delinquency
19. Revocation of Conditional Release (Repeated failure to learn from punishments)
20. Criminal Versatility

The author doubts that the average clinician can diagnose psychopaths accurately because they have difficulty reliably detecting the affective criteria such as lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse.  One common mistake that leads to overrating on the affective criteria is an excessive focus on the index crime (the one specific bad thing that the individual did which often leads to arrest).  For an individual to be diagnosed as a psychopath, these traits must be expressed across multiple areas of their lives and have existed for most of their life as evidenced by events from childhood.  One trick that the author suggests is to evaluate the individual on the psychopath checklist without using any information related to the index offense.  An actual psychopath would receive a high rating on traits even if the index offense were not included.  Also, according to the author, non-experts are often prone to giving excessively high scores across all areas if an individual has committed an extremely horrific crime, which may or may not be warranted.  The best way to prevent misdiagnosis is to have clinicians who work with individuals in forensic settings to undergo specialized training. 
 
In a fascinating chapter, the author examines the historical records to evaluate two infamous individuals according to the Psychopath Checklist-Revised.  The two individuals were both nineteenth-century presidential assassins:  John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Guiteau, who assassinated President Garfield. The author draws upon the historical record and provides the reader with insight into how the criteria are measured and assessed.  Based on the author’s assessment of the historical record Charles Guiteau scores in the 99th percentile of psychopathy by scoring a 37.5/40 on the Psychopath Checklist-Revised.  John Wilkes Booth, on the other hand, earned an 8.4/40 on the checklist which although is two times the score of the average American male is below average for a criminal and not high enough for a diagnosis of psychopathy.
 
The text also discusses how psychopathy relates to the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder found in the DSM-5.  The DSM does not include psychopathy as a specific diagnosis but does include antisocial personality disorder.  According to Dr. Kiehl, the DSM antisocial personality disorder criteria will result in getting a clinician about halfway to a diagnosis of psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised.  If an individual meets the criteria for antisocial personality disorder, then they likely have a very difficult personality.  The author advises that clinicians working in forensic settings not even bother with the antisocial personality criteria but instead begin immediately by using the Psychopath Checklist-Revised instead of the DSM.  Kiehl also provides insight into the DSM diagnosis of conduct disorder, which he believes is flawed because it is based entirely on observable criteria without reference to emotional, interpersonal, or affective characteristics associated with psychopathy.  Since nearly 80% of individuals who are given a conduct disorder diagnosis outgrow the antisocial behaviors, the author argues that it is of little utility because it does not predict which children are likely to develop psychopathy or lifelong personality problems.  Clinicians in secure juvenile facilities do not even bother conducting assessments for conduct disorder since nearly all of the children would meet the criteria.
 
The Psychopath Whisperer offers an amazing level of insight into the diagnosis of psychopathy but also makes a large number of connections to various units across the psychology curriculum.  As a result, the book is an excellent resource to add high-interest material to units including the biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, abnormal and treatment, motivation, and emotion, personality, testing and individual differences, learning, and cognition.
 
Other Related Resources

Author’s Websites
http://kentkiehl.com/
The author’s site includes links to articles related to neuroscience, law, and psychopathy as well as videos and other resources. The website also has information about Dr. Kiehl’s research.
 
http://www.psychopathwhisperer.com/
This website includes author Kent Kiehl’s blog and other resources that are specifically related to the book.
 
http://www.mrn.org/people/kent-a-kiehl/principal-investigators/
The Mind Research Network’s website that includes resources, research articles, and information about Kiehl’s project.
 
Wired Interview with Kent Kiehl, Ph.D. about the Psychopath Whisperer
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/
What It’s Like to Spend 20 Years Listening to Psychopaths for Science: An interview with the author about his research and the stories behind the book.
 
NPR Story:  Inside A Psychopath's Brain: The Sentencing Debate
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128116806
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Paul Broca
Sigmund Freud
Phineas Gage
Michael Gazzaniga
Robert Hare
Patient HM
John Nash
Peter Salovey
Adderall
ADHD
Affect
Amnesia
Amygdala
Anterior and Posterior Cingulate Cortex
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
Behaviorist Theory
Bipolar Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Callous and Unemotional (CU) Trait
Child Psychopathy Scale
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Conduct Disorder
Corpus Callosum
Death Penalty
Delusion
Depression
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM) III, IV-TR, 5
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
Ego
Emotional Intelligence
Empathy
Factor Analysis
Frontal Lobe
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
Hallucination (auditory, command, visual)
Hippocampus
IQ
Juvenile Justice System
Limbic System
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Orbital Frontal Cortex
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Prefrontal Cortex
Psychopathic Trait
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
Recidivism
Schizophrenia
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Self-Report Inventory
Sleep-Wake Disorder
Sociopath
Substance Abuse
Youth Psychopathy Checklist
 
 
 

​Chasing the Scream:  The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
Author:  Johann Hari
ISBN:  978-1-62040-890-2
 
APA Style Citation
Hari, Johann (2015). Chasing the Scream:  The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.  New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

​Book Description
Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream is a compelling if one-sided examination of the history of the war on drugs.  The book is controversial because of an earlier plagiarism incident involving the author, the topic of decriminalizing drugs, the graphic depictions of cartel violence, and the physical, psychological, and social abuse suffered by addicts.  These factors may make the book unsuitable for some high school students.  In 2011, the author was found guilty of plagiarism and misrepresenting information from interviews.  Furthermore, it was found out that the author spitefully altered the Wikipedia sites of his critics. In an attempt to alleviate concerns about credibility, the author includes 73 pages of detailed source notes and an explanation of his research process.  On the books website, the author has shared audio files of fact-checking sessions with each of the figures quoted in the book who are still alive.  The book website allows readers to hear the actual voices of the individuals whose 400 quotes fill the book. Some of the contributors’ photos are included in the quiz about the war on drugs on the main website.
Hari’s book is the result of three years of research that took him on a thirty-thousand-mile search to trace the history of the war on drugs, which began over 100 years ago.  Much of the book is based on historical and current accounts of individuals impacted by the war on drugs.  Hari begins by describing the interrelated factors that connect three key figures at the start of the drug war:  Harry Anslinger the federal bureaucrat, Arnold Rothstein a New York criminal boss, and the singer Billie Holiday.  The story begins with the birth of the American war on drugs, which was a byproduct of the end of prohibition in the 1920’s.  Henry Anslinger became the head of the Bureau of Narcotics (today known as the DEA) and began the relentless pursuit of eliminating drugs.  Anslinger would quickly expand his war on narcotics to include marijuana in addition to cocaine and heroin by playing on racism and fear. Anslinger also silenced any criticism, much of which came from doctors who were successfully treating heroin addicts through maintenance methods.  Anslinger’s department forcibly closed many clinics and thousands of doctors were arrested for providing drugs to their patients.  Most doctors were given heavy fines, but some were given prison terms (five years for each prescription). Hari argues that despite contrary views, Anslinger was able to impose his views on drugs onto the nation.  Arnold Rothstein, whom Hari portrays as the original drug kingpin created the model for the modern drug cartel is another central figure in the history of the drug war. Rothstein controlled the drug trade and was able to accumulate enormous profits, which enabled him to buy and control politicians and law enforcement officers. 
This process continues today and can be summed up with the phrase “plato o plomo” (silver or lead) coined by Mexican cartels suggesting that officials accept bribes or be killed.  The war on drugs according to Hari has led to the control of drugs by dangerous criminals.  Finally, Hari includes the singer Billie Holiday whom he portrays as one of the first victims of Anslinger’s war.  Holiday’s troubled life and struggles with alcohol and heroin made her an early high-profile target of the man who launched the war on drugs.  Based on research from diaries and other records, Hari outlines how Anslinger and his bureau relentlessly pursued Billie Holiday to make her an example for others.
The book chronicles the heart-wrenching stories of specific victims of the war on drugs from Billie Holiday to the present.  The individuals portrayed include innocent victims caught in the crossfire, a transsexual crack dealer and gang leader in New York City, Roaslio Reta a former killer for the Zeta cartel, and the addicts in an Arizona women’s prison who endure hardships under Sherif Joe Arpaio who were forced to work chain gangs in 110 plus heat wearing t-shirts labeling them as DRUG ADDICT.  The prisoners in Sherif Arpaio’s chain gangs were forced to chant the following:
We’re in a state of shame
Couldn’t get our lives strait
We’re headed back to intake
We’re here without our kids
We lost our hope
We gave up dope
 
Sherif Arpaio publicly calls the prison he runs his “concentration camp” and although there is an air-conditioned prison in the area, the inmates are forced to live in tents in the desert.  The tents, which were donated by the military and date to the Korean War era, are freezing in winter and reach temperatures of 140 degrees in summer.  Meanwhile, the sheriff has ordered the air-conditioned prison facility to be used as an animal shelter. In Chasing the Scream, the author tells the story of one Arizona prisoner, meth addict Marcia Powell, who was kept outside in a metal cage by guards with no water, no bed, no bench, and no cover from the 106-degree heat.  She had been in solitary confinement where she swallowed a razor in a suicide attempt. 16 guards had the opportunity to help her, but she was left to die a horrific death in the cage in the desert.  Hari describes how the United States imprisons more individuals for drug-related offenses than all of the nations of Western Europe imprison for all crimes.
 
The book also discusses the stories of many of the individuals who are fighting for a more just and humane solution to the problems of drug abuse.  These individuals include individual family members, addicts, doctors, and government leaders.  Marisela Escobedo, a mother in Mexico who sought justice for her child who was murdered by the cartel walked more than 1000 miles from Juarez to Mexico City to ask for assistance from President Calderon.  Despite her long march through the desert and the exhaustion of her life savings, the President refused to meet with her.  She later learned that a member of the Zeta cartel had murdered her son, which was why the killer was never prosecuted.  Marisela refused to give up on her son and ended up being murdered by the cartel outside the state capitol building.  Leigh Maddox, a state trooper involved with the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) advocates for a new approach to the war on drugs.  LEAP is an organization of current and former police officers, judges, and prison officers who advocate for ending prohibition on drugs in order to bankrupt drug gangs.  Bud Osborn, a poet and homeless addict who worked to bring change and rights for addicts in the Downtown Eastside neighborhood of Vancouver.  Gabor Maté and Bruce Alexander, who proposed alternative theories of addiction, Ruth Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland, who supported and promoted decriminalization and the creation of heroin clinics. 
 
Critics have challenged Hari’s criticism of biochemical theories of addiction as being oversimplified.  But the book provides compelling case studies of individuals on the front lines of the drug war and highlights possible alternatives to the current model.  The book ends with examples including Switzerland, Portugal, and the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington and their attempts to address the problems of drugs through decriminalization. 
Although one-sided, Chasing the Scream will challenge you to think about the consequences and costs of the war on drugs. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Book Website
http://chasingthescream.com/
The website for Chasing the Scream includes audio of the quotes from sources used in the book organized chapter-by-chapter.  Any individual quoted in the book was given the opportunity to review the material written by the author and correct mistakes or add information.  The audio fact checking files allow the reader to have confidence in an author who has been previously found to have plagiarized sources.  The site includes a quiz to test your knowledge of the war on drugs, information about the author, news stories, links to organizations protesting the war on drugs, and videos.
 
Author Johann Hari’s TED Talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong
Author Johann Hari’s 2015 TED talk about his book Chasing the Scream is his description of a compelling theory about the cause of addiction and why the current approach has not been effective.
 
Guardian article by Johann Hari
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/12/johann-hari-chasing-the-scream-war-on-drugs
 
Bruce K. Alexander’s Website
http://www.brucekalexander.com/home-4
The website of Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander whose research on rat park is featured in the book Chasing the Scream.
 
 
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
http://www.leap.cc/
LEAP is a nonprofit organization consisting of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who oppose the war on drugs and policies that do not effectively address drug abuse, juvenile drug use, addiction, and the problems of crime created by criminal control of illegal drug sales. They advocate the following goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public’s respect for police, which has been greatly diminished by law enforcement’s involvement in enforcing drug prohibition.
 
Heads Up - Drugs and Your Brain
http://headsup.scholastic.com/students/drugs-your-brain
Brochure produced by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) about how drugs impact brain structures.
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Bruce Alexander
Sigmund Freud
Addiction
AIDS / HIV
Alcoholism
Amphetamines
Caffeine
Cannabis
Cocaine
DARE program
Decriminalization
Domestic violence
Drug cartels
Drug education
Ecstasy
Endorphins
Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Harrison Act
Hell’s Angels
Heroin
International Narcotics Control Board
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
Legalization of drugs
Marijuana
Marijuana legalization
Methadone
Methamphetamine
Morphine
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Opiates
OxyContin
Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Physical dependence
Prohibition of alcohol and drugs
Psychological dependence
Racism
Rat Park experiment
Safe injecting rooms
Schizophrenia
Solitary confinement
Vicodin
Vietnam War
War on drugs
War on poverty
World Health Organization (WHO)
Zetas

​On the Move:  A Life
Author:  Oliver Sacks
ISBN:  978-0-385-25254-3
 
APA Style Citation
Sacks, O. (2015).  On the Move:  A Life.  New York:  Random House.

Book Description
Oliver Sacks was born in England but has travelled and lived in Canada, California, New York, and Australia.  In Sacks’ latest and final book, he reflects on his life, friendships, and patients.  Sacks was born the youngest of four brothers to physician parents.  After completing medical school, he embarked on a trip to Canada and thus began his life “On the Move”.  Sacks is a man of many interests who is well known for books about patients with unique neurological disorders or amazing talents which he wrote about in Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars and many more.  On the Move depicts the complex man behind the many stories that have become synonymous with his name. 
 
Sacks had a long time interest in ferns and would visit botanic gardens on a nearly daily basis regardless of his location to sit with his favorite ferns.  He loved music and theatre and often spent his evenings enjoying a play or listening to a concert.  He played piano and had his parent’s piano shipped from England to New York so he could continue to enjoy it.  Sacks became fluent in Hebrew after spending time living in a kibbutz.  When he was younger, he spent his weekends on his motorcycle and would often drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back in a single weekend for the solitude riding brought him.  Sacks swam nearly everyday in his younger years and until jellyfish surrounded him near his home just outside of New York City, he kept up this ritual.  One summer Sacks even rented a room in the basement of an old Inn in upstate New York just so he could enjoy swimming in the nearby ponds and lakes. Sacks would swim for hours and often came up with some of his best writing while out for a swim.  He would leave the water to scribble some notes onto a soaking wet pad to be deciphered later.  Sacks was an avid hiker and would walk nearly anywhere he could until old age slowed him down.  Even after major back surgery he would take the arm of his long-time assistant and amble down to his office to write while standing because sitting was too painful. 
 
Shortly after arriving in the United States, Sacks became a competitive weight lifter and trained on Venice Beach in California.  He was quite successful and broke many records in the squatting category.  Sacks also loved the elements on the periodic table.  One of his friends threw him a birthday party in which all of the guests arrived dressed as elements and Sacks was thrilled at the thoughtfulness of this gesture.  He collected elements, which he kept on his desk and delighted in their touch and the differences between each specimen. 
 
Early on, Sacks thought he might be interested in becoming a marine biologist or a zoologist, but during his time at Oxford he became interested in neurophysiology.  During this time, he read Maynard Keynes’s Essays in Biography, which he credits with sparking his own desire to write clinical biographies.  Later, A.R. Luria’s Mind of a Mnemonist cemented this desire.  It was also at this time that he began attending lectures related to psychology and became interested in visual perception, which would remain an interest throughout his life.
 
Sacks speaks fondly of the many mentors he had throughout his life both professional and personal, from the kindly Dr. Kremer at Middlesex hospital in England to the friends with whom he enjoyed theatre and books.  He surrounded himself with those who he found inspirational and his genuine gratefulness for these friends comes though in his writing.  Author Thom Gunn became a lifelong friend after they met in the 60s in San Francisco.  On the Move is named for one of Thom’s poems of the same name.
 
On the Move
At worst, one is in motion;
And at best,
Reaching no absolute, in
which to rest,
One is always nearer by not
keeping still.
 
Sacks saved many of the letters he exchanged throughout his life and includes many quotes in the book, from his aunt’s encouraging letters about travel and self-discovery to physicians inquires about his case studies.  Sacks also shares his perspective regarding his brother’s decent into schizophrenia and the toll it took on the family as he moved between psychotic states and periods of relative calm. 
 
Sacks shares his concerns and self-consciousness to the response of his books both in the popular media and from those in the medical field.  While Sacks recalls himself as a “failed” surgeon and lab researcher, the passion he has for the patients he encountered over a lifetime of trying to bring their stories to light is clear.  His “failure” may well have been the happiest mistake for those who were able to read and learn from the narratives he provided to help understand the humanity behind the clinical diagnoses.
 
Other Related Resources

PBS obituary for Oliver Sacks
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/oliver-sacks-neurologist-acclaimed-author-dies-82/
 
New York Times, article about Oliver Sacks on the day he passed away
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/31/science/oliver-sacks-dies-at-82-neurologist-and-author-explored-the-brains-quirks.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
 
New York Times:  Opinions July, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/opinion/my-periodic-table.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
 
New York Times:  Oliver Sacks Learning he had Terminal Cancer, February 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html?gwh=305D116A960AAC56758646057B2890E8&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion
 
Desktop Fridays:  A tour of Oliver Sacks desk
http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/12/02/2010/desktop-diaries-oliver-sacks.html
 
Resources Related to Specific Oliver Sacks Case Studies
 
Clive Wearing
Radio Lab episode about Clive Wearing’s story:
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91578-clive/
 
Life without memory video about Clive Wearing from the Mind series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c62C_yTUyVg
 
Stephen Wiltshire –Human Camera
Stephen’s Wiltshire’s official website which includes biographical information, photos of his artwork, videos, and even a store where you can purchase prints.
http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/index.aspx
 
Video demonstration of Stephen Wiltshire’s talents from the BBC documentary Fragments of Genius:  Understanding Savants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8YXZTlwTAU
 
Video of Stephen Wiltshire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxVFd51NvWg
 
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin’s official website
http://www.templegrandin.com/
 
Temple Grandin’s TED talk:  The World Needs All Kinds of Minds
https://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds?language=en
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Jerome Bruner
Noam Chomsky
David Hubel
Lev Vygotsky
Torsten Wiesel
Alzheimer’s disease
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Catatonia
Clozapine
Color blindness
Encephalitis
Huntington’s disease
L-dopa
Language acquisition device
Migraines
Myelinated nerve fibers
Natural Selection
Parkinson’s disease
Peripheral nerve fibers
Proprioception
Propagnosia
Psychedelic drugs
Right/Left hemisphere functions
Schizophrenia
Thorazine
Tourette’s syndrome
Visual agnosia
Visual Illusions

look me in the eye:  my life with asperger’s
Author:  John Elder Robison
ISBN:  978-0-307-39618-1

APA Style Citation
Robison, J. E.  (2008).  look me in the eye:  my life with asperger’s.  New York, New York:  Random House.

Book Description:

John Elder Robinson expands on his experience with Asperger’s told in part by his brother (Augusten Burroughs) in the book Running With Scissors.  John Elder struggled for a good part of his life without the knowledge that he had Autism (referred to in the book as Asperger’s but classified today as Autism).  Autism was not well understood when John Elder was young and was often confused with schizophrenia or depression.  It is important that we understand the behaviors and thoughts of those with Autism because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 1 in 150 people are on the autistic spectrum.  John Elder describes Autism as a way of being rather than a disease for which there is no cure or need for a cure.  Rather, he advocates for a better understanding of the disorder. 

The title of the book comes from the fact that John Elder was often reprimanded for not looking people in the eye.  When he was young, he had a very specific way of playing and could not understand that others might want to play differently.  He never mixed his foods or the colors of the blocks.  People would ask John Elder a question and he would respond with whatever was on his mind rather than addressing the question that was asked.  He had a difficult time making friends because other children did not understand the way he played.  He did not have the kind of empathy others had which made people think he was a bad kid.  Because he heard this often enough that he eventually came to believe that it was true.  John Elder’s father was an alcoholic and his mother was likely schizophrenic, which added more conflict to his already troubled childhood.  He loved but tormented his younger brother to whom he referred to as “Snort” (he gave everyone names of his choosing).  John Elder was brutally honest which also got him into trouble.  Eventually, he used his ability to focus to come up with elaborate pranks, which made him popular for a time with the other children in school, and he enjoyed making them laugh. 

As a boy, John Elder was interested in dinosaurs, tanks, ships, planets, bulldozers, cars and airplanes.  When he was a teenager he was introduced to electronics and this became his passion and primary focus.  He loved to take things apart and build transistors, televisions, and radios and eventually he began building and fixing amplifiers.  Often, those with Autism have a savant like mind for visualization.  John Elder could visualize sounds waves and the devices he wanted to build.  Local musicians found out about his talent and he began fixing their amplifiers and improving their sound.  He was welcomed by the local music scene and began spending much of his time in clubs and concerts.  Eventually he dropped out of high school (despite incredibly high standardized test scores) and moved out of his dysfunctional parents home.  While he was working on amplifiers, he encountered the members of KISS who were interested in creating a smoking guitar.  John Elder made their vision come to life and ultimately began working for the band full-time creating complex pyrotechnics.  The members of the band referred to him as “Ampie” and were thrilled with his work. His job with the band was exciting but John Elder did not enjoying the partying life style that came with life on the road with a rock band.  He had a girlfriend who enjoyed electronics and helped him with his projects with whom he wanted to be with more often.  He left the musical circuit for a life at Milton Bradley’s electronics division as a research engineer, where he found others other engineers he could relate to and felt more at home.  John Elder was never interested in small talk and was so logical that sometimes his “gruff” manner was upsetting to those to whom he had to report.  He eventually learned to ask about people’s families and interests before diving into the conversation he really wanted to have and was pleased to see that people responded positively.  This process was far more methodical for John Elder that it might be for others, but with practice he learned proper social etiquette. He eventually moved on to a corporate job but did not find this satisfying and today he owns an auto body shop and buys, fixes and sells older cars.  He is able to complete repairs that others cannot and has found a strong following.  He generally works on his own (although he employs a staff of 12) and his passion for cars allows him to find this work stimulating.  John Elder has a son he calls “Cubbie” though he is no longer married to Cubbie’s mother.  He loves taking Cubbie to train yards and to see ships and cars.  He also enjoys making up wild stories, which Cubbie loves. 

John Elder explains that although many Autistic individuals are introverted, it is not that they want to be alone but are afraid of the negative feedback they often receive in social situations.  Their focus and intellect in a given domain sometimes are not recognized because of their lack of interpersonal skills.  John Elder’s obsession with cars allows him to succeed in his current business just as his obsession with electronics allowed him to work with KISS.  John Elder finds that his directness actually benefits his current position because he can tell people in a very precise fashion what needs to be fixed on their cars.  An acquaintance gave John Elder a book to read about Autism in which he recognized many of his own behaviors.  Rather then be upset by the diagnosis, John Elder was relieved that there was a name for his “odd” behaviors. He felt comforted that there were other people like him and he was not arrogant or lazy, as he had heard for so many years.  He suddenly realized that many of his difficulties with social interactions and inappropriate facial expressions were because he was autistic not sadistic.  Once he understood the differences between his behavior and those of “normal” individuals, he began to make a concerted effort to look people in the eye and listen to what they were saying.  Many people commented on how much more friendly he seems than before.  He has even taken comfort in a recent article that suggests Asperger’s is an essential part of creative genius. 

John Elder’s unique traits are still there, in bed he likes to pile pillows on top of him, logically computes whether he married the best of the sisters (his current wife is one of three girls), and he asks his wife to scratch his back because this calms him down.  John Elder likes the quote, “When you’ve met one Aspergian, you’ve met one Asbergian.”  He recognizes his unique and different traits and rather than try to pretend he is someone that he is not, he has embraced his uniqueness and learned to find it’s best aspects.

Resources
OASIS Online Asperger’s Syndrome Information
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org

America Asperger’s Association
https://www.autismspeaks.org/resource/american-aspergers-association

John Elder Robison Website
http://www.johnrobison.com

John Elder Robison Blog
http://jerobison.blogspot.com

John Elder Robison on the Today Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwzfgNWmR6E

Autism Center for Excellence
http://www.autism-center.ucsd.edu/autism-information/Pages/what-is-autism.aspx

National Institute of Health:  Autism Fact Sheet
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

10 tips on how to communicate with individuals with Autism
http://autismum.com/2012/05/07/10-tips-on-how-to-communicate-with-autistic-people/

Communication and Interaction:  National Autistic Society
http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/communicating-and-interacting/communication-and-interaction.aspx

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Hans Asperger
Autism Spectrum
Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
Schizophrenia
Depression
Savant Syndrome
Interpersonal skills
Daniel Tamment:  Born on a Blue Day
Temple Grandin:  Thinking in Pictures
Brain plasticity

MOOD:  The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others
Author(s):  Patrick M. Burke, PhD
ISBN: 978-1-61614-833-1

APA Style Citation
Burke, Patrick (2014).  MOOD:  The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others.  New York:  Prometheus Books.

Book Description

Mood:  The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others is an excellent source of information related to motivation and emotion as well as mental illness and treatment.  Published in 2014, Mood includes information which is aligned with the recently published DSM-5.  Author Patrick Burke specifically describes not only the changes made to the DSM-5, but also the research behind the changes.  The author provides a wealth of interesting and informative background information to help explain the nuances of the new diagnostic manual.  Burke is an experienced child and adolescent psychiatrist whose clinical expertise suggests that biology, genetics, and relationships influence mood and as a consequence one’s world view.

This book examines the wide range of human emotion, especially with regard to mental illness, and how developmental and biological processes shape mood.  Mood explicitly describes the various brain regions, neurotransmitters, and neural circuits related to mood.  It also includes several helpful diagrams of brain regions and neural circuits. According to Burke, mood plays a central role in how individuals cope with life’s stresses and is a critical factor that determines whether a person will experience vulnerability to mental illness or resilience when exposed to difficult events.

Mood is divided into several chapters including the purposes of mood, human development and mood, the neuroscience of mood, and the impact of events on mood that are each relevant to a variety of units in an introductory psychology course.  There are also six chapters addressing issues of mood in the context of mental illness and treatment that are especially useful with regards to explaining the research that shaped the organization of the DSM-5.  Because moods are always present, the book highlights the difference between occasional mood related problems and mood related mental illnesses that may require treatment.  There are separate chapters on anxiety disorders (When Moods are Worried and Fearful), bipolar and related disorders (When Moods are High or Low), and disruptive behaviors (When Mood is Indifferent).  Each of the chapters related to mood and mental illness includes case studies, detailed explanations of DSM-5 classification, symptoms, and biological and environmental contributors.  The book emphasizes the impact of neurotransmitters, hormones and neural circuits on moods, especially with regards to mental illness and how psychotropic medications are used to treat these conditions.  

The sections on treatment provide detailed overviews of the major current therapies related to disturbances in mood including biomedical therapy, psychodynamic therapy (interpersonal psychotherapy IPT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychosocial approaches, and other methods that are less likely to be discussed in introductory psychology textbooks.  For example, the author discusses well-being therapy which was developed to increase levels of resilience in patients and is related to research on positive psychology.  This treatment emphasizes building skills and resiliency that will inoculate individuals against developing symptoms in response to stressful events.  A detailed and easily readable chapter regarding the major classes of medications used in the treatment of mood related mental illnesses explains how these medications work at the neural level. 

Mood:  The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others provides excellent up to date information about how researchers understand mood and how it develops over the lifespan.  The text highlights how a combination of genetic, neurological, and environmental factors combine to create moods and shape behavior. The inclusion of numerous case studies illustrating a variety of mental illnesses including antisocial personality disorder, depression, bipolar, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and obsessive compulsive disorder make this book especially useful for psychology teachers and students of psychology.

Other Related Resources
American Psychiatric Association document highlighting the changes from the DSM-IV-TR to the DSM-5.
http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/changes%20from%20dsm-iv-tr%20to%20dsm-5.pdf

Ted ideas article addressing important topics in the area of mental health including ending stigma, avoiding correlations between criminality and mental illness, investigating the correlation between mental illness and suicide, and the impact of stigmatizing language. 
TED ideas:  How Should We Talk About Mental Health
http://ideas.ted.com/2013/12/18/how-should-we-talk-about-mental-health/

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Antisocial personality disorder
Anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, agoraphobia, panic)
Attachment (e.g., stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, parenting styles, John Bowlby)
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Autonomic nervous system
Bipolar and related disorders (e.g., bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia)
Brain regions (e.g., cortex, prefrontal cortex, insula, amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, limbic system)
Circadian rhythms
Comorbidity
Conduct disorder/ Oppositional defiant disorder
Cortisol
Depressive disorders (e.g., major depression, persistent depressive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
Diathesis stress model
Epigenetics
fMRI
Fight-or-flight response
Gene and environment interaction
Heritability
Neural circuits (e.g., fear, reward, decision making, executive action)
Neurotransmitters (e.g. dopamine, GABA, serotonin, norepinephrine)
Obsessive compulsive and related disorders (e.g., OCD, hoarding)
Plasticity
Psychopharmacology (e.g. antianxiety, antidepressant, antipsychotic, mood stabilizers)
Psychotherapy (e.g. psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, IPT, well-being therapy)
Resilience and vulnerability
Social learning theory
Stress response system
Temperament
Trauma- and stressor-related disorders (e.g., acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder)

Author(s):  Linea Johnson and Cinda Johnson
ISBN:  978-0312581824

APA Style Citation
Johnson, L and Johnson, C.  (2012).  Perfect Chaos:  A daughter’s journey to survive bipolar, a mother’s struggle to save her.  New York: St. Martin’s press.

 

Book Description

Perfect Chaos provides an up close and personal view of an individual and family struggling with bipolar disorder.  The book is written in a series of journal entries, which chronicle the details of Linea Johnson’s specific bouts with bipolar as they occurred.  Linea describes what she was feeling when she overdosed on pills, or suffered from a manic episode.  Cinda’s (Linea’s mother) entries recount the struggle of a parent whose child is diagnosed as bipolar and the struggle to support them and identify the signs when a manic or depressive episode was beginning.  Cinda also struggles with allowing her college aged daughter to experience the freedom typical for someone that age while wanting to keep close tabs on her because of her disorder.

Linea Johnson grew up with her parents and her older sister Jordan in a suburb of Seattle.  She excelled in arts and music and was extremely competitive and hardworking.  She participated in musical performances and sports in addition to her schoolwork, but by sophomore year in high school she was suffering from anxiety, which everyone attributed to her over involvement.  When Linea discovered that her best friend was cutting herself, she confided in a school counselor which did not go well but eventually led to Linea sharing some of her own feelings with her mother and going to see a psychologist.  At this point, she was diagnosed with depression and was prescribed antidepressant medication.  While Linea experienced many great successes in her high school career, she also describes feeling “numb” and blaming herself for not appreciating all of the good things she had going on in her life.  At the time she could not understand that her illness was impacting her perception.

Linea was accepted to Columbia University in Chicago with a scholarship to study music.  She experienced great anxiety about her future but everyone in the family simply attributed this to her moving across the country.  Linea excelled during the first semester and had abundant energy, but after the holiday break she began to experience extreme moods swings.  Assuming this was another bout related to her depression, she saw a psychologist who diagnosed her with bipolar disorder.  In her sophomore year, Linea experienced extreme highs and lows and began self-medicating with alcohol and drugs to ease her emotional distress.  She experienced hallucinations and at one point believed that a hotel room was the Titanic as it was sinking.  Linea came home from Chicago and eventually admitted that she could not keep herself safe.  As a result, she was admitted to a locked psychiatric unit.  She begged her parents to “just let me go” as she could not bear the pain any longer.  Linea’s mother Cinda worked with transitioning disabled teens from high school to their future lives, and she acknowledges that her experience in the field and connections in Seattle helped Linea get care that others would not be able to receive because of the endless and confusing bureaucracy of the medical system. 

Linea went through the controversial treatment of ECT in an effort to jolt her out of her depression when medication did not seem to be having any impact.  This worked for her even though she today acknowledges it is not for everyone. She eventually made her way back to Chicago but the disorder would continue to cycle and Linea overdosed on pills finding herself once again in the ER.  The disorder does not go away, but Linea manages it better now and both she and Cinda know the signs of an impeding episode   Cinda and Linea talk to groups to encourage others to learn about the signs to bipolar disorder.   They are willing to share the painful memories of their own story in order to help others. 

Other Related Resources

Author’s webpage:
http://lineacinda.com

NPR Interview with the Authors:
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/14/158762426/surviving-thriving-in-spite-of-bipolar-disorder

Linea’s Blog: Chronicling her struggles with Bipolar disorder
http://lineajohnson.blogspot.com/p/perfect-chaos.html

National Institute of Mental Health: Information on Bipolar disorder
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder/index.shtml

Mayo Clinic Information on Bipolar Disorder:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bipolar-disorder/basics/definition/con-20027544

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Bipolar disorder
Manic episode
Depression
Suicide
Addiction
Cutting
Feeding and eating disorders
Antidepressants
ECT therapy