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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 11 to 35 of 35. Go back in thread:
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 5:18:59
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness » obsidian, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 3:10:24
Maybe united means what Dinah saw with the Vietnamese community in NO after the hurricane?
Like people doing things together rather than putting each other down?
There was a fire in one of the laneways we walk down and a couple of houses with everything in them were destroyed.
Three days later it's almost all rebuilt.
Perhaps they teach each other on the job?In Australia it would take a month to get a demolition order.
My wife was sick. In one hour we went to a doctor (sent to the top of the queue, admittedly), went up the road to get an ultrasound (almost delayed because of a power failure), went back to the doctor, got a prescription, went to the chemist, and got it all done in one hour and for $20 all up. In Australia that would take you one or maybe two weeks.
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 5:39:29
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness, posted by rnny on March 11, 2010, at 16:39:10
Unfortunately in Australia ADHD is not considered a mental illness the solution to which is amphetamine, except by practitioners without a sense of irony. Any doctor I see would laugh that out of the room. They might agree to bodgie it up if they thought it was for the greater good.
What about the DSM thing for depression? What is it? More than two weeks of depressed mood? It makes me think of that Pole who worked in the railways on the way to Treblinka and counted the transported Jews for the Polish resistance (1,200,000). He said the felt depressed and sex was out of the question. Viagra?
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 5:44:47
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on March 11, 2010, at 18:33:22
>Governments have been working on these techniques for centuries.
Yes.
They seem to feel it's a burden they shoulder for the public good.
Posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 9:46:06
In reply to United, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 5:18:59
What is this NO you mention after the hurricane? Which hurricane?
Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 12, 2010, at 17:25:00
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness » rnny, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 5:39:29
> Unfortunately in Australia ADHD is not considered a mental illness the solution to which is amphetamine, except by practitioners without a sense of irony. Any doctor I see would laugh that out of the room.
Sigi, what is the general attitude to ADHD in Australia? (If there is such as thing as a general attitude.)
PS. Should the fullstop go after the bracket or vice versa? I believe you are the best person to ask.
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 20:33:43
In reply to Re: United » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 9:46:06
>What is this NO you mention after the hurricane? Which hurricane?
Oh, I thought it would be clear to you.
New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina (it was, wasn't it?)
Posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 20:40:57
In reply to Re: United » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 20:33:43
Oh. We're fairly media free--well, there is this computer-thing I have.... I thought you referenced Katrina, but still don't now about the NO. I can find out, though.
Thanks!
> >What is this NO you mention after the hurricane? Which hurricane?
>
> Oh, I thought it would be clear to you.
>
> New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina (it was, wasn't it?)
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 20:47:04
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness, posted by ed_uk2010 on March 12, 2010, at 17:25:00
My shrink said that he would be prepared to provide a diagnosis of ADHD *if* he felt it would be to the patient's benefit. I don't think he has any faith in the diagnosis as such.
I think it's much the same as with you, except I wonder if our attitude is a little more generous? Some British doctors of my acquaintance seem somewhat punitive. Then again, I live in one of those trendy sceptical areas.
I have heard of people learning the symptoms and getting the diagnosis, though I didn't have the stomach for that.
And I can't possibly go to a doctor and say some crap like 'I have comorbid ADHD and OCD, requiring something nice'.
There was a case up north where some kids shared their Ritalin and were incautious enough to take handfuls and had to be carted off to the local hospital foaming at the mouth.
In the streets here when we arrived in Tet there were lots of photocopied US$100 bills being burned in front of joss sticks and little shrines. The money is spiritually transported to the souls of the departed awaiting reincarnation, whether to buy their way up the ladder or to provided for their needs, I'm not sure. As above, so below, I guess.
Humans are very interesting.
We went to church last Sunday and found the cathedral full of young people, as it would not be at home. There was some kind of plainsong catechism lasting an hour before the Mass started. I found it very moving. Not so long ago, maybe from 1975 to 1990, it would have been an act of defiance of the regime, I think.
Posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 21:07:00
In reply to Re: United » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 20:40:57
>Oh. We're fairly media free-
I hadn't thought that possible being a political junkie, but on the way over we came across an Irishman who was a carpenter. Because of the downturn he traveled the world looking exclusively for birds (avians). He was interested in little else and knew so much about them. India, Vietnam, Australia, Siberia, anywhere...he camped out looking for and recognising birds. He hadn't read a newspaper or listened to the news in 6 months.
He had a theory about Australians. He said they came in 2 types....either as dry as possible (some national competition to be so) or as the drinking sporty sort.
Posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 21:12:39
In reply to Re: United » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 21:07:00
Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 13, 2010, at 10:31:05
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness » ed_uk2010, posted by sigismund on March 12, 2010, at 20:47:04
Perhaps something like the Miserere mei by Gregorio Allegri. Click on the video to watch.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn39RzlhSao&feature=related
> We went to church last Sunday and found the cathedral full of young people, as it would not be at home. There was some kind of plainsong catechism lasting an hour before the Mass started. I found it very moving. Not so long ago, maybe from 1975 to 1990, it would have been an act of defiance of the regime, I think.
Posted by Dinah on March 13, 2010, at 10:45:31
In reply to Re: United » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on March 12, 2010, at 20:40:57
Sigi and I were talking about this.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-30-4013234752_x.htm
United and community seem to be the operative words.
Posted by floatingbridge on March 13, 2010, at 12:04:27
In reply to Re: United » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on March 13, 2010, at 10:45:31
Especially like the closing sentences.
Posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2010, at 0:09:21
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness, posted by sigismund on March 11, 2010, at 2:32:35
Sigi late here but what about the slave owners and their slave children procreation? I guess it's off topic but did they also beat the women? Phillipa
Posted by sigismund on March 14, 2010, at 8:17:03
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness » sigismund, posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2010, at 0:09:21
Geez, PJ, I dunno.
You'd know more about that than me.
I do remember the assertion that some slaves were worse off when slavery ended.
Something similar may have happened in Australia when the decision was made to give Aboriginal people equal pay.
This led to their eviction from the properties on which they camped and their survival and demoralisation on welfare and too much drink.Every Sunday night in Dalat they close off the streets leading to the main squares on the top and kids come out with their toys, scooters and things I don't know the names of, and the older boys gather in circles and kick something like a shuttlecock around with fancy moves, and other kids practice breakdancing. And nobody is drunk. It was very beautiful. This happens in our town at New Years Eve, but it is quite different, because it is a commercial event and everybody is legless. Here it felt like a statement that people are more important than things, even if that is so rarely true.
Posted by floatingbridge on March 14, 2010, at 12:19:57
In reply to Re: Psychiatric illness, posted by sigismund on March 14, 2010, at 8:17:03
This is lovely.
Every so often I will say to my son that people are more important than things; it's really more that I'm reminding myself.
Thanks.
>
> Every Sunday night in Dalat they close off the streets leading to the main squares on the top and kids come out with their toys, scooters and things I don't know the names of, and the older boys gather in circles and kick something like a shuttlecock around with fancy moves, and other kids practice breakdancing. And nobody is drunk. It was very beautiful. This happens in our town at New Years Eve, but it is quite different, because it is a commercial event and everybody is legless. Here it felt like a statement that people are more important than things, even if that is so rarely true.
Posted by sigismund on March 14, 2010, at 22:45:34
In reply to Dalat » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on March 14, 2010, at 12:19:57
I grew up knowing that people were among the least important things.
This is because we were a settler society that had profited greatly from a recent and unacknowleged crime.
Racism was needed to keep it unconscious. Class was needed for the same reason.Every so ften something would upset the applecart.
A venerable great aunt from England (a lot of freight there) came and said that only the nouveau riche had their silver on display.
And we thought we were the Royal Family. But then they say the Royal family is very new on the block too.
It's all too silly to mention.I'm glad you responded to my post.
I've been worried that they are not psychological enough for this board, although I try to make them so and everything is connected.The other thing I notice here is about relations between the sexes.
There seems to be a rule against men and women showing sexual attraction in public. No kissing, certainly.
My wife and I walk around holding hands at times and that feels OK, but I'm not so sure about hugs.
OTOH there is quite free and easy contact between members of the same sex.
Young men and women and especially boys and girls will stand around with their arms around each other in a way that suggests friendship rather than anything erotic.
It is like that all through the parts of Asia I've visited.If that had happened when I was growing up there would have been the Spanish Inquisition about it, culminating in the visit to the office.
I feel it had something to do with the distant relations between fathers and sons......God knows, I don't understand it.
But I will repeat here a fact about Australia that many find confronting. There was a man who had sex with more than one thousand boys around from 1960-70 not one of whom complained.
He came to light for quite different reasons.
The question raised was 'Why did not ONE complain?', and the only answer that makes any sense is that there was this huge hunger for friendly sensual contact, which they might have received from their friends or their parents but which they were forced to live without as the hue and cry about homosexuality surrounded them like a witchcraze. Many boys would spend half a decade with almost no touch.No wonder relations between the sexes there were just as Neanderthal. Australia has changed though.
Another thing not to pass on.
Posted by floatingbridge on March 15, 2010, at 2:45:56
In reply to Re: Dalat » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on March 14, 2010, at 22:45:34
> I grew up knowing that people were among the least important things.
> This is because we were a settler society that had profited greatlyI've never connected the dots this way. The States are founded upon genocide and slavery.
> The question raised was 'Why did not ONE complain?', and the only answer that makes any sense is that there was this huge hunger for friendly sensual contact, which they might have received from their friends or their parents but which they were forced to live without as the hue and cry about homosexuality
surrounded them like a witchcraze. Many boys would spend half a decade with almost no touch.During my monominiacal reading about parenting while pregnant, I came across a number of studies that documented that in the USA boys are touched by their parents far less often than girls, even during infancy. And the ways in which they are touched are very different as well.
And all thoughts lead to film (sorry--an annoying habit, at least to me). Just thought of Jane Campion's first feature, Sweetie. Her student shorts also deal with repressed sensuality and eros.
>
> No wonder relations between the sexes there were just as Neanderthal. Australia has changed though.
>
> Another thing not to pass on.
>
>
Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 15, 2010, at 17:11:54
In reply to Re: Dalat » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on March 14, 2010, at 22:45:34
>There seems to be a rule against men and women showing sexual attraction in public. No kissing, certainly.
Over here, certain (young) people seem to have a need to display sexual attraction in public as if to say 'Look at me, I've got a boy/girlfriend'. It's almost as if the kissing is for the benefit of the bystanders.
Posted by sigismund on March 16, 2010, at 3:52:06
In reply to Re: Dalat » sigismund, posted by ed_uk2010 on March 15, 2010, at 17:11:54
It seems to be a Vietnamese form of polite friendliness to run a finger along another's forearm.
When it is done to me I notice they are also interested in how hairy I am and they stroke me gently as you would an animal.
Posted by sigismund on March 16, 2010, at 3:58:20
In reply to Re: Dalat, posted by floatingbridge on March 15, 2010, at 2:45:56
>During my monominiacal reading about parenting while pregnant, I came across a number of studies that documented that in the USA boys are touched by their parents far less often than girls, even during infancy. And the ways in which they are touched are very different as well.
Maybe they are touched almost as much in infancy but at a certain point (before adolescence) a feeling arises that they need to be toughened up, and minimising touch is part of that?
Which leads on to whether the boy feels a betrayal from his mother in particular, which may be displaced onto women in general?You would have heard of those (perhaps apocryphal) English parents who, knowing that touch would spoil the child, allowed a handshake on Sundays?
Posted by Phillipa on March 16, 2010, at 23:20:44
In reply to Re: Dalat » ed_uk2010, posted by sigismund on March 16, 2010, at 3:52:06
Sigi always knew you were a gentle sweet puppy dog or Teddy Bear. Love PJ
Posted by floatingbridge on March 19, 2010, at 11:06:34
In reply to Re: Dalat » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on March 16, 2010, at 3:58:20
Hey Sigi, how about posting an update on social?
and about your last post here:
> Maybe they are touched almost as much in infancy but at a certain point (before adolescence) a feeling arises that they need to be toughened up, and minimising touch is part of that?
Actually, the studies showed that from day one, boys here were touched less frequently and less intimately (such as buttocks caresses were avoided).
> Which leads on to whether the boy feels a betrayal from his mother in particular, which may be displaced onto women in general?
This is interesting. Hmmm.
> You would have heard of those (perhaps apocryphal) English parents who, knowing that touch would spoil the child, allowed a handshake on Sundays?
Yes, seems so strange to me today, having a nanny or a school raise my child, but I am of my generation. Of course, in many places, sending one's child to school is strange and inhuman.... (Not that I haven't wished for a nanny to spontaneously appear sometimes :D .)
Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 24, 2010, at 15:32:28
In reply to Re: Dalat » ed_uk2010, posted by sigismund on March 16, 2010, at 3:52:06
> It seems to be a Vietnamese form of polite friendliness to run a finger along another's forearm.
>
> When it is done to me I notice they are also interested in how hairy I am and they stroke me gently as you would an animal.
>
>I think the Vietnamese are not very hairy?
Posted by Sigismund on March 25, 2010, at 14:12:03
In reply to Re: Dalat » sigismund, posted by ed_uk2010 on March 24, 2010, at 15:32:28
>I think the Vietnamese are not very hairy?
Not at all.
This is the end of the thread.
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