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Eight years ago, when we paid $1,200 — a sum considerably higher than we ever paid before for a pup — Jenny was a seven-week-old, cute, rambunctious Australian Shepherd puppy.
She’s now a 45-pound robust, gravelly-voiced girl, who along with her gentle brother, Hank, provides us with enormous pleasure. I really should say, joy.
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An article appeared in today’s Wall Street journal about a Marine veteran who had overdosed twice on opioid painkillers prescribed for a hand injury suffered in Iraq. After a week of withdrawal, he checked himself out of a VA hospital, and was given 168 pills of the same drug to which he had been addicted. The following day, he was given another 168 pills.
The article pointed out that many of the more than two million Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from a combination of physical pain (from various injuries) and PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder). The VA treats many of them with powerful opioid painkillers which make for a high risk of addiction in these vulnerable veterans.
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I was in a restaurant having lunch with some psychiatrist colleagues. As is often the case, we talked about our practices, psychotherapy, medications, and other issues relating to the field of mental health. One man, a guy who fancied himself a bit of a bon vivant, made an interesting comment.
“I have this woman patient who’s extremely seductive.”
“Welcome to the club,” said another therapist.
“She has a terrible sex life with her husband…it’s virtually non-existent.”
“What do you think is behind it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m very tempted…”
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David Morrell is the author whose debut novel, First Blood, written in 1972, became a best seller, which spawned the Rambo film franchise, starring Sylvester Stallone. David has written 28 novels and his work has been translated into 26 languages.
He is acclaimed for his action-packed novels, including Brotherhood of the Rose, Desperate Measures, and The Naked Edge, to name a few. His latest novel, Murder as a Fine Art, is an historical thriller set in Victorian England.
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Raymond Khoury is the bestselling author of several novels, including The Last Templar, The Templar Salvation and The Sign. Born in Lebanon, Raymond and his family were evacuated from Beirut’s civil war, and fled to New York when he was 14. He worked as an architect and investment banker before becoming a screenwriter and producer for networks such as NBC and BBC. Since the success of The Last Templar, his debut novel, he has focused solely on writing fiction. His works have been translated into over 40 languages. Rasputin’s Shadow is his sixth novel.
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We’ve all heard the old cliché, You can’t judge a book by its cover. While that’s probably true many potential readers do decide whether to look inside a novel based solely on its cover.
First, it’s important to make a concession. If the writer’s name is Stephen King, John Grisham, Sue Grafton, James Patterson, Janet Evonovich, or one any of a cadre of best-selling novelists, the book’s cover barely matters. Virtually anything written by these authors will be read by millions of people. The usual marketing tools aren’t necessary.
But for the overwhelming majority of novelists, the book’s cover matters enormously.
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It’s vitally important to apply correct diagnoses to serious psychiatric illnesses. When the media disseminate improper diagnoses, a grave disservice is done to people who suffer from these disorders.
By now, most of us know about the car chase that occurred near the U.S. Capitol. A 34 year old woman was shot and killed after leading police on a high-speed chase when she tried to ram a White House gate.
According to a report, Miriam Carey believed she was the “prophet of Stamford” and could communicate with President Obama. The report stated Ms. Carey told police in December 2012 “President Obama had placed Stamford on lockdown and had arranged to have her home electronically monitored, and her life was broadcast on television.” (Ibid).
Her mother told ABC news her daughter “had been hospitalized after suffering post-partum depression.” Soon afterwards, media reports stated Ms. Carey suffered from this disorder.
While I never examined Ms. Carey, I felt the diagnosis of Post-partum depression was wrong. Post-partum Depression involves social withdrawal, sadness, and loss of interest in the baby, as well as in other activities. Believing she was the “prophet of Stamford” and her home was monitored while her life was being broadcast on television, made it very likely the correct diagnosis for Ms. Carey was Schizophrenia. In addition, the previously mentioned article noted Ms. Carey had a family history of Schizophrenia, which has a familial distribution. The report also stated that in December 2012, her boyfriend called police to report she was “off her medication” and acting erratically. It’s important to note the overwhelming majority of Schizophrenic patients are not violent.
Another report published a day after the incident said, “Authorities searching the home of a Connecticut woman who rammed barricades and led police on a chase near the U.S. Capitol found discharge papers from a 2012 mental health evaluation that listed prescriptions to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders…” http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/politics/u-s-capitol-shooting/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular.
Psychiatrically, the grandiose and paranoid delusions from which Ms. Carey suffered are typical of certain Schizophrenic syndromes. The article noted that police searching Ms. Carey’s home found risperidone, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat Schizophrenia. While she may have suffered from Post-partum Depression (superimposed on Schizophrenia), the pathology described thereafter is not remotely that of Post-partum Depression.
Diagnostic labels such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-partum Depression are often applied indiscriminately by people with no mental health training. In the rush to be the first to provide updates on breaking news, the media seizes upon such comments and propagates them as fact. By the time such misinformation is corrected, the damage has already been done.
This is not simply a matter of semantics or incorrect nomenclature. Combat veterans and others who suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder are improperly branded as potentially dangerous.
The media have an obligation to refrain from disseminating flawed information so it doesn’t become popular belief.
Mark Rubinstein
Author of Mad Dog House and Love Gone Mad
I’m often struck by the opening sentence of a novel or short story. It can draw me in and set expectations for what’s to come. This isn’t always true, of course, but a story’s first line is the author’s opening salvo. It may be a “hook” or may operate on a more subtle level, if it does at all. The first sentence can foretell something about the story, or may set the tone for the entire work. Some first sentences have a magnetic power and draw me in, raising my curiosity, nearly forcing me to read on. Others simply strike me because they resonate on some deep level of which I’m unaware. The opening sentence may be a clue about how I will spend a number of hours.
I’ve gathered 14 first sentences from randomly chosen novels, and one from a short story. They’re presented in no particular order. Some are famous opening lines; others are not. Some presage what’s to come; others don’t. I think each one is interesting in its own way.
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As an author of crime-thriller fiction, I’ve occasionally been asked about violence in my novels. Typical questions range from, why is so much violence in your books? to another, more personal one: Is violence part of your personality or is it totally contrived for your novels?
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I was working in a psychiatric emergency room when the police arrived with another potential patient. They routinely foisted disorderly drunks off on the hospital, rather than contend with the paperwork involved in tossing them in the drunk tank.
“There’s no alcohol on his breath,” said the cop, stating his case for a psych admission. “He was in front of the Regency Hotel, saying he planned to check into a suite. Claims he’s got loads of money. He’s got no ID, so he’s a John Doe.”
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