Tales From the New Asylum

Amidst sexting congressmen, philandering French IMF directors, and gallivanting governors, I suspect many psychiatrists have been accosted with questions from friends and colleagues. Such questions generally conform to some permutation of “What makes a person do that?”

Physicians are required to fill the compartment of their neuro-crania with much in the way of thought content. Many years later, they may find the surplus of that content resurfacing.

Can the death of a terrorist be something to celebrate? Should it be? What can this tell us about ourselves? What is the "proper" reaction?

Whenever a suicide happens in the New Asylums, a palpable, muted dread descends over the institution. It stays there in full force for weeks and months afterwards, sometimes longer. After that, it is added as another sedimentary layer to the strata and culture of the particular institution. Before things get too deeply buried, it is important to excavate.

I would have to wait until the next day, when K’s internal flames of resistance had died down, to learn why he had burned so fiercely. When we finally sat across from one another, his embers still glowed, and I learned that the source of his combustion had been the classic lose-lose scenario.

I recently shared a research article on “no-suicide contracts” with a colleague who is very knowledgeable about suicide. That article concluded—-as virtually all the previous literature had—that use of suicide prevention contracts (SPC) remains a questionable clinical practice intervention.

The movie Bronson loosely follows the true story of the infamous "most violent prisoner" in the UK -- a man named Michael Peterson who later changed his name to Charles "Charlie" Bronson on the advice of his bare knuckle boxing promoter.

Consider your pearly whites. You probably take 'em for granted anyway. When was the last time you flossed?

The next I heard of the Prince, my hopes that he had reshaped his consciousness in a more healthy direction were dashed. The Prince was in solitary confinement as punishment for another attempt to establish his empire.

Morally motivated decision making has been increasingly studied by the social sciences, and distinctive patterns are emerging. Most subjects begin to have serious moral reservations as their decisions come closer to directly affecting a human life.