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What does Valentine’s Day, Black History Month, Groundhog Day, the Super Bowl, Snoop Dog, Tom Brady, psychiatry, and Ramadan all have in common?
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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS
Despite the worsening of my social psychiatry New Year’s resolutions in January, we will always have February. However, February is not a very popular month, especially in areas of our country where difficult winters have been common, which is why so many snowbirds go south. This year February is complicated by our government’s political upheavals. Nevertheless, although this month is the shortest, there are some February landmarks that could evoke diverse love and other social positivity.
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is in the middle of February. It is devoted to love, including unexpected love represented by the arrows of the mythical Cupid. Such love is just what we need in the context of increasing conflicts and hatred.
Black History Month
Following Reverend Martin Luther King Jr Day, Black History month is already in motion. Although the Defense Department is no longer supporting cultural commemoration months like this one, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation for a federal recognition of Black History Month. It is a good time to reflect on the hardships and the contributions from our Black brothers and sisters.
Groundhog Day
February 2 was Groundhog Day. In Milwaukee, where I live, our usual groundhog from the zoo wasn’t available, as Gordy died 2 years ago. For some reason, goats were used this year. They didn’t see their shadows, predicting an early spring. Love those goats!
The Super Bowl
Onto the National Football League Super Bowl, which is probably the most beloved sports event in the United States. This year again adds the special romance of Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift. Reflecting on Black History Month, American football is one of the earliest sports that included Black players, which now is expanding to their roles in leadership positions.
Snoop Dog and Tom Brady Ad Against Hate
Just released yesterday is a Super Bowl ad designed by The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, and led by the owner of the New England Patriots team, Robert Kraft. Decrying that he thinks that hate in the country is the worse he has seen, with the divisiveness of social media escalating hatred, the ad depicts a stand-up argument about the differences between the popular Black entertainer Snoop Dog and the White football star Tom Brady. It almost comes across to me as a sort of Rorschach Test on love and anti-hate. See what you think.
Psychiatry
That antiracist development in football is paralleled in clinical and organized psychiatry. Clinical care of Black patients has been improving, and the new chief executive officer of the American Psychiatric Association is a Black woman.
Ramadan
February closes with the beginning of the Muslim period of Ramadan. The date varies each year due because it is based on the Lunar calendar. I noticed the spiritual power of Ramadan, for which there is fasting until sundown, when I was the lead editor of the first edition ofthe book Islamophobia and Psychiatry. I had wondered why the writing of the Muslim psychiatrists seemed better during Ramadan. I was told that it was due to the increased spiritual impact of the time and the fasting.
Charging Forward With Positivity
So forward we go in February. May we come out of this challenging month with more love and spirituality. Those aspects of positive psychology and psychiatry is what we can—and should—have in common.
Dr Moffic (he/him/his) is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry, and is now in retirement and refirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.