Surveillance and Spying [DRAFT]
by Simon & Oscar
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-01-01
It was a quiet New Year's Day, all alone.
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-04-18
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Proposal would diagnose grief a mental disorder Critics worry this lead to pills being prescribed for 'mourning' 18 Apr 2011 Ottawa Citizen BY SHARON KIRKEY Postmedia News Human grief could soon be diagnosed as a mental disorder under a proposal critics fear could lead to mood-altering pills being pushed for "mourning." Psychiatrists charged with revising the official "bible" of mental illness are recommending changes that would make it easier for doctors to diagnose major depression in the newly bereaved. Instead of having to wait months, the diagnosis could be made two weeks after the loss of a loved one. The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - an influential psychiatric tome used the world over - excludes people who have recently suffered a loss from being diagnosed with a major depressive disorder unless his or her symptoms persist beyond two months. It's known as the "grief exclusion," the theory being that "normal" grief shouldn't be labelled a mental disorder. But in what critics have called a potentially disastrous suggestion tucked among the proposed changes, "grief exclusion" would be eliminated from the DSM. Proponents argue that major depression is major depression, that it makes little difference whether it comes on after the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of a marriage or any other major life stressor. Eliminating "grief exclusion" would help people get treatment sooner than they otherwise would. But critics fear that those experiencing completely expectable symptoms of grief would be labelled mentally "sick." Dr. Allen Frances says the proposal would pathologize a normal emotion and could bring on even wider prescribing of mood-altering pills. " This is a disaster," says Frances, a renowned U.S. psychiatrist who chaired the task force that wrote the current edition of the DSM, which is now undergoing its fifth revision. "Say you lose someone you love and two weeks later you feel sad, can't sleep well, and have reduced interest, appetite, and energy. These five symptoms are completely typical of normal grieving, but DSM-5 would instead label you with a mental disorder." And, according to Frances, there's no problem with the current grief exclusion that needs fixing. The DSM already allows the diagnosis of major depression soon after a loss if the grief symptoms are severe - when the bereaved becomes incapacitated, suicidal, or psychotic. Milder symptoms, he says, are better lived through than treated with a pill. But if the proposed change is allowed, "your psychiatrist or your primary care doctor - more likely your primary care doctor who sees you for less than 10 minutes - can decide that you have major depressive disorder, stigmatize you with an inaccurate label, and prescribe an unnecessary medicine," Frances says. |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-05-17
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Driver mentally ill, lawyer says Hit and run accused is schizophrenic, court hears BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN MAY 17, 2011 A man on trial for dangerous driving and failing to remain at the scene of a deadly hitand-run suffers from a "major psychiatric illness," his lawyer told a jury Monday. Defence lawyer Paolo Giancaterino said the jury will hear from a psychiatrist that Vlad-Nicolae Precup has schizophrenia. The doctor is expected to describe how that illness affects Precup in his everyday living and the effect his illness could have had on the perceptions and reactions of someone on the July 13, 2008 night that Precup is accused of killing Mitchell Anderson at the corner of Colonel By Drive and Rideau Street. After hearing that evidence, Giancaterino said, the jury will have to decide if Precup was aware of the accident when it occurred and whether his driving was dangerous given the situation he was in. The jury has already heard evidence that an intoxicated Anderson, whose blood-alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit to drive, had crossed against the traffic light and touched the hood of Precup's red Mazda RX-8 before Precup squealed away from the intersection. One witness testified she locked her doors when she saw Anderson. In a statement to police five months after the collision, Precup claimed Anderson was acting "weird." Precup, who had lied to police during two previous interviews, also said he thought Anderson had moved out of the way when he sped away. Precup said he didn't realize anyone was hit until later and didn't come forward to police because he was afraid of telling his parents and didn't want his teacher girlfriend, who was in the car with him, to lose her job. "You are already aware at this point in time that this is not a classic case of 'whodunnit,' " Giancaterino said. "At the end of it all, you will be asked not to decide whether Vlad Precup was the person who was driving the vehicle, but rather, was it dangerous given the circumstances that Vlad Precup found himself in, and whether he was in fact aware of the accident once it occurred," Giancaterino said. "The fact that a death occurred on that evening, as tragic as that is, does not automatically provide you with all of the answers to the questions you will have to ask yourself in judging Vlad Precup's culpability." Before hearing from Dr. Reghuvaran Kunjukrishnan Tuesday, the jury heard evidence from Precup's mechanic. Fernand Richer testified that Precup brought the car to his remote Carlsbad Springs property in the two weeks after the collision, but never asked him to repair any body damage. The car had a broken clutch, Richer said, and Precup left it at his property because, he said, he couldn't afford to repair it. Brian Hodgson, a former RCMP officer and blood-alcohol expert, also testified, telling the jury that Anderson's blood-alcohol level could have been as high as 318 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood. Hodgson testified that someone with Anderson's blood-alcohol level would be severely intoxicated. A heavy drinker may still be able to function, although a "normal" drinker would likely have vomited and passed out, Hodgson said. The trial continues. aseymour@ottawacitizen.com © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-05-21
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Reaching out to underserved youth Ottawa Hospital wants early-intervention program expanded so patients can start treatment sooner BY PAULINE TAM, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN MAY 21, 2011 7:48 AM Ten years after launching a program that treats people at the first signs of a psychotic illness, The Ottawa Hospital is looking to broaden the outpatient service for people suffering from other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. In particular, the hospital wants to reach out to teens and young adults aged 15 to 24, who are considered woefully underserved. Up to three-quarters of all mental illnesses strike in the late teenage or early-adult years, but many people simply remain untreated until they land in the emergency room, having harmed themselves, overdosed on drugs, or fallen deep in the grip of imaginary voices or hallucinations. By then, most psychiatrists say, effective treatment is far more difficult, leading to less recovery of function, greater disability and more use of expensive hospital beds and other social services. In fact, evidence is mounting that the sooner people get treatment, the better they do in the long run. The hospital is exploring an expansion of its early-intervention program, known as On Track, at a time of severe underfunding and soaring demand for mental-health services. People seeking treatment are facing long delays. In recent months, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario has been struggling with a spike in the number of children and teens needing urgent care. The hospital's emergency department has been flooded with young people in mental distress, and neither CHEO nor the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre has been able to keep up with demand for youth psychiatric beds. Meanwhile, children and adults who need outpatient care are waiting up to a year to see a psychiatrist. In the face of such strains, the On Track clinic, at Bank Street and Riverside Drive, remains one of the few mental-health services that continues to accept walk-in patients without a referral from a family doctor. The clinic, which has an annual budget of $2.5 million, brings together a team of 25 psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other specialists. Typically, they provide intensive treatment - a combination of therapy, education and anti-psychotic drugs to dissolve hallucinations and quiet imaginary voices - to people at the earliest stage of a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, which strikes one per cent of the population, or between 120 and 180 eastern Ontarians every year. More than half of the 200 people who are referred to the program each year are patients discharged from The Ottawa Hospital's emergency department or psychiatric ward. Almost all of them receive assessments to determine if they have a psychotic illness; fewer than half actually fit the criteria to be enrolled in the program. Most of the 180 patients are in their early 20s. Dr. Paul Roy, medical director of On Track, sees an opportunity for the clinic to take on more patients in the early stages of other mental illnesses. "Why would you just have an early-intervention program that caters to schizophrenia? Would it not make sense to have an early-intervention program that covers all mental-health issues?" His idea is in an early stage, and no money has yet been committed to an expansion. It also needs the co-operation of CHEO, which provides the bulk of mental-health services for children and youth. Dr. Simon Davidson, CHEO's chief psychiatrist, said he approves of Roy's idea in theory, but needs more time to study it more closely. "I prefer to work things out before we go to the media, and I'm quite sure we'll work things out." Already, Roy's idea has the backing of Dr. Pat McGorry, an Australian psychiatrist who 15 years ago launched an international movement to treat people at the earliest stage of a psychotic illness. McGorry's early intervention psychosis clinic became the model for hundreds of similar programs worldwide, including the one at The Ottawa Hospital. Since it was established in 1992, McGorry's own clinic in Melbourne has been expanded to treat people suffering from a broad range of mental illnesses. Many of the clinic's patients are young adults. "There's great potential in Ottawa for Paul and Simon to work together to build a much more comprehensive system for teenagers and young adults," McGorry said on a visit this week to Ottawa, where he conducted a program review of On Track. A 2009 study published by McGorry's research team showed more than half of those patients who received early intervention were in remission and working at paid jobs two years after treatment. In contrast, only one-third of those who were treated after a mental-health crisis regained that level of independence. The study also found the higher recovery rate was achieved at one-third of the cost to the health system. In Australia, that translated to an average of $3,500 a year for each patient treated through an early-intervention program compared with $9,500 for each patient who wasn't. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-06-03
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Bus killer denied passes off grounds of institution Vince Li found not criminally responsible in 2008 beheading BY MIKE MCINTYRE, THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JUNE 3, 2011 Vince Li will not be allowed passes off the grounds of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre for at least the next year, a Criminal Code review board has ruled. However, the man found not criminally responsible for a horrific 2008 killing will be granted some extended privileges within the facility based on the rapid progress he is making while receiving medical care. Li is being held in Selkirk for the beheading and dismemberment slaying of Tim McLean, 22, on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie. A judge ruled Li was suffering from hallucinations and untreated schizophrenia at the time of the unprovoked attack. He was back in a Winnipeg courtroom Monday to appear before the Criminal Code review board for his annual status update, where his treatment team was recommending he be given additional freedoms which could include escorted leaves into the community within the next 12 months. The review board released a written decision Thursday, citing Li's improvements but authorizing only minimal changes to his status. They agreed with his treatment team's recommendation to allow for longer passes from his locked forensic unit to walk on hospital grounds. He is currently allowed one hour per day, but the review board said those may be gradually increased until they cover a full day. The review board also agreed that supervision can be reduced at Selkirk's discretion, from the current 3: 1 staff ratio down to as little as a 1: 1 ratio. However, they did not authorize allowing Li the possibility of participating in group outings on the grounds of Selkirk in which one staff member would supervise three patients at a time. Nor did they give the green light for any escorted passes out of the facility. All of the conditions are binding for the next 12 months and subject to annual review. During his hearing last year, the review board first authorized the twice-daily outdoor walks for Li under the 3: 1 level of supervision. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-06-09
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Schizophrenic Computer Points to New Theory of Disease Software pays undue attention. Does a diseased mind do the same? By MORGEN E. PECK JUNE 2011 6 June 2011-We know what schizophrenia looks like in humans. We think we know what schizophrenia looks like in mice. Now we may know what it looks like in a computer. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have modeled the disease in a program called DISCERN in an attempt to prove a long-standing theory of how schizophrenia works. But what they came away with was a completely new clinical hypothesis. DISCERN, short for distributed script processing and episodic memory network, was built to process and recall simple narratives. With the original settings, it can digest a narrative, retain it, and reproduce the story in its "own" words. Every script fed to DISCERN runs through multiple modules that simulate networks in the brain. As the information flows through a semantic memory module, a sentence parser, and a story parser, the system learns what words mean by looking statistically at how they operate in sentences. In a simulation of working memory, it identifies different aspects of the story to change the likelihood that it will retain a specific detail, then rebuilds the parts it does remember back into a story. In this way, DISCERN models the brain both as a semantic and emotional processor. Doctors listen very closely to language in their schizophrenic patients and to how they recall stories. People with the disease often confuse who did what to whom, resulting in wild tales that become autobiographical, in which they place themselves at the center of fantastic events. Another type of schizophrenia causes patients to combine completely different stories into a single narrative. "We're so tuned to language," says Uli Grasemann, a lead author on the study. "We use it for diagnosis. We may as well use it to search for compelling models." Teaming up with Ralph Hoffman, a psychiatrist from Yale University, Grasemann began tampering with DISCERN and diagnosing it as though it were a human being. Hoffman initially wanted to bolster a theory that links schizophrenic behavior to a breakdown of communication between areas of the brain controlling working memory. To do this, the team reduced the connectivity in DISCERN's story generator. The results were very disappointing. The researchers tried to damage their simulated brain in other ways. In all, they simulated seven hypothetical causes of the disease, but none of the injuries produced the kind of language they were looking for. Grasemann then decided to train DISCERN's story generator for a longer period before starting the next experiment, hoping this would bring some behaviors out of the shadows. He also weighted the extra training more heavily so that everything DISCERN learned during this interval would take on more importance. What he produced was a schizophrenic computer. After digesting a narrative about a terrorist named Tony who drove to city hall and detonated a bomb, DISCERN retold the story in the first person. DISCERN was just as eager to adopt the life of a crime boss named Vito or to thrust its assigned identity onto another character. But when Grasemann enhanced the training in the system's memory encoder, he noticed very different symptoms. Suddenly, DISCERN began losing the thread of stories, hopping erratically between narratives. By changing the same parameter in different places, Grasemann had modeled both the delusions and the disordered speech typical of schizophrenic patients. The researchers were quickly convinced that they'd found something important. "In general, when you develop models, if you have enough parameters, you can make them do just about anything. If it's unplanned and unanticipated, it makes it much more powerful," says Hoffman. While setting out to prove one theory, Hoffman had stumbled upon a completely new one that he calls the "hyperlearning hypothesis." The theory proposes that a period of intense learning, during which the brain assigns an unwarranted importance to new information, can set off delusions and scattered language. This is very similar to a well-known theory that increased dopamine transmission contributes to schizophrenic symptoms. In some parts of the brain, dopamine seems to have a role in marking relevant information, explains Alexander Arguello, a neuroscientist at Princeton University. When this system becomes hyperactive, an individual may begin to feel that everything is deeply but mysteriously relevant. In this theory, delusions may be a strategic attempt to rationalize this state of heightened awareness. "It's not just that you're remembering things better. You're remembering things that aren't related to each other. You're making the wrong associations between things," says Arguello. Although other computer systems have been used to model schizophrenic symptoms, DISCERN is the first to look at changes in language and storytelling. "This study is the only one that looks at how abnormal salience might lead to some of the language deficits observed in patients," says Arguello, "providing further support that prediction-error learning deficits might be involved in schizophrenia pathophysiology." But for now, Hoffman and Grasemann are using DISCERN as a brainstorming tool, and both acknowledge that proof of the hyperlearning hypothesis can come only from the lab or the clinic. "It has to do with the strength of the claim," Grasemann says of their path to a proven theory. "At this point, we only have to be interesting." About the Author Morgen E. Peck is a freelance writer based in New York City. In the past year, she's written for IEEE Spectrum about brain-computer interfaces, pet-size PET scanners, electronic cigarettes, and other biomedical oddities. |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-06-09
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Date of birth can affect your long-term health, scientists say Seasons have affect on mental, physical health 9 Jun 2011 Ottawa Citizen By Hannah Devlin London • Babies born in the spring are at greater risk than autumn babies of developing a broad range of diseases, scientists claimed Wednesday. Conditions including asthma, autism, schizophrenia, MS and Alzheimer's are all linked to a mother's exposure to sunlight during pregnancy, creating a birthday lottery for disease risk, according to Russell Foster, chairman of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Presenting his findings Wednesday at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival, he said that the seasons had a profound impact on our mental and physical health. "It seems absurd that the month you are born or conceived can affect your future life chances," he said. "But how long you live and how likely you are to develop a range of diseases, including devastating conditions such as schizophrenia, all appear to be associated with the month of birth." There was growing evidence that a fetus's vitamin D exposure subtly affected vulnerability to a range of conditions, he said. Although the precise mechanisms are not yet understood, work by Foster and others has shown that vitamin D has an important role in regulating the expression of thousands of genes during development. Epidemiological data also supports the role of vitamin D. In the northern hemisphere, for instance, risk for most disorders appears to peak in the spring months, from March to May, with lower than average risk being clustered around November births. The Times, London ©Times Newspapers LTd. 2011 |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-06-28
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Judge jails hit-and-run driver who killed Ottawa man for two years less a day BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 27, 2011 OTTAWA - A sympathetic judge rejected a prosecutor's plea for a long prison sentence for a killer hit-and-run driver Monday, instead sentencing the mentally ill man to less than two years in jail. Ontario Superior Court Justice Roydon Kealey said he picked up "vibrations" that Vlad-Nicolae Precup would turn his life around, strongly recommending Precup serve his time at a jail in Brockville that could treat his paranoid schizophrenia. Precup, 34, was found guilty by a jury in May of dangerous driving causing death and failing to remain at the scene of an accident, in connection with a July 2008 hit-and-run collision at the corner of Rideau Street and Colonel By Drive that killed 38-year-old Mitchell Anderson. "You're a young man. You've got miles to go," Kealey told Precup. "I feel fairly confident just from the vibrations I get from observing you that you will take charge and things will turn out well for you," Kealey added before wishing Precup good luck. Prosecutor John Ramsay argued an eight-year prison sentence was more appropriate for Precup, a recommendation that was immediately shot down by Kealey. "You are not going to get that," Kealey told him bluntly. Undeterred, Ramsay argued that a "cold and calculating" Precup deliberately ran Anderson down out of rage after he touched the hood of Precup's cherished red Mazda RX-8 sports car. Anderson's death had more to do with Precup's anger management problem than his mental illness, Ramsay added. "Mr. Precup is an angry man and the consequence of his anger is Mitchell Anderson is dead," said Ramsay. "A man is dead in an entirely preventable collision brought upon by Mr. Precup's vanity and rage." Precup's repeated lies to police before he finally admitted his involvement more than four months later were also aggravating, Ramsay argued. Kealey rejected the Crown's theory, saying it was speculative to conclude Precup intended to run Anderson down, even if what he did afterward was problematic. Instead, Kealey agreed with defence lawyer Paolo Giancaterino's submissions asking for a sentence of two years less a day, so Precup will serve his time in a provincial jail rather than a federal prison. Giancaterino argued Precup deserved some leniency because he suffered from schizophrenia and had no prior criminal record. "The sentence imposed is not a comment on the value of Mr. Anderson's life," said Giancaterino, who argued at trial that Precup panicked and sped off after overreacting to a perceived danger as a result of his illness. Precup said Monday he felt bad about what happened and realized he should have gone to police sooner. In a victim impact statement, Anderson's daughter, Christine DaCosta, said she lost her best friend. Her last memory of her father is a kiss and hug on a city bus, she said. DaCosta declined to comment on the sentence outside court. In addition to jail, Precup was given a three-year driving prohibition and placed on three years probation. aseymour@ottawacitizen.com © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-07-12
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Attack 'the stuff of horror movies' Woman stabbed, held captive by her ex-boyfriend BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN JULY 12, 2011 A man with schizophrenia who stabbed, slashed, choked and broke the fingers of his exgirlfriend while holding her captive for more than a day has been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment. Dakota "Cody" Atkinson, 30, is a "ticking time bomb" whose terrifying attack on his ex-girlfriend a week after they broke up "is the stuff of horror movies," argued prosecutor Julie Scott. According to an agreed statement of facts, Atkinson invited the 32-year-old victim over to his Jolliet Avenue apartment on May 20 to watch movies and talk but instead took her into a bedroom where the victim said his "second personality came out." The victim said a sarcastic Atkinson, upset over her leaving him, pulled out a hunting knife and began stabbing the bed. He soon moved to the victim's face, cutting it. When she began to bleed heavily, he threw her onto a tarp he had put on the floor and began choking her. An emotional Atkinson stopped choking her long enough to ask her not to leave him, but he soon "snapped" again, she said. He threatened to kill her before dragging her around the bedroom and stabbing the bed next to her head. Atkinson continued to flip her over, then choke her again and throw her around, she said. The victim said she felt "like she was dying." The beating went on for what felt like hours, she said. Atkinson stabbed her in the upper thigh and sliced open her shin. He also broke her pinky and ring fingers by snapping them backwards in a quick motion until she heard a "crack." The victim said Atkinson eventually calmed down after she believes he took his medications. At one point, he ran a bath for her but still wouldn't let her leave, she said. The victim thought she was kept there another day. It wasn't until Atkinson took her to get pain medication, and they were out in public, that she was able to leave. Police only became involved, however, when the victim and four other men returned to break into Atkinson's apartment and beat him up. Her injuries included a deep laceration to her shin that neared the bone, cuts to both sides of her forehead, a cut to her cheek and a stab wound to the thigh. She also suffered cuts to her hand and buttock, and her eyes were blood red from being repeatedly choked, according to police. Atkinson was charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser offence of aggravated assault. He also pleaded guilty to uttering threats, forcible confinement, two weapons charges and a breach of probation. The Crown and defence had agreed on a four-year joint position on sentence for Atkinson, but Scott asked for the mental health assessment after hearing how Atkinson could be a different person when not on his medications. Ontario Court Justice David Wake agreed now was the time to take advantage of such a report. "I don't want it to be the next time he is here if it is on a second-degree murder charge," Wake said. Atkinson will return to court Aug. 9. aseymour@ottawacitizen.com © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-07-16
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Exorcists talk vampires in Poland 300 gather at monastery to Black Madonna icon with devil's deceit, mental illness also on agenda WARSAW • Vampires, the devil's deceit and mental illness are among the hot topics for some 300 exorcists who flocked to Poland this week from as far away as Africa and India for a weeklong congress. Held at Poland's Roman Catholic Jasna Gora monastery, home to the venerated Black Madonna icon, this year's congress "examines the current fashion for vampirism in Europe and the world over, schizophrenia and other mental disorders as well as the devil's deceit during exorcism," according to the monastery's radio station. Also attending are "priests and lay people who work with exorcists or who are themselves practitioners in cases which do not involve possession, but rather other forms of harassment by evil spirits," Polish exorcist Father Andrzej Grefkowicz was quoted as saying. Hailing from India, world-renowned exorcist Father Rufus Pereira as well as chief exorcist of the Archdiocese of Vienna Larry Hogan are among the participants, the radio reported. The unusual meeting is held once every two years. The Jasna Gora monastery's venerated Black Madonna icon is believed by many Poles to work miracles. Legend has it that it was painted by the apostle Saint Luke on a table top from the home of the Holy Family, according to the Jasna Gora website. Records suggest the icon arrived in Poland during the 14th century. With about 90 per cent of the population declaring themselves Roman Catholic, Poland remains one of Europe's most devout countries. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-08-03
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Mentally ill man with violent past kicked out after 30 years in Canada Government deems he presented risk POSTMEDIA NEWS AUGUST 3, 2011 5:29 AM A Jamaican native who blamed a series of violent assaults on his paranoid schizophrenia has lost a bid to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds. Federal Court Justice David Near has ruled that mental illness does not give permanent residents any greater right to stay in Canada. Audley Horace Gardner came to Canada as a teenager 30 years ago. Eight years later, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and in the early 1990s was found not criminally responsible for a violent offence. For a decade, he was treated as an outpatient with anti-psychotic drugs, switching from injections administered by nurses to pills in 2003. But things became worse. He was evicted from his apartment and his schizophrenic symptoms resurfaced. Gardner moved from homeless shelter to homeless shelter and was eventually convicted in 2005 of stabbing a fellow shelter resident and of two other assaults. He was ordered deported in 2007, with the Immigration Appeal Division later ruling he posed too great a danger to the Canadian public. The 48-year-old appealed on humanitarian grounds but the government deemed the risk he presented to the public outweighed the dangers he would face returning to Jamaica, where one expert suggested he would receive inadequate care. Gardner appealed to the Federal Court, but Judge Near ruled recently the decision had been reasonable. The case underlines the perils of immigrants not becoming citizens, and the balance that has to be found in such cases between the public interest and individual rights, said Sergio Karas, an immigration lawyer. "This person is obviously mentally ill and needs treatment, but on the other hand, he is a violent offender," he said. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
_________________
Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-08-24
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Son not to blame for knife attack: court BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN AUGUST 24, 2011 A paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed his father in the throat during a frenzied knife attack following an argument over his failure to take his medication was found not criminally responsible of attempted murder Tuesday. A psychiatrist found Mateusz Smulski, 25, wasn't capable of understanding was he was doing was wrong when he leaped into his father Jacek Smulski's bed and stabbed him with a buckknife at the family's home on Dec. 9, 2010. In the hours before the attack, Jacek Smulski had told his son he intended to take him to the hospital the next day to get a needle to deliver his medication, prosecutor James Cavanagh said. Just prior to the stabbing, Mateusz Smulski was walking in circles in his parents' bedroom, Cavanagh said. His father told him to leave, but he wouldn't go. Eventually his father got out of bed and kicked him lightly in the backside. Smulski told him not to yell at him, Cavanagh said. A short time later, Smulski came back into the room and attacked his father. Jacek Smulski saw his son coming and tried to defend himself, suffering defensive wounds to his hand as well as three stab wounds to his upper arms and shoulders. One knife strike stabbed him in the neck. Smulski's mother tried to stop the attack and suffered minor cuts to her arm and hand. The father attempted to leave the house to get help but a now-unarmed Mateusz Smulski blocked him at the front door. Jacek Smulski and his wife were eventually able to persuade their son to let them leave. He went to a neighbour's house where 911 was called. When the first officer arrived, Jacek Smulski was so drenched in blood that the officer couldn't immediately determine where exactly he was stabbed. In the meantime, Mateusz Smulski had taken a backpack he had packed earlier in the day and left. He was arrested by the police a short distance from the home, covered in blood and bleeding from a cut to his left hand. Smulski at first asked an officer to drop him off at the airport because he was running away. He told the officer that his father wanted to take him to the psychiatrist for a needle the next day. That needle forces him to stay home and that he didn't want it. He added that his father was trying to control him or was going to shoot him, Cavanagh said. Smulski later told police that he wasn't allowed out of his room and stabbed his father in self-defence. He added that he didn't like taking his medication because they made him fat and want to smoke. According to Smulski, people were planning against him and another friend who had been wrongly diagnosed as being mentally ill. They were "forcing him to take needles that made them prisoners in their own brain," he claimed. The day of the stabbing, he told his mother that he believed his father and psychiatrist would hurt him. He was so scared he was planning to run away and wanted his mother to come with him, Cavanagh said. Smulski's father had arranged to have him hospitalized about two months before the attack, Cavanagh said. Smulski was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2006. "Mateusz loved his father but the disease caused him to have certain perceptions about what he was doing," said Cavanagh, adding Smulski's father spent two weeks in hospital following the stabbing. Smulski's mother, who waved at her son as he was led into court, told Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny her son was "very sick." "He didn't know what he was doing that night," she said. Smulski will now be referred to the Ontario Review Board. aseymour@ottawacitizen.com © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
_________________
Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-09-25
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Joseph Halpern: 'He never showed fear' Shot down four times in the war, he later defected from the Russians - then sneaked back into the U.S.S.R. to bring out his future wife
BY ARI ALTSTEDTER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SEPTEMBER 25, 2011 8:31 AM Joseph Halpern kept the worst war experiences to himself. On June 22, 1941, 16-year-old Joseph Halpern kissed Isabelle, his girlfriend, good night and went home to bed. A few hours later he awoke to the sound of artillery fire. Joseph was one of six boys from Wladimir Wolynsk, a half-Jewish town on the Soviet side of occupied Poland, whom the Soviet authorities had flagged for air force training if the Germans attacked. The artillery fire meant training was about to begin and Joseph set off right away. He would never see Isabelle again. Save for five people, the entire Jewish community of Wladimir Wolynsk was liquidated. That night left Joseph Halpern with two things: a score to settle with the Germans, and an aching memory of his first love that would last the rest of his life. He died in Ottawa this summer at the age of 88. For most of his life he wouldn't speak of his experiences in the Russian army. He wasn't proud of some of the things he did. But from the scraps picked up by his family over the years, and a series of interviews conducted in the last year of his life by his son George, a remarkable story of love, and revenge, emerges. Joseph and Isabelle had known each other their entire lives. Their grandmothers were best friends and their families' businesses were entwined. Both top students, they competed with each other in school, and played practical jokes on one another in their spare time. "He loved her," said Heather Pigden-Halpern, Joseph's partner in Ottawa for 41 years. "He would have married her. He felt she was his soulmate." When reports reached the Russian lines of Jews being massacred in German-occupied territory, fear for his family, and Isabelle, awakened hatred for the enemy in Joseph. He threw himself into the war with a fanatic's passion. He was tasked with flying fighter planes left over from the Spanish Civil War against the faster, more powerful German Messerschmitts. The Russians often got the worst of these encounters, but Joseph would always volunteer for more missions, no matter how dangerous they were. He was shot down four times, but he kept volunteering. He would even take to the skies between missions, armed with nothing but a handful of grenades, looking for Germans. "What he said to me, at the end of the war, was that he didn't kill enough of them," said his son George. Eventually Joseph was inducted into the Russian special forces, and dispatched behind enemy lines to deliver radios to the Russian and Polish resistance, or to assassinate enemy commanders. One of the few war stories he shared with his sons was from one of these missions. Walking in a wooded area dressed as a civilian, Joseph ran into a group of German officers, all drunk. The Germans began harassing him. Eventually they used his belt to tie him to a tree and used him as target practice. Joseph only escaped after pretending he was hit and playing dead. What he never told anyone until very late in life, during the interviews with George, was that after the Germans left him for dead he completed his mission, finding the partisans and delivering the radio. Then he went a step further: he recruited the resistance fighters for a mission of his own. That night he led a group of partisans to where the German officers were billeted. They killed them all, except the one who had done the shooting. Joseph led him into the woods. George said that's where his father ended the story. "He said, I'm not going to tell you what happened next. I'm not proud of it. He didn't die well." After the war, Halpern, now a captain, returned to Wladimir Wolynsk to have his worst fears confirmed. He found out Isabelle had been shipped off to a concentration camp after being informed on by a Polish neighbour. He later admitted to his partner Heather that he found the informer and killed him. Though Joseph never forgave the people he held responsible for the massacre of his community, he told his partner Heather he wasn't proud of the way he got revenge: "He would say to me, 'if you knew everything, you probably wouldn't want to be with me.'" Still in the Russian air force after the war, Halpern became the personal pilot of a high-ranking Russian general. But dissatisfaction with life under Soviet rule had him thinking about defecting for a number of years. He saw his chance on a mission to Berlin. While the general was occupied in a meeting, Joseph hopped in his plane and flew to the American sector. But a promise he had made during the war would force him to reurn to the Soviet Union, and esape a second time. The fourth time he was shot down during combat, he had managed to land near his home airfield. The plane was on fire and about to explode but Joseph couldn't free himself from the cockpit. He passed out because of the smoke but was saved by a mechanic who had come rushing over. The two became friends and Joseph confided his ambition to defect. In return for saving his life, the mechanic made Joseph promise to take his daughter, Sophie, with him when he did. In Germany, Joe didn't forget his promise. One day he put on his old captain's uniform, and with characteristic nerve, crossed back into the U.S.S.R., collected Sophie, and escorted her back. Joseph and Sophie were soon married. "He never showed fear," said his son George. "He believed there was a gene that caused people to feel fear, or secrete adrenalin, or whatever. He never had that. The way he described it is: 'I don't think I have the fear gene in me' cause he doesn't know what fear is, he's never experienced it." In 1952, Joseph and Sophie arrived in Halifax as refugees and boarded a train to Montreal, where a miraculous surprise awaited them. On his first day in Montreal Joseph visited an office of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The first person he met there was his father. Joseph had believed his parents had perished in the death camps along with his grandparents and Isabelle. In fact, his parents had fled Wladimir Wolynsk only a day after he had left for training, right before the Germans took over. They had made their way to Britain and then Montreal where they had waited out the war, wondering what had become of their only son. With that, Joseph and Sophie's life in Montreal was off to a good start. He got a job at RCA Victor before he could even speak English (he greeted the interviewer with a cheerful 'goodbye'), and the two had five children together. Eventually, a company transfer meant the family moved to Ottawa, where he got his second PhD at the University of Ottawa. But the family's home life grew unhappy as Sophie's behaviour became increasingly erratic and abusive. Eventually she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had to be institutionalized. But the family's hardships didn't end there. Two of his children, Anna Lee and Leo, predeceased their father after reaching adulthood. But despite all the tragedy in his life Joseph did not pass up the chance for romance when it came again. In 1970 46-year-old Joseph first saw 20-year-old Heather Pigden at a mutual friend's house. Heather has cerebral palsy and says, at the time, none of her friends thought she was "dating material." Joseph disagreed. For him it was love at first sight and before long the two were inseparable. For the people who knew Joseph the reason was simple: Heather reminded him of Isabelle. "He sometimes said that he thought I was the reincarnation of her in some ways," she said. Heather says Isabelle had a gentleness that balanced Joseph's ferocity, and it's that gentleness the two women shared. "She was able to influence him in very good ways to use his abilities and to perhaps take a second look before he jumped in and, you know, took revenge on somebody," Heather said. Joseph's son David said his father's wartime experiences took something from him, but with Heather he got it back. "If you're going to write a poem, what are you going to do? If you're by yourself you're not going to write it. She helped him bring it out." Heather and Joseph were together until the day he died on Aug. 15, 2011. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-11-30
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Norwegian killer insane, report says Victims' families dispute conclusion of psychiatrists JON-ARE BERG-JACOBSEN, REUTERS LONDON • He spent nine years meticulously planning the worst massacre in Norway since the Second World War. He set up a front company to acquire the components for a fertilizer bomb and played video games and took steroids to train for a gruelling shooting rampage. He compiled a 1,518-page manifesto proclaiming a revolt by "indigenous Europeans" and posted it on the Internet. Then, on July 22, dressed as a police officer, he killed eight people with a car bomb outside the prime minister's office in central Oslo and then massacred 69 more at a youth camp on the inland island of Utoya. Now, two police-appointed psychiatrists, who spent 36 hours with him in 13 prison interviews, have decided that he is legally insane. In a 243-page report, delivered to police Tuesday, the psychiatrists concluded that Anders Behring Breivik was a paranoid schizophrenic. Its finding must still be confirmed by a court. Breivik, 32, a computer entrepreneur who wanted to launch a crusade against the "Muslim invasion" of Europe, suffers from "grandiose delusions whereby he believes he is chosen to decide who is to live and who is to die," police said. Despite his extensive planning, the psychiatrists decided that Breivik was "psychotic" during the attack, meaning he had lost control of his actions. "They conclude that Anders Behring Breivik during a long period of time has developed the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia, which has changed him and made him into the person he is today," prosecutor Svein Holden said. The finding shocked many of the victims' families, who voiced fears that Breivik could quickly be released from psychiatric custody. Trond Blattman, whose son, Torjus, died in the Utoya massacre, said the families had wanted a different conclusion. "We hope the legal process will give us confidence that he will not come out earlier than if he had been declared sane by the psychiatric experts," Blattman, who heads the families support group, said in a statement. "We who are affected do not want Breivik to be given the opportunity to harm society again." However, Jorgen Biks, who escaped from Utoya, said he was of the same opinion as the experts. "The report shows that he is in a parallel world. That's what I have believed all along: that he is not present in the world I live in," he said. Many Norwegian experts, such as Svenn Torgersen, a professor of psychology at Oslo University, and Erling Johannes Husabo, a law professor at Bergen University, expressed surprise that Breivik was found to be a paranoid schizophrenic without any evidence that he heard voices or suffered any other uncontrollable impulses. Breivik is scheduled to go on trial on April 16 and may yet resist a plea of insanity. Calling his killing rampage "atrocious, but necessary," Breivik insists he is at war and refuses to recognize the jurisdiction of the court. Under Norway's lenient criminal code, the maximum penalty for mass murder is 21 years in prison. If the court finds him legally insane, however, he cannot be sent to prison and will instead be committed to compulsory psychiatric care. A judge must review his sentence every three years, but inmates in Norway hardly ever remain in psychiatric custody for life. Breivik, a self-styled Knight Templar, is being held in solitary confinement at Ila prison in Oslo, which he says he hates. While in jail, he has demonstrated a lack of reality, although often with an acknowledgment that his demands are unrealistic. When he was first arrested, he asked that the Norwegian king stand down and hand over power to him. He requested evaluation by psychiatrists from Japan because he thought they would better understand his notion of "honour." He even asked to wear a Knights Templar uniform with medals to court. In Ila prison, Breivik has a threeroom suite of cells: one for sleeping, a second with gym equipment for exercise, and a third with a computer, but he is not connected to the Internet, is not allowed to read newspapers and has had no visits from family or friends. Even though he claims to be part of a Europe-wide anti-muslim secret society with other "sleeper cells," he can expect much greater access to the outside world if he is committed to psychiatric custody. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2011-12-16
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Health Canada OKs adult schizophrenia drug for some teens Wider prescribing feared by some BY SHARON KIRKEY, OTTAWA CITIZEN DECEMBER 16, 2011 Health Canada has approved a powerful antipsychotic - approved two years ago to treat schizophrenia in adults - for use on children. The drug Abilify has been approved specifically for the treatment of schizophrenia in teenagers aged 15 to 17. But some observers say the drug regulator's official sanctioning of Abilify - one of a new generation of antipsychotics known as 'atypical antipsychotics' - for use in youth could now make doctors more comfortable prescribing other antipsychotics for conditions in children such as mood disorders, attention-deficit disorder and other behavioural problems. Even without approval, antipsychotics designed for adults are already being used "off label" in children. Their use in children and youth jumped 114 per cent from 2005 to 2009, according to the journal Paediatrics & Child Health. Until now, none of the drugs had been approved in Canada for use in children under 18. Abilify was first approved in Canada in 2009 for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults. Research shows up to 39 per cent of people with schizophrenia experience their first psychotic episode before age 20. Dr. Thomas Hastings has seen patients in his clinic as young as 14, "but you can see people younger than that." "It's obviously important to treat them because it's a condition that affects your ability to fundamentally tell what's real from what's not real," said Hastings, lead psychiatrist for the Halton Region Early Intervention in Psychosis Program, in Oakville, Ont. "If that's disrupted, and you can't figure those things out well, if you're hearing voices or seeing things, it becomes very hard to do what normal kids should be doing during that time - make relationships, function in school and really start planning for your future. "If these things are disrupted, the potential consequences for the person can be humongous on their lives and their functioning and where they're headed," Hastings said. "Their whole life trajectory can be sent off." Abilify's approval in teenagers was based on a six-week randomized trial involving 302 teens aged 13 to 17. Researchers reported that the drug was superior to placebo in the treatment of delusions, hallucinations and other symptoms of schizophrenia. The most common side-effects were movement disorders, drowsiness and tremor. The study was paid for by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which holds the trademark for Abilify. The drug is used under licence by Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada. About one in 100 people over the course of their lifetime will develop schizophrenia. The incidence is higher in people with a family history of psychotic disorders, or heavy drug users. Hastings said Health Canada's approval of Abilify in teens would reassure physicians as well as families "that this is a treatment that is approved in fact for younger people as well." But some worry the approval could lead to wider prescribing of antipsychotics as a whole to children. "There are two serious risks involved," Dr. Allen Frances, professor emeritus at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, wrote in an email. Family turmoil, developmental changes and drug use all can make it difficult to separate out normal teen behaviour from symptoms of schizophrenia, said Frances, who chaired the task force that developed the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official guidebook of mental illness. As well, teens often haven't had symptoms long enough to make a definitive diagnosis, he said. skirkeypostmedia.com twitter.com/sharon_kirkey © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
2012-04-28
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IRRATIONAL ANIMOSITY DRIVES A WEDGE BETWEEN FAMILIES 04/28/2012 DEAR ABBY: My mother has never liked her sister-in-law. Mom thinks "Auntie Beth" is "completely out to get her," even though no one has seen any evidence to support my mother's claims. For the past several months, Mom has been complaining nonstop about how "awful" Beth is. She says things at the most random times to people she barely knows. If we don't show sympathy toward Mom, she then becomes enraged. It has caused many problems between our family and Auntie Beth's. We can't have holidays together because my aunt is not allowed in our house. No one wants to be involved in the drama or to participate in the terrible gossip. How can I help my mother understand the harm she is causing and get our family back together? -- SICK OF THE DRAMA DEAR SICK OF THE DRAMA: Your mother's behavior appears to have escalated from disliking Aunt Beth to obsessive and paranoid. If it is time for her annual physical, her doctor should be told about it because her behavior is not normal and she may need a neurological exam or counseling. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about this, because if you try, she may think that you are "against" her, too. But the rest of the family can refuse to allow her to exclude Aunt Beth by not accepting invitations in which she is not included. COPYRIGHT 2012 UNIVERSAL UCLICK |
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Simon
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From: Simon
To: Schizophrenia Discussion Board Forum
Posted: XXX XXX XX, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Surveillance and Spying
20XX-XX-XX
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Simon