Karl-Heinz Schuster

http://tadeo.com/home.php

Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk for Suicides

I can't imagine this article will be a surprise to anyone, but it still affects me deeply every time I hear something of the sort. There is a new Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline being developed, but what else is being done to support the mental health of our returning vets? So many of these people are of the prime age of onset of mental health issues, 18-25, and they have been through just so much. We have a long way to go. Anyone have thoughts as to where efforts should be focused?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103107A.shtml

Happy Halloween from Anna Rexia

I love Halloween. I love the joy of thinking of a great costume six months in advance, I love seeing people who are bona fide adults out in public wearing totally bizarre getups, and I love candy. I especially love creative costumes, but this year I broke down and bought a costume off the internet. And that's when I stumbled across this jewel!

This is not creative. This is not hilarious. This won't win a costume contest.

This is the "Sexy Anna Rexia" costume, complete with TAPE MEASURE belt and choker, from http://www.foxyladyboutique.com/d4503annarexia-costume.html?productid=d4503annarexia-costume&channelid=FROOG.

I don't know anyone who would wear this, but apparently enough people to make the small and medium sell out. If you see anyone wearing this tonight, try to find out know why they chose it--I'm interested.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween...

Behold, the Power of YouTube

I just saw CNN link to this story--apparently a man in Orlando posted his last will and testament on YouTube before taking a large quantity of pills, and someone in NY saw the video in time and was able to call the police in Florida. The police were able to locate the man, who was unresponsive, and he's now in the hospital.

Dear New Yorker, whoever and wherever you are, thank you.

http://www.local6.com/news/14471080/detail.html

Eat, Pray, Love

I am reading this amazing book right now by Elizabeth Gilbert called "Eat, Pray, Love" about woman who travels for a year after a difficult and messy divorce. She spends four months in Italy, four months in Indonesia, and four months in India. Early in the book, she has a moment when she is sitting in the park and her familiar and hated companions, Depression and Lonliness, in the form of two pushy police detectives overtake her. They question her, they follow her back to her apartment, they won't leave her be.

I loved the idea of these two old companions in the form of two hated, overbearing policemen that a person cannot shake--they will follow you even to the most exotic destinations. They will overtake you in your most private and even happy moments. "Why do you deserve to be happy?" they sometimes ask. "Look at the people you've hurt, the things you've messed up."

I imagine most of us have had this dialogue with ourselves and far be it for me to advise anyone on how to make those voices stop. But reading Gilbert's words today really spoke to me. And then I realized why: just knowing that other people face those voices too makes the ones in my own head a little diminished.