Daily Archives: March 29, 2022

Dlamini vows to intensify Operation Dudula’s ‘war on drugs’ – East Coast Radio

Posted: March 29, 2022 at 1:13 pm

Dlaminiwas speaking to his supporters after he was granted bail of R1500 in theRoodepoort Magistrates Court.

"Weare all cowards here, he said.

Why?Because I'm a coward, there are some places that I know sell drugs but we are notbigger cowards than our leaders even those in blue. Because when we take actionagainst those who take or sell drugs, they are the ones who arrest us."

Hefaces charges of housebreaking with the intent to steal on the 20th of March afterOperation Dudula members allegedly ransacked the Dobsonville home of localresident, Victor Ramerafe who community members accused of selling drugs.

READ:Court grants bail to Operation Dudula leader

Ramerafeopened a criminal case against Dlamini after the incident.

Weare going to find a way to liberate the police force. Let me now speak the wayyou want me to speak and I've been denying to speak this way, Dlamini said.

Whenwe take this country because that time is coming, we are going to move thepolice service back to being a police force.

Dlamini vows to intensify Operation Dudula's 'war on drugs' - East Coast Radio

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Not All Cannabis Reform is a Good Thing – Lexology

Posted: at 1:13 pm

These days, everyone is throwing a hat into the ring of cannabis reform. Many ideas are floating around; some of them are not so hot. Last weeks federal legislative activity is a good example of this. Two things happened on the same day: the Senate unanimously passed the CMRE Act (Cannabidiol and Marihuana Research Expansion Act), and House leadership scheduled the MORE Act (Marijuana Opportunity and Expungement Act) for a floor vote next week. A lot of lazy reportage followed on this legislative activity, heralding federal cannabis reform.

Not all cannabis reform is a good thing. Some ideas are great; some are terrible; and some fall in between. The MORE Act falls into that final category. The MORE Act would remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act, along with a host of related activity. It first passed in late 2020; I gave a primer here. In that post, I also explained what the MORE Act does NOT do. It doesnt preempt prohibitionist state laws; it doesnt address the dysfunctional Food Drug & Cosmetic Act issues around cannabis comestible products; it doesnt automatically expunge non-violent marijuana convictions; etc. The perfect can be the enemy of the good, of course, and I still think passage of a cleaned up MORE Act could be better than the status quo. But that bill needs some work.

The CMRE Act, by contrast, is an irredeemable mess. Shane Pennington explains why in the excellent On Drugs Substack he hosts with Matthew Zorn. (If you arent an On Drugs subscriber, youre missing out on some very good stuff.) Shane explains, in a nutshell, that the CMRE Act contains a nonsensical and counterproductive definition of cannabinoids; and that, contrary to its stated purpose, it would actually make marijuana research harder. This is because non-economic barriers to cannabis research have been gutted already. What scientists really need from Congress is funding, not more legislation.

I appreciate that Congress continues to look at cannabis prohibition and related issues, especially given the Executive Branch failure of Biden and Harris to follow through with their campaign promises. It will be interesting to see if the CMRE Act gets any traction in the House, and vice versa for the MORE Act in the Senate. The CMRE Act seems to have better odds, if only because it originated in the upper chamber and addresses narrower subject matter. Also, the Senate has been unwilling or unable to entertain the MORE Act to date similar to the SAFE Banking Act, which has now passed a half dozen times in the House.

Cannabis reform can be confusing once you get past the fundamental truths that: 1) the War on Drugs has failed and 2) the War on Drugs has disproportionately affected minority groups. There are so many options moving forward from thereincluding how to begin. In the big picture, there are those who would approach things piecemeal, with discrete legislation on issues such as banking or cannabis research; and those who would approach things holistically, as through the MORE Act or other omnibus efforts.

I hope to see the MORE Act pass to start. Then, we go from there. Whatever happens will ultimately need some tuning, similar to what is happening now with hemp. But getting at the root of cannabis prohibition is better than hacking at tendrils and shoots. Thats especially true when were talking about bills like the CMRE Act.

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Not All Cannabis Reform is a Good Thing - Lexology

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The Road to Decriminalization of Psychoactive Drugs Runs Through Religion – Religion Dispatches

Posted: at 1:13 pm

The city of Hazel Park, Michigan made national headlines last week after its city council voted unanimously to decriminalize entheogens, or naturally occurring psychoactive drugs consumed for religious reasons. Substances like psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, and ibogaine remain illegal at the state and federal levels, but cities like Hazel Park are invoking their religiosity as they decriminalize entheogens at the local level.

To understand the term entheogen and its relationship to the broader effort to decriminalize psychedelic drugs, consider that in 1978, Dr. Carl Ruck, Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University, sought to distinguish the religious from the recreational use of psychedelics. Psychedelic drugs became associated with what many perceived as the adolescent rebellion of the 1960s and early 70s counterculture. The federal government criminalized the use, possession, sale, and cultivation of these drugs, though many continued to use them both recreationally and sacramentally. To honor the latter, Ruck created the word entheogen by combining the Greek word entheos, often translated as god within, with gen from the word hallucinogen.

The term has grown in recent decades motivated by several factors. Chief among them is what activists and proponents often refer to as the Psychedelic Renaissance. As journalist and author Michael Pollan wrote in his 2018 New York Times bestselling book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, a growing interest in psychedelics is sweeping the nation as researchers and therapists consider the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of these ancient plants. Based on their initial findings, venture capital and corporations are increasingly interested as well, resulting in millions of dollars of investments in psychedelic research.

Concurrently, Americans across the nation consumed psychedelic drugs for various reasons, including, but not limited to, the pursuit of religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences, as well as for their purported psychopharmacological benefits. Their effects were emboldened by a 2006 decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that members of Unio do Vegetal (or Union of the Plants), a small religious group from South America, can legally consume a psychedelic tea called hoasca (or ayahuasca), an otherwise illegal psychoactive drug, during twice-monthly rituals.

Based largely on the Supreme Courts decision, three years later a lower court ruled that members of a similar religion in Oregon have a religious right to consume what they call Daime, a variation of the base ingredients used to create ayahuasca. In these decisions, justices did not invoke the word entheogen, but reinforced the broader idea that under certain circumstances, Americans had a legal right to consume otherwise forbidden psychoactive drugs.

While the entheogenic use of psychoactive substances predates the Psychedelic Renaissance, the two have combined in the form of the Decriminalize Nature movement, which encourages local governments to essentially decriminalize the use of entheogens by making the enforcement of prohibition among the polices lowest priorities.

This movement received its first victory in May 2019, when voters in Denver, Colorado narrowly approved Ordinance 301, a ballot initiative designed to decriminalize the use and possession of mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound. For the first time since the federal war on drugs, a city effectively decriminalized the use of a psychedelic drug. Motivated by this victory, the movement to decriminalize psychedelics subsequently spread, as over a dozen cities and counties followed Denvers lead.

Despite their similarities, subsequent decriminalization bills have notable differences. Chief among them is that almost all these initiatives explicitly invoke the category of entheogens, resulting in a broader range of decriminalized substances.

Hazel Park, for example, decriminalized all entheogenic plants, which the city defined as:

the full spectrum of plants, fungi, and natural materials and/or their extracted compounds, limited to those containing the following types of compounds: indole amines, tryptamines, and phenethylamines; that can benefit psychological and physical wellness, support and enhance religious and spiritual practices, and can reestablish humans inalienable and direct relationship to nature.

This classification is significant as it simultaneously sacralizes and broadens the category of decriminalized substances.

Cities like Hazel Park are but one component of the larger Psychedelic Renaissance, where activists, clinicians, and practitioners are working tirelessly to legitimize the use of psychedelic drugs. The category of entheogenwhich has connected it to our nations long standing commitment to religious freedomis proving a powerful tool in implementing that movement at the local level.

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The Road to Decriminalization of Psychoactive Drugs Runs Through Religion - Religion Dispatches

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Not just cocaine and war: Colombian pride at Oscar-winning Encantos positive portrayal – The Guardian

Posted: at 1:13 pm

When Encanto was announced the winner of the Oscar for best animated film on Sunday night, Martn Anzellini the Colombian architect who helped develop the films representation of his home country had little idea. Instead, he was watching Encanto at home with his twin toddler daughters, who had yet to see it.

Once we finished watching the film, I checked my phone and saw my WhatsApp was going wow! Anzellini said. It was so exciting, I almost cried. And I hugged my daughters, as my work on the film was for them.

Though Anzellini may have been slow on the uptake, much of his country was united in celebration of the films success for breaking Colombias usual association with drugs and violence.

For Colombians its important to see ourselves represented in a positive light, given that were so used to being about cocaine and war, said Anzellini, who teaches at Javeriana University in Bogot. The most important thing with a film like this is that we can see ourselves differently.

Though the whimsical blockbuster was made by American directors and producers, the story it tells of the magical Madrigal family is steeped in Colombian folklore.

The film-makers worked with a number of Colombian consultants on the film across various disciplines, from architects and anthropologists to animators.

The film also alludes to the countrys history of violence and forced displacement, and while themes of intergenerational trauma may not seem like a recipe for box-office success, they reverberated intensely in Colombia, which has been racked by decades of civil war between the state, leftist rebel armies, rightwing paramilitaries, and drug traffickers.

More than 260,000 people were killed in the conflict that formally ended with a fragile 2016 peace deal, while millions were forced to abandon their homes. Children were often at risk of recruitment into violent groups or growing up as orphans.

Unfortunately, conflict is a recurring theme in Colombia, but if we dont acknowledge those wounds, then well keep on repeating them, said Alejandra Espinoza, a writer and researcher who consulted with the filmmakers on the films representation of Colombias history. The film takes place in a small town because violence in Colombia was historically in small towns, before people were displaced to the big cities.

The film also leans heavily on the imagery of Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel Garca Mrquez, popularly known as Gabo.

Gabo once told me that all of my work comes from the popular culture of Colombias Caribbean coast, said Jaime Abello Banfi, who heads the Gabo Foundation in Cartagena. And while Encanto isnt an adaptation, its clear that [songwriter] Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team were very keen to base it on Colombian magical realism.

Magical realism has become a whole theme that marks our country, he said.

Colombian singer Sebastin Yatra performed a song from the film during Sundays ceremony, in a suit embroidered with a flutter of yellow butterflies, much like those that follow one of the characters in Mrquezs masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude.

As a Colombian in a globalized world, watching the Oscars, it was always something far away, said Hernando Bahamon, a Colombian animator who consulted on the film. It was something to see everyone mentioning Colombia on Sunday night.

In a country where the often faltering national football team is usually the only institution that unites the divided population, the films win brought praise from across society and the political spectrum.

Encanto, inspired by the cultural richness of our country, fills us with pride, tweeted rightwing president Ivn Duque on Sunday night, while Gustavo Petro, the leftwing frontrunner in upcoming elections, was similarly effusive.

I love that Encanto won an Oscar, Petro, a former guerrilla fighter turned firebrand politician, tweeted. Now the magic begins.

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Not just cocaine and war: Colombian pride at Oscar-winning Encantos positive portrayal - The Guardian

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Stranger Dangers: The Right’s History of Turning Child Abuse Into a Political Weapon Mother Jones – Mother Jones

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At some point between the 80s and now, leaving children unattended in public became unthinkable. To let children as old as, say, 10 walk by themselves became grounds to investigate parents for neglect. As a child of the late 90s and early 2000s, I knew latchkey kids existed, but nearly exclusively from the aging 1980s childrens paperbacks in my elementary schools library. My friends whose parents worked too late to pick them up from school stayed in the building for a child care program or took a bus to the nearby Boys & Girls Club.

Statistics confirm the decline of the latchkey kid that I witnessed and that continues today. A primary reason for the change was the fear that children were constantly on the cusp of being kidnapped, abused, or taken advantage of, and thus could never be left alone.

Paul Renfro, an assistant professor of history at Florida State University, chronicled in his 2020 book Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State, how such a notion became widespread in the 80s and 90s. Pictures of missing and abducted children were plastered onmilk cartons, as media ramped up coverage of random, isolated incidents of children being abducted in ways that it hadnt beforeeven as the number of children who were abducted did not substantially increase.

Critics of this moment often blame the media, who did play a part in elevating these concernsbut theres more to the story. Their coverage played right into the hands of, and was exacerbated by, a reactionary right-wing movement that was eager to notch culture war wins by conflating the so-called stranger danger threat to children with pornography, underage drinking, drugs, teen pregnancy, and the like. Ancillary battles on similar moral fronts hastened a harsher war on drugs, and the corresponding mass incarceration policies that disproportionately hurt Black America.

Today, the leveraging of unfounded fears that children are in unprecedented danger toward political ends isanimated by QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories. While these are generally too absurd for elected politicians to directly endorsethe few that have, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have walked backSen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and most recently Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have tried to tap into the same fear and energy QAnon has harnessed. They want to use it to push a reactionary political projectbut without having to say QAnon out loud.

DuringJudge Ketanji Brown Jacksons Supreme Court nominationhearings, Hawley repeatedly claimed that she had been soft on child pornography offenders, despite being accused, earlier in his own career, of displaying untoward leniency towards sexual abusers as a prosecutor and attorney general. He largely focused on Jacksons deviations from federal sentencing guidelines in child porn cases, even though judges appointed by Trumphave also deviated from the guidelines, which have been broadly and bipartisanly criticized.

In an email interview, Renfro explained the rights long tradition of hyping up concerns about the nuclear family and children, howHawleys attacks on Jackson are just the latest version, and what might make Americans less susceptible to repeated moral panics.

Your book talks about how panics over children have been weaponized to political ends. Can you give an overview of the argument and explain the modern genesis of this?

Moral panics concerning children have a long history in the United States, but my book concentrates on the stranger danger scare that erupted in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fears about the sanctity and stability of the idealized American familyand the child at its heartwere intensifying during this period. As the power and influence of the Religious Right grew in the 1970s, its leaders railed against feminists, sought to curtail reproductive freedom, and smeared gay men as child predators who must recruit.

In this context, several high-profile child kidnapping or murder cases stoked fears of a widespread and worsening epidemic. The 1979 Etan Patz abduction in New York City, the 197981 Atlanta youth kidnappings and murders, and the 1981 Adam Walsh kidnapping and slaying in South Florida, among others, received tremendous national news coverage, much of which exaggerated the scope and the nature of the child kidnapping threat. On nightly news broadcasts and in print media, bereaved parents, concerned politicians, law enforcement officials, moral entrepreneurs, and others claimed that as many as 50,000 children fell victim to stranger kidnapping annually in the US.

Even though the actual number of stranger kidnappings was and remains somewhere around 100and children are far more likely to be abducted, abused, or killed by a family member or acquaintancemany everyday Americans were convinced that their families and children were facing a grave and growing threat. The nation was in the throes of a moral panic, the consequences of which would be multifaceted. Parents grew increasingly protective of their children, restricting their movements and demanding stronger and more punitive state responses to the perils of child kidnapping and exploitation. They found an ally in President Ronald Reagan, who targeted, inflated, and often conflated various presumed threats confronting the American familyfrom stranger danger to underage drinking, from adult pornography to child pornography, from drugs to teen pregnancy, from heavy metal to satanic ritual abuse.

Developments in the Reagan eraincluding the Missing Children and Missing Children Assistance Acts of 1982 and 1984, respectively, as well as the Child Protection Act of 1984, the Child Sexual Abuse and Pornography Act of 1986, and other measuresset the stage for the surfeit of child protection laws enacted on the federal level during the Clinton and Bush II years. Its important to note, then, that child protection and family values were (and remain) bipartisan issues. (As Greg Grandin wryly notes, Clinton was Reagans greatest achievement.) Under Clinton and George W. Bush, the federal government mandated the adoption by states of sex offense registries and community notification protocols. Accordingly, the number of individuals charged with and incarcerated for various sex offenses (some but not all of which involve actual sexual harm)and the number of people forced to register as sex offendersskyrocketed. Today, nearly one million individuals are listed as sex offenders in the US.

And so now Hawley is playing on this tradition in the Senate confirmation hearings. How savvy do you think Hawley is being? Is he just making the calculation that people dont like children being harmed, or do you think hes aware of just who he is tapping into and going after?

Hawley probably knows what hes doing. The moral panic I write about in Stranger Danger never really dissipated, and in moments of national chaos and uncertainty (such as the late 1970s or the 2020s), many Americans look to shore up the nuclear family and preserve childhood innocenceboth of which have particular racial, class, and spatial connotations. Not unlike Glenn Youngkin (whose successful gubernatorial bid in Virginia last year centered around the slogan, Parents Matter), Hawley recognizes that he can mobilize (white) suburban parents by tapping into their fears about child safety and innocence. He and others can reach these audiences by discussing a range of different issuesincluding critical race theory, gender-affirming care for trans kids, or Ketanji Brown Jacksons presumed softness on sex offenders.

How do QAnon and Pizzagate factor into this? Do you think that Hawley is trying to stoke the energy of that community?

These topics enable Hawley and others to gesture toward the QAnon conspiracy theory without explicitly mentioning it. But hes coming pretty damn close by arguing that Jackson, a Black woman nominated by a Democratic president, is endanger[ing] our children. Whose children, exactly? Plus, a quick glance at Hawleys online storewhich features koozies, mugs, and T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Hawleys infamous fist salute on January 6, 2021reveals that hes more than willing to associate himself with QAnon supporters and other extremist elements. And hes been nodding to Q for quite a long time now; for example, while serving as Missouri attorney general in 2018, Hawley lamented the human trafficking crisis and blamed it on the sexual liberationism of the 1960s and 1970s. The sexual revolution has led to exploitation of women on a scale that we would never have imagined, he asserted.

Is there a close historical antecedent to what Hawley is doing? Based on what youve witnessed in past trends does this represent another step on the bridge of bringing QAnon-styled conspiracies into the conventional political realm?

In many ways, Hawley, Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and others are building on the culture wars of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Todays handwringing about critical race theory and illiberalism on college campuses recalls the debate over political correctness and the canon in the 1990s. Further, their antigay and anti-trans politicking is reminiscent of the efforts undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s by Religious Right figureswho depicted gay men as depraved predators who groomed or recruited childrenas well as the campaign against marriage equality, waged by Republicans and Democrats alike in the early to mid-2000s.

But Hawley and others also seem to be laundering certain ideas associated with QAnon. This is a strategy that the organizers of the summer 2020 #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren rallies undertook, consciously obscuring connections to QAnon through abstract (and virtually unassailable) language concerning child protection and trafficking.

Ted Cruz tried his own version of this in 2020 over a Netflix film. Are politicians just going to take these kinds of shots when they see them?

Until voters or elected officials within the GOP thoroughly rebuke Hawley (and other Q sympathizers like Marjorie Taylor Greene), theres little reason for him and others to distance themselves from such elements.

There is a conspiratorial tradition of reaction that I think goes beyond stranger danger: the myth of the black males threat to white women; Red Scare fears of communists infiltrating every level of government; gay men being threats to their communities, etc. Do you think that child sex panics of that kind of genre, or do they run parallel?

As Ive argued elsewhere, notions of white innocence and victimhoodwhich oftentimes but not always concentrate on the idealized child and familyare incredibly potent and, indeed, loom over all of the phenomena to which your question refers. Those ideas helped propel the (bipartisan) war on drugs and mass incarceration, the Second Red Scare, the opposition to busing and school desegregation, the global war on terror, and beyond. Moral/sex panics concerning children flow from these powerful ideas and help shape rhetoric and policy on a whole range of issues in US political culture.

A lot of people just hear that kids are being threatened andeven if you show them theres not a spike and that the biggest threat is inside the home, not out of itthey just dont care. Is there a way to break the pattern and neutralize the power of these moral panics and conspiracies influencing politics and policy?

This is a tough one. Moral panics thrive off of instability and insecurity, and because the US is so unstable and unequal, Americans are particularly susceptible. But it stands to reason that moral panics might lose their luster if American society became more egalitarian, less hierarchical, less atomized, and less anxious. For instance, ending the (bipartisan) fixation on family values might bolster alternative forms of kinship and supportsuch as a more robust social safety net and communal systems of childrearing and educationwhich could potentially curb the abuse and exploitation that takes place in the household. Further, we should think very seriously about why the political and media classes continually promulgate wild, baseless ideas to garner votes and generate attentionespecially as Americans quality of life fails to improve in the twenty-first century. Doing so might force politicians and the chattering classes to change their ways.

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Stranger Dangers: The Right's History of Turning Child Abuse Into a Political Weapon Mother Jones - Mother Jones

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Tuberculosis: Medicinal and alternative therapies to treat TB – Hindustan Times

Posted: at 1:12 pm

According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis or TB remains one of the worlds deadliest infectious killers as each day, over 4,100 people lose their lives to it and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. It is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after Covid-19 (above HIV/AIDS) and is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs.

About one-quarter of the world's population has a TB infection, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit it. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Rohini Kelkar, Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. revealed, Since the discovery of Streptomycin, in 1943 for the treatment of tuberculosis, several new drugs have been added to the medicinal armamentarium. The philosophy and science for better patient outcomes is based on early diagnosis and accurate identification of the drugs that are most effective for individual patients.

She added, "This is achieved through conventional culture techniques and drug susceptibility tests which are time-consuming; or sophisticated molecular and rapid laboratory tests that identify the genes/mutations that contribute to drug resistance. Multi-drug therapy based on laboratory results of "next-generation sequencing" with standard protocols and drug dosages, under the supervision of medical specialists, is the best way forward to support the " End TB campaign"."

Dr Deepak Mittal, Founder of Divine Soul Yoga, shared, Despite the availability of an antibiotic regimen, TB has been an India-specific burden due to our huge below-the-poverty-line population. With the emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB, an increasing need has been felt to find adjuvant therapies and herbal remedies that can aid patient recovery and contain the toxic effects of chemical-based drugs. Therefore, by investing time in practicing specific alternative therapies and thus in a healthy lifestyle, it can be more easily avoided than it can be treated."

Medicinal and alternative therapies to treat TB:

Asserting that it is only through a strong immune system that one can avoid getting sick even if the body harbours the TB bacteria, Dr Deepak Mittal said, People with a weak immune system are at increased risk of getting infected with TB. The alternative therapies like Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama, healthy diet play an important role in boosting immunity and strengthening the body and defences against viruses and bacteria and act as a preventive bulwark against Tuberculosis. These practices clear the respiratory passages, minimising risks of infections and allergies in the respiratory system which improves the lung function.

According to him, alternative therapy cannot cure TB but it can definitely prevent it. He stressed, "With preventative treatments and AYUSH protocols integrated, hopefully, the over-burdened Indian health care system can breathe a sigh of relief. There is a need for more awareness, training as well as cross talks between modern medical clinicians and alternative medicine practitioners. The situation also needs reforms in medical education and regulation.

Referring to a study published in Respirology, Dr Babina NM, Chief Medical Officer at Jindal Naturecure Institute, shared, Yoga has a complementary role in TB management. It combats the disease by opening-up the chest and maximizing the intake of oxygen through deep inhalation. The ancient practice also supports and strengthens the immune system, besides reducing stress, a major reason for a weak immune system. While there are various medications and treatments available for tuberculosis, the cogency of such treatments can be enhanced to a great extent by the use of yoga and naturopathy.

She highlighted that unfortunately, drug resistance is intensifying in people each passing day and that there is an urgent need to start capitalising on the best therapies from all orientations to combat tuberculosis in a robust way. Dr Babina NM advised, Some of the yogic poses to practice for those suffering from tuberculosis are: Kapalbhati Pranayama, Trikonasana, Bhujangasana. These asanas improve the function of the immune system and strengthen liver function. In addition to all this, a proper diet, fresh air, exercise, sunshine and the right mental attitude, all play their part in keeping the body and mind fit. Sunflower seeds, nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds are great sources of zinc. They provide the body with large amounts of nutrients to fight against diseases like TB. Crushed black pepper, mint, garlic can help in the treatment of TB.

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Tuberculosis: Medicinal and alternative therapies to treat TB - Hindustan Times

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Massive Growth of Global Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market by 2030| Optum, Inc., Ach, Quantum-Touch, and Herboflora – Digital Journal

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market research added by the Absolute Markets Insights, offers a comprehensive analysis of growth trends prevailing in the global business domain. This report also provides definitive data concerning market, size, commercialization aspects and revenue forecast of the industry. In addition, the study explicitly highlights the competitive status of key players within the projection timeline while focusing on their portfolio and regional expansion endeavors.

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Brazil complementary and alternative medicines was valued at US$ 2,498.24 million in 2022 and is expected to reach US$ 9,759.38 million by 2030, growing at an estimated CAGR of 16.4% over the forecast period.

Global Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market is expected to develop at a substantial CAGR in the coming years. The report also encloses the crucial aspects connected with the recent events such as new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, and alliances. It proclaims the addition of another new dimension to this industry explaining the performance of the major players. The market has also been segmented on the basis of the provincial players, out of which some are well established while some have newly entered the global market.

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Worldwide Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market Analysis to 2030 is a specialized study of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Complementary and Alternative Medicine market with detailed market segmentation by product & services /application and geography. The global Complementary and Alternative Medicine market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.

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Efficacy and safety of the Chinese herbal medicine | NDT – Dove Medical Press

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Suzhen Chen,1,2 Zhi Xu,1,2 Yinghui Li,1,2 Tianyu Wang,1,2 Yingying Yue,1,2 Zhenghua Hou,1,2 Linlin You,1,2 Na Lu,1,2 Yingying Yin,1,2 Xiaoyun Liu,1,2 Liangliang Tan,1,2 Houcheng Ji,3 Yaoran Shi,1,2 Xiaoyun Xin,1,2 Wenhao Jiang,1,2 Yonggui Yuan1,2

1Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, Peoples Republic of China; 2Institute of Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, Peoples Republic of China; 3Department of Psychiatry, The Second Peoples Hospital of Jiangning District, Nanjing, Peoples Republic of China

Correspondence: Yonggui Yuan, Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, No. 87 Dingjiaqiao, Gulou District, Nanjing, 210009, Peoples Republic of China, Tel +86-25-83285124, Email [emailprotected]

Purpose: Shumian capsule (SMC) is a patent Chinese herbal medicine that can soothe the liver and relieves depression, quiet the spirit. Here, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of SMC for treating insomnia using both scales and polysomnography (PSG).Patients and Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed. Twenty-six insomnia patients randomly received SMC (n = 11) or placebo (n = 15) for four weeks. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), 9-items Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), 7-items Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) were applied at the baseline and the 2nd, 4th week after treatment. Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale was used to assess adverse reactions. We used PSG to record and analyze sleep features at baseline and after four weeks.Results: PSQI, ISI, PHQ-9, HAMD-17, and HAMA scores decreased significantly after SMC treatment. Also, the total sleep time, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep latency, stage 2 sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, and sleep efficiency improved significantly after SMC treatment. In the placebo group, the only significant change was the decrease of PHQ-9 at week-2. Furthermore, both SMC and placebo reported no adverse events.Conclusion: SMC could safely improve sleep quality with depression and anxiety remission in insomnia patients.

Keywords: Chinese herbal medicine, shumian capsule, insomnia, polysomnography, clinical trial, randomized and double-blind method

Insomnia is a widespread sleep disorder that can lead someone with sufficient sleep time hard to fall asleep, frequent awakening, waking up too early, and falling asleep again hard after waking up. According to a report of JAMA, the prevalence of insomnia disorder is nearly 10% to 20%, of which about 50% have a chronic course, which further affects their mood, social functioning, and quality of life.1,2 Consistent with this, a survey from the Chinese Ministry of Health also shows that the insomnia rate is as high as 10% to 20%, and the insomnia people in China have reached 1.2 million to 1.4 million person-time.3

Insomnia is a risk factor for functional impairments, other medical and mental disorders development, and healthcare costs increasing.1 Insomnia can increase the risk of depression and anxiety.46 Baglioni et al7 pointed out that non-depressed people with insomnia have a twofold risk of developing depression compared to people with no sleep difficulties. Also, insomnia can predict suicidality and substance use.8,9 In addition, a study found that 40% of insomnia patients have a combined mental disorder,10 while 40% of patients with depression, anxiety, and comorbidity reported insomnia;11 and the effective treatment of insomnia in patients with depression would positively affect mood.12 Except for mental disorders, insomnia is also an independent risk factor for acute myocardial infarction,13 coronary heart disease,14 heart failure,15 hypertension,16 and diabetes.17 Therefore, insomnia has become a worldwide public health problem and a main induced cause of various diseases.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy are effective treatments for insomnia.18 CBT is strongly recommended as the first choice for the few side effects, and it is cost-effective.19 However, it also has inevitable limitations, including a shortage of trained therapists and a relatively low response rate.20 Two-thirds of insomniacs might fail to reach full remission after CBT, and 1926% even have no response.21 Moreover, the efficacy of CBT highly depends on patients commitment and self-efficacy,22 suggesting that CBT is not suitable for everyone. That is, in some cases, CBT may not be a compelling enough treatment to improve insomnia nor suitable for widespread use. Instead, benzodiazepines have become the first treatment choice over the past three decades and are widely used for insomnia because of their quick onset and apparent effects. However, their use has been limited currently due to drug resistance, dependence, hangover effect, psychomotor impairment, cognitive impairment, withdrawal reaction, and many other adverse reactions. Thus, a new treatment with fewer side effects and a higher benefit ratio is needed for insomnia.

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) originated in ancient China and has treated insomnia for thousands of years. Currently, CHM is recognized as good treatment effect, fewer side effects,23,24 and alternative medication choice.25 With the continuous improvement of CHM dosage forms and technical levels, many CMH patents are widely used in clinical practice. Shumian capsule (SMC) is a common CHM for treating insomnia whose effectiveness has been demonstrated by several randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT).26 However, all these studies included only scales to assess insomnia and treatment effects. None of the RCT in the SMC used polysomnography (PSG) to assess subjects sleeping features, though PSG is considered the gold standard for detecting sleep-related disorders and evaluation.27,28 Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of SMC for treating insomnia using both scales and PSG to measure sleep improvement.

This clinical study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, and the double-blind treatment lasted for four weeks and was conducted between June 2019 and May 2021 in the Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University, Nanjing, China. The trial used the two-group parallel design. Patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were planned to randomly assign 1:1 to either the SMC group or placebo group to receive the corresponding treatment for a total of four weeks. The patients would receive SMC or placebo capsules immediately according to the randomization schedule as soon as they were recruited. Unfortunately, however, we had to stop the study early because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and only 26 insomnia patients were recruited at the end, among whom were 11 patients in the SMC group and 15 patients in the placebo group. Patients subjective sleep and mood changes were assessed using the scales at baseline and 2- and 4-week after treatment. Meanwhile, objective sleep was measured using the PSG test at baseline and 4-weeks after treatment. According to the Helsinki Declaration, all the participants were given a detailed description of the study and then written informed consent was obtained. The Ethical Committee of the Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University approved the protocol of this study (Approved number: 2019ZDSYLL054-P01), and the study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration number: ChiCTR1900024117).

Subjects were from insomniacs who came to ZhongDa hospital because of insomnia or were recruited through recruitment advertisements, and they also met the following inclusion criteria: (1) aged between 1865 years old; (2) the diagnosis of insomnia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5); (3) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI) 8 and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) < 17 and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) < 14; (4) had no other serious systemic complications; (5) have not taken any medication that may affect sleep before the trial for two months; (6) must sign the written informed consent before the trial. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) secondary insomnia (caused by or co-morbid with moderate depression or anxiety or acute stressful events et al) and other sleep disorder such as sleep apnea syndrome; (2) pregnant or lactating women; (3) a history of alcohol or drug dependence or abuse; (4) serious physical diseases such as malignant tumors, severe abnormal heart, liver or renal function; (5) had been taken antidepressants, anti-anxiety or hypnotic medications; (6) allergic to any component of SMC.

According to a random number table, all enrolled subjects received either SMC or identical placebo capsules randomly for four weeks treatment and were required back to the hospital every two weeks for evaluation. All patients were instructed to take three capsules respective after supper and one hour before going to bed. The 4-week dose of SMC or placebo capsules were distributed to patients in two separate rounds, one on the day of enrollment and one at the end of two weeks treatment, by other personnel not participating in the patients enrollment and evaluation. SMC and shumian simulation capsules that are provided by Guizhou Dalong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.; batch numbers are 20190307 and 20190308, respectively. Shumian simulation capsule contains the same color but nonpharmacological brown powder as SMC. In addition, any drugs (including herb medicine), health care products, foods or drinks that may cause hypnotic or insomnia effects were not allowed to use during the treatment.

The PSQI,29 the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI),30 the 9-items Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9),31 and the 7-items Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7)32 were self-rating scales, and the first two scales were employed to assess the patients severity of insomnia while the last two were applied to respectively evaluate the severity of depression and anxiety. While the HAMD-1733 and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA)34 were used for researchers to assess the patients severity of depression and anxiety, respectively, the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS)35 was used to assess treatment safety. All these scales were administered at baseline and 2- and 4-weeks after beginning treatment.

All the insomnia patients underwent overnight PSG (580-G2CGSS, Bio-Logic, USA), and the recordings were analyzed according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) criteria.36 The main PSG monitoring measurements included the sleep latency, the sleep efficiency, the sleep maintenance efficiency, the rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep latency, the total sleep time, and the time of each sleep stage (stage 1 and 2 sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep). The PSG monitoring was performed twice at baseline and four weeks after treatment for each subject, and every monitoring time must be no less than eight hours.

All data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Data were examined for normality using the KolmogorovSmirnov test. As applicable, the numerical variables were described as mean standard error (M SE) or median (interquartile range). Independent-samples t-test and MannWhitney U-test were used to compare the normally distributed and nonnormally distributed data between the SMC and placebo groups. At the same time, the paired-sample t-test was applied to compare the numerical data within the group. Categorical variables were expressed as numbers and were compared by chi-square (x2) between the two groups. Differences were considered statistically significant at a two-tailed P < 0.05.

A total of 26 insomnia patients were finally included in the study, among whom 11 patients were assigned to the SMC group and 15 patients to the placebo group; the detailed flow was described in Figure 1. One patient in the SMC group and two patients in the placebo group dropped out for lacking efficacy after two weeks of treatment, and the dropout rates were not significantly different between the two groups (9.09% vs 13.33%, P = 0.369). There were respective another two (both were due to self-withdrawal) and two (one for self-withdrawal, the other for protocol violation) patients in the SMC and placebo groups who dropped out after four weeks of treatment, and the difference of the dropout rate was also not significant (27.27% vs 26.67%, P = 0.973). Ultimately, eight patients in the SMC group and 11 in the placebo groups completed all three-time assessments and two PSG monitoring sessions, among whom the efficacy analysis was performed.

Figure 1 Flow diagram of the progress through the phases of a parallel randomized trial of two groups (that is, enrolment, intervention allocation, follow-up, and data analysis).

The baseline demographic and clinical data of all enrolled subjects are shown in Table 1. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of sex, age, education years, marital status, age of onset, insomnia duration, family history of insomnia or other mental disorders, scores of various scales including PSQI, ISI, PHQ-9, GAD-7, HAMD-17 and HAMA, and the PSG-related indicators including the sleep latency, sleep efficiency, REM sleep latency, total sleep time, and time of stage 1 and 2 sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep (P > 0.05). However, the sleep maintenance efficiency of patients in the placebo group was found significantly better than that of patients in the SMC group (P = 0.002).

Table 1 Baseline Clinical Data of Study Subjects

As presented in Figure 2 and Table 2, the PSQI scores in the SMC group were significantly decreased after 2- and 4-weeks treatment (P < 0.001 and P = 0.040, respectively), while the ISI scores were only significantly decreased after 2-weeks treatment (P = 0.002). However, within the placebo group, whether the scores of PSQI and ISI after 2 weeks or 4 weeks treatment, there were both no statistical differences compared with the scores at baseline (P > 0.05).

Table 2 The Scores of Various Scales of Pre- and Post-Treatment in the Shumian Capsule Group and the Placebo Capsule Group

Figure 2 The scores of (A) PSQI and (B) ISI in the shumian group and the placebo group pre- and post-treatment.

Abbreviations: PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory; ISI, Insomnia Severity Index.

After treatment for 4-weeks, none of the PSG indicators was significantly changed in the placebo group (Figure 3 and Table 3; all P > 0.05). As expected, however, several PSG indicators in the SMC group improved significantly. Specifically, the total sleep time, stage 2 sleep time, deep sleep time, REM sleep time, and sleep efficiency were significantly increased (P < 0.05), while REM sleep latency was significantly shortened (P = 0.021), as shown in Figure 3 and Table 3.

Table 3 The PSG Indicators of Pre- and Post-Treatment in the Shumian Capsule Group and the Placebo Group

Figure 3 The PSG indicators in the shumian group and the placebo group pre- and post-treatment. The PSG indicators are respective (A) Total sleep time. (B) Sleep latency. (C) REM sleep latency. (D) Stage 1 sleep time. (E) Stage 2 sleep time. (F) Deep sleep time. (G) REM sleep time. (H) Sleep efficiency. (I) Sleep maintenance efficiency.

Abbreviations: PSG, polysomnography; REM, rapid-eye-movement.

Figure 4 and Table 2 displayed the changes of various scales related to the mood of patients in the SMC group and the placebo group. The scores of PHQ-9, HAMD-17, and HAMA in the SMC group were significantly decreased both after 2- and 4-week of treatment (P < 0.05). However, in the placebo group, only PHQ-9 scores declined at the end of week-2 compared with the scores at baseline (P = 0.046). The scores of GAD-7 in both the SMC and the placebo groups were not changed significantly after 2 weeks and 4 weeks treatment (all P > 0.05).

Figure 4 The scores of (A) PHQ-9, (B) GAD-7, (C) HAMD-17, and (D) HAMA in the shumian group and the placebo group pre- and post-treatment.

Abbreviations: PHQ-9, 9-items Patient Health Questionnaire; GAD-7, 7-items Generalized Anxiety Disorder; HAMD-17, 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; HAMA, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.

No adverse events were reported during the study period in either the SMC or placebo groups. In addition, among seven patients who dropped out of the study, none of them were due to adverse events.

To our knowledge, this is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial using PSG to explore the efficacy of SMC in adult insomnia. In the present study, SMC exhibited better treatment efficacy than placebo after four weeks, and it significantly improved sleep structure. Notably, SMC also improved patients mood compared with baseline.

The observed treatment effects on insomnia might connect to the herbal formula of SMC. It is formulated from Semen Ziziphi Spinosae, Radix Bupleuri, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Flos Albiziae, Cortex Albiziae, Bombyx Batryticatus, Periostracum Cicadae, and Medulla Junci.37 The whole formula was believed to soothe the liver, relieve depression, and quiet the heart.37 The recent study reported that SMC might improve insomnia by increasing -aminobutyric acid levels, decreasing glutamate levels in the brain, and up-regulating the hippocampal 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptors protein expression.38 Among all the compounds, Semen Ziziphi Spinosae and Radix Bupleuri were the main ingredients to improve sleep.39,40 Importantly, the Guideline for the evaluation and treatment of insomnia in Chinese adults (2017) pointed out that the essential goals of insomnia treatment should improve sleep quality and structure and avoid adverse effects.41 The PSG showed that the total sleep, REM sleep latency, stage 2 sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, and sleep efficiency were significantly improved after 4-weeks of treatment in the SMC group. In addition, we did not record any adverse events. In summary, as CHM, SMC might be a safe choice in addition to current benzodiazepines, which might lead to tolerance and addiction,41 changes in sleep structure, and declines in sleep quality.42

Besides sleep improvement, the present study found significantly decreased PHQ-9, HAMD-17, and HAMA in the SMC group compared with the placebo group after treatment. It indicated that SMC could improve insomnia patients depressive and anxious moods. The result of a recent study that focused on sleep and mood disorders caused by the COVID-19 also supported our findings, and this study reported that SMC significantly improved depression and anxiety of patients with COVID-19 during the recovery phase.43 Also, the findings were consistent with a variety of previous clinical studies.4447 The mechanism of mood symptoms improvements might be related to the Semen Ziziphi Spinosae, Radix Bupleuri, and Bombyx Batryticatus. These compounds were rich in tryptophan, which was the precursor of serotonin.48,49 It might indicate that SMC improved serotonin deficiency and balanced the levels of neurotransmitters, then restored patients autonomous sleep with better quality, and improved depression and anxiety simultaneously.37,48,49

The strengths of this study were: (1) We used the scales to assess patients subjective feelings and applied PSG to evaluate patients actual sleep changes pre-and post-treatment, which was helpful for a more comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy of SMC. (2) SMC or placebo monotherapy was administered randomly with a double-blind method, which could help avoid the effects of sleep-affecting medicine and the subjectivity of the informed evaluators. (3) Only patients with insomnia were enrolled in the present study, which could help ensure more accurate evaluations of efficacy for SMC within a single diagnosis.

However, the strict inclusion criteria and trial requirements resulted in a relatively small sample size. Also, due to the small sample size, we were unable to explore gender differences on the indicators of PSG between male and female insomnia patients, although most researchers state that females are more prone to insomnia than males. In addition, there is a lack of follow-up after withdrawal, making it impossible to know whether the effects of SMC can continue after withdrawal. In the future, repeating the study in a larger sample, dividing patients into different gender groups, and adding a follow-up after drug withdrawal will be very useful for confirming the preliminary findings and whether gender plays an important role in insomnia.

In conclusion, SMC could improve insomnia after four weeks treatment, which was reflected in the subjective scales and the objective sleep indicators, especially in increasing the total sleep and deep sleep time and sleep efficiency. Furthermore, depression and anxiety were also significantly improved after treatment with SMC. During the four-week study period, the patients were well-tolerated in both SMC and placebo groups. Briefly, the present study demonstrated that SMC could improve subjective and objective sleep and the accompanying depression and anxiety symptoms of insomnia patients with low side effects. Future studies should focus on further evaluating the efficacy and safety of SMC in improving insomnia and its concomitant symptoms such as depression and anxiety in a large sample of insomnia patients.

The data and material supporting the results of this article are included within the article.

We thank all the people who participated in the study, and we thank Guizhou Dalong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for providing shumian capsules and placebo capsules for free.

Yuan Y was the principal investigator, designed the study protocol, and was involved in the recruitment of subjects and the revise of the manuscript. Chen S collected the samples of the subjects, performed the experiment, analyzed the statistical analysis, and wrote the manuscript. Xu Z, Li Y, Wang T, Yue Y, Hou Z, You L, Lu N, Yin Y, Liu X, Ji H, and Shi Y collected the samples from the subjects. Tan L and Xin X were involved in the experiment. Jiang W revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to data analysis, drafting, or revising the article, have agreed on the journal to which the article will be submitted, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

The study was funded by Guizhou Dalong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. However, the funder had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, in writing the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

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Vaccination Avoidance as Risk Avoidance Driven by Fear and Helplessness – Psychiatric Times

Posted: at 1:12 pm

COMMENTARY

As the most recent wave of COVID-19 recedes, we can begin to learn from the example of vaccine avoidance how to help frightened, grieving, and misinformed patients who are vulnerable to hyperfocus on rare risks as a form of helplessness avoidance. Integrating specialty expertise via conversationfor example, between infectious disease specialists and psychodynamically informed psychiatristscan help vulnerable patients become immunized against vaccine avoidance driven by fear and helplessness. Integrating expertise across specialties can also help us communicate effectively when participating in media-enabled public health education.

For example, the widespread alarm over news about the occurrence of blood clots in a tiny percentage of individuals who have received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine1 provides a useful, if troubling, lesson about how wishful thinking undermines rational choice.Wishful thinking, including magical thinking such as perfectionism compounded by hindsight and our understandable wish for certainty to avoid mortal danger at any cost, has created unintended mortal risks of its own.2

It is wishful thinking to insist that any medical remedy be free of side effects or a magic bullet with 100% effectiveness. In clinical practice, we regularly inform patients of substantial side effects, the benefit/risk ratios, and available alternative treatments. When new data emerge, the benefit/risk ratio may change, and patients should be so informed. That is very different from the governments pause of the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for patients of all ages, irrespective of their vulnerability to side effects, the potential benefits, and what alternatives were practically available. This blanket measure, intended to reassure the public, had the opposite effect.A where there is smoke, there is fire response cascaded through the Internet and clouded both the benefit/risk ratio for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and its efficacy relative to the other available vaccines in preventing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. This is in the United States, where approximately a million people have died of COVID-19 in a population of 330 million,3 a death rate of about 1 in 330 (the risk for any individual varies by age and other factors).

Rationally, we should welcome any vaccine that dramatically reduces this risk.Yet in fast-moving cyberspace, our tunnel-vision focus on a newly reported, frightening yet isolated cluster of cases is likely to outrun daily reports of the all too familiar, and thus normalized, larger number of no less tragic deaths from COVID-19. Contrast this reaction with risk levels that individuals ordinarily accept, such as having children in the face of thealasstill present risk of maternal mortality.4

This situation has many other analogues in medicine.For instance, some of us, when we are patients, worry about Guillain-Barr syndrome after influenza immunization, even though the risk of Guillain-Barr is much higher after infection with influenza than after immunization.5 Ideally, such comparisons of risks and benefits should be simple and straightforward to make.Why, then, when it comes to threats to our health, are they not?When we are frightened that our survival is somehow at stake, powerful feelings distort our reasoning to avoid feeling helpless.

When we feel in danger, we simplify.We tend to pay more attention to information that is recent or more readily available. The newly reported risk of a tragic yet rare side effect potentially related to vaccination all too often obscures the greater risks, both long- and short-term, of the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.Once we fixate on what is new and potentially dangerous, it tends to remain on our mental radar screen, regardless of data to the contrary.Moreover, individuals can all too easily avoid potential risks of vaccination by not being vaccinated, whereas even with masks and other precautions, we feel far greater helplessness relative to avoiding the risks of COVID-19.To avoid feeling helpless, it is easier and thus all too convenient to focus on easily avoidable yet low vaccination risks than on the far less easily avoidable yet high COVID-19 risks.In addition, we tend to feel greater shame when we do something that turns out badly than when we do not do something and it turns out badly. Thus, deaths due to inaction (not getting vaccinated) seem less frightening than deaths due to action (getting vaccinated).

Especially in the midst of fear and tragedy, we want to avoid helplessness at any cost, which makes us susceptible to wishful thinking and fantasies of omnipotence and the perfection of 20-20 hindsight.That susceptibility is compounded by internet transmission of misinformation and fear-mongering. It is no news that bad news beats good news in the marketplace of attention.Moreover, misleading reductionism typically carries the day (the curse of the sound bite).Now, on the small screens of mobile phones, we too often read the screaming headlines without getting to potentially reassuring qualifiers in the body of an article.Asking avoidant patients what information they have, where they get their information, and what it means to them is vital. In the same vein, asking about any individual or family history of adverse interactions with medications or the medical system may be helpful.

To be effective, public education about risk assessment must recognize this emotional component of our mental functioning. For the informed consent process of vaccination to be meaningful and effective, it helps to recognize the way fear in the midst of a pandemic intoxicates sober cognition with perfectionism and magical thinking.Therefore, when we communicate about newly emergent questions as to vaccination-related side effects, it will also help to keep in mind that our own public and social media communication may have side effects far greater than the vaccine side effects we seek to reduce.

Dr Bittner is a faculty member at Creighton University School of Medicine, and an infectious diseases physician who practices in Omaha, Nebraska, locale of one of the first cases of the suspected Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine-related blood clots.Dr Bursztajn is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing psychiatrist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a longstanding interest in decision-making under conditions of trauma and uncertainty.

References

1.Oliver SE, Wallace M, See I, et al. Use of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine: updated interim recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - United States, December 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022;71(3):90-95.

2. Bursztajn HJ, Feinbloom RI, Hamm RM, Brodsky A. Medical Choices, Medical Chances: How Patients, Families, and Physicians Can Cope With Uncertainty. Routledge; 1990.

3. Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest map and case count. New York Times. Accessed March 4, 2022.

4. Hoyert DL. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2020. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2022. Accessed March 4, 2022.

5. Vellozzi C, Iqbal S, Broder K. Guillain-Barre syndrome, influenza, and influenza vaccination: the epidemiologic evidence.Clin Infect Dis. 2014;58(8):1149-1155.

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Vaccination Avoidance as Risk Avoidance Driven by Fear and Helplessness - Psychiatric Times

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Cody Blue And The Snider Family Return To Media Spotlight. This Time In A Podcast. – Inside Radio

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Cavalry Audio, the podcast division of Cavalry Media, announced today it will premiere its new limited series podcast, The Awakened Underground with filmmaker Cody Blue as its host. The investigative talk show is comprised of 10 episodes and will explore the ancient art of healing yourself with shamanic plant medicines and psychedelics.

On the podcast, Blue will sit with experts in the field of psychedelic medicines including shamans, scientists, doctors, athletes, and celebrities who have healed themselves with psychedelics to explore the ancient healing techniques in a way that the western mind can consume. Blue will draw from his own personal experiences, having healed a variety of issues through psychedelic plant medicines including depression, anxiety, ADHD, using the alternative medicine techniques.

Whether youre someone who is already on this path to healing or its your first time hearing about it, Im looking forwarding to broadening the minds of all our listeners, said Blue. As someone who struggled with the many side effects of traditional pharmaceutical medications, my hope is this show will lead people to better understand the benefits of shamanic plant medicines and psychedelics as well as question the real motives behind the traditional medications being pushed by major pharmaceutical companies.

Blue is the son of Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider and Calvary Audio says the podcast will become a family affair when Blue welcomes his famously straight edge dad onto the podcast to try and convince him to use this new path to healing. Both Blues mom, Suzette Snider, who is also straight edge and his younger sister Shy, a fashion influencer, will be on the first episode to talk about how they were able to heal various maladies with psychedelic medicines. The Snider family had previously been the subject of the A&E reality show Growing Up Twisted and most recently featured on Celebrity Family Feud in 2021.

The Awakened Underground series premieres Tuesday (March 29) with the release of its first three episodes. The podcast is directed by Tanya Dahl, produced by Blue and Cavalrys Jeff Apple with company principals Dana Brunetti and Keegan Rosenberger serving as Executive Producers, and is distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network.

The podcast is the latest in the line of successful releases from Cavalry Audio, including the recent releases The Pink Moon Murders and The Shadow Girls. Cavalry Audio podcasts have collectively achieved more than 22 million downloads yearly.

Cody Blue is repped by Verve and Circle of Confusion.

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Cody Blue And The Snider Family Return To Media Spotlight. This Time In A Podcast. - Inside Radio

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Daily Archives: March 29, 2022

Dlamini vows to intensify Operation Dudula’s ‘war on drugs’ – East Coast Radio

Not All Cannabis Reform is a Good Thing – Lexology

The Road to Decriminalization of Psychoactive Drugs Runs Through Religion – Religion Dispatches

Not just cocaine and war: Colombian pride at Oscar-winning Encantos positive portrayal – The Guardian

Stranger Dangers: The Right’s History of Turning Child Abuse Into a Political Weapon Mother Jones – Mother Jones

Tuberculosis: Medicinal and alternative therapies to treat TB – Hindustan Times

Massive Growth of Global Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market by 2030| Optum, Inc., Ach, Quantum-Touch, and Herboflora – Digital Journal

Efficacy and safety of the Chinese herbal medicine | NDT – Dove Medical Press

Vaccination Avoidance as Risk Avoidance Driven by Fear and Helplessness – Psychiatric Times

Cody Blue And The Snider Family Return To Media Spotlight. This Time In A Podcast. – Inside Radio

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