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News: Silencing
Wisdom -- Do drugs mask the messages behind depression?
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Briefs: Getting Organized | RTK
Back in Court | Roast Epidermis | Local
Blackout | Early Deadlines
Happening
People: Bob Cassidy
Silencing
Wisdom
Do drugs mask the messages
behind depression?
By Elizabeth
Pownall
Ten million people in the U.S. suffer from chronic anxiety, most
of them women, National Public Radio recently reported. Twenty percent of all women
have at least one episode of depression in their lifetime that needs treatment, the
National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) reports, and this statistic is climbing.
"We look at depression as purposeful," said Jennifer
Gordon, PhD., a Eugene psychologist. " We look at its value -- how it might
be re-directing people in their life, in their nature, in their personality development.
It is nature's way of helping someone look at what might need to die."
Adolescents and women in their midlife are at greatest risk for
depression because of the hormonal changes they are undergoing, as well as changes
in their life circumstances. While adolescents are developing their identity, women
in their midlife are undergoing profound biochemical changes which can strengthen
theirs. Women's intuition is enhanced, and the courage to use their voice can be
increased, said Debra Catlin, education coordinator for The Women's Outreach Center
at Sacred Heart Hospital.
Women in midlife are perimenopausal, or in the years surrounding
menopause. During this time, Catlin went on to say, "women need to feed their
brains." Care for one's emotional well-being, she explains, is as important
as one's physical health. Catlin and Gordon co-teach a workshop on "Depression
and Midlife Women" through the Women's Outreach Center.
Studies show in cognitive behavioral therapy that 90 percent of
women's thinking is negative, self critical, and self defeating, says Deborah Aikens,
Ph.D., a psychologist and director of The Northwest Center for Health Promotion in
Eugene. Women need to "cultivate a voice that is more appreciative, more respectful
and more accepting of one's self."
Anti-depressant medication is being overused as a treatment for
depression, Aikens goes on. "Women have to make the commitment to do the work
to take care of themselves. Medication cannot be a substitute for that."
Aikens considers anti-depressants a viable choice for acute suffering,
however, she says, it should be used on a short-term basis, and only in conjunction
with therapy. There is a danger, she thinks, in medication masking deeper problems.
While on medication "there is no growth. Women don't learn
to identify what they need, they don't learn to speak up about it," Aikens says.
"They don't learn to find their voice, they don't learn to take action for what
they need if the medication is masking something that is really going on. It is a
kind of tragedy."
Aikens, in collaboration with Linda Weaver, community outreach
coordinator for McKenzie/Willamette Hospital, recently launched "Renew Your
Life," a program on self nurturing and self care for women. "Renew Your
Life" was kicked off in April by keynote speaker Alice Domar, director of the
Mind/Body Center for Women's Health at Harvard Medical School. Domar's recent book,
Self-Nurture: Learning to Care for Yourself as Effectively as You Care for Everybody
Else, is considered the first of its kind to address this issue in the mainstream,
Aikens says.
"Men and women need to understand that self-nurturing is not
selfish," Aikens continues. " There is a natural altruism that comes from
self care, a natural generosity of the heart that comes from it, so rather than taking
ourselves away to do something selfish, we are filling ourselves so our outreach
can be more generous to family and friends."
We have grown up with the cultural notion that it is more virtuous
to care for and be attentive to other's needs at the expense of our own, she says.
However to reduce the stress and depression in their lives, women must learn to care
for themselves.
Defining self nurturing varies for each individual, Aikens says.
For some it may mean softening one's approach to life. For others it may mean becoming
more assertive.
The task of mid-life, says Gordon, is authenticity. "Life
changes can be scary," she says, "If we are identifying with a social personna
that feels false or incomplete, we need to take stock -- not repress it by taking
drugs.
In order to break old patterns and make personal changes, women
need the support of like-minded people and mentors. There are a few personal growth
programs in Eugene that help women address depression and life transition issues:
-- The Self-Nurturing and Renewal workshop, which is part of the
Renew Your Life project, is offered every month except August and December, through
the end of the year. Taught by Aikens, this all-day workshop helps women identify
their needs and provides a range of self-nurturing tools. The next two workshops
are June 30 and July 28. For more information, call 726-4459.
-- The Woman's Outreach Center offers workshops and classes for
women of all ages. For more information, call 686-7074.
-- Transitions to Success, a 10-week course offered through the
Women's Program at Lane Community College, addresses life transitions in women's
lives, and emotional/spiritual growth in a safe and supportive manner. For more information,
call 747-4501 ext. 2353.
"If authenticity is a personal goal," Gordon says, "there
is something very liberating that happens."
Back to Top
Getting
Organized
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Peter Dreier
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Progressive activists need to stop burning all their energy fighting
defensive battles and come together on a positive agenda for change, says Los Angeles
activist Peter Dreier.
Dreier is a visiting professor at the UO from Occidental College
in L.A. where he teaches urban environmental policy. He is also director of the Progressive
Los Angeles Network, an organization with the same acronym and a similar mission
to the local Progressive Lane Activists Network (PLAN).
Dreier packed a PLAN meeting at Café Navarro June 11 to
talk about the "fragmentation of the left" and building effective coalitions.
In the crowd were environmentalists, land-use and alternative transportation advocates,
anarchists, police policy critics and other activists. But when Dreier asked for
a show of hands of elected officials and labor activists, no one in the standing-room-only
crowd responded.
"Organized labor is the strongest component of any progressive
movement and without it there is no hope," he said.
Dreier said progressive groups in L.A., including labor, had been
divided and oppressed during the 1980s and early '90s under an organized attack from
conservatives. Gay and lesbian groups, environmentalists, labor, education, clergy
and other groups held rallies for their individual causes, but did not talk to each
other. Meanwhile, conservatives were busy promoting and passing anti-tax, anti-labor,
anti-environment and anti-immigrant measures at the state and local level.
"We were fighting defensive battles," said Dreier. "We
knew what we were against, but we didn't know what we were for. We needed to harness
our energy and move in the same direction."
L.A.'s coalition formed around a simple and easy to explain living
wage campaign: Private companies getting city contracts would have to pay employees
at least $9 an hour with health insurance or $10.50 an hour without health insurance.
"It only covers maybe 30,000 people," said Dreier, "but
it brought progressives together. It became a crusade."
Success in the living wage campaign was followed by organized support
for striking janitors, election work and forming task forces on parks, transportation,
public safety, welfare, housing and issues of sustainability.
"People met and worked with each other and discovered what
they had in common," he said. "We got people excited about the potential
of doing something, we hammered out a progressive policy agenda for L.A. and we published
the agenda in the L.A. Weekly."
Dreier says effective coalitions must create "a permanent
infrastructure so you can build on your successes." The battles continue, he
said, but "10 years ago we couldn't have imagined the progress we've made today."
-- TJT
RTK Back in Court
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Ahead of
the Curve
Sacred Heart Hospital has demanded $35 million, a signed blank check and the
leveling of six blocks of one of downtown's oldest neighborhoods. Does anyone really
expect Eugene voters to go for it, or is this just another ploy to make a sprawling
suburban campus more attractive?
The City Council plans a public hearing for July 2 to help decide
by July 9 whether to put a tax measure on the September ballot to pay off Sacred
Heart. Many questions remain unanswered. Here's a short list:
-- Why doesn't the hospital build a two-campus system downtown
using the nearby hospital buildings and vacant lots along Willamette Street rather
than the distant Crescent site?
-- Does the hospital really need six downtown city blocks leveled?
The current hospital only occupies about four blocks.
-- Why should citizens pay to subsidize one of the most profitable
hospitals in Oregon?
-- The new hospital only adds a few more beds. Is it all really
needed? Will citizens be forced to pay higher hospital charges to fund unnecessary
hospital expansion?
-- Would the city do better funding local, low-income healthcare
needs? Rather than subsidizing hospital profits, why not tell Sacred Heart that if
it stays downtown, the city will spend $25 million on low-income healthcare programs
(the hospital's supposed mission)?
-- If we put out to bid a $35 million contract for downtown medical
service, would McKenzie Willamette or some other provider be interested? Should Eugene
use the money to start its own municipal hospital, like Ashland's?
-- Should the city start using a bigger stick rather than golden
carrots to keep the hospital downtown? The city could make the move to Crescent very
painful for Sacred Heart -- land-use appeals, higher development fees, lawsuits,
re-zoning actions, condemnations, shifting city healthcare business to McKenzie,
new ordinances, fees, challenging non-profit status, etc.
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Eugene's landmark Toxic Right-To-Know Law was back in court last week
for what proponents of the law say is hopefully the last time. At issue were continuing
concerns by industry about the breadth of the reporting law and the fees associated
with it.
Industry representatives have repeatedly argued that state law
prohibits Oregon communities from regulating anything that applies to pesticides,
and therefore any chemical that can be used as a pesticide should be exempt from
the Eugene reporting law. An earlier court decision held that any chemical used as
a pesticide didn't need to be reported, but that the same chemical used for a different
purpose (for instance, as a solvent) did have to be reported.
The other primary industry argument again referred to an existing
state law, one that effectively prohibited Eugene from charging fees based on the
amount of chemicals a facility has on hand. Only the state fire marshall is allowed
to charge such fees. The City Council changed the reporting law so that all companies
using the toxic chemicals -- even those using less than the reportable amount --
need to pay for the law. Industry argued that the revision changed the voters' intent
and so the whole law should be thrown out. Jerry Lidz, one of the city's attorneys,
argued in response that the law explicitly allows for changes if parts are found
illegal.
Eugene activist Mary O'Brien says that if the court agrees with
the law's proponents this time, then for the first time "the companies reporting
their toxic releases into the air, water, land and products of Eugene will be funding
the program, rather than the citizens who have to eat, drink and breath the toxics."
-- Orna Izakson
Roast Epidermis
As you work in your garden, ride your bike in the sunshine
or even just walk to lunch, bear in mind that the sun these days is not your friend.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, harmful ultraviolet
rays were so strong in Eugene on Tuesday that spending 15 minutes outdoors without
protection would cause skin damage. Eugene received an exposure level of 8 on a scaled
of 10 that day; any ranking between 7 and 9 on the noon ultraviolet index counts
as "high."
Portland is the only Oregon city for which NOAA charts numbers
annually, and Portland got a score of 7 on the day Eugene got the score of 8. According
to NOAA, Portland UV exposure peaks in early to mid July and sometimes also in late
June. In 1998, Portlanders saw 34 days of high UV exposure, and 83 days of moderate
exposure, the latter defined as days in which it takes 30 minutes of sunshine to
damage the skin. In 1997, Portland saw 90 high days and 61 moderate ones; in 1996
there were 78 high days and 65 moderate ones. Portland didn't make it into the very
high category (10 minutes or fewer to skin damage) in any of those three years.
Sunscreen does help, but isn't the entire solution. The sun protection
factor, or SPF, on sunscreen tells you how much longer you can stay outside without
harming your skin than you could without sunscreen. But sunscreens for the most part
protect primarily against only one form of UV radiation -- carcinogenic UVA. Another
kind of UV radiation, UVB, can also contribute to the skin cancers, but few sunscreens
actively filter that as well. For protection against those, wear clothes, stay inside
or look for sunblocks that reflect UV rather than absorb it; one example is titanium
dioxide, commonly known as the white stuff on lifeguards' noses.
Eyes are vulnerable to UV also, and ophthalmologists recommend
sunglasses that filter out 99 percent or more of both UVA and UVB. Look for nonprescription
sunglasses that explicitly state how much UV they block; if it's unclear, ask. If
the glasses don't say anything, assume they won't do the trick. Full UV protection
is easily available on prescription glasses. -- Orna Izakson
Local Blackout
Eugene residents irked with President Bush's energy policies
are joining the international "Roll Your Own Blackout" (EW, 6/14)
with a local picnic and party Thursday evening, June 21 at Emerald Park on Howard
Avenue off River Road.
Lane County residents are urged to turn off their lights and other
unneeded power in their homes from 7 to 10 pm Thursday, the summer solstice. The
picnic and barbecue in the park are supported by Progressive Lane Activist Network,
the American Hydrogen Association Northwest Chapter and other groups.
One of the organizers, Dianne Lobes, calls the blackout "a
simple protest and a symbolic act" and "a potentially powerful idea."
She adds, "The rolling blackout sends big energy the message that Americans
in huge numbers are for conservation and renewable, sustainable energy."
Picnic participants are asked to bring food to share, acoustic
instruments, kids, games and "a story/joke/song/skit about the big energy cartel
and their policies of exploitation and misuse of the Earth's resources." --
TJT
Early Deadlines
An early advertising deadline will be in place for our
July 5 issue due to the July 4 holiday. The deadline will be a day early at 5 pm
Thursday, June 28. EW offices will be closed Wednesday, July 4. For more information,
call 484-0519.
Back to Top
 
Bob Cassidy
Back when he worked 65 hours a week as a credit union consultant,
and later as owner and manager of the Continental Deli, Bob Cassidy couldn't find
time for civic involvement. In the five years since he retired, Cassidy has dedicated
himself to volunteer efforts, from Habitat for Humanity to Citizens for Public Accountability.
"It's good to be involved," he says, "while you still have a chance
to be valuable to somebody." From 11 'til 4 every weekday since May 15, Cassidy
has set up a folding chair and ironing board at the entrance to the Eugene Public
Library to gather signatures for the Oregon Comprehensive Health Care Finance Act,
an initiative to provide universal health care in Oregon. "I figured it would
take a month," he explains. "If I was here every day, people would think,
'It's an institution.'" Cassidy learned of the initiative through the OTHER
paper -- now he's treasurer of the local organizing team. "Maine is a governor's
signature away from universal health care," he notes. "Fifteen other states
have initiatives in the works." Find details at www.healthcareforalloregon.com
-- Paul Neevel
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