Chillier

AKMA on how lawyers are stifling theology. [See my "Chilled" from earlier this month.]

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Thursday, September 30, 2004

Depressed? Talk about it

A new study offers additional support for a common assumption about treating depression and anxiety: a combination of medication and therapy is more effective than either treatment alone.

Talk therapy alone, however, was as effective as drugs when subjects attended more than 13 sessions. (Those who participated in 6 or fewer therapy sessions and didn't take medications fared the worst.)

The study, by Consumer Reports magazine, isn't as rigorous as one might hope, but it does point toward the efficacy of combined treatment. It also underlines that depression is not a physical disease alone.

A second recent study challenges another common assumption about depression: that depressed people tend to focus on negatives, such as feelings of sadness and loss. Some do, some don't.

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Assay the essay

"Defending a position may be a necessary evil in a legal dispute," argues Paul Graham, "but it's not the best way to get at the truth, as I think lawyers would be the first to admit. It's not just that you miss subtleties this way. The real problem is that you can't change the question."

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Monday, September 27, 2004

Effectiveness vs. efficiency

Multitasking just slows things down, it seems.

Being busy all the time might be an effective use of time, but it makes a person less efficient in the long run.

That's something both pastors and scholars should know.

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Why we look so bad

Regina Barreca on why academic couture embarrasses us all.

My favorite part:

This handsome, intelligent, otherwise distinguished young man--youth who took the world around him much more seriously when he was in his twenties than he does now--purchased what was, during that historical period, considered an appropriate garment: a herringbone three-piece suit. Bought when he finished his B.A., the suit had fit perfectly. Like many other people, however, this friend put on weight over the years--especially when writing his doctoral dissertation--but he never bothered to buy new clothes.
As he describes it, by the time he was on the job market, the three-piece suit fit him just like a herringbone leotard.
What else could he do but wear it for his job search? It was his only suit. The trouble started when he realized, after sitting down for an extended interview, that one of the tight pant legs had cut off his circulation entirely. One leg, from the knee down, was asleep--wholly numb. When the interviewer finally thanked him for his time and said he would be in touch, my friend had no alternative. He had to get up and leave. He thought, just maybe, he could make it to the door. Instead, he fell to the hotel floor on one knee, as if proposing marriage. It was not an auspicious occasion.
He did not a get an on-campus interview.
He did get a new suit.

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The good life . . .

. . . better lived by "doing things" than by "having things," researchers say.

And now our economy may prove it.

[Sorry; registration required.]

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Monday, September 13, 2004

Universal particulars and particular universals

"Human conduct," Peter Amato writes in last month's Human Nature Review, "can be considered from a variety of standpoints, some of which are more concerned with its structural, universal, and abstract dimensions, and some of which are more focused on concrete practices and particularities. But inquiry into human conduct that loses sight of the interconnection between these dimensions misrepresents either, or both."

Amato is writing about the intersection of ethics and morals, but I think his words are important for the discipline of pastoral theology, too.

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Thursday, September 09, 2004

Promoting marriage

Racism and poverty are two of the biggest influences on American families--and experts say these stressors aren't adequately addressed by federal efforts to promote marriage.

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Thursday, September 09, 2004

Companionship and healing

Hamsters with friends heal faster. Do humans?

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Thursday, September 02, 2004

Chilled

Attorneys rule the world--at least that's how it seems, sometimes.

But is there a point at which legal concerns about risk management and confidentiality have a chilling effect on the writing and teaching of pastoral theologians?

It's more than a rhetorical question for me, because a publisher recently required a formal, personal release from a dead man's family before accepting a written reflection on my own experience of grief.

This was not case material gleaned from clinical practice. It was not data obtained during research. It was not confidential information about a living, breathing person.

It was theological reflection on my own life.

But it included details about a deceased friend. And because a dead person cannot sign a release form, the publisher wanted one from his family.

So I have to ask: Should an account of a personal experience require the permission of people not even involved in order to be published?

Granted, the publisher's concerns are warranted [see the statement about attorneys running the world]. Neither factuality nor absence of malice are a defense for charges of invasion of privacy. And changing a person's name or identifying details are not always sufficient protections.

At the seminary where I teach, we are already expected to have informed consent when using live or videotaped interviews in classroom instruction. Changing personal details and names in written and oral presentations is mandated by the faculty handbook in order to maintain confidentiality.

I understand and support these protections.

But being required to ask permission to publish from people not even mentioned in my writing meant they could potentially stifle my voice simply by saying "no." And that concerns me.

It makes me less likely to write publicly about my own experiences of giving and receiving care. Others, I suspect, would respond similarly.

And that can't be good for constructive theology in the public arena.