Strike action July 1, 2008

Teachers across the country are striking. Wondering where all the health professionals are? Are they really satisfied with the working conditions and pay? A warm saabas to all the teachers.

A Message to the National Foot Ball Team June 17, 2008

I suggest all the members of the Maldivian national team to donate directly, half the money they received for winning the SAFF cup ( and the money they receive from other sources including the hefty 200 k rcvd by each player) , to the people who are disadvantaged and still living in tents after the tsunami. I hear that millions are being given to the team. Half of that money will bring some respite to the families who are still struggling to survive.

Mass Hysteria and Island communities May 16, 2008

Well. Consider this as a little update. I said something about this mass hysteria thing before. I tried some how to make the Makunudhoo island crisis and the Nigerian Genitalia Vanishing Epidemic look similar. In Congo this year (200 sorcerers were arrested for stealing penises (again? u must be joking?). In Maldives this year (200 sorcerers were arrested for allegedly doing some sort of white magic ( Jon Stewart here / don’t miss this). My o my.

If you are one of those who is scared to go to the toilet alone at night, then Do NOT watch this. I warned you.

Constant reinforcements of these scary images can make your heart beat faster. Don’t look behind you. A jini is watching over your shoulders right now. LOL

Infact, mass hysteria is a scary thought and interesting social phenomenon. It can run in schools and other organizations. Most notably, research indicates a considerable number of these cases arising in situations and places where there is a strong belief in supernatural and such. I was reading through stuff related to this and came across a very interesting story from India, where mass hysteria ran in a family for 2 decades affecting 10 members of 2 generations. Sounds interesting , isn’t it? I had to post about this case. It is such a cool case. It seems only 4 reports of family mass hysteria is known to be recorded so far. The case is taken from

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences (2002), 56, 643–646
Short Communication
Mass family hysteria:A report from India

SURENDRA K. MATTOO, md, NITIN GUPTA, md, APRAJITA LOBANA, md AND
BALRAJ BEDI, ma
Department of Psychiatry,Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

In 1997 the index family brought its member RL, a 24-year-old male married laborer with 8 years of schooling, for treatment of affective disorder . This Hindu extended family from a north-Indian village consisted of 31 members including RL’s parents and three siblings, grandfather, and four uncles and aunts and their 16 children. The highest educational level was school completion in children and 5 years of schooling in parents.While three uncles were full-time farmers, RL’s father and one uncle were unskilled workers with the government. The government-serving uncle and his family stayed at a town 50 km away and visited the village almost every month and for vacations, farm work, and family and social events. The remainder of the extended family stayed in the village. RL’s parents and uncles pooled and shared equally the financial resources and expenses, while the kitchens were separate. There had been no legal, financial or social problems within or outside the family. The family was the best educated and the most well off in an all-Hindu village. The villagers had a strong belief in the goddess (multi-incarnation, worshipped by Hindus across India), but additionally worshipped two local village deities (Guga Peer and Kheda) whose temples were adjoining the houses of the index family. The family had a strong religious orientation.

While daily evening prayers would be joined by most of the family members, all members would join special religious celebrations (two to four per year), when there would be feasting during the day and musical prayers late into the night. In some daily prayers and in all special prayers, two to four men of the village would have possession attacks characterized by rotatory movements of the head and body in a squatting position, initially loud invocation of the deity, later utterances as if they had been possessed by the goddess, and responses to peoples’ queries about problems such as illness, theft, loss, business etc. by explaining the problems and suggesting solutions in terms of prayers and rituals. The possession would spontaneously end in 10–30 min, with a patchy memory of the happenings afterwards. The villagers believed such episodes to be god’s recognition of the person’s religious devotion. The villagers also had a strong belief that faith-healers of the area could cause misfortune (accidents, financial loss, illness, death etc.) or relief from such misfortune, by prayers and rituals. In 1975 the eldest aunt of RL had sudden unconsciousness for which doctors could find no cause or cure. On the third day she responded to the treatment of a faith-healer from a neighboring village. The faithhealer continued to visit them for the treatment and became a family friend. Some months later he offered his daughter in marriage to the youngest uncle of RL.

After accepting the offer the family came to believe that he was a dishonest faith-healer (casting spells on people to extract money for treating them, he was suspected to be the cause of the aunt’s illness that he had treated). Also, as a relative his social behavior was found to be unacceptable. In 1980 RL’s family reneged on the marriage proposal despite apprehensions about some reprisal. Later, they heard that the faith-healer had talked of his revenge by causing pain and suffering to their womenfolk. With in a few weeks RL’s mother, followed by his second aunt, developed vague ill health: aches and pains, easy fatigueability, indigestion, insomnia, menstrual disturbances, occupational dysfunction etc. There was no evidence of depression in terms of sadness, undue worrying, guilt, suicidal ideation, loss of appetite/interest/libido etc. Many doctors who were consulted over the years could neither find a medical cause nor provide any relief. Convinced of the faithhealer’s mischief, in 1982 the family went ahead with the marriage of RL’s youngest uncle. The would-be bride and her family were aware of the faith-healer’s wrath. Within a few hours of joining the family, the bride suddenly developed severe pain in the right side of the abdomen. Yelling in pain, she rolled on the ground for approximately 10 min before becoming semiconscious for approximately 30 min. Recovery was spontaneous, with residual generalized aches for a few hours and a patchy memory of the episode. Such ‘dissociative’ episodes recurred every few weeks or months, with repeated medical examinations revealing no abnormality. Six months later, in 1983, RL’s first sister developed persistent vomiting for which doctors could give neither a medical cause nor a cure. The family was convinced of the faith-healer’s mischief because the vomiting was associated only with food cooked at their own home and eaten at their own home or farms (there was no vomiting vomiting with-home-cooked food eaten at other people’s houses or farms), and there was no weight loss over time.

In view of the financial and psychosocial distress to the family (repeated medical and faith-healing treatment cost heavily and brought no relief), through emissaries and personal visits, the family pleaded with the suspect faith-healer who denied any wrongdoing. Although only 11 at that time, being the eldest son RL felt distressed because he could do nothing to help the family. In this background, in 1985, during one of the aunt’s ‘dissociative’ episodes, RL grew angry and loudly abused the goddess for not ending their family’s misery. The elders reprimanded him for this. Next afternoon he had his first ‘possession attack’. While fully awake he ‘saw’ a lady in a red dress at some distance, felt thrown off his cot by a slap on his face, and started rotating his head and body repeatedly. The family members gathered around him, and, assuming that the goddess had possessed him, addressed her for reasons and relief. RL replied back in a changed authoritative voice confirming the possession to be due to his insulting behavior the previous day, asking for certain rituals and prayers, and assuring relief to the entire family. After the required rituals and prayers were carried out, RL’s aunt’s ‘dissociative’ episodes and his sister’s vomiting stopped completely while the mother and second aunt’s ill health decreased considerably. RL continued to have four to eight such episodes a year during the late night temple prayers (with patchy memory of the same) and became a ‘hero’ for the family and the village. The action pattern exhibited by RL during the possession attacks was similar to that exhibited by other villagers and was accepted as typical of possession by the goddess.

A year later, RL’s fourth aunt followed by the first sister had recurrence of‘fresh ‘dissociative’ episodes once in a few weeks to months. Also, RL’s mother’s and second aunt’s ill health continued with a low severity. From 1991 onwards the elder daughter of the second uncle (living in town) also started having similar ‘dissociative’ episodes, both at the village and in the town. In 1995 RL developed a manic episode (irritability, physical and religious over-activity, overspending, pressure of speech, ideas of grandiose ability and identity) associated with two to four ‘possession attacks’ a day. He got married during this episode. This ‘mild’ episode, passed off by the family as his youthful response to marriage, resolved spontaneously without any treatment. During the family gathering for RL’s marriage,led by the fourth aunt one after another, at intervals of a few minutes, RL’s two sisters, elder daughter of first uncle, two daughters of second uncle, third aunt and her elder daughter, fourth aunt’s elder daughter and a sister of the third aunt (visiting them for the marriage), all had a ‘dissociative’ attack similar to the one described earlier. During the marriage, one after another, two to six of these women had many ‘mass’ episodes. After the marriage these women continued to have ‘dissociative’ attacks sporadically. Faithhealing treatment for these during and after the marriage brought no major relief .

A few weeks after his marriage RL started remaining aloof and quiet, showed decreased interested in self-care, socialization, religiosity and sex, lacked initiative, complained of weakness, spent long hours in bed, missed work and lost wages, with ‘possession attacks’ continuing to occur once or twice a year. In August 1997 he had a second episode of mania with delusions of grandiosity, and auditory and visual hallucinations that necessitated hospitalization.

Physical examination including electroencephalogram (EEG) revealed no abnormality. No hypothalamic or hysterical/dependent traits were evident. On this basis an International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (current episode mania with psychotic symptoms) and trance and possession disorder was made. Additionally, in 1996 RL’s younger sister developed an episode of mania, similar to that of RL except for possession attacks. Because the family attributed her illness to the suspect faith-healer, she received treatment only from faith-healers. Our management focused on treating RL’s mania and exploring with and educating the family about the illnesses of RL and other family members. RL was treated with haloperidol, lorazepam and trihexiphenidyl, nine sessions of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and lithium prophylaxis. Over the next 4 years good compliance and euthymic status were maintained, except for a depressive episode for 2 months in 1999. All available family members were interviewed to explore and understand their beliefs regarding various events in self, family and the village.

Possible relationships among internal (physiological and psychological) and external (physical and social) events were discussed. Freedom to choose and exercise their belief system was accepted. While in hospital they were allowed to continue faith-healing treatment alongside the ‘medical’ treatment. The family came to accept RL’s and his sisters’s bipolar episodes as illnesses needing medical treatment; they continued RL’s treatment and also brought his sister for lithium prophylaxis. But RL’s possession attacks, RL’s mother’s and aunt’s illnesses, understood by us as somatoform disorder, and dissociative attacks in all other women, continued to be considered by the family as caused by the faith-healer. They never brought them for treatment despite assuring us that they would do so if faith-healing treatment failed. At last contact in August 2001 some of these women were continuing with milder forms of their illnesses while RL, euthymic on lithium, continued to have occasional prayer-related possession attacks.

After reading about this case, as usual, i was wondering about the Makunudhoo crisis and what they have gone through and the long lasting negative effects it will have on the island community.

Nigerian Genitalia Vanishing Epidemic of 1990 May 13, 2008

We heard about the fainting and pseudoseizures that are happening in Makunudhoo. Now hear about the NIGERIAN GENITALIA VANISHING EPIDEMIC OF 1990.

Nigerian Genitalia Vanishing Epidemic of 1990

During 1990, an episode of “vanishing” genitalia caused widespread fear across Nigeria. Native psychiatrist Sunny Ilechukwu (1992) said that most reports of attacks involved male victims. Accusations were usually triggered by incidental body contact with a stranger in a public place, after which the “victim” would feel strange scrotum sensations and grab their genitals to confirm that they were still there. Then they would confront the person as a crowd would gather, accusing them of being a genital thief, before stripping naked to convince bystanders that their penis was really missing. Many “victims” claimed that the penis had been returned once the alarm had been raised or that, although the penis was now back, “it was shrunken and so probably a ‘wrong’ one or just the ghost of a penis” (95). The accused was often threatened or beaten until the penis had been “fully restored,” and in some instances, the accused was beaten to death. Ilechukwu (1992, 96) described the scene in one city:

Men could be seen in the streets of Lagos holding on to their genitalia either openly or discreetly with their hands in their pockets. Women were also seen holding on to their breasts directly or discreetly by crossing the hands across the chest. It was thought that inattention and a weak will facilitated the “taking” of the penis or breasts. Vigilance and anticipatory aggression were thought to be good prophylaxis.

Social and cultural traditions contributed to the outbreak as many Nigerian ethnic groups “ascribe high potency to the external genitalia as ritual and magical objects to promote fecundity or material prosperity to the unscrupulous” (Ilechukwu 1988, 313). The belief in vanishing genitalia was not only plausible but institutionalized; many influential Nigerians expressed outrage when police released suspected genital thieves. A Christian priest even claimed that a Bible passage where Jesus asked “Who touched me?” because the “power had gone out of him,” referred to genital stealing (101-102).

IF you want to read more of such MASS HYSTERIA attacks please make your way to this page.

A friend of mine asked me. ” WHAT IF THE NIGERIAN GENITAL VANISHING SYNDROME HAPPENS DURING THE CONGREGATION OF MUSLIMS IN MECCA DURING THE HAJJ TIME” .

I said nothing in return.

Himmafushi and drugs: The link May 8, 2008

Any one thought of this? A big chunk of people involved as jail keepers or guards are from the island of K. Himmafushi. When the jail was based in Himmafushi, the Himmafushians saw an opportunity to earn extra money and that came in the form of drug trade to the inmates and later to the people in the rehabilitation centre. I wonder how may of these keepers are now working as penitentiary officers. A source has notified me that there is a strong link between the Himmafushian gurads working in the jail and as penitentiary officers and the drug trade happening in the jails.  I don’t know the truth behind this. Perhaps this is something the journalists can probe more in to.

The despicable Act April 27, 2008

We all know about  the rising number of child abuse cases this country of ours is facing. Who is to blame? Who should be made responsible? What is contributing to such ? Is it the parents who are at fault here? Or is it due to  some one else?

We do need answers to these. A founder member of Care Society finds it funny when the authority who are responsible to make sure our children are safe does something as despicable as like removing a data base on reported child abuse cases, after a certain newspaper reports the number of child abuse cases of ours being the highest from the region.

Before Gender ministry used to have data base of reported cases on children that includes crimes and child abuse but I guess after the Haveeru reported child sex abuse being higer then any other asian country, they have removed that. Funny!!

The act of removing and not maintaining a proper data base is dastardly enough and tells us who is fueling this  heinous crimes against the children of this country. All in the name of keeping the paradise tag attached to an already devastated country? A country which has lost its merit among its own inhabitants? A country which is failing and keeps failing its most precious asset which is its children?

I do not find this funny but i find this to be a heinous crime against the children of this country. A crime against the country itself. A crime which probably will haunt us for a long time to come.

Worlds Healthiest Countries April 12, 2008

Forbes.com has assembled a list of the world’s 15 healthiest countries, among them:

Iceland
Sweden
Finland
Germany
Switzerland
Australia
Denmark
Canada
Austria
Netherlands

“Historically, these countries had an ethic of having more of a nationalized health care system. There’s this mentality that health care should be a given right for citizens.

Despite the fact that an estimated 47 million Americans lack health insurance, the U.S . ranked 11.”

From cases blog.

Against Proposed Amendments To Civil Service Act March 31, 2008

Lets all bloggers say no to the proposed amendments. Those who do not support the proposed amendments to civil service act, let us all say it. Please make a post using the statement below. Let us all bloggers unite.

I AM AGAINST THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO CIVIL SERVICE ACT.  

Health Professionals about to lose the Veil March 22, 2008

It looks like Female Muslim doctors in UK can no longer wear the veil when they are with the patients. Good move i say. Enough is Enough.

Female Muslim doctors must be prepared to remove their veil to treat patients effectively, under new guidelines issued yesterday.
Religious clothing must not present a barrier to building trust and communicating with patients, the General Medical Council said.
Doctors should be prepared to set aside personal and cultural preferences, advised the document, Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice.
The council also said doctors must be open about procedures they object to because of their beliefs, such as abortion.

The Muslim Council of Great Britain supports the GMC guidance saying that female Muslim doctors have a responsibility to put patient care first.

Women could wear the hijab, which covers the head but not the face.

Dr Abdullah Shehu, the chairman of the Muslim Council’s medical committee, said: “While wearing a veil does not preclude someone from practising medicine, there is no harm in removing it where the ability to communicate or care for the patient is compromised. The Muslim community very much welcomes this guidance.”

The guidance states: “Some patients, for example, may find that a face veil worn by their doctor presents an obstacle to effective communication and the development of trust.

“You must be prepared to respond to a patient’s individual needs and take steps to anticipate and overcome any perceived barrier to communication.”

Other issues covered by the guidance are that doctors cannot refuse to care for patients before or after having an abortion because they object to the procedure.

They must also respect the views of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refuse treatment if it involves having blood transfusions.

This article appeared in Women Against Shariah which is a site all women could subscribe to and learn from . There is nothing wrong in asking questions and reading material critical of a certain religion.

I call myself an Atheist now March 20, 2008

I am an atheist. I have never joined, or been part of, any religious group or organization. I was raised without religion, and without much understanding of what religion is. I have never had much of an identity religiously, and I stayed away from much thought or discussion on the matter. It is only recently that I have really explored the many options for religious beliefs and have decided that rather than saying, “No comment,” I now call myself an atheist.

I am also a parent. I have two children: a 13-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. They don’t belong to any religious group, either. I never had them baptized, christened, or blessed. Neither of them had a bris, bat mitzvah or first communion. But am I raising “atheist children”? Just because I do not identify our family as religious, are they atheists? I don’t think so. Rather, I am raising questioning children, and those are the best kind of children to send out into the world.

‘We are nothing’

I never describe our family as “an atheist family” (I prefer to say, “We are nothing,” as in not part of any religion), and I reject the notion that my kids are automatically what I am. I think that keeping them open to all the possibilities is more important than telling them what to believe in.

I know a lot of religious families who say they are a Christian, Jewish or Muslim family. And they are. They have traditions, rituals and celebrations that define what they are. They pass those things to the children, along with belief.

Most young children accept what their parents tell them as true, whether it is the existence of Santa Claus or Jesus Christ. It is important that children understand what their parents believe, but it is also important for children to know about all the options out there. This is tricky if a parent is a true believer of a religion and feels that her way is the only path. But how can children question openly when they are taught that there are absolute truths in belief?

Tough questions

In the past few years, my kids have really started to ask tough questions about the world and how our ideas fit into it. I have to admit that I don’t have all the answers.

We struggle together to understand what it all means. I teach them about all the major religions, and when I am not sure, I call friends who are part of the religions in question for better answers. We look at the art made to honor deities, we read stories written to explain belief systems, and we talk about similarities and differences among religions, both extinct and still in existence today. I try to keep all the possibilities open to them, and I answer all their questions honestly. I admit that I do not believe in the many gods that are out there, but I respect people who choose to follow them.

I may be raising my kids outside organized religion, but I am not raising them to be ignorant of religion any more than I am raising them to be atheists. I am not telling them that they have to follow my way of thinking, because as a parent, it’s my job to encourage them to think for themselves. I know that many religious parents do the same for their kids, and I know that good parenting has no religious affiliation. But how can a parent foster an open and questioning mind in a child who is also told to follow a god — without question?

I am not advocating that religious parents not include their children in the faith they have chosen. But I am urging parents to expose their children to the many other ways, including the way I have chosen: no religion at all. I do not demonize believers to my kids, and I hope that those who follow religion will not present my choice as evil and wrong.

When it comes to religion, it is hard to allow freedom of choice in our offspring because we want them to emulate us. It is unsettling to think that our own kids might believe in things we do not. It is awful to imagine that they would reject that part of who their parents are. But the fear subsides when I hear the wisdom of my daughter, who recently told me, “I don’t have to choose what religion I am right now, but I have the choice to choose.”

Free will

Part of being a good parent is allowing our children to become whatever and whoever they become. Watching my children explore the ideas that are out there and grapple with the many, often conflicting, religious views in the world is exciting. They bring new understanding to things — not only for themselves, but for me as well. If my daughter came to me and told me she was joining a church, I would ask her how she reached her decision. But that would be my approach with any of the big decisions in my children’s lives. Questioning puts us all on a path to greater understanding.

As my children navigate their teenage years, I know that the understanding will be harder to come by. The questions will get tougher. The answers won’t always be what I want to hear.

But I’ll keep asking, and I’ll encourage my kids to be open and questioning. They might not end up like me, but I’m at peace with the idea that they will end up as themselves.

Nica Lalli is a writer and educator in Brooklyn. Her memoir, Nothing: Something to Believe In, was published last March. She is working on her second book, which is about parenting and religion.

 

This post first appeared in  USA today.