Kings and Queens of Chaos: Borderline Disorder

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Elizabeth Svoboda (PsychologyToday.com)

Pathologize me? Call me a which and a bic'h, but FEMEN means no more patriarchy.

I'm not a psycho-b, I'm not, I just have issues! I love you, but I HATE you!!

 .

Yeah not just cancer, baby

Part 3. Borderline personality disorder cuts a wide swath of destruction. Slowly, the condition is yielding to new understanding -- provided patients get the correct diagnosis.

It had been an idyllic day celebrating a cousin's wedding until Steve's wife turned to him during the reception and said she was having a panic attack.

The loud music in the room seemed to be engulfing her, heightening her anxiety. After the main course was served, Steve and his wife got up to go for a drive and get some air. To respect his wife's privacy, Steve did not tell anyone why they were leaving, including his half-sister, Klara, who was seated at their table.
 

I'm wit stoopid. - And I loves him so much!

Minutes after the two left the wedding, as Steve later learned, Klara started approaching family members to claim that Steve and his wife had stormed off over something she did -- and that they'd refused to tell her what she'd done wrong.
 
She marched from table to table sharing the story, adding more drama with each telling. She ended up in the ladies' room a few minutes later, sobbing, and it took Steve's mother, other sister, and several close friends to calm her down so she wouldn't disturb the festivities.

 

While trying to help his wife through her panic attack, Steve had stopped paying attention to his cell phone. When he next looked at the screen, he faced a torrent of messages from Klara, each more indignant than the last:

"I deserve better... What the f*** is wrong with you?... I HATE YOU!... Never call me again; you're dead to me!" Steve still marvels at how quick Klara was to erupt in response to her perception of events. "Despite there being no argument, no unpleasant words exchanged," he says, "our absence was presumed to be a slight directed at her and her alone."

 

I didn't know I was sick. That's part of it.

Klara's spontaneous emotional combustion at the wedding would probably seem totally unremarkable to the 14 million adults in the U.S. who are estimated to have borderline personality disorder (BPD). They make up 2 percent of the general population but 20 percent of psychiatric inpatients. Most are women, and they typically turn the ups and downs of everyday life into a roller-coaster ride of moods. In doing so, they don't just alienate others around them, they subvert their own life trajectory. Explosively reactive, and often struggling to get a grip on themselves, borderlines have difficulty maintaining stable relationships or even holding down a job. More

Why, why, why?

The Epidemic...in the U.S.

The roots of mental disorders and addiction-cravings (for self-soothing) are explained by Dr. Gabor Mate as early childhood trauma, which sets us up for a great deal of suffering and dysfunctional relationships and coping strategies. The answer? Don't add drama to the trauma. The first 20 minutes of "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward" explains it beautifully.

Don't think it's an "epidemic"? Just Diana Russell and Rebecca Bolen, who can answer in the abstract: This book is the long-awaited follow-up to Russell's landmark Sexual Exploitation. It examines the many -- and often conflicting -- findings of studies that have since been conducted on the incidence and prevalence of rape and child sexual abuse in the United States.  The wide variation in prevalence rates obtained by these studies -- for example, rape rates ranging from 2.6% to 44% -- has led many hostile critics to attack the high rates as misleading and alarmist. More

The End of Iraq (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; DemocracyNow.org

Gilgamesh seal: giant's tomb found in Iraq, 2003

Iraq is on the brink of disintegration as Sunni militants seize more towns and set their sights on the ancient Cradle of Civilization capital Baghdad. In the past few days, al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as well as Tikrit and Dhuluiya.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, India just to the right

Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurds have seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. The Sunni militants now control a territory that stretches from the eastern edge of Aleppo, Syria, to Fallujah in western Iraq and now the northern city of Mosul.

Their advance has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, displacing some 500,000 people in Mosul alone -- the largest number of people ever moved in one day in world history. Mosul fell in part because U.S.-trained Iraqi forces abandoned their posts.

ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, fills power vacuum (latimes.com)

• VIDEO: Former Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke: G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld Committed WAR CRIMES

Clarke: Obama drone program "out of hand"

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly urged the U.S. to carry out airstrikes in recent months, but the Obama administration [which has shown itself to be nothing more than a continuation of the Cheney and Bush administrations] has declined the request so far. 

"Fund secret war in Iraq. Divest at home."

Democracy Now is joined by guests Reuters Bureau Chief Ned Parker in Baghdad and Mohammed al Dulaimy, an Iraqi journalist with McClatchy Newspapers, who reported from Iraq for years and is now seeking U.S. asylum out of fear for his safety if he returns. This is Dulaimy’s first TV interview after years of maintaining a low profile to protect his safety. More

 

US made Iraq part of Military-Industrial-Prison Complex, Camp Bucca, 2009 (Dusan Vranic/AP)

Did climate change cause typhoon? (video)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org, 11-13-13

Eye of Typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Super Typhoon Yolanda) travels over islands (wiki)

"Listen to the people, not polluters" (DN at the UN Climate Summits)

What would the devas say?

It's 90+ degrees in sunny SoCal as Thanksgiving (a rare Thanksgivukkah) approaches. But the temperature is about to drop and rain is looming by the weekend. My petty chores need doing to contribute greenhouse gases to the global warming problem. Meanwhile, people are dying crushed under flimsy houses demolished by the super storm in the Philippines. Better send a check. More importantly, better address climate chaos and think of a better solution than the "magic of the marketplace" after captitalizing on the sale of "carbon credits" as major polluters, multi-millionaires like Al Gore, and Wall Street dream. We can all go vegetarian, waste less, bike more, plant trees, pre-cycle (buy in a way that minimizes post-consumer waste) and recycle, stop war, promote peace, turn toward sustainable power sources (like free energy), conserve water, collect rainwater, boycott multinational corporations, thwart the NSA and CIA, share, love, meditate, care, go green, vote green, occupy...
 

Science on climate change

Desperate survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are struggling to receive aid in the aftermath of the worst storm in recorded history. In Tacloban, a city flattened by the typhoon, survivors marched in a contingent three miles long to seek water and food at the local airport. Eight people died in the province of Leyte when a crowd of thousands stormed a government rice warehouse in search of food. The victims died under a collapsed wall. On Tuesday, Philippines Pres. Benigno Aquino cited a lower death toll for Typhoon Haiyan, saying he believes around 2,500 people were killed. Initial estimates put the toll at around 10,000. More than 670,000 people have been displaced. The United Nations, meanwhile, has launched a $300 million appeal for relief aid. Speaking in Manila, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the Philippines is facing its worst-ever crisis:

"This is such a major calamity for the Philippines, a country which over this year has already seen so many crises, but by all accounts, this one is the most deadly and destructive. While it’s still too early to tell the full scale of the destruction, it’s clear that the needs are huge."

Typhoon a "manifestation of climate change"

Haiyan/Yolanda's eye (wiki)

Appearing with U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario thanked international donors for providing aid [after Yeb Saño declared he would respectfully be going on hunger strike until action is taken by this body of world officials at the U.N. Climate Change Summit]. But he also issued an appeal for action on global warming, saying climate change worsened the typhoon’s scale and strength:

"From the devastation, it is clear, though, that much more aid and assistance will be needed. And we thank the international community for its continued generosity and support. The unprecedented scale and strength of Yolanda [known as Haiyan in the US], a typhoon that occurred at a very late time of the year, is a clear demonstration of the changing weather pattern. Whether the world faces up to it or not, this is a manifestation of climate change." More

An emotional Yeb Saño at U.N. Summit

"Stop this madness!" - Filipino Climate Chief Yeb Saño begins hunger strike fast to protest global inaction on global warming and climate chaos.

"Get it done!": After stirring Durban speech, student Anjali Appadurai initially banned by U.N. in Doha.

A Carbon Tsunami in Doha (Nov. 12, 2013) On the opening day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Doha, Poland, the chief climate negotiator from the Philippines gave an emotional appeal to the world to address the climate crisis following...

• Why getting aid to survivors of typhoon is slow (The World)
• President lowers death toll as Haiyan survivors seek aid [but we guesstimate an actual death toll of 25,000 with 11,000,000 directly affected]
• Philippine climate negotiator continues hunger strike
• Obama admin seeks Congressional pause on Iran sanctions 
• Israel Freezes E1 Settlement construction, but okays 20,000 illegal new West Bank homes
• Afghan gov’t abandons Wardak probe, U.S. stonewalling
• Bangladeshi workers strike grows, 250 factories closed

Global Warming, Climate Chaos (forum)

Wisdom Quarterly; DemocracyNow.org

Former Irish president and climate justice advocate Mary Robinson urges divestment

As the New York region marks the first anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, hurricane-strength winds are battering northern Europe today. At least a dozen people have already been killed across Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. Amidst an increase in extreme weather and unseasonably powerful storms, Democracy Now! takes a look at the movement to confront climate chaos with Mary Robinson, former Irish president and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. She now heads the Mary Robinson Foundation -- Climate Justice, where her efforts include campaigning for the divestment from fossil fuels. "We can no longer invest in companies that are part of the problem of the climate shocks we’re suffering from," Robinson says. "To me it’s a little bit like the energy behind the anti-apartheid movement when I was a student. We were involved because we saw the injustice of it. There’s an injustice in continuing to invest in fossil fuel companies that are part of the problem."

 

(Film Festivals and Indie Films)