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NBC APOLOGIZES BUT DR. OZ AND DR. PHIL CONTINUE TO COWER

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d12PHIL-1009x1023I received the following email from NBC news about a blog that I wrote chastising Brian Williams for stigmatizing remarks that he made in a recent broadcast when he referred to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapper/rapist who held three women captive for a decade, as “arguably the face of mental illness.” 

Hi Pete – I work with Brian Williams at NBC News. We wanted to reach out to clarify the situation and offer our apology: 

Brian immediately realized the error of his words, and he updated the broadcast to omit that phrase for later feeds. The corrected video that aired in the rest of the country that night is online here: http://nbcnews.to/15hPKrE. We sincerely apologize for the unintended offense caused by these remarks and hope you can forgive the mistake.

Best,
Erika Masonhall 
NBC News Communications 

I am grateful that NBC has apologized.

Unfortunately, no such apology has been issued by Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil for their blatant stigmatizing remarks despite calls from the National Alliance on Mental Illness and, more recently, a call from Mental Health America for Dr. Phil to apologize. [See below]

Instead, both of them continue to ignore complaints, removing them from their websites as soon as they are posted. It is interesting that a journalist feels obligated to apologize but two men who are health care professionals continue to hide.

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Do We Worry Too Much About Stigma?

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I recently published blogs criticizing Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Brian Williams for either saying or presenting programs that marginalized and belittled persons with mental illnesses. Those blogs drew a record number of readers to this website — more than 17,000.  Obviously, fighting stigma is something, about which, many of us care.

Should we? Or are we wasting our time?

Before I chastised Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Brian Williams, the president and CEO of the National Council For Behavioral Health, Linda Rosenberg, wrote a column entitled: Is Mental Health Stigma Overrated? I’m a big fan of Linda’s, so much so, that I helped recruit her when the Corporation for Supportive Housing was searching for a new board member. Linda is a dynamic and innovative leader who works tirelessly to improve our mental health care system.

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Psychiatric Nurses Often Work In “War Zones” But It’s Worth The Risks

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Here is a recent email that I received and want to share with you. The author asked that her name and where she works be withheld for privacy reasons.
Dear Pete,
 
I am a psychiatric APRN (advanced practice nurse) at [a well known hospital] and have worked in emergency departments as a staff nurse. Your descriptions in your book, CRAZY, about the jail block in Miami Dade County where psychotic prisoners were incarcerated rang disturbingly familiar as to how a hospital emergency department operates with its psychiatric patients. The inpatient unit is actually less restrictive than the emergency department. In both places though the staff is burnt out, and many have been victims of or witness to their co-workers being victims of physical assaults by psychiatric patients.

My Book, Prophet of Death, Featured Tonight on Investigation ID Documentary

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I’m interviewed tonight and my book, Prophet of Death, is featured in a one hour documentary on the Investigation Discovery channel at 9 p.m. EST and later at midnight.prophet

Called Deadly Devotion: The Mormon Murders, the broadcast revisits the 1986 cult murders carried out by Jeffrey Lundgren and his followers who believed they could bring about the end of times by sacrificing a family of five, including three children. 

My book and the show provide a frightening glimpse into the inner workings of a religious cult and the self-a bsorption of a self proclaimed messiah. It is a cautionary tale made even more chilling because it is true.

Here’s a link to a recent blog which I wrote about being interviewed for the program.

 

Blaming Parents For Their Children’s Mental Illness: A Father Looks Through A Parent’s Lens

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family shaddows_Flickr_emily Kreed

Parents of Children with Mental Illness

See Things Through a Different Lens

A guest blog by Joseph Meyer

     A few weeks ago, President Obama spoke about the lens of personal experiences through which African Americans see life in the United States and how it impacts their perceptions.  Several months earlier, in response to the Newtown tragedy, the President called for a national conversation about mental illness.  Today, I am writing about the lens that colors my perceptions as the father of a child with severe mental illness in the United States.

When mental illness strikes young children, parents are often confused about what is happening—we question our own parenting skills, wonder if there is something we did wrong, and spend a lot of time and money searching for answers.  We also hear a great deal of criticism and unsolicited advice from strangers, friends, and family: “You’re too permissive; I’d never let my child get away with that behavior” or “My pastor says kids with those types of issues have parents who are devil worshippers.” I believe such thoughts are in the minds of some strangers when they see my son come unglued in public, because I had critical thoughts about misbehaving children and their parents before becoming the father of a child with bipolar disorder.

On the outside, children with mental illness look no different than other youth and their symptoms may appear to be disciplinary issues. Educators even refer to their symptoms as behavioral or emotional disorders, implying that bad parenting is an underlying cause.  Despite a poor scientific understanding of what causes mental illnesses, they are often unjustifiably blamed on parents.

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NAMI Criticizes Dr. Phil and Brian Williams For Prejudicial Remarks; But Wait, Have You Seen What Dr. Oz Is Doing?

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The National Alliance on Mental Illness issued a statement Friday night chastising both Dr. Phil and NBC’s Brian Williams for inappropriate  remarks they have  made which stigmatized persons with mental illnesses.

NAMI’s statement [printed below] further legitimizes complaints that I raised in an Op Ed about Dr. Phil published Wednesday in USA Today’s online edition and blogs published by others criticizing Dr. Phil and Williams. Major news sources often don’t pay much attention to individual blogs, but do react when NAMI, the largest grassroots mental health organization with more than 300,000 members, issues a statement.

I hope NAMI’s statement will bring additional pressure on NBC’s Williams and Dr. Phil to publicly apologize, although I am skeptical either will. 

Meanwhile, you can add a third offender to the list of television personalities who should know better but apparently believe it is funny to make light about persons with mental illnesses.

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