Tag: Therapy

A bill broadly banning the use of conversion therapy on minors won bipartisan support in a legislative committee Thursday. It earned unanimous support from Democrats on the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee and partial support from Republicans. Rep. Mark Blier, R-Buxton, and Rep. Gregg Swallow, R-Houlton, were the only members to vote against the bill. Conversion therapy is a largely discredited method of therapy used to try and change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Maine is the only state in New England that has yet to ban the practice for minors. At least 15 states have passed similar measures. Paul LePage vetoed a similar bill from Fecteau last year, and both chambers were unable to muster enough votes to override it, with House Republicans largely siding with the governor. Support from Republicans in Thursday’s committee vote likely signals a road to passage this year, as Democratic Gov. Both would prohibit the use of MaineCare to pay for the practice, but Fecteau’s bill defines conversion therapy as “any practice or course of treatment” claiming or seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender, while Austin’s bill defines it as any “aversive practice or treatment,” intending to change one’s gender or sexual orientation. Both bills allow for therapy pertaining to one’s sexual orientation and gender identity, as long as that counseling does not claim or seek to “change the individual’s sexual orientation or gender.” Fecteau’s bill will now be considered for passage by the full Legislature, while Austin’s remains stalled.

Oklahoma City, Okla — Pills, pot, and the politics of pain. That was the topic of discussion as attorneys, doctors and law makers met for an in depth look at the causes and treatments of addiction. Politics have a huge impact on pain treatment according to the professionals from all sides of the opioid epidemic. All of whom say this problem is not easily fixed. and it's rising by two to three hundred percent even in our children," Dr. Larry Bookman said. He added, each patient feels pain differently, describes it differently. It's subjective. "We have to do something to treat the patients who have real pain, but avoid the overuse,” he said. Doctors said with recent legislation, they're on the right track but there's still work to be done. As a society, medical professionals said we tend to place blame on doctors for overprescribing addictive medication, on big pharma for making them too available and even on the addicts themselves.

In a paper with the curious title, “Mr. Trump: How I learned to stop worrying and love the patient-aggressor,”1 Sidney Coren, relates his psychoanalytically informed treatment of a middle-aged white patient with a history of sexual abuse. Complicating the treatment is that the patient happens to hold political views opposite to that of the therapist. Where does Coren himself stand politically? We the American people had elected a businessman who used angry, bigoted rhetoric to heighten divisions amongst Americans into our highest political office. This is real. The American people finally woke up. At one point Coren even refers to his patient as “my Trump” because the patient projects negative aspects of himself onto the therapist, just as Trump displaces his aggression onto, say, minorities—and sees them as hostile and dangerous. He's fired!’” But Trump’s rhetoric created “oppositional categories by amplifying differences and disavowing similarities, negating intentions and denying subjectivities.” In other words, Trump subverted the protest’s intention into “an oppositional power dynamic with few options.” That is, either “submit and stop protesting” or choose to “resist, and by virtue of sadomasochistic dynamics, take on the very qualities that Trump's orotundity embodies: aggression, recalcitrance, intimidation, anger, power.” In therapy with his “Trump,” Coren struggles with similar dynamics: He feels the powerlessness that the patient disowns and projects, experiences shame, and feels “closeted” in his role as a therapist and feels forced to hide his true self. Reflecting on his earlier reactions to the patient’s politics, the author ponders, “How do we as clinicians effectively treat patients whose personal values...are diametrically opposed to our own?