Online is real life with digital memory

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

I have talked a lot about the belief that online behavior is often considered to be anonymous, or simply doesn't matter in the real world.

Google is a verb, an action word

When you apply for a job, it is common for your name to be Googled. Those photos of you 4 years ago at the holiday party may not look so funny to your perspective employer. 

How about the stupid stuff we all say at some point during our day? When I was waiting in line today at the store, I overheard 2 young men talking about the party they were heading to. They were looking forward to meeting girls and hoping that there would be lots of beer available. The implication I noted was, if there is lots of beer, then sex is more likely. If a police office overheard their immature conversation, could he arrest them for conspiring to rape? 

After the words were said, they were lost in the ether. But were they really? What if the store had security cameras? Not wanting to present a conspiracy story let's move on to a real situation.

Justin Carter

Justin is now 19 years-old. He is stuck in jail for saying some very mean things on Facebook while playing a violent game. 

CNN reports his father saying:

"Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane. You're crazy. You're messed up in the head,'" Jack Carter told CNN affiliate KVUE in Austin. "To which he [Justin] replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head. I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts.'"

According to court documents, Justin wrote "I'm f---ed in the head alright. I think I'ma (sic) shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them."

Jack Carter said his son followed the claim with "LOL" and "J/K" -- indicating that the comment wasn't serious.

NPR reported:

In April (2013), a grand jury in Comal County, Texas, indicted Carter on a charge of making a terroristic threat, and a judge set bail at $500,000. The high bail has kept Carter imprisoned while his case moves through the court process.

"I have been practicing law for 10 years, I've represented murderers, terrorists, rapists. Anything you can think of. I have never seen a bond at $500,000," says Carter's attorney, Don Flanary.

The charge is a third-degree felony, which in Texas carries up to 10 years in prison. The Comal County District Attorney's office hasn't responded to our calls, but police in New Braunfels, Texas, who have investigated the case, say in a time of heightened sensitivity to school shootings, their interest is in preventing violence when they can.

"The whole situation is kind of unfortunate," said New Braunfels Police Lt. John Wells. "We definitely understand the situation that Mr. Carter is in, however he made the comments, and it is an offense. We have to ... protect the general public and specifically, in this case, with it involving schoolchildren, we have to act. We take those very seriously."

The lesson 

1. What is on the Internet survives forever. No joke. Your great-grand-children will know so much more about you than you know about your parents or grand-parents. They will know snapshots of your life, out of context, but available to be judged by them. 

2. Law enforcement branches are often bound by their own rules once a case starts down a legal path. I do wonder about a District Attorney that does not see that strict adherence to the letter of the law can lose the spirit of the law. I recall what Abraham Lincoln said, "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice".

Learn more about Justin Carter and his court case

NPR report: Father: Teen Jailed For Facebook Comment Beaten Up Behind Bars

Change.org: Release My Son Justin Carter - In Jail For A Facebook Comment

Huge increase in prescription painkiller overdoses

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

Just last week in my office I had a discussion with a young mom about her back pain medication. Her belief was, "...the pill doesn't work like it used to, so now I need two." We had a nice discussion about the dangers of prescription painkillers, and how our bodies deal with them. As it turned out, some days she is actually taking 3 pills at a time. 

Prescription doesn't mean safe

Often people are confused by the word prescription. They think it means the pill has been tested and authorized to be safe. This is partially correct, but prescription simply is a fancy medical word that means "order". The doctor is giving an order to the pharmacy for the patient to get a controlled substance. 

A prescribed medication is actually a balancing act of positive versus negative side effects. Your back hurts so the goal is that the correct dose of medication alleviates the pain. This is the positive side effect, the desired side effect. There are also negative side effects with every prescription drug. Some of the negative side effects may be small, such as mild constipation, others may be severe, such as potential liver damage or increased likelihood of heart disease.

This is where the balancing act comes in. Let's say you are taking a mild antidepressant. It may help by lifting your spirits a little, the positive; as well as making you a little thirsty throughout the day, the negative. Now the question for you, in consultation with your doctor is, does the benefit outweigh the negative? Are you getting more positive than negative? It is often difficult to balance all the positives with all the negatives. Unfortunately it is difficult to truly know all the positive and negative side effects of any medication we take. 

New statistics from the CDC

In early July 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released new statistics concerning prescription pain killers and overdoses. the numbers were alarming.

• Nearly 48,000 women died of prescription painkiller* overdoses between 1999 and 2010.
• Deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses among women have increased more than 400% since 1999, compared to an increase of 265% among men.
• For every woman who dies of a prescription painkiller overdose, 30 go to the emergency department for painkiller misuse or abuse.

*"Prescription painkillers" refers to opioid or narcotic pain relievers, including drugs such as Vicodin (hydrocodone), OxyContin (oxycodone), Opana (oxymorphone), and methadone.

About 18 women die every day of a prescription painkiller overdose in the US, more than 6,600 deaths in 2010. Prescription painkiller overdoses are an under-recognized and growing problem for women.


Although men are still more likely to die of prescription painkiller overdoses (more than 10,000 deaths in 2010), the gap between men and women is closing. This rise relates closely to increased prescribing of these drugs during the past decade. Health care providers can help improve the way painkillers are prescribed, while making sure women have access to safe, effective pain treatment.

SOURCE: National Vital Statistics System, 1999-2010 (deaths include suicides)

Every 3 minutes a woman goes to an emergency department for a prescription painkiller misuse or abuse

The CDC chart shows huge changes:

CDC advice to women

• Discuss all medications they are taking (including over-the-counter) with their health care provider.
• Use prescription drugs only as directed by a health care provider, and store them in a secure place.
• Dispose of medications properly, as soon as the course of treatment is done. Do not keep prescription medications around "just in case." (See www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Poisoning/preventiontips.htm)
• Help prevent misuse and abuse by not selling or sharing prescription drugs. Never use another person's prescription drugs.
• Discuss pregnancy plans with their health care provider before taking prescription painkillers.
• Get help for substance abuse problems (1-800- 662-HELP); call Poison Help (1-800-222-1222) for questions about medicines.

Read the complete CDC report

Three Baby Bath Seats Recalled Due to Drowning Hazard

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission sent out a Recall Notice concerning three baby bath seats. 

Recall Date: June 18, 2013

Hazard:

The bath seats fail to meet federal safety standards, including the requirements for stability. Specifically, the bath seats can tip over, posing a risk of drowning to babies.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bath seats.

The products are: 

Follow the links for complete recall information

1. BeBeLove Recalls Baby Bath Seats Due to Drowning Hazard http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/BeBeLove-Recalls-Baby-Bath-Seats 

 

2. Buy Buy Baby Recalls Idea Baby Bath Seats Due to Drowning Hazard http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/Buy-Buy-Baby-Recalls-Idea-Baby-Bath-Seats  

3. Chelsea & Scott Recalls Idea Baby Bath Seats Due to Drowning Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Onestepahead.comhttp://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/Chelsea-Scott-Recalls-Idea-Baby-Bath-Seats  

Top rankings by customers:

• baby bath seats
• Baby Baths
• baby bath soap
• Baby bath towels

If you know a parent that may need this important information please pass this page onto them:

See links below:

Parenting, the anti-drug

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

Dear Dr. Phil,

Last year my family came to see you for some help after I was a victim of a crime. We greatly appreciated your help. We learned a lot.

The kids got shirts from your waiting room with ideas on things to do with the family. On a rainy day my son was complaining about being board. He had on the shirt. We decided to do some of the things. So we wrote a song. Then we just kept doing stuff on the shirt. Just want to let you know that we did them all. It was lots of fun.

Thanks form, Mary, Sally, Bobby and Chris.

Thanks Mary it was wonderful to hear from you.

The shirts are a lot of fun. I like the message... Parenting, the anti-drug.

Dr. Phil

Can a computer read your dreams?

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

People regularly ask me about their dreams and what they mean. Our fascination about dreams seems to have been a part of the human condition since the beginning of time.

With all the curiosity concerning dreams (and sleep in general), science seems to have a hard time understanding what dreams are and why we even have them.

This week in the journal Science, researchers from Japan explain their novel approach to looking into our dreams.

Lead author, Yukiyasu Kamitani of Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, and his colleagues, "taught" a computer to identify the brain activity of subjects while they were looking at specific objects; such as furniture, a street, or a girl. With this identification information they compared similar brain activity during sleep. The categories are course (rough estimates) at this time, for example "girl" versus "Mary."

The researchers gathered electronic brain activity of three male subjects while they slept. They also woke the subjects up during REM sleep (rapid eye movements often associated with dreaming) and asked them specifically what they were dreaming about.

Next, the researchers developed the course categories of items in their dreams.

Again the test subjects' brains were monitored, this time while they looked at objects from the developed categories.

The researchers used computer algorithms (set of rules to be followed in calculations) to compare the wake and sleeping brain activity with category items. The computer scored about 70% accuracy.

This early research points towards the conclusion that the brain in dream state is processing real information. Other researchers have shown that dreams are influential in storing long term memories and in the understanding of complexities of emotional thought.

Can a computer read your dreams? The simple answer is: not yet... but I do wonder how long it will take.

Recommended reading on the science of sleep and dreams:

 
 Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep

An engrossing examination of the science behind the little-known world of sleep.

Like many of us, journalist David K. Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep.

In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives. Taking readers from military battlefields to children’s bedrooms, Dreamland shows that sleep isn't as simple as it seems. Why did the results of one sleep study change the bookmakers’ odds for certain Monday Night Football games? Do women sleep differently than men? And if you happen to kill someone while you are sleepwalking, does that count as murder?

The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Sleep Disorders (Cleveland Clinic Guides)

From the nation’s top-ranked clinic for neurology, the most important health information and advice on how to avoid and cope with or overcome sleep disorders

Drug Overdose Deaths in the US.

By Philip Copitch, Ph.D.

When we think of drug overdose, we probably think of the drug addict we have seen in movies shooting up behind the dumpster. The police bag and tag the unfortunate soul, and one detective turns to another and says, "Another junkie that got a hot load!"

But drug overdoses aren't really like that 

The National Center for Health Statistics, the number crunchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that drug overdose deaths increased for the 11th consecutive year in 2010. The  drugs that are pushing the statistics up are prescription drugs, especially opioid analgesics (painkillers).

The CDC offers this overview of the commonly abused drugs.

The most recent data was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, by Jones CM, Mack KA, Paulozzi LJ. Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010. JAMA. 2013;309(7):657-659. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.272.

The numbers are staggering

Drug overdose death rates in the United States have more than tripled since 1990, and have never been higher. In 2008, more than 36,000 people died from drug overdoses, and most of these deaths were caused by prescription drugs.

Although many types of prescription drugs are abused, there is currently a growing, deadly epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse. Nearly three out of four prescription drug overdoses are caused by prescription painkillers—also called opioid pain relievers. The unprecedented rise in overdose deaths in the US parallels a 300% increase since 1999 in the sale of these strong painkillers.* These drugs were involved in 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008, more than cocaine and heroin combined.*

The misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers was responsible for more than 475,000 emergency department visits in 2009, a number that nearly doubled in just five years.*

More than 12 million people reported using prescription painkillers nonmedically in 2010, that is: using them without a prescription or for the feeling they cause.*

* see: Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses for details.

Further reading: Get the Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses, as a free PDF report.