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Showing posts with the label American Academy of Pediatrics

Public Shaming - Part One: Two Costly Casualties

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Shaming. It has been around for a very long time. It has been in our homes, our schools, our places of work, and in just about every environment which tolerates it and even those which try desperately to tackle it. For over a decade, shaming has taken on a life of its own through social networking sites and through electronic forms of communication. Shaming has gone viral.  Tragically, Public Shaming has become a normative behavior . Although we have known about two of the most common motivations for Public Shaming - to instill fear and to incite division among individuals - we are reluctant to speak honestly about the most deeply consequential effects of Public Shaming.  Today's post will do so as we address Two Costly Casualties.   And in Part Two, we will offer some considerations for it's elimination as we explore  Two Restorative Responses . 2 Costly Casualties of Public Shaming: Our Children and Our Human Condition Our Children Children lear...

Detached and Depressed: Rediscovering Meaningful Connection

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Depression . It pops up in the news, especially when we lose celebrities like  Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain . For a few days or a few weeks, there will be caring and compassionate conversation around their losses and the causal factors surrounding their suicides. News anchors, reporters, and experts are disclosing explanations around mental illness, past and present struggles with addiction, and various relational, financial, professional and personal life stress factors.  All of these are important. They should not be minimized. At the same time, as statistics illustrate a dramatic increase in depression and suicide rates since 1999, it is also important to consider environmental and social influences. With our reliance and dependence upon electronic devices dramatically increasing  for communication, entertainment, and social interaction,  are we becoming more disengaged from one another - more detached from human connection - and thus more isolated and depr...