Ethan Elgin has worked in the mental health field for several years in both inpatient and outpatient capacities as a mental health counselor. He is uniquely concerned with the advocacy of rights for those with mental illness, including the politics and stigmas attached that effect an enormous portion of the world's population. He lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. He can be reached at ethanelgin@gmail.com.

More Articles
Topics

Light Therapy for the Low-Light Months

Webcam suicides the new Kitty Genovese?

What if Freud never existed?

Study: Low-income and mentally ill Americans can't afford proper nutrition

Obama and health care: The time is now

Mental Health

Borderline Personality Disorder

Mental Health Counselor

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Diabetes Awareness Month

American Diabetes Association

Helpful Sites

Denver Examiners

Katie Kelley
Colorado Travel Examiner
Most Recent Post
Trail of lights warm up chilly nights at Botanic Gardens

Brit Horvat
Denver Women's Examiner
Most Recent Post
Unemployed? Try Valorie Simpson's 12 job-hunting tips

Brigette Rodriguez
Longmont Examiner
Most Recent Post
Christmas Home Tour 2008

Drew Wilson
Denver Gay Examiner
Most Recent Post
Day Without A Gay

Todd Engdahl
Colorado Education Examiner
Most Recent Post
Is your kid a cheater?

Send us your topic suggestions

Cindy McCain Sets PTSD Policy in Veterans Back 30 Years

5 comments

October 11, 11:28 AM

by Ethan Elgin, Mental Health Issues and Rights Examiner

Cindy McCain on Thursday states that PTSD only exists in the uprepared.

In a stunning setback to public officials recognizing PTSD in United States veterans, Cindy McCain came out with this statement in an interview the other day:

Q: You met your husband after his POW days. To what extent is that still with you - or is it a part of history?

CINDY McCAIN: My husband will be the first one to tell you that that's in the past. Certainly it's a part of who he is, but he doesn't dwell on it. It's not part of a daily experience that we experience or anything like that. But it has shaped him. It has made him the leader that he is.

Q: But no cold sweats in the middle of the night?

CINDY McCAIN: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. My husband, he'd be the first one to tell you that he was trained to do what he was doing. The guys who had the trouble were the 18-year-olds who were drafted. He was trained, he went to the Naval Academy, he was a trained United States naval officer, and so he knew what he was doing.

It should be noted that studies show that 20% of soldiers coming home from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered from PTSD. The struggle for that to be recognized is laid out further here. With the lack of mental health parity or recognition in mental illness in any of McCain’s healthcare plan, this is a frightening statement that gives insight into how this campaign views mental health across the board and also even in US Vets. This subject is brought up in further detail on the bipartisan veteran advocacy site Votevets.org.

Topics: Mental Health , John McCain , PTSD , Veterans , War , Iraq , McCain

Feed

Comments

Light Therapy for the Low-Light Months

Add a Comment

December 1, 12:13 PM

With still twenty days until the shortest day of the year, the sun already setting around 4:45 in the afternoon, you may find it more difficult to get out of bed in the morning or find that tensions between yourself and loved ones have escalated. This... Read More
Topics: SAD , Light Therapy , Seasonal Affective Disorder

Webcam suicides the new Kitty Genovese?

Add a Comment

November 24, 12:14 PM

On Tuesday night of last week, a 19 year old boy from Florida, trained a webcam on himself, took a handful of pills after posting a suicide note, and was pronounced dead 10 hours later. In the interim, as he lay on his bed dying, hundred of people,... Read More
Topics: Mental Health , Suicide , Depression , Kitty Genovese , Webcam

What if Freud never existed?

3 comments

November 17, 12:16 PM

Paul Feyerabend once noted that “suppressing a paradigm in preference to one politically favored, could permanently damage society”. In a world saturated by psychoanalysis and “repressed” emotions, children blaming parents, it’s... Read More
Topics: Mental Health , Therapy , Therapist , Mental Illness , Mental Health Care , Freud , Psychoanalysis

Study: Low-income and mentally ill Americans can't afford proper nutrition

1 comment

November 12, 12:56 PM

In this land of bountiful feasts and organic, low-carb, high fiber, cage-free, pesticide-free, nutritious food markets, nearly 40% of Americans cannot afford to eat this cancer and heart disease preventing food. According to the dietary guidelines provided... Read More
Topics: Mental Illness , Nutrition , Low Income , Disease

Obama and health care: The time is now

Add a Comment

November 9, 2:18 PM

Last month, the congress passed historic healthcare legislation, The Mental Health Parity Bill, making discrimination in the health care industry a step closer to extinct. We’re making strides, every day, closer to a healthier system and, hopefully,... Read More
Topics: Economy , Obama , Mental Health Care

Mental illness: Excuse and crime

8 comments

October 31, 12:07 PM

There’s a dispute nearly a century old against and within the mental health community: Is a crime excusable because of mental illness? The answer is complicated. However, the pushes against it have stalled many new diagnoses as well. Point... Read More
Topics: Mental Illness , Ashley Todd , Racism , Crime , Excuses

Is racism a mental disorder?

3 comments

October 29, 12:03 PM

While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is the bible for the psychiatric associations around the world, racism, bigotry and prejudice, do not appear as an official disorder within these pages, it does not necessarily exclude... Read More
Topics: Mental Health , Barack Obama , McCain , Election , Ashley Todd , Racism

The Case of Ashley Todd: Political Attack or Personality Disorder?

24 comments

October 24, 12:08 PM

Now, while I’ve spent a good amount of time reviewing the case to the best of my ability, this still all remains just conjecture and speculation. I’ve discussed a lot the reasons why people cut in the past, and what such a disorder... Read More
Topics: Borderline Personality Disorder , John McCain , Cutting , BPD , Election , Ashley Todd

Obama, McCain Would Receive Poor Mental Health Care in Home States

1 comment

October 21, 12:10 PM

If anyone in the current presidential race, both Obama, McCain or Palin and Biden were to look at the state grades provided by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), they would truly be appalled. When one in four Americans suffer from mental... Read More
Topics: Mental Health , McCain , Election , Obama