Staring at the sun and losing one's give a shit

Irvin Yalom delivered the distinguished psychiatrist lecture at the APA meeting. He talked of the "terror of death" or death anxiety, a universal human trait that is often not acknowledged by people in therapy or elsewhere.

He starts by quoting the 17^th century French philosopher La Rochefoucauld: “you cannot stare into the face of the sun, or death”. How can we talk about death anxiety? He goes onto discuss how the idea of death can save, whereas it destroys us physically, how “cancer cures psychoneurosis” and how terminal cancer patients talk of losing their “give a shit”. He goes on to talk about ideas for therapy and Epicurean insights. Coming to terms with the mortality of the soul, that we cannot be hurt in death can lead to a freedom from worries and preoccupations, the state of ataraxia. Hydroxyzine carries the trade name Atarax in some countries. Other avenues of discussion could include the nothingness of death, and the apposition of the period before birth with the period after death and their similarity. Underlying his talk is the importance of the healing synergistic relationship between therapist and client, of empathy, and he concludes with “I am human and nothing human is alien to me” from Seneca. There are case discussions and the inspiration as people leave the lecture theatre is palpable.

The rubber chicken

I walk up to the conference centre, and crossing the road I see two men in broad-rimmed hats standing on a traffic island. Both are wearing red noses, one is swinging a rubber chicken above his head and the other is giving out leaflets. As I walk past, I am asked "Are you normal?" and am told "No, you are not normal", and then one of them points to the centre and says "Nobody in there is normal". The leaflet they give out tells of a man in Minnesota who has had 40 forced electroconvulsive treatments as I find out when I read it later. Actually I am surprised that only those 2 are protesting, I was expecting a whole troop of Scientologists. And I must agree, if the story of the man is true, it makes me feel quite uncomfortable, nobody should have 40 ECT treatments against their will, or even without their will.