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Show AAG _The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, January9, 2000 Close the Barn Door on the Idea of Connecting Welfare and 211 BY ARTHUR W. BROTHERS welfare programs in Utah. The latest Utah welfare program is to get the number 211 as. signed to enable folks to call for informativn about where to get more welfare. Sounds good. providing more government “services” for the needy? Well, if you like paying $.50 per month on your phonebill to call “911,” you'll love another similar fee so welfare bosses can send more tax moneyto the “needy.” Using the telephonebill to pay for social programs is getting out of hand. The 12 independent telephone companies who provide telephoneandinternet service to the majority of Utah areas think you need to ask who is going to pay the cost for this grab your pocket book mentalityof using 211 for a welfare people would then have an easy to memorize numberthat people could dialto find out about Arthur W. Brothers is président} Beehive Telephone Co.,Inc.. Wen dover, Utah, which provides wire line telephone service. I submit that Utah must not board. This is a waste of money. The assignment ofa single easy to remember 800 number must be used for that purpose. Many question the use of a valuablere- source such as an area code for something the 800 number system wasdesigned todo. This kind ‘Beuiiaac Friday, January, 14 from 12.5 PM. 2353 North Redwood Road Salt LakeCity, Utah add on a third area code because of bad staff recommendations to the Public Service Commissioners. Switching to an 800 code moves the cost directly on the agency whoanswers the phones. The 211 proposal will move the cost to you, the taxpayer. Staff personnel with the Utah Division of Public Utilities, who VEHICLES 4X4'S TRUCKS COMMERCIAL VANS TRUCKS HEAVY EQUIPMENT Surgeon General’s Report On Mental Health Is Laudable but Misleading FOR THELOS ANGE TIMES weresent fromoutofstate to the Colorado Rockies to observe the effects of high elevation on their asthma. The children improved, somequite significantly. However, when their families arrived fora visit, the children’s asthmatook a turnfor the worse, STATE OF UTAH SALT LAKE COUNTY POLICE EVIDENCE BICYCLES & MORE CITY OF FARMINGTON LAYTON airy LOCAL BANKS & OTHER AGENCIES Conducted By; TNT Auction BYRICHARDJ. DeGRANDPRE Some weeks ago, I was a guest on public radio and caller describeda study in which children at 211 as a national welfare bulletin of wasteful use of 3 digit codes 800 number such as 800 using the existing 800 code pro- job. having the Commissioners en- climb on the bandwagonofusing (211) alreadyis going to cost Utah residents millions to change or HELP (which Beehive Telephone offered for this purpose). The gramming capabilities to do the Yet, no one provided any evidence as to the costs of 211 v. property. That 211 expense could be funded bytheexisting State-wide $.50 per month charges on your phonebill. A multimillion dollar system alreadyexists to provide this information. Years ago, the Federal Communication (FCC) directed dorse 211 for Utah. led the charge toram through the should be for the public ao call instead of 911 emergencycalls. welfare hotline. that the telephone industry create the 800 free calling system. Using such an easy to memorize Utah Commission's requesttothe FCCto allow use of 211 for Wel: fare are giddy with success by 211 wouldbe set aside forall other emergencycalls not related to immediate safety to life and Apple pie and motherhood. Whocan be against It is said that the FCC has designated to already set aside 211 for an undefined national — I submit that number “Mending mind and brain should mean a Fuller understanding of how nature and nurture combine to create psychopathology; it should not mean turningall thatis mental and psychological into something medical andbiological..” "The Full. Service Auction Specialists" www.tntauction.com (801) 519-0123 Owned and Presented by the FOR YRE adie Utah Automobile Dealers Association a : — z doe suggesting that an importantdeterminant was psychosocial stress. Thecaller asked whetherI had heard of similar psychosocial influences regarding childhood hy- peractivity. I answered that such cases have been regularlyreport- ed, although most are anecdotal. One study, however, from the Journal of Pediatrics, reported differences in the levels of the biochemical serotonin in hyperactive versus nonhyperactive children. Whenthe two most hy- peractive children in the study were kept at the hospital, away from homeandschool, both the hyperactivity and serotonin changedtolevels observed in the nonhyperactive children. How- ever, when measured one month after the two children went home, the serotonin and hyperactivity had revertedto earlierlevels. The lesson here is an impor- tant one, andonethat is not well heeded by the report on mental health issued this monthbyU.S. Surgeon General David Satcher. A centerpieceofthe report is the effort to make mentaldisorders a legitimate health issue by redefining them in termsofillness and disease. This logic is decades old and assumesthatif the public comes to view problems such as depression and schizophreniain biolog- ical terms, a more open atmosphere will emerge, thus reducing the stigma of mentalhealth problemsand encouraging individuals to pursue treatment. Ascan be seenin the case of alcoholism, where the disease model is accepted by the public, this approach appears to have some merit. At the same time, viewing all mental disorders and addiction as biological diseases — and then treating them as medical problems — will not help stem the tide of psychological despair rolling across the nation. To wit, several of the children involved in school shootings had been prescribed the latest psychiatric drugs. Whatever good the medical model and psychiatric medications did them,it certainly was not enough. I do not believe these drugs caused these outbreaks of violence.I do believe, however, that the shift toward biologizing and medicalizing psychological dis- tress has begunto blind us to the social roots of many of these problems. This includes the rising challengesof finding meaning increasing people’s awareness of. mental-health issues comesat the price of turning maninto a biological machine,thecost is surely toohigh. Ina TVinterview, the surgeon general stressed that“there is no longer a justification for distinguishing between mental and physical illnesses.” This sentiment, which pervades the report is both true andfalse. The experience of emotional distress is as realas any experienceof physical illness,and often more disabling. However, to say the biological underpinnings of mental problems are just as real as for physical illness is false and danger- ously misleading. First, the notion of physical illness implies an inner, biological cause, and independenttests exist for most physical illnesses. In the case of mental disorders, there is not a single biological test. Second, much research in neuroscience and on individuals and The surgeon general's report rightly stresses the importance of tearing down the stigma associated with mental problems. Butif THE 2000 UTAH INTERNATIONAL psychiatry shows a basic methodological blunderbyfailing to distinguish betweencausation and merecorrelation. It is true that psycho- logical states correlate with physiological ones. But these underlying states may represent nothing more than the impactof present and past psychological experiences, Thepublic thus falls into the trap of believing that psychological problems are biological andout oftheir control. A decade of focusing on the brain (and forgetting the human context that shapes the mind) has left the public both dazed and confused aboutthe sourcesof the self. Mending mind and brain should meana fuller understanding of how nature and nurture combineto create psychopathology; it should not mean turning Hundreds of 2000 models on display from 35 domestic and import manufacturers! all that is mental and psychologi- cal into something medical and biological. Asthis happens, people may well be inclined to ask their physician for a quick fix to soothe their (or their children’s) psychological woes, but they are muchlessinclined to do the hard workof taking responsibility for theirandtheir children’sfutures. All the evidence in the world tells us that real humantransformationis possible — orat leastit should. in modernlife, and thestressesit imposes families. Coming a the Salt Palace Convention beniat on January 14 Richard J. DeGrandpre, an ad- junct professor ofpsychology atSt. Michael’s College in Vermont, is author of “Ritalin Nation: RapidFire Culture and the Transformation ofHuman Consciousness.” Preview 2001 Introductory Million-Doliar Exotic Vehicle Display Models Concept Vehicles Thecars of the new Featuring Ferrari millennium are here for including the Audi TT Roadster CONEY OF SERVE FACTS POON Othe ier spreenue ‘SHOW DATES:January 14 throughJanuary 17, 2000 (Open Martin Luther King, J Day) SHOW HOURS:Friday: 12 noon - 10 p.m. « Saturday: 10 a.m. - 10 p.m, Sunday: 10 a.m. - 8 pim, # Monday; 10 a.m. - 6 pm ADMISSION PRICES: Adults (13 & over): $6.00 Senior Citizens (62 &pout $4.00 Children (7-12): $4.00 ® Children (6 & under): F DISCOUNT COUPONS available at participating newie dealerships and on the Auto Show Websit Preview the One complimentary TV’ Inc, Beanie Bear or you to see today, PokémonTrading Card Pack Jeep icon box boxoffice fickstholders! 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