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October 25, 2006
A Harrowing Trauma -- And the Attempt to Master It
In 1977, Terri Jentz and a girl friend, then college students at Yale, started on a bicycle trip from the west to the east coast. Camping overnight in Oregon, they were attacked while sleeping by a man clad in cowboy type clothes who drove his truck over their tent and severely wounded them with a hatchet.
They were found by a teenage couple who saved their lives by getting them to a rural hospital where they received remarkably good treatment. The crime was never solved. For the next 15 years, Terri seemed to recover and she became a successful screen writer.
However she was aware that she was still estranged from a part of herself as a consequence of her trauma. In 1992 she returned to the scene of the crime in an effort to face her demons and find out who was her attacker. The police had done almost nothing to solve the crime, and she set out to interview everyone in the area who might have knowledge about the perpetrator.
She is very persistent, and she finally discovers who almost certainly was the guilty man. Knowing this seems to be helpful to her, but this is not clear. What is clear is that she discovers the local tolerance for male abuse of females, especially among the women who were his lovers. Jentz tells her story in a compelling way in her book, A Strange Piece of Paradise.
Related Links:
Strange Piece of Paradise, by Terri Jentz
Posted by admin at 04:48 PM
A Memoir of Loss and Bereavement
In her book The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion tells of her reactions to the sudden loss of her husband of 40 years, John Gregory Dunne, also a writer, with whom she had been extremely close. He died almost instantly from a heart attack while they were eating dinner, at a time when their only daughter was in hospital in a coma from pneumonia and toxic shock.
Didion's reactions include what she calls magical thinking, or "craziness," such as a belief that Dunne would return, while at the same time knowing this was an unrealistic idea. Didion's capacity for introspection and psychological awareness give the reader deep insights into the experience of loss, grief and bereavement.
A link is provided below to more information about the book as well as to an interview of Joan Didion by Diane Rehm of WAMU Radio.
Related Links:
The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
Interview of Joan Didion, 10-27-2005, Diane Rehm Show, WAMU
Posted by admin at 04:39 PM
Jane Pauley's Skywriting Explores Her Bipolar Disorder
Jane Pauley's autobiography, Skywriting: a Life Out of the Blue, is still available. In it she details her Midwestern upbringing, her discovery of a family secret, her meteoric rise to celebrity on television, her conflict between motherhood and career, and her struggle with bipolar disorder. The bipolar disorder was first manifest when she was treated with steroids for recurrent hives. With treatment, including lithium and other medication, the bipolar disorder has been kept under control.
Related Links:
Skywriting: A Life out of the Blue, by Jane Pauley
A Letter to People Magazine About Mental Health Care, MD Foundation for Psychiatry
Posted by admin at 04:29 PM
Honorary Director Riva L. Novey, M.D., Aged 90, Obituary
This obituary was somehow misplaced in transit. The Foundation sincerely regrets not being able to place this online in a timely manner.
The Board of Directors of the Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry regrets to announce the death of Riva L. Novey, M.D., an honorary member of the Board. Dr. Novey died Friday, May 27, 2005 at the Wesley Home in Mount Washington in Baltimore. She was in active practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis for 39 years prior to her retirement in 1996. In addition to her work with patients, she was active in teaching psychiatric residents at the Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, and the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospitals where her skill led her to be a sought after supervisor and mentor.
Riva Novey, M.D. a prominent member of the psychiatric community in Baltimore died on May 27, 2005, age 90, at the Wesley Home in Mount Washington. Dr. Novey’s career in the mental health field spanned a period of 58 years from her graduation from the School of Social Work at Smith College in 1938 until her retirement from the practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis in 1996. During her career she was active in the teaching of psychiatric residents at the Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, and Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospitals. Additionally, she was a supervising and training analyst in the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. She was a member of the Maryland Psychiatric Society beginning in 1958 and was chosen a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association in 1966. She was given Distinguished Life Fellowship in 1985.
She was born Riva London in Selma, Alabama, January 15, 1915 and moved with her parents to Baltimore as an infant. After graduation from Forrest Park High School in 1932 she attended Goucher College in Baltimore earning an A.B. degree in 1936. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society while there. She earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Smith College in1938 and did social case work in family and children’s agencies and the University of Maryland Psychiatric Clinic 1938-1948, and was the chief psychiatric social worker for the University of Maryland Psychiatric Clinic 1946-1948. Because she wanted to become a psychiatrist, she entered the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine in 1949 and graduated with her M.D. degree in 1954. She interned at the Union Memorial Hospital 1954-55. Her residency in psychiatry was at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital 1955-57, and she served as staff psychiatrist at the Springfield State Hospital 1957-1959. She began her psychoanalytic studies at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute in 1957 and graduated in 1962. She was a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry, certified in Psychiatry in 1965.
Dr. Novey held many teaching positions in the mental health field. She was a supervisor of social work students from the University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Smith College during her years as a social worker. She instructed medical and nursing students at the University of Maryland. She had been a supervisor of psychiatric residents at the University of Maryland, Sheppard Pratt, and Johns Hopkins Hospitals in their experience of learning psychotherapy. In this capacity she was respected and was sought out because of her experience and expertise. The Washington Psychoanalytic Institute recognized her skill and dedication by making her a supervising and training analyst in 1968.
Dr. Novey was married in the late 1930’s to Samuel Novey, M.D. a prominent Baltimore psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. After his death in 1967, several years later she married a local artist, Jacob Glushakow who died in 2000.
All who knew her admired her cheerful outlook on life, her understanding of people, their conflicts, and their strengths, her interests in the cultural life of the community and society, and her willingness to share her ideas and expertise. She was an excellent cook, a harpsichordist, and shared with her late husband a lively interest in art. Her wisdom and guidance will be missed by everyone who benefited from knowing her.
She is survived by a sister, Ms. Debbie London-Hoffman of Owning Mills, Maryland, a brother, Coleman London, of Southbury, Connecticut, a step daughter, Ms. Jane Glushakow of Baltimore, and nephews, Michael Novey of Baltimore and Larry Novey of Washington.
Posted by admin at 04:15 PM