Crossroads

William G. Hoy Baylor University On April 6, the American Psychiatric Association posted a potential revision to the DSM-5 ( Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ) that is a consensus diagnostic criteria for dealing with persons experiencing grief that seems never to "progress." Herein is one of the great challenges of systematizing such a complex process, a fact I and many others have been pointing out in the context of this debate for a couple of decades now. First, we have a burgeoning scientific basis to substantiate the reality that some individuals ( 7% of all bereaved persons is the current favored estimate ) somehow get "stuck" in their grief. But clinicians do not need data to know this fact; we see it in the countless individuals in our practices who express just such sentiments. In the words of my colleague and friend, Dale Larson , it really boils down to two questions: Are you having trouble with your grief? Would you like some...

William G. Hoy Baylor University On the final exam for my "End-of-Life and Bereavement for Health Care" course, I pose a provocative question to my students. Throughout the semester, I try encouraging students to "consider the alternatives" to my opinions and the evidence I present or the theories and clinical interventions they read in their various texts. I ask them in class discussions, "In what ways are we not considering all of the options on this question?" and "What if there were another way to think about this?" So the question I ask on the final exam? Here it is: "Dr. Hoy is certainly not short on opinions! Whether in his perspective on the role of media in reporting about death, loss, and grief, or the value of funerals and memorialization, or how bereavement does and does not work, you have examined evidence and heard from 'leading figures' in the field (through books and journal articles). But just because it is said b...

William G. Hoy Baylor University While we are reading a lot about the illness- and death-toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval of securities markets, we are seeing comparatively little about the real impact on the poor, and the new poor of this experience. In my personal devotional time this week, I looked again at Psalm 112 --a text shared by Jews and Christians but whose principles are timeless and trans-religious. Among other things, this author writes of the person who "respects the Lord" and seeks to live a life of righteousness and justice. But, it is verse 9 that speaks volumes to me: " They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor " (New International Version). There is no promise of "give and get" here that is so often predicted by the so-called prosperity gospel. Instead, the words are a simple declaration of fact: when we give generously, lit...

William G. Hoy Baylor University On the April 14, 2020 episode of the CBS hit drama NCIS , naval investigators Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) interviewed a 95-year old Pearl Harbor veteran who quizzed the two. "When was the attack on Pearl Harbor?" he asked and neither could give a date. "How many died on the U.S.S. Arizona?" he asked more fervently, and again, neither could provide a number. "Then bring in the old Marine with gray hair; I'll only talk to him," the older man demanded. In my clinical faculty role at Baylor , I teach History of Medicine --and I know a little of the older veteran's pain. Many of my young students have little sense of the specifics of what has gone before and when it happened, a point I take as dangerous for the culture in general. As George Santayana wisely reminded us: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Throughout the current Coronavirus...