Iran: Lessons From the Locked Psychiatry Unit by Dr. Keith Ablow

I hope that Obama is listening, as well, Dr Ablow... Somehow, however, I highly doubt it.

God bless!

Iran: Lessons From the Locked Psychiatry Unit

by Dr. Keith Ablow

Part of my residency training in psychiatry was spent working on the locked unit at the Shattuck State Hospital in Massachusetts.  It was there that I learned strategies to keep people safe when voices or visions or delusions made them threaten others with harm—whether verbally or physically.  The strategies were very important, because some of the folks on the unit had never been violent, while others had been court-ordered to the Shattuck after committing very violent crimes, including murder.  We needed to protect not only the staff, but patients, too.
 
The lessons I learned at the Shattuck are ones that the Administration should keep in mind in dealing with Iran.  After all, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears either to be a pathological liar with extremely violent intentions and a willingness to distort history or to actually be delusional.  In either case, he qualifies as an inpatient on a locked psychiatric unit.
 
Here are lessons from the Shattuck: