Many men become impotent after a heart attack, while many wives of heart attack victims live in an unspoken fear that their husbands will die during intercourse. 10 percent of postcoronary males become permanently impotent; it is also noted that in 26 males coronary patients under the age of 50, 13 reduced their sexual activity by 50 percent or more. Similarly, Dr. Hellerstein and Dr. Harris found that about one-third of postcoronary patients reduced their sexual activity and 10 percent became total abstainers (so for health reasons, to prevent death, and reduce trips to the emergency room, they do not have the sex at all). Sometimes sexual difficulties are the direct result of poor or ambiguous medical advice, or even a complete lack of discussion. It is generally a Biblical thought that the sex is only for procreation. So if you are not trying to have kids, and are unmarried, you should not even be having sex. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

Recently, Brock Turner was arrested and charged with raping a young lady. And many are in an uproar about sexual assaults on college campuses, but the problem is that parents, teachers, and religious leaders are not instructing their kids on the functions and purpose of the sex, nor are they letting them know who should or should not engage in sexual activity. The sex is reserved only for married couples, who want to conceive a child. No one else should be having the sex. The Sex seems to be a dangerous drug, and it is all that some people focus on. The sex is not meant just for fun, it is not a cool way to relax, nor is it meant to be used as a career tool. Unlike the couple in the letter just cited, many couples never discuss these matters and thus unwittingly create the sexual problems that might otherwise not exist. Given this widespread ignorance, it is not surprising that physicians have tended to avoid this topic, or to be somewhat ambivalent in discussing the sex with their patients. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

The first serious attempt to create a systematic manual of psychiatric diagnoses occurred in 1980, with the release of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official list of all mental diseases recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The preamble to the DSM-III warned explicitly that its categories were insufficiently precise to be used in forensic settings or for insurance purposes. Nonetheless, it gradually became an instrument of enormous power: Insurance companies require a DSM diagnosis for reimbursement, until recently all research funding was based on DSM diagnoses, and academic programs are organized around DSM categories. DSM labels quickly found their way into the larger culture as well. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

Millions of people know that Ben Crawford from Secrets and Lies suffered from panic attacks and depression and that Cody Stark of Good Day Sacramento struggles with bipolar disorder. The annual has become a virtual industry that has earned the American Psychiatric Association well over $100 million.  The question is: Has it provided comparable benefits for the patients it is meant to serve? A psychiatric diagnosis has serious consequences: Diagnosis informs treatment, and getting the wrong treatment can have disastrous effects. Also, a diagnostic label is likely to attach to people for the rest of their lives and have a profound influence on how they define themselves. I have met countless patients who told me that they “are” bipolar or borderline or that they “have” Post Traumatic Disorder, as if they have been sentences to remain in an underground dungeon for the rest of their lives, like Randolph Harris or the Count of Monte Cristo. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

None of these diagnoses take into account the unusual talents that many of our patients develop or the creative energies they have mustered to survive. All too often diagnoses are mere tallies of symptoms, and they do not take into account that people are struggling because they may be a victim of crime or being stalked, beaten, threatened, deserted by a ghost dad, and abused for fun and profit. The dictionary defines diagnosis as: The act or process of identifying or determining the nature and cause of a disease or injury through evaluation of patient history, examination, and review of laboratory data. The opinion derived from such an evaluation. I am trying to change the way patients with chronic trauma histories are diagnosed. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5