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Borderline border patrol agents

In 2014, U.S. Border Patrol agent Esteban Manzanares took into custody a Honduran woman, her teenage daughter and another teenage female. The women surrendered to Manzanares in Mission, Texas on the banks of the Rio Grande River. Instead of transporting the three to a processing center, Manzanares drove them to a deserted location where he raped the mother and daughter. He slit the mother’s wrists and tried to break the daughter’s neck. Leaving them for dead, he took the other girl to his Mission apartment where he left her naked and bound. Manzanares returned to work, completed his shift and […] Read more

Texas depression: Unemployment, suicide and Texas

Researchers at Cambridge University found there were nearly 5,000 more suicides in the U.S. between 2008 and 2010 than during the previous eight years. Studies indicate that unemployment was the main factor driving the increase in suicides. Researchers also found that Texas had the strongest correlation between unemployment and suicide.

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Mental illness, incarceration and alternatives in Texas

The Texas Department of State Health Services, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice published a report titled “Another Look at Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Involvement in Texas: Correlates and Costs.” The purpose of the report was to determine if individuals with diagnosed mental disorders who repeatedly run afoul of the law would be better served by pre-booking diversion programs for mental health and substance abuse counseling. The short answer is yes, but with stipulations.

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Complicated grief: Depression and Seniors

Medical Daily reports nearly 40 percent of all women over the age of 65 are widows. As they get older, in addition to grieving the loss of their spouses, these women often endure the deaths of friends and relatives. When the cumulative effect of this grief becomes too great, many experience a conditional called complicated grief. According to physicians, complicated grief includes all of the symptoms of typical grief but lasts for a protracted period of time. People in the throes of complicated grief ruminate on the loss of their loved ones and have trouble finding a purpose to life. […] Read more

Youth sports and concussion policies

In the last 10 years, emergency room visits for sports-related traumatic brain injuries—TBIs—among youth increased 62 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s—CDC—report, “Implementing Return to Play: Learning from the Experiences of Early Implementers,” football and hockey have the highest incidence of concussion. Concussions are not as common in individual sports, though they do occur at some regularity in gymnastics and diving. According to the CDC report, the 15 to 19 year-old age group for both sexes is at the greatest risk for sustaining concussions.

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Concussions and the tau of chronic traumatic encephalopathy

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy—CTE—is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. It affects individuals—boxers, football players—who have received repeated blows to the head and concussions. CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem. There is no cure.

According to a PBS Frontline episode that aired in 2014, the researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository examined the brains of 128 individuals who played professional, college or high school football. 101 tested positive for CTE. The brains of 76 of 79 former NFL players had CTE.

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