Talk:Patch Adams

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[edit] Biography assessment rating comment

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. --KenWalker | Talk 06:25, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Patch's response

The following was recently removed from the page:

Response to this statement from Patch Adams:
In my experience depression is not an illness it is a symptom and the illness is loneliness. And I do think one can place friends in their thinking so that they have no loneliness. I actually don't perceive that I am representing an answer rather a possible direction. That one can compose their own life using thinking, play, friends, and do what they decide to do whatever they want to do. What I have found most effective was to have an environment described in my book, Gesundheit and my website. If one chooses to work with mental illness without psychiatric medications, this kind of complex environment makes me feel safe not giving medication which is why I've insisted on not continuing until the whole facility is built. When we re-open as a hospital there will be doctors who prescribe psychiatric medications. I think my second book House Calls gives a brief introduction of directions for mental health and that we want a facility where all those things can be dynamic. We do not think we are right, rather, we are a direction, an individual's choice.

I am personally friends with Patch, and we had a discussion about the utility of Wikipedia in which he voiced his frustration that, when he tried to respond to comments on the page about him, the stuff kept getting deleted. The guy doesn't use email and he's rather computer-tarded. Nonetheless, it's Wikipedia policy to only include info that can be externally cited, so his comments cannot thus be included until they can be cited. Next time I see him I'll let him know that he ought to post this comment on his main web site in order that it can be cited here and stay up. In the meantime, please leave his comment here on the talk page so that it can eventually be restored. Thanks. --Cajolingwilhelm 04:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This entry is biased!

So just who in the heck is this David Oaks, and where does he get off saying 'President Bush wants to test all Americans for "mental illness"? How does he know this? Has President Bush ever suggested such a thing? Sounds kindof Orwellian--and very un-Bush-like. I suspect David Oaks is totally fabricating this, pulling kook conspiracy theories out of his @ss.

And then we've got Adams' response: "volunteering to screen President Bush, 'He needs a lot of help. I'll see him for free.'" Ha ha. Real funny! Does this sort of thing belong in an encyclopedia entry?!? I suspect it was included here as a deliberate, cheap swipe at the president.

This section of the article serves as further evidence to me that Wikipedia is operated (and mostly contributed to) by outta-touch Leftwing socialist whackos!

see this entry on Bush's "very un-Bush-like plan".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Freedom_Initiative

We'll look into getting some out-of-touch rightwing wackos to even things out as soon as they leave office. But in all seriousness if you really think the article is imbalanced feel free to edit it and balance it out, include a link to a site or excerpt from an article (quote sources also please) that offers a counterpoint to his statements. A neutral point of view is what we are going for here and if you have information that isn't covered please contribute. As to weather something should be included or not I believe it should be. Whatever he has said of note, weather it be serious or not, true or false, left wing or right wing is irrelevant. Just because he is critical of the current US president does not mean the things he has said do not deserve mention in this article. A balanced point of view and a nurtured point of view are not one and the same and we are not looking for the latter. If he had said the same thing about former president Clinton would you still have issue with his statement? Isn't that letting your own bias colour the nature of the article?

Boy, they only come out at night, don't they.

Anyhow, film cricket Jim Emerson makes the following illuminating description of Patch Adams in his blog on Roger Ebert's website.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060416/SCANNERS/60416001

a fascistic "holistic healer," a stern, authoritarian autocrat with a messianic complex -- everybody's nightmare of a medical sociopath with delusions of grandeur. He claims that laughter is the best medicine, but comes across -- in public, at least -- as utterly humorless, angry, and interested in nothing but himself. He doesn't know how to listen, only to grandstand and boast and berate anyone and everyone who fails to pay sufficient obeisance to his mammoth ego, his self-proclaimed selflessness, and his inerrant wonderfulness. It's as if John Wayne Gacy thought he was the Dalai Lama.

I met Patch Adams at a wedding in Wheeling, West VA and I have to say at least some of that description rings true. He was great with the children but utterly disrespectful towards everyone else, showing up wearing a silk shirt and parachute pants, clashing with the suits and ties of all the other men. Maybe it's only a social norm, but using a wedding as a platform to deviate from the norm to make a point comes across as a very selfish gesture. Famous or not, there is no way to end up on the bad side of a family of Irish Catholics than to attend a wedding out of dress. After he spoke at the pulpet, he left the church before the end of the mass. Believe me, Im no devout Catholic, but I at least know how to show respect at a religious service.

Yeah, a friend of a relative was telling me that the real-life Patch Adams was a total dickhole; not at all like the friendly and fun-loving character played by Robin Williams in the famous film. She told me that the persona was only for publicity's sake, and that the actual Patch Adams has all the charm of an agitated scorpion. This is of course totally anecdotal, but I'm relieved to know that others share this less than flattering opinion of the man. --M.Neko 11:21, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where is the bias

I don't think the article should be marked, because it doesn't make any statement regarding Patch's honesty or suitability/skills as a doctor, it just talks about known facts. If there are indeed opposed views about his work, they should be mentioned, quoting sources, and end of story. People, please try to slowly and carefully read and understand what a NPOV is.

 well it is true i think he desrve it

[edit] This Article Needs Some Photos

OK this article has my interest. Apparently Hunter "Patch" Adams also is credited in the new documentary on military brats-- "Brats: Our Journey Home". So I'd like to see a photo somewhere to see who this guy is. Also does he appear in the Brats documentary or did he help out in some other way?

Sean7phil 17:05, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Medical training

Where did he recieve his training. I thought someone told me he never finished a residency. --Gbleem 14:36, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

From numerous websites, he only completed his internship (first year) of his pediatric residency at Georgetown University. Does he have a license to practice medicine? If you only do a year of residency I don't think he could have been board certified in anything. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.214.17.5 (talk) 18:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:01, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gusendheit Institute

This article seems to say more about the Institute than its own article does. Should these articles be merged, or should the Institute-related information in this article be reduced and added to the main article? Ashley {talkback} 01:05, 9 March 2008 (UTC)