Does the foundation of prejudice lie in native language?
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Who says religion and science can't go together well? I just read an interesting paper by Kinzler et al.(1), published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with apparent Biblical inspiration (OK, maybe not), as it begins with Judges 12:5-6 as an epigraph. In that passage, group membership is determined by having individuals pronounce a word, and if they can't pronounce it properly, they're killed. Kinzler et al. then provide a host of examples of what we might call linguistic discrimination in their opening paragraph:
The biblical story of Shibboleth speaks of the ancient massacre of those who ...
Source: Mixing Memory - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Cognitive Development Source Type: blogs
Know the lifesaving facts about stroke detection
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To coincide with stroke awareness month, a new report from the US Government's Center for Disease and Control and Prevention has highlighted that less than half of people surveyed could identify the potentially life-saving early warning signs of stroke.
A stroke, known medically as a cerebrovascular accident, is where the blood supply to the brain is interrupted because of blockage or damage to an essential blood vessel.
It can be fatal, and more often leads to significant brain damage, but this can be limited or a life potentially saved if it is detected and treated as soon as possible.
The following are warning signs ...
Source: Mind Hacks - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Inside the Brain Source Type: blogs
Why magritte?
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A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about memory and used three of several paintings by Magritte. The images are very provocative and I continue to reflect on them. What intrigues me beyond the images themselves is that for some reason people keep coming to this blog via a Google search on Magritte and La Memoire. I have noticed in my blog stats for some time that there have been a few hits every week on this search string, but lately it has been several a day from all over the world. And I have no idea why. So, if anyone reading this post got here via a search for that image, would you leave a comment or drop me an e...
Source: Jung At Heart - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Interview of eric kandel
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Here is a twenty-one minute interview of Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel, discussing memory, free will, the history of science, Freud, and his work with pharmaceutical companies among other things. This video comes from Science Blogs. (Source: The Situationist)
Source: The Situationist - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: History Neuroscience Video Eric Kandel free will Freud history of science memory Source Type: blogs
Single unit recordings show nogo selectivity in vlpfc
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Our ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and behaviors is thought to be related to a process known as "inhibition," whereby ventrolateral regions of prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) actively suppress inappropriate representations. A 2001 study by Sakagami et al. recorded firing data from neurons in the vlPFC to determine the exact mechanism by which this might occur. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Developing Intelligence)
Source: Developing Intelligence - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Source Type: blogs
Dsm-v’s conflicts of interest
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Earlier this week, the Boston Globe’s health blog dived into the issue of conflicts of interest for the latest mental disorder diagnostic manual being formulated. The diagnostic manual is known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and a fifth version of it is currently in development.
How a disorder makes it into the DSM — which is used by mental health professionals and insurance companies to legitimize and pay for a mental health concern — has been the subject of numerous research papers and essays. It is a messy process, like sausage-making, and involves a combination of...
Source: World of Psychology - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: General Policy and Advocacy Disorders Psychology conflicts revision manual ties committees outright dsm v dsmv dsm 5 dsm5 diagnostic statistical mental american psychiatric association research empirical study Source Type: blogs
The persistence of magical thinking
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My second post ever was on Magic and Rationality. I wrote that although we are the beneficiaries of tremendous advances in intellectual knowledge and technology, depending especially upon the incredible edifice of modern scientific thought, our minds remain relatively primitive structures easily confused and always at risk of regressing to magical explanations when reason does not meet our emotional needs. We live in a world surrounded by magic. Our minds evolved in a world of magic. It is no wonder that it is such an ongoing struggle to think about the world in a rational way. No one wo...
Source: ShrinkWrapped - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ShrinkWrapped Source Type: blogs
discuss this article
ChicagoBoyz has good links to books on military history. (Source: a psychiatrist who learned from veterans)
Source: a psychiatrist who learned from veterans - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Cornering the world market on psychopaths ? when culture facilitates the development of psychopathy
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Why is it that the Islamic world seems to have an excess of psychopaths in positions of power? Are they actively trying to corner the world market?First we have the nutjob-in-chief of Iran, who Thursday declared:...that the state of Israel is a "stinking corpse" that is destined to disappear, the French news agency AFP reported."Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said."Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on...
Source: Dr. Sanity - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Fmri scans may predict anxiety patients' response to antidepressant treatment
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Wouldnt it be nice if our doctors could predict accurately whether we would respond to a particular medication? This question is important because research studies provide information about how groups of patients tend to respond to treatments, but inevitably, differences among groups of patients with the same diagnosis mean that findings about groups of patients may not apply to individuals from those groups. Personalized medicine is the effort to match particular treatments to particular patients on the basis of genetic information or other biological markers. In a new article published in Biological Psychiatry, researche...
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: antidepressants fmri Source Type: blogs
'telepsychiatry' by nurses trialed for postpartum depression
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This study is being funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: interpersonal psychotherapy postnatal depression telepsychiatry Source Type: blogs
New therapies show promise for vascular depression
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Researchers see new treatments on the horizon for a a recently recognized type of depression related to blood vessels that affects the elderly, and have discovered why some elderly people fail to respond to current medications. Vascular depression usually develops in patients older than age 60 and is associated with loss of blood supply to the brain. This condition is a serious problem for elderly patients and highly effective treatments have yet to be developed, but several research teams now report progress in understanding and treating this condition. "Mental health practitioners and patients should be aware of the rela...
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: clinical depression rtms white matter hyperintensities Source Type: blogs
Men also get postpartum depression
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By Charlene Laino WebMD Medical News May 6, 2008 (Washington) - Postpartum depression hits new dads, too. Moreover, male postpartum depression may have more negative effects on some aspects of a child's development than its female counterpart, says James F. Paulson, PhD, of the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. More... ©1996-2008 MedicineNet, Inc. All rights reserved. (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: postnatal depression Source Type: blogs
Screening questionnaires do not help diagnose depression
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The use of screening questionnaires in primary care has failed to increase the number of depression cases detected and has hindered management of the condition, UK research suggests. More... © Haymarket Business Publications Limited (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: clinical depression Source Type: blogs
Apa: gamma knife surgery has obsessive-compulsive benefits
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By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today WASHINGTON, May 8 — Surgery using beams of radiation appears to benefit half of patients with highly refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder, a researcher said here. The procedure — a ventral capsular/ventral striatal gamma capsulotomy — uses a Leksell gamma knife to target brain regions known to be involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to Antonio Lopes, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. More... © 2004-2008 MedPage Today, LLC. All Rights Reserved. (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: obsessive compulsive disorder Source Type: blogs
2008-05-09 spike activity
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Fascinating article in the New York Times on lying, deception and why exaggeration seems the same but is psychologically quite different.
UK government returns to pissing in the wind over drug classification. Prime Minister feels that having wet trousers will "send a message".
New Scientist covers a new study on old news that hallucinations and delusions during intensive care can lead to trauma in children.
Fake tits and heroin, brought to you by HotForWords.
Scientific American Mind has an excellent article on unconscious bias and prejudice and how it affects how we behave.
How LSD rocked the world. The Independent d...
Source: Mind Hacks - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Linkage Source Type: blogs
What counts as rape?
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From NPR’s Day to Day story, If Your Neighbor Poses as Your Husband, Is it Rape?:
Massachusetts is the latest state to consider putting a new crime on the books: rape by fraud. Currently, a sex act only qualifies as rape if physical force is used. We talk to a woman who was tricked into having sex with her boyfriend’s brother, who pretended to be her boyfriend — and unable to convict him of rape because of this limited definition.
Under the new law, such forms of deception would be a crime. Some say the law goes too far, however, and could criminalize lies like, “Really, I’m divorced!”
* * *...
Source: The Situationist - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: Choice Myth Uncategorized Criminal Law deception massachusetts npr rape rape by fraud Source Type: blogs
Alcohol
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I can't say someone's a drunk, or someone has "a drink problem." That could be a perjorative and unjust opinion. As a medic, pronouncing such a formulation or diagnosis has consequences (with driving, insurance, all sorts). As such, as with all good diagnosis, a combination of clinical acumen and a diagnostic framework guides formulation. The bottom line : I have to go by what our diagnostic bible, ICD-10, says.This means that instead of "alcoholic" I end up with the less than catchy diagnosis of "F10.241 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, dependence syndrome, currently using the substance (active ...
Source: Lake Cocytus - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Shrink Source Type: blogs
Photos of the day: children (1940s)
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Boy in Trampas, New Mexico. (John Collier, Jr. 1943). Click photos to enlarge. More great photos of children below the fold... (Source: Dr. X's Free Associations)
Source: Dr. X's Free Associations - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: DrX Source Type: blogs
Hundreds of great vintage photos from hollywood, politics, war & everyday life
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Two ways to view photos: 1) Click to load one page of photos at a time. Click next at the bottom of each page to move to the next page of photos. Or, 2) Use the index below to search & select individual photos for quick viewing. People Abbott, John : Bette Davis; Alyn, Kirk: as Clark Kent with Noel Neill; Andress, Ursula: Sean Connery; James Dean; Aparicio, Luis: 1; Andrews, Dana: Gene Tierney; Angeli, Pier: 1; Arbuckle, Roscoe "Fatty":... (Source: Dr. X's Free Associations)
Source: Dr. X's Free Associations - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: DrX Source Type: blogs
Local news: skunk drives family from highland park home
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Chicago (North Shore): By the time authorities finally cornered the offender under a porch, it was too late. He had done enough damage that Vicki and Mark Royal and their four kids were forced to flee their house and move to a neighboring suburb as men in protective suits stripped the building to its studs and threw out most of their belongings. When the family saw the skunk that started this ruinous chain of events, they were struck by one... (Source: Dr. X's Free Associations)
Source: Dr. X's Free Associations - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: DrX Source Type: blogs
Quote of the day
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"Meditation is the flower, and compassion is the fragrance."
Osho (Source: Markham's Behavioral Health)
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: David Markham Source Type: blogs
Are people with borderline personality really more empathic?
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People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are emotionally fragile, impulsive, suffer from low mood, have intense unstable personal relationships and - according to a handful of studies - they also have enhanced empathy.But new research by Judith Flury and colleagues shows the idea that BPD patients have enhanced empathy is a spurious finding reflecting the methodological design of prior studies combined with the fact BPD patients are particularly difficult to read.The 76 lowest and highest scorers on the Borderline Syndrome Index were selected from among 789 students. These 76 were then arranged into pairs of low a...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Digest Source Type: blogs
A positive kind of lying?
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Telling lies about our past successes can sometimes be self-fulfilling, at least when it come to exam performance. That's according to the New York Times, which reports on studies by Richard Gramzow at the University of Southampton and colleagues.Their research has shown that, when asked, many students exaggerate their past exam performance, and that those students who do this tend to go on to perform better in the future.What's more, a study published in February (rtf doc) showed that when these exaggerators are interviewed about their past academic performance, they don't show any of the physiological hallmarks associate...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Digest Source Type: blogs
Statistically significant t-shirts
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I just came across this range of great stats-themed t-shirts from Sassystatistics.com. Surely a must have gift for the stats lecturer in your life.Link to Sassystatistics.com (Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST)
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Digest Source Type: blogs
I will possess your heart
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How I wish you could see the potential,The potential of you and me,It's like a book, elegantly bound but,In a language that you can't read (just yet).I Will Possess Your Heart ------Death Cab For CutieThe latest single from Death Cab for Cutie describes a stalker's obsession with his distant and unattainable object of desire. As singer Ben Gibbard explains:"Writing songs of unrequited love and 'stalker-type tunes' isn't exactly breaking new ground or anything like that, but with 'Heart' I feel like it's the sentiments that make it so creepy," Gibbard said. "And this is a work of fiction — it's not something I'm guilty o...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Empathy is not justice
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David Harsanyi notes Obama's take on how justices should be appointed:
After a recent Supreme Court death penalty case, Obama said he would nominate justices who shared "one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy."
Relying on such extraordinarily subjective views undercuts the idea of blind justice. (Source: Dr. Helen)
Source: Dr. Helen - May 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Helen Source Type: blogs
discuss this article
Instapundit linked to a blog asking about the value of a college education. I broke my hand in a fight, did other stupid stuff; so, although there were some intellectual value to UT Austin, a different loco parentis was probably called for. Medical school, Psychiatry residency, psychoanalysis with Clarence Parker, working for effective men at the VA and meeting the veterans yielded though a broadening education and socialization. (Source: a psychiatrist who learned from veterans)
Source: a psychiatrist who learned from veterans - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Economic journal watch - table of contents
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The latest issue of Economic Journal Watch includes several pieces of interest to Situationist readers:
Table of Contents with links to articles (pdf)
Smoking “Externalities”: David Henderson rejoins the debate with Benjamin Alamar and Stanton Glantz on smoking bans in restaurants. Alamar and Glantz reply.
Why Few Women in Economics?: Christina Jonung and Ann-Charlotte Ståhlberg show that women are under-represented in economics in five countries and discuss explanations. Commentaries are provided by Ann Mari May, Deirdre McCloskey, Catherine Hakim, John Johnson, and Garett Jones.
Honestly, Who Else Would...
Source: The Situationist - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: Abstracts Deep Capture Food and Drug Law Table of Contents Source Type: blogs
The shrink rappers go to apa
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First, congratulations to Clink on her new job and her new appointment to a professional society's board. Way to go, girl!I learned a lot at APA this year, some of it useful, some of it simply interesting (but useless).Where do I start? ClinkShrink already told you that we met some readers.....Hi, Sophizo, Hi, "Shrink Rap," and if you read the comments to Clink's post, well, there were others in the audience. It was fun. I didn't freak and faint. Thanks to Roy for setting this up and for including me. When is he coming to organize the rest of my life? Who is TigerMom?So at our presentation: I learned about the Psycho-babb...
Source: Shrink Rap - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: APA Source Type: blogs
Warping court memories with subtle suggestions
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The legal system works on a principal of innocent until proven guilty by the evidence presented in court, but Cognitive Daily covers several studies that shown our memory of the evidence is affected by moral judgements of the person in question.
With their trademark clarity, CogDaily discuss a study [pdf] by psychologist David Pizarro that found if participants were told about man leaving a restaurant without paying, they remembered the unpaid bill being more expensive if they were told he treated the waiters rudely, than if they were told he was generally a responsible person.
The study is reminiscent of a famous experi...
Source: Mind Hacks - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Remembering Source Type: blogs
Perceived moral blame can change the memory of a crime
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Anton races home at speeds well in excess of the speed limit. He's rushing to beat his parents home so that he can hide their anniversary present so it will be a surprise. Suddenly, he hits a slick patch and runs his car off the road an into a tree. He's okay, but the car is totaled and his parent's surprise anniversary party is ruined.
How much is Anton to blame for the accident? If you had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, maybe you'd give him a 7. After all, he was just trying to do something special for his parents.
But what if instead of hiding an anniversary present, Anton was rushing home to hide his cocaine stash...
Source: Cognitive Daily - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Research Source Type: blogs
Male body symmmetry, more female orgasms
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This study, and the new study published in PLoS One, also suggested that symmetry was associated with more masculine features generally - a bigger body in the orgasm study, and a more typically male face in the PLoS research.
The evolutionary explanation suggested by the authors is that female orgasm during copulation may make pregnancy more likely, so it's an adaptive strategy to increase fertility when making love to males with genes more likely to lead to healthy children.
How orgasm increases with body symmetry is not clearly understood, though. The authors speculate that female perception of a highly symmetrical mal...
Source: Mind Hacks - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Togetherness Source Type: blogs
Single session psychotherapy
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Therapists have a secret that they would rather most people not know.
Up to 40% of new psychotherapy clients never come back for a second session.
While many therapists would consider such single session clients “failures,” but the fact is that given how often it happens, they must provide people with some benefit or relief in some percentage of those cases. (Others likely just find the therapy experience not helpful to their needs, not what they expected, or disliked the particular therapist they saw.)
The APA’s Monitor on Psychology this month has an article on phenomenon, with helpful tips to therap...
Source: World of Psychology - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: General Psychotherapy session single helpful therapist mueller cajole drebing unearth single session one only treatment psychologist professional mental health secret Source Type: blogs
Giving intelligence-fair feedback?
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You’ll likely measure our workplace offerings fairly… only if you:1. Look more at evidence of our work … than approaches used to get there.2. Allow for the fact that our brains wire and operate differently from yours.3. Consider multiple intelligences tossed into the mix of our offerings.4. Ask questions that invite genuine solutions or parts of an answer.5. Create more pathways toward creations than trails toward criticisms.6. Expect inventions that could change and improve your workplace world.7. Demonstrate and model the benefits of tone to the finish line.8. Welcome targets with wi...
Source: BrainBasedBusiness - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: brain links to business Ellen Weber evidence of excellence fair assessments intelligence fair feedback quality outcomes talents ignored talents rewarded Source Type: blogs
Cookie monster becomes aware
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An article from McSweeney's (I know, I know) called, Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself, And Asks: Is Me Really Monster?While humorous though predictable, I did catch a reply on Metafilter which, in my opinion, borders on genius:They are all monsters, that's the point. The show is for children,
don't forget. They are monsters the kids don't have to fear. The show's
message for kids was "We know you're sometimes afraid of monsters, but
not all monsters are bad.
Sometimes monsters can be cute and cuddly and quirky and funny. Elmo's
a monster and he has such a cute giggle!. These are the good monsters.
Not like the...
Source: The Last Psychiatrist - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Humor Source Type: blogs
The history of the brain
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BBC Radio 4's legendary history of ideas programme In Our Time takes an in-depth and fascinating look at the history of the brain.
The programme tracks the earliest Western ideas on the function and purpose of the brain from the times of the ancient Greeks.
What's most fascinating is how some completely false ideas about the brain survived centuries, despite the fact that it would have been easy to see how they were incorrect, if it weren't for the reluctance to actually do dissection studies on humans.
However, there were rare exceptions in the ancient world. For example, Herophilos and Erasistratus dissected the brain...
Source: Mind Hacks - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: News Source Type: blogs
The digital resolution of the mind: discrete precision in working memory
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Does the resolution or precision of human memory change with its available capacity? In other words, can you remember fewer items with greater precision than you can remember multiple items?
Contradicting intuition, a new paper from yesterday's issue of Nature shows that all items are stored in memory with equal resolution, regardless of the number of items stored. Authors Zhang & Luck first showed that subjects are equally accurate in reporting the color of a memorized item regardless of the number of other items being maintained in memory. Specifically, when subjects were asked to select the color of a square from memo...
Source: Developing Intelligence - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Source Type: blogs
Happy birthday to israel at 60
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That Israel arose from the ashes of the Holocaust and has become a great nation is more than a miracle. It is the ongoing culmination of a long series of miracles.
Although at times I have given in to pessimism about the future of Israel, in fact, it is more secure and more dynamic than at any other time in its history. The threat from Iran looms, and the smaller threats from terror and the relentless attempts to delegitimize her persist, but it has been a long time since Israel has had to fight for her life against the armies of her enemies. Neither Iran nor the PalestinianTerror will destroy Isr...
Source: ShrinkWrapped - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ShrinkWrapped Source Type: blogs
Naive cynicism - abstract
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This article explores how dispositionism maintains its dominance despite the fact that it misses so much of what actually moves us. It argues that the answer lies in a subordinate dynamic and discourse, naïve cynicism: the basic subconscious mechanism by which dispositionists discredit and dismiss situationist insights and their proponents. Without it, the dominant person schema — dispositionism — would be far more vulnerable to challenge and change, and the more accurate person schema — situationism — would be less easily and effectively attacked. Naïve cynicism is thus critically important to ex...
Source: The Situationist - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: Abstracts Conflict Ideology Legal Theory Naive Cynicism Politics Social Psychology Uncategorized Abu Ghraib Law Policy realism Rhetoric situationism Us versus Them Source Type: blogs
Erudition / inteligibility check
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I have a question for you all! Shall we take a vote?
So. The other day I came across the following widget on someone’s blog and found it intriguing; you can get your blog rated for its reading level! I plugged my general blog URL in, and got this, which I then posted on [...] (Source: Andrea's Buzzing About:)
Source: Andrea's Buzzing About: - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: qw88nb88 Tags: Communication Humor/ Fun Stuff Source Type: blogs
Forgo genetic testing — for now
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Forgo genetic testing for mental disorders such as bipolar disorder for now. The commercial tests which are coming on the market now offer little in the way of useful, actionable information, and can only tell you whether you may be at increased risk for a tiny subset of genes which may have a slightly higher incidence connected to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Worse yet, the vast majority of people who are diagnosed with a disorder that may have a genetic component do not carry the genes these tests look for. That means that the test could come back negative, and you could still have the disorder. So what’s the ...
Source: World of Psychology - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: General Brain and Behavior Mental Health & Wellness forgo testing genetic prey suckered tests actionable genes Source Type: blogs
Peak oil, proton therapy, and the future of high-tech medicine
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One thing about hospitals, is that they use an awful
lot of
electricity. We already know about some of the
challenges
that will occur in health care in the post-peak-oil era; I wrote about
that in October
2007.
...Petroleum scarcity will affect the health system
in at least 4 ways:
through effects on medical supplies and equipment, transportation,
energy generation, and food production...
One way this will affect medical care is that it will change the
relative costs of certain kinds of care. Everything will cost
more, of course. More interestingly, the costs for some
things will rise much faste...
Source: The Corpus Callosum - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: Medicine newtag Source Type: blogs
'upscale ghetto' rhetoric & demagoguery
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Thomas Sowell on Obama:Like everyone else, I have also been hearing a lot lately about Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the church that Barack Obama has belonged to for 20 years.Both men, in their different ways, have for decades been promoting the far left vision of victimization and grievances-- Wright from his pulpit and Obama in roles ranging from community organizer to the United States Senate, where he has had the farthest left voting record.Later, when the ultimate political prize-- the White House-- loomed on the horizon, Obama did a complete makeover, now portraying himself as a healer of divisions.The difference...
Source: Dr. Sanity - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
And on it goes
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Will the voters begin to have second thoughts?As the candidates fine-tune their messages for the remaining primaries: (Source: Dr. Sanity)
Source: Dr. Sanity - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
The high individual and societal costs of mental illness
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This study shows us that just one source of these indirect costs is staggeringly high." Direct costs associated with mental disorders like medication, clinic visits, and hospitalization, are relatively easy to quantify, but they reveal only a small portion of the economic burden these illnesses place on society. Indirect costs like lost earnings likely account for enormous expenses, but they are very difficult to define and estimate. In the new study, Ronald C. Kessler, PhD, of Harvard University, and colleagues analyzed data from the 2002 National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative study o...
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: mental illness Source Type: blogs
Virtual reality therapy shows promise for ptsd patients
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Early data from a NIMH-sponsored double-blind study of 24 war veterans shows a marked reduction in acoustic startle - the reflex response to sudden loud sounds - in those treated with virtual reality exposure therapy combined with either d-cycloserine (Seromycin®), an antibiotic that has been shown to facilitate the extinction of fear memories; pill placebo; or the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam (Xanax®). "These preliminary data suggest that this type of virtual reality exposure therapy is effective in reducing the elevated startle response that was evident before treatment," says Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, a profe...
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: d cycloserine post traumatic stress disorder virtual reality therapy Source Type: blogs
New imaging techniques identify brain regions, neurotransmitters underlying mood disorders
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Recently developed imaging techniques allow the mapping of the brain circuits and chemical (neurotransmitter) systems believed responsible for a range of mood abnormalities including depression and bipolar disorder, and hold promise for improved treatments, scientists say. They spoke at a symposia sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a part of the National Institutes of Health, during the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in Washington DC. "These studies contribute new information about how the brain malfunctions in depression and bipolar disorder, what goes wrong with brain chemicals,...
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: bipolar disorder clinical depression neurotransmitters Source Type: blogs
Ptsd common in chronic migraine sufferers
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more common in people who suffer from chronic migraine headache than in those with episodic migraine headache, research suggests. More... © Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Tags: migraines Source Type: blogs
Apa: depressed inpatients may benefit from drug-metabolizing enzyme testing
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By John Gever, Staff Writer, MedPage Today WASHINGTON, May 6 — Testing depressed inpatients for abnormalities in cytochrome P450 drug-metabolizing enzymes may be warranted, a researcher said here. About 20% of patients hospitalized for depression had at least three defects in CYP450 genes, reported Gualberto Ruaño, MD, PhD, of Genomas Inc. in Hartford, Conn., at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting here. He said these patients tended to do poorly on initial treatment with standard drugs. More... © 2004-2008 MedPage Today, LLC. All Rights Reserved. (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info)
Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info - May 8, 2008 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Anxiety Insights Source Type: blogs
