According to the New York Health Department, 20% of children have emotional problems or mental illness. This fits nicely with the National Institutes of Mental Health statistics showing that 20% of adults have a mental disorder (See Dr. Sturman’s article in this newsletter). As Sturman asks, could this be true?
Apparently, the rate of diagnosis of…
By Martin Sturman, MD, FACP, reproduced with permission
On Naming and Billing Codes
The “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5) is the latest in a long list of DSM’s going back to 1952. Seeking diagnostic perfection, doctors and patients alike feel comfort in the thought that naming is knowing and knowing is curing. “We see…
Guest post, published with permission from Lazy Man and Money (AITSE recommended site)
Today’s article is going to be a little different…
I write today’s article in response to the thousands and thousands of comments that I’ve gotten from multi-level marketing (MLM) distributors for various products such as MonaVie, Protandim, Youngevity, Jusuru, Asea and others that make the…
Did you know that 48% of Americans suffer from regular bouts of insomnia and that this number is rising? In fact, prescription of sleeping pills has gone up by 60% since the year 2000. It is thought that the market for sleeping pills may further increase to $3.8 billion in the near future. After all,…
AITSE recently published an overview of possible causes of the relatively recent rise in autism incidence, but it has been requested that we also investigate a paper that was published by business and finance expert, Dr Gayle Long. Not an obvious person to write on this subject, but presumably her two autistic children spurred her interest in the subject.
As would be…
According to the headline of an article at Scientific American, researchers are making progress in diagnosis of depression by a simple blood test. They celebrate that this may make it possible to treat young adults who are not even aware of their depression. But, as is often the case, the story is not so simple.
First,…
In an excellent article on The Best Schools blog, chemist Heather Zeiger writes of how Ritalin and Adderall, medications for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are widely prescribed for non-ADHD college students who wish to stay up all night and/or improve their academic performance.
But, wait! These drugs, which brought in $7.42 billion in 2010 alone, can have serious long-term side…
Wesley Smith has written a fascinating book about animal rights (Wes Smith’s blog). Not animal welfare (caring for animals in a humane fashion), but animal rights, based on the idea that animals have an intrinsic value equal to that of a human.
Smith pointed out the absurdities engendered by this position. In Spain, apes have been granted legal…
Mothers and drill sergeants have a lot in common, not the least of which is their frequent insistence on correct posture. Standing up straight is better for our health, our social position, and now, according to researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois, our attitude towards ourselves (Article).
The scientists recruited 77 students to a study where they…
Loneliness is part of the human condition—the experience is universal. After all, we are the only humans in our heads.
According to an article in the Economist, loneliness also increases mortality. Apparently, studies that followed 300,000 people, found that loneliness is just as unhealthy as smoking and drinking. UCLA professor of psychoneuroimmunology Steven Cole hypothesized that this may…
Dr. Paul Bloom of the Infant Cognition Center at Yale University published an amazing article in the New York Times Magazine–all about how babies show signs of innate morality–even at 5-8 months of age. Before discussing the article in more detail, let me point out that my granddaughter, at eight months old, could sit, blow bubbles, and…
Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD, AITSE Consortium member and UCLA research psychiatrist and expert on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and neuroplasticity has an interesting take on the connection between the mind and the brain. He views the brain as being passive, receiving signals from our senses, and the mind as the decision-making part of us that…
Did you know that 25-50% of college students, 23% of middle-aged women, and 11% of Americans take anti-depressants like Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Effexor, Paxil and Zoloft, otherwise known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s)? This is despite some disturbing facts. First, the self-same drugs have been banned for use in children in the UK because they increase the risk of suicide and the FDA has issued…
Did you know that negative emotions can lead to physical illness and physical illness can lead to negative emotions? In the same way, positive emotions can lead to health and health can lead to positive emotions. Probably you knew this. But, do you know why?
The biological basis of this phenomenon is that immune cells can release neurotransmitters, which…
Contributed by AITSE Consortium member and psychiatrist, Dr. John Benson
Psychiatry has a desperate need for scientific integrity. Obviously, there are issues touching upon psychiatric medications, but there are also a whole range of “behavioral psychology” questions around which opinion, punditry and pseudo-science abound.
With regard to pharmaceutical treatments, one difficulty is that clinical trials do not get set up…
Parenthood appears to be all about feeling guilty. And when your child suffers from autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), self-flagellating questions abound. Should we have had him/her vaccinated? Did I feed them the wrong foods? Should I have raised them differently? Did they inherit this from my family/my spouse’s family? Whose fault is…
The pediatrician adjusted his tie and peered at the first time mother and her baby, “Be sure to lie him on his back when he is asleep, but give him tummy time when he is awake.” This advice caught my interest–because it is the opposite of what I was told when I had my children…
