Reading for today:
- Psychiatrist Calls Many Docs ‘Pill Pushers‘ – Health News Story – WCVB Boston — In a new book, a local psychiatrist calls doctors in his own field “pill pushers” and says not enough is being done to treat patients with more than a prescription. “The meds don’t go far enough and people need more than just a pill,” said Newburyport psychiatrist Dan Carlat. Of course those of us who know Daniel Carlat, know he does not go far enough and still likes his meds a bit too much for comfort. Go to the end of the article Mind Over Meds and one sees he still drinks the kool-aid.
- Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals – Yahoo! News — Life looks a little rosier after 50, a new study finds. Older people in their mid- to late-50s are generally happier, and experience less stress and worry than young adults in their 20s, the researchers say.
- The cost of medicalizing human conditions PhysOrg.com — Menopause. Normal pregnancy. Infertility. ADHD. Erectile dysfunction. Over the last several decades, these conditions have come to be defined and treated as medical problems. They’ve been “medicalized.” In the first study of its kind in the current issue of Social Science and Medicine, Brandeis researchers used national data to estimate the costs of these and a handful of other common conditions on escalating U.S. healthcare spending.
- A Journey…: You’re Nuts Not Traumatized – Life Sentence: schizophrenia — So it was clearly stated that it was long term exposure to life stressors that had “triggered” the onset of “mental illness”…not once was it ever discussed that this was a natural response to some extraordinary life events, some of which had me fearing for mine and my childrens safety.
- Dopamine system in highly creative people similar to that seen in schizophrenics, study finds Science Daily — It’s likely creatives and schizophrenics are one and the same, the second being the result of the environment and they just get warehoused these days. Many people do recover given the chance but in our biopsych culture the incidence of recovery goes way down with aggressive chemical treatments. High creative skills have been shown to be somewhat more common in people who have mental illness in the family. Creativity is also linked to a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Certain psychological traits, such as the ability to make unusual pr bizarre associations are also shared by schizophrenics and healthy, highly creative people. And now the correlation between creativity and mental health has scientific backing.