Monday, June 30, 2008

Would I Pull the Switch?

6/30/08. Not many psychological experiments are talked about 50 years after they have been completed. Stanley Milgram's studies on obedience fall into that rare class of studies that continue to disturb and rattle our view of human nature.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01mind.html

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Practice Parameters for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

6/25/08. Many intelligent consumers are skeptical about the existence of ADHD, question whether those diagnosed with ADHD are over medicated, and even wonder if ADHD stems from children raised by permissive parents.

The prestigious American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists has written a guideline to answer the above questions and draws upon current standards of practice based on the latest research findings and treatment recommendations regarding the best treatments for ADHD:

"Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, 2007."

http://www.aacap.org/galleries/PracticeParameters/JAACAP_ADHD_2007.pdf

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Insanity Offense

6/14/08. Paul McHugh reviews E. Fuller Torrey's book "The Insanity Offense." Torrey provides an accurate history of how liberbals and conservatives got together --- for different reasons --- to empty out the state-run psychiatric hospitals that produced the homeless population, among other social disasters.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121341017433574441.html

Friday, June 6, 2008

A Doctor Finds Miracles in Medicine

6/6/07. Sherwin B. Nuland is a surgeon and professor of medicine at Yale University. He is the author of nine previous books, including the award winning "How We Die." His new book, reviewed below, is called "The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/books/06book.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Monday, June 2, 2008

Put a Little Science in Your Life

6/2/08. Professor of physics at Columbia, Brian Greene is the author of "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos." In this New York Times Op-Ed piece, Professor Greene offers sage advice. He tells us that "Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding....reveals patterns confirmed by experiment and observation, (and) is one of the most precious of human experiences."

He notes that science tries to answer big questions:
"Where did the universe come from?
How did life originate?
How does the brain give rise to consciousness?...

We must embark on a cultural shift that places science in its rightful place alongside music, art, and literature as an indispensable part of what makes life worth living."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01greene.html?em&ex=1212552000&en=b8d2f5a9a25f1d82&ei=5087%0A