Category: Neuroscience/Mental Health
Man in Coma 23 Years – Is He Really Conscious?
Belgian citizen Rob Houben has been noncommunicative for 23 years. Has he suddenly gained the ability to communicate?
The Mythbusters of Psychology
Karl Popper said “Science must begin with myths and with the criticism of myths.” Popular psychology is a prolific source of myths. It has produced widely held beliefs that “everyone knows are true” but that are contradicted by psychological research. A new book does an excellent job of mythbusting: 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by...
It’s All in Your Head
I have never used those words to a patient or about a patient. I have also never heard a colleague use any similar term to a patient. And yet on many occasions I have had patients ask me, “So you’re telling me it’s all in my head?” The concept of what are now called psychogenic symptoms is a tricky one for various...
CFS: Viral vs somatization
If the association is confirmed, the finding will have near-revolutionary implications for our understanding disease – particularly infectious disease. If there is a confirmed model for such a vague set of symptoms signifying some occult infection limited to immune cells, which produces no repeatable cellular or antibody abnormality, no susceptibility to other infections (such as with HIV) and in which the sites...
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October 14, 2009
Minimally Conscious vs Persistent Vegetative State
A new study suggests that it may not be uncommon for patients who are in a minimally conscious state to be misdiagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. The study underscores the necessity of using standardized and objective diagnostic criteria in diagnosing coma. However, it also leaves some important questions unanswered. As background it is essential to understand a bit about...
Woosceptibility: A Brief Interview With James Randi
James Randi, perhaps better known as “The Amazing Randi” has spent most of his life performing magic shows. In 1996 he created the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) designed to expose the fraudulent claims made by psychics, faith healers, and snake oil salesmen. The ultimate goal of the JREF is to create a new generation of critical thinkers – people who will...
Chemical castration for autism: After three years, the mainstream media finally notices
We’ve written a lot about anti-vaccine zealotry on this blog, as Steve and I take a particular interest in this particular form of dangerous pseudoscience for a number of reasons. One reason, of course, is that the activities of antivaccine groups like Generation Rescue and its spokesmodel since 2007 (Jenny McCarthy, a frequent topic on this blog) have started to frighten parents...
Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends: The Jenny and Jim antivaccine propaganda tour has begun
As hard as it is to believe, 2009 started out very promising from the perspective of actually countering the misinformation of the antivaccine movement. Antivaccine hero Andrew Wakefield, who with the help of the credulous and sensationalistic media started the entire MMR-autism scare in the U.K. a decade ago, was revealed as not just having been in the pocket of trial lawyers...
Involuntary Treatment – Civil Rights or Civil Wrongs?
In the 1950s, 558,000 people were in mental institutions in the U.S. Many were there against their will and were being warehoused or treated badly. Deinstitutionalization was intended to restore their civil rights and improve their lot. Did it? By 2006, there were only 40,000 people in institutions. What happened to the other 518,000? Some of them are living in the community...
Train Your Brain
I’m a big fan of video games, puzzles, and brain teasers. So the notion that so-called “brain training” games can help improve mental function and stave off dementia has some appeal to me. It also makes a certain amount of sense – exercise your brain and its function will improve. And yet, as a skeptic, I have always been bothered by the...