A great explanatory video about this phenomenon is available here:
The Placebo Effect
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
preventing suicide
"Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world. “Preventing suicide: a global imperative” is the first WHO report of its kind. It aims to increase awareness of the public health significance of suicide and suicide attempts, to make suicide prevention a higher priority on the global public health agenda, and to encourage and support countries to develop or strengthen comprehensive suicide prevention strategies in a multisectoral public health approach."
The full WHO report is available here:
Preventing Suicide - A Global Imperative
The full WHO report is available here:
Preventing Suicide - A Global Imperative
benzodiazepine use and Alzheimer's - is there a link?
A research article available from the link below seems to suggest that there is:
benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer's
benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer's
depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period
A July 2014 report on the antidepressant treatment of this phenomenon is available at this link:
Antidepressant treatment of depression in pregnancy
Antidepressant treatment of depression in pregnancy
World Alzheimer Report 2014
"The World Alzheimer Report 2014, Dementia and Risk Reduction: An analysis of protective and modifiable factors critically examines the evidence for the existence of modifiable risk factors for dementia.
It focuses on sets of potential modifiable risk factors in four key domains: developmental, psychological and psychosocial, lifestyle and cardiovascular conditions. The report makes recommendations to drive public health campaigns and disease prevention strategies.
The report which was researched and authored by Prof Martin Prince, Prof Emiliano Albanese, Dr Maëlenn Guerchet and Dr Matthew Prina on behalf of the Global Observatory for Ageing and Dementia Care which is hosted at the Health Service and Population Research Department, King’s College London."
The full report is available at this link:
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
St. Catherine of Siena
This 14th century Italian nun (1347-1380) has been described by some as the first recorded case of anorexia nervosa. She ate nothing for long periods of time, her only sustenance coming from communion wafers.
"For many years she had accustomed herself to so rigorous an abstinence, that the blessed eucharist might be said to be almost the only nourishment which supported her. Once she fasted from Ash Wednesday till Ascension-day, receiving only the blessed eucharist during that whole time."
taken from Vol. IV of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" by the Rev. Alban Butler, the 1864 edition published by D. & J. Sadlier, & Company.
This extreme example of fasting was frowned upon by clergy, and her own priest-confessor ordered her to eat properly. Catherine replied that she could not do so, describing the situation as an illness. The condition worsened to such an extent that by the beginning of 1380 she could neither eat not swallow water.
"With the new year a great bodily change came over her, but still she struggled to continue her work, though now it was pain to her not only to eat, but even to swallow a sip of water, so that she was tormented with thirst."
taken from "St. Catherine of Siena" by Alfred W. Pollard (1919), published by Sidgwick & Jackson, London, England.
By the beginning of February she could no longer use her legs.
"She was so emaciated that her bones could be easily counted. She appeared withered, and her face worn and sunk, and it no longer presented the same beauty as formerly........Her body was then reduced to the state in which painters represent death; her limbs seemed to be those of a mere skeleton covered with a transparent skin. Her strength was so annihilated that she could not turn herself from one side to the other."
taken from "Catherine of Siena - A Biography" by Josephine E. Butler (1894; 3rd edition), published by Horace Marshall & Son of London, England.
Ultimately the condition led to her death in Rome on 29 April 1380.
"For many years she had accustomed herself to so rigorous an abstinence, that the blessed eucharist might be said to be almost the only nourishment which supported her. Once she fasted from Ash Wednesday till Ascension-day, receiving only the blessed eucharist during that whole time."
taken from Vol. IV of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" by the Rev. Alban Butler, the 1864 edition published by D. & J. Sadlier, & Company.
This extreme example of fasting was frowned upon by clergy, and her own priest-confessor ordered her to eat properly. Catherine replied that she could not do so, describing the situation as an illness. The condition worsened to such an extent that by the beginning of 1380 she could neither eat not swallow water.
"With the new year a great bodily change came over her, but still she struggled to continue her work, though now it was pain to her not only to eat, but even to swallow a sip of water, so that she was tormented with thirst."
taken from "St. Catherine of Siena" by Alfred W. Pollard (1919), published by Sidgwick & Jackson, London, England.
By the beginning of February she could no longer use her legs.
"She was so emaciated that her bones could be easily counted. She appeared withered, and her face worn and sunk, and it no longer presented the same beauty as formerly........Her body was then reduced to the state in which painters represent death; her limbs seemed to be those of a mere skeleton covered with a transparent skin. Her strength was so annihilated that she could not turn herself from one side to the other."
taken from "Catherine of Siena - A Biography" by Josephine E. Butler (1894; 3rd edition), published by Horace Marshall & Son of London, England.
Ultimately the condition led to her death in Rome on 29 April 1380.
evolutionary psychiatry
This website has a load of really interesting articles regarding evolutionary psychiatry:
evolutionary psychiatry
Examples include:
evolutionary psychiatry
Examples include:
Is Gluten Causing Your Depression?
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