mental health

This guys brain is sorta having an out of body experience... In any case, The March 6 issue of the journal Neurology has an article in it entitled, Out-of-body experience and arousal. where they found that some people's brains already may be predisposed to these sorts of experiences. They found that an out-of-body experience is statistically as likely to occur during a near death experience as it is to occur during the transition between wakefulness and sleep. Nelson suggests that phenomena in the brain's arousal system, which regulates different states of consciousness including REM sleep…
Underweight baby girls are at a increased risk for depression, according to a recent study. Researchers found that girls who weighed less than 2.5kg (5.5lb) at birth were more likely to suffer depression when they are between the ages of 13 to 16 than those girls born at a normal weight. The study, which was led by Duke University, examined data on more than 1,400 children, aged nine to 16. The Duke University study found that among girls, 5.7% were born weighing less than 2.5kg, and of these, 38% experienced depression at least once between the ages of 13 and 16. Previous studies have…
A study from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center in Australia has shown that nearly a third of people under the age of 30 think marijuana is totally uncool. Drug abuse is clearly a problem that has to be dealt with through education and treatment programs (don't get me started on the war on drugs though). The only problem with this statistic is that people might think marijuana is uncool for totally inaccurate reasons that they pick up either through a lack of education (or even more bothersome - mis-education). It seems that a possible reason that people believe pot is so…
Normally I do not review books that have been out for longer than a year or so, but while I was in the hospital, I decided to celebrate Columbus Day by reading a book that was sent to me by my blog pal, Tara. This book, Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis by Deborah Hayden (New York: Basic Books, 2004, 2005), turned out to be an interesting biography of a bacterial infection that has baffled doctors for hundreds of years. In the first part of the book, the author observes that there are two main problems associated with an case history of syphilis: first, syphilis is "the…
Restless Legs Syndrome is a neurological disorder, in spite of what you might think from the ridiculous ads on television. RLS is a syndrome where the individual has weird sensations in their legs while they are trying to relax. These sensations can be just unpleasant, or they can be quite painful. The result is that the individual has trouble sleeping -- leading to a marked reduction in their quality of life and ability to function. RLS is treated with drugs similar to Parkinson's drugs -- drugs that function as dopamine agonists. It is known that a rare side effect of Parkinson's…
I'm proud to report that Ted Haggard is no longer gay since he underwent three whole weeks of very intensive counseling. He was so impressed with his counseling that him and his wife are going to attend university and get their masters degrees in psychology (I'm psyched he's joining me in my chosen profession!). It sounds like they'll be going to Phoenix Online University or somewhere similar and hopefully counseling people to ungay themselves just like he was so successful in doing! All praise Rev. Haggard! The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced…
I'm really surprised when I run across something I've never ever heard about before. This is one of them. BIID or body identity integrity disorder is when a person feels a compulsion to remove one or more body parts (arms, finger, legs, toes and I can't image what else). Below is a snippet from a very personal article from the Guardian about someone with this disorder. I was six when I first became aware of my desire to lose my legs. I don't remember what started it - there was no specific trigger. Most people want to change something about themselves, and the image I have of myself has…
Check out the brains of mice on drugs. This site is a very strange one to say the least- it starts with a bunch of high mice in a club of sorts just struggling to stand up. Then the interactive flash demo starts in which you have to drag a mouse into a comfy chair which transports it into a weird device that shows what's happening to the mouse's brain depending on what it snorted, smoked, or injected earlier. Freakin' weird - a wee bit trippy ;). Especially from an academic institution.Check out the Mouse Party.
It seems that alcoholics just can't seem to get a joke. In this study from Germany, participants underwent a series of tests including, mood, intelligence, memory, psychomotor skills, and their ability to enjoy a joke. For example, one of the jokes tested on the subjects began as follows: It was Mother's Day. Anna and her brother had told their mother to stay in bed that morning. She read her book and looked forward to breakfast. After a long wait she finally went downstairs. Anna and her brother were both eating at the table. The subjects were given a choice of five punchlines: a) Anna said…
Answer... They both have tasteless protests when someone dies from something they attribute to the wrong thing. A Scientology group targeting "toxic" medications plans to protest in Sudbury today for a public airing of any drugs given to the teen accused of murdering another boy at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School last week. The group's gripe hits as the Sudbury community struggles to cope with Friday's stabbing death of straight-A student James Alenson, 15. Scientologists are demanding at the demonstration that: the types of drugs given to accused killer John Odgren, 16, and the…
More psychic pets! Wooo... aren't you excited? I uhh... am? by Craig Hamilton-Parker Does your pet read your mind, see into the future, know the time or can find you wherever you are? Professional TV psychic, Craig Hamilton-Parker, believes many pets have psychic powers. Here he reveals the evidence and has designed some simple experiments to test your pet's paranormal potential. Hmm... It's almost like he's one of those people who calls himself by his own name... weird. But not quite as weird as the whole pet psychic idea to begin with. Scientific research is slowly beginning to…
It looks like there are a couple of interesting articles/TV shows out there in the last couple days highlighting some Omni Brain topics of the last few weeks. You know how I love the mind control people, It looks like the Washington Post has a great article on it... Mind Games New on the Internet: a community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that. And of course you all remember the severed dogs head! National Geographic is producing a show about the Russian research that came up…
There is a new study in Sweden that was just published showing a relationship between sleep disturbances, mainly nightmares, and suicide attempts. Most (89 percent) patients reported having at least one type of sleep problem, with difficulty falling asleep as the most common problem (73 percent), the researchers report in the journal SLEEP. In addition, 69 percent said they had trouble staying asleep and nearly 60 percent said they experienced early morning awakening. Two out of every three patients (66 percent) also reported experiencing nightmares, study findings indicate. "Frequent…
We're always happy to link to (good) sites mentioning Omni Brain - but this one is better than usual :) Check out this interesting podcast from the blog Shrink Rap called My Three Shrinks. This week covers topics like neuroeconomics, fMRI lie detection, and of course omnibrain ;) If you haven't been to Shrink Rap before...Dinah, ClinkShrink, & Roy introduce Shrink Rap: a blog by psychiatrists for psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen. All patient vignettes are confabulated; the psychiatrists, however, are mostly real.
It seems that the New York Times may have some rampant speculation on their hands as to what parts of the brain make a hero ;) When Mr. Autrey saw the stranger, Cameron Hollopeter, 20, tumble onto the tracks, his brain reacted just as anyone else's would. His thalamus, which absorbs sensory information, registered the fall, and sent the information to other parts of the brain for processing, said Gregory L. Fricchione, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Mr. Autrey's amygdala, the part of the brain that mediates fear responses, was activated and sent sensory…
A new research study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry revealed that people who were either physically abused or neglected or both when they were children have as much as a 75% chance of suffering from major depression when they reach adulthood; Physically abused and neglected children are much more likely to grow into severely depressed adults, a finding that researchers said points to an urgent need to test abused children for depression early on. Physically abused children have a 59 percent increased risk of lifetime major depression compared with similar children who were…
After a previous post about mind control devices I received an interesting email from Catherine Heywood of the British Mind Control Network. It's a shame that "The British Mind Control Network (BMCN) is an online resource at present but hopes to become so within the next three years" I'm sure there would be some pretty interesting reading on that site to say the least. Get that website up Catherine! In any case, it seems that there is some serious mind control going on in Britain and elsewhere ;) See below the fold for some details - and the document I received. The British are deploying…
-via mindhacks- This is Temple Grandin, whose Autism helps her understand the cows she's working with. She helps them feel comfortable as they get taken to the slaughter house. Temple was profiled by Oliver Sacks in An Anthropologist on Mars. I think she might have even made the comment that she feels like an anthropologist on mars which obviously became the title of the book (i could be wrong since its been a while since I've read it). I think she also created an interesting machine that could best be described as a 'hugging' machine.
In no particular order...1) Being a south paw promotes survival from attacks (well at least in crabs). It seems thatThe left-handed advantage is realized when snails interact with predators of opposite handedness. Some predatory crabs are "righties" -- and have a specialized tooth on their right claw that acts like a can opener to crack and peel the snail shells. "The 'sinistral advantage,' or advantage to being left-handed, is that it would be like using a can opener backwards for the crab to crack and peel the snail shell," Does something like this apply to humans? We're still waiting…
An interesting History channel segment about Aldous Huxley and his mescaline use. If you haven't read The Doors of Perception - or really most of his other works - you should!