Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Therapists take on soldiers' trauma in Iraq

This Wall Street Journal Article gives a good summary of the particular issues affecting efforts to deal with PTSD in Iraq.
I was particularly struck by the contrasts with the situation in Viet Nam and some of the similarities with the situation in World War I.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Doctor balked at becoming state's jailer

Here is a follow up on an earlier story.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Nathaniel's Story: From Juilliard to Skid Row

This is a moving story about a homeless schizophrenic man in Los Angeles.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Melancholia in Homer

Jean Starobinski in his History of the Treatment of Melancholia, which was originally published in 1960 notes that,"melancholia, like so many painful states tied to the human condition, have been experienced and described before having received its name and medical explanation." As an example he cites the Iliad (ch. vi) where Belerophon submits inexplicably to the anger of the gods: "but when Bellerophon came to be hated by all the gods, he wandered all desolate and dismayed upon the Alean plain, gnawing at his own heart, and shunning the path of man." According to Starobinski Belerophon's desolate wandering is a senseless disaster because he is a courageous and just hero, who has done nothing to anger the gods.

Friday, November 18, 2005

"My Lobotomy": Howard Dully's Journey

Here is the NPR broadcast. It is very well done and worth listening to..

Thursday, November 17, 2005

A Lobotomy That He Says Didn't Touch His Soul

I didn't get to hear this piece, but I am looking for it online.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Doctor quits over efforts to detain sexual predator

Now that many mentally ill people are being reinstitutionalized in prisons the struggle is on to see if they can be transfered to state mental hospitals. Here is a report from the front lines.