This week, I
>> saw a video of a woman undergoing a thyroidectomy with no anesthesia or analgesia. This film, shot sometime in the 1950s, shows Dr. William Kroger demonstrating the effects of hypnosis. His technique, frankly, makes me cringe, but the results (on this tape, anyway) are incredible: The surgeons are slicing open her neck and she’s laying there, still, without any tubes or lines entering or leaving her body. After the procedure, she awakens, smiles, sits up, and hops off of the table without problems.
Physicians have little difficulty believing that the mind can produce symptoms of pain and discomfort (”psych consult!”), though they balk at the idea that it can also relieve pain.
>> learned that there is apparently an eight-month old infant in the state of Washington who has been prescribed olanzapine (Zyprexa). This makes me angry.
>> realized (more fully) that I am soon moving to New York. I skimmed the ads on Craigslist and was thoroughly amused to read that there are 200 square foot studio apartments that rent for $1600 a month in Manhattan. And by “amused”, I mean “flabbergasted”. And by “flabbergasted”, I mean “kinda horrified”. And by “kinda”, I mean “really”.
I’m. So. Excited! (About moving to New York City. Not so much about finding a place to live.)
>> resumed running. I’m behind the pace bunny for my 1000-kilometer goal for 2008. (Never in my life did I anticipate that I would ever use the term “pace bunny”.) I blame the virus that infected my respiratory system for the break. I’d like to run at least one 5K in 2008… and it’d be nice to say that I ran one in Seattle. How about the St. Pat’s Dash?
>> learned a little about Sandor Ferenczi. He was a Hungarian psychoanalyst. He experimented with “mutual analysis”, where he would analyze a patient for a session… and then the patient would analyze him for a session. Oy.
>> resumed teaching. The medical students have returned from their holiday and they remain as curious, enthusiastic, and engaged as ever! (They make a good group. Their buoyancy rewards my efforts.)
(More stories to follow, Muse permitting.)
18 Jan 2008 |
Any chance of getting hospital housing? I think that all of our 8 fellows currently live in hospital housing.
Comment by Abby | 19 Jan 2008 @ 6:24am
An 8 month old on Zyprexa. What next? What are the parents thinking in their minds?
This may sound kinda morbid but I hear that it is easy to find good apartments in Manhattan looking through the obituaries. :S
Comment by Dragon | 19 Jan 2008 @ 10:25am
Everyone wants a quick pill to make them happy. Why we cannot tolerate unhappiness. After all it is a normal emotion. Kid on Zyprexa- probably he was crying too much from ear pain. At this rate I wont be surprised if they come up with PRENATAL ANTI DEPRESSANTS.
Comment by SSS | 19 Jan 2008 @ 2:51pm
So, stringing a response together, sounds like you need to teach self-hypnosis while running so you can avoid the pain of the salarectomy from an expensive apartment, otherwise you may need Zyprexa or perhaps mutual analysis.
Comment by Greg P | 19 Jan 2008 @ 4:47pm
An 8 month old on zyprexa?!? I’m quite certain there is no way to determine if an infant is experienceing psychosis! Disgusting.
Comment by Fallen Angels | 20 Jan 2008 @ 12:15pm
I can’t wait until the evil men who knowingly hid the lethal effects of Zyprexa walk to the Big House. Only then will justice be done. So far many civil cases and NO criminal cases against them even though the evidence is RIGHT THERE on the Zyprexa documents. I pray for justice, and for the innocent children. And I pray for those who have died; for their shattered families.
Comment by Sorrowful | 20 Jan 2008 @ 5:20pm
You are just as culpable, the person who writes this blog, in all psychiatric deaths.
You in ‘good’ conscience undergo ‘training’ in performing willful brain damage on innocent human beings, who go to you when they are at their weakest ebb.
Your choice of career is evil, one day you will see. You have no hard science backing anything you attempt to do. You engage on a massive scale in destroying people’s lives. And you really should stop before you grow old and see the damage you are going to have a hand in.
Comment by Victim of Your Pseudoscience | 20 Jan 2008 @ 8:04pm