The Corpus Callosum

Texas Bans ALL Marriages

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:35:12 -0500

Reasonable persons still wonder why some others insist that permitting gay marriage will threaten heterosexual marriage. Now we find out: it happens as an unintended consequence. Take Texas (please):

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages
By Dave Montgomery
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Posted on Wednesday, 11.18.09

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Oxymoronic Prayer

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:41:47 -0500

A meme making the rounds in some circles is this: Prayer for Obama, Psalm 109:8. This is what is known as an imprecatory prayer, that is, a prayer that expresses ill will toward another.

This particular bit of verse is one of the less appealing and less inspirational found in the Christian Bible:

Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Let me tell you how I really feel about this. Some people are dumb. They let their emotions destroy all vestiges of whatever logic they otherwise might have been able to muster. They allow themselves to be led, and to be exploited.

There are some (plural) political parties that stand ready to exploit such persons. It is part of the gang mentality. The leaders get others to do the dirty work. The followers do get something out of it, however. They get to feel as though they are part of a greater whole, for whatever that is worth. I guess, to some people, it is worth a lot.

Note: here is a primer of the application of imprecatory prayer. I would like to think this is satire, but sadly, it appears to have been written in complete sincerity.

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Telephone Psychotherapy Effective

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:43:03 -0500

The title of this article is a little bit misleading, although not deliberately so. The study examined the question of whether telephonic CBT - added to pharmacotherapy - was beneficial, in a primary care population. Note that the primary care population is NOT the population that psychiatrists typically see. Consequently, it is not possible to extrapolate these results to most typical psychiatrist's practices. It also is not applicable to the population of persons seen in many outpatient offices of other mental health specialists.

Telephone Psychotherapy Effective, Efficient in Treatment of Depression
Medscape Medical News
Janis C. Kelly

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Good News for Coffee Drinkers

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:40:30 -0500

Actually, this is only good news for coffee drinkers who also have late-stage hepatitis C. A recent study in Hepatology showed a possible benefit to coffee consumption in patients with hepatitis C,

First I will show the treatment of the study as shown in the popular press, then the actual journal article.

Coffee Could Stall Liver Disease Progression
By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: October 21, 2009

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and

Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

Drinking three or more cups of coffee daily lowers the risk of liver disease progression for patients with chronic hepatitis C, researchers say.

Those who so indulged had a 53% decreased risk of disease progression, compared with patients who didn't drink coffee, Neal D. Freedman, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues reported in the November issue of Hepatology.

"Although we cannot rule out a possible role for other factors that go along with drinking coffee, results from our study suggest that patients with high coffee intake had a lower risk of disease progression," Freedman said in a statement...

The snippet above is from an article about the study. The actual journal article is this one:

Coffee Intake Is Associated with Lower Rates of Liver
Disease Progression in Chronic Hepatitis C

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Clozapine - Antipsychotic Polypharmacy, Part 1

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:57:16 -0500

The article I am discussing in this post is the 2008 Heinz Lehmann Award paper, published in the open-access Canadian journal, Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience. It really covers two topics: translational research, and antipsychotic polypharmacy in which one of the antipsychotic medications is clozapine.

Translational research is research that is intended to advance the process of translating basic science into clinically useful knowledge. Clozapine is the most effective antipsychotic drug we have. It typically is used for persons with schizophrenia, who do not respond to other medications. Polypharmacy is the practice of combining two or more medications in the same person, at the same time.

The authors describe the process of translational research, and illustrate the application of the process to a particularly vexing problem in psychiatry. Even though clozapine is the most effective drug, many patients who do not have a satisfactory response. Clozapine carries more risk, compared to other antipsychotics, of serious adverse effects. Polypharmacy increases the risk.

When a person is not having a satisfactory response to clozapine, the doctor and patient may be tempted to add another medication in an effort to improve the response. But it would not make sense to do that, unless the potential benefits outweigh the potential risk. At present, little is known about either the potential benefits, or the magnitude of the potential risk.

If the condition being treated were not serious, it would not make sense to multiply the risk. However, schizophrenia can be terribly debilitating, and can cause considerable distress. So we really want to be able to solve this problem, but we want to solve it with a reasonable risk-benefit balance.

A translational research approach to poor treatment response in patients with schizophrenia: clozapine-antipsychotic polypharmacy

William G. Honer, MD; Ric M. Procyshyn, PhD; Eric Y.H. Chen, MD; G. William MacEwan, MD; Alasdair M. Barr, PhD
J Psychiatry Neurosci 2009;34(6):433-42.

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This Is Depressing

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:35:17 -0500

The standard wisdom in management of Major Depression, is that medication plus psychotherapy is better that either treatment alone. Many studies have shown this. But this one does not.

Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy and Brief Supportive Psychotherapy for Augmentation of Antidepressant Nonresponse in Chronic Depression
The REVAMP Trial

James H. Kocsis, MD; Alan J. Gelenberg, MD; Barbara O. Rothbaum, PhD; Daniel N. Klein, PhD; Madhukar H. Trivedi, MD; Rachel Manber, PhD; Martin B. Keller, MD; Andrew C. Leon, PhD; Steven R. Wisniewski, PhD; Bruce A. Arnow, PhD; John C. Markowitz, MD; Michael E. Thase, MD; for the REVAMP Investigators

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(11):1178-1188.

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Scam Targets Physician Offices

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:10:41 -0500

A reader sent me a link about a scam that targets MD offices. It is a retread of a scam that I wrote about in 2004, wherein I mention that I was targeted for this scam. The new version of the scam was noted first in Slate: The GOP's Fake Doctor Council. Then Political Animal picked it up: Old DeLay Scam Makes A Comeback. Later, Free Range Talk wrote about it, summarizing the two earlier posts as well. So if you only want to read one, read this one:

Tom Delay undergoes makeover, so does his scam
by SurferKit
Posted on 21 September 2009 | 12:40 pm

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The Ghost Mall

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:45:07 -0500

The world's largest shopping mall boasts some impressive statistics: 7.1 million square feet (659,612 square meters) of leasable space and 890,000 square meters of total floor space; attractions, including a roller coaster and a Venice-like canal; and over 1,500 shops, with an occupancy rate of 0.8%. That's right. Although it opened in 2005, 99.2% of the shops are empty.

Attraction: A bored attendant makes a phone call next to the ghost train ride at the mall
(Photo: Daily Mail, UK)

From Wikipedia:

Since its opening in 2005, it has suffered from a severe lack of occupants. Much of the retail space remained empty in 2008, with 99.2 percent of the stores vacant...The only occupied areas are near the entrance where several Western fast food chains are located and a parking structure repurposed as a kart racing track. The planned Shangri-La Hotel has not been constructed...

The New South China Mall was featured on the PBS show, POV: Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall...

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Windows Launch Party Photo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:32:50 -0500

It's not photoshopped, and it really was for the Windows 7 launch.

The picture was taken in Sietes, Spain, which had been decorated for an advertisement for the event. In point of fact, the people of Sietes are not a particularly good customer base:

The tiny village of Sietes Spain will be the new location for an advertisement from Microsoft about Windows 7, which is slightly ironic given the software giant has chosen a place that only has one internet connection, which is about as fast as a slug.

The town of Sietes has only 40 citizens and out of those 40, most of the people who live there do not know how to use a computer, which makes it perfect for the company, which in the past advertised Vista as so easy to use that people with little computer knowledge could figure it out.

The staff of Microsoft arrived in the city with 50 computers and taught them how to use the Windows 7 software while filming the advertisement, which will hit airwaves on Oct. 22nd.

Perhaps most of you have seen the advertisement already. I have not, so I was amused.

The photo, by the way, was a Reuters Editor's Choice, for 20 October 2009.

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Making Fun of Scientology

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:49:15 -0500

In general, I try to be respectful of cultural groups, even ones that are rather aberrant. Somehow, though, I find it exceedingly difficult to muster any sympathy or respect for Scientology.

By now, you probably have heard that Scientologists were fined $600,00 Euros in France:

Scientologists convicted of fraud in France

...The Paris case followed a complaint by two women, one of whom says she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euros in 1998 for Scientology products including an "electrometer" to measure mental energy...

(link HT: Fundamentally Wrong)

The LA Times has an extensive writeup of the Paris conviction. For some reason, coverage of Scientology is a big deal in LA.

Meanwhile, back at Scienceblogs, scientists are all going to wonder, what is an "electrometer?" It is difficult for nonbelievers to learn of such things. But it turns out that there is not only an explanation, but an actual photograph, somewhere on the Internet. Not only that, but the photograph shows none other than L. Ron Hubbard himself. With a sort-of smile. Looking not unlike John Travolta, without the makeup.

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Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Fruitless

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:08:39 -0500

In 2007, the American Psychological Association commissioned their Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. The background is this: early in the history of mental health treatment efforts, homosexuality was considered to be an illness. Therefore, it was thought to be appropriate for therapists to try to change the sexual orientation of persons who are homosexual.

This attitude never was universal; it is said that even Sigmund Freud was skeptical of it. Even so, it was not until 1962 that efforts began to remove homosexuality from the DSM. It was decided, in 1973, to remove the diagnosis from the subsequent edition. The American Psychiatric Association issued a statement at that time, in support of civil rights protection for homosexual persons. The American Psychological Association followed suit in 1974. In 1991, the American Psychoanalytic Association finally saw the light. In 1992, homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases.

Even so, a small number of licensed mental health practitioners continued their efforts to pathologize and "treat" homosexuality.

The American Psychological Association's Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation set out to research this matter and issue a definitive proclamation. This is described:

Sexual "Conversion"? American Psychological Association Says Not Through Psychotherapy
October 10, 2009
Psychiatric Times. Vol. 26 No. 10
Natalie Timoshin

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Yet Another Annoying Cartoon

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:34:15 -0500

We used to see a lot of cartoons that portray a psychiatrist's couch. That is not so common anymore. When we do see them, they tend to be annoying. This is no different, because it is so unrealistic.

No psychiatrist would put the couch under the window like that. It would defeat the purpose of the couch.

(HT: Economic Populist)

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Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photos

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:25:34 -0500

The Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photography competition winners have been announced. (The spelling, Environnement, is correct; it's a French company.) The competition is operated by the Natural History Museum (London) and BBC Wildlife Magazine, sponsored by Veolia Environmental Services.

The overall winner is this one (click to enlarge)

My favorite is one of the Highly Commended photos in the 10-years-and-under age category:

The photo of the leaping wolf was written up on the BBC news website:

Jose Luis Rodriguez captured the imaginations of the judges with a picture that he had planned for years, and even sketched out on a piece of paper.

"I wanted to capture a photo in which you would see a wolf in an act of hunting - or predation - but without blood," he told BBC News. "I didn't want a cruel image."

With a great deal of patience and careful observation of the wolves' movements, he succeeded in taking the award-winning photograph.

Mr Rodriguez used a custom-built infrared trap to snap the wolf as it leapt into the air.

The entire collection, comprising 17 categories, is at the Natural History Museum website. What is most remarkable to me, is how many good photographs are taken by young people.

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Gang Mentality

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:28:51 -0500

I spend a lot of time working with gang kids.

One of the amusing things, is to see some of these kids strutting around, feeling like a million bucks, because they are so smart. In actuality, they have IQs in the 90-100 range. But the rest of their crew is down in the 70-80 range. Such is the life of a genius.

Tonight I watched the PBS Frontline special, The Warning. It's about the warning that Brooksley Born gave the the US government about the hazards posed by the under-the-counter derivatives market. Born tried to institute regulation, as the chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Clinton administration. She was totally shut down and pushed out, not only by the Administration, but by Congress as well.

The program featured everyone's favorite homies: Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, and the majestic Phil Gramm. Among others. Many others.

By the way, the word homies is derived from the French hommes, meaning men. No disrespect intended.

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Gorilla in a CAT Scanner

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:55:04 -0500

Sometimes I think I have difficult patients. Then I saw this:

Yes, it is a gorilla in a CT scanner. The poor animal had mastoiditis; the scan was used prior to surgery. The surgery was successful. See The Big Picture at the Boston Globe for the original, from a series on World Animal Day 2009.

(HT: Reddit user Micah)

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