“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” ~ Arnold J. Toynbee Suicide is the ultimate expression of abandonment of hope, of an inability to see a better future, of the experience of agony too great to suffer a moment more.… Continue Reading
The pieces on pediatric bipolar will be written by my daughter, Rhona, a science writer who has played a seminal role in the blog since its birth. (That’s lucky for me, as, frankly, I still don’t know what that “html” tab does.)… Continue Reading
So back to Henrietta Lacks and her overly hardy–some say virulent–cervical cancer cells. You may recall from last post that Ms. Lacks’ cells, entitled HeLa, were taken without her permission, and without recompense to the family. They were nabbed by one Dr.… Continue Reading
Henrietta Lacks was young, poor, unassuming, African-American. From Virginia, she earned her living as a tobacco farmer, happily married, had five children, and died of cervical cancer at 31. But her story doesn’t end there. In pain and bleeding as the… Continue Reading
Each subsequent publication of the DSM has gotten progressively larger. We can only imagine what sort of tote bag we’ll need for the upcoming DSM-5. Now, this doesn’t bother me for its own sake, really. I don’t go on family… Continue Reading
Some parts of life can be so simple. Take high school math. You had two intersecting lines, and, to be fancy, you called them ‘axes.’ To sound real mathematically sophisticated, you didn’t just call them ‘this axis’ and ‘that axis.’… Continue Reading
Your clergy, your doctor–and your portfolio manager. Sounds like it has the makings for a cleaned-up version of an ethnic joke, I know, but it isn’t that. Instead, ask yourself: Who are the people in whom you want to have complete… Continue Reading
You cry into your pillow silently at night, reaching across to that empty expanse of the bed where, for 30 years, you’d always felt your partner’s hand reaching, in turn, for yours. Sleep eludes you due to the pain, and… Continue Reading
It’s a little-known fact, even to the seminar graduates, that, before the powers that be let a mother actually give birth to her child, she and her partner have to attend a weekend seminar (and there are no exceptions here) in some hazy, nebulous… Continue Reading
This may be shameful to admit, but I trust you’ll forgive me. As far as I could remember when I first came across it in my research on this topic, my familiarity with chromium came from Billy Joel’s “Allentown.” Remember?… Continue Reading
Let’s take a walk down memory lane. It shouldn’t be hard–I provide all the memories, and, come to think of it, since you’re at your computer, you don’t really have to walk too far, either. I began a two-part post,… Continue Reading
Who didn’t read “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost in some high school English class? Perhaps you aren’t all privy, as I am as an undergraduate English major, to certain fascinating facts about it– Frost said of his own… Continue Reading
