“Stop Whining!”: The Operant Approach to Pain Behavior

When reading my health psychology textbook, I came across something called the operant approach to treating pain. Well, more correctly, the operant approach treats pain behaviors. It utilizes a system of rewards and extinction (ignoring unwanted behavior) to lessen a patient’s pain behaviors, such as complaining of pain, refusing to perform physical activity, etc. In [...]

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Is Sleep Apnea a Mental Disorder?

In the current DSM-IV, breathing-related sleep disorder is diagnosed on axis I, clinical disorders. This already surprised me, but I was assuming that the evidence for obstructive and central sleep apnea as medical disorders was not yet established by 1994. Now, however, both central and obstructive sleep apnea are proposed as separate conditions in DSM-V. [...]

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Zolpidem Increases Risk of Falls, Cognitive Impairment

In the department of “Oh duh!” inducing news, research from the University of Colorado-Boulder found that zolpidem increases the risk of falls and grogginess-induced cognitive impairment. Zolpidem is the most commonly used sleep medication in the U.S. It is not a benzodiazepine, but a similar drug. The study had 25 healthy adults, both older and [...]

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This Is News?: Antipsychotics Cause Weight Gain In Children

For the sake of eliciting an “Oh, duh!” with most of my readers, research just found that antipsychotics cause weight gain in children. In fact, all four drugs tested – Risperdal, Seroquel, Zyprexa and Abilify – cause significant weight gain within the first three months of use, sometimes up to 15% of the child’s former [...]

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Support Site Used for Drug Marketing

Natasha Singer at the New York Times writes an interesting article on patient social networking sites like PatientsLikeMe, and the way they’re used to collect individual health data fro direct-to-consumer drug marketing. PatientsLikeMe is a community for people with neurological diseases such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, where they can share their experiences with various [...]

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Psychological Factors Affecting Physical Health Are Not Mental Disorders

In the DSM-V, the effect of psychological factors on physical health, will be acknowledged and reflected in a conditoin tentatively labeled psychological factors affecting medical condition. A number of subdiagnoses are considered, but for now, they will not be included as specific subtypes in the DSM. Now of course it is a fact that psychological [...]

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Having a Miscarriage Now a Crime in Utah

According to a post on RHRealityCheck.org, a pro-choice commentary site, Utah passed a bill to criminalize miscarriage. To be exact, a woman can be charged with homicide for any “reckless” behavior that possibly led to a miscarriage. This is not limited to seeking an illegal abortion or even to risky behavior with the intention of [...]

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“Real Age” Tests and the Presumption of Health as a Choice

You know those online tests you can take to determine your “real age”, the age your health is supposed to reflect. These tests usually promise you that you can make yourself “younger” by adjusting your lifestyle, hereby populating the idea that health is something you choose. Now of course it is true that lifestyle has [...]

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H.M. Brain Dissection

This week, neuroscientists started the dissection of the brain of Henry Molaison, a year after his death. Molaison, who was known as H.M. during his lifetime, had an operation to treat severe epilepsy in 1953. In this operation, both his medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus, were removed. It was not yet known that these [...]

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People May Starve

There’s a comment on this post, which raises an unrelated but valid concern – why is ASAN not campaigning actively against the bullying of autistics (or why do autism advocates not see it?)? -, that upset me to a significant degree. This is not meant as an attack on Stephanie Lynn Keril, who posted the [...]

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