Soderbergh’s Contagion is a movie about the ills of globalization, right down to the ridiculous closing sequence in which deforestation by a multinational is blamed for a viral pandemic. But viruses are more than a MacGuffin, they’re the intersection between the organic and the inorganic, between that which lives and that which exists. Viruses may [...]
I wonder if scientists have looked at epidemiological records for evidence – if there is any – of a correlation between political extremism and mental illness. That is, has anyone tested the hypothesis that those who have broken with reality are more likely to participate (and possibly even to lead) groups that advocate for a [...]
No doubt there’s a great deal of literature about this but it struck me yesterday that missing from Michel Foucault’s investigation of madness is how social privilege complicates the seemingly simple – and, in his telling, politically weighted or motivated – distinction between the “mad” and the “sane”. In plain terms, how many wives have put up [...]
I began this current journal, XSML, with the intent of reducing my own notes to extra small, XML-friendly updates. Increasingly, I have been drawn by the allure of the 140 character limit of Twitter. I may get a round Tuit and synchronize my use of Twitter with this blog. For now, here’s a dump of [...]
A few weeks ago I wrote that there might not be a Tea Party if more Americans treated their elders with love and compassion. Tom Junod has written a lengthy essay for Esquire teasing out the central role that retired and well-to-do Baby Boomers are playing in the Tea Party movement: The Sore Winners are [...]
Emma Young: “When you look at the dreams of patients with PTSD, you see these nearly veridical ‘replays’ of the actual trauma event,” says Stickgold. This sort of dreaming just doesn’t happen in healthy people. “When you collect dream reports from normal people and ask if they know what actual events might have caused their [...]
Drive through Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, walk around Soho and Chelsea, and you’ll see dozens of empty stores; commercial spaces for lease. In Los Angeles, though, there has been a countervailing trend in retail: four years ago there were less than a few marijuana stores. Now there are at least one thousand. Clearly, consumers [...]
America has a horrendous mental health problem and instead of addressing it we imprison the hundreds of thousands if not millions who try to cure themselves without access to professional treatment.
A study of male testosterone levels during election night 2008 suggests male supporters of McCain-Palin were “amped up” on testosterone. As technology advances, we’ll have many more insights into the ways that biology reflects and, perhaps, impacts culture. But the temptation to “medicalize” our political differences must be rejected. If, someday, it turns out that [...]