Is Free Thinking A Mental Illness? Is nonconformity and freethinking a mental illness? According to the newest edition of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it certainly is. The manual identifies a new mental illness called “oppositional defiant disorder” or ODD. Defined as an “ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior,” symptoms include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness, and being easily annoyed. The DSM-IV is the manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illnesses and, with each new edition, there are scores of new mental illnesses. New mental illnesses identified by the DSM-IV include arrogance, narcissism, above-average creativity, cynicism, and antisocial behavior. And there are treatments available. All of this is a symptom of our over-diagnosing and overmedicating culture. The Soviet Union used new “mental illnesses” for political repression. If you liked this article you may be interested in this product from our sponsor.
If you support keeping drugs illegal… by Tom++, June 27, 1995 From the Talk.Politics.Drugs Usenet newsgroup You support robberies and assaults on innocent people. The high prices of drugs caused by prohibition force many drug addicts to turn to robbery in order to pay for their drugs. You support clogging our prisons and jails with nonviolent people. Nearly 50% of all people in prison and jail are serving time for nonviolent drug charges. You support organized crime and drug cartels. Huge drug cartels and criminal organizations thrive off the enormous profits caused by drug prohibition. You support environmental destruction. Underground cocaine and methamphetamine labs use toxic chemicals to produce those drugs—the wastes are recklessly dumped in forests and streams. You support drug dealers and street gangs. Drug dealers and street gangs fight over drug territories. You lure thousands of young people into quitting school. You do nothing to keep drugs away from kids or out of schools. Drug users can only hurt themselves.
Hallucinations with Oliver Sacks | World Science Festival Webcast Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks answers your questions about the secret world of hallucinations. These queries came to us via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. Q. Are the visual or auditory hallucinations in blind or deaf people analogous to sensations in a phantom limb? A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Washington's Blog This is a really important point to understand from the point of view of our society. The legal system is supposed to be the codification of our norms and beliefs, things that we need to make our system work. If the legal system is seen as exploitative, then confidence in our whole system starts eroding. And that’s really the problem that’s going on. A lot of the predatory practices in automobile loans are going to be able to be continued. Why is it OK to engage in bad lending in automobiles and not in the mortgage market? The system is designed to actually encourage that kind of thing, even with the fines [referring to former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo, who recently paid tens of millions of dollars in fines, a small fraction of what he actually earned, because he earned hundreds of millions.]. ***I know so many people who say it’s an outrage that we had more accountability in the ’80′s with the S&L crisis than we are having today. The fine is just a cost of doing business.
List of misconceptions about illegal drugs LSD[edit] Some of the strangest urban legends told are those about lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a potent psychedelic drug that gained popularity in several countries in the 1960s and 1970s, and experienced a brief resurgence in the mid to late 1990s before declining from 2000 onward. The drug's relation to the 1960s counterculture was likely part of the reason for such legends. Attempted murder[edit] "Anyone caught selling LSD can be charged with attempted murder." Babysitter places baby in the oven while high on LSD[edit] This is an unverifiable drug-scare story dating to the 60s of a hippie babysitter girl putting a baby in the oven and a turkey in the bassinet. Bad LSD[edit] A "bad trip" is easily caused by an expectation or fear of ill effects, which may later be blamed on "bad acid." However, drugs described as LSD in the 1970s occasionally actually contained PCP, amphetamine, or other drugs that have quite different effects from LSD. "Bananadine" LSD[edit] Blue star tattoos[edit]
Doctors consider using street drugs to ease suffering of dying patients Recent studies at Harvard, U.C.L.A. and my alma mater John Hopkins have now made it plain that doctors should—as soon as proper safeguards can be put in place—be free to offer illicit drugs to patients who are terminally ill, in order to ease their emotional suffering and potentially offer them new perspectives—fueled by drug-induced insights—into issues like their own mortality. At Harvard, Dr. John Halpern (as reported in the New York Times) tested MDMA (the street drug Ecstasy) to determine if it would ease the anxieties in two patients with terminal cancer. The results are reportedly consistently good. The truth is that the likelihood of creating an MDMA or psilocybin addict out of a terminal cancer patient is exactly zero. Not long ago, I debated with former talk show host and motivational speaker Montel Williams. Terminal conditions and final days are, in fact, but one of the settings in which chemicals considered “street” drugs may be Godsends. Dr. Dr.
To Ease or Not to Ease? What Next for the Fed? - Richard Fisher Speeches, 10-7-10 - News & Events - FRB Dallas (With Reference to Bill Frenzel, Alan Greenspan, Masaaki Shirakawa, Sherman Maisel and Raghuram Rajan) Remarks before the Economic Club of Minnesota Thank you, Congressman [Mark] Kennedy. You and Congressman [Tim] Penny are most kind to have invited me to speak here today. If I may, I would like to tip my hat to another former congressman who sits on your board, Bill Frenzel. Bill and my father-in-law served together for many years in Congress. Bill was a moderate; Jim [Collins] an ultra-conservative. My wife, Nancy, and I sent our children to a Concordia Language Village about a four-hour drive from here, a little south of Bemidji. I have been asked to speak about the course of the U.S. economy. It is rare that economists’ precise forecasts ever prove accurate. An analysis of the current predicament in the United States leads one to conclude that while the risks of a double-dip recession are receding, the pace of the recovery is obviously subpar. Thank you. Notes
Mexico wary as Calif. votes on legalizing marijuana TIJUANA, MEXICO - To embattled authorities here, where heavily armed soldiers patrol the streets and more than 500 people have been killed this year, marijuana is a poisonous weed that enriches death-dealing cartel bosses who earn huge profits smuggling the product north. "Marijuana arrives in the United States soaked with the blood of Tijuana residents," said Mayor Jorge Ramos, whose police department has lost 45 officers to drug violence in recent years. But just over the border in California, cannabis is considered by law a healing herb. After the Obama administration announced that it would not prosecute the purveyors, about 100 medical marijuana dispensaries opened in San Diego alone in the past year, selling vast quantities of Purple Goo, Green Crack and other varieties of super-charged pot. The marijuana divide between these sister cities points to major disparities between the fight against drugs in Mexico and their acceptance in the United States.
Mind-altering drugs research call from Prof David Nutt 23 January 2012Last updated at 21:12 By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News Could mind-altering drugs have a medical role? Former government drugs adviser Prof David Nutt has said that regulations should be relaxed to enable researchers to experiment on mind-altering drugs. Prof Nutt told BBC News that magic mushrooms, LSD, ecstasy, cannabis and mephedrone all have potential therapeutic applications. However, he said they were not being studied because of the restrictions placed on researching illegal drugs. He said the regulations were "overwhelming". His comments followed the publication of new research by his group in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which suggests that the active ingredient in magic mushrooms could be used to treat depression. "I feel quite passionately that these drugs are profound drugs; they change the brain in a way that no other drugs do. Fired Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteProf David Nutt Medical role?
Cannabis Reduces Infant Mortality Jun-27-2010 02:00 Storm Crow for Salem-News.com Surprising connections between "Failure-to-Thrive" and Cannabinoids. (NORTHERN CALIFORNIA) - Years ago, a friend of mine, a good Christian lady, had a child with "failure to thrive". She had CPS all over her, looking for even the tiniest trace of child neglect. I believe that those bottles of formula, given from birth, were major part of the problem. Endocannabinoids are also detected in human and cow's milk, with the highest levels occurring the day after giving birth. When newborn mice are given a chemical to block the effect between endocannabinoids and their CB receptors, the mice simply don't know how to eat. CB receptors work kind of like an ignition switch. Scientists have bred mice that do not have CB receptors. If "failure to thrive" infants were being breast-fed, they would get at least some of their mother's normal endocannabinoids from her milk. But all this is just conjecture on my part.
California's Prop 19, on legalizing marijuana, could end Mexico's drug war MEXICO CITY -- On Nov. 2, Californians will vote on Proposition 19, deciding whether to legalize the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. If the initiative passes, it won't just be momentous for California; it may, at long last, offer Mexico the promise of an exit from our costly war on drugs. The costs of that war have long since reached intolerable levels: more than 28,000 of our fellow citizens dead since late 2006; expenditures well above $10 billion; terrible damage to Mexico's image abroad; human rights violations by government security forces; and ever more crime. In a recent poll by the Mexico City daily Reforma, 67 percent of Mexicans said these costs are unacceptable, while 59 percent said the drug cartels are winning the war. We have believed for some time that Mexico should legalize marijuana and perhaps other drugs. Proposition 19 changes this calculation. Today, almost anyone caught carrying any drug in Mexico is subject to arrest, prosecution and jail.
'Binge-drinking gene' discovered 3 December 2012Last updated at 19:56 ET Many genes may be involved in influencing how much we drink Scientists believe some people have a gene that hard-wires them for binge drinking by boosting levels of a happy brain chemical triggered by alcohol. The gene - RASGRF-2 - is one of many already suggested to be linked with problem drinking, PNAS journal reports. The King's College London team found animals lacking the gene had far less desire for alcohol than those with it. Brain scans of 663 teenage boys showed those with a version of the gene had heightened dopamine responses in tests. During a task designed to make them anticipate a reward, these 14-year-old boys had more activity in a part of the brain called the ventral striatum which is known to be involved in dopamine release. When the researchers later contacted the same boys at the age of 16 and asked them about their drinking habits, they found the boys with the 'culprit' variation on the RASGRF-2 gene drank more frequently.
Obamateurism of the Day posted at 8:05 am on November 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey Foreign trips are always breeding grounds for Obamateurisms, and our President got off to a good start this weekend. Jake Tapper calls this “an odd little moment” from Barack Obama’s meeting with CEOs in Mumbai, India on Saturday, but it’s a revealing one, although not for the reason Jake thinks. MR. Perhaps he should have waited to find out exactly what Mr. Got an Obamateurism of the Day? Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Related Posts: