Monthly Archive for February, 2008

BioPsychoSocial Health | By February 06, 2008 | By Sudip Ghosh, MD | 1 Comment

Can You Teach the Pursuit of Happiness Online?

William McDougall, Harvard social psychologist, wrote that people can be happy while in pain and unhappy while experiencing pleasure. While the philosophical and semantic ramifications of the term “happiness” are still far away from being well-defined on a universal basis, it is generally accepted that while short-term happiness are more to do with positive feelings like pleasure or victory, long-term happiness tends to be more value based and goal-oriented. Read more →

Mind-Brain Connection: PTSD and Concussions | February 05, 2008 | 2 Comments

The February 1st edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that suffering a concussion in Iraq after a bomb attack was strongly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Read more → Read More →

Drugs and Pharmacology, Fourth Edition | February 05, 2008 | 0 Comments

Welcome to the fourth edition of Drugs and Pharmacology — a monthly blog carnival that aims to review posts “related to drugs — medicinal, recreational, interactional, personal, professional, or any other aspects.” Please remember to submit your blog entries using the online submission... Read more →

Expensive Wine Just Tastes Better | February 04, 2008 | 0 Comments

A recent study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that marketing can have a significant effect on the neural mechanisms governing decision-making. The study measured the “experienced pleasantness” of three different wines, both by subjective reporting... Read more →

Innovations in Mental Illness Recovery | February 03, 2008 | 3 Comments

The mental health field is like conjoined twins. Of course one is the evil twin, and the other is nice. But since they’re joined at the hip, life is a struggle. The mental health field has been painfully extracting its humane mission from old school authoritarian and medical thinking, along with... Read more →

Nuns Provide Key Insight on Aging: Oral Health and Dementia | February 02, 2008 | 0 Comments

A recent finding of the Nun Study identifies oral disease as a potential risk factor for dementia, with conclusions indicating that a low number of teeth — fewer than ten — may be an accurate predictor of dementia in later life. Furthermore, the study showed that subjects with the fewest... Read more →

When Experimental Drugs May Be the Only Hope | February 01, 2008 | 2 Comments

While the treatment options available for fatal diseases have expanded greatly in recent years, many patients do not respond to conventional therapy and are left with no therapeutic options. As an example, despite the millions of dollars that are poured into investigational research each year, cancer... Read more →

Brain Blogging, Twenty-Sixth Edition | February 01, 2008 | 4 Comments

Welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of Brain Blogging — a semi-monthly blog carnival that aims to review posts “related to the brain and mind that go beyond the basic sciences into a more human and multidimensional perspective.” Read more → Read More →