One hundred years ago patients with psychosis were 4 times more likely than the rest of their contemporaries to be dead at the end of their first 5 years of treatment. The main cause of death was tuberculosis. The asylum was a place where if you had the wrong genetic makeup you were at great risk of catching tuberculosis, particularly if you were a young woman. The advent of … [Read more...] about The Madness of Psychiatry
The Madness of Young People
In 1861 Benedikt Morel, a physician in France, described a terrifying new illness. It involved young people in their late teens or early twenties about to enter what should have been the prime of their lives who instead sank into a profound and seemingly incurable state of what he termed precocious dementia. Morel painted a picture of a terrifying and seemingly close to … [Read more...] about The Madness of Young People
The Madness of Carl Jung: A Dangerous Method
Carl Jung was one of Freud's earliest supporters and in many respects rivaled him in terms of influence. Some of their interactions provide the basis for the story behind the book and recent movie - A Dangerous Method. Just as Freud did, he famously analyzed himself and while doing so apparently became psychotic. His psychosis was however seen as a way to sanity - a forerunner … [Read more...] about The Madness of Carl Jung: A Dangerous Method
The Madness of Childbirth
The North Wales asylum made its way into my life by accident. The history department at Bangor University secured a grant to look at the social impact of the asylum. Looking at the records they collected, it was striking how people declared their madness a century ago – they tore off their clothes and escaped through windows, which they never do now. A quixotic database But … [Read more...] about The Madness of Childbirth
The Madness of North Wales
Influenced like many of my generation by the writings of Laing, Szasz, Illich, Jung and Freud, I studied medicine to do psychiatry. At the time research was becoming mandatory for anyone hoping to engage with the field. I chose to work on the serotonin system. But this was working on the mind as much as the brain; this was the serotonin system brought into view by LSD rather … [Read more...] about The Madness of North Wales
Dance With Python: Healthcare In Peril
This is the last in what was once the BarMittzva Romba series aimed at Bar(ack) & Mitt. These have now been renamed as a series of Dances - Dancing as fast as we can, Dance to the Music of Time, Dancing In The Dark, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, & Shadow Dance. Between them they reprise the plot of Pharmageddon. In Malaysia, Dancing with Pythons is an art form. … [Read more...] about Dance With Python: Healthcare In Peril
Shadow Dance: Is alcohol safer and more effective than SSRIs?
This is the fifth in the Dance series tackling the crisis in healthcare. Previous parts were Dancing as fast as we can, Dance to the Music of Time, Dancing In The Dark and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. We have dug a deep hole. The regulatory hoops through which a company has to jump are now so minimal that it would be easy for us to get alcohol, nicotine, benzodiazepines or … [Read more...] about Shadow Dance: Is alcohol safer and more effective than SSRIs?
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies: How prescription-only keeps doctors healthy and wealthy but not wise
This is the fourth in the Dance series tackling the crisis in healthcare. Previous parts were Dancing as fast as we can, Dance to the Music of Time and Dancing In The Dark. In 1962, politicians attempting to put things right in the pharmaceutical sector accidentally created the perfect raw material for drug development, and the basis to transform this raw material into the … [Read more...] about Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies: How prescription-only keeps doctors healthy and wealthy but not wise
Dancing In The Dark: How patents make drugs the perfect objects of desire
This is the third in the Dance series tackling the crisis in healthcare. Previous parts were Dancing as fast as we can and Dance to the Music of Time. A further step taken in 1962 made it possible to shape the raw material from clinical trials into the perfect product. This development hinged on the strategy chosen to reward pharmaceutical companies. In 1962, the options were … [Read more...] about Dancing In The Dark: How patents make drugs the perfect objects of desire
Dance to the Music of Time: How clinical trials help pharma invent data
This is the second in the Dance series tackling the crisis in healthcare. Part one was Dancing as fast as we can. Every product is built from a raw material. The raw material puts constraints on a product developer. There may be difficulties fashioning the product from the material, or the material may be costly or scarce. There is the delicate matter of how the mark-up from … [Read more...] about Dance to the Music of Time: How clinical trials help pharma invent data