65. Every child is a child
An event that changed my life, at least my thinking about it, happened in Brazil. It’s already a while ago. I was still a medical student at that time and had the opportunity to work in a hospital in a shantytown (a ‘favela’) of Salvador Da Bahia for some months. Parents came there with their Read the full article…
64. Relax! Don’t take it easy!
There is a general notion that ‘relaxation’ is easy. And so it is. But. Very big but. ◊◊◊ Think of quitting smoking. This is easy. You just have to do… nothing. Even more (or should I say ‘less’): you have to not do something. Yet there are hundreds of millions of people who have the Read the full article…
63 Why people laugh
… for one thing only. But please, read this Sticky from beginning to end. Don’t go peeping now. We will reach the goal just in time … ◊◊◊ As you know, people laugh for many things. Most people also laugh many times each day. No other animal does this. We are the best laughers of Read the full article…
62. Autism: Look who’s not talking
I’m ashamed to live in this age of disgrace. ◊◊◊ As with all ‘categories’ that are no real categories but only feable attempts to uphold an idea of ‘knowing’, there are of course many causes of the phenomenon called ‘autism’. Sure there is genetics involved as well as several physical environmental factors. Is this not Read the full article…
61. How to make someone love you (including yourself)
Here’s one that will interest many. You’ve liked that girl or boy next-street for such a long time. You want to get closer to that woman or man at work, but it seems as if you’re just one more copy machine. You are husband and wife living next to each other… even a bit too Read the full article…
60. Not calories make you fat, frustration does
The world is on a diet. Below the equator, it’s compulsory. Above it, it’s ‘chosen’. Well, more or less. ◊◊◊ Let’s look at the situation above the earth’s own big belt. There as you know, diets are everywhere. The third world war has been declared and it’s a war against calories. Diets are the cannons. Read the full article…
59. Irritable bowling. Stop that game!
On average 10% of patients attending a GP are seeking advice mainly for symptoms of irritable bowels. A gastroenterologist sees up to 30% of his clientele suffering from this. Yet the painful truth for the people suffering from this painful condition is that medicine has no substantial answer to this. There is really a lot Read the full article…
58. Has anything meaning but meaning itself?
People are in search of ‘meaning’. It’s an age-old story. Males use to be more in search of the ‘meaning of life’. Females use to be more in search of the ‘meaning of living’. The latter being: the meaningfulness of everyday circumstances. ◊◊◊ Is one more real than the other? No. ◊◊◊ No, because actually Read the full article…
57. Isis’ priests, named ‘therapists’
Do you like etymology? I do. It brings a sense of broad cultural togetherness, in space and in time. It also keeps at the forefront the fact that culture was not made in one day. Western culture is truly the result of millennia (as is of course Eastern culture too, let’s not get into competition). Read the full article…
56. Whispering
My God, I saw a program about a man who, like so many, used to ‘break’ the will of a horse in order to make it comply to the will of his ‘master’. So mean. So sad. So beastly (and I don’t mean the horse). ◊◊◊ Then came a book and movie about a ‘horse Read the full article…
55. Making medicine 80% cheaper? No problem
Health is money (and vice versa). At least, that seems to be the message if you read the world in a pharmaceutical company’s handbook. The problem is that money is to many people still a rather scarce commodity. In the US, 30% of personal bankruptcies are due to the out-of-own-pocket costs of medical care. In Read the full article…
54. This is madness!
I have to confess. I have spent 2 years in psychiatric hospitals… in acute care (acute delirium, psychosis etc.) as well as in long-term psychiatric wards (chronic schizophrenia, dementia…). I have direct experience in how it is to be there, the ups and downs, the longings, the treatments. All of it. ◊◊◊ If you haven’t Read the full article…
53. To ‘carry on’ is what makes us human
“The task is almost impossible and we surely face a certain death… So what are we waiting for?” It’s a phrase that has a curious ring for me. It’s morbid for sure, but it’s heroic at the same time. It’s the stuff that leads to legendary performance. It’s what makes the true artist leap beyond Read the full article…
52. Is getting sunburned a genetic disease?
I bet you haven’t yet thought of sunburn as a genetic disease or condition. At the same time, it’s probably obvious to you that a skin type that is more prone to sunburn has everything to do with genetics. The daughter of a red-haired, fair-skinned person has a genetically determined higher chance to be red-haired, Read the full article…
51. Jesus! What do you think of all these stigmata?
“I have it in the palm of my hand… I used to have not the least sign of a wound. Then the lord Jesus came to me and blessed me with these signs of His own passion. Now I have the same signs as He had after being nailed on the cross.” ◊◊◊ What should Read the full article…
50. Placebo: I will please… whom?
Let’s journey a bit on the well-known placebo-effect: getting better from medication until you discover it’s a sugar pill or otherwise doesn’t work in itself. You have probably heard of it. But do you think it’s far from you sickbed? Think again! There’s no medication coming on the market unless it’s been scientifically compared to Read the full article…
49. Mind and body: no strangers, Sir, no strangers at all
Even to this day, to many -most?- people, mind and body seem to be very much NOT profoundly connected to each other. Mind being unphysical and ‘volatile’, body being only physical and very, very concrete. So how can the unphysical influence the physical? ◊◊◊ That’s the question. And what an incredibly weird question it is! Read the full article…