Brain and Behaviour
My experience in practice tells me that sometimes it’s not only the symptoms of a condition, but also the stigma attached to it, that can pile on the agony. One issue that I find is particularly prone to elicit some sense of shame is alcoholism. Recently, I read an American report about a range of […]
Brain and Behaviour
Recent years have seen medical journal editors become increasingly critical of certain goings-on in the world of pharmaceutical research. One dubious practice that has received some attention of late is the tendency for drug companies to publish and publicise positive studies on their products, while at the same time ‘burying’ less encouraging data. An example […]
Brain and Behaviour
I quite often see individuals in my practice who, despite the best of intentions, find themselves irresistibly drawn to eat none-too-healthy foods such as chocolate cake. I was therefore interested to read a recent study in which the additive nature of this oft-favoured food was assessed. Sophisticated scans revealed that the sight and taste of […]
Brain and Behaviour
This month has seen a flurry of jabs and jibes aimed at Dr Andrew Wakefield – the lead author of the study published in 1998 that first suggested a link between MMR vaccination and autism. An alleged conflict of interest has instigated a call for Dr Wakefield’s work to be disregarded, on the back of […]
Brain and Behaviour
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) here in the UK recently published a report which stressed the role of psychological therapies in the treatment of eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa. However, while conventional wisdom has been that these conditions are essentially mental disorders for which a head-first approach should prevail, mounting […]
Brain and Behaviour
Statistics show that our thirst for mineral water is ever growing and has swelled the bottled- water industry to a billion-pound-a-year business in the UK. Recently, however, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has gone on the offensive in an effort to persuade us that tap water is every drop as good as bottled varieties. The […]
Brain and Behaviour
Not many of us will relish the contracted days and long nights the winter months bring. However, for sufferers of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the darkened skies that accompany this time of year can often be viewed with particular dread. SAD, a depressive condition triggered by low levels of sunlight, is thought to affect more […]
Brain and Behaviour
For the most part, conventional medical practice has an image of professionalism and credibility. The medical establishment’s apparent adherence to the concept of scientific validity, coupled with plenty of white coats, stethoscopes and machines that go ‘ping’, help to foster the image that we doctors know what we are doing and are worth entrusting your […]
Brain and Behaviour
I’m a big believer in the idea that relatively small changes in our nutritional status and bring big benefits in the long term. So, I was very interested to read the recent British research showing that giving basic nutrients to young offenders significantly reduced their criminal tendencies. The idea that the answer to the youth […]
Brain and Behaviour
Migraine is one of the most common conditions that I see in practice, and the vast majority of sufferers have it affect their daily lives to some degree. As a result, I’m always on the lookout for potential solutions to this problem. Reading this month’s edition of the medical journal Cephalalgia, I discovered that that […]