Chronic Pain Is an Over-Determined Survival Response Understanding how pain is experienced can lead to better care. In a slightly different form, this post appeared recently in Psychology Today. In an earlier post, “Chronic Pain Is Not a Disease,” I disagreed with the Institute of Medicine’s idea that chronic pain is a disease. Here, I Read more about Chronic Pain Is an Over-Determined Survival Response[…]
Which Physicians Prescribe More Opioids? There is no free lunch. Currier & Ives—A free lunch CC-PD-Mark This post was earlier posted in Psychology Today in a slightly altered form. You heard the prescription opioid crisis is getting better? If so, I commend the May 30, 2018 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Karen Kaplan in Read more about Which Physicians Prescribe More Opioids? There is no free lunch.[…]
Rene Descartes—Villain or Savior for Mental Health Care? Is medicine able to advance as a science? This post was posted earlier in Psychology Today. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a brilliant philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Most scholars consider him responsible for modern medicine’s splitting the mind and mental issues away from the body and its diseases.1-3 Read more about Rene Descartes—Villain or Savior for Mental Health Care?[…]
A brief history of human anatomy: how medicine lost its mind. After William John Wilgus. Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. CC-PD-Mark This post was posted earlier in Psychology Today. We know that the medical profession largely ignores mental disorders. That’s why, according to the Healthy People initiatives, only 25% of patients who need mental Read more about Extra, Extra, Read All About It – Medicine Guillotined[…]
Medicine must decide it wants to prevent suicides. This post is slightly altered from one published earlier in Psychology Today. We are missing an easy way to prevent suicides. Half or more of all suicides are potentially preventable. First, here’s a summary of the problem that once again came to our attention with the unfortunate Read more about We Can Prevent Half or More of all Suicides[…]
Mistakes the Institute of Medicine made in saying pain is a disease. This post was published previously in a slightly modified form in Psychology Today. Is chronic pain a disease? August groups, such as the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (now the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Read more about Chronic Pain Is Not a Disease[…]
Is anyone you know misusing opioids? This post was presented in a slightly modified form in Psychology Today on April 28, 2018. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we know that there is no benefit whatsoever from taking opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain, and there are many harmful effects to the patients (and Read more about Suspicious Behaviors Suggest Opioid Misuse[…]
Do you know what a safe opioid dose is? A slightly different version of this post was posted on Psychology Today on April 2, 2018 Most agree that there is no proven benefit from the chronic use of opioids (Vicodin, Oxycontin, Fentanyl) for non-cancer pain. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studies show Read more about Opioids Complications are Related to the Dose[…]
Tanya Little – Flickr: 9 of 365 ~ Frustration CC BY-SA 2.0 A slightly different version of this post was posted in Psychology Today on March 11, 2018. Physician burnout has been much in the news of late, and appropriately so. As many as one-half of primary care physicians are burned out, meaning they Read more about Physician Burnout – More Than Meets the Eye[…]
Every day there is something in the media on prescription opioids. For good reason, the problem is real—overdose deaths, selling them, and addiction. It all comes from the Vicodin, Oxycontin, and Fentanyl physicians prescribe. OxyContin tablets crushed into powder for insufflation (snorting). Notice the tablets at the top with the coating removed. By 51fifty at Read more about Prescription Opioids Create A National Crisis[…]
