Category Archives: Miscellaneous
It is time for stricter gun control!
Any organization that opposes having background checks for those who purchase weapons ought to be shut down. Any organization that supports the sale of weapons that include the words “automatic” or “semi-automatic” in their name needs to be banned. And … Continue reading
What Exactly Went into My Psychiatric Diagnosis?–Psychology Today blog post
The folks who are rewriting the diagnostic manual in psychiatry have often built their careers on the diagnosis in question and/or have received money from Big Pharma, so that the diagnoses they craft are potentially fraught with conflicts of interest … Continue reading
NYT Crossword Today
I became a crossword aficionado roughly 6 months back and I barely rate. I subscribe to the New York Times, know that Monday’s puzzles are the easiest and Saturdays are the hardest, and over the last half year have exactly … Continue reading
Psychology Today Blog “Almost Addicted”
Hey all! I have just begun to write a blog for Psychology Today and here is my inaugural post. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/almost-addicted/201211/almost-addicted More to follow . . .
Legalize Gay Marriage Everywhere? It is just a matter of time . . .
Several more states voted for gay marriage last week. I now repeat something I have publicly said before: At some point in the near future the issue of whether gays should be allowed to marry will be as controversial as … Continue reading
Health Insurance Companies Ration Health Care by “Hassle Factor”
If an insurance company requires health care workers to call them every time they deem a patient in need of psychiatric care, and the call can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours for the clinician, health care workers … Continue reading
Ethical Issues in State Physician Health Programs
In our Journal of Addiction Medicine piece just published (which you can access here), co-author John R. Knight MD and myself discuss ethical and managerial considerations regarding state physician health programs (PHPs). These are programs that work with physicians who have … Continue reading
Communitarian, to a Degree
To think that individuals are completely separate from one another, unmoved or unaffected by our connections to others, is almost always simple minded. Although theoretically such a notion might be neat and tidy, it neglects the obvious fact that we … Continue reading
We All Tethered to One Another
The western conception that we are each completely separate from one another, unmoved or unaffected by our connections to others, is hogwash. In fact our own fate is intimately tied to that of the persons we care about and, by … Continue reading
Moby Dick–“The Whiteness of the Whale”
For various reasons–mostly because the book I’ve written on addiction is done and at the publisher so I am allowing myself the time–I finally began reading Moby Dick. I’m now on Chapter 42 which is entitled “The Whiteness of the Whale.” Melville wrote this work a … Continue reading