New Ways to Treat Depression National treatment of depression is distressingly poor. It is time to rethink how we do it. Even the public agrees. Is that true because ten percent of Americans are depressed this very moment? That depression is ranked one or two worldwide for destroying work effectiveness and economic productivity? Is it […]
Zee Drugs (8/18/14)
Zee Story The back of the alphabet is pushing for primacy. The masked avenger Zorro appeared in 1919; the remarkably popular Z cars television crime series transfixed Britain in the 1960s. Now is era of Z drugs. Zolpidem, zaleplon, and eszopiclone – respectively named for the commercially minded ambien, sonata and lunesta – are today’s […]
What Will Happen to Sleep Medicine? (8/4/14)
Sleep medicine is about to change. With luck it will change how people treat and view sleep. What will disappear? The present treatment model – what I’ll call the “Sleep Apnea Testing Service Model”- after the suggestion of Dr. Michael Grandner. What will replace it? Hopefully a treatment format that addresses and improves both individual […]
Using Big Data Effectively (7/28/14)
Supporting Serendipity Has nothing important happened in psychiatric research in the last 25 years? Some believe so. Here’s a quote from the science writers Carl Zimmer and Benedict Carey in the July 22, 2014 New York Times “Despite decades of costly research, experts have learned virtually nothing about the causes of psychiatric disorders and have […]
Why You Don’t Light the Night (6/16/14)
Don’t Light the Night White Nights – romance and adventure. These are times where the barriers of fatigue and tradition can be broken. We are overwhelmed by possibility and longing. If dreams can occur at night, so may their unexpected fulfillments. Yet what if white nights, filled with the light of love and literature, […]