A psychiatrist who learned from veterans

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:21:00 +0000

In her second post on 'deadbeats' at Atlantic Monthly for December, Megan Mcardle led me to Google gratitude and enter it into the results in comments:

In Hobbes' Leviathin, gratitude is considered to be the fourth law of nature, following the laws seeking of seeking peace, contracting for peace, and performing one's contracts (that is following the rules of justice). As Hobbes explained the fourth law of nature, "That a man which receiveth Benefit from another of mere Grace, Endeavor that he which giveth it, have no reasonable cause to repent of his good will."
- RE Emmons and ME McCullough

I hate ingratitude more in a man
than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
- Shakespeare Twelfth Night

'Gratitude is for dogs.' - Stalin

Reply

...Max... (Replying to: Michael) December 16, 2009 3:08 PM
To be precise, "gratitude is a disease of dogs".

Emphasis and choice of translation are mine. Unfortunately 2 minutes of googling did not yield a solid quote to the original [response to Zinov'ev].

It is amazing how normative for our culture Shakespeare is; wise as well. In Totem and Taboo, Freud looked at religion as the reaction to guilt for killing the primal father because he kept the women. But a father naturally loves his children and religion is the repository of our gratitude for our lives in spite of our errors and ingratitude. Shalom.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Was told this week about the Peach Bellini. From instructions on how you make it:

Pour 2-3 tablespoons of peach puree in the bottom of a wine glass or tall champagne flute.

Serving glass: Tall champagne flutes

Step 2

Add several drops of raspberry puree on top of the peaches in the glass.

Step 3

Pour Italian sparkling wine into the glass until nearly full. Garnish with peach slice if desired.

Many women, my mother included, have/had several sets of service, dinnerware to include silver, some cut glass, etc. The nicest thing I thought she had were some tall glasses , frosted with a color replacing the frosting swirling around the glass, making them in a geometric way exactly like a barber pole. I remember a blue, a green, a raspberry, perhaps a yellow. I don't believe we ever commented on these glasses really. In some sense they didn't count as they weren't something, with some variation, that other women had. They were, though, the prettiest things she had. I never knew what they were called. They were champagne flutes, and she was a young lady when I first remember her in Champagne, Illinois.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:03:00 +0000

Megan McArdle links to a review, reflecting currently a widely held view in Jewish circles, of the four source documents of the Hebrew Bible. Extending this spirit of inquiry into our Testament, I commented:

God who who was the father of Adam...Abraham begot Isaac'...Jesse begot David, the king, and David, the king, begot Solomon and Solomon begot...and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ...
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. (Matthew Chapter 1)

However, St. Paul says somewhere 'let's not talk about genealogy.' Why, perhaps because in that genealogy from David to Jesus there is an individual to whom a prophet gives the curse 'neither you nor any of your descendants will be king of Israel.' Ignatius of Antioch, possibly a student of John the Apostle, writes in the first century against those who say Christians must follow Jewish law, and touts the lineage of Mary, whose characterization in Hebrew is of a young or nubile woman, a virgin in the sense that Sir Richard Branson might mean.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:37:00 +0000

One recalls General Pershing and those inspirational words - "Lafayette, we are at a conference!" says Tom Maguire at the end of a recent post.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:26:00 +0000

Kennedy was killed in Dealey Plaza. Dallas has been blamed for the assassination but the name of the plaza derives from George Bannerman Dealey, publisher of the Dallas Morning News from 1885 - 1940. A statue of him is there and would have been among the last things JFK saw. The newspaper was and still is very much a part of the establishment of Dallas. Nobody identifying with the establishment of Dallas would have killed him there. A citizen of Dallas killed Kennedy but it was not 'you and me' as the Stones' song 'Sympathy for the Devil' had it.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +0000

In psychiatry or at least as taught from psychoanalysis, a 'therapeutic alliance' between patient and doctor is important. The historically eminent Ralph Greenson mentioned in his book on psychoanalysis that 'it was probably for the best that a communist left treatment with him' in circumstances due to WWII. In my hearing of cases in which people acted on a 'duty to warn others' from something said in treatment or wanted to inform others of a crime it has been more a notice that the therapist is having trouble maintaining an alliance than any danger or other value to be achieved. This would seem to be an aspect of the Hasan case.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Ilya Somin, a native of Leningrad, has some interesting posts on communism. This is in the Volokh Conspiracy. The latest is on the evils of communism and the usefulness of review. It was very interesting that the current I guess prime minister there, Medyadev, has announced an effort to vie some institutional recognition to the victims in the former USSR. Earlier Somin had a post of the evils of Trotsky that I was late to comment on.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Following a blogpost on doctor's incomes at an Economist magazine blog.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Ron Rosenbaum was asking a question about Afghanistan. His questions if not his acceptance of answers are pretty good. Was listening to Abdullah Abdullah on FNS. He pointed out that people risked their lives to vote in the last election; I believe some 11 people were killed. That Karzai would have engaged in massive fraud in such a circumstance is prima facie evidence that he doe not respect his citizens as others in any sense implied in Buber's book 'I Thou' and thus does not support 'democracy.' Also our interest in destroying the opium trade may not be democratically supported. It seems to me that Obama may be appropriately backing us into the cities. From there we can support our interests in interdicting terrorist facilities and give some support to the Afghan people.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:51:00 +0000

Following Volokh on a product liability suit over a Louisville slugger bat delivering a fatal ball at a pitcher.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

This is from last Sunday's Catholic Gospel reading. One of the mysteries of the Catholic religion is the tendency of its members to be anti Jewish. Here Jesus is talking about Romans lording over them. Why doesn't the ill will stick with the Romans? From a Catholic theological point of view it is wrong to blame anybody, maybe Adam, maybe ourselves. From the point of view of the passion story in natural law, some Jews and Romans might be seen as at fault.

As the Mass proceeds, the priest takes the role of Christ and says 'Hoc est enim corpus meum.' Well he used to say that (in Latin); now he says it in English 'For this is my body.' In that he is said to be equal to Jesus Christ. A bit earlier however he plays a different role in the passion play. He has water poured over his hands as he washes his fingers in a bowl. Here he is playing the role of Pontius Pilate, a 'ruler of the Gentiles etc.' So the priest = Pontius Pilate and the priest = Christ. Well this all happens in liturgy. It makes me wonder what earlier liturgies were like. I'd be interested to know about an ancient Egyptian Coptic liturgy which is still practiced and official.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:15:00 +0000

A good article on nutritional treatment of macular degeneration.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:57:00 +0000

A fascinating quote from George Orwell talking of Dali's autobiography and a moral problem perhaps accentuated in artists. Orwell could have taken his analysis further and seen Dali as having lost in expectation, that is suggested in the Haley's comet vignette, and taken to inflicting pain on others obsessionally as he, in recollection, would have experienced it as a child.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:33:00 +0000

A good article on PTSD nightmares in which prazosin is used.

Update: Clonidine and guanfacine are also used and, in error, I had substituted 'gunfacine' where 'prazosin' was correct in the original post. All are alpha2 agonists (see Aug 26, 2009 post below). Clonidine will suffice for a moderate or less nightmare problem; guanfacine has a longer half life and may be preferable in late night dreams. Guanfacine is reported in a child related letter I believe.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Volokh has a post on famous people from N. Africa.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:36:00 +0000

'Man does not live by free medical care alone, it takes a little money.' Megan McArdle has looked forward to what Obama will say in his Wednesday speech on health care. To me the exercise is like one of the Godzilla movies. This one might be called 'Obama vs. The Bond Market.' The baby boomers are mindful of the need for the government bonds not to collapse. As Niall Ferguson said of Italy in The Ascent of Money,'as more and more people leave the work force, recurrent public sector deficits mean that the bond market will never be short of new bonds to sell.' Unions seem to be a significant factor in his health care plan as evidenced by his following their line in opposing repeal of the tax deductibility of employer paid health insurance premiums, and unions are not a constituency for the bond market, but in general the baby boomer generation is perhaps a surprising constituency for it. That's what makes Obama's struggle a tough one.

Update: Frobes' Dalmia puts her finger on the pulse of the health care expense problem.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Enjoyed a Bible passage discussion in the Althouse blog.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Following a blogpost on 'doctor-lawyer hate.'

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Looking at the similarities of chemical structure of clonidine and guanfacine and a good discussion of the alpha2 adrenergic receptor and its subtypes in relation to binding of the two agonist drugs.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Following a discussion by Ilya Somin on Trotsky.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:25:00 +0000

I have read part of Leszek Kolakowski's book Main Currents of Marxism: The Founders-The Goden Age- The Breakdown and agree with those who find it a wonderfully informative book. Kolakowski was a Marxist in his youth and became the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warasaw after WWII. His book shows why Marxism is appealing as well as showing insight into the historical problems of implementation. There is recently a nice obituary of the author in the Financial Times; Christopher Hitchen's also comented in Slate.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Speaking, July 28 8:32 PM, of Spinoza's book Ethics which is written in Latin and which may be the philosophical explication of our 'right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,' I am inclined to wish that there were workbooks which give the translation worked out with explanation. That would also be nice with other ancient authors. This would help those who have some knowledge of the language but far too little to fully do a translation on their own. My father used to say that 'math is another language,' and I wish this was done in various mathematical presentations as well. I know when I did a math paper one of the things that I was disappointed in was that my bridging equations which would have led the reader step by step through the analysis were taken out; so that essentially a reader would have had to do the work again.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:11:00 +0000

NeuroPsychiatry by RB Schiffer, Rao, and Fogel is a good book for dosing recommendations, and probably other issues. I've used it for both Trileptal (oxcarbazepine), see p 151, and carbamazepine.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Following a discussion at Volokh about the Crowley v. Gates case.

noreply@blogger.com (a psychiatrist who learned from veterans) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:42:00 +0000

Michael Steele, RNC Chairman and, in some sense, political lightweight counterpart to Obama, was reported to have said that the president was proposing a "reckless experiment" with health care policy. I think this is quite the point. When a state Senator obtains funds for a park that is not really built or gets funds for housing done in the manner of a Sicilian don, the gesture may outweigh the consequences but not so with fundamental policies of the country.