One of the first things one learns in the clinical part of medical school – the time when one sees actual patients – is the difference between symptoms and signs, the latter sometimes being called clinical signs. A symptom is what the patient complains of. It might be pain, a cough, skin itching, feeling sick, etc. In other [...]
The UK NHS website, as you would expect, aims to offer helpful advice on a large range of medical matters for the lay public. For example, if you’re concerned about an ingrowing toenail, you can learn how to recognise and treat this condition, although I have to say the pictures they show are of rather horrible gross examples. [...]
When I did my training for general practice it included a residency in psychiatry. From time to time we would get a call from a GP requesting admission for a patient who was threatening suicide. After taking more details the consultant usually commented, ‘This patient is not mentally ill – she’s upset,’ but he admitted her anyway. Dr [...]
In the original story by Hans Christian Andersen, the Emperor was merely deluded that he was fully dressed when he wasn’t. But what really happened was that the Emperor was suffering from a neurodevelopmental disorder that caused him to be so distracted and excitable that he rushed out of his palace to parade around stark naked in [...]
There are many reasons why someone might become depressed. Here are a few: bereavement, loss of a job, financial difficulties, and disappointment in love. It may also happen because of childhood abuse or neglect, whether remembered or suppressed. In other words, there’s always a reason for it although this may not at first be recognized. Normal human misery [...]
IPDD is common, serious, and treatable. Definition What is IPDD? It’s an abbreviation for Invention of Psychiatric Disorders Disorder. Epidemiology This disorder is prone to afflict orthodox psychiatrists, especially those who write learned papers in scholarly journals, or scholarly papers in learned journals, or who contribute to that great work of imagination, popularly referred to as the ‘bible’ [...]
Mental illness, or rather, what is called mental illness, is a serious matter. But what is it? To find the answer, or an answer, we can turn to the 1,000-page tome published by – who else? – the American Psychiatric Association. It’s called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The last (fifth) edition was published in [...]
You have probably never heard of Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), but if you have ever been prescribed a drug for depression, or are thinking of consulting a psychiatrist because of this symptom, you need to be aware of it. It is a tragic situation and all the more so since it is completely unnecessary. This is because so-called [...]
I was reminded of this aphorism, which has been attributed to Freud, by an article on ‘Personality Disorder’ in The British Medical Journal of 4 September 2023. If such an entity exists, this means there must be a standard for personality that is not disordered – a normal personality, as one might say. And what, pray, is that? [...]
To talk of mental illness implies there is a corresponding state of mental health, but what is mental health? A common definition is ‘emotional, psychological, and social well-being’ but this is a tautology because ‘well-being’ is the same as ‘health’. It’s like saying mental health is mental health. The World Health Organization defines mental health as: ‘A state [...]