placebo

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One of the hardest things to do as a psychiatrist is to get patients to tell the truth. The absolute hardest thing to do is to get patients to ask the questions that they really find on their mind but are scared of asking.

Me, I do everything I can to break down the communication barriers that exist between me and my patients.

For one thing, I do not even own a doctor’s white coat. Read more on FAQ:  Antidepressants…

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I have been friendly with and received referrals from homeopaths. and taken care of patients who have sung the praises of that art.  Since I am known to most folks as an “alternative physician,” this is understandable.  All homeopaths have been gentle folks, and I supposed that they were doing people good, in some way, be it placebo or something else.  I had no reason to fight them. I cannot remember ever actually referring someone to a homeopath.  Some people have told me it did not work for them.  And even though I use alternative methods,  I do things that are scientifically proven to my satisfaction.

I have never told anyone to stop seeing a homeopath who was helpful to them.  I decide on the basis of safety and efficacy for every treatment, as best I can.  Even if I sometimes have wondered about efficacy, I will admit. But for safety, homeopathy is off the charts.  I know of no down-side. I remember looking at the “dilution” level of the remedies.  In general, they are so dilute that they could not possibly have any of the “substance” that was used to make them, not even a molecule.

Read more on The Current State of Homeopathy…

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Excuse me while I curse — “Oy vays mir!”

Cell Phones and Brain Cancer

Cell Phones and Brain Cancer

That is a pretty mild ethnic expletive in Jewish language as cursing goes and the translation is something like “oh, woe is me.”

I’m sure you’ve heard worse elsewhere.  However, this is engrained deeply in the limbic — deep, reflexive — areas of my brain, I suppose, since sometimes I forget that there is nobody around me who could possibly understand it.   It does not call upon any real or imagined universal powers.  Yet my grandmother of blessed memory spoke it often, when she thought someone around her was being really stupid, and could potentially be harmful — like a butcher who had slaughtered her chicken incorrectly  and we maybe could end up with some bile in the preparation. So by hearing this, you can be assured that I have surely been secreting bile. Read more on Brain Cancer and Cell Phones (Or Not?)…

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