'Hysteria behaves as if anatomy did not exist or as though it had no knowledge of it.' - Freud

Whether a diagnosis carries negative consequences, whether it is hated or loved by the patient or doctor, whether it carries social stigma or social benefit--all of these things are irrelevant to the central question, 'Is disease present in this case?'

Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1906. Opened 1873, closed 2003. Built according to the Kirkbride Plan in exemplary Gothic Victorian architecture, the first use of that style for an institutional building in the United States.

Which led pretty directly to narcosynthesis for the treatment of combat stress (aka shell shock, battle fatigue) during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. They would interview patients while under sodium amytal, sodium pentothal, or phenobarbital.

Classic 1930s psychiatric training clip on use of intravenous sodium amytal for catatonia.
youtu.be/v_XkzU7fAig?si…

Mark L. Ruffalo Erik Columbia Psychiatry Only 10% of patients diagnosed with bipolar illness in the US are treated with lithium. 50% get antipsychotics. 50% get antidepressants. All ineffective by themselves (APs) or in general (ADs). A tragedy.

Some people are inherently more sentimental and nostalgic than others. I have always included myself in this camp. Reminiscence of the past allows one to discover meaning, to integrate, and to recall and reflect upon those very experiences that make us human.

In an unpublished manuscript titled Reasons for Choosing to Be a Physician, the renowned psychiatrist, M.J. Martin (1929-1998) of MayoClinicPsych, wrote that individuals who choose to become physicians are frequently motivated (consciously or unconsciously) by an experience early...

Very excited to be presenting a Grand Rounds this August titled, 'Communication Dilemmas in Borderline Pathologies,' which will attempt to bridge psychodynamic and game-theoretical models to offer an understanding of the oft-paradoxical and confusing communication styles in BPD.

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Really good article on BPD. To add: Self-defeating behavior isn’t masochistic, meaning people with BPD don’t push people away because they love pain. Masochism is intentional pain for the sake of an ultimate result. Self-defeating implies aims that aren’t conscious and pursued.

Michael Sharpe The problem is that terms like 'brain networking disorder' are used as if it is not true that *all* psychiatric disorders can be described this way. It is a linguistic sleight-of-hand to obscure the psychological causes of conversion disorder/FND.

'The effort to drive the other person crazy can consist, predominantly, in the psychological equivalent of murder; that is, it can represent primarily an endeavor to destroy the other person, to get rid of him as completely as if he were physically destroyed.' - Searles

Bipolar II disorder was first identified by Ronald Fieve, the psychiatrist who ran the first controlled trial of lithium. Lithium is dirt cheap, never made anyone any money, and is underprescribed in the U.S. for this reason. Bipolar II was not 'made up' to 'sell drugs.'