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A chemical found in cannabis can act like an antidepressant, researchers have found. A team from Canada's University of Sasketchewan suggest the compound causes nerve cells to regenerate. The Journal of Clinical Investigation study showed rats given a cannabinoid were less anxious and less depressed. But UK experts warned other conflicting research had linked cannabis, and other cannabinoids, to an increased risk of depression and anxiety. They suggested this could be because different cannabinoids acting at different levels have contradictory effects. Cannabinoids have been shown to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and pain relief in humans. They are naturally...

A scientist at the Medical University of South Carolina has found that magnetic resonance imaging machines also can serve as lie detectors. The study found MRI machines, which are used to take images of the brain, are more than 90 percent accurate at detecting deception, said Dr. Mark George, a distinguished professor of psychiatry, radiology and neurosciences. That compares with polygraphs that range from 80 percent to "no better than chance" at finding the truth, George said. His results are to be published this week in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Software expected to be on the market next year could...

When Capt. John Trylch of the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment made it safely back from Iraq, he expected things would be different, that he would be different. “I kept waiting — where’s the change? Where’s the change?” he said. “But you find yourself falling into the same routines. I was surprised by that.” Trylch is among the more than 80 percent of U.S. soldiers who, new studies are finding, served in battle in Iraq and came back home apparently unchanged, without a psychological problem, despite the stress and tragedy of war. But he’s well aware of the other...

Tales of a nation under attack, which recur when public anxiety rises, multiply at theaters and on TV. Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is acutely attuned to the zeitgeist of post-9/11 America. In this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, Earth is still the most desirable piece of real estate in the Milky Way, the envy of the galactic neighborhood. But this retelling of the alien-invasion story, set in modern-day New Jersey rather than Wells' Edwardian London, tacitly acknowledges American fears of an attack on US cities. A principal aspect of the film is the way a nation unites...

Over the last three decades, the abortion debate has been characterized as the clashing of rights: the human rights of the unborn on the one hand and the reproductive rights of women on the other. This decades-long rhetorical deadlock has left a good number of Americans—the great majority of whom understand that an individual human life is taken in each abortion— personally opposed, yet unwilling to "impose their beliefs" on anyone else. The popularity of this so-called pro-choice position is due, in large measure, to the success abortion advocates have had in convincing Americans that abortion is a necessary precondition...

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Less time with Mom and Dad has contributed to more problems for more kids over the last few decades. So says Mary Eberstadt, a part-time research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and author of "Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes" (Penguin). Eberstadt shared with ZENIT how this separation of children and their parents is producing unforeseen negative consequences. Q: If children are better off materially than ever before, why are they beset by so many troubles such as psychiatric problems, obesity and sexually transmitted diseases?...

Among famous inventors, Leo H. Sternbach may not immediately leap to mind. But this May in Akron, Ohio, Dr. Sternbach, who is 96, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He holds more than 240 patents, but perhaps his most famous invention, in collaboration with colleagues, is a chemical compound called diazepam, better known by its brand name, Valium. One of the earliest benzodiazepines, Valium was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1963 as a treatment for anxiety, and it would become not only the country's best-selling drug, but an American cultural icon. Referred to...

Fouroboros | Outsourcing: Corporate Anorexia in a Land of Plenty 11-12-2004 UPDATE: More Links to outsourcing-related posts at bottom There are a pair of terms we've come to use in our company, terms my partners and I arrived at after seeing management and employee, company and consumer get at ridiculous cross-purposes to each other: Insulated Deciders. Isolated Deliverers. Salon: [get the day-pass, it's free.]"The biggest fear people have isn't terrorists," says Don Pellow, a full-bearded, burly former president of the main United Auto Workers union local at the Electrolux plant. "The terror is that they won't have medical care, not...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - The nation's hard-pressed health care system for veterans is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war, veterans' advocates and military doctors say. An Army study shows that about one in six soldiers in Iraq report symptoms of major depression, serious anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, a proportion that some experts believe could eventually climb to one in three, the rate ultimately found in Vietnam veterans. Because about one million American troops have served so far in...

LONDON, December 2, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study published in the current issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry has revealed that 43% of gays, lesbians and bisexuals have a mental disorder. The study carried out by the Imperial College in London surveyed 1285 respondents from these groups. Mental problems included anxiety, sleep disturbance, panic attacks, depressive moods or thoughts, problems with memory or concentration and compulsive behaviour or obsessive thoughts. The researchers noted that there is a dearth of research into the mental health of gay men, lesbians and bisexual men and women in the UK. The study found...

Insanity and terrorism New insights show terrorists are young, with little education or money. And many suffer from mental illness Stewart Bell National Post March 27, 2004 The terrorists who blew up four packed commuter trains in Madrid on the morning of March 11 must have marvelled at their success. With 10 bombs, triggered with cellphones, they killed about 190 people and injured another 1,750. But how could they do it? What kind of person can coldly plan a terrorist attack, knowing it will result in the murder of hundreds of fellow human beings? What kind of person can condemn...

<p>For 25 years, a difficult-neighbor problem plagued Curtis and Elaine Colvin of Seattle. The neighbor's home and lawn resembled a junkyard. Finally, last spring, the elderly man was taken out of state by relatives.</p> <p>Konstantinos Apostolou bought the house — and sent in five men to clear the floor-to-ceiling junk. "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life," says his son, George Apostolou. There was nowhere to walk, except for a narrow "goat path" connecting the rooms. The men hauled out seven Dumpsters' worth of clothes, books, magazines, spoiled food, firewood, car parts, tires, bank statements and 50-year-old tax records. "I feel bad for the guy," says Apostolou. "I'm sure he was ill."</p>

This morning Steve Doocey of Fox and Friends interviewed Howard Dean, and asked him a question about the "Panic attacks" that Dean experienced when he learned that he was to become the Governor of Vermont. Howie flatly denied it as false. When I investigated this I did learn that the term "Panic attack" was verbage that Carl Limbacher had inserted into the story, however, I found this an interesting study in the way People magazine cleaned up all the references to Howie's anxiety problems and the counseling he received, which he did admit in the transcript of the interview on...

Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean denied that he ever suffered from "panic attacks" during a Monday morning interview with Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," insisting that neither he nor a reporter who recently interviewed him had used that term to describe an episode where he hyperventilated upon taking office as Vermont governor in 1991. Citing a recent interview he gave to People magazine, Dean complained to "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy, "I think if you read People magazine it says no such thing. The quote that you just read, it didn't say anything about a panic attack." People's...

Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean offered more details this week on psychological counseling he underwent for anxiety attacks suffered in the 1980s - and revealed that he had a panic attack the day he took over as governor of Vermont 13 years ago. Reacting to news of Gov. Richard Snelling's death in August 1991, Dean told People magazine, "I hyperventilated and I started hyperventilating and I thought, You better stop that or you won't be much good to anybody." The panic attack was understandable, Dean said. "To suddenly get told that you have responsibility for 600,000 people — it provokes...

Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean offered more details this week on psychological counseling he underwent for anxiety attacks suffered in the 1980's - and revealed that he had a panic attack the day he took over as governor of Vermont 13 years ago. Reacting to news of Gov. Richard Snelling's death in August 1991, Dean told People Magazine, "I hyperventilated and I started hyperventilating and I thought, You better stop that or you won't be much good to anybody," The panic attack was understandable, Dean said. "To suddenly get told that you have responsibility for 600,000 people — it provokes...

How could a psychiatrist in practice for 27 years fail to recognize an anxiety attack? I was interviewing a new patient when the first surge of adrenaline hit, but I couldn't identify the sensation. The patient continued talking about her lifelong struggle with depression. I broke into a sweat and wondered whether I was having a hot flash. I glanced at the clock -- 20 minutes to go. As I summarized the pros and cons of various antidepressants, my voice trembled. Did the patient notice? I felt as if I were disintegrating. I reached for a prescription pad, trying to...

Stressors of the season Experts recommend exercise, rest and relaxation to keep holiday headaches at bay By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - While Christmas brings to mind nativity scenes, Santa Claus and mistletoe, other people may be thinking of family fights and January bills. The holidays can cause headaches, mostly stemming from added stress. Stressors are defined as anything that causes stress, but these can be positive or negative. Negative stressors around the holidays could be family arguments or money worries. But even things people normally enjoy can cause stress, such as visiting friends or...

Camus as Conservative: A post 9/11 reassessment of the work of Albert Camus Murray Soupcoff The Guardian -- that last fanatical bastion of English left-wing obstinacy and foolishness -- published a unique book review honouring the latest Penguin edition of The Plague, the enduring fictional allegory of human suffering and sacrifice, written by French existentialist novelist Albert Camus. It was particularly surprising that The Guardian, of all publications, would publish what was really a revised introduction to the latest English-language edition of The Plague, since Camus' unique philosophical and political point of view was always so different from that of...

Too much coffee can induce aggression and paranoia By Roger Dobson 26 October 2003 People who drink too much coffee are at risk of caffeine psychosis, according to a new report. It found that too much caffeine can lead to marked changes in personality and make drinkers more aggressive, anxious and temperamental. "Caffeinism" puts sufferers at further risk of anxiety neurosis, irregular heart beats, insomnia, muscle twitches, and nervous irritability. The warning comes a week after Tony Blair suffered an irregular heart beat, which he reportedly blamed on too much strong continental coffee at the European Union summit in Brussels....