October 25th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Announcements, Opinion
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I’d like to ask your help for a moment. I’m going to write a blog post for this week’s Clinical Psychiatry News on Bipolar Disorder. I’d like to know how you see the term used, or the symptoms that are hallmarks of the illness for you. If you respond as my favorite commenter, “Anonymous,” could I ask that you define yourself…psychiatrist, psychologist, pediatrician, patient with bipolar disorder, friend of someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder….
Also, please just off the top of your head, I can read DSM or Google myself, and I’m more interested in Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
February 9th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Opinion, Quackery Exposed
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I heard yet another commercial on the radio this morning for some menopausal cure-all that was “clinically proven” to reduce hot flashes, improve sleep, increase energy, help you lose weight, and probably cure bad breath to boot. Anyone who calls in the next ten minutes gets a month’s supply for free. “Hurry.” Don’t.
At least they finally stopped running the one for the colon cleansing product that helped remove the “five to ten pounds of waste some experts* believe are spackled along the inside of the large intestine.” (*Emphasis mine. “Some experts” also believe the moon landing was a hoax, the Holocaust never happened, and homeopathy is effective medicine.) Somehow this colon cleansing stuff helps you preferentially lose belly fat. Not really sure what belly fat has to do with five to ten pounds of stuff spackled inside your intestine, but they’re not selling logic. “Call right now for your free sample.” Or not.
Then there was the pediatrician hawking the natural, safe, clinically-proven effective sinus cure that sounded suspiciously like saline spray. “Hurry and call right now.” Don’t bother.
Words are my friends, and I hate to see people abuse them.
“Clinical” is an adjective referring to “that which can be observed in or involves patients.” It’s the hands-on part of medicine that can’t be replicated in a lab or taught from a book. There is virtually no such thing as “proof” in the scientific sense. Laboratory and patient-based medical research can strongly suggest things. Scientific evidence can accumulate supporting things, and the more the better, of course. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
March 12th, 2010 by StaceyButterfield in Better Health Network, News
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As one would expect from such a diverse group, comparisons were a common topic at the co-located National Medical Home Summit, National Retail Clinic Summit, and Population Health and Disease Management Colloquium this week.
During an opening session, Carolyn Clancy, head of the AHRQ, updated us on some of the comparison work her agency has been doing. Last year’s stimulus bill dedicated a lot of funds ($300 mill directly, more through the Secretary of HHS) to the agency’s work on comparative effectiveness. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
I’d like to ask your help for a moment. I’m going to write a blog post for this week’s Clinical Psychiatry News on Bipolar Disorder. I’d like to know how you see the term used, or the symptoms that are hallmarks of the illness for you. If you respond as my favorite commenter, “Anonymous,” could I ask that you define yourself…psychiatrist, psychologist, pediatrician, patient with bipolar disorder, friend of someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder….
