Psychologyresearch.org.uk

A major misconception involving addiction is the idea that certain substances are, all by themselves, addicting. That a drug can captivate an unwary victim is an idea popularized in the 1936 film Reefer Madness. In that movie, it took just a few puffs of marijuana to turn a gentleman into a slobbering dope fiend; his health shattered; his life ruined. While such heavy-handed propaganda might be met with less credulity today, the fact remains that most Americans still believe the basic message – Just Say No or you’ll wind up hooked. What makes this truly odd is that, according to numerous national surveys, most Americans have tried marijuana and didn’t become dope fiends. Indeed, several years ago, a group of US congressmen attempted to come forward, admit their prior pot use and put an end to a draconian system that confiscates property and puts people in prison for years. But the electorate clearly wasn’t ready for any such reappraisal of the drug laws and the movement quickly died. But how is it, you ask, that all those congressmen that were candid about their drug use didn’t get hooked Reefer Madness style? The reason is because addiction depends, first and foremost, upon having an addictive personality. Such people, estimated at perhaps 10 of the population, simply don’t know when to stop. Do you enjoy a glass or two of wine with dinner? If so, why not have ten or twenty? Did you ever buy a lottery ticket on your birthday? If so, why not sell your house and buy 100,000? How about going to church on Sunday? Does it make you feel good? If so, why not go every day twice a day? The point here is simple: Too much of a good thing can be bad. And yet people with addictive personalities will get hooked on alcohol and gambling and religion. Believe it or not, being addicted is nothing more than an out-of-control habit. The difference between that 10 and everyone else is the difference between using and abusing. During the Vietnam War, drug use was endemic among troops serving in Southeast Asia. And yet, returning veterans suffered addiction rates that were no higher than those found in the general population. It would be difficult to think of a more perfectly designed experiment to show, once and for all, that dependence is mostly a matter of personality. And yet, when it comes to winning hearts and minds, the War in Vietnam was as nothing when compared to the War on Drugs. Although this second battle has completely failed in reducing illegal drug use, it has succeeded brilliantly in convincing Americans that they need to be saved from themselves. It’s a belief that was sold so well that hardly anyone noticed that Drug Czar Bill Bennett was an addictive personality hooked on both food and gambling. Look At It This Way The problem with the War on Drugs is that it creates far more harm than it eliminates. If drugs can’t be kept out of prisons, how can you possibly keep them out of a mostly free society? The “War” won’t go away because by now it’s become a major industry. It creates jobs on one side of the law and provides the opportunity for huge financial rewards on the other. But, like Prohibition before, making a law that can’t be enforced does little more than erode the public’s respect for the law. When alcohol was illegal, the upper classes had theirs imported while the common folk drank it from bathtubs. No one so inclined went without. And nothing has changed. Bush turned (supposedly) from drugs and alcohol to religion, thus substituting one addiction for another. Clinton told us, with a straight face, that he never inhaled. So here’s a simple question: Would either of these gentlemen be better off today if they had been sentenced to long prison terms? If so, why not provide them with a belated opportunity to serve time? If not, then why should the kid down the street be put away for doing the same thing? Asking such simple questions should make it plain to anyone with any common sense that the truth regarding drugs and addiction is concealed behind so many layers of ignorance and emotion, deception and special interests that it will remain a major problem for a long time to come.      

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The Addictive Personality

John Halamka reports that Google Health has quietly launched an application for secure sharing of your online medical records: The Google solution, introduced without fanfare, solves many confidentiality issues by putting the patient in control of medical record sharing. Call it “Facebook for Healthcare”. You invite those who you believe should see your medical information and you can disinvite them at anytime. Halamka, as one of the first 10 participants of the audacious Personal Genome Project, knows more than a little about sharing health data: he’s agreed to publish both his medical records and complete genetic data on the PGP’s publicly accessible database. He’s also a major player in the world of electronic health records (and anyone interested in personalised medicine that isn’t reading his blog – you should be). We really do seem to be moving into an era where patients control their own health data, order their own diagnostic tests (e.g. direct-to-consumer genetic tests), and increasingly make their own decisions about their healthcare. Whether this will actually result in better health outcomes remains to be seen; but there is no question that it will seriously disrupt the traditional medical model. Subscribe to Genetic Future . Read the comments on this post…

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Google Health: the Facebook of medical records? [Genetic Future]

Ezra Klein reviews Obama’s handling of yesterday’s health summit — a piece well worth reading for a taste of how sharply focused and serious Obama is about truly comprehensive health-care reform. Karen Tumlty, a health-care expert, describes in Time her own family’s grueling wrestling match with the health-insurance industry. A timely story — no pun intended — as it makes painfully clear that it’s not just the 46 million people uninsured (did I just say “just” 46 million people) who fare poorly in the current system. Genetic Future looks at how a Victorian-era height-prediction system beats modern genetics . When times are hard, sometimes those white capes start to show . A new theory of how birds (and flying) evolved . Dr. Bell at Mind Hacks ponders eye contact. Read the comments on this post…

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Morning dip – Health-reform, height prediction, flying birds, eye contact [Neuron Culture]

It’s an epidemic.  Everywhere I look I find normally calm, compassionate friends and colleagues foaming at the mouth whenever the word “octuplets” is mentioned.   ”You have an illness,” I say.  “Own up to it- it’s the first step towards recovery.”  Alas, if it were only so easy. Anger, Hatred, Moral Outrage! The accusations and recriminations flow one after another, with pressured speech. “That woman is so irresponsible!” “How is she going to take care of all those babies?” “Why should I have to pay for her crazy actions!” “She’s crazy! She’s had plastic surgery to look like Angelina Jolie.” “The doctor who did this should go to jail!” “Disgusting use of our health care dollars!” For those of you unaware of this case because you are living in a cave in Afghanistan waiting for Osama bin Laden and his dialysis machine to return to select you for the glory of a suicide mission, here is what you need to know. An unmarried woman in California allegedly underwent in-vitro fertilization (IVF), had six embryos implanted, and somehow delivered eight babies, all of whom have so far survived (A scientific miracle!). She already had six children at home, all conceived via IVF. So, baby (ies) make 14. Everyone involved in the case has been interviewed by People, Dr. Phil, etc, except for the studly tail-wagging sperm that could create eight babies from six embryos (Another miracle). It’s hard to know why a particular story captures the imagination the way this one has. My opinion is that the reasons are deeper than those usually expressed. I don’t find the common arguments particularly compelling. To begin, no law was broken; none of my angry friends live in California, and will not be contributing one cent directly or indirectly to care for her children; and I have sympathy for a woman who actually loves and wants her children, even if the numbers are beyond anything I can imagine. As for wanting to look like Angelina Jolie, this seems an indicator of good mental health- I’d be worried if she strove to look like Renee Zellweger. Let’s not forget that there are millions of unwed mothers (often just kids themselves) on welfare with multiple children, unplanned and unwanted, who became pregnant the old-fashioned way. Is that somehow better? And what about the deadbeat dads who flit from woman to woman without taking any financial or parental responsibility for their offspring? Less objectionable? I don’t think so. Not long ago a man in his early 40s came to my office. He proudly told me he had 12 children from seven different mothers. What did he want? A vasectomy(!). I have no idea whether or not he supports any or all of his children, so I’m not criticizing, but just pointing out that Octo-mom may not be so beyond the pale. If only one birth had resulted from the six implanted embryos (as apparently happened with an earlier IVF cycle), leaving her with a final tally of seven children, would her behavior have been any less crazy? I believe the passion engendered by this case comes from being forced to confront the fact that reproductive science has brought us to a place where traditional notions and experience are inadequate to deal with some of the issues that arise. How do we apply a sense of what is right or wrong when we’ve never even considered the possibility before? Frankly, it is a testament to the integrity of the clinicians and scientists involved in IVF centers in this country that cases like this one are so rare, because the potential for crazy stuff is a daily hazard.  The ethical questions are really challenging. The woman had six of her embryos stored in a frozen state. If some of my froth-addled commentators had their way, she should never have been implanted with any of them. But to whom do they belong, if not the woman? Who is to say what should happen to the embryos, if not her? The doctors? The government? Her church or community? Who decides how many children are enough- two, four, six? One, as in China? Does the calculus change for a single mom versus a married couple? A rich couple versus one on state assistance? And what if fertility treatment is required? Is having children a right? Does it change if a person pays with their own money for infertility treatment? It’s a brave new world, folks. Let’s not be too quick to judge. And if you think these issues are tough to handle, just wait until cloning arrives!

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Obsessed with octuplets

In the past I have written about therapy dogs and how they have helped people overcome both psychological and physical difficulties-even if the dog is not trained to assist and is unaware of the help it is providing. I recently received an email from Pete Dowan which described the therapuetic effect of a dog and the resulting emotional effect it had on him. Dowan is a Canadian who began writing songs at age 16 and is now based in Southern Ontario near Niagara Falls. He played, wrote and sang rock music in several Canadian bands which resulted in a number of releases. He suffered from a medical disability which made him unable to continue as a performer. However, with the help of his dog Scuttle he recently overcame this setback and returned to the scene as a song writer and now co-writes with Jan Blumentrath. The help of his dog inspired him to write a song in his pet’s tribute. Here is an edited excerpt of his letter. Hi Dr. Coren: I am a medically disabled songwriter from St Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and have written many songs about many different subjects and in several different styles. One song in particular was a personal thank you to my dog. The song is called “Good Friend”. I mention my disability because various factors of my condition stop me from being able to use professional studios to record my songs, so I have to do them here, at home, in my basement, on donated equipment from musicians I used to work with. For the same reason, I also am unable to perform my music live. History of the song: For the first few years that I had my current health condition I had a very difficult time walking. One of my doctors figured out the reason, and when that was dealt with, it was up to me to get myself “going”. That’s where our dog, Scuttle, came in. He bugged me daily to take him out … wouldn’t let up until I did so. His determination was catching, and within a year we were both going on outings that I never dreamed I’d be able to do again. As a thank you, I wrote the above mentioned song for him. (R.I.P. my boy) If you know it’s about a dog, the lyrics jump out at you as being obvious, but if you don’t, there’s only one line that definitely points to it. Musically Yours, Pete Dowan [pronounced like plowin' ] I thought that you might like to hear this song for his therapy dog. It is located at http://www.myspace.com/petedowan and is called “Good Friend.” It is the second song down the list. Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, How Dogs Think : Understanding the Canine Mind, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome.

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Song for a Therapy Dog

Conspiracy theories, TV thrillers and airport novels are full of the idea that the world is secretly run by a hidden society. We have come up with many names for this shadowy cabal of puppet-masters – the Illuminati, the Freemasons, and more. But a better name would be ‘parasites’. Every animal and plant is afflicted by parasites. The vast majority are simple, degenerate creatures, small in size and limited in intelligence. They affect our health and development, and even our behaviour and culture . And by pulling the strings of key species, parasites can change the face of entire habitats.In a typical school textbook, an ecosystem consists of plants that feed plant-eaters, who in turn, line the bowels of predators. But parasites influence all of these levels, and as such, they can change the structures of entire communities. The idea that nature is secretly manipulated by these tiny, brainless creatures is unsettling but manipulate us, they do. And by changing the behaviour of their hosts, parasites can change the face of entire habitats. Chelsea Wood and colleagues from Dartmouth College have found compelling evidence for this, by showing that a tiny flatworm can alter the structure of a tidal habitat by infecting small marine snails. Read the rest of this post… | Read the comments on this post…

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Parasites can change the balance of entire communities [Not Exactly Rocket Science]

Tired, self-regulatory control depleted from an exhausting day that demanded non-stop self-control, we may give up and give in. Like a tired muscle, our willpower seems unable to do any more. However, with the right incentive we can exert our physical strength even with tired muscles. And, so it is with our willpower . . . it’s about motivation, isn’t it? In my earlier posts (see Self-Regulation Failure Part 1 and Part 2 ), I summarized research that has established how our self-regulatory strength is like a muscle. When we exert self-regulatory effort on one task, there seems to be less available for subsequent tasks. The thing is, subsequent research demonstrated that we could strengthen our willpower or self-regulatory ability by regular focus on self-regulation. More interestingly, even a boost of positive emotions or a focus on our values and goals through a self-affirmation process diminished the self-regulatory exhaustion. What isn’t clear is if positive emotions or a focus on values actually replenishes the depleted willpower resources or if it simply motivates us to make the effort despite the relative depletion. The role of motivation You’ll recall that the basic paradigm for this research consists of an experiment where participants in the experimental group are required to self-regulate on a first task (e.g., resist a plate of cookies while hungry or suppress their emotional reaction while viewing a film), and this results in poorer self-regulatory performance on subsequent task. Interestingly, these self-regulatory impairments are eliminated or reduced when participants are highly motivated to self-regulate on the second task. For example, when participants are paid for doing well on the second task or they are convinced that their performance will have social benefits, they perform well despite the apparent self-regulatory exhaustion from the first task. The key thing about these findings is that it indicates that self-regulatory depletion may be reducing motivation. Given that depleted self-regulatory strength may leave us feeling like we won’t succeed, “we’re too tired to try,” it may be that the reduced expectancy of success undermines our willingness to exert effort. It’s not that we’re so impaired that we can’t respond. It’s that we “don’t feel like.” Sound familiar? “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” This is a common phrase we use to rationalize our procrastination. Perhaps it simply captures our perceptions of self-regulatory strength at the moment. Of course, it’s a perception, and, I argue, at least partly an illusion. It’s about our motivation, not about the reality of not being ability to muster the self-regulatory effort – Unwilling perhaps, not unable. From this perspective, what we see is that we may fail to self-regulate because we acquiesce. In the case of procrastination, we find resisting the urge to do something else (an alternative intention) impossible to resist, so we give up and give in. Of course, during this internal self-regulatory struggle, we must restrain this impulse to leave the task at hand, our intended goal, in favor of the competing goal (one that is usual specious to our values and long-term goals). Strategy for change We all feel depleted throughout the day. We all have moments where we think, “I’m exhausted, I just can’t do anymore” or “I’ll feel more like this tomorrow.” This is true, this is how we’re feeling at the moment, however our success depends on us moving past these momentary feelings of depletion. Given the role of motivation in self-regulatory failure, it is crucial to acknowledge the role of higher-order thought in this process, particularly the ability to transcend the feelings at the moment ( mindfulness helps here ) in order to focus on our overall goals and values. In the absence of cues to signal the need for self-regulation, we may give in to feel good, and stop trying. It’s exactly when we say to ourselves “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow,” that we have to stop, take a breath and think about why we intended to do the task today. Why is it important to us? What benefit is there in making the effort now? How will this help us achieve our goal? From there, if we can just muster the volitional strength for one more step, that is to just get started , we will find that we had more self-regulatory strength in reserve than we realized. Our perception can fool us at times, and this self-deception can really be our own worst enemy.  

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Self-regulation failure (Part 3): What’s motivation got to do with it?

Founded by accomplished fitness instructor, Patricia Moreno , intenSati is a vigorous cardio-sculpting workout that combines aerobics, martial arts, yoga, dance and intentions. More than just physical exercise, intenSati fuses movement with positive mantras and powerful affirmations to condition the mind and spirit as well as the body. <!–break–> I recently took intenSati for the first time, and found it to be a challenging and dynamic workout centered on cardio, strengthening, toning and balance. As we moved through the routine, we repeated encouraging phrases reminding us that we own the power to create our realities, and are each strong and capable of greatness. At first I felt a little funny shouting affirmations while working out, but as the class continued it began to feel more natural, and even empowering. Eager to learn more about this unique physical, mental and spiritual fitness regime, I reached out to Moreno with some questions about the practice. What sets intenSati apart form other workouts? Will it really better my life? intenSati has revolutionized how people are training. It brings the philosophy of positive psychology into the gym, or your home if you have the DVD (available at http://satilife.com/ ). Many people are inspired when they read self-improvement books, but don’t have a practice in place to truly incorporate the motivational wisdom into their lifestyle. Information without action is useless. intenSati puts it all into motion so you can actually practice becoming a more positive, inspired, enthusiastic, courageous and happy person, while experiencing the best workout you’ve probably ever had! What inspired you to create this form of mental, spiritual and physical exercise? I wanted to create a workout that showed people that diet and exercise aren’t the only factors that affect health and weight. After studying the power of positive thought and affirmations, it became clear to me that we really are what we think. I was inspired to share this notion with people all over the world, and that’s how I developed intenSati. It connects uplifting mantras with movement, and really helps people train their minds and bodies. What results, physical and mental, can one expect from intenSati? Immediately after taking an intenSati class, students will feel inspired, energized, motivated and acutely aware of how upbeat, positive expressions impact the quality of their lives. Students have reported finding better jobs, falling in love, feeling a boost in self-confidence, greater weight loss, and an overall stronger dedication to improving their bodies and lives. How often should one practice intenSati in order to see and feel these results? Like any exercise, the more often you do it, the faster you will see results in your body. But even just practicing intenSati once a week can be enough to see mental and emotional improvements. It’s about remembering to think better thoughts, take positive action and do your best now. The more often your practice, the more it becomes ingrained and a part of who you are. Where are classes offered? In NYC and LA classes are offered at Equinox . And check the SatiLife website for a listing of all the classes we offer worldwide.

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Patricia Moreno Discusses intenSati: Fitness For The Body And Mind

tags: flower , Gardenia-Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland , Viikki , image of the day Still Life: Flower in a vase . Photographed at Gardenia-Helsinki, the public greenhouse at the University of Helsinki, Viikki campus, Helsinki, Finland. Image: GrrlScientist, 25 February 2009 [ larger view ]. I photographed this small flower in a vase while eating lunch at the wonderful greenhouse, Gardenia-Helsinki, located in Viikki, Helsinki. Read the comments on this post…

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Still Life [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]

Big news today at the CHI Medicine Tri-Conference . Merck has pledged to donate a remarkable resource to the commons – a vast database of highly consistent data about the biology of disease, as well as software tools and other resources to use it. The resources come out of work done at the Rosetta branch of Merck (you might remember them as the company whose sale capped a boom in bioinformatics) and is at its root a network biology system. In use inside Rosetta/Merck last year alone it led directly to a ton of publications . This is all going to happen through the establishment of a non-profit organization called Sage to serve as the guardian of the resources. It’s not about making a quick data dump onto the web, however. Sage is going to take a while during an ” incubation period of three to five years…in which new project data are generated, critical tools for building and mining disease models are developed and governing rules for sharing, accessing, and contributing to the platform are established .” This is complex content and it’s going to take some ongoing work to expose everything in a usable way. But the resources are headed for the public domain, and will be a remarkable capacity builder for those who currently work without the best tools and data as a base for their science. Sage means that we are now on the path to a world in which scientists working on HIV in Brazilian non-profit research institutes (like my mother-in-law) will be able to use the same powerful computational disease biology tools as those inside Merck. I’m very much looking forward to living in that world. I am proud to serve on the founding Board of Directors for Sage. I hope to play a role in making sure that the Open Access part of Sage’s mission comes to life in a way that not only keeps the content and resources available to all, but serves as a key for future growth and applications. The law isn’t the big story here – the science is – but if we can get the law right, it can catalyze the emergence of a robust public domain in disease biology for us all to benefit from. This is an incredibly significant step on the road to open biology – time will tell if it’s as earthshaking as IBM’s embrace of GNU/Linux – and I can’t wait to see where it all goes. Congratulations to the team that built this platform and then had the vision to take it into the commons. Read the comments on this post…

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Sage – Open Access Data from Merck [Common Knowledge]