http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/VideoPlayerMain.swf
The case of those who take helpers besides Allah is like unto the case of the spider, who makes for herself a house; and surely the frailest of all houses is the house of the spider, if they but knew! (Al Quran 29:42)
Sigmund Freud remembered all his life the disgust and bitter disappointment he felt as a boy of ten years when hearing that his father refused to defend himself against the anti-Semite bullies who pushed him off the side walk of his home town, suggesting that a Jew should not walk on the side walks and leave it for the self righteous Nazis. This framed his spiritual struggle for the whole of his life that can be considered as a conflict between his Jewish identity possibly his faith and the anti-Semite Christian majority of the time.
His journey in psychoanalysis can be framed and understood by reviewing achievements and academic career of Jean-Martin Charcot. “Diseases can be caused by ideas” said Charcot and it heralded a new era in human understanding. This laid the foundation of Psychology, an identity separate from Neurology which was rooted in physical causes. Charcot, a French neurologist was the founder (with Guillaume Duchenne) of modern neurology and one of France’s greatest medical teachers and clinicians. He became a professor at the University of Paris (1860–93), where he began a lifelong association with the Salpêtrière Hospital; there, in 1882, he opened what was to become the greatest neurological clinic of the time in Europe. A teacher of extraordinary competence, he attracted students from all parts of the world. In 1885 one of his students was Sigmund Freud, and it was Charcot’s employment of hypnosis in an attempt to discover basis for hysteria that stimulated Freud’s interest in the psychological origins of neurosis. Charcot was the “foremost neurologist of late nineteenth-century France” and has been called “the Napoleon of the neuroses.” For the rest of the story read an article titled, Freudian conflicts and slips.
‘Those who believe, and whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of Allah. Aye! it is in the remembrance of Allah that hearts can find comfort; ‘Those who believe and do good works — happiness shall be theirs, and an excellent place of return.’ (Al Quran 13:29-30)
Categories: Health, Preventive Medicine, Psychology
Are antidepressants glorified placebos?
Which came first, the mental illness or the drug? While in other areas of medicine this is a no-brainer (no pun intended), some argue that certain psychiatric conditions are created and classified because of the effects particular drugs have on the body, and not the other way around.
Three new books, reviewed in Dr. Marcia Angell’s article “The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?” in The New York Review of Books, raise startling possibilities about the truth behind the explosion of prescriptions of pharmaceutical treatments for mental illness. (Dr. Angell, by the way, was the first woman to ever be editor-in-chief of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine).
All of the authors of the new books agree on two thought-provoking viewpoints:
1. Our understanding of categories of mental illness and their treatments has been influenced by drug companies, through both legal and illegal marketing.
2. Mental illness is not caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/16/are-antidepressants-glorified-placebos/?hpt=hp_t2
Curing Sigmund Freud’s Atheism
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his colleagues defined man as a purely ‘Psychological man’ driven by his past experiences and memories as opposed to ‘Religious man’ who has a constant attraction and a drive towards his Creator and Protector, the God of monotheism. Freud theorized that personality is developed by the person’s childhood experiences. He was not vague about his claims for atheism. He actually predicted that as the masses of people become more educated, they would ‘turn away’ from the ‘fairy tales of religion.’ We will examine how his views were shaped by the anti-Semitism of his time.
Carl Jung, a contemporary of Freud took an exception, he wrote, “Freud has unfortunately overlooked the fact that man has never yet been able single‑handed to hold his own against the powers of darkness — that is, of the unconscious. Man has always stood in need of the spiritual help which each individual’s own religion held out to him.”
Which world view will give you contentment and peace, Sigmund Freud’s or Carl Jung’s? This is the question, the answer of which you owe to yourself!
http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/curing-sigmund-freud-s-atheism/1qhnnhcumbuyp/44#
Japan suicides rise to 33,000 in 2009
TOKYO – May 2010 – The number of suicides in Japan rose to nearly 33,000 in 2009, a police survey showed Thursday, citing depression and economic hardships for the upturn.
The National Police Agency said the number of Japanese suicides was 32,845 last year, up 1.8 percent compared to the year before and topping 30,000 for the 12th consecutive year. The 2009 figure was also the fifth-highest since 1978, when statistics were first compiled. The record high was 34,427 suicides in 2003.
Japan has long battled a high suicide rate. The country’s suicide rate of 24.4 per 100,000 people ranked the second-highest among the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations after Russia’s 30.1, according to the World Health Organization.
Men accounted for nearly 72 percent of Japan’s suicides last year, with depression and economic struggles, including losing jobs, being cited among the top reasons for suicides, the survey showed.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-05/13/content_9845670.htm
The ‘five element’ theory in Traditional Chinese medicine describes the different ‘makeup’ of humans.
http://www.tcmworld.org/what_is_tcm/
@Abida Rehman: Jazakallah for the link about Traditional Chinese Medicine. A few chinese techniques were helpful to me in some instances by the grace of Allah. This reminds me of the saying of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) about being in search of knowledge even if one has to go as far as China. May we benefit from everything good that Traditional Chinese Medicine may have to offer to us. Looking forward to learning even more about it. Thanks again.
And thanks to Dr Shah for the post and comments too. Jazakallah