In the 19th century, phrenology was viewed as a respected science that based its findings on measurements of the skull to determine a person’s character and mental capacity. Few follow phrenology today. Contemporary neuroscience utilizes brain scans to detect correlations between the body and the brain. Yet, both sciences lack explanatory power when it comes […]
Can Viewing Yourself Differently Actually Stop Chronic Pain?
If you’re one of the millions who suffer from chronic pain, you may have noticed the attention currently focused on a powerful new narcotic called Zohydro. With so much focus on ending our nation’s pain killer epidemic, the timing of the FDA’s recent approval of this new drug has many perplexed. It was just six […]
Needed: New Ways to Relieve Pain
“My husband served honorably, with pride and dignity, not to come home and die on the couch!” These were the tearful words of army specialist Scott McDonald’s widow in a special CBS report last September. After five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, McDonald returned home with chronic pain and after one year overdosed on prescribed […]
The Placebo Effect: A Conversation With Dr Irving Kirsch
“Explosive” was the word 60 Minutes reporter Leslie Stahl used to describe the scientific conclusions of Harvard’s Dr Irving Kirsch in the episode titled “Treating Depression, Is there a Placebo Effect?,” which aired February 19, 2012. Dr Kirsch, the associate director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter hosted at the Beth […]