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Psychiatric views on daily news
We are currently in the midst of the Jewish Day of Awe. Generally considered to be the most serious time of the year, we must strive to do our best both psychologically and spiritually in the hope of being placed in the book of life. . For next year. This year, the Ig Noble Award happened to be presented the day before the great days began with Rosh Hashana. Perhaps the timing may have been helpful to some, as the intended humor provided a temporary break from the seriousness of the time. Or is it the other way around?
Started in 1991, 10 awards are given each year for authentic research that “first made people laugh and then made them think.” The co-sponsor is Record of unlikely research.
Over the past few years, I have selected a few that I think have some connection to psychiatry and our time.
1. In this older study, Milgram and colleagues conducted an experiment conducted on the street to test how many passersby would stop and look up when they saw a stranger looking up. I did it.1 result? The bigger the crowd, the more people look up.
Now, if you recall Milgram’s other early studies, he found that most of the step-by-step instructions from an authority figure caused pain for the subjects. Consider the Holocaust. Consider Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Consider a bully.
2. This study looked at algorithms that help gossipers decide when to tell the truth.2 This is certainly relevant research in politically divisive times, right?
3. This study wondered whether humans evolved whiskers to protect their faces from punches.3 result? Indeed, a beard can act like a lion’s mane in a fight.
Thoughts as a conclusion
Are these examples primarily silly or are they serious in nature? Don’t you think it’s increasingly dangerous to follow the leader without thinking? Why do patients agree with their therapists? and method seem to be related to that tendency. Perhaps we’ll cover more of these past awards.
Dr. Moffic An award-winning psychiatrist specializing in cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry, he has now retired and re-employed as a private, unpaid community psychiatrist. A prolific author and speaker, he has published a weekly weekday column titled “Psychiatry’s Take on the Daily News” and “Psychiatry and Society” since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been writing a weekly video called. He has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award by the American Academy of Social Psychiatry. To date, he received the Public Administration Award from the American Psychiatric Association in his 2016 year, was named a one-time Hero of Public Psychiatry by the APA Congressional Chair in 2002, and was named an Exemplary Psychiatrist by the National Alliance. I won an award. In 1991 he suffered from mental illness. He is an advocate and activist on mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is currently editing the final book in his four-volume series on religion and psychiatry for Springer magazine, “Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, Christianity, and the Present.” oriental religions and spirituality.He serves on the editorial board of Psychiatric Times.
References
1. Milgram S, Bickman L, Berkoutis L. A note on the attracting power of crowds of different sizes. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1969;13(2):79-82.
2. Wu J, Számadó S, Barclay P, et al. Honesty and dishonesty in gossip strategies: A study of fitness interdependence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021;376(1838):20200300.
3. Besaris EA, Naleway SE, Carrier DR. The impact protective potential of mammalian hair: Testing the punishment hypothesis for the evolution of human facial hair. Tissue biointegration. 2020;2(1):ovaa005.
