Music Monday- old school

People of my generation may remember Schoolhouse Rock, a collection of campy educational cartoon shorts from everything from history to government to math, to grammar and English.  Here is a reworking of the greatest of them all from my completely unbiased point of view, reviewing the greatest of the body’s organ systems, the Nervous system.

An Apostle’s Easter Message

I realize this is a day late, but this was a high point of the meeting we Mormons have biannually to hear from the worldwide Church leadership, whom we honor as prophets and apostles.

When I heard this, I determined that Elder Holland had either been reading my blog post on the Tortured Soul and getting his ideas from it, (I can dream, can’t I) , or perhaps we get our ideas from our common faith and scriptures, or God, himself.  Regardless, it is a powerful oratory full of truth which I offer to anyone who cares to listen.

The Tortured Soul

    My last edifying voyage into the world of podcasts while working away in my monastic resident existence at the hospital this past month was a rebroadcast of the fantastic Speaking of Faith episode on Depression and the Soul.  It really hammered home my own experience in a jarring and powerful way. 

Points of Interest, #41

And now, the moment you have been waiting for all week.  No– not that moment.  It is the moment when yours truly presents the best, the brightest, the most informative, interesting, and entertaining of my sojourn on the internet.  Today I have gratitude, no worries, losing recognition of our own face, the God of the future, marrying biblical sisters, Scrubs and the end of life, and a football team without a home field, and eloping six year olds, amongst a lot of other really, really good stuff.  So dig in and enjoy the best of the internet (I could find)-

Points of interest 4/5

I just wanted to announce that the twice monthly Brainblogging carnival is out and excellent as always, moving beyond the neuroscience into more personal psychosocial side of the brain. It seems I am becoming a something of a regular contributor there, which is both flattering and humbling. Many thanks.

Also this weekend is time for the semiannual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, something of a spiritual feast for myself as we Mormons get to hear from those we hold to be living prophets and apostles proclaim God’s message to us today. Any interested are welcome to listen in. I have also found it is sometimes interesting to get other’s reactions at the LDS Bloggernaccle various open threads found here, here, here, and here.

Here is the remaining best of the web in what has been a very, very interesting week, especially for you, the reader.

Placebos and the mind-body connection

One thing that consistently amazes me about the human mind is its intricate relationship to our health and well being. In anxiety, your muscles remain constantly tense and flexed, burning your energy supply, leaving you exhausted. Panic attacks can feel identical to heart attacks, as your body is flooded with stress hormones.

Every specialty has their own somatoform disorder. These are real physical symptoms that occur as a result of an outside stressor. They can include headache, irritable bowel syndrome, wheezing and trouble breathing, nonepileptic seizures, paralysis, chest pain, rashes or a host of other symptoms. Despite the tendency to claim, “It’s all in your head,”all of these conditions are very real and lead to the consumption of a lot of physician’s time.
Unfortunately because they are intricately related to the mind, they tend to be written off by doctors. We tend to see conditions as either physical or mental when the truth with any disease is that there are always strong components of both.

So where does this prejudice stem from? Oddly enough, I think it is rooted in our scientifically useful proof of the mind body connection, the placebo.

Points of interest 3/29

Welcome one and all readers of my blog. I am having a bit of writing block right now, but hey, it seems failures are as important as successes. In my surfing, here are some of the many successes I have come across.

Points of interest 2/23

It is time time again for my weekly roundup of stuff I wish I wrote, found wandering the ethernet. I have discovered the wonder that is google reader. Now every time I run into a great post, mind, body, or soul, you can can view it on my sidebar (nuggets from all over) should you should you feel inclined. It even has its own RSS feed if you want to go nuts in the Doc’s stuff he wish he wrote fanclub, or if spirituality, or neuroscience, or medicine happen to be your thing too. Knock yourself out. I will continue to recognize and summarize my absolute favorites each week for your viewing/reading pleasure. Enjoy!