That's awesome Par. What came to my mind is the following:
-Yes, psychiatry DOES have an imperfect history, as do all fields of study, but getting psychiatry wrong is way scarier than doing, say, an un-sterilzed surgery, or getting physics wrong.
-It's hard to trust psychiatry all the way because of this, and also because we still don't understand the brain 100% yet, so how can psyciatrists assure us that we're absolutely without a doubt in good hands? And also because we know so little about the brain, we can imagine all kinds of horrific things potentially happening to us, but we know what happens to legs and arms and stuff pretty clearly.

And I'm not at all slagging psychiatrists but I think that's why people still associate psychiatrists with (like he said) paranormal and paranoid ideas. The brain is still a bit of a mystery, so people lump it in subconciously with other mysteries.

I think mental problems are treated and seen differently than other diseases because it limits your ability to communicate with people in a "normal" socially established and predictable way. If someone's brain chemistry differs enough from your own, they're practically an alien. Not the same as getting, say, tetanus. It's disconcerting in a way that physical ailments aren't.

You say that now, Jess, but once you get lockjaw vigilantes are what you'll want to save you.

Tetanus is complicated, because it's not the bacteria that's the problem but rather the toxin. The toxin binds irreversibly, so neurological damage that results from bound toxin doesn't really subside, but you can give people 'tetanus immune globulin' (ie. antibodies against the toxin) to mop up unbound toxin.

Still, it's a crazy diagnosis, and certainly not what I expected, but I at least found out enough when I examined him that I got him to the neurologist.

I read Alison's post quickly and saw "vigilante," which seemed unnecessary.

Hey Par, what do you do with someone who's contracted tetanus? I thought it was kind-of, well, fast-acting and lethal.

If we were vigilant, we got it at 25, right? ... so 35's the next one?

So true!

Thanks Par, but don't worry, I stopped drinking Scotch and Drambuie together a long time ago.

Dear friends,

Please get your tetanus updated if you haven't in the last 10 years. One of my patients turned out to have contracted it.

Crazy.

Yours,

Paras

By the way,


HAPPY TOWEL DAY!