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Interesting. From that link: "One-eighth of the attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games (12
percent, n=5)."

And from this study, we see that 40 percent of young people played violent video games in the past month: http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/15/study-no-link-between-violent-video-games-youth-aggression/21824.html

So either the way they are measuring "interest in violent video games" is very different, or in fact people who engage in targeted school attacks are actually significantly *less* likely than their age cohort to play violent video games. Which doesn't speak at all to causation either, but turns the whole thing on its head.

That other study I linked to shows that mental issues such as depression are predictive of engaging in violent behavior, whereas playing violent video games is not. That was from a month ago.

I think many commenters here don't understand how a free-market system and capitalism works.

A company can charge ANY price it wants for its products, regardless of the cost to make them. Do you really believe, for instance, that a BMW 5 series costs $20-30k more to make than a similarly equipped 3 series? Heck no -- in fact, the two cars share a lot of the same major parts (like engines in certain versions of them).

A manufacturer can set any price it feels the market can bear. And from a marketing and computer upgrade standpoint, this move by Intel makes perfect sense for the normal consumer market. Instead of having to upgrade your whole computer in 2 years, pay Intel the $50 and your computer may be good for another 2 years.

This "you're being ripped off" bit is ridiculous and would only be a logical argument in a socialist system where all prices were pre-determined by a government entity and set according to exactly what it cost to make the product + X percent markup.

Luckily, we do not live in such a system.

--
Mental health and psychology at Psych Central

Unfortunately caffeine is not a cure.

that is actually not true.
Caffiene is used by many adults to treat ADD even if it is subconscious. The research is still not quite there, but it has a solid basis.

C'mon, this is old news! We reported on this a week ago...

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/04/13/fast-food-induces-haste-impatience/

If you stop using a cell phone after years of use, you won't feel physically and mentally ill. Not the same as smoking.

Quote: "A new Australian study finds the average Australian spends one hour on his or her mobile phone every day with one in five obsessed with their cell and potentially addicted to the device."

Just the first thing I found. Fits my bias though.

CC.

Seems I read somewhere about the brain differences in folks who called themselves liberal or conservative. Liberals, when presented with new information or a new situation showed increased flexibility for dealing with change while conservatives showed more focus on a current setup.

Have definitely seen this in computer geeks, with those who don't want any change to a stable setup vs those who are always looking at ways to improve and upgrade stuff.

I think what you are looking for is World of Warcraft!

You will get all the social interaction that you can wave a wand at! Plus you have the added bonus of having the opportunity to meet the opposite gender, just be careful that the Level 70 elven priestess is not really a 15 year old boy out for a laugh!

Keeping those things in mind this will work wonders on anyone's social life. You have a 1 in 3 chance of meeting someone.

The original poster should have listed the last 75 questions on the test and commented on them and not the boring first 75.

Holy cow! Have you folks read some of the questions that they ask on this test, especially the ones in the 500+ section? This doesn't detect psychotic behavior it practically encourages it!

I've read the questions to this test and at first I found myself thinking of how stupid and silly this test was and how useless it was trying and sneak in some questions regarding psychotic, suicidal, or homicidal behavior. If I was given this test to take my first reaction would be to tell them to go screw themselves for trying to waste my time. I would feel like it was beneath me to even take it with the types of questions that it was asking but of course the scenario at a job interview would be, "You either take the test or we can't hire you." so you would be forced to take it.

However the more that I read the questions of found that it actually might be a great test because of the fact that some people who harbor these psychotic thoughts might be closet cases crying out for help and trying to tell others about their problems, and answering truthfully might be their way of admitting and asking for help. There are questions in this test dealing with sexual deviant issues, alcoholism, anger issues, self-image issues, self-control, claustrophobia, agrophobia, arachnophobia, psychosis, schizophrenia, sociopathy, hallucinations, and other mental or social issues. It seems to me that the folks who wrote this test used the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), picked the most frequently occurring disorders that would negatively affect work or social behavior and wrote the questions to identify people with these disorders.

I think the reason behind this test is that a person who suffers from some of these disorders who has not been previously diagnosed or has not self-diagnosed themselves as suffering from such a disorder might be picked up on this test by the answers that they would honestly give without realizing that some of the answers would be positive for these disorders. Then again, folks who have been diagnosed, either clinically or self-diagnosed, and have realized the negative connotations related to their mental disorder might be smart enough to identify these tell-tale questions and give the expected normal answer even through they know that their behavior is otherwise.

From what I have read much of this test is quite boring with usual questions are parents, childhood, social behavior, nervousness, etc. but there are some quite strong zingers in this test that I cherry picked.

I tried to label some of the questions with the associated personality traits that they try to identify but I've only done a layman's job at it. It would be nice if someone with professional training would categorize some of the more interesting questions for us.

Psych Central - DSM-IV Mental Disorder Index

18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. - ?
23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. - Bipolar Disorder
24. Evil spirits possess me at times. - Schizophrenia
27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. - Borderline Personality Disorder
32. I have had very peculiar and strange experiences. - Any mental disorder.
52. I have not lived the right kind of life. - Depression
55. I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their pati

The original poster should have listed the last 75 questions on the test and commented on them and not the boring first 75.

Holy cow! Have you folks read some of the questions that they ask on this test, especially the ones in the 500+ section? This doesn't detect psychotic behavior it practically encourages it!

I've read the questions to this test and at first I found myself thinking of how stupid and silly this test was and how useless it was trying and sneak in some questions regarding psychotic, suicidal, or homicidal behavior. If I was given this test to take my first reaction would be to tell them to go screw themselves for trying to waste my time. I would feel like it was beneath me to even take it with the types of questions that it was asking but of course the scenario at a job interview would be, "You either take the test or we can't hire you." so you would be forced to take it.

However the more that I read the questions of found that it actually might be a great test because of the fact that some people who harbor these psychotic thoughts might be closet cases crying out for help and trying to tell others about their problems, and answering truthfully might be their way of admitting and asking for help. There are questions in this test dealing with sexual deviant issues, alcoholism, anger issues, self-image issues, self-control, claustrophobia, agrophobia, arachnophobia, psychosis, schizophrenia, sociopathy, hallucinations, and other mental or social issues. It seems to me that the folks who wrote this test used the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), picked the most frequently occurring disorders that would negatively affect work or social behavior and wrote the questions to identify people with these disorders.

I think the reason behind this test is that a person who suffers from some of these disorders who has not been previously diagnosed or has not self-diagnosed themselves as suffering from such a disorder might be picked up on this test by the answers that they would honestly give without realizing that some of the answers would be positive for these disorders. Then again, folks who have been diagnosed, either clinically or self-diagnosed, and have realized the negative connotations related to their mental disorder might be smart enough to identify these tell-tale questions and give the expected normal answer even through they know that their behavior is otherwise.

From what I have read much of this test is quite boring with usual questions are parents, childhood, social behavior, nervousness, etc. but there are some quite strong zingers in this test that I cherry picked.

I tried to label some of the questions with the associated personality traits that they try to identify but I've only done a layman's job at it. It would be nice if someone with professional training would categorize some of the more interesting questions for us.

Psych Central - DSM-IV Mental Disorder Index

18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. - ?
23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. - Bipolar Disorder
24. Evil spirits possess me at times. - Schizophrenia
27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. - Borderline Personality Disorder
32. I have had very peculiar and strange experiences. - Any mental disorder.
52. I have not lived the right kind of life. - Depression
55. I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their pati

The original poster should have listed the last 75 questions on the test and commented on them and not the boring first 75.

Holy cow! Have you folks read some of the questions that they ask on this test, especially the ones in the 500+ section? This doesn't detect psychotic behavior it practically encourages it!

I've read the questions to this test and at first I found myself thinking of how stupid and silly this test was and how useless it was trying and sneak in some questions regarding psychotic, suicidal, or homicidal behavior. If I was given this test to take my first reaction would be to tell them to go screw themselves for trying to waste my time. I would feel like it was beneath me to even take it with the types of questions that it was asking but of course the scenario at a job interview would be, "You either take the test or we can't hire you." so you would be forced to take it.

However the more that I read the questions of found that it actually might be a great test because of the fact that some people who harbor these psychotic thoughts might be closet cases crying out for help and trying to tell others about their problems, and answering truthfully might be their way of admitting and asking for help. There are questions in this test dealing with sexual deviant issues, alcoholism, anger issues, self-image issues, self-control, claustrophobia, agrophobia, arachnophobia, psychosis, schizophrenia, sociopathy, hallucinations, and other mental or social issues. It seems to me that the folks who wrote this test used the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), picked the most frequently occurring disorders that would negatively affect work or social behavior and wrote the questions to identify people with these disorders.

I think the reason behind this test is that a person who suffers from some of these disorders who has not been previously diagnosed or has not self-diagnosed themselves as suffering from such a disorder might be picked up on this test by the answers that they would honestly give without realizing that some of the answers would be positive for these disorders. Then again, folks who have been diagnosed, either clinically or self-diagnosed, and have realized the negative connotations related to their mental disorder might be smart enough to identify these tell-tale questions and give the expected normal answer even through they know that their behavior is otherwise.

From what I have read much of this test is quite boring with usual questions are parents, childhood, social behavior, nervousness, etc. but there are some quite strong zingers in this test that I cherry picked.

I tried to label some of the questions with the associated personality traits that they try to identify but I've only done a layman's job at it. It would be nice if someone with professional training would categorize some of the more interesting questions for us.

Psych Central - DSM-IV Mental Disorder Index

18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. - ?
23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. - Bipolar Disorder
24. Evil spirits possess me at times. - Schizophrenia
27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. - Borderline Personality Disorder
32. I have had very peculiar and strange experiences. - Any mental disorder.
52. I have not lived the right kind of life. - Depression
55. I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their pati

The original poster should have listed the last 75 questions on the test and commented on them and not the boring first 75.

Holy cow! Have you folks read some of the questions that they ask on this test, especially the ones in the 500+ section? This doesn't detect psychotic behavior it practically encourages it!

I've read the questions to this test and at first I found myself thinking of how stupid and silly this test was and how useless it was trying and sneak in some questions regarding psychotic, suicidal, or homicidal behavior. If I was given this test to take my first reaction would be to tell them to go screw themselves for trying to waste my time. I would feel like it was beneath me to even take it with the types of questions that it was asking but of course the scenario at a job interview would be, "You either take the test or we can't hire you." so you would be forced to take it.

However the more that I read the questions of found that it actually might be a great test because of the fact that some people who harbor these psychotic thoughts might be closet cases crying out for help and trying to tell others about their problems, and answering truthfully might be their way of admitting and asking for help. There are questions in this test dealing with sexual deviant issues, alcoholism, anger issues, self-image issues, self-control, claustrophobia, agrophobia, arachnophobia, psychosis, schizophrenia, sociopathy, hallucinations, and other mental or social issues. It seems to me that the folks who wrote this test used the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), picked the most frequently occurring disorders that would negatively affect work or social behavior and wrote the questions to identify people with these disorders.

I think the reason behind this test is that a person who suffers from some of these disorders who has not been previously diagnosed or has not self-diagnosed themselves as suffering from such a disorder might be picked up on this test by the answers that they would honestly give without realizing that some of the answers would be positive for these disorders. Then again, folks who have been diagnosed, either clinically or self-diagnosed, and have realized the negative connotations related to their mental disorder might be smart enough to identify these tell-tale questions and give the expected normal answer even through they know that their behavior is otherwise.

From what I have read much of this test is quite boring with usual questions are parents, childhood, social behavior, nervousness, etc. but there are some quite strong zingers in this test that I cherry picked.

I tried to label some of the questions with the associated personality traits that they try to identify but I've only done a layman's job at it. It would be nice if someone with professional training would categorize some of the more interesting questions for us.

Psych Central - DSM-IV Mental Disorder Index

18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. - ?
23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. - Bipolar Disorder
24. Evil spirits possess me at times. - Schizophrenia
27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. - Borderline Personality Disorder
32. I have had very peculiar and strange experiences. - Any mental disorder.
52. I have not lived the right kind of life. - Depression
55. I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their pati

The original poster should have listed the last 75 questions on the test and commented on them and not the boring first 75.

Holy cow! Have you folks read some of the questions that they ask on this test, especially the ones in the 500+ section? This doesn't detect psychotic behavior it practically encourages it!

I've read the questions to this test and at first I found myself thinking of how stupid and silly this test was and how useless it was trying and sneak in some questions regarding psychotic, suicidal, or homicidal behavior. If I was given this test to take my first reaction would be to tell them to go screw themselves for trying to waste my time. I would feel like it was beneath me to even take it with the types of questions that it was asking but of course the scenario at a job interview would be, "You either take the test or we can't hire you." so you would be forced to take it.

However the more that I read the questions of found that it actually might be a great test because of the fact that some people who harbor these psychotic thoughts might be closet cases crying out for help and trying to tell others about their problems, and answering truthfully might be their way of admitting and asking for help. There are questions in this test dealing with sexual deviant issues, alcoholism, anger issues, self-image issues, self-control, claustrophobia, agrophobia, arachnophobia, psychosis, schizophrenia, sociopathy, hallucinations, and other mental or social issues. It seems to me that the folks who wrote this test used the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), picked the most frequently occurring disorders that would negatively affect work or social behavior and wrote the questions to identify people with these disorders.

I think the reason behind this test is that a person who suffers from some of these disorders who has not been previously diagnosed or has not self-diagnosed themselves as suffering from such a disorder might be picked up on this test by the answers that they would honestly give without realizing that some of the answers would be positive for these disorders. Then again, folks who have been diagnosed, either clinically or self-diagnosed, and have realized the negative connotations related to their mental disorder might be smart enough to identify these tell-tale questions and give the expected normal answer even through they know that their behavior is otherwise.

From what I have read much of this test is quite boring with usual questions are parents, childhood, social behavior, nervousness, etc. but there are some quite strong zingers in this test that I cherry picked.

I tried to label some of the questions with the associated personality traits that they try to identify but I've only done a layman's job at it. It would be nice if someone with professional training would categorize some of the more interesting questions for us.

Psych Central - DSM-IV Mental Disorder Index

18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. - ?
23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. - Bipolar Disorder
24. Evil spirits possess me at times. - Schizophrenia
27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. - Borderline Personality Disorder
32. I have had very peculiar and strange experiences. - Any mental disorder.
52. I have not lived the right kind of life. - Depression
55. I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their pati

The MMPI (and its subsequent editions) have decades worth of research backing up their validity. So while your opinion is noted, it doesn't really refute the empirical evidence in peer-reviewed journals.

Having the questions available to you ahead of time is completely useless. Without knowing what questions are scored according to what scale, you have no idea in which way to answer them.

And even if you did, what you get from the MMPI-2 is a personality profile (heavily weighted to look at disorders or problems with personality -- other tests do a better job looking at the positive aspects and the whole of one's personality). A profile is not "good" or "bad," but an employer or such might be looking for a specific type of profile that best fits within their company.

The MMPI-2 is most often administered as a part of a larger psychological battery, to help a mental health professional understand what's going on with a person. While it can also be used for employment testing or in the courts (forensic psychology), it's primarily used to help professionals better help people who are seeking their help.

--
Psych Central
http://psychcentral.com/

You have to be careful about using home remedies, some of them can have worse side effects then others. Some can masque the severe symptoms of an illness making you think it is better without it actually being better. I will attempt to answer your other points and questions.

Alright - a couple things. Why do doctors prescribe name-brand drugs - but when you get to the pharmacist and ask, he will admit that a generic brand has the exact same ingredients for a fraction of the price?

Well, there are a few generic medications that for whatever reasons, don't work quite as well as the brand names. I'm not sure how prevalent that might be nor do I know if extends outside the pyco active drugs.

However, I'm willing to bet that the conditions name the name brands in the treatment book I mentioned. It's probably one of those things where they just prescribe the name brand and don't even bother themselves with the details of generic drugs.

Acid reflux, mentioned further down in another guy's post. I suffered with it for awhile. I happened to watch a health care documentary thing, in which the whole acid reflux scam was revealed. Your stomach is NOT to acid, rather it is either not acid enough, or producing the wrong kind of acid. Suggested fix? Drink vinegar. I tried it, it worked. No more prescription for me. And, those pills were EXPENSIVE!

There was a doctor from Australia (I think) who discovered bacteria growing in the human stomach. He found that a combination of two drugs, an antacid and a powerful antibiotic killed the bacteria and this turned out to be a cure for the majority of ulcers out there. The problem is that no one would believe that something could live in the acid in the digestive system and it took a while before he could present it to anyone willing to verify the claims. Now, the test to see if you have an ulcer it actually more expensive then a run on the pills.

Anyways, the digestive system is a complex thing. That being said, I have to ask if vinegar will work for both conditions you mentioned and will it have the same effects on everyone? It would seem like it would work for one or the other, perhaps both, and perhaps in some cases neither. Drugs like Prilosec, Zantac, Tagamet, Mylanta, and other antacids which is commonly used to control upset stomachs, actually control or attempt to control the acid production and limit conditions that cause discomfort. That is how they used to treat ulcers that weren't chronic bleeders before they started adding antibiotics to the mix. In other words, is it safer to introduce acetic acid (vineger) in order to change the chemistry of the stomach or would it be better to control the acid output to begin with. Of course we have changed that chemistry with Calcium Carbonate and Magnesium hydroxide which are common ingredients in Rolaids and Tums antacids. I guess a question might be, what it so special about vinegar that other antacids that work in the same ways can't take care of? Vinegar can be dangerous to the body and even cause death if taken in excess, I don't think this little amount would approach that dangerous amount though.

That restless legs syndrome? Exposed on primetime news. The doctors aren't ALL that stupid. They are making money off of these scams, plain and simple. Along with the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, salesmen, and politicians. Sure, some doctors may be fooled by the advertising hype, but not all. Not even half, I would say.

I don't watch drug news so I'm not exactly sure what your talking about with all the hype. I do know that standard treatment is to increase Iron levels in the blood, to limit caffeine, alcohol and smoking, to check other drug interactions that may be causing it from the start. If those don't work, they look for oth

Psychologists have shown that, in fact, there is virtually no connection between playing violent video games and increased violence, so the Congressman from California has it exactly wrong:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/05/17/the-link-between-video-games-and-violence/

I'm all for research supporting reasoned legislation, but in this case, it is ignorance and misconceptions supporting "feel good" government nannies.

-- Yes, the answer is no.

Ah, please ensure you capitalize "Feel Good" and "Government Nanny", as these are not merely descriptive words when referring to representatives from California, they are job titles.

Yet again, California feels the need to police the rest of the states.

If things are fucked up in my backyard, I'm focusing on my backyard, not point fingers at the law that allows the rest of you to have backyards. Cripes Cali, wash the Hollywood out of your eyes and get a grip on reality.

Psychologists have shown that, in fact, there is virtually no connection between playing violent video games and increased violence, so the Congressman from California has it exactly wrong:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/05/17/the-link-between-video-games-and-violence/

I'm all for research supporting reasoned legislation, but in this case, it is ignorance and misconceptions supporting "feel good" government nannies.

--
Yes, the answer is no.

Yeah. I've noticed that. What I don't get is why they choose to set the color temperature that way. Red LEDs are extremely cheap compared with producing light at the other end of the spectrum. Why in the world would they balance them towards the blue (expensive) end of the spectrum when that is both more expensive and visually unpleasant? About the only thing I can imagine about the current LED designs is that they were designed to be used in combination with standard incandescent bulbs. If you blend the two, you should get a fairly nice looking light spectrum, albeit probably a bit heavy in the yellows....

I'd buy LED lights instantly if they actually used three emitters. Unfortunately, most don't. They use two---one yellow, one blue. Because the yellow LED has a relatively narrow light spectrum compared with an incandescent, you end up with basically no light output down near the bottom of the visual spectrum. The result is light that is downright unpleasant to deal with in every way. The bluish light makes it hard to see color accurately, makes colors not reproduce well in photography or video, and really isn't good for you mood-wise. Basically, the current crop of LED lights have all the problems of CFLs except the mercury (well, and the LEDs should last a lot longer, I believe).

The question, then, becomes this: "When are we going to see properly designed white LED bulbs?"

On the other hand, while they suck for homes, the existing LED lights are perfect for street lights. First, there was one experiment that suggests that suicides and crime may decrease when street lights are replaced with bluish lighting. Second, the color temperature of blue LEDs are virtually indistinguishable from the mercury vapor lights (~6000K) that are already used in a lot of places.

In respect to this specific article and claim made, it was suggested that since people belonged to an online group that reinforced their delusions, perhaps they weren't technically delusion after all (according to a definition of "delusion" that appears in an appendix of the DSM-IV, not in the actual text of the diagnostic criteria for delusional disorder or schizophrenia). I find that a spurious claim at best and a warping of the intent of the diagnostic criteria.

Of course people can and should be diagnosed with delusional disorders or schizophrenia if they believe stuff like, "All of my organs have been replaced with exact replicas by aliens," and not have such a diagnosis (and its respective treatment) withheld simply because they've joined an online group that reinforces that false belief.

John
--
Psych Central

The article is incorrect in one person quoted therein that a delusion is not a delusion if it's commonly held by its culture or subculture. That's not what the definition of delusion says in the manual. It says that one's culture should be taken into account when making the diagnosis, that's all.

And you're in a logical circular loop if you start saying that a person's disorder is a legitimate "subculture." It is indeed a group, but an entire culture or subculture? I don't think so.

Read more observations about the article here:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/11/13/shedding-light-on-a-dark-side-of-online-community/

Wrong and wrong. There has been countless studies about it, and they all come to the same conclusion: children are becoming smarter and smarter. Read about the Flynn effect for just one example. Thanks to the standardized tests that school children are subjected to that are public records in most industrialized countries, the smartness of children is one of the most well-documented statistics in the world.

Kids are getting smarter, and the number of conflicts in the world is decreasing. But that's no fun to read about so the media don't report it.

Sadly, the SciAm article is about a research study on expressive writing, not blogging. While the two may share some characteristics in common, they are not the same. How the writer (and SciAm) managed to wrangle this into an article about blogging is beyond me.

Worse, the study had a nearly 50% drop-out rate, meaning a good minority of people didn't have any interest in expressive writing. And with a small N, the results are hardly generalizable.

Shame on SciAm.

More here:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/06/09/scientific-american-lets-stretch-research-to-make-it-sexy/

Well, gee, if you search for only websites that offer "suicide methods" (as most of the researcher's search terms were constructed), it's not surprising you're going to find exactly that -- a lot of websites that are biased toward providing suicide methods.

The researchers stacked the deck at the onset by carefully defining their search terms to focus exclusively on "suicide methods" (not reasonable other search terms, like suicide crisis, support, help, etc.) The one non-biased search term ("suicide") shows zero pro-suicide websites in the top 10 search results on the 4 search engines the researchers used.

Read my full response at the BMJ:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters?lookup=by_date&days=1#193559

--
Psych Central
psychcentral.com

Well the article did give its own definition of Introvert and you are right that in the context of the article the poster you are replying to is wrong. But the word introvert is not the article authors to define.

The article author is hardly inventing his own definition. For example, from Psych Central:

Research differentiates between shyness and introversion, although they are related. Introverts prefer solitary to social activities, but do not fear social encounters like shy people do. "If you see two people standing by a wall at a party," Carducci says, "the introvert is there because he wants to be. The shy person is there because he feels like he has to be".

Actually, it's the psychiatrists who publish the DSM, the American Psychiatric Association.

The DSM makes no differentiation, nor does it attempt to, about the causation of a disorder. So, in fact, the DSM does NOT "describes those with real, biologically based dysfunctions in one of more brain processes involved in attentional processing." The DSM doesn't care where a disorder comes from, it only provides behavioral checklists for clinicians to reliably (or not so reliably) diagnose the same symptoms across different people.

See also my commentary on this particular badly-crafted editorial on "Internet addiction disorder:"

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/03/18/whats-that-smell-internet-addiction-disorder-in-the-news/

More details in this discussion on NeuroTalk Forum...

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?p=197454

This technique is a type of functional neuroimaging technology that offers a relatively non-invasive, safe, portable, and low-cost method of indirect and direct monitoring of brain activity. By measuring changes in near-infrared light, it allows researchers to monitor blood flow and blood oxygenation in the front cortex (only) of the brain. It is still a new technique, so it is not yet widely used in research, but it shows promising results in studies done to-date.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/what-is-functional-optical-brain-imaging/ for pictures.

The MSNBC commentator called it a pseudo-science because that's exactly what it is.

There are exactly zero citations in MEDLINE and PsycINFO for a peer-reviewed study done on normal people using this technique. There's one where it was used to help people with schizophrenia learn emotional cues in others. The only other citation was a book chapter (which isn't a study).

So yes, when you have little or no science in the psychological and medical databases to back up your psychological technique, we call that a pseudo-science -- it's not a real, proven technique.

And because of this, it definitely should NOT be used at airports. There is a great deal of science showing how lousy humans are at detecting lying, including nonverbal cues.

--
Get your psych on: http://psychcentral.com/

Too bad the AMA didn't produce a quality report.

It is biased in favor of their preconceived conceptions about these issues. That's why it was published as a simple "report," not anything that enjoyed peer-review or even a formal literature search. Joe's Crab House could produce just as good a report using MEDLINE.

They were confused about where the concept of "Internet addiction" came from, suggesting it was observed "in the wild" first, when, in fact, it came from a small self-selecting sample study (e.g., Do you think you have a problem with X? Great, take our survey on X!).

They were confused about drawing reasonable conclusions from the research literature (e.g., there is little conclusive evidence for Internet addition, gaming addiction, etc.), and then producing recommendations directly contradicting these conclusions (e.g., these non-existent disorders should be included in the next revision of the DSM).

Ars Technica is a technical website. Their analysis of the report is hardly helpful. Instead, read mine at Psych Central:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/06/14/a ma-weighs-in-on-gaming-and-internet-addiction/

2002, eh? So this really isn't "news" in 2006, is it? I mean, it's been four years since the publication of that study, and a lot of analysis has been done since then about it and the previous results. The HomeNet study has already had enough holes drilled into it that I doubt many researchers give any validity to the idea that the Internet is socially isolating any longer.

Offhandedly suggesting things like "social networking" (which barely existed in 2002 as a unique phenomenon) could have contributed to the change in perceptions isn't very "tasty" or "research." It could have just as well been the increase in users (no, sorry, not "everybody" has access to the Internet still), or some other unknown variable not yet studied. With just a few hundred people enrolled in both studies from one lone geographic location in the U.S., I'd hardly feel comfortable making robust generalizations about all U.S. Internet users.

The second citation is actually dated 2001 in the PDF linked, and talks about the timeframe for that data collection -- 1998-1999. Hardly a time where there was any social networking going on, or where "everyone" was on the Internet.

From my view as a psychologist...

This research/test is:

1. Not something scientifically-accepted yet.
2. Is not less expensive.
3. Is not more accurate.
4. Does not take less time.
5. Involves more professionals, a needle and blood draw, and likely more inconvenience for the client/patient in most circumstances.

I don't see the benefits, sorry.

Read my full analysis and comments here:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2005/10/10/b lood-test-for-anxiety-does-this-help-anyone/

"Who cares if it's easy to deface, it's got great moderation!"

Swift (and not so swift) moderation doesn't do very much good. A friend added me to a list of famous erotic authors. It was removed.. a few weeks later. Get what? I (Aaron Gyes) am still, months later, all over the damn internet.

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-authors-of-er otic-works
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/l/li /list_of_authors_of_erotic_works.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/List%20o f%20authors%20of%20erotic%20works
http://www.biologydaily.com/biology/List_of_erotic _authors
http://psychcentral.com/psypsych/List_of_erotic_au thors
http://web.linix.ca/pedia/index.php/List_of_erotic _authors
http://www.europe.com/index.php/List_of_authors_of _erotic_works
http://www.medicalrace.com/dictionary/List_of_erot ic_authors
http://www.dictionaryofeverything.com/explore/112/ List_of_authors_of_erotic_works.html
http://list-of-authors-of-erotic-works.iqnaut.net/
http://www.omnipelagos.com/entry?n=list_of_authors _of_erotic_works
http://www.gardeningdaily.com/flowers-and-plants/L ist_of_erotic_authors
http://www.braindex.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Lis t_of_erotic_authors
http://en.efactory.pl/List_of_erotic_authors
http://www.art-fresh.net/DisplayArticleFull314102. html
http://www.thefreeencyclopedia.com/definition/word .aspx?w=List_of_erotic_authors
http://bigpedia.com/encyclopedia/List_of_authors_o f_erotic_works
http://www.dogluvers.com/dog_breeds/List_of_erotic _authors

See Psychopathy.

"My mom took me to see Mel Gibson's movie The Passion and Mel Gibson says that you are snakes and you are liars. And if the Road Warrior says it, it must be true."

Call me crazy but I think Cartman and Cruise have more than just the C in their last name in common.
Here's an interesting psychological profile of Mr Cartman. It's a conspiracy folks, Tom Cruise really wants to be Eric Cartman!

I tend to think that Microsoft's greatest advantage is that they don't manufacture hardware.

Losing market share as a coercive monopoly (http://psychcentral.com/psypsych/Coercive_monopol y ) is inevitable once leveling factors come into play. As there is little natural barrier to entry in the OS business, it's natural that more attractive price points would erode its position as a monopoly.

Just imagine for a moment using a pigeon mounted inside a scramjet with the only purpose to get an item from point A to B in a battle field autonomously.

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner imagined it before any of us, way back in the 1940s

...that this was one more step on the road to realizing the Hitchhiker movie's vision of a Point of View ray.

One key breakthrough will be to give computers the ability to take an intentional stance (short definition or longer essay) with regard to users. If Google could infer why I am searching instead of just what I am searching, it would be able to do a much better job. This would move from search-as-data-retrieval to search-as-intelligent-dialog.

I'm not sure if this can happen by 2015, but it seems like a key goal that is much more important than adding "Genuine People Personalities" to computers

I'll feel like no one if you don't mod this up, of course. And if you have any empathy and would like to help my situation support mental health parity in the insurance industry (which would help afflicted minors in the transition to adulthood). Please also oppose cuts to the nations Medicaid system at a time when it's imperative it reach out more to mentally ill citizens.

"Internet addiction" is still not a recognized diagnosis in any part of the world, and certainly not in the U.S. To create a new diagnosis in the mental health field takes usually decades worth of solid research. "Internet addiction" has less than a decade's worth at this point, and only one or two solid studies that point to *something* (but what, exactly, is still not known because of the studies' methodological flaws).

It's too bad people take this hokum as real. Might as well start having "book addiction" and "TV addiction" and "communication addiction," because any normal activity, done too often, can then be termed an "addiction." For more reading on what's really going on with this diagnosis/disorder, check out my article at:

http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/

No troll: I do think computers in general can be quite addictive AND it's not just what I think.

Psychologists have written quite a number of popular articles on the problem as well as scholarly papers on treatment.

There's even a Center for Online and Internet Addiction which offers treatment... via email and chat (sounds perhaps counter-productive to me?)!

I troll you not!