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Why the U.S. Space Force just hired this handsome horse
America's Space Force has acquired a horse for an important mission.
Ghost
Credit: U.S. Space Force
- U.S. Space Force has acquired a new horse named Ghost.
- The horse is part of the Conservation Military Working Horse program.
- The horses help patrol a large territory, supporting threatened species.
The U.S. Space Force isn't yet as formidable as its name promises, but it does now have a horse named "Ghost." The 5-year-old mustang joins the Conservation Military Working Horse program, itself a recent addition to the Space Force (from the U.S. Air Force).
The stable of four Military Working Horses is housed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The area of the base is huge at 99,600 acres, the third largest in America. There are parts of it that are not easily accessible to vehicles. That's where the horses come in. They help police the areas in the hills that are hard to get to and that might have protected species or intruders. Fifteen endangered or threatened species live on the territory of the base.
Staff Sgt. Michael Terrazas, who manages the program and is also one of Ghost's handlers, explained why the horses are helpful:
"We enforce fish and game laws, and the horses help us walk off the beaten path to complete our mission," Terrazas shared in a news release. "We have even responded to lost hunters and hurt animals."
You have heard of a MW🐕 but what about a MW🐎?
— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) July 23, 2020
Protecting our access to space involves many unique aspects, including welcoming @30thSpaceWing's newest Military Working Horse to their Conservation Military Working Horse program. Ghost is a 5 year old @BLMNational Mustang. pic.twitter.com/r1dAd0plsc
Using horses like Ghost rather than vehicles is certainly a low-tech but an environmentally-friendly approach. To get in shape for its missions, Ghost trains with a personal trainer three times a week. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there are no plans to send Ghost or any of the other Space Force horses into orbit for missions.
Check out this video from the U.S. Air Force that describes what the horses jobs were as a part of the U.S. Air Force:
The only Working Horse Program in the U.S. Air Force
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LIVE EVENT | Radical innovation: Unlocking the future of human invention
Innovation in manufacturing has crawled since the 1950s. That's about to speed up.
07 August, 2020
Big Think LIVE
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<p>
Using a combination of imagination and technology, science tech company <a href="https://nanotronics.co/" target="_blank">Nanotronics</a> aims to revolutionize the factory floor so that industries can have a smaller factory footprint, produce less waste, and rapidly increase the speed from R&D to production—it's this very philosophy that allowed Nanotronics to pivot and manufacture ventilators as a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br>
</p><p>
In this Big Think Live session, presented by
<a href="http://www.bmo.com" target="_blank">BMO Financial Group</a>, <strong>Matthew Putman, scientist, musician, and CEO of Nanotronics</strong>, and Peter Hopkins, co-founder and president of Big Think, will open a window to the future. Learn how manufacturing disruption will accelerate innovation in a multitude of industries, why impact over profit should be a guiding star for leaders, and watch Putnam settle this question once and for all: Is AI a homicidal, job-devouring nemesis?
</p><p>
Ask your questions for Matthew Putman during the audience Q&A!
</p><p>
<em>Join the live stream at 10am EDT, Tuesday August 11.</em>
</p><h2>STREAMING LINKS:</h2><p>
<em><a href="https://edge.bigthink.com/live_streams/108" target="_self">Big Think Edge</a> | <a href="https://youtu.be/QcKEogKu3Co" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157564628763527" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em>
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<strong>Thanks to our partner BMO Financial Group.</strong></p><p>
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Bubonic plague case reported in China
Health officials in China reported that a man was infected with bubonic plague, the infectious disease that caused the Black Death.
06 July, 2020
Vials Of Bacteria That May Cause Plague Missing From TX University
(Photo by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Getty Images)
Coronavirus
- The case was reported in the city of Bayannur, which has issued a level-three plague prevention warning.
- Modern antibiotics can effectively treat bubonic plague, which spreads mainly by fleas.
- Chinese health officials are also monitoring a newly discovered type of swine flu that has the potential to develop into a pandemic virus.
<p>A man in China's inner Mongolia region was infected with bubonic plague, according to health officials.<br></p><p>The infection occurred in the city of Bayannur, located northwest of Beijing. City officials declared a citywide Level 3 plague-prevention warning, the second lowest in a four-tier system, and said it'll remain in place for the rest of the year. The warning advises people against hunting, eating, or handling infected animals, particularly marmots. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city," the local health authority said, according to state-run newspaper <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/05/WS5f01d743a310834817257493.html" target="_blank">China Daily</a>. "The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly."</p><p>Bubonic plague is the same infectious disease that caused the Black Death, which killed more than 50 million people in the 14th century. The infection is mainly spread by fleas that bite infected animals. When infected fleas bite humans, the bacterial infection spreads through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_vessels" target="_blank">lymphatic vessels</a> to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node" target="_blank">lymph node</a>, which can cause swelling, high fevers, delirium, and death. Left untreated, the infected can spread to the lungs, where it can become the pneumonic plague, a more severe form of the disease that's always fatal without intervention.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNzczMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTUyNjM4N30.Qjg2xVonJBFHuhpYF5NCCi3qMkyEIp99nSNwyrYECbc/img.jpg?width=980" id="dd674" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6a2268f86df7681714997e7f9614d24e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Bacteria under microscope" />
Bacteria under microscope
needpix.com
<p>Today, bubonic plague can be treated effectively with antibiotics.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Unlike in the 14th century, we now have an understanding of how this disease is transmitted," Dr. Shanthi Kappagoda, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care, told <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/seriously-dont-worry-about-the-plague#Heres-how-the-plague-spreads" target="_blank">Healthline</a>. "We know how to prevent it — avoid handling sick or dead animals in areas where there is transmission. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics, and can give antibiotics to people who may have been exposed to the bacteria [and] prevent them [from] getting sick."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNzcyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTA3NDA1N30.StuNFGBb6mxX8v0wmpaQG5OEtK9JHtEVFx6IC6iXIYo/img.jpg?width=980" id="282ed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5241a3e2157ff20e0df0d0a4a04d8ae2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Bubonic plague symptoms" />
This plague patient is displaying a swollen, ruptured inguinal lymph node, or buboe.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
<p>Still, hundreds of people develop bubonic plague every year. In the U.S., a handful of cases occur annually, particularly in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/faq/index.html" target="_blank">where habitats allow the bacteria to spread more easily among wild rodent populations</a>. But these cases are very rare, mainly because you need to be in close contact with rodents in order to get infected. And though plague can spread from human to human, this <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/seriously-dont-worry-about-the-plague#Heres-how-the-plague-spreads" target="_blank">only occurs with pneumonic plague</a>, and transmission is also rare.</p>A new swine flu in China
<p>Last week, researchers in China also reported another public health concern: a new virus that has "all the essential hallmarks" of a pandemic virus.<br></p><p>In a paper published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, researchers say the virus was discovered in pigs in China, and it descended from the H1N1 virus, commonly called "swine flu." That virus was able to transmit from human to human, and it killed an estimated 151,700 to 575,400 people worldwide from 2009 to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>There's no evidence showing that the new virus can spread from person to person. But the researchers did find that 10 percent of swine workers had been infected by the virus, called G4 reassortant EA H1N1. This level of infectivity raises concerns, because it "greatly enhances the opportunity for virus adaptation in humans and raises concerns for the possible generation of pandemic viruses," the researchers wrote.
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Self-driving cars to race for $1.5 million at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
So far, 30 student teams have entered the Indy Autonomous Challenge, scheduled for October 2021.
10 August, 2020
Illustration of cockpit of a self-driving car
Indy Autonomous Challenge
Technology & Innovation
- The Indy Autonomous Challenge will task student teams with developing self-driving software for race cars.
- The competition requires cars to complete 20 laps within 25 minutes, meaning cars would need to average about 110 mph.
- The organizers say they hope to advance the field of driverless cars and "inspire the next generation of STEM talent."
<p><br><br></p><p>The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted thousands of high-speed races since it was constructed in 1909. But none were like the upcoming Indy Autonomous Challenge, in which student teams will develop software for self-driving cars and race them for a chance to win $1.5 million in prizes.</p>
<p>First announced in 2019, the competition is scheduled for October 23, 2021. It's set to be a head-to-head, 20-lap race, with each team having 25 minutes to complete those laps. </p>
<p>So far, 30 student teams from universities across four continents have entered the competition. Each team will be given the same race car — a modified Dallara IL-15 — and a set of hardware, including sensors and computers.</p>
<p>But students must develop their own self-driving software, including "neural nets, computer vision and other artificial intelligence systems that will allow the cars to race at high speeds," according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/autonomous-vehicles-to-race-at-indianapolis-motor-speedway-11595237401?mod=e2tw" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0OTU4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDAzODA0OX0.RaQFFO_7asAROpi8U5EuMqGMkqcuEO8SOtt24_H9HuM/img.jpg?width=980" id="2eb85" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="632f38dfd70219ffbca9c7fcab7e06b5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Race car" />
Dallara IL-15
Indy Autonomous Challenge
<p>Completing the race in 25 minutes means the cars will need to average about 110 miles per hour. So, while the race may end up being a bit slower than a typical Indy 500 competition, in which winners average speeds of over 160 mph, it's still set to be the fastest autonomous race featuring full-size cars.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"There is no human redundancy there," Matt Peak, managing director for Energy Systems Network, a nonprofit that develops technology for the automation and energy sectors, told the <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/business/tech-news/2020/06/01/Indy-Autonomous-Challenge-Indy-500-Indianapolis-Motor-Speedway-Ansys-Aptiv-self-driving-cars/stories/202005280137" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a>. "Either your car makes this happen or smash into the wall you go."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0OTU3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDQzMjExNn0.o4DuKyY4NqSgN54tW8JQyK_F_2ev6NsP4nokzOsthG0/img.jpg?width=980" id="3f97e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="af844672ada8fa856c9342d2c9934862" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bIllustration of self-driving car race" />
Illustration of the Indy Autonomous Challenge
Indy Autonomous Challenge
<p>The Indy Autonomous Challenge <a href="https://www.indyautonomouschallenge.com/rules" target="_blank">describes</a> itself as a "past-the-post" competition, which "refers to a binary, objective, measurable performance rather than a subjective evaluation, judgement, or recognition."</p><p>This competition design was inspired by the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge, which tasked teams with developing driverless cars and sending them along a 150-mile route in Southern California for a chance to win $1 million. But that prize went unclaimed, because within a few hours after starting, all the vehicles had suffered some kind of critical failure.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0OTU3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTUzNjQ5MH0.GQYfN67FxX4F6DHFVXu3bOyzizQu23nWDJv6onYZ5IU/img.jpg?width=980" id="4d73e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eee612fc4d49ba9a63160986cf7ca975" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Indianapolis Motor Speedway" />
<p class=""><br></p>Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indy Autonomous Challenge
<p>One factor that could prevent a similar outcome in the upcoming race is the ability to test-run cars on a virtual racetrack. The simulation software company Ansys Inc. has already developed a model of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on which teams will test their algorithms as part of a series of qualifying rounds.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We can create, with physics, multiple real-life scenarios that are reflective of the real world," Ansys President Ajei Gopal told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/autonomous-vehicles-to-race-at-indianapolis-motor-speedway-11595237401?mod=e2tw" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a>. "We can use that to train the AI, so it starts to come up to speed."</p><p>Still, the race could reveal that self-driving cars aren't quite ready to race at speeds of over 110 mph. After all, regular self-driving cars already face enough logistical and technical roadblocks, including <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53349313#:~:text=Tesla%20will%20be%20able%20to,no%20driver%20input%2C%20he%20said." target="_blank">crumbling infrastructure, communication issues</a> and the <a href="https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/would-you-ride-in-a-car-thats-programmed-to-kill-you" target="_self">fateful moral decisions driverless cars will have to make in split seconds</a>.</p>But the Indy Autonomous Challenge <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5da73021d0636f4ec706fa0a/t/5dc0680c41954d4ef41ec2b2/1572890638793/Indy+Autonomous+Challenge+Ruleset+-+v5NOV2019+%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">says</a> its main goal is to advance the industry, by challenging "students around the world to imagine, invent, and prove a new generation of automated vehicle (AV) software and inspire the next generation of STEM talent."
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The dangers of the chemical imbalance theory of depression
A new Harvard study finds that the language you use affects patient outcome.
10 August, 2020
Image: solarseven / Shutterstock
Mind & Brain
- A study at Harvard's McLean Hospital claims that using the language of chemical imbalances worsens patient outcomes.
- Though psychiatry has largely abandoned DSM categories, professor Joseph E Davis writes that the field continues to strive for a "brain-based diagnostic system."
- Chemical explanations of mental health appear to benefit pharmaceutical companies far more than patients.
<p>The pharmacological revolution began with tranquilizers. Miltown was the country's first "blockbuster" drug. Touted for relieving everything from skin problems and stomach distress to lack of focus and social anxiety—and, of course, "the blues"—tranquilizers were the first psychiatric pills to widely infiltrate a country that, for the first time in its history, had expendable income and leisure time.</p><p>By 1971, 15 percent of Americans had taken a minor tranquilizer. Two years later, 104 million prescriptions were written. Incredibly, this was 11 years after the Kefauver-Harris Amendments, which required doctors to specify a disease when treating mental health issues. They could no longer market cures for general dis-ease, such as feeling "blah" (an actual complaint). This law meant the medical industry had to invent diseases in order to sell pills, and it certainly rose to the occasion. </p><p>Unlike diabetes or cancer, which appear in blood samples, depression is subjective. The chemical marker often used, serotonin, is <em>correlated</em> to troublesome mental health. Serotonin doesn't <em>cause</em> the blahs. Decade after decade, however, we've been marketed the idea that chemical imbalance is the culprit behind depression. As a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032720325064" target="_blank">new study</a>, published in Journal of Affective Disorder, shows, as the language of clinical neuroscience replaces the vocabulary of psychotherapy, patients outcomes worsen.</p><p>A team based at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School's largest psychiatric facility, wanted to understand the impact of neurobiological and genetic terms being used to describe mental illness. Does the language we use affect treatment protocols and patient expectations? According to their study, the answer is yes. </p><p>The narrative of serotonin imbalance has been challenged for decades. As Joseph E Davis describes in his book, "Chemically Imbalanced," the 1994 update of the psychiatric bible, DSM-IV<em>,</em> offered peak brain depletion rhetoric. Then the theory found a cliff. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"In the years following, the validity of the DSM categories, along with the depletion hypothesis and other notions of 'chemical imbalance' would come to be largely rejected in psychiatry."</p>
Challenging the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Mental Disorders: Robert Whitaker, Journalist
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="41699c8c2cb2aee9271a36646e0bee7d"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-8BDC7i8Yyw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>This is a far cry from Howard Rusk's 1947 NY Times editorial calling for mental healt</p><p>h disorders to be treated similarly to physical disease (such as diabetes and cancer). This mindset—not attributable to Rusk alone; he was merely relaying the psychiatric currency of the time—has dominated the field for decades: mental anguish is a genetic and/or chemical-deficiency disorder that must be treated pharmacologically.</p><p>Even as psychiatry untethered from DSM categories, the field still used chemistry to validate its existence. Psychotherapy, arguably the most efficient means for managing much of our anxiety and depression, is time- and labor-intensive. Counseling requires an empathetic and wizened ear to guide the patient to do the work. Ingesting a pill to do that work for you is more seductive, and easier. As Davis writes, even though the industry abandoned the DSM, it continues to strive for a "brain-based diagnostic system." </p><p>That language has infiltrated public consciousness. The team at McLean surveyed 279 patients seeking acute treatment for depression. As they note, the causes of psychological distress have constantly shifted over the millennia: humoral imbalance in the ancient world; spiritual possession in medieval times; early childhood experiences around the time of Freud; maladaptive thought patterns dominant in the latter half of last century. While the team found that psychosocial explanations remain popular, biogenetic explanations (such as the chemical imbalance theory) are becoming more prominent. </p><p>Interestingly, the 80 people Davis interviewed for his book predominantly relied on biogenetic explanations. Instead of doctors diagnosing patients, as you might expect, they increasingly serve to confirm what patients come in suspecting. Patients arrive at medical offices confident in their self-diagnoses. They believe a pill is the best course of treatment, largely because they saw an advertisement or listened to a friend. Doctors too often oblige without further curiosity as to the reasons for their distress. </p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0ODc1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDg0NzM2NX0.Frr2_xX2PDKMc8-NMmvTFQXC7wPWCjFnTSmgp6FKa9E/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C890%2C0%2C55&height=700" id="5f0f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c5f15f7e194c01db26ce911081315b3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Image: Illustration Forest / Shutterstock
<p>While medicalizing mental health softens the stigma of depression—if a disorder is inheritable, it was never really your fault—it also disempowers the patient. The team at McLean writes,</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"More recent studies indicate that participants who are told that their depression is caused by a chemical imbalance or genetic abnormality expect to have depression for a longer period, report more depressive symptoms, and feel they have less control over their negative emotions."</p><p>Davis points out the language used by direct-to-consumer advertising prevalent in America. Doctors, media, and advertising agencies converge around common messages, such as everyday blues is a "real medical condition," everyone is susceptible to clinical depression, and drugs correct underlying somatic conditions that you never consciously control. He continues,</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Your inner life and evaluative stance are of marginal, if any, relevance; counseling or psychotherapy aimed at self-insight would serve little purpose." </p><p>The McLean team discovered a similar phenomenon: patients expect little from psychotherapy and a lot from pills. When depression is treated as the result of an internal and immutable essence instead of environmental conditions, behavioral changes are not expected to make much difference. Chemistry rules the popular imagination.</p>Why Depression Isn't Just a Chemical Imbalance
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fbc027c9358dad4a6d9e2704fc9ddb04"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GAC9ODvSxh0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Many years ago, my best friend tried to quit smoking. He asked for help. While I'm no addiction expert, I offered what I knew from my fitness toolkit: breathing exercises and cardiovascular training, methods for strengthening his body and mind that could, I hoped, inspire him to take better care of himself in general. He replied, "No, I meant something like a pill."</p><p>A few years later, he quit for good. After failing the cold turkey method a number of times, it finally stuck. Maybe it was watching his children grow up—the reason my parents quit when I was young. This method is not easy, however. It challenges you; it forces you to confront your demons; it drastically affects your brain chemistry. Yet, in the long run, it sometimes works. </p><p>Sometimes pills work, too. But often they do not. The journalist Robert Whitaker, author of "Anatomy of an Epidemic," discussed the clinical trial process <a href="https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/antidepressants-dangers" target="_self">during our recent conversation</a>. While the FDA process appears thorough from the outside, pharmaceutical companies only need to prove that a drug works better than placebo, not that it works for the most amount of people. He continues, </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Let's say you have a drug that provides a relief of symptoms in 20 percent of people. In placebo, it's 10 percent. How many people in that study do not benefit from the drug? Nine out of 10. How many people are exposed to the adverse effects of the drug? 100 percent."</p><p>Even though some pharmacological interventions show little efficacy, and even though Xanax, an addictive and destructive benzodiazepine that only showed <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5846112/" target="_blank">short-term (four weeks) efficacy</a> in clinical trials, is being prescribed for many months and years, doctors continue to use the language of clinical neuroscience to describe mental health issues. If chemistry is the problem, people will turn to chemistry for the solution. </p><p>Perhaps we should, as psychiatrist Dean Schuyler <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/antidepressant-effects" target="_self">writes</a> in a 1974 book, recognize that most depressive episodes "will run their course and terminate with virtually complete recovery without specific intervention." The problem is that idea isn't profitable. As long as the gatekeepers continue to use the language of chemical imbalances to describe what for many is just an episodic case of the "blahs," we'll continue creating more problems than we solve.</p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://derekberes.substack.com/" target="_blank">Substack</a>. His next book is</em> "<em>Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</em></p>
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Navy SEALs: How to build a warrior mindset
SEAL training is the ultimate test of both mental and physical strength.
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