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Newer antidepressants are not necessarily better than the best existing drugs, according to two new reviews which compared 12 commonly used antidepressants.
The studies analyzed in the reviews were those comparing one drug to another, not to a placebo, so the results do not reveal how well the antidepressants all work relative to each other. Instead, the study focused upon relative advantages and disadvantages, like whether the antidepressants effectively relieved depression, how well they were tolerated and how cost effective they were.
The reviews suggest that sertraline, the generic version of Zoloft, may be the best initial choice for patients with acute major depression due to it having the best balance of effectiveness, tolerability and affordability.
A newer antidepressant, escitalopram (Lexapro), also ranked well, but it is not yet available as a generic so its cost made it less desirable.
The authors noted that there may have been some biases in the studies involving escitalopram due to the fact that most of the studies reviewed were sponsored by the manufacturer. Rather than seeking to find a drug that is truly better, the authors say, some drug makers create new drugs that are close chemical cousins of existing drugs (escitalopram is closely related to citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa) in order to gain patent protection for a "new" drug.
In a press relase, lead author Andrea Cipriani said that the review recommendations are for new episodes of depression only. If a patient is currently doing well on a medication, it is not recommended that they change.
The reviews appear in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, which is published by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates the current body of medical research on particular topics and draws conclusions about medical practice based upon the quality and content of that research.
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The studies analyzed in the reviews were those comparing one drug to another, not to a placebo, so the results do not reveal how well the antidepressants all work relative to each other. Instead, the study focused upon relative advantages and disadvantages, like whether the antidepressants effectively relieved depression, how well they were tolerated and how cost effective they were.
The reviews suggest that sertraline, the generic version of Zoloft, may be the best initial choice for patients with acute major depression due to it having the best balance of effectiveness, tolerability and affordability.
A newer antidepressant, escitalopram (Lexapro), also ranked well, but it is not yet available as a generic so its cost made it less desirable.
The authors noted that there may have been some biases in the studies involving escitalopram due to the fact that most of the studies reviewed were sponsored by the manufacturer. Rather than seeking to find a drug that is truly better, the authors say, some drug makers create new drugs that are close chemical cousins of existing drugs (escitalopram is closely related to citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa) in order to gain patent protection for a "new" drug.
In a press relase, lead author Andrea Cipriani said that the review recommendations are for new episodes of depression only. If a patient is currently doing well on a medication, it is not recommended that they change.
The reviews appear in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, which is published by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates the current body of medical research on particular topics and draws conclusions about medical practice based upon the quality and content of that research.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:lol
- Music:Ricky Marti
Older adults with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) had greater improvements in measures of worry, depression and mental health when they received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), according to a study published in the April 8, 2009 issue of JAMA.
GAD is common among the elderly, said the report, with a prevalence of 7.3% among the community and 11.2% in primary care.
Melinda A. Stanley, Pd.D. and her her colleagues at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, conducted a trial evaluating CBT as a treatment for GAD in later life. The trial included 134 older adults, with an average age of 67 years, in two primary care settings, with treatment being administered over a period of three months.
Patients randomly assigned to the cognitive behavioral therapy group received education and awareness, relaxation training, cognitive therapy, problem-solving skills training and behavioral sleep management. Usual care patients receive phone calls on a biweekly basis during the first three months of the study to provide support and ensure patient safety. These patients were reminded to contact a staff member if their symptoms worsened.
The patients were assessed at the beginning of the trial, immediately after the cessation of treatment at three months, and over 12 months of followup, with assessments occurring at 6, 9, 12 and 15 months.
When levels of anxiety, worry, depression and physical and mental health quality of life were measured, the team found that CBT significantly improved these measures compared to usual care.
"This study," the authors wrote, "is the first to suggest that CBT can be useful for managing worry and associated symptoms among older patients in primary care.
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GAD is common among the elderly, said the report, with a prevalence of 7.3% among the community and 11.2% in primary care.
Melinda A. Stanley, Pd.D. and her her colleagues at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, conducted a trial evaluating CBT as a treatment for GAD in later life. The trial included 134 older adults, with an average age of 67 years, in two primary care settings, with treatment being administered over a period of three months.
Patients randomly assigned to the cognitive behavioral therapy group received education and awareness, relaxation training, cognitive therapy, problem-solving skills training and behavioral sleep management. Usual care patients receive phone calls on a biweekly basis during the first three months of the study to provide support and ensure patient safety. These patients were reminded to contact a staff member if their symptoms worsened.
The patients were assessed at the beginning of the trial, immediately after the cessation of treatment at three months, and over 12 months of followup, with assessments occurring at 6, 9, 12 and 15 months.
When levels of anxiety, worry, depression and physical and mental health quality of life were measured, the team found that CBT significantly improved these measures compared to usual care.
"This study," the authors wrote, "is the first to suggest that CBT can be useful for managing worry and associated symptoms among older patients in primary care.
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- Mood:normal
- Music:Christina Aguilera
Forty-six years after "The Bell Jar" author Sylvia Plath committed suicide by gassing herself while he slept in another room, her son, Nicholas Hughes has also chosen to take his own life.
On Sunday, his sister Frieda told The Times that Hughes had hanged himself on March 16 at his Alaskan home after a long battle with depression.
Hughes was 47, unmarried and had no children. He was a professor of fisheries and ocean sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
He was just a baby when his mother killed herself in response to her husband, poet Ted Hughes, having left her for the wife of another poet. Plath, as a struggling single mother of two young children. eventually went through a mental collapse and committed suicide. Rather ironically, Hughes' mistress, Assia Wevill, also gassed herself and her child six years later.
Could Hughes' death have been due to an inherited tendency towards depression and suicidal urges? Research does indicate that depression is, at least in part, due to genetic inheritance, so Hughes may well have inherited his tendency towards depression from his mother. One has to wonder though what effect his environment - having a mother who died by her own hand while he was just a baby - might have had on him.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
On Sunday, his sister Frieda told The Times that Hughes had hanged himself on March 16 at his Alaskan home after a long battle with depression.
Hughes was 47, unmarried and had no children. He was a professor of fisheries and ocean sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
He was just a baby when his mother killed herself in response to her husband, poet Ted Hughes, having left her for the wife of another poet. Plath, as a struggling single mother of two young children. eventually went through a mental collapse and committed suicide. Rather ironically, Hughes' mistress, Assia Wevill, also gassed herself and her child six years later.
Could Hughes' death have been due to an inherited tendency towards depression and suicidal urges? Research does indicate that depression is, at least in part, due to genetic inheritance, so Hughes may well have inherited his tendency towards depression from his mother. One has to wonder though what effect his environment - having a mother who died by her own hand while he was just a baby - might have had on him.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:hangry
- Music:Justin Timberlake
Everyone knows the large quantity in which generic Viagra available online. Every day mailboxes around the globe are filled with offers on brands such as Viogra, Kamagra etc. While people have become tired of generic Viagra, one product has escaped scrutiny and has been successful in taking on a more decent standing.
The phenomenon which is known as the Cialis soft Tabs. Following the release of a spam mail in 2007 which saw a sexy nurse offering Cialis soft tabs, Bestgenericpharmacy received a number of enquires about the availability of Cialis Soft Tabs and still receiving weekly requests for a treatment that is generic and potentially dangerous. A generic medicine is cheaper compared to original one, say 20% to 80% less expensive than the brand-name original. There should be an effective competition among generic medicines and patent-expired original brands in order to stimulating innovation and lower pharmaceutical costs. But with that said, there are many concerns with generic medicines due to the easy access to large number of illegal generics on the net flouting the patent ownership and the unregulated companies producing and supplying them. While generic medicines should be approved equivalent versions of trusted medicines, providing the same quality, efficacy and safety as the original, it is not the case in most cases. A generic drug must be inspected very strictly before it is licensed and given market approval by national medicines authorities. In short, generic medicines should meet the same standards of quality, efficacy and safety as original pharmaceutical products.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
The phenomenon which is known as the Cialis soft Tabs. Following the release of a spam mail in 2007 which saw a sexy nurse offering Cialis soft tabs, Bestgenericpharmacy received a number of enquires about the availability of Cialis Soft Tabs and still receiving weekly requests for a treatment that is generic and potentially dangerous. A generic medicine is cheaper compared to original one, say 20% to 80% less expensive than the brand-name original. There should be an effective competition among generic medicines and patent-expired original brands in order to stimulating innovation and lower pharmaceutical costs. But with that said, there are many concerns with generic medicines due to the easy access to large number of illegal generics on the net flouting the patent ownership and the unregulated companies producing and supplying them. While generic medicines should be approved equivalent versions of trusted medicines, providing the same quality, efficacy and safety as the original, it is not the case in most cases. A generic drug must be inspected very strictly before it is licensed and given market approval by national medicines authorities. In short, generic medicines should meet the same standards of quality, efficacy and safety as original pharmaceutical products.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:lol
- Music:Roxette
Everyone knows the large quantity in which generic Viagra available online. Every day mailboxes around the globe are filled with offers on brands such as Viogra, Kamagra etc. While people have become tired of generic Viagra, one product has escaped scrutiny and has been successful in taking on a more decent standing.
The phenomenon which is known as the Cialis soft Tabs. Following the release of a spam mail in 2007 which saw a sexy nurse offering Cialis soft tabs, Bestgenericpharmacy received a number of enquires about the availability of Cialis Soft Tabs and still receiving weekly requests for a treatment that is generic and potentially dangerous. A generic medicine is cheaper compared to original one, say 20% to 80% less expensive than the brand-name original. There should be an effective competition among generic medicines and patent-expired original brands in order to stimulating innovation and lower pharmaceutical costs. But with that said, there are many concerns with generic medicines due to the easy access to large number of illegal generics on the net flouting the patent ownership and the unregulated companies producing and supplying them. While generic medicines should be approved equivalent versions of trusted medicines, providing the same quality, efficacy and safety as the original, it is not the case in most cases. A generic drug must be inspected very strictly before it is licensed and given market approval by national medicines authorities. In short, generic medicines should meet the same standards of quality, efficacy and safety as original pharmaceutical products.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
The phenomenon which is known as the Cialis soft Tabs. Following the release of a spam mail in 2007 which saw a sexy nurse offering Cialis soft tabs, Bestgenericpharmacy received a number of enquires about the availability of Cialis Soft Tabs and still receiving weekly requests for a treatment that is generic and potentially dangerous. A generic medicine is cheaper compared to original one, say 20% to 80% less expensive than the brand-name original. There should be an effective competition among generic medicines and patent-expired original brands in order to stimulating innovation and lower pharmaceutical costs. But with that said, there are many concerns with generic medicines due to the easy access to large number of illegal generics on the net flouting the patent ownership and the unregulated companies producing and supplying them. While generic medicines should be approved equivalent versions of trusted medicines, providing the same quality, efficacy and safety as the original, it is not the case in most cases. A generic drug must be inspected very strictly before it is licensed and given market approval by national medicines authorities. In short, generic medicines should meet the same standards of quality, efficacy and safety as original pharmaceutical products.
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- Mood:Very good
- Music:Ricky Marti
A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found that there is a clear link between alcohol abuse and risk of major depression.
Researcher David Ferguson of the University of Otago and his colleagues studied a group of 1,055 children who were monitored and interviewed at various times over a period of 25 years.
"Individuals who fulfilled the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependency were 1.9 times more likely to also fulfill the criteria for major depression," said the researchers, and the link between the two was significant even after factoring in other possible causes, such as drug use, affiliation with "deviant peers," unemployment and a partner who committed crimes.
The link may exist, said the researchers, because these individuals are genetically predisposed to develop depression when triggered by the effects of alcohol.
Research also suggests that the depressant characteristics of alcohol may lead to periods of depressed mood in those who abuse alcohol, according to the authors.
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Researcher David Ferguson of the University of Otago and his colleagues studied a group of 1,055 children who were monitored and interviewed at various times over a period of 25 years.
"Individuals who fulfilled the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependency were 1.9 times more likely to also fulfill the criteria for major depression," said the researchers, and the link between the two was significant even after factoring in other possible causes, such as drug use, affiliation with "deviant peers," unemployment and a partner who committed crimes.
The link may exist, said the researchers, because these individuals are genetically predisposed to develop depression when triggered by the effects of alcohol.
Research also suggests that the depressant characteristics of alcohol may lead to periods of depressed mood in those who abuse alcohol, according to the authors.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:Good
- Music:Sum 41
Some cules hafe too mjch stress in lives that not managed proper ly and this negatively affects their sexual experience and intiacy Lets face ig, anyone impotence csn do ih or go through tge motions, but to reallh have great qxx involves a bit moge from the minv and bldy togfther Inn cluded in this class are tge drugs Viagra, Cialis, anc his penic till cums Levitra Lack of Creativity and Romance
Some couples kill their sex lives when they stop being creative There are different causes for this condition
Remember gwen firdt met yo ur partner and ho you felt It was not formulated to st imulate or increase xex cialis drive Lack of Sex Drive
This is when there is no desire to participate in sexual duty Among them are diabetes, high blood pressure, and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol levels in the blood) With Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra there needs to be sexual arousal which female impotence releases certain enzymes or chemicals into the bloodstream that allow the meds to be effective The important thing is that you take action to get them under control It is true that great sex has to do with the right mental inducement and attitude and nothing negatively impacts the right mind set more penis enlargement than high difficulty, anxiety, or depression
Some ways close in; diet and exercise, involving ourselves in more spiritual pursuits, committing more time for the family, or it could be just getting rid of things that make you labial, anxious, or depressed Whitney Moore is a recently retired registered nurse who now devotes antiquated to the research and dissemination of information covering many general and health related topics.
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Some couples kill their sex lives when they stop being creative There are different causes for this condition
Remember gwen firdt met yo ur partner and ho you felt It was not formulated to st imulate or increase xex cialis drive Lack of Sex Drive
This is when there is no desire to participate in sexual duty Among them are diabetes, high blood pressure, and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol levels in the blood) With Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra there needs to be sexual arousal which female impotence releases certain enzymes or chemicals into the bloodstream that allow the meds to be effective The important thing is that you take action to get them under control It is true that great sex has to do with the right mental inducement and attitude and nothing negatively impacts the right mind set more penis enlargement than high difficulty, anxiety, or depression
Some ways close in; diet and exercise, involving ourselves in more spiritual pursuits, committing more time for the family, or it could be just getting rid of things that make you labial, anxious, or depressed Whitney Moore is a recently retired registered nurse who now devotes antiquated to the research and dissemination of information covering many general and health related topics.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:More emotions
- Music:Ricky Marti
Use: this medication is a condition of the specific mental / mood (used to treat schizophrenia, (bipolar mania). Work to restore the balance of nature specific chemical substances in the brain (neurotransmitters) in. To improve the feel part of the benefits of this medication continue using nervous, following is an intensive and reduces the episode of hallucinations. However, that olanzapine of effectively not listed or elderly person delusions/hallucinations (mental) for treatment with dementia secure.
How TO USE: to exactly as directed, doctor, usually in the mouth with once daily. Stand up slowly, especially when Vertigo to avoid, start this medication. Finishing sachet after open, peel back, the blisters. Do not push Tablet through finish., And then removes Tablet hand instead, dry place the Tablet, mouth. You can saliva soon start dissolution, and whether or not liquid swallowed. To use after because of the do not open sachets. Cannot be opened immediately before each each must be to take the dose. Dosage is based on response to the conditions of medical treatment and therapy. After that, to obtain profit most regularly this medication using. Same time every day it should be used.
Side effects: you may occur Dizziness, stomach pain, dry mouth, constipation, weight, drowsiness. If you hold one of these effects or worse, doctor or pharmacist promptly notifies.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
How TO USE: to exactly as directed, doctor, usually in the mouth with once daily. Stand up slowly, especially when Vertigo to avoid, start this medication. Finishing sachet after open, peel back, the blisters. Do not push Tablet through finish., And then removes Tablet hand instead, dry place the Tablet, mouth. You can saliva soon start dissolution, and whether or not liquid swallowed. To use after because of the do not open sachets. Cannot be opened immediately before each each must be to take the dose. Dosage is based on response to the conditions of medical treatment and therapy. After that, to obtain profit most regularly this medication using. Same time every day it should be used.
Side effects: you may occur Dizziness, stomach pain, dry mouth, constipation, weight, drowsiness. If you hold one of these effects or worse, doctor or pharmacist promptly notifies.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:Very good
- Music:Crazy Town
A new study in the February issue of the Journal of Development Behavioral Pediatrics reports that an Internet program helps to reduce depression symptoms and prevents future episodes of depression in teens.
The program, called "Project CATCH-IT," uses proven methods, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral activation and interpersonal therapy, to teach the teens to change their behavior and to learn better coping skills. It includes a series of 14 modules that the teens can work through online through a secure website.
The researchers tested the program in 83 teens and young adults who were considered to be at risk for depression. The patients were randomly assigned to undergo either a brief discussion about depression with a doctor or a longer "motivational interview." Both groups were then given the Internet address for Project CATCH-IT.
Most of the teens in the study opted to visit the website, which was found to be effective in preventing future episodes of the depression. Based on a standard score, the percentage of patients with "clinically significant" depression decreased from 50% at the start of the study to no more than 15% at the three months follow-up.
The researchers hypothesized that the teens who had received the motivational interview might do better than those who had only talked briefly with a doctor, but overall depression scores were similar for both groups. Those who had received the motivational interview did do better in certain areas, however, such as having fewer thoughts of self-harm and hopelessness. Patients who received the motivational interview also spent more time using the website, which may have contributed to their additional improvements.
Study author Dr. Benjamin W. Van Voorhees of the University of Chicago suggests that Internet-based programs like Project CATCH-IT "may offer a low-cost way to implement depression prevention in community settings."
A version of Project CATCH-IT is available to the general public at http://catchit-public.bsd.uchicago.edu/.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
The program, called "Project CATCH-IT," uses proven methods, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral activation and interpersonal therapy, to teach the teens to change their behavior and to learn better coping skills. It includes a series of 14 modules that the teens can work through online through a secure website.
The researchers tested the program in 83 teens and young adults who were considered to be at risk for depression. The patients were randomly assigned to undergo either a brief discussion about depression with a doctor or a longer "motivational interview." Both groups were then given the Internet address for Project CATCH-IT.
Most of the teens in the study opted to visit the website, which was found to be effective in preventing future episodes of the depression. Based on a standard score, the percentage of patients with "clinically significant" depression decreased from 50% at the start of the study to no more than 15% at the three months follow-up.
The researchers hypothesized that the teens who had received the motivational interview might do better than those who had only talked briefly with a doctor, but overall depression scores were similar for both groups. Those who had received the motivational interview did do better in certain areas, however, such as having fewer thoughts of self-harm and hopelessness. Patients who received the motivational interview also spent more time using the website, which may have contributed to their additional improvements.
Study author Dr. Benjamin W. Van Voorhees of the University of Chicago suggests that Internet-based programs like Project CATCH-IT "may offer a low-cost way to implement depression prevention in community settings."
A version of Project CATCH-IT is available to the general public at http://catchit-public.bsd.uchicago.edu/.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:smile
- Music:Enrique Iglesias
Behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on changing and gaining control over unwanted behaviors. It is based upon the principles of classical conditioning developed by Ivan Pavlov and operant conditioning developed by B. F. Skinner. It is effective for the treatment of health problems which require some sort of behavior change, such as quitting smoking or losing weight. It is also effective for anxiety disorders and phobias.
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Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:bad
- Music:Russel Simins
Ive had problems with depression and hot flashes. I found that out my testosterone hormone went below normal! Now on testosterone hormone replacement, but still get hot flashes! I found a product for hot flash and menopause relief, with the name ! It does say for women, but it is helping my hot flashes. What kind of affects would there be on a man?
Male Menopause, also known as andropause, may or may not be an accurate description as a clinical phenomenon. Its proponents claim that it is a biological change experienced by men during their mid-life, and is often compared to female menopause. While menopause relates to a cessation of reproductive ability, andropause refers to a diminishment of the key male hormone testosterone which can lead to a severe loss of energy, concentration and depression, mood swings resulting in uneccessary nastiness and spiteful behaviour towards others. Unlike menopause, andropause does not necessarily cause a mans reproductive system to stop working altogether in mid-life but most will experience bouts of impotenceThe impact of low levels of testosterone has been previously reported. In 1944, Heller and Myers[1] identified symptoms of what they labeled the male climacteric including loss of libido and potency, nervousness, depression, impaired memory, the inability to concentrate, fatigue, insomnia, hot flushes, and sweating. Heller and Myers found that their subjects had lower than normal levels of testosterone, and that symptoms improved dramatically when patients were given replacement doses of testosterone.
The concept of andropause is perhaps more widely accepted in Australia and some parts of Europe than it is in the United States[2]. In the U.S., many clinicians believe that, since men can continue to reproduce into old age, and do not universally show the same dramatic drops in hormone levels characteristic of menopause in women, andropause is nonexistent. Others feel that andropause is real, synonymous with hypogonadism or low testosterone levels [3]. Regardless of nomenclature, doctors agree that the loss of hormones can be a painful and often life-altering affliction, whether it is experienced by women or men.
Some of the current interest in andropause has been fueled by the book Male Menopause, written by Jed Diamond[4]. According to Diamond, andropause (another term for male menopause) is a change of life in middle-aged men, which has hormonal, physical, psychological, interpersonal, social, sexual, and spiritual aspects. Diamond claims that this change occurs in all men, generally between the ages of 40 and 55, though it can occur as early as 35 or as late as 65. Some argue the term male menopause is a misnomer, as men don’t have menstrual periods, and therefore cannot stop having them. Unlike women, mens reproductive systems do not cease to work completely in mid-life; some men continue to father children late into their lives (at age 90 or older[5]). But Diamond claims that, in terms of other life impacts, women’s and men’s experience are somewhat similar phenomena.[6][7][8]
[edit] Criticism
The role of hormones, generally speaking, is an unsettled area of science. Some argue that many of the cited symptoms are not specific enough to warrant describing a new condition as the cause. People who are overweight may be misguided into treating a new illness rather than addressing the lifestyle that lead to being overweight. Similarly, energy levels vary naturally, and for those who are inactive, they are lower overall.
While it is true that active and otherwise healthy men might develop andropause-like symptoms, how common and widespread the phenomenon is, and whether genetics, lifestyle, environment, or a combination of factors are responsible, continues to be studied.
[edit] Diagnosis
Morley[9] has developed a ten-item survey to screen for andropause, but emphasizes loss of testosterone as the primary cause. Mintz, Dotson, Mukai[10] take a broader perspective and believe that other hormones, diet, and exercise are equally important. Diamond believes that depression is one of the most common problems of men going through andropause, and feels it is greatly under-diagnosed in men, with serious consequences[11].
[edit] Treatment
Several intervention strategies have been found to be effective[12][13][14][15]. These include:
Hormone replacement therapy,[16]
Exercise, dietary changes, stress reduction, [16]
Couple counseling, career refocusing, and spiritual support,
Chemical dependency treatment, sexual compulsivity treatment,
Treatment for depression,
Finding and engaging one’s “calling” in the second half of life.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
Male Menopause, also known as andropause, may or may not be an accurate description as a clinical phenomenon. Its proponents claim that it is a biological change experienced by men during their mid-life, and is often compared to female menopause. While menopause relates to a cessation of reproductive ability, andropause refers to a diminishment of the key male hormone testosterone which can lead to a severe loss of energy, concentration and depression, mood swings resulting in uneccessary nastiness and spiteful behaviour towards others. Unlike menopause, andropause does not necessarily cause a mans reproductive system to stop working altogether in mid-life but most will experience bouts of impotenceThe impact of low levels of testosterone has been previously reported. In 1944, Heller and Myers[1] identified symptoms of what they labeled the male climacteric including loss of libido and potency, nervousness, depression, impaired memory, the inability to concentrate, fatigue, insomnia, hot flushes, and sweating. Heller and Myers found that their subjects had lower than normal levels of testosterone, and that symptoms improved dramatically when patients were given replacement doses of testosterone.
The concept of andropause is perhaps more widely accepted in Australia and some parts of Europe than it is in the United States[2]. In the U.S., many clinicians believe that, since men can continue to reproduce into old age, and do not universally show the same dramatic drops in hormone levels characteristic of menopause in women, andropause is nonexistent. Others feel that andropause is real, synonymous with hypogonadism or low testosterone levels [3]. Regardless of nomenclature, doctors agree that the loss of hormones can be a painful and often life-altering affliction, whether it is experienced by women or men.
Some of the current interest in andropause has been fueled by the book Male Menopause, written by Jed Diamond[4]. According to Diamond, andropause (another term for male menopause) is a change of life in middle-aged men, which has hormonal, physical, psychological, interpersonal, social, sexual, and spiritual aspects. Diamond claims that this change occurs in all men, generally between the ages of 40 and 55, though it can occur as early as 35 or as late as 65. Some argue the term male menopause is a misnomer, as men don’t have menstrual periods, and therefore cannot stop having them. Unlike women, mens reproductive systems do not cease to work completely in mid-life; some men continue to father children late into their lives (at age 90 or older[5]). But Diamond claims that, in terms of other life impacts, women’s and men’s experience are somewhat similar phenomena.[6][7][8]
[edit] Criticism
The role of hormones, generally speaking, is an unsettled area of science. Some argue that many of the cited symptoms are not specific enough to warrant describing a new condition as the cause. People who are overweight may be misguided into treating a new illness rather than addressing the lifestyle that lead to being overweight. Similarly, energy levels vary naturally, and for those who are inactive, they are lower overall.
While it is true that active and otherwise healthy men might develop andropause-like symptoms, how common and widespread the phenomenon is, and whether genetics, lifestyle, environment, or a combination of factors are responsible, continues to be studied.
[edit] Diagnosis
Morley[9] has developed a ten-item survey to screen for andropause, but emphasizes loss of testosterone as the primary cause. Mintz, Dotson, Mukai[10] take a broader perspective and believe that other hormones, diet, and exercise are equally important. Diamond believes that depression is one of the most common problems of men going through andropause, and feels it is greatly under-diagnosed in men, with serious consequences[11].
[edit] Treatment
Several intervention strategies have been found to be effective[12][13][14][15]. These include:
Hormone replacement therapy,[16]
Exercise, dietary changes, stress reduction, [16]
Couple counseling, career refocusing, and spiritual support,
Chemical dependency treatment, sexual compulsivity treatment,
Treatment for depression,
Finding and engaging one’s “calling” in the second half of life.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:cry
- Music:Savage Garden
So, I decided to quit Effexor.
I started taking Prozac for depression in middle school. I have had depression on and off since at least 1st grade- if I had it before then I can't remember. Typical symptoms throughout elementary school included uncontrollable crying, feelings of hopelessness, despair, and rage, and social withdrawal. In middle school symptoms remained more or less the same but suicidal thoughts started to become more prevalent.
At the end of 7th grade I asked, begged, to go on an anti-depressant. My mother was initially furious at the request. I think part of it was fear that I was going to end up like my aunt, her older sister, who suffered from violent mental illness from adolescence to the end of her life. I think another part of her fear arose from knowing someone her age, whose adolescent son had committed suicide 2 weeks after commencing anti-depressant medication therapy. (In the years since her acquaintance's tragedy, much more evidence has come to light about the risks of suicide in teens and young adults starting on anti-depressants. From what I can gather, it is possible that the drug companies knew but suppressed this information.) I never heard the details, from her, about why she was initially so adamantly against these medications, but I can only assume these were two major factors. She also seemed to be in denial, generally, about my condition. Again, I think that fear generated by her past experiences with mental illness in friends and family was the cause, but that is just conjecture. Interestingly enough, she has since done an apparent about-face, and now both she and another of her sisters, along with my father, and probably several other members of my family, are contentedly medicated by the same drugs she opposed so vehemently years ago.
But that is her, not me, and all in the past. After much pleading she relented, and I was prescribed Prozac. I believe the prescribing doctor was the psychiatrist at the mental health clinic where I saw a therapist for depression. But, I can't be certain, as my memories are hazy about this point in time. I am not sure if it is normal, or if my memory really is exceptionally blank, but there are very long stretches of my life about which I can recall almost nothing, at least nothing in sequence or in detail, though incidents of course with great emotional impact stand out. These parts of my life, coincidentally, correspond to periods when I was on anti-depressants or very depressed. My theory is that, since emotional intensity is strongly correlated with memory formation and retention, by blocking my emotions with medication I may have inadvertently inhibited long-term memory formation as well. It is a disturbing thought and I hope I am incorrect.
Several weeks, I believe, after starting the medication I went on a vacation with my mother and a friend of mine. We went to a party at a friend of my mother's, an afternoon outdoors grill, at their country house in Vermont. I was feeling low, as usual, and remember sitting and looking at the ground, wishing I could just lie down and melt away in to it, something like going to sleep never to wake up again. I don't know when it occurred to me that this feeling I was longing for was death, maybe I already knew, I had after all felt this way many times before then. There was not any external trigger I can recall, other than my mother's usual behaviour at parties, which was to ignore me and act very outgoing, bubbly, snobbish I felt, and unlike herself. The only other person I remember being there who was around my age was my friend, who had accompanied us on this vacation. I think we got along well at the time, though our friendship certainly deteriorated after this event. But we were never overly close, I feel, and her presence could not stop the feelings of ultimate, complete, emptiness and loneliness which I was experiencing.
I don't remember deciding to do it. I remember thinking about a note to leave, and I wrote something in my journal along the lines of "don't blame yourself, this was my decision and not because of you" which I think I intended for my mother to read after I died. I don't know exactly what I wrote because I threw out all my journals in my last year of high school, daily or near-daily entries from about 10 years of my life all in to the bin. But that is another story. As to the note, I don't know why I was so concerned about people blaming themselves, but I think that is probably a typical emotion for people in that situation.
I knew instantly how. My mother had chronic back pain and kept a very large bottle of Ibuprofen in the glove compartment of her car. I retrieved it and went in to the bathroom of this idyllic Vermont farmhouse. I ran the water, and using my cupped hands to drink it washed down a a few handfuls of pills. I seem to remember counting, but I trust my memories less and less these days. I seem to remember taking about 20 or 22 pills, whether I counted them or not the number sounds about right. I believe the dosage was 200 or 400 mg each, all I can say for certain is that they were large pills, larger than the Ibuprofen I take for headaches, and after that many my gag reflex convinced me to stop. I was 13 years old and still naiive, so I had no idea how many pills it would take to actually kill a person, but since the maximum daily dose was around 10 pills it seemed what I had taken would be sufficient. So I swallowed some more water, and waited.
I went back out to the "party" and can't remember anything at all after that. The next thing I can remember is the next day, still alive and, other than some gas, unharmed, I concluded it hadn't worked, and told my friend about it. I didn't initially plan on telling anyone else. Later, in an argument with my mother, I became very angry at her for what I perceived as her complete lack of sympathy and arbitrary demands on my time. I am sure it was a stupid disagreement, and she was probably technically right about whatever we were arguing about, but being an extremely stubborn and emotionally fragile 13 year old none of that mattered. All that mattered was that I was hurting and the only thing she could do was yell at me and blame me. So, more to hurt her I think than anything, I told her what I had done.
This is when it got bad.
She yelled, she screamed, she cried. She accused me of being selfish and other things in that vain. She blamed me for ruining the vacation for her and my friend (which of course I probably did, but was it really helpful to make me feel guilty about it?) Much more of this, and then a forced visit to the hospital emergency room where she requested they pump my stomach. Despite her own self-professed familiarity with medical care, we were informed this was unlikely to do much good as greater than 24 hours had passed and any remaining medication had long ago been absorbed in to the bloodstream. So some tests were performed, I don't remember what but probably to confirm I had no organ failure (physically, I was fine) and then I was released. My mother had taken the opportunity to set a good example of how to deal with stress by begging a cigarette off of someone and smoking outside the entrance. I still remember her standing there, arms crossed, cigarette dangling from one hand, looking stressed and haggard. I don't remember if I felt guilty, though knowing myself I am sure I did. I just remember the 4 hour car ride home being one of the most awkward and miserable times of my life.
At some point I had to convince my mother that I was ill and needed more extensive treatment- specifically an in-patient stay at a mental hospital. At first she was adamantly against this, as she had been against medication, and likely for similar reasons. But as before, she relented, and when we were back in the Boston area instead of going home my parents checked me in to a mental hospital, to my great relief. I was at that point feeling more depressed than I had ever felt before in my life, and the fear and hopelessness which gripped me at the mere thought of going back to our house to live with her anger and blame was more than I knew I could stand. It was for my own safety that I asked to be checked in, and I am positive that if I hadn't I would have tried to kill myself a second time.
It was late, 11 pm or so, when I arrived. Shoelaces, drawstrings, jewelry, anything potentially dangerous, was confiscated. I underwent a full physical examination, including listing any markings or scars. I remember being disappointed that most of my self-inflicted scars were too minor for the doctor to even mark down, and I helped her out by pointing out a few of my favorites. I didn't have an obsession with my scars or with cutting myself, but it was a coping strategy I had been using for years and I was a bit let down that I hadn't been able to make more of a "dent" so to speak. Like most things, I managed to use this as a reason to put myself down: "see, you can't kill yourself right, you can't even cut yourself right. you're such a failure, such a coward, a weakling, why don't you just give up?" and thing along those lines. Typical self-talk, something I have done to myself my whole life as far as I can recall. The rest of the night was a haze, though I remember my roommate the first night had the same name as my friend who had gone on the vacation with us. Strange coincidences.
I don't remember much of my stay at the hospital. I met a boy a few years older than me, who was in for drug addiction and had already addled his brain a bit with various chemicals. I didn't care, because miraculously he liked me, something I felt and still feel very few people do. We started "going out" which, since we were both in effect incarcerated, amounted to little more than exchanging elaborately folded notes in crayon and marker, all sharper writing implements being off limits. Another "couple" involved my roommate, not the same as the first night, and both of them were a little older and vastly more wordly than I was at that point, so I was shocked to learn of their plans for sex after being released! Well, after my release I don't know what I would have wanted to do with that boy, whose name I don't even remember but I think was Chris, but I called the number he gave me once and got a gruff sounding older man, and after being told he was "out" I never called again. I hope he is doing OK wherever he is, because though as a relationship we were clearly doomed, he was nice to me during one of the darkest times in my life and for that I will always be grateful. Thank you, wherever you are.
Perhaps coincidentally I received a gift from my favorite teacher at about the same time as I checked in. I don't think she knew or even could have known what was going on, as it was mailed and so must have been sent before anything happened. More likely it was because we were somewhat close, and she was a very kind and caring person. She taught English and ran a book club, the other members of which became my main social circle for the next few years. The present was a magnet with a quote from Nietzsche: "one must have a bit of chaos in one's heart to give birth to a dancing star" is the quote, or very close to that. I don't know if she guessed what going on in my life, or if it was coincidence, but it was very appropriate at the time. Wherever you are, Ms G., you kind words helped me too, and particularly during that rough patch in my life when I knew you. Thank you.
Anyway, the main thread. I think limited contact with my family was probably the most helpful aspect of my stay. The only exchange I clearly remember with my mother was when we were talking, and she was looking at my "boyfriend" lifting his shirt up for a nurse at the other end of the long cafeteria table. She said something sarcastic about "oh what a lovely sight" implying that he was somehow substandard, and physically abbhorent. Naturally she didn't know he was my "bf" or even that I was "dating," but the comment stung nonetheless. It was typical of her in several ways: 1, she often makes derogatory comments, in public, about persons who are nearby, about 5 decibels louder than I think prudent, 2, she is casually dismissive about most people, but especially men, and especially if they are from a "lower social class." She comes from a rather class-conscious British background and I don't think she realizes what a snob she sounds sometimes.
I don't know how they judged this but about 6 days after checking in I was deemed sufficiently recovered for home release. I did actually feel better at that point, though I don't remember why, perhaps it was the counseling I received, perhaps the Prozac was starting slowly to take effect, or perhaps it was just the fact of being in a place where I felt like I wasn't the odd one out, or even close to it. Most of the people in there had problems far worse than mine, running the gamut from aural hallucinations, to drug addiction, to major violent psychosis where the only "treatment" was being locked up in isolation for hours on end. I felt positively normal, though I knew I wasn't myself "well-adjusted" and some of the schizophrenics had better social skills than I at that point. Probably I was putting on a show of being better than I really felt, as I always tend to do, whether it was because I wanted to get out of there or out of a desire to please I can't say. But whatever the case, I was released and went home with my mom.
My memory is again very hazy at this point. I remember feeling each day was a struggle, that I had to force myself to get out of bed and function. On top of this it was summer break, and I had no obligations, no job, no school, and very few friends, having only recently moved to town. So I spent a lot of time at home, with my mother, who worked largely from her home office. I read a lot, but also forced myself to do some physical work like helping my mom or the neighbor garden, because it felt like otherwise I could sit still too long and never get up. I remember feeling better whenever I exercised, and thinking that if only I could keep this up I might manage to keep my head above water. But then the Prozac kicked in.
At first, it felt like a miracle, to wake up one day and not feel the hopelessness and despair that I had lived with for so long. I won't say definitively that it saved my life, but given the trend of my behaviour and thinking at that point I will say it is certainly possible it prevented another suicide attempt. Now, another thing I can't be certain of is its role in the first suicide attempt, which given the data on the drug could have been major, but of course it could have had no role at all. So, with initial feelings of elation at the alleviation of my most obvious symptoms, I wholeheartedly embraced medication as a treatment for my depression.
The first sign of side-effects was a gradual weight-gain which continued as long as I was on the drug. It could be that circumstances, lifestyle choices, and genetics would have doomed me to the same course without the medication, but it seems unlikely that, after maintaining roughly the same weight and height for 3 years, I would suddenly start to gain weight at the same time as I began taking a medication known for effecting weight. But the second side-effect was almost without doubt attributable to Prozac, and one for which it is infamous; I am referring of course to sexual dysfunction.
Now perhaps you might wonder how important sexual function is to a 13 year old girl. I was not sexually active at that point and wouldn't be for another 4 or 5 years, but I had been masturbating for years. My parents' attitudes towards sex ( my father never mentioned it at all and my mother talked about it far too frequently, I felt) combined with the prevailing culture in my rather conservative small town did not create an open atmosphere, and I was ashamed about my own young explorations of sexuality even before I went on Prozac. Then, finding myself suddenly unable to orgasm, I felt even more ashamed (if you feel bad about masturbating to begin with, imagine how much worse you would feel without the calming neurotransmitter release brought about by orgasm) and was reluctant to discuss it with a doctor. I may have brought it up with my psychiatrist, but I doubt I had the courage to, and either way my medication was continued for several years.
So at this age, my association of self-pleasure with shame was reinforced and left to lie. I stopped all personal explorations of sexuality, and instead became even more obessed with boys. Being obsessed with boys is not beyond the bounds of ordinary for a 13 year old heterosexual female, but I was extreme even among my peers. I was the first of my group of friends to date, first to kiss, first to get to all the bases in fact, but none of it was ever truly satisfying. All I wanted was more, and at times it got me in to a lot of trouble, which is another story altogether. I dated an older man my last year of high school, and lost my virginity to him at 17. Yet I was 19 before I had another conscious (sometimes it happened in dreams) orgasm. I still can not orgasm from self-stimulation, and I think this is a direct result of what happened to me on Prozac. While on it, and for months and years after stopping, I tried, and tried, but all I ever got was frustration so I gave up. It is possible that any lingering effects it had are long gone and the block now is solely psychological, but the fact is that taking that medication halted my normal sexual development and, I believe, caused all of my sexual energy to be redirected outwardly. Thankfully, no major permament physical damage was done, and (effects of other subsequent medications aside) I can now function "normally" in bed, or at least as normally as any woman can. I am in fact rather blessed, for I have a wonderful and amazing partner who can bring me to places of breath-taking bliss over and over in a single session. Yet it has been a very long road for me to get to that place with him, and I can't help but wonder how much easier and maybe even better it all could have been if Prozac hadn't put me so off-track back when I was 13.
However, my main complaints with anti-depressants have not been about the sexual side-effects, though these are of course serious. My main problem has been the emotional numbing I feel they have caused, and the many other effects I feel they have had on my thinking and personality. Clearly, these medications have benefits- had Prozac or a similarly effective drug not been available back when I was 13, who knows how it could have gone. I might not be here to write this. My problem has been not with the drug itself, or its appropriate applications to treat serious mental disorders, but more with the actual applications of this drug and others like it, and what I believe is the dangerous lack of discussion of their very serious effects and side-effects.
But those self-same effects and side-effects, namely withdrawal symptoms, have been plaguing me all day and I need to go lie down. Writing this has been very cathartic, and given me chance to digest my sole meal of the day while being distracted from the feelings of dizziness and nausea which I am afraid will be with me constantly for the next few weeks. My stomach and head are both a wreck right now, and since I had my last dose of Effexor just 3 days ago I know this is only going to get worse. Effexor is a hell of a drug, kids, and it doesn't let go easily. More tomorrow, and peace out.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
I started taking Prozac for depression in middle school. I have had depression on and off since at least 1st grade- if I had it before then I can't remember. Typical symptoms throughout elementary school included uncontrollable crying, feelings of hopelessness, despair, and rage, and social withdrawal. In middle school symptoms remained more or less the same but suicidal thoughts started to become more prevalent.
At the end of 7th grade I asked, begged, to go on an anti-depressant. My mother was initially furious at the request. I think part of it was fear that I was going to end up like my aunt, her older sister, who suffered from violent mental illness from adolescence to the end of her life. I think another part of her fear arose from knowing someone her age, whose adolescent son had committed suicide 2 weeks after commencing anti-depressant medication therapy. (In the years since her acquaintance's tragedy, much more evidence has come to light about the risks of suicide in teens and young adults starting on anti-depressants. From what I can gather, it is possible that the drug companies knew but suppressed this information.) I never heard the details, from her, about why she was initially so adamantly against these medications, but I can only assume these were two major factors. She also seemed to be in denial, generally, about my condition. Again, I think that fear generated by her past experiences with mental illness in friends and family was the cause, but that is just conjecture. Interestingly enough, she has since done an apparent about-face, and now both she and another of her sisters, along with my father, and probably several other members of my family, are contentedly medicated by the same drugs she opposed so vehemently years ago.
But that is her, not me, and all in the past. After much pleading she relented, and I was prescribed Prozac. I believe the prescribing doctor was the psychiatrist at the mental health clinic where I saw a therapist for depression. But, I can't be certain, as my memories are hazy about this point in time. I am not sure if it is normal, or if my memory really is exceptionally blank, but there are very long stretches of my life about which I can recall almost nothing, at least nothing in sequence or in detail, though incidents of course with great emotional impact stand out. These parts of my life, coincidentally, correspond to periods when I was on anti-depressants or very depressed. My theory is that, since emotional intensity is strongly correlated with memory formation and retention, by blocking my emotions with medication I may have inadvertently inhibited long-term memory formation as well. It is a disturbing thought and I hope I am incorrect.
Several weeks, I believe, after starting the medication I went on a vacation with my mother and a friend of mine. We went to a party at a friend of my mother's, an afternoon outdoors grill, at their country house in Vermont. I was feeling low, as usual, and remember sitting and looking at the ground, wishing I could just lie down and melt away in to it, something like going to sleep never to wake up again. I don't know when it occurred to me that this feeling I was longing for was death, maybe I already knew, I had after all felt this way many times before then. There was not any external trigger I can recall, other than my mother's usual behaviour at parties, which was to ignore me and act very outgoing, bubbly, snobbish I felt, and unlike herself. The only other person I remember being there who was around my age was my friend, who had accompanied us on this vacation. I think we got along well at the time, though our friendship certainly deteriorated after this event. But we were never overly close, I feel, and her presence could not stop the feelings of ultimate, complete, emptiness and loneliness which I was experiencing.
I don't remember deciding to do it. I remember thinking about a note to leave, and I wrote something in my journal along the lines of "don't blame yourself, this was my decision and not because of you" which I think I intended for my mother to read after I died. I don't know exactly what I wrote because I threw out all my journals in my last year of high school, daily or near-daily entries from about 10 years of my life all in to the bin. But that is another story. As to the note, I don't know why I was so concerned about people blaming themselves, but I think that is probably a typical emotion for people in that situation.
I knew instantly how. My mother had chronic back pain and kept a very large bottle of Ibuprofen in the glove compartment of her car. I retrieved it and went in to the bathroom of this idyllic Vermont farmhouse. I ran the water, and using my cupped hands to drink it washed down a a few handfuls of pills. I seem to remember counting, but I trust my memories less and less these days. I seem to remember taking about 20 or 22 pills, whether I counted them or not the number sounds about right. I believe the dosage was 200 or 400 mg each, all I can say for certain is that they were large pills, larger than the Ibuprofen I take for headaches, and after that many my gag reflex convinced me to stop. I was 13 years old and still naiive, so I had no idea how many pills it would take to actually kill a person, but since the maximum daily dose was around 10 pills it seemed what I had taken would be sufficient. So I swallowed some more water, and waited.
I went back out to the "party" and can't remember anything at all after that. The next thing I can remember is the next day, still alive and, other than some gas, unharmed, I concluded it hadn't worked, and told my friend about it. I didn't initially plan on telling anyone else. Later, in an argument with my mother, I became very angry at her for what I perceived as her complete lack of sympathy and arbitrary demands on my time. I am sure it was a stupid disagreement, and she was probably technically right about whatever we were arguing about, but being an extremely stubborn and emotionally fragile 13 year old none of that mattered. All that mattered was that I was hurting and the only thing she could do was yell at me and blame me. So, more to hurt her I think than anything, I told her what I had done.
This is when it got bad.
She yelled, she screamed, she cried. She accused me of being selfish and other things in that vain. She blamed me for ruining the vacation for her and my friend (which of course I probably did, but was it really helpful to make me feel guilty about it?) Much more of this, and then a forced visit to the hospital emergency room where she requested they pump my stomach. Despite her own self-professed familiarity with medical care, we were informed this was unlikely to do much good as greater than 24 hours had passed and any remaining medication had long ago been absorbed in to the bloodstream. So some tests were performed, I don't remember what but probably to confirm I had no organ failure (physically, I was fine) and then I was released. My mother had taken the opportunity to set a good example of how to deal with stress by begging a cigarette off of someone and smoking outside the entrance. I still remember her standing there, arms crossed, cigarette dangling from one hand, looking stressed and haggard. I don't remember if I felt guilty, though knowing myself I am sure I did. I just remember the 4 hour car ride home being one of the most awkward and miserable times of my life.
At some point I had to convince my mother that I was ill and needed more extensive treatment- specifically an in-patient stay at a mental hospital. At first she was adamantly against this, as she had been against medication, and likely for similar reasons. But as before, she relented, and when we were back in the Boston area instead of going home my parents checked me in to a mental hospital, to my great relief. I was at that point feeling more depressed than I had ever felt before in my life, and the fear and hopelessness which gripped me at the mere thought of going back to our house to live with her anger and blame was more than I knew I could stand. It was for my own safety that I asked to be checked in, and I am positive that if I hadn't I would have tried to kill myself a second time.
It was late, 11 pm or so, when I arrived. Shoelaces, drawstrings, jewelry, anything potentially dangerous, was confiscated. I underwent a full physical examination, including listing any markings or scars. I remember being disappointed that most of my self-inflicted scars were too minor for the doctor to even mark down, and I helped her out by pointing out a few of my favorites. I didn't have an obsession with my scars or with cutting myself, but it was a coping strategy I had been using for years and I was a bit let down that I hadn't been able to make more of a "dent" so to speak. Like most things, I managed to use this as a reason to put myself down: "see, you can't kill yourself right, you can't even cut yourself right. you're such a failure, such a coward, a weakling, why don't you just give up?" and thing along those lines. Typical self-talk, something I have done to myself my whole life as far as I can recall. The rest of the night was a haze, though I remember my roommate the first night had the same name as my friend who had gone on the vacation with us. Strange coincidences.
I don't remember much of my stay at the hospital. I met a boy a few years older than me, who was in for drug addiction and had already addled his brain a bit with various chemicals. I didn't care, because miraculously he liked me, something I felt and still feel very few people do. We started "going out" which, since we were both in effect incarcerated, amounted to little more than exchanging elaborately folded notes in crayon and marker, all sharper writing implements being off limits. Another "couple" involved my roommate, not the same as the first night, and both of them were a little older and vastly more wordly than I was at that point, so I was shocked to learn of their plans for sex after being released! Well, after my release I don't know what I would have wanted to do with that boy, whose name I don't even remember but I think was Chris, but I called the number he gave me once and got a gruff sounding older man, and after being told he was "out" I never called again. I hope he is doing OK wherever he is, because though as a relationship we were clearly doomed, he was nice to me during one of the darkest times in my life and for that I will always be grateful. Thank you, wherever you are.
Perhaps coincidentally I received a gift from my favorite teacher at about the same time as I checked in. I don't think she knew or even could have known what was going on, as it was mailed and so must have been sent before anything happened. More likely it was because we were somewhat close, and she was a very kind and caring person. She taught English and ran a book club, the other members of which became my main social circle for the next few years. The present was a magnet with a quote from Nietzsche: "one must have a bit of chaos in one's heart to give birth to a dancing star" is the quote, or very close to that. I don't know if she guessed what going on in my life, or if it was coincidence, but it was very appropriate at the time. Wherever you are, Ms G., you kind words helped me too, and particularly during that rough patch in my life when I knew you. Thank you.
Anyway, the main thread. I think limited contact with my family was probably the most helpful aspect of my stay. The only exchange I clearly remember with my mother was when we were talking, and she was looking at my "boyfriend" lifting his shirt up for a nurse at the other end of the long cafeteria table. She said something sarcastic about "oh what a lovely sight" implying that he was somehow substandard, and physically abbhorent. Naturally she didn't know he was my "bf" or even that I was "dating," but the comment stung nonetheless. It was typical of her in several ways: 1, she often makes derogatory comments, in public, about persons who are nearby, about 5 decibels louder than I think prudent, 2, she is casually dismissive about most people, but especially men, and especially if they are from a "lower social class." She comes from a rather class-conscious British background and I don't think she realizes what a snob she sounds sometimes.
I don't know how they judged this but about 6 days after checking in I was deemed sufficiently recovered for home release. I did actually feel better at that point, though I don't remember why, perhaps it was the counseling I received, perhaps the Prozac was starting slowly to take effect, or perhaps it was just the fact of being in a place where I felt like I wasn't the odd one out, or even close to it. Most of the people in there had problems far worse than mine, running the gamut from aural hallucinations, to drug addiction, to major violent psychosis where the only "treatment" was being locked up in isolation for hours on end. I felt positively normal, though I knew I wasn't myself "well-adjusted" and some of the schizophrenics had better social skills than I at that point. Probably I was putting on a show of being better than I really felt, as I always tend to do, whether it was because I wanted to get out of there or out of a desire to please I can't say. But whatever the case, I was released and went home with my mom.
My memory is again very hazy at this point. I remember feeling each day was a struggle, that I had to force myself to get out of bed and function. On top of this it was summer break, and I had no obligations, no job, no school, and very few friends, having only recently moved to town. So I spent a lot of time at home, with my mother, who worked largely from her home office. I read a lot, but also forced myself to do some physical work like helping my mom or the neighbor garden, because it felt like otherwise I could sit still too long and never get up. I remember feeling better whenever I exercised, and thinking that if only I could keep this up I might manage to keep my head above water. But then the Prozac kicked in.
At first, it felt like a miracle, to wake up one day and not feel the hopelessness and despair that I had lived with for so long. I won't say definitively that it saved my life, but given the trend of my behaviour and thinking at that point I will say it is certainly possible it prevented another suicide attempt. Now, another thing I can't be certain of is its role in the first suicide attempt, which given the data on the drug could have been major, but of course it could have had no role at all. So, with initial feelings of elation at the alleviation of my most obvious symptoms, I wholeheartedly embraced medication as a treatment for my depression.
The first sign of side-effects was a gradual weight-gain which continued as long as I was on the drug. It could be that circumstances, lifestyle choices, and genetics would have doomed me to the same course without the medication, but it seems unlikely that, after maintaining roughly the same weight and height for 3 years, I would suddenly start to gain weight at the same time as I began taking a medication known for effecting weight. But the second side-effect was almost without doubt attributable to Prozac, and one for which it is infamous; I am referring of course to sexual dysfunction.
Now perhaps you might wonder how important sexual function is to a 13 year old girl. I was not sexually active at that point and wouldn't be for another 4 or 5 years, but I had been masturbating for years. My parents' attitudes towards sex ( my father never mentioned it at all and my mother talked about it far too frequently, I felt) combined with the prevailing culture in my rather conservative small town did not create an open atmosphere, and I was ashamed about my own young explorations of sexuality even before I went on Prozac. Then, finding myself suddenly unable to orgasm, I felt even more ashamed (if you feel bad about masturbating to begin with, imagine how much worse you would feel without the calming neurotransmitter release brought about by orgasm) and was reluctant to discuss it with a doctor. I may have brought it up with my psychiatrist, but I doubt I had the courage to, and either way my medication was continued for several years.
So at this age, my association of self-pleasure with shame was reinforced and left to lie. I stopped all personal explorations of sexuality, and instead became even more obessed with boys. Being obsessed with boys is not beyond the bounds of ordinary for a 13 year old heterosexual female, but I was extreme even among my peers. I was the first of my group of friends to date, first to kiss, first to get to all the bases in fact, but none of it was ever truly satisfying. All I wanted was more, and at times it got me in to a lot of trouble, which is another story altogether. I dated an older man my last year of high school, and lost my virginity to him at 17. Yet I was 19 before I had another conscious (sometimes it happened in dreams) orgasm. I still can not orgasm from self-stimulation, and I think this is a direct result of what happened to me on Prozac. While on it, and for months and years after stopping, I tried, and tried, but all I ever got was frustration so I gave up. It is possible that any lingering effects it had are long gone and the block now is solely psychological, but the fact is that taking that medication halted my normal sexual development and, I believe, caused all of my sexual energy to be redirected outwardly. Thankfully, no major permament physical damage was done, and (effects of other subsequent medications aside) I can now function "normally" in bed, or at least as normally as any woman can. I am in fact rather blessed, for I have a wonderful and amazing partner who can bring me to places of breath-taking bliss over and over in a single session. Yet it has been a very long road for me to get to that place with him, and I can't help but wonder how much easier and maybe even better it all could have been if Prozac hadn't put me so off-track back when I was 13.
However, my main complaints with anti-depressants have not been about the sexual side-effects, though these are of course serious. My main problem has been the emotional numbing I feel they have caused, and the many other effects I feel they have had on my thinking and personality. Clearly, these medications have benefits- had Prozac or a similarly effective drug not been available back when I was 13, who knows how it could have gone. I might not be here to write this. My problem has been not with the drug itself, or its appropriate applications to treat serious mental disorders, but more with the actual applications of this drug and others like it, and what I believe is the dangerous lack of discussion of their very serious effects and side-effects.
But those self-same effects and side-effects, namely withdrawal symptoms, have been plaguing me all day and I need to go lie down. Writing this has been very cathartic, and given me chance to digest my sole meal of the day while being distracted from the feelings of dizziness and nausea which I am afraid will be with me constantly for the next few weeks. My stomach and head are both a wreck right now, and since I had my last dose of Effexor just 3 days ago I know this is only going to get worse. Effexor is a hell of a drug, kids, and it doesn't let go easily. More tomorrow, and peace out.
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- Mood:hangry
- Music:Robbie Williams
Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion. This was very easy to get sick of as well; cloying and over-the-top and insisting on its own epic greatness. Blurg. The music's pretty; I have a string quartet version that didn't make it onto the soundtrack (from a promo CD) that's lovely. It doesn't need Celine Dion or lyrics to work. It sounds better without them.
My Favorite Nominee: Ray of Light, Madonna. I don't have much to say about it, but it works.
My Favorite Single That Year: Flagpole Sitta, Harvey Danger. That song just makes me feel awesome. I love it.
1998
Winner: Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin. Music from the nineties has an overwhelming percentage of suck, more than any decade. It's like America went through menopause and could only listen to this kind of sappy pap. I hate this thing, and thanks to the Crap and Crap Lite stations being played where I worked constantly, I heard it way too many fucking times.
My Favorite Nominee: MMMBop, Hanson. It's a default choice; it's the one I think is okay whereas I despise all the others (especially "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paul Cole, which should be classified a form of abuse).
My Favorite Single That Year: The End Is the Beginning Is the End, Smashing Pumpkins. I love that they used it in the Watchmen trailer.
1997
Winner: Change the World, Eric Clapton. I'm not much of a Clapton fan, really. I did like this song, although it's association with the awful Scientology-promoting John Travolta film Phenomenon counts against it a tad. It's not earth-shaking, but it's a solid, not-unpleasant song.
My Favorite Nominee: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins. Haunting, beautiful, and bittersweet.
My Favorite Single That Year: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins.
1996
Winner: Kiss from a Rose, Seal. I think it's a beautiful song. I used to hear it a lot on the radio as I was driving to work in the winter at a very dark 5 in the morning. That's the perfect time to hear it. It'll take you on a trip.
My Favorite Nominee: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
My Favorite Single That Year: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
1995
Winner: All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow. Blurg. Not a song I like.
My Favorite Nominee: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen. Beautiful, sad, and seething with quiet ange, disappointment, and acceptance of fear.
My Favorite Single That Year: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen.
1994
Winner: I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston. Piece of overplayed shit. Especially in comparison to the original Dolly Parton song, which is perfect.
My Favorite Nominee: The River of Dreams, Billy Joel.
My Favorite Single That Year: Fields of Gold, Sting. Kind of a cheesy choice, perhaps, but I can always hear it and always love it. It's simple and pretty.
1993
Winner: Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton. It doesn't quite hold up for me, honestly, but it's miles better than fellow nominee "Achy Breaky Heart." It's a very pretty song, but not my favorite of Clapton's.
My Favorite Nominee: Constant Craving, k.d. lang. I like the passion.
My Favorite Single That Year: One, U2. One of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
1992
Winner: Unforgettable, Natalie Cole. The fact that the Grammys honored that hacky, schlocky, sympathy-begging, cloying bit of grave-robbing Natalie Cole did to cash in on honor her father is as sad as it is unsurprising.
My Favorite Nominee: Losing My Religion, R.E.M. It was overplayed, but if you listen to it now, it sounds almost fresh again. It really is just a good song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Seal.
1991
Winner: Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins. Preachy, annoying, and not even the best song from that Phil Collins album. (Actually, I just checked and sadly, it is. I despise "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven," and "I Wish It Would Rain" just sounds like a rip-off of "Wish You Were Here" with Clapton on guitar.)
My Favorite Nominee: Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor. Of the sappy, preachy, sad sack songs that were nominated this year, this is the one that's actually a good song. (Also, "U Can't Touch This" was nominated this year, but come on, man.)
My Favorite Single This Year: Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode. Now there's a love song.
1990
Winner: Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler. I hate this song, and my dad pissed me off by playing it at his wedding reception for his mother, which I specifically told him not to do because it was such a fucking cliche. He said he wouldn't; he did. Wow, my grandma must have been one of 10 million special woman so uniquely honored that year. It's the equivalent of buying your dad a tie on Father's Day.
My Favorite Nominee: The End of the Innocence, Don Henley. Chance is right on when he calls it deceptively angry. It adds some world-weariness on top of that, too. Beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: A Little Respect, Erasure. I usually come out on the side of pop, I guess. Although besides the catchiness, I think the lyrics are beautiful. One of my all time favorite lyrics comes from this song: "What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover?"
1989
Winner: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin. I always liked this song, but it sure wasn't the best of the year. I think part of it was the novelty of McFerrin doing the whole thing a cappella. Which is admittedly neat.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns 'n' Roses. The most perfect song they ever recorded.
1988
Winner: Graceland, Paul Simon. I'm not a big fan of this song for whatever reason. It's nice, but it's okay. I wouldn't turn it off if it came on the radio station. Really, I just don't dig Paul Simon's solo work that much.
My Favorite Nominee: Back in the High Life Again, Steve Winwood. Admittedly, mostly because it reminds me of better times. But it's pretty.
My Favorite Single That Year: With or Without You, U2. Grammy nominated the more ubiquitous and much less beautiful "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a song I don't like. "With or Without You" is real passion.
1987
Winner: Higher Love, Steve Winwood. Meh. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel. It's a lot of sucky nominees this year, but this is a great song.
My Favorite Single That Year: True Colors, Cyndi Lauper. A beautiful love song, especially for people who don't feel so great about themselves. I guess I like genuine songs about understanding, I would say.
1986
Winner: We Are the World, USA for Africa. Of course. Nothing else was going to win this year. As a song, it's okay. The real fun is trying to pick out all the singers. I mean, you know, it's Really Important, but it's just okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Money for Nothing, Dire Straits. One of their couple of songs I like. One of my favorite guitar solos.
My Favorite Single That Year: Take on Me, a-Ha. Pop perfection in all of its catchy, bubblegum glory.
1985
Winner: What's Love Got to Do with It, Tina Turner. There's genuine force behind it (although I think "Private Dancer" is her best song), real heartbreak.
My Favorite Nominee: Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen. At his most pop. I love this song.
My Favorite Song That Year: Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper. Gorgeous and simple.
1984
Winner: Beat It, Michael Jackson. Not much of a surprise, I guess. And it's a good song. Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo alone...
My Favorite Nominee: Flashdance... What a Feeling, Irene Cara. All of the nominees this year are pretty good but nothing I feel especially attached to. This is one of those cheesy pop songs I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Our House, Madness. One of the most perfect songs I've ever loved.
1983
Winner: Rosanna, Toto. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson. That one always got me and carried me off.
My Favorite Single That Year: Under Pressure, Queen David Bowie. Everything that's shitty about society in four and a half minutes. "And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night."
1982
Winner: Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes. Meh. I don't feel strongly either way.
My Favorite Nominee: (Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon. What a great song. I can't believe it lost to Kim Carnes... greatness versus... well, nothing worth commenting on. As usual, John Lennon just nails life and relationships with this song.
My Favorite Single This Year: In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins. Collins used to be a man who just knew darkness and how it felt to be depressed and angry.
1981
Winner: Sailing, Christopher Cross. Put me to sleep, why don't ya?
My Favorite Nominee: Theme from New York, New York, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let My Love Open the Door, Pete Townshend. As great a song as he ever wrote for the Who, his best solo work, and one of his most genuinely passionate songs.
1980
Winner: What a Fool Believes, the Doobie Brothers. I'm not a fan of theirs. This is probably the one song of theirs I'd say I liked. Still, Record of the Year? Feh.
My Favorite Nominee: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor. I like the sweep of it.
My Favorite Single That Year: Video Killed the Radio Star, the Buggles. Another perfect pop record.
1979
Winner: Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel. It is a pretty song, however much Joel claims now that he wrote it accidentally. Is he ever going to stop apologizing for having good commercial instincts? One of his less angry songs, too. I've always liked it.
My Favorite Nominee: Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty. Or as I always used to call it, "That One with the Great Saxophone Part."
My Favorite Single That Year: Who Are You, the Who. My favorite song of theirs, for reasons I can't quite define. But it's a great damn song.
1978
Winner: Hotel California, the Eagles. I hate the Eagles, but I'll give them this one song. This is a damn good song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hotel California, the Eagles.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hotel California, the Eagles.
1977
Winner: This Masquerade, George Benson. I couldn't tell you how this goes.
My Favorite Nominee: Afternoon Delight, Starland Vocal Band. It's delightful.
My Favorite Single That Year: Somebody to Love, Queen. A beautiful epic of emotion. One of my favorite songs ever.
1976
Winner: Love Will Keep Us Together, the Captain Tennille. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: At Seventeen, Janis Ian.
My Favorite Single That Year: Young Americans, David Bowie. That one packs a wallop and makes "Love Will Keep Us Together" sound pretty frivolous.
1975
Winner: I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John. I honestly detest this cloying, overwrought song.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John. You want passion? There you go. Skip the other song entirely.
My Favorite Single That Year: Cat's in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. Hey, hey, it's a cliched choice for a reason.
1974
Winner: Killing Me Softly with His Song, Roberta Flack. It's pretty. It's also soporific.
My Favorite Nominee: You're So Vain, Carly Simon. A nice kiss-off song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Mind Games, John Lennon. Gorgeous.
1973
Winner: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack. I've always found this song kind of overwrought.
My Favorite Nominee: American Pie, Don McLean. Come on, how could you pick a different one? (Although I've always loved Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)," a deceptively bleak and saddening song.)
My Favorite Single That Year: Let's Stay Together, Al Green. You want to get laid? You need some Al Green music.
1972
Winner: It's Too Late, Carole King. I can't place it off the top of my head, but I've never liked Carole King's as a singer.
My Favorite Nominee: My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. It's not much of a song, really, but I didn't like any of the other nominees much.
My Favorite Single That Year: Imagine, John Lennon. I can't believe this was never nominated for Record of the Year. What the hell?
1971
Winner: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel. An undeniably beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: Let It Be, the Beatles. Still Paul McCartney's most beautiful effort.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let It Be, the Beatles. Seriously, they didn't pick this?
1970
Winner: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the Fifth Dimension. Definitely a good song.
My Favorite Nominee: A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash. It's funny and Cash delivers it well. I'll always pull for Shel Silverstein.
My Favorite Single That Year: Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley. His final masterpiece, one of his best songs (in my top five).
1969
Winner: Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel. Good but not really special.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Jude, the Beatles. A masterpiece.
My Favorite Single That Year: (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding. One of the most quietly perfect songs I've ever heard.
1968
Winner: Up, Up and Away, the Fifth Dimension. What a lame choice. I mean, it's a cute song, but what a lame choice at this point in music history.
My Favorite Nominee: My Cup Runneth Over, Ed Ames.
My Favorite Single That Year: Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli. But that's the tip of the iceberg; this year produced, off the top of my head, "Heroes and Villains," "All You Need Is Love," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Light My Fire," "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman," and Grammy nominates "Ode to Billie Joe"? Lame, lame, lame.
1967
Winner: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra. A good song, one I always liked.
My Favorite Nominee: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Good Vibrations, the Beach Boys. Another incredible year for rock, and the Grammys can only acknowledge "Monday, Monday." What a foolish institution to pass over the greatness they did.
1966
Winner: A Taste of Honey, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The best of the several thousand versions that seem to be out there.
My Favorite Nominee: Yesterday, the Beatles. As beautiful a song as was ever written.
My Favorite Single That Year: Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. Transcendent.
1965
Winner: The Girl from Ipanema, Stan Getz João Gilberto. A lovely little song that I've always liked as background music.
My Favorite Nominee: Downtown, Petula Clark. I forget just how beautiful this one is.
My Favorite Single That Year: Don't Worry, Baby, the Beach Boys. Perfect.
1964
Winner: Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini. Nothing song from a rather turgid movie.
My Favorite Nominee: Dominique, the Singing Nun. That's painful to say, but the nominees this year are just that bad. Again, zero acknowledgement of rock and roll or even the great folk music from this time.
My Favorite Single That Year: Surfer Girl, the Beach Boys. Hey, Brian Wilson just knows how to hit me where it counts. Teenage love deified.
1963
Winner: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett. A beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett.
My Favorite Single That Year: Telstar, the Tornados. That one always takes me right off and makes me love being alive.
1962
Winner: Moon River, Henry Mancini. I'm never sorry to have heard this song. It's always beautiful, and always necessary.
My Favorite Nominee: Moon River, Henry Mancini. Infinitesimal second: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.
My Favorite Single That Year: Stand by Me, Ben E. King. The best time to hear this song is in the still of the deep night.
1961
Winner: Theme from A Summer Place, Percy Faith. The music is pretty.
My Favorite Nominee: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles. It's insane that this didn't win. This is the very definition of a beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles.
1960
Winner: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin. I like this song; it's fun as hell to sing along to.
My Favorite Nominee: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sleepwalk, Santo Johnny. Another great late night song.
1959
Winner: Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare), Domenico Modugno. Okay. I can't believe anyone does this song better than Dean Martin, personally. I don't believe I've heard this version.
My Favorite Nominee: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), David Seville. I know, I know, but I love this song. It's a Christmas staple to me. It reminds me of being a kid and spending the lead-up to Christmas at my grandmother's house. It's a cozy song for me.
My Favorite Single That Year: Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran. As vital a song as there is, considering how much rock continues to borrow from it. And more than that, just a catchy tune.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
My Favorite Nominee: Ray of Light, Madonna. I don't have much to say about it, but it works.
My Favorite Single That Year: Flagpole Sitta, Harvey Danger. That song just makes me feel awesome. I love it.
1998
Winner: Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin. Music from the nineties has an overwhelming percentage of suck, more than any decade. It's like America went through menopause and could only listen to this kind of sappy pap. I hate this thing, and thanks to the Crap and Crap Lite stations being played where I worked constantly, I heard it way too many fucking times.
My Favorite Nominee: MMMBop, Hanson. It's a default choice; it's the one I think is okay whereas I despise all the others (especially "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paul Cole, which should be classified a form of abuse).
My Favorite Single That Year: The End Is the Beginning Is the End, Smashing Pumpkins. I love that they used it in the Watchmen trailer.
1997
Winner: Change the World, Eric Clapton. I'm not much of a Clapton fan, really. I did like this song, although it's association with the awful Scientology-promoting John Travolta film Phenomenon counts against it a tad. It's not earth-shaking, but it's a solid, not-unpleasant song.
My Favorite Nominee: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins. Haunting, beautiful, and bittersweet.
My Favorite Single That Year: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins.
1996
Winner: Kiss from a Rose, Seal. I think it's a beautiful song. I used to hear it a lot on the radio as I was driving to work in the winter at a very dark 5 in the morning. That's the perfect time to hear it. It'll take you on a trip.
My Favorite Nominee: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
My Favorite Single That Year: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
1995
Winner: All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow. Blurg. Not a song I like.
My Favorite Nominee: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen. Beautiful, sad, and seething with quiet ange, disappointment, and acceptance of fear.
My Favorite Single That Year: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen.
1994
Winner: I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston. Piece of overplayed shit. Especially in comparison to the original Dolly Parton song, which is perfect.
My Favorite Nominee: The River of Dreams, Billy Joel.
My Favorite Single That Year: Fields of Gold, Sting. Kind of a cheesy choice, perhaps, but I can always hear it and always love it. It's simple and pretty.
1993
Winner: Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton. It doesn't quite hold up for me, honestly, but it's miles better than fellow nominee "Achy Breaky Heart." It's a very pretty song, but not my favorite of Clapton's.
My Favorite Nominee: Constant Craving, k.d. lang. I like the passion.
My Favorite Single That Year: One, U2. One of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
1992
Winner: Unforgettable, Natalie Cole. The fact that the Grammys honored that hacky, schlocky, sympathy-begging, cloying bit of grave-robbing Natalie Cole did to cash in on honor her father is as sad as it is unsurprising.
My Favorite Nominee: Losing My Religion, R.E.M. It was overplayed, but if you listen to it now, it sounds almost fresh again. It really is just a good song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Seal.
1991
Winner: Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins. Preachy, annoying, and not even the best song from that Phil Collins album. (Actually, I just checked and sadly, it is. I despise "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven," and "I Wish It Would Rain" just sounds like a rip-off of "Wish You Were Here" with Clapton on guitar.)
My Favorite Nominee: Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor. Of the sappy, preachy, sad sack songs that were nominated this year, this is the one that's actually a good song. (Also, "U Can't Touch This" was nominated this year, but come on, man.)
My Favorite Single This Year: Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode. Now there's a love song.
1990
Winner: Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler. I hate this song, and my dad pissed me off by playing it at his wedding reception for his mother, which I specifically told him not to do because it was such a fucking cliche. He said he wouldn't; he did. Wow, my grandma must have been one of 10 million special woman so uniquely honored that year. It's the equivalent of buying your dad a tie on Father's Day.
My Favorite Nominee: The End of the Innocence, Don Henley. Chance is right on when he calls it deceptively angry. It adds some world-weariness on top of that, too. Beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: A Little Respect, Erasure. I usually come out on the side of pop, I guess. Although besides the catchiness, I think the lyrics are beautiful. One of my all time favorite lyrics comes from this song: "What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover?"
1989
Winner: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin. I always liked this song, but it sure wasn't the best of the year. I think part of it was the novelty of McFerrin doing the whole thing a cappella. Which is admittedly neat.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns 'n' Roses. The most perfect song they ever recorded.
1988
Winner: Graceland, Paul Simon. I'm not a big fan of this song for whatever reason. It's nice, but it's okay. I wouldn't turn it off if it came on the radio station. Really, I just don't dig Paul Simon's solo work that much.
My Favorite Nominee: Back in the High Life Again, Steve Winwood. Admittedly, mostly because it reminds me of better times. But it's pretty.
My Favorite Single That Year: With or Without You, U2. Grammy nominated the more ubiquitous and much less beautiful "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a song I don't like. "With or Without You" is real passion.
1987
Winner: Higher Love, Steve Winwood. Meh. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel. It's a lot of sucky nominees this year, but this is a great song.
My Favorite Single That Year: True Colors, Cyndi Lauper. A beautiful love song, especially for people who don't feel so great about themselves. I guess I like genuine songs about understanding, I would say.
1986
Winner: We Are the World, USA for Africa. Of course. Nothing else was going to win this year. As a song, it's okay. The real fun is trying to pick out all the singers. I mean, you know, it's Really Important, but it's just okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Money for Nothing, Dire Straits. One of their couple of songs I like. One of my favorite guitar solos.
My Favorite Single That Year: Take on Me, a-Ha. Pop perfection in all of its catchy, bubblegum glory.
1985
Winner: What's Love Got to Do with It, Tina Turner. There's genuine force behind it (although I think "Private Dancer" is her best song), real heartbreak.
My Favorite Nominee: Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen. At his most pop. I love this song.
My Favorite Song That Year: Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper. Gorgeous and simple.
1984
Winner: Beat It, Michael Jackson. Not much of a surprise, I guess. And it's a good song. Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo alone...
My Favorite Nominee: Flashdance... What a Feeling, Irene Cara. All of the nominees this year are pretty good but nothing I feel especially attached to. This is one of those cheesy pop songs I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Our House, Madness. One of the most perfect songs I've ever loved.
1983
Winner: Rosanna, Toto. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson. That one always got me and carried me off.
My Favorite Single That Year: Under Pressure, Queen David Bowie. Everything that's shitty about society in four and a half minutes. "And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night."
1982
Winner: Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes. Meh. I don't feel strongly either way.
My Favorite Nominee: (Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon. What a great song. I can't believe it lost to Kim Carnes... greatness versus... well, nothing worth commenting on. As usual, John Lennon just nails life and relationships with this song.
My Favorite Single This Year: In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins. Collins used to be a man who just knew darkness and how it felt to be depressed and angry.
1981
Winner: Sailing, Christopher Cross. Put me to sleep, why don't ya?
My Favorite Nominee: Theme from New York, New York, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let My Love Open the Door, Pete Townshend. As great a song as he ever wrote for the Who, his best solo work, and one of his most genuinely passionate songs.
1980
Winner: What a Fool Believes, the Doobie Brothers. I'm not a fan of theirs. This is probably the one song of theirs I'd say I liked. Still, Record of the Year? Feh.
My Favorite Nominee: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor. I like the sweep of it.
My Favorite Single That Year: Video Killed the Radio Star, the Buggles. Another perfect pop record.
1979
Winner: Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel. It is a pretty song, however much Joel claims now that he wrote it accidentally. Is he ever going to stop apologizing for having good commercial instincts? One of his less angry songs, too. I've always liked it.
My Favorite Nominee: Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty. Or as I always used to call it, "That One with the Great Saxophone Part."
My Favorite Single That Year: Who Are You, the Who. My favorite song of theirs, for reasons I can't quite define. But it's a great damn song.
1978
Winner: Hotel California, the Eagles. I hate the Eagles, but I'll give them this one song. This is a damn good song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hotel California, the Eagles.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hotel California, the Eagles.
1977
Winner: This Masquerade, George Benson. I couldn't tell you how this goes.
My Favorite Nominee: Afternoon Delight, Starland Vocal Band. It's delightful.
My Favorite Single That Year: Somebody to Love, Queen. A beautiful epic of emotion. One of my favorite songs ever.
1976
Winner: Love Will Keep Us Together, the Captain Tennille. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: At Seventeen, Janis Ian.
My Favorite Single That Year: Young Americans, David Bowie. That one packs a wallop and makes "Love Will Keep Us Together" sound pretty frivolous.
1975
Winner: I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John. I honestly detest this cloying, overwrought song.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John. You want passion? There you go. Skip the other song entirely.
My Favorite Single That Year: Cat's in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. Hey, hey, it's a cliched choice for a reason.
1974
Winner: Killing Me Softly with His Song, Roberta Flack. It's pretty. It's also soporific.
My Favorite Nominee: You're So Vain, Carly Simon. A nice kiss-off song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Mind Games, John Lennon. Gorgeous.
1973
Winner: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack. I've always found this song kind of overwrought.
My Favorite Nominee: American Pie, Don McLean. Come on, how could you pick a different one? (Although I've always loved Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)," a deceptively bleak and saddening song.)
My Favorite Single That Year: Let's Stay Together, Al Green. You want to get laid? You need some Al Green music.
1972
Winner: It's Too Late, Carole King. I can't place it off the top of my head, but I've never liked Carole King's as a singer.
My Favorite Nominee: My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. It's not much of a song, really, but I didn't like any of the other nominees much.
My Favorite Single That Year: Imagine, John Lennon. I can't believe this was never nominated for Record of the Year. What the hell?
1971
Winner: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel. An undeniably beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: Let It Be, the Beatles. Still Paul McCartney's most beautiful effort.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let It Be, the Beatles. Seriously, they didn't pick this?
1970
Winner: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the Fifth Dimension. Definitely a good song.
My Favorite Nominee: A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash. It's funny and Cash delivers it well. I'll always pull for Shel Silverstein.
My Favorite Single That Year: Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley. His final masterpiece, one of his best songs (in my top five).
1969
Winner: Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel. Good but not really special.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Jude, the Beatles. A masterpiece.
My Favorite Single That Year: (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding. One of the most quietly perfect songs I've ever heard.
1968
Winner: Up, Up and Away, the Fifth Dimension. What a lame choice. I mean, it's a cute song, but what a lame choice at this point in music history.
My Favorite Nominee: My Cup Runneth Over, Ed Ames.
My Favorite Single That Year: Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli. But that's the tip of the iceberg; this year produced, off the top of my head, "Heroes and Villains," "All You Need Is Love," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Light My Fire," "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman," and Grammy nominates "Ode to Billie Joe"? Lame, lame, lame.
1967
Winner: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra. A good song, one I always liked.
My Favorite Nominee: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Good Vibrations, the Beach Boys. Another incredible year for rock, and the Grammys can only acknowledge "Monday, Monday." What a foolish institution to pass over the greatness they did.
1966
Winner: A Taste of Honey, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The best of the several thousand versions that seem to be out there.
My Favorite Nominee: Yesterday, the Beatles. As beautiful a song as was ever written.
My Favorite Single That Year: Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. Transcendent.
1965
Winner: The Girl from Ipanema, Stan Getz João Gilberto. A lovely little song that I've always liked as background music.
My Favorite Nominee: Downtown, Petula Clark. I forget just how beautiful this one is.
My Favorite Single That Year: Don't Worry, Baby, the Beach Boys. Perfect.
1964
Winner: Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini. Nothing song from a rather turgid movie.
My Favorite Nominee: Dominique, the Singing Nun. That's painful to say, but the nominees this year are just that bad. Again, zero acknowledgement of rock and roll or even the great folk music from this time.
My Favorite Single That Year: Surfer Girl, the Beach Boys. Hey, Brian Wilson just knows how to hit me where it counts. Teenage love deified.
1963
Winner: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett. A beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett.
My Favorite Single That Year: Telstar, the Tornados. That one always takes me right off and makes me love being alive.
1962
Winner: Moon River, Henry Mancini. I'm never sorry to have heard this song. It's always beautiful, and always necessary.
My Favorite Nominee: Moon River, Henry Mancini. Infinitesimal second: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.
My Favorite Single That Year: Stand by Me, Ben E. King. The best time to hear this song is in the still of the deep night.
1961
Winner: Theme from A Summer Place, Percy Faith. The music is pretty.
My Favorite Nominee: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles. It's insane that this didn't win. This is the very definition of a beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles.
1960
Winner: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin. I like this song; it's fun as hell to sing along to.
My Favorite Nominee: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sleepwalk, Santo Johnny. Another great late night song.
1959
Winner: Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare), Domenico Modugno. Okay. I can't believe anyone does this song better than Dean Martin, personally. I don't believe I've heard this version.
My Favorite Nominee: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), David Seville. I know, I know, but I love this song. It's a Christmas staple to me. It reminds me of being a kid and spending the lead-up to Christmas at my grandmother's house. It's a cozy song for me.
My Favorite Single That Year: Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran. As vital a song as there is, considering how much rock continues to borrow from it. And more than that, just a catchy tune.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:lol
- Music:Enrique Iglesias
Babies die during vaccine trials in Argentina Thursday
July 10, 2008
Buenos Aires, Jul 10, 2008 (EFE via COMTEX)
-- At least 12 babies who were part of a clinical study to test the effectiveness of a vaccine against pneumonia have died over the past year in Argentina, the local press reported Thursday.
The study was sponsored by global drug giant GlaxoSmithKline and uses children from poor families, who are "pressured and forced into signing consent forms," the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, or Fesprosa, said.
"This occurs without any type of state control" and "does not comply with minimum ethical requirements," Fesprosa said.
The vaccine trial is still ongoing despite the denunciations, and those in charge of the study were cited by the Critica newspaper as saying that the procedures are being carried out in a lawful manner.
Colombian and Panama were also chosen by GSK as staging grounds for trials of the vaccine against the pneumococcal bacteria.
Since 2007, 15,000 children under the age of one from the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero have been included in the research protocol, a statement of what the study is trying to achieve.
"Only 12 have died throughout the country, which is a very low figure if we compare it with the deaths produced by respiratory illnesses caused by the pneumococcal bacteria," pediatrician Enrique Smith, one of the lead investigators, said.
In Santiago del Estero, one of the country's poorest provinces, the trials were authorized when Enrique's brother, Juan Carlos Smith, was provincial health minister.
According to pediatrician Ana Maria Marchese, who works at the children's hospital in the provincial capital where the studies are being conducted, "because they can't experiment in Europe or the United States, they come to do it in third-world countries."
"A lot of people want to leave the protocol but aren't allowed; they force them to continue under the threat that if they leave they won't receive any other vaccine," said Julieta Ovejero, great aunt of one of the six babies who died in Santiago del Estero.
Fesprosa's Juan Carlos Palomares said that "in most cases these are underprivileged individuals, many of them unable to read or write, who are pressured into including their children" in the trials.
According to Fesprosa, "the laboratory pays $8,000 for each child included in the study, but none (of that money) remains in the province that lends the public facilities and the health personnel for the private research.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
July 10, 2008
Buenos Aires, Jul 10, 2008 (EFE via COMTEX)
-- At least 12 babies who were part of a clinical study to test the effectiveness of a vaccine against pneumonia have died over the past year in Argentina, the local press reported Thursday.
The study was sponsored by global drug giant GlaxoSmithKline and uses children from poor families, who are "pressured and forced into signing consent forms," the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, or Fesprosa, said.
"This occurs without any type of state control" and "does not comply with minimum ethical requirements," Fesprosa said.
The vaccine trial is still ongoing despite the denunciations, and those in charge of the study were cited by the Critica newspaper as saying that the procedures are being carried out in a lawful manner.
Colombian and Panama were also chosen by GSK as staging grounds for trials of the vaccine against the pneumococcal bacteria.
Since 2007, 15,000 children under the age of one from the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero have been included in the research protocol, a statement of what the study is trying to achieve.
"Only 12 have died throughout the country, which is a very low figure if we compare it with the deaths produced by respiratory illnesses caused by the pneumococcal bacteria," pediatrician Enrique Smith, one of the lead investigators, said.
In Santiago del Estero, one of the country's poorest provinces, the trials were authorized when Enrique's brother, Juan Carlos Smith, was provincial health minister.
According to pediatrician Ana Maria Marchese, who works at the children's hospital in the provincial capital where the studies are being conducted, "because they can't experiment in Europe or the United States, they come to do it in third-world countries."
"A lot of people want to leave the protocol but aren't allowed; they force them to continue under the threat that if they leave they won't receive any other vaccine," said Julieta Ovejero, great aunt of one of the six babies who died in Santiago del Estero.
Fesprosa's Juan Carlos Palomares said that "in most cases these are underprivileged individuals, many of them unable to read or write, who are pressured into including their children" in the trials.
According to Fesprosa, "the laboratory pays $8,000 for each child included in the study, but none (of that money) remains in the province that lends the public facilities and the health personnel for the private research.
Similar posts: effexor withdrawal symptoms
- Mood:normal
- Music:Russel Simins
Once again following Chance here, who commented on the Grammy Records of the Year. It looked like fun, so I'm joining in.
2008
Winner: Rehab, Amy Winehouse. I didn't join in the showering of praise for it. Meh.
My Favorite Nominee: Umbrella, Rihanna featuring Jay-Z.
My Favorite Single That Year: Shut Up and Drive, Rihanna. It's sexier and more playful than "Umbrella."
2007
Winner: Not Ready to Make Nice, Dixie Chicks. It's not a terrible song, really, but it's such an obvious choice. It Makes a Statement. It's about the only Dixie Chicks song I can listen to, but it's not something I put on intentionally.
My Favorite Nominee: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley. It's perfection.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley. See previous comment.
2006
Winner: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day. As I've said before on this blog, I'm not a big fan of what Green Day has on offer. I mean, they're kind of okay, this is one of the better songs, but I don't find them as astounding as other people seem to.
My Favorite Nominee: Gold Digger, Kanye West. The only Kanye single I've ever liked or will like.
My Favorite Single That Year: All These Things That I've Done, the Killers.
2005
Winner: Here We Go Again, Ray Charles Norah Jones. You know, I'm not even sure I've ever heard this.
My Favorite Nominee: American Idiot, Green Day. Not much of a crop this year in the nominee pool, but I actually do really like this song.
My Favorite Single That Year: American Idiot, Green Day.
2004
Winner: Clocks, Coldplay. One of the few songs I give them credit for in their endless quest to become the Divine Comedy without anyone noticing. Overrated, but a decent adult contemporary song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Ya, OutKast. A perfect pop single. It was overplayed (as was "Clocks"), but it's just so damn good.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hey Ya, OutKast.
2003
Winner: Don't Know Why, Norah Jones. Pretty, but it got old fast. Very adult contemporary, which is still the sound that wins the Grammys. The only Norah Jones song I love is "Sunrise."
My Favorite Nominee: Without Me, Eminem. I hate the guy, but his music is very well-produced. This is pretty much the one song of his I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Beautiful, Christina Aguilera.
2002
Winner: Walk On, U2. I couldn't pick this song out of a line-up. I like about enough U2 songs to fill a single CD.
My Favorite Nominee: Ms. Jackson, OutKast. I notice "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys was nominated, too. That's a song I'll be thrilled to never hear again.
My Favorite Single That Year: Lady Marmelade, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya Li'l Kim. The only thing I liked to come out of Moulin Rouge.
2001
Winner: Beautiful Day, U2. Now that's a U2 song that I like very much. And it makes me feel pretty good.
My Favorite Nominee: Beautiful Day, U2.
My Favorite Single That Year: Beautiful Day, U2.
2000
Winner: Smooth, Santana featuring Rob Thomas. I got so sick of this song playing every minute on every radio station and commercial. I think Santana's pretty overrated, to be honest.
My Favorite Nominee: I don't like any of the songs nominated this year.
My Favorite Single That Year: ...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears. Dopey, sure, but everything that makes a pop single great.
1999
Winner: My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion. This was very easy to get sick of as well; cloying and over-the-top and insisting on its own epic greatness. Blurg. The music's pretty; I have a string quartet version that didn't make it onto the soundtrack (from a promo CD) that's lovely. It doesn't need Celine Dion or lyrics to work. It sounds better without them.
My Favorite Nominee: Ray of Light, Madonna. I don't have much to say about it, but it works.
My Favorite Single That Year: Flagpole Sitta, Harvey Danger. That song just makes me feel awesome. I love it.
1998
Winner: Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin. Music from the nineties has an overwhelming percentage of suck, more than any decade. It's like America went through menopause and could only listen to this kind of sappy pap. I hate this thing, and thanks to the Crap and Crap Lite stations being played where I worked constantly, I heard it way too many fucking times.
My Favorite Nominee: MMMBop, Hanson. It's a default choice; it's the one I think is okay whereas I despise all the others (especially "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paul Cole, which should be classified a form of abuse).
My Favorite Single That Year: The End Is the Beginning Is the End, Smashing Pumpkins. I love that they used it in the Watchmen trailer.
1997
Winner: Change the World, Eric Clapton. I'm not much of a Clapton fan, really. I did like this song, although it's association with the awful Scientology-promoting John Travolta film Phenomenon counts against it a tad. It's not earth-shaking, but it's a solid, not-unpleasant song.
My Favorite Nominee: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins. Haunting, beautiful, and bittersweet.
My Favorite Single That Year: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins.
1996
Winner: Kiss from a Rose, Seal. I think it's a beautiful song. I used to hear it a lot on the radio as I was driving to work in the winter at a very dark 5 in the morning. That's the perfect time to hear it. It'll take you on a trip.
My Favorite Nominee: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
My Favorite Single That Year: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
1995
Winner: All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow. Blurg. Not a song I like.
My Favorite Nominee: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen. Beautiful, sad, and seething with quiet ange, disappointment, and acceptance of fear.
My Favorite Single That Year: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen.
1994
Winner: I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston. Piece of overplayed shit. Especially in comparison to the original Dolly Parton song, which is perfect.
My Favorite Nominee: The River of Dreams, Billy Joel.
My Favorite Single That Year: Fields of Gold, Sting. Kind of a cheesy choice, perhaps, but I can always hear it and always love it. It's simple and pretty.
1993
Winner: Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton. It doesn't quite hold up for me, honestly, but it's miles better than fellow nominee "Achy Breaky Heart." It's a very pretty song, but not my favorite of Clapton's.
My Favorite Nominee: Constant Craving, k.d. lang. I like the passion.
My Favorite Single That Year: One, U2. One of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
1992
Winner: Unforgettable, Natalie Cole. The fact that the Grammys honored that hacky, schlocky, sympathy-begging, cloying bit of grave-robbing Natalie Cole did to cash in on honor her father is as sad as it is unsurprising.
My Favorite Nominee: Losing My Religion, R.E.M. It was overplayed, but if you listen to it now, it sounds almost fresh again. It really is just a good song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Seal.
1991
Winner: Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins. Preachy, annoying, and not even the best song from that Phil Collins album. (Actually, I just checked and sadly, it is. I despise "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven," and "I Wish It Would Rain" just sounds like a rip-off of "Wish You Were Here" with Clapton on guitar.)
My Favorite Nominee: Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor. Of the sappy, preachy, sad sack songs that were nominated this year, this is the one that's actually a good song. (Also, "U Can't Touch This" was nominated this year, but come on, man.)
My Favorite Single This Year: Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode. Now there's a love song.
1990
Winner: Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler. I hate this song, and my dad pissed me off by playing it at his wedding reception for his mother, which I specifically told him not to do because it was such a fucking cliche. He said he wouldn't; he did. Wow, my grandma must have been one of 10 million special woman so uniquely honored that year. It's the equivalent of buying your dad a tie on Father's Day.
My Favorite Nominee: The End of the Innocence, Don Henley. Chance is right on when he calls it deceptively angry. It adds some world-weariness on top of that, too. Beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: A Little Respect, Erasure. I usually come out on the side of pop, I guess. Although besides the catchiness, I think the lyrics are beautiful. One of my all time favorite lyrics comes from this song: "What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover?"
1989
Winner: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin. I always liked this song, but it sure wasn't the best of the year. I think part of it was the novelty of McFerrin doing the whole thing a cappella. Which is admittedly neat.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns 'n' Roses. The most perfect song they ever recorded.
1988
Winner: Graceland, Paul Simon. I'm not a big fan of this song for whatever reason. It's nice, but it's okay. I wouldn't turn it off if it came on the radio station. Really, I just don't dig Paul Simon's solo work that much.
My Favorite Nominee: Back in the High Life Again, Steve Winwood. Admittedly, mostly because it reminds me of better times. But it's pretty.
My Favorite Single That Year: With or Without You, U2. Grammy nominated the more ubiquitous and much less beautiful "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a song I don't like. "With or Without You" is real passion.
1987
Winner: Higher Love, Steve Winwood. Meh. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel. It's a lot of sucky nominees this year, but this is a great song.
My Favorite Single That Year: True Colors, Cyndi Lauper. A beautiful love song, especially for people who don't feel so great about themselves. I guess I like genuine songs about understanding, I would say.
1986
Winner: We Are the World, USA for Africa. Of course. Nothing else was going to win this year. As a song, it's okay. The real fun is trying to pick out all the singers. I mean, you know, it's Really Important, but it's just okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Money for Nothing, Dire Straits. One of their couple of songs I like. One of my favorite guitar solos.
My Favorite Single That Year: Take on Me, a-Ha. Pop perfection in all of its catchy, bubblegum glory.
1985
Winner: What's Love Got to Do with It, Tina Turner. There's genuine force behind it (although I think "Private Dancer" is her best song), real heartbreak.
My Favorite Nominee: Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen. At his most pop. I love this song.
My Favorite Song That Year: Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper. Gorgeous and simple.
1984
Winner: Beat It, Michael Jackson. Not much of a surprise, I guess. And it's a good song. Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo alone...
My Favorite Nominee: Flashdance... What a Feeling, Irene Cara. All of the nominees this year are pretty good but nothing I feel especially attached to. This is one of those cheesy pop songs I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Our House, Madness. One of the most perfect songs I've ever loved.
1983
Winner: Rosanna, Toto. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson. That one always got me and carried me off.
My Favorite Single That Year: Under Pressure, Queen David Bowie. Everything that's shitty about society in four and a half minutes. "And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night."
1982
Winner: Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes. Meh. I don't feel strongly either way.
My Favorite Nominee: (Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon. What a great song. I can't believe it lost to Kim Carnes... greatness versus... well, nothing worth commenting on. As usual, John Lennon just nails life and relationships with this song.
My Favorite Single This Year: In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins. Collins used to be a man who just knew darkness and how it felt to be depressed and angry.
1981
Winner: Sailing, Christopher Cross. Put me to sleep, why don't ya?
My Favorite Nominee: Theme from New York, New York, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let My Love Open the Door, Pete Townshend. As great a song as he ever wrote for the Who, his best solo work, and one of his most genuinely passionate songs.
1980
Winner: What a Fool Believes, the Doobie Brothers. I'm not a fan of theirs. This is probably the one song of theirs I'd say I liked. Still, Record of the Year? Feh.
My Favorite Nominee: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor. I like the sweep of it.
My Favorite Single That Year: Video Killed the Radio Star, the Buggles. Another perfect pop record.
1979
Winner: Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel. It is a pretty song, however much Joel claims now that he wrote it accidentally. Is he ever going to stop apologizing for having good commercial instincts? One of his less angry songs, too. I've always liked it.
My Favorite Nominee: Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty. Or as I always used to call it, "That One with the Great Saxophone Part."
My Favorite Single That Year: Who Are You, the Who. My favorite song of theirs, for reasons I can't quite define. But it's a great damn song.
1978
Winner: Hotel California, the Eagles. I hate the Eagles, but I'll give them this one song. This is a damn good song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hotel California, the Eagles.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hotel California, the Eagles.
1977
Winner: This Masquerade, George Benson. I couldn't tell you how this goes.
My Favorite Nominee: Afternoon Delight, Starland Vocal Band. It's delightful.
My Favorite Single That Year: Somebody to Love, Queen. A beautiful epic of emotion. One of my favorite songs ever.
1976
Winner: Love Will Keep Us Together, the Captain Tennille. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: At Seventeen, Janis Ian.
My Favorite Single That Year: Young Americans, David Bowie. That one packs a wallop and makes "Love Will Keep Us Together" sound pretty frivolous.
1975
Winner: I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John. I honestly detest this cloying, overwrought song.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John. You want passion? There you go. Skip the other song entirely.
My Favorite Single That Year: Cat's in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. Hey, hey, it's a cliched choice for a reason.
1974
Winner: Killing Me Softly with His Song, Roberta Flack. It's pretty. It's also soporific.
My Favorite Nominee: You're So Vain, Carly Simon. A nice kiss-off song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Mind Games, John Lennon. Gorgeous.
1973
Winner: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack. I've always found this song kind of overwrought.
My Favorite Nominee: American Pie, Don McLean. Come on, how could you pick a different one? (Although I've always loved Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)," a deceptively bleak and saddening song.)
My Favorite Single That Year: Let's Stay Together, Al Green. You want to get laid? You need some Al Green music.
1972
Winner: It's Too Late, Carole King. I can't place it off the top of my head, but I've never liked Carole King's as a singer.
My Favorite Nominee: My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. It's not much of a song, really, but I didn't like any of the other nominees much.
My Favorite Single That Year: Imagine, John Lennon. I can't believe this was never nominated for Record of the Year. What the hell?
1971
Winner: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel. An undeniably beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: Let It Be, the Beatles. Still Paul McCartney's most beautiful effort.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let It Be, the Beatles. Seriously, they didn't pick this?
1970
Winner: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the Fifth Dimension. Definitely a good song.
My Favorite Nominee: A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash. It's funny and Cash delivers it well. I'll always pull for Shel Silverstein.
My Favorite Single That Year: Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley. His final masterpiece, one of his best songs (in my top five).
1969
Winner: Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel. Good but not really special.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Jude, the Beatles. A masterpiece.
My Favorite Single That Year: (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding. One of the most quietly perfect songs I've ever heard.
1968
Winner: Up, Up and Away, the Fifth Dimension. What a lame choice. I mean, it's a cute song, but what a lame choice at this point in music history.
My Favorite Nominee: My Cup Runneth Over, Ed Ames.
My Favorite Single That Year: Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli. But that's the tip of the iceberg; this year produced, off the top of my head, "Heroes and Villains," "All You Need Is Love," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Light My Fire," "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman," and Grammy nominates "Ode to Billie Joe"? Lame, lame, lame.
1967
Winner: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra. A good song, one I always liked.
My Favorite Nominee: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Good Vibrations, the Beach Boys. Another incredible year for rock, and the Grammys can only acknowledge "Monday, Monday." What a foolish institution to pass over the greatness they did.
1966
Winner: A Taste of Honey, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The best of the several thousand versions that seem to be out there.
My Favorite Nominee: Yesterday, the Beatles. As beautiful a song as was ever written.
My Favorite Single That Year: Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. Transcendent.
1965
Winner: The Girl from Ipanema, Stan Getz João Gilberto. A lovely little song that I've always liked as background music.
My Favorite Nominee: Downtown, Petula Clark. I forget just how beautiful this one is.
My Favorite Single That Year: Don't Worry, Baby, the Beach Boys. Perfect.
1964
Winner: Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini. Nothing song from a rather turgid movie.
My Favorite Nominee: Dominique, the Singing Nun. That's painful to say, but the nominees this year are just that bad. Again, zero acknowledgement of rock and roll or even the great folk music from this time.
My Favorite Single That Year: Surfer Girl, the Beach Boys. Hey, Brian Wilson just knows how to hit me where it counts. Teenage love deified.
1963
Winner: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett. A beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett.
My Favorite Single That Year: Telstar, the Tornados. That one always takes me right off and makes me love being alive.
1962
Winner: Moon River, Henry Mancini. I'm never sorry to have heard this song. It's always beautiful, and always necessary.
My Favorite Nominee: Moon River, Henry Mancini. Infinitesimal second: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.
My Favorite Single That Year: Stand by Me, Ben E. King. The best time to hear this song is in the still of the deep night.
1961
Winner: Theme from A Summer Place, Percy Faith. The music is pretty.
My Favorite Nominee: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles. It's insane that this didn't win. This is the very definition of a beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles.
1960
Winner: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin. I like this song; it's fun as hell to sing along to.
My Favorite Nominee: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sleepwalk, Santo Johnny. Another great late night song.
1959
Winner: Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare), Domenico Modugno. Okay. I can't believe anyone does this song better than Dean Martin, personally. I don't believe I've heard this version.
My Favorite Nominee: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), David Seville. I know, I know, but I love this song. It's a Christmas staple to me. It reminds me of being a kid and spending the lead-up to Christmas at my grandmother's house. It's a cozy song for me.
My Favorite Single That Year: Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran. As vital a song as there is, considering how much rock continues to borrow from it. And more than that, just a catchy tune.
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2008
Winner: Rehab, Amy Winehouse. I didn't join in the showering of praise for it. Meh.
My Favorite Nominee: Umbrella, Rihanna featuring Jay-Z.
My Favorite Single That Year: Shut Up and Drive, Rihanna. It's sexier and more playful than "Umbrella."
2007
Winner: Not Ready to Make Nice, Dixie Chicks. It's not a terrible song, really, but it's such an obvious choice. It Makes a Statement. It's about the only Dixie Chicks song I can listen to, but it's not something I put on intentionally.
My Favorite Nominee: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley. It's perfection.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley. See previous comment.
2006
Winner: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day. As I've said before on this blog, I'm not a big fan of what Green Day has on offer. I mean, they're kind of okay, this is one of the better songs, but I don't find them as astounding as other people seem to.
My Favorite Nominee: Gold Digger, Kanye West. The only Kanye single I've ever liked or will like.
My Favorite Single That Year: All These Things That I've Done, the Killers.
2005
Winner: Here We Go Again, Ray Charles Norah Jones. You know, I'm not even sure I've ever heard this.
My Favorite Nominee: American Idiot, Green Day. Not much of a crop this year in the nominee pool, but I actually do really like this song.
My Favorite Single That Year: American Idiot, Green Day.
2004
Winner: Clocks, Coldplay. One of the few songs I give them credit for in their endless quest to become the Divine Comedy without anyone noticing. Overrated, but a decent adult contemporary song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Ya, OutKast. A perfect pop single. It was overplayed (as was "Clocks"), but it's just so damn good.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hey Ya, OutKast.
2003
Winner: Don't Know Why, Norah Jones. Pretty, but it got old fast. Very adult contemporary, which is still the sound that wins the Grammys. The only Norah Jones song I love is "Sunrise."
My Favorite Nominee: Without Me, Eminem. I hate the guy, but his music is very well-produced. This is pretty much the one song of his I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Beautiful, Christina Aguilera.
2002
Winner: Walk On, U2. I couldn't pick this song out of a line-up. I like about enough U2 songs to fill a single CD.
My Favorite Nominee: Ms. Jackson, OutKast. I notice "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys was nominated, too. That's a song I'll be thrilled to never hear again.
My Favorite Single That Year: Lady Marmelade, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya Li'l Kim. The only thing I liked to come out of Moulin Rouge.
2001
Winner: Beautiful Day, U2. Now that's a U2 song that I like very much. And it makes me feel pretty good.
My Favorite Nominee: Beautiful Day, U2.
My Favorite Single That Year: Beautiful Day, U2.
2000
Winner: Smooth, Santana featuring Rob Thomas. I got so sick of this song playing every minute on every radio station and commercial. I think Santana's pretty overrated, to be honest.
My Favorite Nominee: I don't like any of the songs nominated this year.
My Favorite Single That Year: ...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears. Dopey, sure, but everything that makes a pop single great.
1999
Winner: My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion. This was very easy to get sick of as well; cloying and over-the-top and insisting on its own epic greatness. Blurg. The music's pretty; I have a string quartet version that didn't make it onto the soundtrack (from a promo CD) that's lovely. It doesn't need Celine Dion or lyrics to work. It sounds better without them.
My Favorite Nominee: Ray of Light, Madonna. I don't have much to say about it, but it works.
My Favorite Single That Year: Flagpole Sitta, Harvey Danger. That song just makes me feel awesome. I love it.
1998
Winner: Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin. Music from the nineties has an overwhelming percentage of suck, more than any decade. It's like America went through menopause and could only listen to this kind of sappy pap. I hate this thing, and thanks to the Crap and Crap Lite stations being played where I worked constantly, I heard it way too many fucking times.
My Favorite Nominee: MMMBop, Hanson. It's a default choice; it's the one I think is okay whereas I despise all the others (especially "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paul Cole, which should be classified a form of abuse).
My Favorite Single That Year: The End Is the Beginning Is the End, Smashing Pumpkins. I love that they used it in the Watchmen trailer.
1997
Winner: Change the World, Eric Clapton. I'm not much of a Clapton fan, really. I did like this song, although it's association with the awful Scientology-promoting John Travolta film Phenomenon counts against it a tad. It's not earth-shaking, but it's a solid, not-unpleasant song.
My Favorite Nominee: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins. Haunting, beautiful, and bittersweet.
My Favorite Single That Year: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins.
1996
Winner: Kiss from a Rose, Seal. I think it's a beautiful song. I used to hear it a lot on the radio as I was driving to work in the winter at a very dark 5 in the morning. That's the perfect time to hear it. It'll take you on a trip.
My Favorite Nominee: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
My Favorite Single That Year: Kiss from a Rose, Seal.
1995
Winner: All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow. Blurg. Not a song I like.
My Favorite Nominee: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen. Beautiful, sad, and seething with quiet ange, disappointment, and acceptance of fear.
My Favorite Single That Year: Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen.
1994
Winner: I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston. Piece of overplayed shit. Especially in comparison to the original Dolly Parton song, which is perfect.
My Favorite Nominee: The River of Dreams, Billy Joel.
My Favorite Single That Year: Fields of Gold, Sting. Kind of a cheesy choice, perhaps, but I can always hear it and always love it. It's simple and pretty.
1993
Winner: Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton. It doesn't quite hold up for me, honestly, but it's miles better than fellow nominee "Achy Breaky Heart." It's a very pretty song, but not my favorite of Clapton's.
My Favorite Nominee: Constant Craving, k.d. lang. I like the passion.
My Favorite Single That Year: One, U2. One of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
1992
Winner: Unforgettable, Natalie Cole. The fact that the Grammys honored that hacky, schlocky, sympathy-begging, cloying bit of grave-robbing Natalie Cole did to cash in on honor her father is as sad as it is unsurprising.
My Favorite Nominee: Losing My Religion, R.E.M. It was overplayed, but if you listen to it now, it sounds almost fresh again. It really is just a good song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Crazy, Seal.
1991
Winner: Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins. Preachy, annoying, and not even the best song from that Phil Collins album. (Actually, I just checked and sadly, it is. I despise "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven," and "I Wish It Would Rain" just sounds like a rip-off of "Wish You Were Here" with Clapton on guitar.)
My Favorite Nominee: Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor. Of the sappy, preachy, sad sack songs that were nominated this year, this is the one that's actually a good song. (Also, "U Can't Touch This" was nominated this year, but come on, man.)
My Favorite Single This Year: Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode. Now there's a love song.
1990
Winner: Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler. I hate this song, and my dad pissed me off by playing it at his wedding reception for his mother, which I specifically told him not to do because it was such a fucking cliche. He said he wouldn't; he did. Wow, my grandma must have been one of 10 million special woman so uniquely honored that year. It's the equivalent of buying your dad a tie on Father's Day.
My Favorite Nominee: The End of the Innocence, Don Henley. Chance is right on when he calls it deceptively angry. It adds some world-weariness on top of that, too. Beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: A Little Respect, Erasure. I usually come out on the side of pop, I guess. Although besides the catchiness, I think the lyrics are beautiful. One of my all time favorite lyrics comes from this song: "What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover?"
1989
Winner: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin. I always liked this song, but it sure wasn't the best of the year. I think part of it was the novelty of McFerrin doing the whole thing a cappella. Which is admittedly neat.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns 'n' Roses. The most perfect song they ever recorded.
1988
Winner: Graceland, Paul Simon. I'm not a big fan of this song for whatever reason. It's nice, but it's okay. I wouldn't turn it off if it came on the radio station. Really, I just don't dig Paul Simon's solo work that much.
My Favorite Nominee: Back in the High Life Again, Steve Winwood. Admittedly, mostly because it reminds me of better times. But it's pretty.
My Favorite Single That Year: With or Without You, U2. Grammy nominated the more ubiquitous and much less beautiful "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a song I don't like. "With or Without You" is real passion.
1987
Winner: Higher Love, Steve Winwood. Meh. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel. It's a lot of sucky nominees this year, but this is a great song.
My Favorite Single That Year: True Colors, Cyndi Lauper. A beautiful love song, especially for people who don't feel so great about themselves. I guess I like genuine songs about understanding, I would say.
1986
Winner: We Are the World, USA for Africa. Of course. Nothing else was going to win this year. As a song, it's okay. The real fun is trying to pick out all the singers. I mean, you know, it's Really Important, but it's just okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Money for Nothing, Dire Straits. One of their couple of songs I like. One of my favorite guitar solos.
My Favorite Single That Year: Take on Me, a-Ha. Pop perfection in all of its catchy, bubblegum glory.
1985
Winner: What's Love Got to Do with It, Tina Turner. There's genuine force behind it (although I think "Private Dancer" is her best song), real heartbreak.
My Favorite Nominee: Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen. At his most pop. I love this song.
My Favorite Song That Year: Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper. Gorgeous and simple.
1984
Winner: Beat It, Michael Jackson. Not much of a surprise, I guess. And it's a good song. Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo alone...
My Favorite Nominee: Flashdance... What a Feeling, Irene Cara. All of the nominees this year are pretty good but nothing I feel especially attached to. This is one of those cheesy pop songs I like.
My Favorite Single That Year: Our House, Madness. One of the most perfect songs I've ever loved.
1983
Winner: Rosanna, Toto. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson. That one always got me and carried me off.
My Favorite Single That Year: Under Pressure, Queen David Bowie. Everything that's shitty about society in four and a half minutes. "And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night."
1982
Winner: Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes. Meh. I don't feel strongly either way.
My Favorite Nominee: (Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon. What a great song. I can't believe it lost to Kim Carnes... greatness versus... well, nothing worth commenting on. As usual, John Lennon just nails life and relationships with this song.
My Favorite Single This Year: In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins. Collins used to be a man who just knew darkness and how it felt to be depressed and angry.
1981
Winner: Sailing, Christopher Cross. Put me to sleep, why don't ya?
My Favorite Nominee: Theme from New York, New York, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let My Love Open the Door, Pete Townshend. As great a song as he ever wrote for the Who, his best solo work, and one of his most genuinely passionate songs.
1980
Winner: What a Fool Believes, the Doobie Brothers. I'm not a fan of theirs. This is probably the one song of theirs I'd say I liked. Still, Record of the Year? Feh.
My Favorite Nominee: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor. I like the sweep of it.
My Favorite Single That Year: Video Killed the Radio Star, the Buggles. Another perfect pop record.
1979
Winner: Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel. It is a pretty song, however much Joel claims now that he wrote it accidentally. Is he ever going to stop apologizing for having good commercial instincts? One of his less angry songs, too. I've always liked it.
My Favorite Nominee: Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty. Or as I always used to call it, "That One with the Great Saxophone Part."
My Favorite Single That Year: Who Are You, the Who. My favorite song of theirs, for reasons I can't quite define. But it's a great damn song.
1978
Winner: Hotel California, the Eagles. I hate the Eagles, but I'll give them this one song. This is a damn good song.
My Favorite Nominee: Hotel California, the Eagles.
My Favorite Single That Year: Hotel California, the Eagles.
1977
Winner: This Masquerade, George Benson. I couldn't tell you how this goes.
My Favorite Nominee: Afternoon Delight, Starland Vocal Band. It's delightful.
My Favorite Single That Year: Somebody to Love, Queen. A beautiful epic of emotion. One of my favorite songs ever.
1976
Winner: Love Will Keep Us Together, the Captain Tennille. It's okay.
My Favorite Nominee: At Seventeen, Janis Ian.
My Favorite Single That Year: Young Americans, David Bowie. That one packs a wallop and makes "Love Will Keep Us Together" sound pretty frivolous.
1975
Winner: I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John. I honestly detest this cloying, overwrought song.
My Favorite Nominee: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John. You want passion? There you go. Skip the other song entirely.
My Favorite Single That Year: Cat's in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. Hey, hey, it's a cliched choice for a reason.
1974
Winner: Killing Me Softly with His Song, Roberta Flack. It's pretty. It's also soporific.
My Favorite Nominee: You're So Vain, Carly Simon. A nice kiss-off song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Mind Games, John Lennon. Gorgeous.
1973
Winner: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack. I've always found this song kind of overwrought.
My Favorite Nominee: American Pie, Don McLean. Come on, how could you pick a different one? (Although I've always loved Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)," a deceptively bleak and saddening song.)
My Favorite Single That Year: Let's Stay Together, Al Green. You want to get laid? You need some Al Green music.
1972
Winner: It's Too Late, Carole King. I can't place it off the top of my head, but I've never liked Carole King's as a singer.
My Favorite Nominee: My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. It's not much of a song, really, but I didn't like any of the other nominees much.
My Favorite Single That Year: Imagine, John Lennon. I can't believe this was never nominated for Record of the Year. What the hell?
1971
Winner: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel. An undeniably beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: Let It Be, the Beatles. Still Paul McCartney's most beautiful effort.
My Favorite Single That Year: Let It Be, the Beatles. Seriously, they didn't pick this?
1970
Winner: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the Fifth Dimension. Definitely a good song.
My Favorite Nominee: A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash. It's funny and Cash delivers it well. I'll always pull for Shel Silverstein.
My Favorite Single That Year: Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley. His final masterpiece, one of his best songs (in my top five).
1969
Winner: Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel. Good but not really special.
My Favorite Nominee: Hey Jude, the Beatles. A masterpiece.
My Favorite Single That Year: (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding. One of the most quietly perfect songs I've ever heard.
1968
Winner: Up, Up and Away, the Fifth Dimension. What a lame choice. I mean, it's a cute song, but what a lame choice at this point in music history.
My Favorite Nominee: My Cup Runneth Over, Ed Ames.
My Favorite Single That Year: Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli. But that's the tip of the iceberg; this year produced, off the top of my head, "Heroes and Villains," "All You Need Is Love," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Light My Fire," "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman," and Grammy nominates "Ode to Billie Joe"? Lame, lame, lame.
1967
Winner: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra. A good song, one I always liked.
My Favorite Nominee: Strangers in the Night, Frank Sinatra.
My Favorite Single That Year: Good Vibrations, the Beach Boys. Another incredible year for rock, and the Grammys can only acknowledge "Monday, Monday." What a foolish institution to pass over the greatness they did.
1966
Winner: A Taste of Honey, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The best of the several thousand versions that seem to be out there.
My Favorite Nominee: Yesterday, the Beatles. As beautiful a song as was ever written.
My Favorite Single That Year: Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. Transcendent.
1965
Winner: The Girl from Ipanema, Stan Getz João Gilberto. A lovely little song that I've always liked as background music.
My Favorite Nominee: Downtown, Petula Clark. I forget just how beautiful this one is.
My Favorite Single That Year: Don't Worry, Baby, the Beach Boys. Perfect.
1964
Winner: Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini. Nothing song from a rather turgid movie.
My Favorite Nominee: Dominique, the Singing Nun. That's painful to say, but the nominees this year are just that bad. Again, zero acknowledgement of rock and roll or even the great folk music from this time.
My Favorite Single That Year: Surfer Girl, the Beach Boys. Hey, Brian Wilson just knows how to hit me where it counts. Teenage love deified.
1963
Winner: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett. A beautiful song.
My Favorite Nominee: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett.
My Favorite Single That Year: Telstar, the Tornados. That one always takes me right off and makes me love being alive.
1962
Winner: Moon River, Henry Mancini. I'm never sorry to have heard this song. It's always beautiful, and always necessary.
My Favorite Nominee: Moon River, Henry Mancini. Infinitesimal second: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.
My Favorite Single That Year: Stand by Me, Ben E. King. The best time to hear this song is in the still of the deep night.
1961
Winner: Theme from A Summer Place, Percy Faith. The music is pretty.
My Favorite Nominee: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles. It's insane that this didn't win. This is the very definition of a beautiful song.
My Favorite Single That Year: Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles.
1960
Winner: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin. I like this song; it's fun as hell to sing along to.
My Favorite Nominee: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin.
My Favorite Single That Year: Sleepwalk, Santo Johnny. Another great late night song.
1959
Winner: Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare), Domenico Modugno. Okay. I can't believe anyone does this song better than Dean Martin, personally. I don't believe I've heard this version.
My Favorite Nominee: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), David Seville. I know, I know, but I love this song. It's a Christmas staple to me. It reminds me of being a kid and spending the lead-up to Christmas at my grandmother's house. It's a cozy song for me.
My Favorite Single That Year: Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran. As vital a song as there is, considering how much rock continues to borrow from it. And more than that, just a catchy tune.
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- Mood:Good
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proven that it is, indeed, the greatest democracy and constitutes an example for all other democracies in the world. President-elect Obama has proven his leadership and his talents to the entire world.
… The special Israel-U.S. relationship is based on shared values and interests and is characterized by ties of close cooperation. Israel and the United States have a common desire to advance peace and stability in the Middle East. We have no doubt that the special relations that prevail between the two countries will continue to strengthen during the Obama administration.
Israeli President Shimon Peres:
It was an American election and a worldwide choice.
… I want to congratulate the newly-elected president: young, fresh, promising, representing a change and introducing change. The changes that I can mention — it is an opportunity to escape the present world crisis and enter into a new era of cooperation, of productive economy and of human solidarity. In a way, it is an end of racism. There is no longer any way that any white man can claim superiority, nor any black person feel discrimination. We are the same people, and this election is a great statement to that effect.
… I also have the utmost respect for the other candidate, John McCain, who fought with great courage and stamina.
… When President Obama was here, he asked me what he can do for Israel. My answer was: Be a great president of the United States of America. If you will be a great president of the United States of America, you will have great promise for Israel as well, and for all of the region and for all of our neighbors. Nobody should look at whose side the president is on — he just has to be on the side of peace. And if he will be on the side of peace, peace will come closer and more possible.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat:
Erakat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulates Obama.
We think that America is united behind the two-state solution and we hope that President-elect Obama will continue the engagement immediately and that he will transfer the vision of two states from a vision to a realistic political track, Erakat said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso:
This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America.
I want to assure Senator Obama of the support of the European Commission and of my personal support in forging this renewed commitment to face together the many challenges ahead of us.
We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world. I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to
drive this new deal. For the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana:
I think like every election, it means renewal. The ticket on which Barack Obama has run, this ticket for change — change is what we need in the world today. Many problems we have on the table, and I very much hope that well be able to do it together — to find a solution to them together, between the European Union and the United States.
… I would also like to say that it will not be enough to have the European Union and the United States together. The problems of today well need also to incorporate other main players. I think about China, I think about the organization like the African Union and many others.
Therefore, we have a very important day, a historical day and hope very much that the Europeans will be together also to make the utmost of this important moment.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
I have great pleasure in conveying my heartiest congratulations on your election as the president of the United States. Your extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in your country but also around the world.
The people of India and the United States are bound by their shared commitment to freedom, justice, pluralism, individual rights and democracy. These ideals provide a solid bedrock for friendship and strategic partnership between our two nations. We have strong ties between our peoples and I look forward to working with you to realize the enormous potential for cooperation that exists between India and the United States. Our two countries working together to address global issues and challenges will be an important factor for world peace, stability and progress.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela:
Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.
We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.
We wish you strength and fortitude in the challenging days and years that lie ahead. We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
s an epoch-making event filling the whole world with hope that change is possible. It is just tremendous; it is saying to people of color that for them, the sky is the limit.
My heartiest congratulations go to Senator Barack Obama and his partner Senator Joe Biden on their victory.
I also want to congratulate Senator John McCain for his gracious references to Senator Obama in his conceding speech.
We have a new spring in our walk and our shoulders are straighter. It is almost as when Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy:
In choosing you, its the choice for change, the opening up and the optimism of the American people. While the world is in turmoil and doubt, the American people, loyal to their values that have always been the American identity, forcefully expressed their faith in progress and the future.
This message from the American people resonates well beyond your borders. In the moment where we must face together immense challenges, your election raises immense hope in France, in Europe, and beyond, throughout the world. This open America, united and strong, will show the way anew, with its partners, by the strength of its example and its adherence to its principles.
France and Europe, which have always been connected to the United States by ties of history, values, and friendship, will draw a new energy from this to work with America at preserving world peace and stability.s Deputy Parliament Speaker Mohammad Hossein Abutorabifard:
Obama can change the defeated Bush policies and in so doing can play an important role in the future relations between the U.S. and Asia and the Middle East.
… If the United States takes into consideration the realities of the world and chooses suitable policies, America can play its (proper) role in the relations between the United States and the countries of the region and theworld of Islam.… It seems that this election has prepared the ground for a revision in the Democrats and Obamas future policies of the United States.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:
Zapatero congratulated Obama for his extraordinary election victory and said it opens the road of hope for the world in times of difficulty.
In a telegram sent to Obama, Zapatero wrote, As prime minister of the government of Spain, I let you know of our desire to work together to search for opportunities and solutions to tackle the challenges we face.
I am convinced, as you are, that dialogue and collaboration with governments and multilateral institutions is the best way to find the answers that we need.
Zimbabwe opposition party Movement for Democratic Change:
s victory is a victory of hope, faith, change, a restart, values and dreams which have underpinned our fight as a movement against dictatorship and the neo-fascism of Robert Mugabe.
s victory will hopefully usher in a departure from the politics of polarization, fear, unilateralism and arrogance that has defined the Bush doctrine in the last eight years. Indeed, we hope that Obama will open new avenues of dialogue of new interaction based on respect of all countries irrespective of the size of national budgets or the number of fighter jets owned.
… We are mindful of the difficulties that lie ahead in Obamas path and the fact that this is no El Dorado, a construct that Obama himself acknowledges in his acceptance speech. Indeed it is a task that may take more than his two terms of office. Perhaps the greatest thing we have learnt from this victory is that democracy can work and that there is no alternative to the same.
John McCains speech was particularly humbling, instructive and inspiring. If in Africa, incumbents would accept defeat and would graciously depart from the seat of power, this would be a different continent, and indeed Zimbabwe would be a different place.
For those of us who are still in the trenches, fighting for change and democracy across the entire African continent, this is our victory. One which for now we will savor and celebrate.
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… The special Israel-U.S. relationship is based on shared values and interests and is characterized by ties of close cooperation. Israel and the United States have a common desire to advance peace and stability in the Middle East. We have no doubt that the special relations that prevail between the two countries will continue to strengthen during the Obama administration.
Israeli President Shimon Peres:
It was an American election and a worldwide choice.
… I want to congratulate the newly-elected president: young, fresh, promising, representing a change and introducing change. The changes that I can mention — it is an opportunity to escape the present world crisis and enter into a new era of cooperation, of productive economy and of human solidarity. In a way, it is an end of racism. There is no longer any way that any white man can claim superiority, nor any black person feel discrimination. We are the same people, and this election is a great statement to that effect.
… I also have the utmost respect for the other candidate, John McCain, who fought with great courage and stamina.
… When President Obama was here, he asked me what he can do for Israel. My answer was: Be a great president of the United States of America. If you will be a great president of the United States of America, you will have great promise for Israel as well, and for all of the region and for all of our neighbors. Nobody should look at whose side the president is on — he just has to be on the side of peace. And if he will be on the side of peace, peace will come closer and more possible.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat:
Erakat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulates Obama.
We think that America is united behind the two-state solution and we hope that President-elect Obama will continue the engagement immediately and that he will transfer the vision of two states from a vision to a realistic political track, Erakat said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso:
This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America.
I want to assure Senator Obama of the support of the European Commission and of my personal support in forging this renewed commitment to face together the many challenges ahead of us.
We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world. I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to
drive this new deal. For the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana:
I think like every election, it means renewal. The ticket on which Barack Obama has run, this ticket for change — change is what we need in the world today. Many problems we have on the table, and I very much hope that well be able to do it together — to find a solution to them together, between the European Union and the United States.
… I would also like to say that it will not be enough to have the European Union and the United States together. The problems of today well need also to incorporate other main players. I think about China, I think about the organization like the African Union and many others.
Therefore, we have a very important day, a historical day and hope very much that the Europeans will be together also to make the utmost of this important moment.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
I have great pleasure in conveying my heartiest congratulations on your election as the president of the United States. Your extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in your country but also around the world.
The people of India and the United States are bound by their shared commitment to freedom, justice, pluralism, individual rights and democracy. These ideals provide a solid bedrock for friendship and strategic partnership between our two nations. We have strong ties between our peoples and I look forward to working with you to realize the enormous potential for cooperation that exists between India and the United States. Our two countries working together to address global issues and challenges will be an important factor for world peace, stability and progress.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela:
Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.
We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.
We wish you strength and fortitude in the challenging days and years that lie ahead. We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
s an epoch-making event filling the whole world with hope that change is possible. It is just tremendous; it is saying to people of color that for them, the sky is the limit.
My heartiest congratulations go to Senator Barack Obama and his partner Senator Joe Biden on their victory.
I also want to congratulate Senator John McCain for his gracious references to Senator Obama in his conceding speech.
We have a new spring in our walk and our shoulders are straighter. It is almost as when Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy:
In choosing you, its the choice for change, the opening up and the optimism of the American people. While the world is in turmoil and doubt, the American people, loyal to their values that have always been the American identity, forcefully expressed their faith in progress and the future.
This message from the American people resonates well beyond your borders. In the moment where we must face together immense challenges, your election raises immense hope in France, in Europe, and beyond, throughout the world. This open America, united and strong, will show the way anew, with its partners, by the strength of its example and its adherence to its principles.
France and Europe, which have always been connected to the United States by ties of history, values, and friendship, will draw a new energy from this to work with America at preserving world peace and stability.s Deputy Parliament Speaker Mohammad Hossein Abutorabifard:
Obama can change the defeated Bush policies and in so doing can play an important role in the future relations between the U.S. and Asia and the Middle East.
… If the United States takes into consideration the realities of the world and chooses suitable policies, America can play its (proper) role in the relations between the United States and the countries of the region and theworld of Islam.… It seems that this election has prepared the ground for a revision in the Democrats and Obamas future policies of the United States.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:
Zapatero congratulated Obama for his extraordinary election victory and said it opens the road of hope for the world in times of difficulty.
In a telegram sent to Obama, Zapatero wrote, As prime minister of the government of Spain, I let you know of our desire to work together to search for opportunities and solutions to tackle the challenges we face.
I am convinced, as you are, that dialogue and collaboration with governments and multilateral institutions is the best way to find the answers that we need.
Zimbabwe opposition party Movement for Democratic Change:
s victory is a victory of hope, faith, change, a restart, values and dreams which have underpinned our fight as a movement against dictatorship and the neo-fascism of Robert Mugabe.
s victory will hopefully usher in a departure from the politics of polarization, fear, unilateralism and arrogance that has defined the Bush doctrine in the last eight years. Indeed, we hope that Obama will open new avenues of dialogue of new interaction based on respect of all countries irrespective of the size of national budgets or the number of fighter jets owned.
… We are mindful of the difficulties that lie ahead in Obamas path and the fact that this is no El Dorado, a construct that Obama himself acknowledges in his acceptance speech. Indeed it is a task that may take more than his two terms of office. Perhaps the greatest thing we have learnt from this victory is that democracy can work and that there is no alternative to the same.
John McCains speech was particularly humbling, instructive and inspiring. If in Africa, incumbents would accept defeat and would graciously depart from the seat of power, this would be a different continent, and indeed Zimbabwe would be a different place.
For those of us who are still in the trenches, fighting for change and democracy across the entire African continent, this is our victory. One which for now we will savor and celebrate.
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"Shadows Syndromes is a worthy read, in that it does a good job of highlighting the major disconnect between diagnostic categories and reality. While the DSM model has its uses (research and billing being the only two I can think of right now), it also serves to reify the notion that mental illnesses are precise, discreet disorders. Any one with an ounce of clinic experience will tell you that real cases don't fit neatly into categories. The diagnostic questions sometimes help think through and organize the presenting concerns, signs and symptoms. But often the debate over whether someone is suffering from a pure mood disorder versus PTSD versus character pathology serves as a distraction. Or, another classic example: spinning wheels arguing whether a patient is an addict with psychiatric symptoms secondary to drug abuse or are they actually someone with a primary psychiatric diagnosis who is using substances to self-medicate their mental illness. It's a meaningless exercise based on an overly simplistic model. But that one does matter because insurance companies consider one of those scenarios worth paying to treat and the other worthy only of their contempt.
In reality, just like any other organ in the body, the brain mediates a number of functions. It is responsible for mood regulation, memory, sustaining attention, shifting attention, interpreting social cues, integrating sensory information, regulating motivation of all manner of behaviors, and impulse control, to name a few. We all have various strengths and weaknesses, and we all fall somewhere on a bell-shaped curve for performance of each of these various tasks. People who shake out on the extremes ends in one particular area probably look like textbook definitions of specific illnesses (a "pure" mood disorder with no other comorbidities). That's rare. Looking at it even just from this sort of statistical model, one would expect that, for any given disorder, the number of people who unmistakably qualify for a specific diagnosis would be just a fraction of those who almost qualify. These "subclinical" cases are what Drs. Ratey and Johnson refer to as "shadow syndromes." They go a step further and assert that these people actually suffer more from mental illness, because they slip through the cracks. They are not quite sick enough to find themselves needing treatment, but they are impaired by their symptoms.
It's an important perspective that is explained in simple, readable terms in the first part of the text. The second part then breaks the shadow syndromes down into specific "mild" mental illnesses based on the traditional categories. So just imagine how densely the comorbidities can layer now. Is there anyone motivated to pick up this book that won't conclude that they have masked depression, are slightly bipolar, have a subthreshold intermittent rage disorder, mild attention deficit disorder, a touch of "autistic echoes" and are a shadow addicts? Then what are the implications? Does everyone need to be in therapy? Does everyone need to be on a finely tuned psychopharmacological regimen and a behavior plan?
I recommend this book, I think it's well-written and thought provoking. It does succeed in explaining complex issues in a way that is understandable to people outside the field without being simplistic or dull to people within the field. That's a tough line to walk. And I like the emphasis on blurry boundaries to disorders, and the overall message of understanding how your brain works, what your relative strengths and weaknesses are and how to make the best of things. But I worry that the take-home message for many will be to feel these diagnostic categories expanding, billowing out of their margins, pathologizing every aspects of our humanity as it envelopes us. While it gets at the true complexity of these disorders, it also does so with the bias that mental illness primarily a Biological phenomenon. Perhaps this is to combat social stigma and people's assumptions that these deficiencies are due to personal weakness (or- just as damaging- all to be blamed on bad mothering). Or perhaps, it's that, as we learn more about these disorders (which we are doing at a rapid rate thanks to the new abundance of genetic data and advances in brain scanning that lets investigators see brain regions light up as they work), we learn more about the biological aspects, since that is what we are looking for and trained to interpret. So, now the authors expand the scope of these diagnoses and therefore lead us to the conclusion that more people could benefit from psychopharmacologic treatments. It's a nice book to recommend to your patients if you take only self-pay patients and only do psychopharm visits. But it skims over the real beauty of psychiatry, the reason it is the most intellectually challenging field in medicine and the most rewarding specialty to practice, which is the multifactorial, composite nature of everything our brain is and does at any moment. No doubt the genetics shape the brain, as does the metabolic and endocrine factors in the uterine environment during development, as does nutritional factors, and then near infinite environemental variables acting constantly on each individual. From things as foundational as the fit in temperament between primary caregiver and baby, all the way out to religion and culture. From the preconscious memories of the earliest childhood experiences all the way out to this morning's headline news.
You can take the best brain in the world, if there is such a thing, but I guarantee the individual possessing it will be no healthier than the families, systems, and societies they inhabit.
So thumbs up for a great read, and a perspective that broadens our view of the mind and mental illness. Too bad they interpret the new landscapes with tunnel vision, but it's to their credit that they left me wanting more.
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In reality, just like any other organ in the body, the brain mediates a number of functions. It is responsible for mood regulation, memory, sustaining attention, shifting attention, interpreting social cues, integrating sensory information, regulating motivation of all manner of behaviors, and impulse control, to name a few. We all have various strengths and weaknesses, and we all fall somewhere on a bell-shaped curve for performance of each of these various tasks. People who shake out on the extremes ends in one particular area probably look like textbook definitions of specific illnesses (a "pure" mood disorder with no other comorbidities). That's rare. Looking at it even just from this sort of statistical model, one would expect that, for any given disorder, the number of people who unmistakably qualify for a specific diagnosis would be just a fraction of those who almost qualify. These "subclinical" cases are what Drs. Ratey and Johnson refer to as "shadow syndromes." They go a step further and assert that these people actually suffer more from mental illness, because they slip through the cracks. They are not quite sick enough to find themselves needing treatment, but they are impaired by their symptoms.
It's an important perspective that is explained in simple, readable terms in the first part of the text. The second part then breaks the shadow syndromes down into specific "mild" mental illnesses based on the traditional categories. So just imagine how densely the comorbidities can layer now. Is there anyone motivated to pick up this book that won't conclude that they have masked depression, are slightly bipolar, have a subthreshold intermittent rage disorder, mild attention deficit disorder, a touch of "autistic echoes" and are a shadow addicts? Then what are the implications? Does everyone need to be in therapy? Does everyone need to be on a finely tuned psychopharmacological regimen and a behavior plan?
I recommend this book, I think it's well-written and thought provoking. It does succeed in explaining complex issues in a way that is understandable to people outside the field without being simplistic or dull to people within the field. That's a tough line to walk. And I like the emphasis on blurry boundaries to disorders, and the overall message of understanding how your brain works, what your relative strengths and weaknesses are and how to make the best of things. But I worry that the take-home message for many will be to feel these diagnostic categories expanding, billowing out of their margins, pathologizing every aspects of our humanity as it envelopes us. While it gets at the true complexity of these disorders, it also does so with the bias that mental illness primarily a Biological phenomenon. Perhaps this is to combat social stigma and people's assumptions that these deficiencies are due to personal weakness (or- just as damaging- all to be blamed on bad mothering). Or perhaps, it's that, as we learn more about these disorders (which we are doing at a rapid rate thanks to the new abundance of genetic data and advances in brain scanning that lets investigators see brain regions light up as they work), we learn more about the biological aspects, since that is what we are looking for and trained to interpret. So, now the authors expand the scope of these diagnoses and therefore lead us to the conclusion that more people could benefit from psychopharmacologic treatments. It's a nice book to recommend to your patients if you take only self-pay patients and only do psychopharm visits. But it skims over the real beauty of psychiatry, the reason it is the most intellectually challenging field in medicine and the most rewarding specialty to practice, which is the multifactorial, composite nature of everything our brain is and does at any moment. No doubt the genetics shape the brain, as does the metabolic and endocrine factors in the uterine environment during development, as does nutritional factors, and then near infinite environemental variables acting constantly on each individual. From things as foundational as the fit in temperament between primary caregiver and baby, all the way out to religion and culture. From the preconscious memories of the earliest childhood experiences all the way out to this morning's headline news.
You can take the best brain in the world, if there is such a thing, but I guarantee the individual possessing it will be no healthier than the families, systems, and societies they inhabit.
So thumbs up for a great read, and a perspective that broadens our view of the mind and mental illness. Too bad they interpret the new landscapes with tunnel vision, but it's to their credit that they left me wanting more.
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