Jon Hamilton

Experts Agree: 'Psychiatry's Bible' Is No Bible

Jon Hamilton — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:39:00 +0000

When the American Psychiatric Association releases its new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- DSM-5 -- this weekend, lots of journalists and commentators will refer to it as "psychiatry's bible."

That's a term that makes the manual's authors and other mental experts cringe.

Why Is Psychiatry's New Manual So Much Like The Old One?

Jon Hamilton — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:31:00 +0000

The American Psychiatric Association is about to release an updated version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM helps mental health professionals decide who has problems such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.

Psychiatry's new manual, DSM-5, has been nearly 20 years in the making. During that time, scientists have learned a lot about the brain.

How Can Identical Twins Turn Out So Different?

Jon Hamilton — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:34:00 +0000

A study of genetically identical mice is providing some hints about humans.

Imagine A Flying Pig: How Words Take Shape In The Brain

Jon Hamilton — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

This is a story about a duck. More precisely, it's a story about what your brain just did when you read the word "duck."

Chances are, your brain created an image of a web-footed waterfowl. It also may have recalled the sound of quacking or the feel of feathers. And new research suggests that these mental simulations are essential to understanding language.

Just a few decades ago, many linguists thought the human brain had evolved a special module for language.

A Sleep Gene Has A Surprising Role In Migraines

Jon Hamilton — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:37:00 +0000

Mutations on a single gene appear to increase the risk for both an unusual sleep disorder and migraines, a team reports in Science Translational Medicine.

The finding could help explain the links between sleep problems and migraines.