Today, I’m going to turn things over to the Washington Post. They have an utterly fascinating article by science journalist Dr. Richard Sima. The title explains it all --
“A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry.” It’s a remarkable story (as you might imagine) that transcends just this one event – though this one event is pretty amazing on its own. The overall point isn’t just what happened with this particular woman, April Burrell, but how both psychiatry and medicine, and the treatment of certain kinds of patients may be impacted, and as a result of it there are stories about others here, as well. The sub-heading of the piece is – “New research suggests that a subset of patients with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia may actually have autoimmune disease that attacks the brain.” In some ways – or many ways – the story is not totally dissimilar from the book by Dr. Oliver Sacks Awakenings, and the movie made from it with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. In fact, the movie is referenced in the article, as is Oliver Sacks who crossed paths and, if not actually a “mentor,” was an inspiration for the doctor here, Sander Markx. Marxk is from The Netherlands, but in 2000 he was a medical student in the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship. He currently is director of precision psychiatry at Columbia University. And the way he came into the story – and then circled back into it – is part of what makes it all remarkable. For starters, by all rights he shouldn't have even been attending at the far-lesser know institute he chose, rather than one of the more prestigious hospitals most Fulbright Scholars go to. As the article notes, "...but instead chose Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, a state hospital in Brentwood, N.Y., where many of the state’s most severe psychiatric patients live for months, years or even the rest of their lives." And that's where April Burrell was. Nice too is that this isn’t about something discovered right now, but rather came to the early stages of change two or three years ago – which is now being studied by others – so, we’re able to know a bit about the outcomes of the early work. A lot of the article is very scientific, so it’s reasonable from the skim parts. But it’s really a great story and worth checking out. As a subscriber to the Washington Post, I’m allowed a certain number of “gift” articles each month, so this link should work for everyone. You should (hopefully) be able to find it here. (If not, I'll try to figure out another way...)
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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