Why Weʼre Here

Compulsivity and impulsivity-personal reflections: why now and why here?

This issue of CNS Spectrums contains a unique collection of manuscripts that examine compulsivity and impulsivity from a broad range of perspectives and helps to shape our evolving understanding of compulsivity and impulsivity as orthogonal symptom dimensions arising from parallel tightly regulated brain circuits giving rise to a spectrum of overlapping diagnostic categories.

Remind me again: why are we here?

Why are you here to see the doctor today?

Knock, knock. Take a breath. Hand on the knob. Meet and greet. Then comes the line: “So, why are you here to see the doctor today?” Behind every door lies a story. Knock, knock. So, why are you here to see the doctor today? The patient explains that he wishes to have bariatric surgery. I discuss the risks and benefits. I talk about the paperwork to be filled out. I notice in the chart that he h...

Evolutionary Psychology is Not Evil ! ( ... and Here ’ s Why ... )

Evolutionary psychology has faced ‘implacable hostility’ (Dawkins, 2005) from a number of intellectual fronts. Critics of evolutionary psychology have tried to paint this perspective variously as reductionist and overly deterministic, at best, and as sexist, racist, and downright evil at worst. The current paper argues that all psychological frameworks which assume that human beings are the res...

Acupuncture is all placebo and here is why.

BACKGROUND Alternative and complementary medicines such as acupuncture remain popular with the general public and many clinicians. The term "integrative medicine" is often now used to describe this type of non-science-based medicine, which has become more of a faith-based method of practice, making it harder to challenge. Acupuncture is commonly used to treat headache along with just about any ...