Health: February 2004 Archive Page

Fantasy worlds created by virtual reality have been shown to provide a novel form of relief to patients suffering from intractable pain....

"My pain when the nurse is changing my bandages is consistently extreme... But during the time I was in VR, I was pretty much unaware that the nurse was even working on my wound. | I mean, at some level I knew she was working on me, but I wasn't thinking about it because I was inside that SnowWorld." -- patient Mike Robinson, in a story by Becky McCall --Real pain dulled in virtual worlds (BBC)

The researchers are also using a simulation of the events of 9/11/2001 to desensitize survivors of the attacks to the trauma they experiencded that day.

Thanks for the link, Rosemary.

Assumption, though, is too mild a word when it comes to the belief in mental health. The taken-for-granted-ness of this idea ranks with God, romantic love, the nuclear family, the goodness of free markets and the wickedness of Communism. For most people, suggesting that mental health might not exist would be like telling the kind of people who read blogs that they could have a meaningful life without the World Wide Web. The reality of mental health gives those of us without it a motivation to keep embracing pain because it builds character, it is part of the healing process, it will make us better people. --John Spurlock --The Myth of Mental Health (The Blue Monkey Review)

The "you have a right to be healthy" meme certainly works against the Church's "human suffering is part of a divine plan" meme, the latter being an important part of a religious outlook that invites the contemplation of Christ's suffering.

Modern society doesn't have many universally accepted rituals for the preservation of order in our lives, but for those who practice the morning jog, the AA session, Friday night poker, or even the communal viewing of a popular TV show (I used to love watching "COPS," which plays out a metanarrative of restoring virtue and honor) -- these rituals serve much the same function.

My mother taught me many things -- how to make wonderful Italian food, how to tend a garden, how to love one's family -- but during the last 48 hours of her life, she taught me the greatest lesson of all: how to die. -Paula A. Treckel --The Taking of My Leave (Chronicle)

While the quote sounds like something schmaltzy out of Reader's Digest, the essay doesn't dwell on the sentiment: "'Go and dig up the f-ing bleeding heart!' he yelled at me from Canada."

A good reminder of our mortality -- and why I should log off my computer now and go home to my family.