Substance abuse among health professionals is serious. An impaired physician may harm the lives of her patients or may lead to their own death as in the case of Dr. Karim Aly. Compared to the general public, physicians have access to very serious medications. More so in certain specialties like anesthesiology.

In the US, 15% of physicians will at one point during their professional lives be impaired. Educating doctors during their undergraduate years and establishing …

I have to highlight how important it is that Michael Nabil is not a suspect in a violent crime. The military courts are trying him over a blog post that criticises the army, not killing or stabbing anyone.

Michael has passed the 50 days mark in his hunger strike.

He was referred to a mental hospital for observation for 45 days when his court appointed lawyers defended him saying that he is suffering from mental …

Former head of the World Psychiatric Association professor Ahmed Okasha said today on OTV live that he doesn't have an exact diagnosis for Gadafi as he never examined him but says he should be treated involuntarily for being dangerous on others.

Said his last speeches showed thought disturbance, delusions of persecution 'the uprising being a plot by Osama Bin Laden' and other delusions like people of Libya are rats and all of them receive hallucinogens …

UPDATE Wed. Dec 29, 2010:The Supreme Council for Antiquities announced today that building housing the Abbaseyya Psychiatric Hospital will be listed as an Islamic heritage site.

Original post:

In the 19th century, with the development of railway transportation, train accidents became a frequent source of death and serious injury.

Some of the victims claimed injury following an accident without a visible pathology. Jon Eric Erichsen, a British surgeon, in 1867 published a book called On Railway and Other Injuries of the Nervous System in it he argued that an unseen physical injury to the spine and brain caused the condition `railway spine.'

Railway …

The science museum in London has interesting items on display in the Psychology: Mind Your Head exhibit. Unfortunately, not all of them are on the website so here are some I photographed.

A skull showing phrenology markings with a device used to measure the features of a head for phrenological interpretation. Phrenology was a radical idea developed by Franz Joseph Gall in the 19th century. He said that different mental faculties like memory, sensation and …

The hypothetical column on the left is meant to show that as a result of the stigma of mental illness, most people think that mental illnesses are always severe.

Delirium is a totally reversible state, people with dementia need long term care and can never be more harmless. Lots of people recover from psychosis totally and some retain symptoms.

Only 10% of violent crime in a society is from people with Schizophrenia.

Blindfolding is commonly used by security forces that physically torture people. It works by making the victim disoriented and fearful. A person will lose his orientation to place and the sense of direction first. Then, if applied long enough for more than a day, it can make some experience visual hallucinations. It makes a blow, a kick or an electric shock unpredictable and thus far more distressful.

These were some of the effects on the …