What's your brain doing, right now? Award-winning journalist Judith Horstman writes about health and medicine for doctors as well as the general public. Her work has appeared in hundreds of publications worldwide and on the Internet.
Horstman discusses what your brain is doing as you go through a typical day: sleeping, waking, fighting, loving and making important decisions.
Bio
Judith Horstman
Judith Horstman is an award-winning journalist who writes about health and medicine for doctors as well as the general public.
She has been a Washington correspondent, a journalism professor, a Fulbright scholar, and has written and edited in many media, including newspapers, newsletters, special health publications, radio, video, the Internet, annual reports and books.
Medical specialty concerned with nervous system function and disorders. Clinical neurology began in the mid-19th century, when mapping of the functional areas of the brain first began and understanding of the causes of conditions such as epilepsy improved. The development of electroencephalography in the 1920s aided in the diagnosis of neurological disease, as did the development of computerized axial tomography in the 1970s and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging in the 1980s. In addition to dealing with physical disorders (e.g., tumours, trauma), neurology is unique among medical specialties in its intersection with psychiatry. Greater understanding of the brain chemistry of disorders such as schizophrenia and depression has led to a wide array of effective drugs that nevertheless work best in conjunction with psychotherapy. Side effects of drug or surgical therapy can be serious, and many nervous system disorders have no effective treatment.
Branch of medicine concerned with mental disorders. Until the 18th century, mental health problems were considered forms of demonic possession; gradually they came to be seen as illnesses requiring treatment. In the 19th century, research into and classification and treatment of mental illnesses advanced. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory dominated the field for many years before it was challenged by behavioral and cognitive therapy and humanistic psychology in the mid-20th century. Psychiatrists hold medical degrees and can prescribe drugs and other medical treatments in addition to conducting psychotherapy. The psychiatrist often works as a member of a mental health team that includes clinical psychologists and social workers.
I have ADHD/ADD. I was always dismissed as just a rambunctious child who didn't want to learn and with the exception of the 2 week trial period of Ritalin, I was never medicated from the time I was born until I was 25, when, after buying Adderall in university off of friends, and realizing that I did tremendously well on tests and assignments, I decided to get a prescription myself.
Adderall has changed my life. It's a stimulant. Before, I was never stimulated, and schoolwork certainly was not going to accomplish that. It's so obvious now, looking back, that had I had the amphetamines surging through my body, my brain would have been stimulated and I could have focused on the schoolwork as opposed to constantly fiddling with things to find that stimulation.
It's the same thing with people. Before I never knew when to shut up because I always wanted the stimulation of social interaction. Now, I'm one of the most stoic (in a good way), attentive, rational and logical people I know, and I attribute a lot of that to the medication as well as the observations I've been able to make while taking the medication.
Judith Horstman is so suave and a fantastic communicater. Very witty. Some of the audience were asking psychiatric qustions to a journlist!! Intend ot buy the book.
member. 
