When I was offered the job as the TV doctor on BBC One’s Doctor in the House series, I was initially torn. As a GP practising in a busy clinic, I take patient care very seriously. It did occur to me that talking to patients live on camera and discussing their health problems could break some […]
Behind the Smile is a solo exhibition focusing on mental ill health and the result of artist Toby Brown’s own experience of clinical depression. Two years in the making, the show features portraits of the artist’s family and friends as well as several high-profile sufferers of depression, including Tony Blair’s former director of communications, Alistair […]
The mesmeric impact of an ancient Greek doctor on many hundreds of years of medicine is one of the more remarkable artefacts of the history of the world. I found it so fascinating that more than 20 years ago I wrote a book about Hippocrates and used his famed Oath as a foil to some current […]
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What happens when we stop eating three meals a day? Shift work has been linked to a myriad of health problems. Compared to individuals who work normal hours, shift workers may be at higher risk of a number of disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, digestive problems, and depression. When you think about the […]
Not so long ago, I found myself in the ‘swampy lowlands’ of general practice, a term devised by the philosopher, Donald Schon to describe those areas of professional practice uncharted by evidence and incapable of technical solution. I found myself sitting on a filthy sofa in a cluttered flat, listening to the tears of my […]
Despite decades of public dietary guidelines devised to optimise human health, the world is now facing an unprecedented global epidemic of obesity and diabetes; threatening to bring the modern health care system to its knees. In this same era we have seen radical changes in the food environment of the Western world. Processed food has […]
Read More… from Icelandic Health Symposium: Obesity and Diabetes
The debate about whether homeopathy should be available on the NHS invariably sees the opposing sides citing numerous research papers in support of their argument. Both sides will claim their evidence to be the most reliable, while condemning that of their opponents as seriously flawed. I’m sure for many people this resembles two crusty old […]
From 15th April, The Freud Museum London will launch Tall Tales a new exhibition bringing together the work of 17 women artists, who weave storytelling techniques into their art. The building which now houses the Museum in Hampstead was formerly the home of the iconic psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his daughter, Anna, an eminent child-psychoanalyst […]
I don’t love my job as a “Junior Doctor”; indeed there are ever diminishing moments I love but there are parts of it I would be so bold as to say I absolutely hate! Surprising? Most likely, especially for those of you following the statements of how Junior Doctors “love their job” in the many […]
The Which? Guide to Complementary Medicine, which I wrote, was published in 1997. In the same year, Dorling Kindersley brought out the Encyclopedia of Complementary Medicine and three years later The Complete Guide to Integrated Medicine. I was writing about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), my colleagues were writing about it and the papers couldn’t […]
Read More… from Why we need consumer guides for complementary and alternative medicine