Posted by pseudoname on November 17, 2005, at 6:05:47
In reply to I'm sorry everyone, posted by med_empowered on November 17, 2005, at 1:54:51
m_e,
I hope I didn't sound as though I was shaking my finger at you for the post that she quoted. Clearly, she would've found another example if you hadn't put a small toe over Bob's line. Your post in fact was much more about how to warn people away from a particular illegal source.
I agree that patient-empowerment psychiatry is a much bigger deal than her drug-diversion angle.
You are right that "the author alleges there is some sort of trend towards self-prescribing without offering up any sort of hard evidence (numbers, quanititative data)." I guess because it *seems* to me personally like there's "more" self-prescribing, I was buying her premise, too, without actually thinking about it. I could ask myself, "More" compared to what?
In Slate's Press Box column a few weeks ago, Jack Shafer criticized the NY Times for asserting numerically unverified "new trends" and using weasel-words like "many" instead of quantitative data. On Sept 20, for example, the Times said there was a new trend for "many" young Ivy-League women to choose babies over careers. Problem? The Times reported the exact same new trend TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO!
poster:pseudoname
thread:579280
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051112/msgs/579549.html