Internet and Psychiatry

Masahito Fushimi, M.D., Ph.D.

The article by Dr. Sándor Kalmár, “The weekly distribution of suicides in Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary” is interesting. I would like to make some comments on this article.

 First, it is interesting that there are similarities between the methods of suicide used in Akita Prefecture (Japan) and in Bács-Kiskun (Hungary). As in Bács-Kiskun (Hungary), the most common method of suicide both in the whole of Japan and in Akita Prefecture is by hanging oneself. As to why many suicides do so by hanging themselves, it may be because in Japan, “hanging” is strongly associated with the death penalty. Moreover, gun possession is prohibited in principle by the Japanese law; as such, there are only a few suicides where a firearm is used.

Sándor Kalmár M.D. Ph.D.

The Hungarian population has been suffering from the high rates suicide for centuries. In 2005, the Suicide Standard Mortality Rate was 2.3 times higher in Hungary than in the Eu-15 countries.

There is no other social phenomenon and general public health problem, other than the suicide, which is not only tragic, painful, passionately unreasonable, multifactorial, controversial, mysterious, incurable but preventable human behavior as well. It does not simply mean the loss of life, but inflicts serious pain on the members of the family and imposes a great economic burden on the society.

Sándor Kalmár M.D. Ph.D.

April 1st, 2010. It has already been three years since the Hungarian National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, founded in and operational since 1868, came to an end without any legal successors. The Institute was forced to close based on the decision of the Hungarian government. Much publication justifies the fact that Hungarian psychiatrists have always been concerned about the future of psychiatry; particularly in the latter decades when the research of the nervous system was dramatically improved. The cultic space of Hungarian psychiatry, based on century-old traditions, was utterly destroyed by on persons' brutal, ministerial decision to close down the Hungarian National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. The aim, or at least result of this decision was the eliminations of the national center of psychiatry in Hungary.

Leo Sher, M.D.

April 27, 2010. On Monday, April 26, shortly before 8 am, Vajinder Toor, M.D., 34, a postdoctoral trainee at the Yale Medical School Fellowship Training Program in Infectious Diseases, was gunned down by Lishan Wang, M.D., 44, while walking in the parking lot towards his car at Meadows Condominiums in Branford, Connecticut, not far from the Yale Medical Center (1-3). Dr. Toor was shot several times. Dr. Wang, who now lives in Marietta, Georgia, was charged yesterday with murder, attempted murder and firearms charges, and is being held in lieu of a $2 million bond. Dr. Wang has no criminal record since entering the U.S. 9 years ago from China.

Leo Sher, M.D.

Thomas Jefferson was born 167 years ago, on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. He was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of this country. Jefferson was the Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793), and second Vice President (1797–1801).

Jefferson believed that each individual has rights that exist with or without government. Man cannot create, take, or give them away. Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Leo Sher, M.D.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a neurostimulation and neuromodulation technique, based on the principle of electromagnetic induction of an electric field in the brain (1-3). TMS is a non-invasive method of stimulating the brain using induced currents. TMS device is a big capacitor that discharges thousands of amperes per pulse into the coil of an electromagnet, which generates the magnetic field. The coil is maneuvered to a spot on the patient's head where the magnetic pulse will penetrate an area of the brain above and behind the eyes. The skull presents no barrier because the relatively low frequency magnetic fields pass through the skull without attenuation.