Provocative Therapy
Of Rats and Junk Food Junkies
It’s official. Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin! And no I’m not being provocative just for the hell of it. (Provocative therapists should never be gratuitously provocative.) No, the men in the white coats with bad news this time are neurobiologists, Dr Paul Johnson and Dr Paul Kenny. The Daily Telegraph reports today [...] Read more »
Good News for Men: Fast cars are good for your health!
People love to mock men who buy Porches when they enter middle age. Common ways of belittling these guys is to mutter things like ‘mid-life crisis’ or ‘male menopause’. Well it turns out that fast cars, especially fast red cars really are good for the health of middle-aged men! There is now evidence for this [...] Read more »
Could sperm be the secret elixir of eternal youth? With more and more talk of prolonging life to 100 and beyond, doctors may feel under increasing pressure to be able to deliver what the media promise. Clerics are in trouble too: Why talk eschatologically about life after death when it might be possible to live [...] Read more »
Provocative Therapy and Homeopathy
On the website of Frank Farrelly, the founder of Provocative Therapy, is a quotation by a homeopathic doctor attending one of Frank’s courses in Germany. The doctor (unnamed) sees similarity between the processes of Provocative Therapy and Homeopathy in that they are both contrarian in methodology, paradoxical in effect and stimulate a natural healing response [...] Read more »
Less fun for girls?
Just returned from holiday and glancing at the headlines saw this one warning all women to ‘Cut food and drink to avoid breast cancer’. The Daily Mail headline is explained further by the subheading ‘18,000 women a year could be saved by exercise and dieting’ Here’s the thing: Research by none other than the World [...] Read more »
Obesity: The way the West will be lost?
As a physician, I’m aware of the dangers of obesity to health of course. But never in my wildest dreams did I suspect that obesity could be the cause of the decline of Western civilisation? Did I even think that it could be a reason why we could lose the struggle in Afghanistan, a place [...] Read more »
How to Achieve Happiness: The Evidence
For many years the high ground on happiness has been held by the gurus of positive affirmations and mantras. Books and films by the thousands extolled the value of ‘postive thinking’. But has there been any evidence that these bestsellers actually made anyone any happier – apart from their authors and publishers of course? Now [...] Read more »
Dangerous New Syndrome!
Red Alert! Half of the planet’s people are at risk of a new epidemic called ‘Cell Phone Elbow’ This is not a joke! We are talking about 3 billion people at risk of suffering from Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, the latest form of overuse injury which may be even worse than Blackberry Thumb. This is how [...] Read more »
Smoke more for a Healthy Economy!
Oh no! I thought I was the only one provoking smokers to quit by ordering them to Smoke More! Of course this was in the context of a session of Provocative Therapy, where I always obtain specific permission to satirise, make absurd suggestions and advise people to do more of their aberrant behaviour. Only then [...] Read more »
How to embarrass your GP
Wow – Talk about empowering patients! Now there is going to be an NHS website where you can rate your GP. This fantastic and innovative idea should certainly keep doctors on their toes. They should introduce this in cricket too. The crowd, rather than the TV umpire/referees sitting in their ivory towers sipping sherry, should [...] Read more »
