Treating Depression: First Steps
Dr. Andrew Leuchter, Director of Adult Psychiatry at UCLA, talks about first steps in treating depression. Initially, Dr. Leuchter explains, doctors look for symptoms that often accompany depression, such as problems wit..
Treating Metabolic Diseases
Dr. Ed McCabe, Chief of the Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, talks about progress that's been made in treating those afflicted with Sickle Cell disease, PKU (phenylketonuria) and other metabolic disorders.
Understanding Depression
Dr. Andrew Leuchter, Director of Adult Psychiatry at UCLA, explains that depression is an illness not a weakness, and that real, physical changes in brain neurochemistry or in hormones often, "...prevent the depressed pa..
Violence Prevention
Dr. Astrid Heger, Director of the Violence Intervention Program at L.A. County-USC Medical Center, refers to two medical models as she discusses strategies for dealing with the epidemic of violence in the United States. ..
Violence and Genetics
Dean Hamer, Director of the Gene Structure and Regulation Unit at the National Cancer Institute, talks about a family in Holland that included multiple individuals who were violent criminals. This behavior prompted scien..
Violence as a Health Risk
Dr. Astrid Heger, Director of the Violence Intervention Program at L.A. County-USC Medical Center, talks about the scale of violence in the United States. Dr. Heger reports that violence is the leading single cause of tr..
Violence: Emotional and Physical
Dr. Astrid Heger, Director of the Violence Intervention Program at L.A. County-USC Medical Center, talks about the continuum of violence, from emotional to physical to sexual. Dr Heger notes that, in many cases, emotiona..
Violent Behavior and Gender
Dean Hamer, Director of the Gene Structure and Regulation Unit at the National Cancer Institute, talks about the disparity in the number of violent acts committed by men as compared to women. While he recognizes that the..
Web of Addiction: Behavior Therapy and the Withdrawal from Drugs
Medications used in addiction treatment are almost always used in conjunction with psychosocial therapy that teaches people what triggers their addiction. People discover that they do have a choice, and that by learning ..
Web of Addiction: Biology of Drug Addiction
Experts have learned that addiction to drugs or alcohol is a disease that has genetic as well as environmental triggers. The gene involved in controlling dopamine, the brain's pleasure chemical, is one factor. Children o..