Free, promotional email list for Stay Free! print magazine

[Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>]

Hey folks,

Some new old stuff is now on the website. From issue #21, the psychology 
issue:


BORDERLINE HYSTERIA: THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOSOMATIC ILLNESS
An interview with Edward Shorter

In _Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the 
Modern Era_, Edward Shorter sets out to illustrate a few simple 
ideas. Most of the medical symptoms your typical American suffers 
from are psychosomatic--in other words, they can't be traced to any 
organic cause but are rather the result of some mind-body 
interaction. The symptoms may be real, but the cause is 
psychological, stemming from depression, anxiety, or stress.

While exploring the history of psychosomatic illness, Shorter looks 
at how the symptoms have changed over time and at the forces behind 
those changes. His thesis is that psychosomatic symptoms change with 
the culture--meaning that they evolve to match the prevailing medical 
diagnoses of the day. In the early 1800s, for example, doctors talked 
about "spinal irritation," believing that when a certain point along 
the spine was pressed or hurt, it created peripheral pains and other 
motor (muscular) system problems. Conse-quently, doctors increasingly 
began seeing patients whose problems conveniently fitted the 
diagnosis. These patients--usually women--complained of temporary 
blindness, paralysis, and other ills. Some couldn't walk, others 
couldn't move their arms, many remained paralyzed for months in bed. 
Doctors would come across patients so catatonic that it was 
impossible to tell whether they were alive. Unable to detect pulses 
or respiration, doctors found that the only sure sign of death was 
when the body emitted a "cadaverous smell."

Continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/edward_shorter.html



SICK IN THE HEAD
Stay Free! asked our readers and contributors to tell  us about their 
psychosomatic complaints.
Here's what they said.

"Several years ago my longtime boyfriend and I got engaged. The ring 
was a sterling silver band engraved with the words vous et nul autre 
(French for "you and no other"). It was a long engagement, and I wore 
the ring for at least two years, never removing it. After wearing the 
ring for so long without incident, all of a sudden it began to 
irritate my finger. I developed a painful, itchy rash and had to stop 
wearing the ring. It turned out that my fiance was cheating on me at 
the time--my subconscious was trying to tell me so!" --Victoria Sweat

"Over the past year or so I have been hearing voices that aren't 
there, usually as I'm waking up. I can hear them trail off as I look 
around to see who's there. The strangest occurrence was at a friend's 
barbecue. I heard someone scream, "Hey!" in my right ear, but 
everyone was just sitting around eating and drinking beer. When I 
asked if anyone had just yelled "Hey!" they cautiously replied that 
they hadn't. I'm not overly worried, since the voices only seem to 
want to get my attention at this point. Also, it could have been 
someone yelling on the street that no one else noticed. But it's odd 
that this only started happening when I moved into my new apartment, 
which used to be a public school. Am I haunted by a dead, disgruntled 
vice principal? I don't know. However, I promise to get help when the 
voices start bossing me around." --Chris Karwowski

Continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/psychosomatic_illness.html



CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

Stay F---! is looking for a few more works to include in the Illegal 
Art Exhibit when it opens in Portland, Oregon, in March 2005. If you 
or someone you know has created exceptional works that appropriate 
copyrighted or trademarked material without permission, please get in 
touch. We're especially interested in hearing about artists who have 
run into legal trouble or other roadblocks due to intellectual 
property law.  Send URLs with examples of your work to 
stay.free AT verizon.net; or send video (VHS, DVD) to Stay Free! 390 
Butler Street, Brooklyn NY 11217. (For your own good as well as mine, 
please do NOT send anything that needs to be returned.) Works in all 
media will be included in the show. For more information on Illegal 
Art Exhibit, visit http://www.illegal-art.org or contact Carrie 
McLaren (stay.free AT verizon.net). Deadline: December 1.