Could I make a request of the newly installed editor, whose first
editorial is titled 'Future directions of the journal'? A direction I
would not wish to see is towards more and more abbreviations. They serve
little purpose other than to save printer's ink. [1] Looking through
volume 27, issue 3, there are a number of abbreviations better replaced by
the parent phrase or a contraction of it. Embryonic and f...
Could I make a request of the newly installed editor, whose first
editorial is titled 'Future directions of the journal'? A direction I
would not wish to see is towards more and more abbreviations. They serve
little purpose other than to save printer's ink. [1] Looking through
volume 27, issue 3, there are a number of abbreviations better replaced by
the parent phrase or a contraction of it. Embryonic and fetal tissue
transplantation can be referred to as 'transplantation' on later
occurrences, instead of the awkward EFTT. There is no reason why
Parkinson's disease should not be written out each time in full; in other
contexts PD means peritoneal dialysis. A topic so central to medical
ethics as informed consent must not be contracted to ICP, which in the
article stands for informed consent from patients, but is more commonly
intra-cranial pressure. Apart from its explanation on first use, AMI for
acute myocardial infarction was used only once.
It probably makes sense to use abbreviations for public bodies (eg,
NHS, RECs, PCGs, PCTs), and for abbreviations that are familiar throughout
medicine (eg, AIDS: although it is SIDA in French). There are some phrases
that repeat awkwardly, contract uneasily, and whose abbreviations (eg,
QALYs, CPR, DNR) are probably well enough known that readers will not have
to try to remember them just for the one article. But otherwise they
impede, rather than improve, communication.
To use examples from the new editor's own article, [2] they also
generate nonsense. Savulescu writes of "LTOP of pregnancies" and "ETOP of
early pregnancies". I am sure he would not have done this if, instead of
using the unnecessary abbreviations LTOP and ETOP, he had used the phrases
"late termination" and "early termination".
References
(1) Goodman NW, Kay C. Abbreviations impede communication. British
Journal of General Practice 1998;48:1204-1205.
(2) Savulescu J. Is current practice around late termination of
pregnancy eugenic and discriminatory? Maternal interests and abortion.
Journal of Medical Ethics 2001;27:165-71.
Neville W Goodman DPhil FRCA
Consultant Anaesthetist
Southmead Hospital
North Bristol NHS Trust
Bristol
BS10 5NB
Prof. Fulford endorsed Dr. Thomas Szasz's book THE MEANING OF MIND:
"Within the broad church of anti-psychiatry, Thomas Szasz has been
foremost in challenging a narrowly biological conception of human nature.
Provocative, thoughtful, and highly readable, The Meaning of Mind extends
his arguments to the bleak redunctionism implicit in modern neuroscience.
This is a timely stand against what C....
Prof. Fulford endorsed Dr. Thomas Szasz's book THE MEANING OF MIND:
"Within the broad church of anti-psychiatry, Thomas Szasz has been
foremost in challenging a narrowly biological conception of human nature.
Provocative, thoughtful, and highly readable, The Meaning of Mind extends
his arguments to the bleak redunctionism implicit in modern neuroscience.
This is a timely stand against what C.S. Lewis called the 'abolition of
man.' Thomas Szasz is a true Socratic gadfly of our modern Athens."
I don't know why Prof. Fulford endorsed a book whose premise he does
not agree with. Fulford's "plea for mental disorder" makes no sense if he
takes Dr. Szasz's contention seriously, that "mind" is only a metaphor.
There is no "mental disorder" if there is no "mind".
If Dr. Szasz is wrong then what is the meaning of mind?
"It is clear that in the strict meaning of 'disease' only the body
can suffer lesions; the intellect as such cannot be diseased, though it
can be affected by a diseased body."
This supports Dr. Thomas Szasz's interpretation of mental illness as
a metaphor.
Adler, M.J. 1937. WHAT MAN HAS MADE OF MAN, page 204
"It is clear that in the strict meaning of 'disease' only the body
can suffer lesions; the intellect as such cannot be diseased, though it
can be affected by a diseased body."
This supports Dr. Thomas Szasz's interpretation of mental illness as
a metaphor.
Adler, M.J. 1937. WHAT MAN HAS MADE OF MAN, page 204
Sir,
Could I make a request of the newly installed editor, whose first editorial is titled 'Future directions of the journal'? A direction I would not wish to see is towards more and more abbreviations. They serve little purpose other than to save printer's ink. [1] Looking through volume 27, issue 3, there are a number of abbreviations better replaced by the parent phrase or a contraction of it. Embryonic and f...
Dear Editor,
Prof. Fulford endorsed Dr. Thomas Szasz's book THE MEANING OF MIND:
"Within the broad church of anti-psychiatry, Thomas Szasz has been foremost in challenging a narrowly biological conception of human nature. Provocative, thoughtful, and highly readable, The Meaning of Mind extends his arguments to the bleak redunctionism implicit in modern neuroscience. This is a timely stand against what C....
Dr. Mortimer J. Adler says:
"It is clear that in the strict meaning of 'disease' only the body can suffer lesions; the intellect as such cannot be diseased, though it can be affected by a diseased body."
This supports Dr. Thomas Szasz's interpretation of mental illness as a metaphor.
Adler, M.J. 1937. WHAT MAN HAS MADE OF MAN, page 204
Szasz, T.S. 1961 THE MYTH OF MENTAL ILLNESS...
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