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  Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD

Sustained curiosity

The online journal of
​Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD

***


“Time after time I have pondered apparent minutiae that turned out to be very important.”
 
“My entire research career –
in history – in medicine – in religion –
in the history of “religion and medicine” –
has grown out of sustained curiosity
about unusual little details.”
 
Dr. Powell, a clinical neuropsychiatrist and
​medical historian who
hangs around with clinical pastoral chaplains,
always starts off his research with
a nagging question that begs for an answer.
 
“Why do songs by ‘Queen” end up being
played at funerals
more than the songs by other ‘rock bands’?”
 
“Why do clusters of military folks
coming back from the war-zone tend to have clusters of odd lab results?”
 
“Why did those interested in ‘the after-life’ have more kinship with Freud
than did academic psychologists?”
 
“Why does a certain
'old' and 'cheap”'medicine now have so much new and expensive research behind it?”
 
“Why do some folks have
an almost total inability to explain
how they know what emotion they are feeling?"
 
“Why did the definite 'founder' of 'the
American psychosomatic movement” have a theology degree?”
 
​“Why do certain 'drug addicts' – apparently
quite intelligently –
choose 'this' street drug and not 'that' one?"



A Progressive Expansion of Clinical Focus

>> The summary is below. These initial comments concern what drove this progression. <<
 
The summary below first was outlined in May 2024 – to clarify – mostly for me – as to how I got to “here”.  

I write & re-write essays over a period of months – even years. If asked to speak at a meeting, I need a minimum of 3 months (preferably 6 months or longer) to allow “the back of my mind” slowly to come up with key thoughts/ sentences.

Sometimes I can create an entire short essay in my brain while driving – but that rapidity is rare.

I digest new understandings slowly but surely.
 
Once I start thinking about a topic, I end up accumulating a fairly definite bibliography of abstracts (mostly from PubMed) – so that I know both the key (frequently old) articles AND have come to appreciate what is NOT known as well as what probably is “known” incorrectly.

​If I have written an essay (or book), a reader almost always has to acquaint him- or herself with the bibliography. I write in “verbal”. I try to hone my sentences until they more easily can go into a listener’s mind.
 
After realizing in 2003 that I was seeing a lot of war-zone returnees who had unusual neural, nutritional. and hormonal issues,  I began researching and thinking out how to explain all this to trainees. Across the years, I shared draft chapters of my discoveries with the medical/ psychiatric residents, medical students, and colleagues with whom I was working.

I published the malnutrition studies in 2016.
I published the studies about getting patients to verbalize data about their level of ego organization in 2017. Then
I added some information about getting patients to verbalize data about soft neurologic and profound premenstrual issues in 2021 – when finally I published Listening Closely to Patients ….

Then I decided that, for a 2nd edition of that book, I really needed to add a lot more about
soft neurologic and
combined premenstrual/ neurologic issues –
so I  revised a 2018-19 essay into at extra chapter and I drafted a complex set of data from 2019-20 into yet another extra chapter.
 
Separately, I published an extensive bibliography of abstracts on pentoxifyllyine -- an old medication
(with pro-circulatory & anti-inflammatory actions)
in 2015.
Then, after beginning to treat patients who had autism, it became clear that I needed to prepare a 2nd edition of that book – and to spin off a (forthcoming) subordinate book on
cerebral perfusion called Pentoxifylline & the Brain.
 
*****
~1968, first became curious about
             cognitive factors in psychiatric
             phenomena.
~1970, first became curious about
             neurologic factors in psychiatric
             phenomena.
~1973, began focusing more in depth on
             cognitive factors – especially on how
             patients do or do not
             form & use concepts.
~1980, began focusing more in depth on
             endocrine factors – especially on
             estrogen, progesterone, &
             T3/ liothyronine “active thyroid”.
~1996, began focusing more in depth on
             neurologic factors – especially those
             relating to
             the autonomic nervous system &
             the cerebral subcortical system.
~2003, first became curious about
              nutritional, endocrine &
              inflammatory factors.
~2010, began focusing more in depth on
              nutritional, endocrine &
              inflammatory factors – especially
              calcitriol “active vitamin D” &
              pentoxifylline for
              TNF-alpha production inhibition.
~2022, began focusing more in depth on
              cerebral perfusion factors.

Who knows what might intrigue me next?

As [Helen] Flanders Dunbar, MD, PhD
noted in the 1930s & 1940s,
the question is how to consider
“all of the above” & to ascertain
“a point of effective intervention”.

There is much more to learn!

All I know is that now
the patient & I can
“cut problems down to size”
much more rapidly.                                                                             #

Picture
17 July 2014
Fantastic!
Picture

QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA SNEAKS INTO CHICAGO AND BLOWS AWAY THE CROWD - REVIEW

10/14/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written 2 June 2012 / posted on brianmay.com

The Queen Extravaganza packed the Chicago's House of Blues last night, June 1st – despite there appearing to be no notice in the local papers either before or after the performance. Clearly this was a “word of mouth” and “Queen News” crowd – with but a few young folks in sight.

After a half-hour of warm-up vibrations stirred the mood of 1,350 stand-up fans, the band burst into full volume – but the special QE curtain wouldn't move! – and finally, after 45-seconds, the QE manager, who seemed to be having more and more fun as the evening progressed, yanked it down.

The interaction level among the 9 stage performers – all professionals – was quite high – whether it was dueling guitarists or 2/ 3/ 4 lead vocalists sharing a song. Audience participation, too, was real if slightly subdued by this somewhat older/ sophisticated crowd.

“The Show Must Go On” carried more energy than usual, as if to outweigh fans' memories of Freddie Mercury's defiance of fate. “Fat Bottomed Girls” caused an amazing degree of excitement to flow between audience and stage.

The individual stars uniformly shone, and each probably deserved a bit more musical space for appreciation of his or her unique vocal or instrumental contribution. The only criticism one might have of the show was that the 4 lead vocalists, more often than not, were overshadowed by the band. “Lead vocalists” indeed would be the right term here, as in this show just about everyone on stage joined in most, if not all, of the time on the songs.

In some ways, the evening seemed like one big party, with those on stage having at least as much fun as the crowd but doing their best to draw fans even deeper into the world of Queen. Is it OK to say that they seemed like very polite people? QE needs to return to Chicago – to a slightly larger venue.

Let me add a few more explicit words .... My sense is that the "classic" Queen concerts moved just slightly slower -- allowing fans to savor a voice, savor a guitar rift, savor a drum piece. With QE the instrumental line slightly overwhelmed the vocal line, and individual instrumentalists were slightly overwhelmed by those nearby. Some Queen songs call for a density of sound -- but many call for an appreciation of every single word or note.
A Chicago-area fan,
Robert Charles Powell


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