Horgan Seminar Blog

Amir Ibrahim      The advent of modern medicine is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in human history, and, yet, there remains a small, but vocal, minority rejecting modern psychiatric treatment. Specifically, many have criticized the American healthcare system for being capitalistic and profit-driven in nature as opposed to actually helping people–many have levied this criticism against mental health care in particular.       One of the many issues plaguing the medical industry and testing of drugs is investigator bias–the conflict of interest between commercialization and medical inquiry. Robert Whitaker, founder and president of Mad in America, cites some of the pitfalls of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs)  in which the efficacy of medication is tested: specifically, clinical drugs often aren’t properly indexed in the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression, and medications which aren’t deemed as clinically relevant are still...

               For the first 18 years of my life, I considered myself very lucky to have good mental health, especially since I witnessed multiple people around me struggle with depression. The closest of them being my mother. Both before I was born and after, my mother has had several bouts with depression. It would come over her like a storm and bring about a lot of suffering. As a teenager, I never understood the extent of her struggles and couldn’t help but occasionally wonder why it was so hard for her to be happy. It certainly felt simple for me, until my luck ran out and I got to taste the bitter stuff. My recent struggles with my mental health and my mother’s struggles have made me ask the question, what does it take to truly stay happy? The challenge of our mental health, as I have come to realize, is multi-faceted and yet incredibly simple.      Martin Seligman, a pioneer of positive psychology postulated that the three co...

  Kevin Mamo Professor Horgan HST - 401 A October 16th, 2022 Mental Health, a blooming issue In all honesty, I used to think that mental health wasn’t a big deal. Coming from a family of immigrants and seeing how my family across the world lived I found it difficult to believe that people here in a first world country were dealing with anxiety, depression, and other disorders. My thought process used to be that we live in a peaceful area with food, water, housing, clothes, and a bunch of other luxuries that others dream of having, so how could one possibly be depressed or anxious with all of these blessings?  It wasn’t until I saw one of my closest friends deal with anxiety that I started to believe mental health disorders are indeed a serious issue. He grew up with a loving family and all of the necessities that I stated before, so when he finally told me about his anxiety attacks I thought he was exaggerating his condition. However, even through my doubts he kept telling m...

 Katie Bloomer Anxiety: Is It Real? A bottle of Lexapro sits on the cart next to my bed. It has been untouched for months since I learned that lifestyle changes have been proven to be more effective than medication. Even with this knowledge, I have not altered any of my habits, apart from not taking the Lexapro. Every morning, I quickly debate if I should take it again. After all, it might help me get out of this funk. However, if I try hard enough, I can probably do it on my own.  This might seem like a weird thing to ponder because you usually take the medication that is prescribed and don’t really think much about it, at least, that is what I typically do. But this is different. There is nothing physically wrong with me. No source of pain that can be pointed to. No pain at all really. Just the constant feeling that everything I do is slightly off. Every movement needs to be thought through so I cause the least amount of disruption as possible. Something as simple as takin...

Rahim Salhi Some concepts are simply difficult to comprehend, even with a smartphone and Google at my disposal. Consider the unlikely notion that energy is emitted in quanta, or discrete packets, rather than continually flowing. Or the depressing hypothesis that the universe as a whole, which spans 93 billion light-years, may only be one of many parallel worlds. Throughout his final years, Einstein searched for a "theory of everything" that would link his theories of general relativity with quantum mechanics. Within the confines of what I know and read about physics today, these two hypotheses are not entirely consistent. As physicists have continued where Einstein left off, one solution is the string theory. By supposing that there are more worlds and dimensions in addition to the ones we are aware of, string theory merges the two theories. String theory has existed for almost 50 years. It has long been considered the front-runner in the contest to reconcile the two physics ...

Nicholas Forcellati Tuesday, September 20th, I was sitting in class, feeling a bit under the weather and trying to stay focused with a cloudy head. I will admit, it was tough to be present for the first hour of class. Then, a man named Chris Search crossed the threshold of the doorway, and his energy was contagious. Well versed in the realm of quantum theory and physics as a whole, Search spoke with such confidence that it felt as if I had to believe every word that came out of his mouth. When my classmates asked him questions, no matter how simple, Search’s answers to the questions weren’t clear and concise, rather, they were clear and never-ending. He could spend fifteen minutes answering a question as simple as, “what’s your favorite color?”. What makes Chris Search such a fascinating physicist is his balance of science and religion throughout his life. Growing up as the son of a pastor, theology dominated his adolescence, however, as he progressed into his twenties, his rebelli...

Instead of being known as that harmless “toy” you use to drive your cat crazy for hours, lasers should be known for what they actually represent today – the future of scientific research. From being used in surgeries, data transmission, precision tools, computers, and many more use cases, the laser has been shown to be extremely practical over the years. But why exactly is such a concentrated beam of light so useful, and what does this technology entail for the future of physics?  The idea of a laser was first conceptualized by Albert Einstein, who coined the term stimulated emission to describe the way in which light photons can collide with atoms to create even more photons and generate a focused beam of light. It was not until 1960 that physicist Theodore Maiman was able to create and test the first working laser. However, Maiman was famously quoted as saying “a laser is a solution seeking a problem,” so was the laser all that it was meant to be? Indeed, one of the most interest...