Silliness

Two bits of nonsense that I just came across:

1. The Huffington Post reports that the husband of Diane Schuler, the woman who caused the horrific crash in New York that killed eight people, vehemently denies that she had an alcohol or substance abuse problem. Evidence of high levels of cannabis was found in her system, her alcohol level was 0.19 (more than twice the legal limit), and a vodka bottle was found at the scene. And the accident occurred in the early afternoon.

Her husband referred to medical problems she suffered from that may have "caused her" to drink excessively that day (although the fact that she was quite alert with that alcohol level suggests that her tolerance, and therefore her regular use, was quite high). If it could be shown that her alcoholism was secondary to diabetes, it would revolutionize psychiatry. It's an appalling event all around, but in this case denial (by proxy) knows no bounds.

2. A post by the usually astute KevinMD, in discussing the risks of physicians treating celebrity patients, alludes to a study that reportedly found that celebrities are 17% more narcissistic than the general population. Not 15% as previously thought. Presumably this was found either by hooking folks up to a new and improved narcissometer, or by a serum levels of self-regard.

A possible limitation of the study was that levels of narcissism were "pinpointed" by narcissistic researchers.

Are these lead-ins to the coming triumph of DSM-V?