The concept of rites of passage was first articulated by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) in his book The Rites of Passage, first published in 1908.   In this seminal work, van Gennep subdivided rites of passage into three sub-categories:  rites of separation, transition rites, and rites of incorporation.  These rites might represent components of one...Read More

“Open the second shutter so that more light may come in.”  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – 1749-1832) “Only one man understood me.  And he really didn’t understand me.”  (Georg Wilhelm Hegel – 1770-1831) “Go on, get out!  Last words are for fools that haven’t said enough.” (Karl Marx – 1818-1883) “Wait ’til I have finished...Read More

Although the population of aging America is going to skyrocket in the next two decades, the practice of geriatric medicine is actually decreasing.  The number of certified geriatricians fell by a third between 1998 and 2004.  The reasons for this are very similar to the reasons for the decline in the practice of adolescent medicine...Read More

I was very glad to see the research report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS), concluding that children labeled ADHD have normal brains that simply develop later than their peers.  This study compared brain scans over a period of years between a group of  223 children diagnosed as having ADHD and a...Read More

A study that appeared in the the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reports that pediatric hypertension is increasing as a result of the obesity epidemic in the United States, and that in most cases, high blood pressure in children goes undiagnosed.  The study observed over time 14,000 children aged 3 to 18 at...Read More