Thursday, September 13, 2007

Grissom: The bellows.
Hodges: I'm sorry?
Grissom: James Tilly Mathews. Early 19th century London. Mathews was in Bedlam hospital awaiting trial. Doctors were trying to determine his sanity. Several interviewed him. Half thought he was sane, half insane. Turns out he was perfectly normal, except when someone mentioned politics. At that point, he'd go into a rage about the little men who lived underground and used a bellows to push thoughts into his mind, as well as the minds of Parliament, and the Queen. A specific object or word triggers the urge to kill. That's a form of delusional psychosis. Rare, but it does exist.

Monday, September 10, 2007

We rock

Dear Colleagues,

NSF recently released its information on the top 100 Psychology Departments for FY2004. Once again, UW-Madison is ranked #1 and brought in approximately twice as much funding as the #2 ranked department (Penn State - all campuses). Other Big Ten departments in the top ten include Illinois (#5), Minnesota (#8), and Indiana (#9). Congratulations!

Joe