In 2007, a 27-year old man known as ‘Mr A’ collapsed on the floor of a hospital emergency department after taking a drug overdose. His blood pressure was crashing, he was hyperventilating and shaking, and nurses sprang into action to insert an intravenous line into his arm to try and flush his system and save his life. The man had been taking part in an antidepressant drug trail. Although he said his mood had improved significantly in the first month, in the second month he had an argument with his ex-girlfriend and became suicidal. He took his remaining 29 pills... Read full article »

As I sat down to write this blog post, a voice interrupted me. “Shannon, Shaaaanon…,” it called sweetly. I ignored it and delved into reading a scientific paper that I was interested in. After a few minutes the voice started again, this time more adamant, “Shaaaaaaaanon!” Again I ignored it and kept reading until the voice grew so pushy that I had to give in. The voice was coming from the block of dark chocolate in my pantry. It had little bits of crunchy caramel through it and it insisted I eat a piece. So I did. (Well, three pieces... Read full article »