Retroactive diagnosis

I've just read Robin Dalton's 1965 autobiography, Aunts Up The Cross, in which she describes one of her father's patients, "one of his regular and more boring hypochondriacs", whom he treated by making "reassuring noises":

"'I get these terrifying palpitations, Doctor - sometimes when I lie down I think I'm going to choke. And then, suddenly, I'll get a feeling of something awful about to happen - it's my nerves, I suppose. Don't you think I should have something to calm my nerves?'"

Those are unmistakeably the miserable, debilitating symptoms of a panic attack. She was right; it was her nerves. It took ten years for my Panic Anxiety Disorder to be diagnosed and treated; I suppose hers never was, except with "an occasional murmur of sympathy". (I can't be too harsh on Dalton's doctor father, however; in five years my first shrink never noticed that I had depression.)

Links roundup, 29 January - 5 February 2013

These links dumps tend to be pretty grouchy, so let me kick off with some great news: despite initial reports, the manuscripts of Timbuktu were not destroyed during the militants' occupation. :D

Divisive asylum debate will return for election year. *bangs head on desk* FIX THE PROBLEM, JULIA. Instead of another race to the bottom, process the refugees stuck in Indonesia and Malaysia, and bring them here - thus defusing the whole thing as an election issue. Perhaps in the meantime the UN's scathing report on conditions at Manus Island (in which 34 children now live) might force some changes... but don't hold your breath. (But do let the Minister for Immigration know what you think.) The boys are being held behind chicken wire in Tasmania are arguably better off. (btw, the Refugee Council of Australia has a ton of info.)

As horrible as all that is, we're having an election late this year, and the Opposition propose to help the Sri Lankan government stop refugees from escaping.

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down. The graphics'll mess with you.

Texans support assault weapons ban. (In other US news that may surprise you, I stumbled across a blog entry from last year about evangelical Christians supporting contraception as a way to reduce abortion.)

From last year, here's ann_leckie summarising the entire spectrum of unwanted sexual behaviour in a sentence: "I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU WANT AS LONG AS I GET WHAT I'M AFTER."

I don't suffer from writers' block, and am in fact suspicious of the whole concept, but if so many great writers have good advice on dealing with it, maybe it's for real.