Xref: utzoo sci.med:23633 sci.bio:4615 alt.drugs:10020 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!ubvax!igor!rutabaga!jls From: jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter) Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.bio,alt.drugs Subject: Re: LSD and Manic depression. Message-ID: Date: 16 Mar 91 23:21:37 GMT References: <1991Mar12.190627.23104@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@Rational.COM Followup-To: sci.med Lines: 35 >causality is difficult to prove. No shit. So difficult, in fact, that you completely fail to prove it in the rest of your post. To wit: >However, there have been a fair amount >of cases in which people being treated as psychotics have been found to >have used LSD before their psychotic symptoms manifested. And, I bet, there are a "fair amount" of cases in which people being treated as psychotics have been found NOT to have used LSD before their psychotic symptoms manifested. Further, there are probably a fair amount of cases in which psychotics were found to have used Crest toothpaste before their symptoms manifested. And mayonnaise. And red meat. Here, I believe, is your syllogism: a) Some psycotics ingest LSD sometime prior to going nuts. b) Therefore, LSD makes people psychotic. This is clearly hoohah, so may I propose the following rephrasing, that, while certainly less dramatic, is also far more accurate: a) Psychotics go nuts. b) Some psychotics ingest LSD. c) A+B are unrelated to one another. -- ***** DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are my own. Duh. Like you'd ever be able to find a company (or, for that matter, very many people) with opinions like mine. -- "When I want your opinion, I'll read it in your entrails."