Contents of email that I thought I had sent minutes after my last one:

> s/someone else/others
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed>Also I wanted to note that this counted
> as my belated reply to the alternative medicine thread: perhaps most
> medicines, not just 'alternative' varieties, are still 'magic'; that is,
> not fully understood but used because they seem to work for a certain
> problem when used a certain way. Obviously if people's lives and
> well-being/comfort are at stake we should use any solution, but not settle
> for leaving things unexplained.

Eric: I think the difference between chemistry and psychology, although
your point is well-taken, is that if I want to measure pH I simply use
litmus or electronic testing, whereas if I want to measure stress I ask
questions about how someone is feeling, which takes other factors into
account (like whether they trust me enough to tell me). I suppose there
could be interference between the actual pH and me through my methods of
testing - the litmus - but it seems it leaves less room for error and is
more easily fiddled with. The fact is, there are ethical considerations for
tinkering with someone's mind - it would be considered out of line to test
how someone reacts to stress by insulting their parents, for instance. And
a direct test of the brain would fall more under neurology, I think.
(This is the point at which Eric sent the email 7 minutes ago)

> The big problem in psychology (IMHO) is the lack of a paradigm that
> effectively organizes the accepted results and shows where to seek results
> in the future.

Perhaps this is what I am getting at. How does one untangle the complex web
of cause and effect that makes up a mind? It takes a very logical series of
tests that eliminate possibilities until only one is left to make a direct
link from.
I also would like to note that since you are actually a professional in the
field and I am not, you have a much better knowledge of specific studies
and general phenomena, and so maybe this discussion is more about the
public perception of psychology rather than psychology itself.
-Arlo James Barnes
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