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Paul Grobstein's picture

pains, symptoms, interpretations

Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Tue, 04/01/2008 - 12:14pm.

I agree that "Discomfort and pain ... are ALWAYS interpretations by the brain and so may or may not have origins in the body outside the brain" is, in isolation, a better statement than "All symptoms originate in the brain". I didn't actually intend by the latter anything other than a short form of the former, and so certainly agree that looking for peripheral causes "should not be pushed by the way-side." My concern was more with current practice, and the tendency to push to the wayside those who have symptoms for which peripheral causes cannot be found. And with a broader tendency to equate internal brain states with peripheral causes.

 

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