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Health Check: 25/01/2012

25/01/2012

BBC World Service - Health Check, 25/01/2012

The row over a French documentary on autism; Epilepsy medication in Kenya; Owls v Larks

A court will decide this week whether a group of psychoanalysts are misrepresented in a film about how autism is treated in France. Epilepsy medication in Kenya. Why feeling groggy can help in a test.

AUTISM IN FRANCE
Big questions about the dominance of one approach to dealing with autism are being aired in a French court this week.  Le Mur - or The Wall - is a documentary film which compares the psychoanalytic method with the more American behavioural approach. Some of the psychoanalysts included in it want it banned.  The brainchild of Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis is still influential in mental health care in France. It focuses on early childhood and unconscious conflicts.  A British psychologist comments on whether the psychoanalysts have been misrepresented and if French children are getting the help they need. 

EPILEPSY MEDICATION IN KENYA
In parts of Kenya up to three quarters of people aren't getting the drugs they need to help with epilepsy. It causes the brain's normal electrical activity to be disturbed, leading to recurring seizures – brief periods of altered consciousness. More than 69 million people live with epilepsy around the world, often encountering stigma, and for more than half of them the cause is unknown. In the Kenyan coastal town of Kilifi, health workers are running workshops to educate people about the condition. 

OWLS AND LARKS
Are you a morning person or do you love to burn the midnight oil? Scientists classify those two different groups as larks and owls. And depending on the time of day, they perform tasks more or less effectively. But taking a test at the time of day you're feeling at a low ebb isn't always a bad thing. Researchers in the United States have shown that tasks requiring creative or "outside the box" thinking should be done when you're feeling a bit groggy.

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