Reader Reactions

This week's reader reaction quote on the Education & Careers channel comes from a discussion on Adventures in Ethics about the challenges of dialogue about animal research.

It's amazing how things so human can appear so alien. But then again, at that magnification, most things do appear that way.

ScienceBlogger PalMD wrote about the suffering endured by those who live with Somatization disorders:

So what can be done for these folks? Let's remember, these are often reasonably normal people, who suffer from discomfort, but not from any life-threatening illnesses.

There is some literature out there, but since this is a very diverse group of people, no one rule applies. OK, one rule does apply---they really hurt, and that must be acknowledged (malingerers are usually fairly easy to spot, as they don't have the same chronicity of symptoms). The pain is real, and must be treated as such.