Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Update & Board Preparation

Alix Kates Shulman

To Love What Is: A Marriage Transformed

One day it happens: the dreaded event that will change your life forever. For Alix Kates Shulman, it happened in a remote seaside cabin on a coastal Maine island--where the very isolation that makes for a perfect artist's retreat can also put life at risk. Shulman woke to find that her beloved husband had fallen the nine feet from their sleeping loft and was lying on the floor below, deathly still. Though Scott would survive, he suffered an injury that left him seriously brain impaired. He was the same--but not the same. In this elegant memoir, Shulman describes the ongoing anxieties and risks--and surprising rewards--she experiences as she reorganizes her world to care for her husband and discovers that what might have seemed a life sentence to some has evolved into something unexpectedly rich.

Centers for Disease Control and Preventi

Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

Sharon Ruben

Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on Its Ear

At eighteen months, Ashley Ruben still didn't talk. She wouldn't respond when her name was called; she didn't appear to hear either. She fixated on tiny pieces of dirt and ate only crunchy foods. She was enveloped in a thick fog-impenetrable by everyone except Barney the Dinosaur. She worked puzzles like a kindergartener and was computer-savvy before she was two years old. Her mother's late-night searches on the Internet hinted at a reason for her lack of engagement with the outside world. And then a developmental specialist confirmed it: autism, a diagnosis that shook the foundation of a family and shattered a mother's world. Ashley could hear, but she couldn't listen. In order to address that, a therapy retraining her ears to perceive sound better took her back to the time in the womb- where listening begins. With the help of specialized recordings of Mozart's music, Ashley gradually awakened. Her brain's desire to communicate was kindled, fostering a connection with her body, her family, and the world around her. Ashley had recovered, developing the ability to talk, to listen, to communicate- to become an engaging child. But how could Sharon Ruben, a clinical researcher in her ...