I have just spent a week in San Antonio, Texas at the AAFP FMX. American Academy of Family Physicians Family Medicine Experience.

Whew. Long acronym.

However, I attended two programs on PTSD. One was a three hour offsite one put on by the U. of Texas, San Antonio Department of Family Medicine. The other was a one hour program about active duty military and PTSD.

The biggest message for me is HOPE. Hope for treatment, hope for diagnosis, hope for destigmatization, hope for remission. I am not sure if we should call it a "cure". Once a diabetic, always a diabetic, even if you lose 100 pounds.

In medical school 1989-1993 I learned that PTSD existed but that was about it. There was no discussion of medicines, treatment, diagnosis or cure.

Ditto residency. I learned much more about psychiatry reading about addiction and alcoholism and Claudia Black's books then I did in residency.

Fast forward to 2009, when I…

Welcome to the scariest year we've encountered since, well, 2016. 

So the country is being run by a narcissist dimwit racist. The Nazis are making a giant comeback, but the FBI is more concerned about the people protesting against the Nazis. There's still no crime a police officer can commit without getting a handshake and a promotion. The Russians have hacked our electoral systems and power grid and are looking forward to doing it all over again as soon as possible. There are…

Under the overall topic of alien encounters, Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" was a fascinating and inventive sci-fi tale that appeared in the old magazines that were chucked into the recycler during the war years. Since I love the old science fiction pulps, I knew this was something I would enjoy. 

Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" takes place on the red planet, barely explored with telescopes and populated by Burroughs with four-armed green…