Chicken pox is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is also called human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3, or HSV-3). If chicken pox re-erupts, it is called shingles, which for some reason is more generally recognized as a herpes infection that the original chicken pox infection - but yes, chicken pox is herpes..

Herpes is almost (not entirely, but almost) harmless. Most people with herpes never have an outbreak. Of those who do, most have only one. Of those who have more than one, most don't have regular outbreaks that cause any real problems.

Criticising the people who are doing the right thing is not a solution to this problem.

I agree. It certainly doesn't seem like Macklemore is claiming he's the first person to support LGBT rights, or the first rapper, or that he's MLK. He wrote a song that suggests that gay people are people. That seems like a good thing, and to criticize him because other people are making more of the song than he…

It is definitely not a given, and the transmission rates vary tremendously on what you do and a number of other factors, like the presence of cuts or tears, or insufficient lubrication (which produces cuts and tears, at least sometimes). Unprotected, poorly lubricated anal has fairly high transmission rates. Oral…

I think the question of what categories it's OK to make price discrimination (unfortunate name) decisions around is a little more complicated than you're setting it out to be. Insurance companies discriminate by age, which is generally considered OK, given that we are all going to be lots of different ages and thus…

I'm glad you mentioned a graduate school clinic - many graduate programs in clinical psychology have or are affiliated with a clinic which sees the general public. If the prospect of seeing a 'trainee' concerns you, remember that these are people who are up on the research and the latest clinical techniques and are…

Why is it almost always Chrome? Seriously: I run some very complex statistical analyses using r and SPSS - I get a brief CPU spike during processing, then goes down to nothing. Chrome sits there peacefully with four open tabs and no obvious activity, and BAM! Constant moderate to heavy CPU usage. I love Chrome,…

That second part - that no matter what you do, someone will tell you that you were wrong - is true about pretty much every decision one makes. The difference is that there is a near religious conviction about mothering/not mothering choices that seems to stem a desperate need to "think of the children." And, because…

Your methods are good, and parallel (generally) the cognitive behavioral therapy approach to treating a specific phobia (e.g., fear of flying, fear of spiders, etc.) It is entirely possible to do this on your own, but if you would benefit from help, consider finding a CBT therapist who will use exposure to treat fear…

I agree with you in two respects. First, that anonymity is a problem (says the burner account) in that it encourages cruelty and stupidity by separating actions from consequences; and second, that lack of anonymity will not stop the cruelty and stupidity online, if only because there is cruelty and stupidity in the…

Nice article! Simpson's Paradox is particularly interesting and counterintuitive, and can lead to some real interpretive problems in the research world.

My response was glib and yours was thoughtful. I agree completely with your description of free will in science and religion; I suppose what I meant about science not taking free will seriously is that scientists (myself included, at least a bit) say that free will doesn't exist (see your explanation) and yet live…

I think you're probably right about that. I was raised religious, but I don't think of myself in those terms, which probably does have something to do with the difficulty I have with behavior not being in control of the person behaving. Also interesting that religion is one of the only places that takes free will…

You know, I think about that all the time. The premise of AA bothers me - the "I can't control my behavior" part. Yet, for some people, that premise is helpful. Both philosophically and as a practicing clinician, I really struggle with the idea of starting a process by saying "Yup! You're totally not in charge…

This is my field, and aside from some minor quibbles, you're generally right (or I agree with you for the most part, although the majority of the sex research field does not.)

I couldn't agree with you more about the drug abuse ritual being a big part of the effect. There are some great studies about drug abuse context that say that if you change the context you change the net physiological effect of the drug. Really interesting stuff that certainly makes your point and erodes mine - I…

That would suggest an addiction to endorphins (which are also generated in lots of other ways), and not an addiction to sex. The difference is important, I think - we say someone is addicted to heroin and not to injecting heroin, since if they smoked it or inserted it rectally they might have the same relief from…

That is another definition, but it is not the diagnostic definition. If we use that definition, is there anything to which you couldn't be addicted? Serious question: what wouldn't meet criteria? Would we decide based on the number of people who say that they feel powerless to stop doing x? What number (or percent…

Certainly. There are lots of important differences between sexual arousal in a lab and sexual arousal in situ. But I don't know of any theory or evidence that would suggest that tolerance and physical dependence develop for sex in any circumstances. I suppose the question really is: what do we mean by addiction? …