Read a Story, Take a Pill

A “tongue-in-cheek study” by pediatricians at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S., Canada, says that the characters in the Winnie the Pooh books can be diagnosed as “seriously troubled individuals” if their behaviors are weighed against the psychiatric criteria listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, notes that “Pooh needs intervention. We feel drugs are in order” for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Piglet “clearly suffers from a generalized anxiety disorder” and is in need of an anti-panic drug, and Eeyore needs an anti-depressant so he can “see the humour in the whole tail-losing episode.” Even Christopher Robin “could develop gender identity issues” and may have trouble after spending so much time talking to animals. However, “I would also remind people that we are kidding around,” said lead researcher Sarah Shea. (Reuters) ...Taking kidding to such extremes as publishing them in a peer-reviewed medical journal sounds a bit pathological.