Neurotransmitter.net is not managed or advised by a medical doctor or medical practitioner. The Director, Shawn M. Thomas, holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biopsychology from Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois. Shawn has over ten years of experience with searching PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's life science literature citation database. Shawn's work on Neurotransmitter.net has been cited in over fifteen peer-reviewed journals and dozens of high-quality web sites.

The methodology of science requires a firm understanding of the tentative nature of all knowledge, and Neurotransmitter.net operates on the premise of this notion. Shawn is unable to update all of the web site's pages on a regular basis, and users should never hesitate to use a MEDLINE interface or another biomedical database like EMBASE to find the most up-to-date information on any topic reviewed at Neurotransmitter.net.

All assertions made on this site, either explicit or implicit, are meant to be subjected to critical analysis. Users are encouraged to report errors, even if the error is concerned with grammar or spelling. Ultimately, Shawn Thomas is responsible for his actions, but he will not be held responsible for any loss of health or property resulting from the use of information on this web site. Always consult a licensed medical doctor or medical practitioner before using or discontinuing any therapy. The information on Neurotransmitter.net is meant to support the success of physicians and should not be used as a substitute for the advice of a licenced medical professional.

Neurotransmitter.net is designed and edited solely by Shawn Thomas, who may be reached at shawn@neurotransmitter.net. Shawn has received advertising funds from e-Healthcare Solutions, Google, and Epocrates. He

Contact Shawn if you wish to donate or discuss opportunities for collaboration.

 

"An especially characteristic and challenging intellectual position that has emerged out of modern and postmodern developments is one which, recognizing both an essential autonomy in the human being and a radical plasticity in the nature of reality, begins with the assertion that reality itself tends to unfold in response to the particular symbolic framework and set of assumptions that are employed by each individual and each society. The fund of data available to the human mind is of such intrinsic complexity and diversity that it provides plausible support for many different conceptions of the ultimate nature of reality. The human being must therefore choose among a multiplicity of potentially viable options, and whatever option is chosen will in turn affect both the nature of reality and the choosing subject. In this view, although there exist many defining structures in the world and in the mind that resist or compel human thought and activity in various ways, on a fundamental level the world tends to ratify, and open up according to, the character of the vision directed toward it. The world that the human being attempts to know and remake is in some sense projectively elicited by the frame of reference with which it is approached."

-Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View p. 406