{"id":5549,"date":"2010-11-08T15:51:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T14:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=5549"},"modified":"2010-11-11T11:25:15","modified_gmt":"2010-11-11T10:25:15","slug":"richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RichardThe number of diseases seems to be increasing dramatically with the arrival of conditions like social phobia, attention deficit disorder, chronic procrastination syndrome, and female sexual arousal disorder. Now this progression has reached its logical conclusion\u2014with the proposal that happiness be classified as a disease.<\/p>\n

I made this discovery when reading Philip Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater<\/em>. Many, including me, think that Roth is the greatest living writer in English, and Sabbath’s Theater<\/em> may be his masterpiece. It’s the story of the disintegration of Mickey Sabbath, a retired puppeteer in his 60s, a kind of contemporary King Lear.<\/p>\n

At one point in the book Mickey is visiting his alcoholic wife in a clinic and after betting on the blood pressure of various patients he encounters a young woman with \u201ca scar on her wrist\u201d who has been in the library of the clinic reading medical journals. She reports \u201cword for word\u201d on what she has read in the Journal of Medical Ethics<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I was stopped short when I read this\u2014because the Journal of Medical Ethics<\/em> is published by the BMJ Group<\/em>, and I was responsible for it when I was the chief executive of the group. For a moment I wondered if the piece was really from the Journal of Medical Ethics<\/em>. The young woman reports on what she has read.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is proposed that happiness\u201d–glancing up, she said ‘Their italics’– \u201cIt is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains\u2014that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roth mimics well the stilted prose of medical journals with their heavy emphasis on the passive voice. He also mimics the science that leads to problems becoming diseases. The \u201crelevant literature\u201d has been reviewed. This made me think immediately of Stephen Lock, my predecessor as editor of the BMJ<\/em>, who always struck out \u201cmedical literature\u201d and substituted \u201cpublished reports.\u201d \u201cThis stuff is not literature\u201d he used to protest.<\/p>\n

One scientific ground for declaring happiness a disease is that it is \u201cstatistically abnormal.\u201d There are many ways to define what is \u201cnormal,\u201d none of them satisfactory. One way to define the abnormal is to take measurements and define anything more than two standard deviations from the mean as abnormal. This means that every measurement renders 5% of the population abnormal. Take enough measurements\u2014for instance, from a whole body scan\u2014and we are all abnormal.<\/p>\n

And for Roth, and certainly for Mickey Sabbath, it would be abnormal to be happy. Sabbath\u2019s younger brother, whom he adored, was killed over Japan in the Second World War. His mother remained inconsolable for the rest of her long life and haunted Sabbath both before and after her death. Sabbath fled to sea and whoring, and his sexual incontinence, common among Roth\u2019s characters, brought him much trouble interspersed with bouts of ecstasy.\u00a0 His first wife disappeared, and his second took to drink. His long term mistress, somebody with a sexual appetite equal to his, died of ovarian cancer in her 50s.<\/p>\n

Clearly for Sabbath it is abnormal to be happy, and, as Pink Floyd sing, \u201changing on in quiet desperation is the English way to be.\u201d There is much in the world to be depressed about, less to be happy about. Depression is appropriate, happiness inappropriate.<\/p>\n

Then happiness is surely \u201ca discrete cluster of symptoms\u2026associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities.\u201d People laugh and smile foolishly, speak too fast,\u00a0 and exhibit \u201ccognitive abnormalities\u201d by failing to keep in mind death, decay, the plight of the globe, and the essential thoughtlessness, wickedness, and selfishness of people.<\/p>\n

Clinching the proposition that happiness is a disease, the author of the paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics<\/em> then writes that happiness probably \u201creflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system.\u201d This is not an imaginary disease but one that could be demonstrated with anatomical, biochemical, or genetic abnormalities if we were clever enough.<\/p>\n

Finally, some shallow readers of this blog might object that happiness is \u201cnot negatively valued\u201d (Roth again mocks scientific writers’ love of double negatives like \u201cnot uncommon\u201d), but this claim, the original author dismisses, as \u201cscientifically irrelevant.\u201d Scientists are prone to such grand dismissals, and I dare any BMJ<\/em> reader to say that happiness is not a disease. That it is so is proved.<\/p>\n

See also: Julian Sheather: Is happiness a mental disorder?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of diseases seems to be increasing dramatically with the arrival of conditions like social phobia, attention deficit disorder, chronic procrastination syndrome, and female sexual arousal disorder. Now this […]<\/p>\n

More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[955],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-richard-smith"],"yoast_head":"\nRichard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number of diseases seems to be increasing dramatically with the arrival of conditions like social phobia, attention deficit disorder, chronic procrastination syndrome, and female sexual arousal disorder. Now this [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":809,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Richard-Smith.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Richard Smith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/\",\"name\":\"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Richard-Smith.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Richard-Smith.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Richard-Smith.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/08\\\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\",\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BMJ\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ","og_description":"The number of diseases seems to be increasing dramatically with the arrival of conditions like social phobia, attention deficit disorder, chronic procrastination syndrome, and female sexual arousal disorder. Now this [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"BMJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BMJ","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/"},"author":{"name":"BMJ","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe"},"headline":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease","datePublished":"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/"},"wordCount":809,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg","articleSection":["Richard Smith"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/","name":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg","datePublished":"2010-11-08T14:51:34+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-11T10:25:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Richard-Smith.jpg","width":540,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/11\/08\/richard-smith-now-happiness-is-declared-a-disease\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe","name":"BMJ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"BMJ"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}