Apple, fennel, dandelion salad #foodie friday
This was a delicious, crisp, fresh and refreshing salad I made.
I used a tart apple and half a bulb of fennel. The dandelion I picked in our yard and out and about the neighborhood. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Idealization of the therapist / psychiatrist / doctor / clinician
I think idealization of the therapist is something everybody involved (clients, clinicians and society) participate in…and therapists…quite often enjoy the illusion and can even feed on it…yes.
Conscious awareness is vitally important and given the inherent power dynamic it remains the therapists job to help the client understand that they, the therapist, are, indeed, not imbued with special powers. this too helps the client with reality checking and a good sense of their own power vis a vis that of the therapist. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
New social media campaign features stories of individuals who reject psychiatric diagnosis
The Open Paradigm Project, in collaboration with MadinAmerica.com, Occupy Psychiatry, and leading organizations in the movement to reform mental health care, announces a social media campaign showcasing video testimonials by individuals negatively impacted by the traditional psychiatric model, which focuses on pathology and illness rather than wellness and recovery. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
there is no such thing as a monolithic state called depression
depression is always a mixture of many things…there is no such thing as a monolithic state called depression…the fact that people imagine that is the case, is a problem. (includes list of posts to rethink depression) … [click on title for the rest of the post]
freaky sensations and surrender
Freaky weird sensations bubbling forth from deep in my body tonight. Releasing old traumatic stuff from the body never ceases to be fascinating…if also on occasion annoying. I’d rather be sleeping.
At this point I don’t differentiate between that which is “withdrawal” (iatrogenic injury) and that which is “trauma” it seems to help to just pay attention to all of it as though it has something to tell me regardless of origin. Also, withdrawal is trauma in any case. As Charles Whitfield, MD has said and established, psychiatric drugs are agents of trauma.
The only discipline that makes sense anymore is surrender. That and then paying attention. I continue to heal. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
The difference between pain and suffering
I’ve learned what is spoken about in this video is true. Acute pain will never be easy, but it is possible to no longer suffer in many regards. Also as one moves into this much pain actually starts healing too. This is a wonderful talk for anyone who suffers from chronic pain and really any kind of pain, physical or emotional. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Knowing Thyself Versus Changing Thyself
Socrates’ admonition to “know thyself” flies in the face of many modern ideas that urge us instead to “change thyself!” If we’re not happy all the time, we have a collective tendency to think something is wrong with us, that we should alter our mood with Prozac, positive thinking, buying or acquiring, working harder or seeking solace in relationship. In order to be OK with ourselves, we have to change rather than become curious about understanding all parts of ourselves.
Worse yet, there is the notion that if only we can get rid of aspects of ourselves — our anger, hate, greed, envy, sadness, vulnerability, our shameful parts — all will be well. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Living after loss: the Adventure of Grief
I’d like to note that the message in this video can be generalized to all kinds of loss and trauma too. Not just the loss of a loved one.
We must feel our emotions!! And embrace all of life! Psychiatry is a whole field of medicine dedicated to the suppression of emotions and the darkness of our psyches. The healing involved in coming out of decades of this suppression is phenomenally difficult and perhaps sometimes impossible. This is why I do the work I do, that people today learn to embrace their lives rather than drug it away. If you block the negative emotions you in turn block all the positive emotions. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
DSM5 the latest news and happenings…collected (updating regularly)
A collection of articles on the DSM in the news today and recently. We’re watching a house come down!! It looks like the publication of DSMV is — not at all by design — turning into a watershed event. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Ecstatic dance as practice: there is a dance that only you know how to do
There is a dance that only you know how to do, Gabrielle says. The Wave makes it fun to experience the ecstasy of your body in motion to some of the most irresistible high-energy dance music we’ve ever heard! … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Mental Health Europe makes important statement about DSM and bio-psychiatry (PRESS RELEASE)
Western psychiatry is in crisis. The direction taken by the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5), due to be published later this week, has received ample criticism. Moreover, in disagreement with the American Psychiatric Association, the United States National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the world’s largest research institute, has announced they will no longer fund projects based exclusively on DSM categories. Unfortunately, while Mental Health Europe considers the NIMH decision to be the right one, by focusing almost entirely on neuroscience and on so-called disorders of the brain, the NIMH is missing out on the critical importance of user experiences to psychiatric research and to the practice of psychiatry. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Queries Concerning Psychotherapy and Privilege
These are great questions for everyone to ask themselves. And they’re questions anyone in the helping professions need to ask if they want to serve people with honesty and integrity. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
How to escape education’s death valley
3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Cold-turkeying off psych drugs is not a wise choice except in a life-threatening emergency
I am seeing an unfortunate trend in the psychiatric survivor community: People are saying cold turkey can be a perfectly fine way to go off psychiatric drugs.
We know many people get away with cold turkey, but others injure their nervous systems severely, for months or years. You don’t know in advance what will happen. Even a taper over a month reduces the risk of injury.
What’s more, if you do get withdrawal syndrome, you’re on your own. You cannot imagine how bad it can be. There’s no real medical treatment. You can’t count on a nice doctor with a pill to save you.
We need to get together to protect each other, the way the gay community united to encourage safe sex to protect people from HIV infection.
Please help spread the word: Friends do not let friends cold turkey. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Yoga for Trauma Survivors (and info on trauma and the body)
That trauma deeply impacts the body is something people are still just starting to understand.Those of us using yoga and other body/mind techniques to heal learn just how profound the body/mind connection is. Yoga has been a profoundly healing part of my journey for past traumas (both experiential and the iatrogenic trauma that psychiatric drugs imposed) and for rehabilitation after having been bedridden for a couple of years. The below information about yoga healing and integrating PTSD and past trauma is very important practice, news and research. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
“This is not a war to control dangerous drugs. This is a war to control the poor.”
For over forty years, America’s “War on Drugs” has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs in America are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. Filmed in more than twenty U.S. states, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN captures heart-wrenching stories at all levels of America’s drug war – from the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge. Together, these stories pose urgent questions: What caused the war? What perpetuates it? And what can be done to stop it? … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Three living people I’d like to meet over a cup of tea…
I was thinking about who I’d like to meet of all living people today. I came up with three rather different sorts of lovely human beings. Just off the top of my head today, in this moment. There are of course many people it would be delightful to meet and chat with. Perhaps I’ll do a post like this from time to time. What is interesting though is when I thought about anyone I’d meet, it’s specifically people I imagine I’d get on with really well…and with comfort. Soul kin, so to speak. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Psychiatry under fire in the UK — British Psychological Society takes issue with the bio-medical model
In a groundbreaking move that has already prompted a fierce backlash from psychiatrists, the British Psychological Society’s division of clinical psychology (DCP) will on Monday issue a statement declaring that, given the lack of evidence, it is time for a “paradigm shift” in how the issues of mental health are understood. The statement effectively casts doubt on psychiatry’s predominantly biomedical model of mental distress – the idea that people are suffering from illnesses that are treatable by doctors using drugs. The DCP said its decision to speak out “reflects fundamental concerns about the development, personal impact and core assumptions of the (diagnosis) systems”, used by psychiatry.
Dr Lucy Johnstone, a consultant clinical psychologist who helped draw up the DCP’s statement, said it was unhelpful to see mental health issues as illnesses with biological causes.
“On the contrary, there is now overwhelming evidence that people break down as a result of a complex mix of social and psychological circumstances – bereavement and loss, poverty and discrimination, trauma and abuse,” … [click title for link]
Important souls (let us recognize trauma in the lives of those who are called mentally ill)
When we start listening to people’s stories of pain rather than numbing them out and effectively silencing them with neurotoxic drugs we will start healing them. Until then people will remain broken. One of the most basic needs for a wounded human being to heal is to be seen. Recognized. Validated. Yes. … [click title for link]
My mini memoir at Mad in America
Everything Matters: a Memoir From Before, During and After Psychiatric Drugs
New article up at Mad in America…
check it out…it’s got before and after pictures…of me… [click title for link]
To those suffering acute and protracted withdrawal symptoms… (it gets better!)
When I was at the height of this illness (I had over 50 severe and disabling symptoms) I felt hateful, bitter and angry…and most of those emotions were caused by what some of us call “neuro-emotions” meaning they were grossly exaggerated because of the condition and the brain/neurological injury that so many of us are dealing with. Believe me I did not always deal with this iatrogenic injury with anything resembling grace.
So, yes, I have hope for everyone. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Sprouting beans and seeds… ( #foodie friday)
I’ve just started sprouting beans and seeds. Since I’ve had cut down my meat intake due to my histamine issues, I’m learning to maximize nutrients in veggie foods. Sprouting beans and seeds is one way to not only minimize phytates (natural toxins in legumes and seeds and grains) but also maximizes other nutrients and protein in the seed, bean or legume. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Emotional Intimacy
Robert Augustus Masters is an Integral psychotherapist, relationship expert, and spiritual teacher whose work blends the psychological and physical with the spiritual, emphasizing embodiment, emotional literacy, and the development of relational maturity. Here, Robert and Tami discuss emotional literacy and how it is lacking in our culture today. They consider differences in cultural conditioning between men and women when it comes to expressing emotions and the need to develop a toolkit to identify and work skillfully with anger. [click on title for the rest of the post]
I Wish You Great Heartbreak
Reblogged from Smiling Buddha Cabaret: I have no mercy for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight. ~Malcolm X Last night I watched an hour long documentary called War in the Mind. The full program is on the web so you […]
Congressman Tim Ryan on A Mindful Nation
“A quiet revolution is happening in America.” So says Tim Ryan, Ohio congressman and author of A Mindful Nation, which documents the spread of mindfulness meditation across the US, and argues for its widespread adoption as a way to favourably affect the country’s healthcare system, economy, schools and military. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
How do antipsychotic drugs have their effect?
Reblogged from Simon McCarthy-Jones' blog: Today I’d like to draw your attention to a new paper just published by Moritz and colleagues (link here), which examines how antipsychotic drugs have their effect. What did it do? This on-line study involved 95 people, who had experience of taking antipsychotics, completing a questionnaire called the Effect of […]
the truth will defend itself (and some links on hearing voices too)
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it.
Let it loose; it will defend itself. ~ St. Augustine … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Video interview with John Nash of Beautiful Mind fame (with commentary)
John Nash in the below video says explicitly he never used psychiatric drugs again after an initial period of crisis and the movie was purposely misleading because the screenwriter’s mother was a psychologist enamored with psych meds and feared people would go off their meds if they knew the truth. Horrifying, isn’t that?
So, John Nash recovered from what is often labeled schizophrenia. The fact is there are countless others who also recover every day and are simply forgotten — the system and those who support long-term maintenance psychotropic drug use denies they were ever sick if they are mentioned.
But this is untrue. People recover and move on from such crisis all the time. There is a long list of such folks who share such stories here on Beyond Meds. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
this practice, this life…
This practice is like walking in a heavy mist. It penetrates slowly, permeating every, every, everything, until it reaches the bone and then inside the marrow of the bone. All along the way, we have had glorious moments of, “Yes, I get it! I see–yes, yes!” And then we walk on, into the mist ahead. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Schizophrenia: A drop of sunshine
It may be one word, but it immediately conjures up multiple connotations – mad, incurable, violent, suicidal, chemical imbalances, crazy, a lifelong condition, an inevitable dependency on Medicines. This film questions this negative mainstream view of the condition, and wonders if an alternative destiny for a person with a diagnosis is possible. It charts out the story of Reshma Valliappan, who now lives a fulfilling life, free of medicines. The film explores a controversial, but ultimately empowering, view of the condition, which a small minority of brave psychologists and psychiatrists are beginning to embrace across the world. It also proposes a contrarian approach towards treatment for the condition, where the patient is encouraged and equipped to become an equal partner in the process of healing. (entire film available to view here) with additional commentary and information … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Saturday mellow
Meditation – Keith Jarrett – If you don’t know Keith Jarrett he’s a pianist and this is a piano piece that is called meditation. Given I often post actual meditations on this blog I thought I might need to point that out.
NIMH is abandoning the DSM!
Another big WOW piece of news. I’ll let it stand alone. Thank you for alerting us Mind Hacks.
It’s not like Insel is generally an enlightened sort, but this remains fascinating!
UPDATE: I read the NIMH announcement. (when I first posted this I had just woken up) As I said above, Insel is hardly an enlightened sort. This probably isn’t as positive as it sounds. Although acknowledging the limitations of DSM is good, what will eventually replace it is likely to be even more reductive, i.e. the criteria for diagnosis will likely become all biological based on genetics, scans and other kinds of testing without reference to anything involved outside the patient’s body.
That’s not to diminish the value of discarding conceptual categories. It’s not that long ago that mental illness was mostly classified as hysteria. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Imagine yourself as a living house…
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He […]
The “mental illness” paradigm—an insidious cancer
For those of you who haven’t read this recent story in the New York Times, I highly recommend it. It is essentially a woman’s (Linda Logan’s) rich and moving autobiographical account of her struggle with “bipolar disorder.” The main message that I imagine most people will take away from this story is that the current mental health care system has some real problems — especially with regard to the often cold and dehumanizing way that “patients” are treated—but that the general paradigm from which this treatment model has emerged is simply not to be questioned. In other words, Linda has clearly adopted the “mental illness as a lifelong brain disease” paradigm and has personally identified as someone who has such a “mental illness.” … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Pain and suffering
You change your relationship to the pain by opening up to it and paying attention to it. You ‘put out the welcome mat.’ Not because you’re masochistic, but because the pain is there. So you need to understand the nature of the experience and the possibilities for, as the doctors might put it, ‘learning to live with it,’ or, as the Buddhists might put it, ‘liberation from the suffering.’ If you distinguish between pain and suffering, change is possible. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
WOW!!! Vatican to hear debate about psychiatric drugs for kids
Robert Whitaker, Irving Kirsch, Joanna Moncrieff, Pat Bracken, Giovanni Fava, Jaakko Seikkula and others are to participate in a June 14-15 conference, hosted by the Vatican, that will examine the evidence for (and against) the rise of psychiatric medication and fall of psychosocial treatment for children.
Press release for the June 13 press conference associated with the event: … [click on title for the rest of the post]
What’s it like to do an intense, silent meditation retreat?
RETREAT follows thirty-five Westerners as they attempt an intense, eight-week, silent, meditation retreat in Thailand led by the American Buddhist teacher, B. Alan Wallace. Some are experienced mediators, some are beginners. The practice they’re learning is shamatha, or calm abiding, stilling the mind with sustained, one-pointed, concentration…simple enough sounding, but extremely difficult to master…and considered to be an essential step on the path to full enlightenment. Alan Wallace teaches it through a Buddhist understanding of the nature of consciousness and contrasts that with the prevailing materialist paradigm of modern neuroscience. …
The Toxic Assault on Our Children
Biologist, mother and activist Sandra Steingraber discusses her fight against fracking and toxins contaminating our air, water and food….because…EVERYTHING matters. Your relationships with others and the planet, the food you eat, and the air you breath…. how often you move your body and the thoughts you nurture in your mind and soul. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Dylan Tighe – “RECORD: Questioning A Scientific View of Mental Health” Play Features Madness Radio
Theatre-Maker and musician Dylan Tighe uses his own psychiatric history to probe some of the assumptions underpinning a scientific view of mental health. The play proposes artistic expression, and lived experience- as capable of offering insights into the mind (and heart) which science cannot penetrate. This alternative record of mental health centres around Dylan Tighe’s psychiatric records and personal research and includes songs from his debut album RECORD exploring his diagnosis and experience, along with a collage of sonic and musical sources, documentary, dramatic scenes and archive samples relating to the science behind the concept of “mental illness” … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Free the Mind
FREE THE MIND is the fantastic tale of how one man’s vision provides a turning point in the lives of three people.
Professor Davidson sets out to discover if, and how, it may be possible to physically change the brain using only the power of thought.
Steve and Rich are just two out of thousands of American war veterans. Their lives have turned into painful nightmares: they are restless insomniacs tormented by their own consciences after events witnessed and deeds done during wartime.
Will, just 5 years old, suffers from ADHD and anxiety. His parents are eager to try options other than those provided by traditional medicine. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
More: Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (trauma in childhood associated with many later problems, including that which gets labeled mental illness)
The CDC’s ACE Study summarized in 14-minute video from Academy on Violence & Abuse
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) is the product of collaboration between Vincent J. Felitti, MD, who founded and directed the Preventive Medicine Department at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, CA, and Robert F. Anda, MD, MS of the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who designed, analyzed the data and prepared numerous scientific publications from the ACE Study. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Saturday mellow Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea – “Spain”
Saturday mellow Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea – “Spain”
Spiritual practice with partners and family as Zen masters
Real life is the monastery these days.
Dialogue on awakening beyond thought between Gary Weber and Rich Doyle. No need to go to monastery to awaken. How to make your “personal situation” into an important part of your spiritual practice. Partner and kids as your best Zen masters. Working w/button pushing. Difference between “love” and “attachment”. “Love” as “acceptance”, not “attachment”. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Sicilian dandelion soup ( #foodie friday)
An Italian friend of mine and I were discussing the meals of our youth (we are both American-Italians) when she mentioned a dish I’d never had. Dandelion soup. I grew up eating lots of dandelion but it was generally sauteed in garlic and olive oil and then served as such. The simple sauteed dish remains my very favorite vegetable dish. We’ve been growing domesticated (wild) dandelion for a couple of years since I love itso much and could eat it daily. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
We are human only through relationship
A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Psychosis, healing and rebirth
People can heal the sensitivity to become psychotic by becoming AWARE…that is a growth and maturation process…when one matures enough to become an observer of their thoughts and become discerning about the content of their thoughts psychosis pretty much goes away…
Psychosis is, among (many) other things, also, quite often, a deep attachment to one’s (not consensually reasonable) thoughts and beliefs. To be clear much of what is consensually and widely believed in society and the mainstream is also delusional. It’s just generally accepted. R.D Laing has much to say about the “normal” human being. Let’s just say that real clarity and lucidity is not normal. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Living with suicidal feelings
It’s time for a new understanding of suicidal feelings.
Is it really best to force someone into the hospital when they are suicidal? Do suicidal feelings plus “risk factors” really mean professionals can predict whether someone might try to kill themselves? And are suicidal feelings the symptom of a treatable illness that should include medication prescription? … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Stress Proof Your Brain
Rick Hanson makes it easy to understand how neuroplasticity works and how we can use simple exercises to help heal our brains, minds, bodies and lives.
Hanson will:
Make clear the neuroscience of stress
Offer practical and proven methods for feeling less irritable, sad, and defensive
Present simple daily exercises to reprogram the brain to handle stress better
Explain how cultivating love and compassion for self and others combats anxiety
Share simple, brain-savvy ways to build resilience and inner strength
Many who ‘benefit’ from meds will have enduring problems from physical dependence & other legacy effects
Please read this article by Dr. David Healy. Many of the readers of this blog are the living victims of what he speaks. Some of us did believe that the drugs “saved” us for some time before discovering that the pay off was far worse than the temporary save. … [click on title to read the rest]
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Monica Cassani
Will Hall
