One of the enduring mysteries in schizophrenia research circles has been the disparity in outcomes between schizophrenia patients in “developing countries” and those in “developed” countries. The mystery arose in 1979 when World Health Organization investigators announced that, in a five-year study, patients in developing countries had fared better than those in the United States and other “developed” countries. A second study then produced the same startling results. In developing countries, the WHO researchers concluded, schizophrenia patients enjoyed “an exceptionally good social outcome,” whereas living in a developed country was a “strong predictor” that a person would never fully recover.
Refuse to fall down
September 29, 2011 By
Refuse to fall down. If you cannot refuse to fall down, refuse to stay down. If you cannot refuse to stay down, lift your heart toward heaven, and like a hungry beggar, ask that it be filled, and it will be filled. You may be pushed down. You may be kept from rising. But no [...]
It’s easy to become your illness, fear is powerful and contagious: watch a man who learns to NOT do this
September 29, 2011 By
After any major physical “insult,” as they call it, it’s all too easy to see yourself as a collection of symptoms rather than as a total human being, including your spirit — and thus to become your illness. Fear is powerful and contagious. At first I allowed myself to catch it, worried that if I [...]
The descent experience: metaphor for serious illness
September 28, 2011 By
Why are we sick? There are many levels of reality at which we can answer that question – the political, the economic, the biochemical, the psychological. And then there’s the mystical.
Mindfulness = Heartfulness
September 27, 2011 By
In Asian languages [such as Mandarin],
the word for ‘mind’ and
the word for ‘heart’ are the same word [心].
So when we hear the word ‘mindfulness’,
we have to inwardly also hear ‘heartfulness’
in order to grasp it even as a concept,
and especially as a way of being.
Our culture and society have destroyed the conditions required for healthy childhood development
September 27, 2011 By
So nice to see that some people are willing to not only look fearlessly at our culture and society, but also how that culture and society has shaped them. This is where the future lies. In . taking individual responsibility for the mess that the whole entire human species finds itself in.
Psychiatric drug withdrawal, kundalini and shamanic initiatory illness
September 26, 2011 By
Shaking, vibration, altered states of consciousness ranging from comatose to euphoric, extremely long periods of insomnia or hypersomnia, inability to tolerate eating, food cravings, headaches, nausea and vomiting, nightmares, suicidality, pain, heart palpitations, fear of going crazy, feeling tormented, terror, being bed-ridden, agitation, weakness, cognitive confusion, seizures, muscular rigidity, tingling, impaired vision, hearing unusual sounds, seeing lights, other hallucinations or visions, obsessive or impulsive behavior, rages, crying jags, severe depression, vertigo, seeming drunk without taking any substance, exhaustion, chills, heat, sweating, tendency to withdrawal and agoraphobia.
What am I describing?
The many guest writers on Beyond Meds
September 25, 2011 By
This blog owes much of its success and influence to the great authors who chose to share their work here. Below are just a few of the more prolific contributors. There are links to their blogs or websites in the body of the posts where you can get more information about each author.
This being human…
September 24, 2011 By
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
giannakali
Will Hall
kimbriel
altmentalities
