
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]
Alternatives to psychiatry

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]

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]

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]

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 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]
