Is mental illness real?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

There is often a debate that goes on between those who embrace psychiatry and those who are critical of it…and everyone inbetween for that matter too…as to whether or not mental illness is real. The spectrum of where one stands on the issue of psychiatry is really very broad and diverse though people like to believe it’s always an either/or proposition. Little in life is that black and white even if it’s easier to imagine it to be the case.

So. Mental illness. Is it real?

As I suggested above the answer is not a simple yes or no. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

My heart wants you awake…

I-Am-That-by-Sri-Nisargadatta-Maharaj-free-pdf-ebook-194x300

My intention to wake you up is the link [between our respective dreams]. My heart wants you awake. I see you suffer in your dream and I know that you must wake up to end your woes. When you see your dream as dream, you wake up. But in your dream itself I am not […]

Mental illness: five hard questions

Nikolas Rose

The questions are: Is there an ‘epidemic’ of mental disorder? Does the path to understanding mental disorder lie through the brain? What is the role of diagnosis and of diagnostic manuals? Should we seek early identification of those at risk of future mental pathology? What is the place of patients, users, survivors, consumers in the mental health system? … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Remaining with yourself must be the complete priority…

h-mo

The nurturing of vigilance lies in this growing rootedness around not abandoning yourself, not moving away. Remaining with yourself must be the complete priority, otherwise the world is your master. You will run from and feel limited by external circumstances. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

David Oaks says: SPEAK UP! FIGHT INJUSTICE!

david

Damn, I’m inspired.

David Oaks, co-founder and former executive director of MindFreedom International, is a leader and a visionary. After experiencing forced drugging and solitary confinement in the mental health system as a young man, he’s devoted his life to fighting against stigmatizing psychiatric labels, forced drugging, and human rights abuses. He led the 2003 MindFreedom Hunger Strike/Fast For Freedom where 6 psychiatric survivors fasted for weeks, challenging the American Psychiatric Association to provide solid evidence for the biological basis of mental/emotional distress. Despite an unbelievably COLD initial response from the APA, the strikers did not give up, and the APA was ultimately forced to admit that it had no scientific evidence that mental distress was a “neurobiological illness.”

Give in to being, be who you are…

book of awakening

We are born with only one obligation—to be completely who we are. Yet how much of our time is spent comparing ourselves to others, dead or alive? This is encouraged as necessary in the pursuit of excellence. Yet a flower in its excellence does not yearn to be a fish, and a fish in its […]

No matter how much we might neglect or mistreat it, our body calls us back

body

No matter how much we might neglect or mistreat it, our body calls us back — through its aches and pains and imbalances — to take real care of it, to integrate it with the rest of our being, to honor and love it, and to recognize it not as something that we are “in” but rather as an inherently sacred expression of who and what we truly are. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

We are all addicts… (UPDATED)

Whether we got our drugs legally or illegally, we all end up looking like this at some point.

There is an argument that comes up again and again in the benzo withdrawal community that attempts to differentiate those with dependency issues stemming from legal prescription drug use from dependency stemming from illegally procured drugs.

Since a lot of so-called “street addicts” do take benzos it’s a sore spot among a lot of benzo folks who had their drugs legally prescribed. They do not want to be associated with street addicts. I find this posturing unfortunate. It actually breaks my heart. I’ve worked with addicts of all kinds. People with legal and illegal habits both. Some differences are apparent yes, but I’ve seen far more to convince me of our similarities rather than our differences. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

The brain’s greatest con trick

theselfillusion

Self Illusion: The brain’s greatest con trick? .. showing that the concept of the ‘self’ is a figment of the brain, generated as a character to weave our internal processes and experiences together into a coherent narrative. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

one for the old boy

bukowski with cat

My friend Yan Zhitui of BeingsAkin sent me this poem by Charles Bukowski since I just lost my Jezebel. I, like Charles below,  found that my kitty remained in my heart and woke up the day after she died to a sense of peace and joy knowing she was still with me…life unfolds it’s mysteries […]

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,036 other followers