Until we understand what the land is, we are at odds with everything we touch. And to come to that understanding it is necessary, even now, to leave the regions of our conquest - the cleared fields, the towns and cities, the highways - and re-enter the woods. ... [click on title to read more]
Dan Fisher, MD, PhD, is the executive director of the federally funded National Empowerment Center in Massachusetts and helped lead the White House’s first Commission on Mental Health. He is an advisor for the White House’s National Dialogues on Mental Health initiative. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized several times as a young man, Dr. Fisher is one of the few psychiatrists in the country who speaks openly about his recovery from a severe mental illness diagnosis. He travels the world extensively conducting public health workshops, community dialogues, and mental health recovery conferences... [click on title to read more]
I've often talked about how addiction plagues all of us in some form or another whether or not we exhibit the overtly self-destructive habits of some of the folks who actually get labeled as addicts. Of course the tamer versions that affect the masses are also very destructive. We all destroy the environment and our own spiritual inheritance with our voracious appetites for more...always more. ... [click on title to read more]
What is considered an illness is not an illness in my opinion, rather it’s the consciousness of the individual adjusting itself, rearranging itself. The stories here are not about any specific schizophrenic experience, but an examination of awarenesses that may have become activated by the condition of so-called schizophrenia (SZ), as in the case of myself who lived with the symptoms of SZ for 46 years, then experienced a complete remission. My goal is to bridge the gap between what’s considered normal and what’s considered crazy. There exists a continuum between the consciousness that’s experiencing disruptions creating behavior that seems crazy and the consciousness that’s stable or what’s considered normal. I want people to consider this continuum that may exist for them. [click on title to read more]
By being with yourself, the 'I am'; by watching yourself in your daily life with alert interest, with the intention to understand rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever may emerge, because it is there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface and enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies. This is the great work of awareness; it removes obstacles and releases energies by understanding the nature of life and mind. Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence. [click on title to read more]
Today is suicide prevention day. I've compiled a few posts that consider suicide in various ways and especially consider ways to deeply support people dealing with such inner pain. ... [click on title to read more]
Clinical psychologist and vocal critic of psychiatry Richard Bentall reveals why social inequality, racism and the built environment have a far more significant role to play in mental illness than the biomedical establishment acknowledges... This basically breaks down the epigenetic link--that being that while genetics may have some bearing on what gets labeled mental illness, ultimately the heritability quotient has little to do with whether such distress develops because the environment is so critical...
My practice tells me I can no longer distinguish clearly between neurosis of self and neurosis of world, psychopathology of self and psychopathology of world. Moreover, it tells me that to place neurosis and psychopathology solely in personal reality is a delusional repression of what is actually, realistically, being experienced. The whole world is sick….and... Continue Reading →
Without appropriate care and integration trauma changes both our bodies and minds for many years and sometimes for our entire lives. Right now the mental health system knows virtually nothing about how to care for people who have been traumatized and in fact often traumatizes them further. It’s downright dangerous to subject a traumatized person to most social services. This is a tragedy that has to end. The woman in the above video is not alone in knowing how to approach those traumatized. We need this sort of empathic and loving care system wide...
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