Just for fun...kitties and more kitties. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Happy halloween…an excuse to celebrate with my black kitties (photos)
We all have stories and context — diagnosis try to strip that away from us
Everything that happens in our lives (and all our encounters with psychiatry) are SITUATIONAL. Always. There is no such thing as a clinical depression without a "situation." That is a ludicrous and destructive fantasy. The same is true for anyone with any diagnosis. Schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety, OCD. We all have stories and context. Diagnosis try to strip that away from us. The fact is EVERY single person with a diagnosis has an individual, unique story and context. Everything matters. Diagnosis (as currently most frequently used) are reductionistic lies that try to remove us from the fabric of our lives. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Restoring the Body: Yoga, EMDR, and Treating Trauma
"Trauma really does confront you with the best and the worst. You see the horrendous things that people do to each other, but you also see resiliency, the power of love, the power of caring, the power of commitment, the power of commitment to oneself, the knowledge that there are things that are larger than our individual survival. And in some ways, I don’t think you can appreciate the glory of life unless you also know the dark side of life" … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Madness: a meaningful journey
A personal experience of hearing voices: - - More on this topic on Beyond Meds: Hearing voices: living and thriving as voice hearers Psychosis recovery: stories, information and resources Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift in our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis Madness as a reckoning of one’s own psyche. Yes.
The mal-practice of psychiatry – By Paul Levy
I first entered the psychiatric world in the middle of a life-transforming spiritual awakening which had gotten catalyzed because of intense emotional abuse from a psychopathic father. Spiritually emerging into a more expansive and whole part of myself, I was beginning to recognize the dreamlike nature of the universe, a universe in which we were all inseparably interconnected with each other. I was so enthusiastic about my realizations that the anti-bliss patrol got alerted and I got put into psychiatric hospitals, where I got (mis)diagnosed and medicated out of my mind such that my spiritual awakening got extinguished and I felt traumatized—literally, made sick—by the treatment I received. While I was under the “care” of psychiatry, it was a waking nightmare: the more I was solidified in the role of being the sick one, the sicker I got, which in a diabolically self-perpetuating feedback loop, only confirmed to the psychiatrists how “sick” I truly was. After the “treatment” I received from the psychiatric system, I became truly sick. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
What is Mental Health Herbalism?
By Jon Keyes Mental health herbalism is the practice of working with herbs and other plants to improve well being, develop keener insight into patterns of imbalance and to reduce emotional distress. As a licensed professional counselor and herbalist, I often incorporate the use of herbs for helping people to get stronger and feel better. I have seen herbs improve mental health and I have also seen herbs bring profound insights that help a person work through emotional knots. Plants not only work on a physical level, they are able to transform people emotionally and spiritually as well. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Healing bath: a longstanding coping and gently medicinal therapy
Baths have been one of the most consistently helpful therapeutic practices I've used since I became ill with protracted psychiatric drug withdrawal. For a few years it was a daily and sometimes twice daily way I managed. A bath with the right ingredients can take the edge off of all manner of painful and debilitating symptoms. Sometimes just briefly, but when you're living in the moment, out of necessity, that is enough. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Obey me
I got an email from Thomas Fallon. He submitted the below photograph (self-portrait). I thought it was powerful and that too many of us know what that image is conveying. It's hard for me to look at, but I've been there. Have you? … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Why trust is worth it
Both watching and listening intently to this video is well worth it. Enjoy. I suggest making it full screen too. It's a powerful and mesmerizing few minutes. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
If we were abandoned…
The thing that strikes me most about this is the idea that we must be true to ourselves and in that we must be willing to feel. If we are not willing to feel all the ways we’ve been hurt and to acknowledge to ourselves that pain we cannot heal. It is an abandonment of self to not feel. It made me think of this article which I’ve always loved and in fact the title has become a mantra of sorts for when I am facing any difficulty…physical, emotional or spiritual, actually … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Everything matters 
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