Month: October 2014

Dr. Gabor Maté ~ Who We Are When We Are Not Addicted: The Possible Human

Whether or not you’ve ever dealt with a full-blown addiction, the compulsive desire to distract oneself from the pain of being human is universal. For this reason Gabor Maté’s work and insights can be valuable for anyone. Gabor Mate does an excellent job considering how Western modern human beings are all subject to addiction of one kind or another. I’ve shared his work here several times. Our capitalistic and consumer driven culture depends on the addict in all of us. Here Dr. Gabor Maté gives us clues as to who we are when we are not addicted. … [click on title to read and view more]

An ordinary & successful, middle-aged man’s story of going down the antidepressant rabbit hole

This is the story of an ordinary and successful, middle-aged man going down the antidepressant rabbit hole. He had no history of psychiatric care or psych drug use until he was well into maturity. We're so often told psychiatric drug withdrawal issues are from "pre-existing conditions." There are many who hang on to that belief and try to deny the harm the drugs cause. Folks like this man help make it clear that this is something that can happen to anyone who takes these drugs and it does happen to us without discrimination of any kind. There are many thousands and maybe millions impacted in some way by how these drugs debilitate. A lot of people don't even know that is why they're sick. These drugs make people sick and doctors don't even know that is why there is so much chronic illness in those labeled with mental illness. The drugs create illness that was never there. It's an epidemic that is being denied. … [click on title to read and view more]

Yoga nidra: deep (conscious) sleep, relax and rejuvinate

I've been doing yoga nidra meditations for a couple of years as part of my collection of healing practices. Lately I've been doing a lot more of it and it's so deeply relaxing and healing I thought it was time I shared it. I have to say that even though I've been doing it for two years it's only recently from a greater state of well-being that I've come to deeply appreciate the profundity of this practice. "Yoga Nidra is an an ancient form of guided meditation that has been proven effective to reduce stress, tension, anxiety, sleeplessness and many other psychological disorders." … [click on title to read and view more]

UCLA study: non-drug treatment may reverse Alzheimer’s (these lifestyle changes are also good for all mental health)

This is a good place to start for most mental health issues of any kind, really -- and, well, for general well-being too. Good health is actually rather simple. Sadly the human species has traveled a very very long way from simplicity and so it's not always, by any means, straightforward to get back to good-health. Still we can take many meaningful steps in that direction and over time make some very big changes. I've seen it done again and again among those I work with and I've done it for myself. … [click on title to read and view more]

It gets better: (Dysarthria) Psych Drug Withdrawal Symptoms

flower in a metal framing Speech Psych Drug Withdrawal Symptoms (Dysarthria) --

Speech Psych Drug Withdrawal Symptoms (Dysarthria) I find the inability to speak most of the time one of the hardest symptoms I deal with as it exponentially increases the sense of isolation one feels and friends and family simply don't understand why I can't communicate more often.

All the grief in the world: how to hold it

tears coming out of an impressionistic sky for all the grief in the world

To reframe what we’ve generally been told about mental anguish and suffering by the mental illness system is a very important part of healing. Psychiatry makes out that the individual is sick. A much more honest as well as empowering way to view much mental anguish is to see ourselves as part of the web of life. Our despair is telling us something very real and valid. We should listen to it and pay attention and learn. Feeling pain is not a weakness, it is a capacity. We can learn to let it fuel us rather than cripple us.

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Communicating With Psychosis | Dina Tyler: Madness Radio

Are there ways to reach people in states of madness? How do talking with ghosts, hearing voices, and seeing visions – as well as enduring family turmoil – relate to psychotic crisis?

When Dina Tyler discovered the meaning of life in an altered state, the treatment she received only inflicted further trauma. Dina instead embraced her madness as a guiding force for recovery, and found a way to leave labels and medications behind. Today she works as a counselor to youth experiencing psychosis, communicating across different realities with people driven away from traditional care. … [click on title to read and view more]

World mental health day: empowering ways to consider your experience

The way we consider and interpret our experience is critically important. Psychiatry and most of the mental illness system tells us we will never get better and that we will have to manage the disease of mental illness for the rest of our lives most often by taking toxic medications which can seriously negatively impact the quality of our lives and even kill us up to 25 years earlier than the rest of the population. It simply does not have to be this way. It's often not true that people's only option is to take dangerous medications for the rest of their lives and yet most people are not told about any options. … [click on title to read and view more]

Faith…does not mean the belief in assertions for which there is no evidence

Faith…does not mean the belief in assertions for which there is no evidence. It never meant that in genuine religion, and it never should be abused in this sense. But faith means being grasped by a power that is greater than we are, a power that shakes us and turns us, and transforms us and heals us. Surrender to this power is faith. … [click on title to read and view more]

Listen to your life

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, not less than in the excitement and gladness; touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. … [click on title to read and view more]

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