By Ron Unger ... a video has just become available which, in 5 minutes, very coherently explains how a compassion focused approach can completely transform a person's relationship with their voices and so transform the person's life! … [click on title to read the rest]
Again and again I am told the ‘severely mentally ill’ are impaired and incapable, not quite human. I am told they are like dementia patients wandering in the snow, with no capacity and no cure, not to be listened to or related to. I am told they must be controlled by our interventions regardless of their own preferences, regardless of the trauma that forced treatment can inflict, regardless of the simple duty we have to regard others with caring, compassion, and respect, regardless of the guarantees of dignity we afford others in our constitution and legal system. I am told the “high utilizers” and “frequent flyers” burden services because they are different than the rest of us. I am told the human need for patience doesn’t apply to these somehow less-than-human people. And when I finally do meet the people carrying that terrible, stigmatizing label of schizophrenia, what do I find? I find – a human being. A human who responds to the same listening and curiosity that I, or anyone, responds to. … [click on title to read the rest]
Update: other regular authors who have dashboard access may be publishing while I continue to take hiatus. -- The front homepage of the blog has been reorganized with posts that include collections so folks can peruse the archives more easily while I'm not actively posting. Please also visit the drop down menus for more access to the archives. (...) [click on title to read the rest]
I have shared Helen Fisher's work before on Beyond Meds. She has done important work looking at how psychiatric drugs affect bonding and love. That post is here: Psych drugs damage ability to love/bond. I also consider in it what might be happening to young people who are going through sexual development while growing up on these drugs in that post. What I'm sharing today is much more generalized and not specifically about psychiatric drugs. There are a lot of details about romantic love in 21st century. I found it quite interesting and often quite optimistic while also taking a sobering look at the reality we find ourselves in. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
This issue comes up again and again among the folks I frequently hang out with online. People so badly want to find the perfect doctor and get very frustrated when again and again they are disrespected and/or given treatments that further harm them. I figured out a long time ago that I understand my body far better than any doctor does and the only MDs I'll work with now (on an ongoing basis) are people who actually appreciate this. I never enter a new relationship with a health professional with any expectations as well. It allows for much less frustrating experiences. At the very best I'll find a partner in my care...not someone who will tell me what to do without regard to my own particular experience. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Neuroplasticity: enormous implications for anyone who has been labeled with a psychiatric illness -- That's us, the readers of this blog...going against paradigm and healing ourselves with openness and conscientiousness. These are qualities that can be contagious. Right now we operate in a society telling us we don't know what we're doing...or that what we are doing is "woo." Just think what happens when people start understanding what is possible. Others will start to open up and see the possibilities too. This is why education and sharing our journeys are both critically important. None of what we do is unscientific by the way, it's just that science doesn't know how to measure what we're doing...
By Jon Keyes: Often when I work with someone who comes to see me I am at a loss of where to begin. Emotional distress such as depression, insomnia and anxiety often have so many tangled roots that it is hard to know where to begin. Distress often has its roots in multiple origins such as trauma, ongoing stress as well as poor lifestyle and dietary habits. On a deeper level, distress can be thought of as a singular expression of a larger pattern of disharmony that spans the globe due to underlying systemic problems of racism, poverty, colonialism and ecological devastation. If we think of the planet as one living organism, then emotional distress is a signal of systemic suffering. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Enter Amazon via a link from this blog and do the shopping you'd be doing anyway. THANK YOU [click on title to view more]
I found the below gentle yoga for the morning. It's also good for those of us with seriously challenged nervous systems at any time of the day. Those of us with protracted withdrawal syndrome need to be gentle and learn to listen to our bodies very carefully as we heal. Even yoga can trigger us or put us over the edge if we're not careful. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
It's been five years today since I completed a six year withdrawal process from a large cocktail of psychiatric drugs. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Everything Matters 
You must be logged in to post a comment.