By Jon Keyes - Pleasure is underrated these days. People ask, “What do you do for a living? What are you working on?” I can’t lately remember someone asking me “what do you do for pleasure?” “How do you feel joy?” Perhaps as our lives fade, those are the things we will remember the most, not what we built, but how well we slowed down and connected, tasted and touched, savored with delight and pleasure. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
FAA in the USA does not allow pilots to fly on SSRIs without careful monitoring -- this is not because people who are depressed are dangerous...it's because SSRIs are often dangerous. They have been, for a long time, associated with increased suicidal impulses as well as violence. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I no longer believe that I “lost” my life to drugs. This is, as Mary Oliver, puts it, my “one wild and precious life.” Yes, this is it and so I celebrate it. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
The realization of impermanence is paradoxically the only thing we can hold onto, perhaps our only lasting possession. It is like the sky, or the earth. No matter how much everything around us may change or collapse, they endure. Say we go through a shattering emotional crisis … our whole life seems to be disintegrating … our husband or wife suddenly leaves us without warning. The earth is still there; the sky is still there. Of course, even the earth trembles now and again, just to remind us we cannot take anything for granted … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Anyway -- any mental health professional that doesn't recognize that the mental health system is rife with potential abuse and harm is dangerous to those who've already been harmed and to many who may yet be harmed. There are many folks in the system at this point that actually do understand the reality. Times are, indeed, changing. I see lots of reason to hope. I have many friends who are working in and out of the system as knowledgable and competent professionals. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Watch it, please. It's very lovely. The inspiration for “Just Breathe” first came about a little over a year ago when I overheard my then 5-year-old son talking with his friend about how emotions affect different regions of the brain, and how to calm down by taking deep breaths — all things they were beginning to learn in Kindergarten at their new school … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Right now, the Kindle edition of Anatomy of an Epidemic is on sale for $1.99. It is a must read for anyone who has any interest in psychiatry and mental health in America and therefore the rest of the world. The United States sadly exports this dangerous system of care all over the world. … [click on title to view more]
Granted, everyone should already know this, but these are serious and disturbing statistics that bear repeating since Lithium is still touted to be the gold standard in the treatment of those labeled with bipolar disorder within the psychiatric establishment. There is something seriously wrong with this picture. A third of patients who have taken the common psychiatric medication lithium for over ten years have developed "chronic renal failure" from the drug, according to a study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. … [click on title to view more]
UPDATE Dec 2015: This is a post from March of this year. I finally watched and really enjoyed "Inside Out"... it was smart, funny and profound...as well as being made for children...(it didn't disappoint). I found it available on Netflix DVD. ***The way that the human beings emotional "parts" are depicted in this film is also a legitimate way of understanding hearing voices (that get labeled psychotic) too if we consider the phenomena to be a spectrum. Everyone has parts and internal voices. Some are perhaps just louder than others. And the psyche is vast and huge, too. For all of us. (trailer included)
The It Gets Better Series -- Last year for several weeks I republished old posts from the days when I was bedridden and unable to speak. I posted them with the contrast of the current commentary that reflected how much health I have found in the last few years of coming back from a severe iatrogenic injury caused by psychiatric drugs. Today I'm collecting those posts so that I can add this page to the drop-down navigation menu. When I put it into the archives above I will title it "The It Gets Better Series." So that is what you will want to look for in the future. For now I've given it a different title because I wanted to underscore the fact that this blog has helped me in profound ways too. It's never been a one way street. … [click on title to view more]
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