Many people have a hard time believing that food and what we eat could possibly make some of us very sick. I've been covering gluten as one of the potentially offending foods lately as I've come to understand more and more about it. I've had to deal with multiple food sensitivities and so I've been... Continue Reading →
Finding Right Meditation Technique Key to User Satisfaction New to meditation and already thinking about quitting? You may have simply chosen the wrong method.
The over-prescribing of potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals is rampant throughout all of medicine, not just psychiatry. I've written about anti-acids before, but I'm sharing again since the New York Times has done a feature article. It's always nice to get a bit of back-up from the mainstream media even if they're generally late to the party... Continue Reading →
Here is some science behind my incredible and unstoppable need to walk barefoot upon the earth!! Every day that weather permits I do this. I've mentioned it several times on this blog and it's part of my larger healing arsenal. On days that I'm not well I simply go into our backyard and walk around... Continue Reading →
Another Way is a community center by and for psychiatric survivors in Montpelier, Vermont. NPR recently came to Vermont and featured us in a small segment. They were covering the impact of Tropical Storm Irene, which last year knocked out the state hospital. The good news: in the process of trying to replace the hospital, the Vermont legislature and the Department of Mental Health wove together a bill that's actually quite progressive, and includes such jawdroppers as: "The commissioner of mental health shall coordinate a geographically diverse system and continuum of mental health care throughout the state that shall include at least the following: (3) alternative treatment options for individuals seeking to avoid or reduce reliance on medications." Part of the mix is a million dollars for a Soteria-Vermont, and another million dollars for peer support services. Another Way will be one of many recipients of some of the new money.
Since I began my work with those labeled mentally ill it's been clear that trauma plays a large part in the lives of most of those with psychiatric labels. This blog covers this reality again and again. This simple observation that many of us have made and many others want to deny is beginning to be largely supported in the literature and science. We deny it at a cost to everyone in our abusive and traumatic culture. By bringing it to light we might change it.
Update 2024: IBS is a catch-all term for many diverse gut problems that have some similar symptoms. When I wrote this piece, I had stopped having diarrhea for the first time in about 20 years. I didn't understand how much more work I had to do to truly heal my gut. The victory at the... Continue Reading →
It's odd that when psychiatry is feeling so embattled and attacked that it doesn't even do what it does with any sort of care. The tricks of the trade are dangerous medications prescribed to pretty much everyone who passes through the office door of a psychiatrist or psychiatric ward. No one denies that these drugs... Continue Reading →
Genetic engineering is a threat to food security, especially in a changing climate. The introduction of genetically manipulated organisms by choice or by accident grossly undermines sustainable agriculture and in so doing, severely limits the choice of food we can eat. Once GE plants are released into the environment, they are out of control. If... Continue Reading →
Essentially every good habit you have will help rewire your brain for health! That is what neuroplasticity is all about. Practices like physical exercise, certain forms of psychological counseling and meditation can all change brains for the better, and these changes can be measured with the tools of modern neuroscience, according to a review article now online at Nature Neuroscience. The study reflects a major transition in the focus of neuroscience from disease to well being, says first author Richard Davidson, professor of psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The brain is constantly changing in response to environmental factors, he says, and the article “reflects one of the first efforts to apply this conceptual framework to techniques to enhance qualities that we have not thought of as skills, like well-being. Modern neuroscience research leads to the inevitable conclusion that we can actually enhance well-being by training that induces neuroplastic changes in the brain.”
Paula Caplan has an opinion piece in the Washington Post today on the DSM. It's worth a read. The argument is that a diagnosis from the DSM can derail people's lives. I unfortunately also know this to be true for myself and far too many people I know. Below is an excerpt: Psychiatry’s bible, the... Continue Reading →
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