The Virtues of Isolation
From The Atlantic: While solitude is often stigmatized and even viewed as dangerous to our health, spending time alone can actually prove to be valuable...
“How a West African Shaman Helped My Schizophrenic Son”
-MIA Blogger Dick Russell recounts the story of his son and Malidoma Somé.
Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: ‘The Mind of God’
From The New York Times: In his new book The Mind of God, neurologist Jay Lombard uses his experience studying neuroscience to discuss philosophical and spiritual...
Simple Things
Sometimes it's the simple things that keep us going, especially when the complicated ones seem so overwhelming; when there's too much chaos, too many emotions, too many possibilities and impending disasters. No one can give you a reason to live. You have to find it for yourself. Until you do, try simple things. For me, it was a turtle.
Mental Health Professionals Critique the Biomedical Model of Psychological Problems
While a great deal of the excitement about advances in psychological treatments comes from the potential for research in neuroscience to unlock the secrets of the brain, many mental health experts would like to temper this enthusiasm. A special issue of the Behavior Therapist released this month calls into question the predominant conception of mental illnesses as brain disorders.
Reintroducing Spirituality Could Address the Mental Health Crisis
From The Independent: Society's cycle of compulsive consumerism and materialism is partly to blame for Britain's mental health crisis. Instead of merely referring people to...
When Will We Wake? Reflections on Suicide and Psychotropic Medications
What are we doing to our people? What life have we created for our youth? I want to believe that those struggling individuals for whom life became unbearable under the influence of medication cocktails have not died in vain. I have chosen to see their action as both a sacrifice and statement to all of us.
The Psychedelic Renaissance is Here. Will it Last This Time?
From Massive: Increasing evidence suggests that psychedelics may revolutionize mental health care. In order for this "psychedelic renaissance" to last, scientists and citizens will need...
The Side Effect of Meditation I Didn’t Expect
In this piece for The Elephant Journal, Flavia Simas shares how meditation not only helped reduce her depression and anxiety but also improved her self-esteem.
"It helps...
A Doctor Cures His Bipolar Diagnosis Without Psychiatry: Review of ‘I’
I details what happened to Jeffrey Fidel when he quit psychiatric drugs and embraced an alternative, non-medical healing approach â a set of philosophical and spiritual teachings known as the Tao Te Ching and Hua Hu Ching.
Reading the Bible Through Neuroscience
In this interview for The Atlantic, James Kugel speculates on the minds and experiences of ancient prophets through a neuroscientific lens, exploring how biblical people's sense of...
Initial Trial of Ayahuasca for Depression Shows Promising Results
Ayahuasca found to be effective in treating moderate to severe depression in low-income population.
Medicine Can Soothe a Troubled Mind, but Not Without Costs
From The New York Times: In a new book, Blue Dreams, psychologist and patient Lauren Slater critiques the drug-based model of psychiatric care, debunking the chemical...
Why Getting out of our Head is Good for us
From Philosophy for Life: Though often pathologized by psychiatry and western science, spiritual experiences and altered states of consciousness can actually be highly therapeutic and valuable.
"Having...
I Was God: And You Were A Figment Of My Imagination
The drugs combined with my desire to know how life worked and what made a human broke down all past social conditioning of my individual self. I realized I was God. So was everyone else and I shared with anyone who would listen, but found no one who could understand or navigate the territory. There was little internet to speak of then and no Google to find others who experienced life as I was, so I voyaged on my own as best I could.
The Science of the Mind and the Science of the Brain
In this piece for The Lion's Roar, the Dalai Lama discusses some of the shortcomings of contemporary scientific methodology in understanding consciousness â primarily...
Shaman: Mental illness is âgood news from the other worldâ
Mental disorders are spiritual emergencies, according to Malidoma Patrice SomĂ© in âWhat a Shaman Sees in a Mental Hospitalâ published in Earth. We are...
The Wellness Epidemic
In this piece for The Cut, Amy Larocca investigates various aspects of the wellness industry, including homeopathy, natural medicine, spiritual exercise classes, and meditation, exploring...
New Data on the Adverse Effects of Meditation and Mindfulness
Study reports on the less-examined findings of difficult and painful meditation-related experiences.
Advice on Coping With Voices
What are some tactics used by voices, and what can you do about it? I hope the suggestions in this piece can help desperate voice-hearers become more understanding of the forces behind their agony, and perhaps bring a more enlightened perspective to the chemically-lobotomizing tendencies of their psychiatrists who treat voices with more medication.
We Need Ecstasy and Cocaine in Place of Prozac and Xanax
From Aeon: While psychiatric drugs are often ineffective and can have serious side effects, there are many psychedelics and other illicit substances that have proven...
Stories from the Psych Ward: Why Drugs Aren’t the Cure
In this piece for Elephant Journal, one man tells his story of being locked up and forcibly drugged in the psych ward, and how he...
Spiritual Emergency: Crisis or Transformation?
A spiritual emergency is a crisis during which experiences are so intense that they temporarily disrupt the sense of self. Mislabeling them as pathological symptoms may be damaging to further spiritual development as well as to the individual's psychological and physiological well-being.
The Fictions and Futures of Transformative Justice
In this interview for The New Inquiry, two co-editors and three writers of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements discuss prison abolition and...
Love: At the Intersection of Anti-Racism and Anti-Stigma
In this piece for Beyond Meds, Chris Cole examines the intersection of racism and oppression against people labeled "mentally ill."
"This is where social justice becomes...
