#and on top of all that i have genetic depression its not just environmental

[king-sassy08]

Bro. Does anyone else feel hopeless

[hayatpektus45]

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear that can be mild or severe. Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. for example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam or having a medical test or job interview. Long-term anxiety and panic attacks can cause your brain to release stress hormones on a regular basis. This can increase the frequency of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and depression.

Characteristics:

Positive characteristics: The positive aspects of high functioning anxiety are generally the outcomes and successes that you and other people observe. On the surface, you may appear to be very successful in work and life and in fact, this may be objectively true if you evaluate yourself simply on what you achieved.

Below are some “positive” characteristics you might see with high functioning anxiety:

1.   Outgoing (acts happy, tell jokes, smile, laugh)

2.   Punctual (arrive early for appointments)

3.   Proactive (plan ahead for all possibilities)

4.   Organized (make lists, keep calendars)

5.   High achieving

6.   Detail-oriented

7.   Orderly and tidy

8.   Active

9.   Helpful

10. Appear calm on the outside

11. Passionate (throw yourself 100 percent into tasks)

12. Loyal in relationships

Negative characteristics:  Success does not come without a cost, and sometimes the anxiety that you feel finds its way out.

Some of these characteristics might be perceived by others as “cute” or just part of your personality, but they may, in fact, be driven by underlying anxiety. Some of these characteristics are internal and are never even noticed by others but they are “over the top” nonetheless. Since people don’t know that these actions are caused by anxiety, they may view them as just part of your personality. Despite being “high functioning,” you might face the following struggles:

a.   A people pleaser (fear of driving people away)

b.   Nervous chatter

c. Nervous habits (playing with your hair, cracking knuckles, biting your lip)

d.   Need to do repetitive things (counting stairs, rocking back and forth)

e.   Overthinking

f. Lost time (arriving at appointments too early)

g.Need for reassurance (asking for directions multiple times, checking on others frequently)

h.procrastination followed by long periods of crunch-time work

i.  Avoiding  eye contact  Rumination and a tendency to dwell on the negative (What if? thoughts, dwelling on past mistakes)

k.Inability to say no and an overloaded schedule (fear of being a bad friend or letting people down)

l. Insomnia (difficulty falling asleep, waking early and unable to fall back asleep)

m. Racing mind

n.   The tendency to compare yourself to others (falling short of expectations)

o.   Mental and physical fatigue

p.   Overly busy/full schedule (fear of saying no)

q.   Loyal to a fault in relationships

Treatment:

1.Self-care: Doctors recommend several exercises and techniques to cope with brief or focused bouts of anxiety, including:

a.Exercise: Physical exertion and an active lifestyle can improve self-image and trigger the release of chemicals in the brain that stimulates positive emotions.

b.Support network: Talk to a person who is supportive, such as a family member or friend. Avoid storing up and suppressing anxious feelings as this can worsen anxiety disorders.

c.Stress management: Limit potential triggers by managing stress levels. Keep an eye on pressures and deadlines, organize daunting tasks in to-do lists, and take enough time off from professional or educational obligations.

2.Medications: Several types of medication can support the treatment of an anxiety disorder. Other medicines might help control some of the physical and mental symptoms. These include:

a.Anti-depressants: While people most commonly used anti-depressants to manage depression, they also feature in the treatment of many anxiety disorders.  Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are one option, and they have fewer side effects than older anti-depressants. They are still likely to cause nausea and sexual dysfunction at the outset of treatment. Some types include fluoxetine and citalopram.

Order medications that can reduce anxiety include:

1.   Beta-blocker

2.   Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

3.   Buspirone

b.Benzodiazepines: These are only available on prescription, but they can be highly addictive and would rarely be the first-line medication. These drugs tend not to cause many side effects, except for drowsiness and possible dependency.

Causes:

1. Environmental factors: Elements in the environment around an individual can increase anxiety.  Stress from a personal relationship, job, school, or financial predicament can contribute greatly to anxiety disorders. Even low oxygen levels in high-altitude areas can add to anxiety symptoms.

2. Genetics: People who have family members with an anxiety disorder are more likely to have one themselves.

3. Medical factors: Other medical conditions can lead to an anxiety disorder, such as the side effects of medication, symptoms of a disease, or stress from a serious underlying medical condition that may not directly trigger the changes seen in anxiety disorder but might be causing significant lifestyle adjustments, pain, or restricted movement.

https://wecare-all.com/anxiety/

[arcticdementor]

I have come to believe that it is not merely that people on the left have become enveloped by the part of neoliberal discourse that we call “progressive” because of our long-term locked alliance with liberals in popular front movements known as the “third way” like Tony Blair’s New Labour, Bill Clinton’s New Democrats and Mike Harcourt’s NDP but because conservatives are actively sabotaging our discourse in order to make us more stupid and divided every day.

The redefinition and decontextualization of the term “punching down,” is a great example of this but just one of many examples of my suspicions. The term was developed, very sensibly, by late twentieth-century satirists who wanted to avoid satire becoming a form of structural violence against already-oppressed people. So, satirists asked themselves whether the individual jokes in their satire engaged with oppressive stereotypes in ways that reinforced them or that challenged them. If they reinforced stereotypes of women being flighty and emotional, black people being lazy and foolish, Jews being greedy and scheming, gay men being cowardly, etc. these jokes were examples of “punching down” and were replaced with jokes that did not reinforce bigotry or oppressive structures.

But in the recent past, this term has been taken up by practitioners of left Identitarianism in ways that are highly problematic. “Punching down” has ceased to refer to a kind of joke and has come to refer to a kind of relationship. In progressive Identitarianism, every person is subject to what we might term an “oppression calculus.” Progresive Identitarians look at the various identity categories to which a person belongs and determine how oppressed the person is by the various kinds of identity they have.

…

Today, when people use the term “punching down” it typically refers to a person of a lower oppression quotient attacking the actions, character or position of a person with a higher oppression quotient. This can then effectively neutralize the substance of what the attacker is saying. While their argument might be empirically correct, progressive etiquette practices render its facticity moot because the attack becomes a thing that should not have been said and whose veracity, therefore, need not be considered.

And because one’s oppression quotient is typically based on forms of self-identity and social identity rather than material oppression, it can, for instance, be argued that a white male minimum wage earner is punching down when going after a racialized lesbian millionaire. Furthermore, not only is the substance of the attack dismissed, irrespective of its contents, the attack itself is recast in Identitarian terms. In this way, a fifty-year-old white man working at a remote gas station in Northern Canada is not only unable to go after his boss personally if she is a woman of colour; his criticism of her labour practices or environmental practices can be recast as racism.

We see this contradiction every day in our politics, every time a Bernie Sanders surrogate attacks Kamala Harris, they are “punching down” on behalf of a white man when Harris is a racialized woman. The problem is that as much as this discourse stymies those on the left and produces unjust outcomes, the political cost of calling out this problem prevents anyone within the left from doing so. The consequence is that the only people calling it out in the public square are vile, alt-right faux intellectuals like Jordan Peterson.

And this is all fine with the right. Let me count the ways.

First of all, every time a working class person or one with a mainstream gender identity loses an oppression calculus contest, they increasingly identify with the alt-right, the only game in town that presents itself as both anti-elite and opposed to this absurd discourse. So, the right gains new recruits from the working class. So the fascists recruit working class men and the Christian Right recruits more TERFs.

Second, this oppression calculus reinforces capitalism, patriarchy and racism because it represents a hierarchy of races, classes, genders and sexual orientations governed by a complex system of etiquette. In this way, we are creating a neo-baroque Great Chain of Being, which organizes the diversity of human beings into a hierarchy so complex and elaborate that only the most privileged people can successfully negotiate it. Furthermore, it reinforces a key element of liberal elite class politics, noblesse oblige. In the noblesse oblige worldview, it is beneath a person of high rank to interact with a person of lower rank as an equal. If a lower-rank person says something wrong, it is best to pretend they have not said it or to actively misinterpret it as agreeing with you. It’s the least one can do for one’s social inferiors. You can gently remind them of what you knew they meant to say.

In other words, the “punching down” discourse acknowledges a hierarchical order to society with rich, white men at the top who will only deign to enter into true debate or dialogue with other rich, white men. And like all such hierarchical theories of etiquette, it casts this profound elitism as a favour one is doing the lower orders in society. There is a place for everyone and everyone is in their place, not permitted to enter into vigorous debate or discourse with anyone other than a person of commensurate social rank.

Third, it motivates people on the left to defend themselves by incorporating more features into their public identity in order to survive oppression calculus face-offs. I know I have wriggled out of a few confrontations by mentioning that my mother was black or I was taking anti-depressants or that my grandma grew up on an Indian Reserve—but never that I was on welfare or EI or precariously housed. In other words, we are encouraged to describe our identities increasingly not in terms that generate solidarity but terms that show difference; we are encouraged to describe our identities in ways that show us to be pathological or sick rather than resilient. And millionaires like Elizabeth Warren rush off to get genetic tests so as to reinforce these narratives, resurrecting eugenics that we thought we buried with the war dead.

[insteadhere]

Against ‘mental illness’

As a way of a rant and a confession, I am getting really tired of the overwhelming and undying support of ‘mental illness’ as a thing, which I see even in quite radfem part of the internet. This is concerning as ‘mental illness’ is, in many ways, just another weapon in the anti-women arsenal (see a good article here.)

Today, it seems, the thing to do, and the only thing to do, is to validate people’s illness, often comparing it to a physical illness or disability. And of course, I don’t want people to suffer and want to support them in recovery.

However, way too often this takes the form of making depression or anxiety etc. into some sort of individual pathology for which you need medication (because it is a legit illness) and this leaves little to no space for any critical reading of it. And I mean, even pyschiatrists are very clear about the ‘chemical imbalance’ being a myth.

So my ‘radical’ take is that what we call depression, and different kinds of ‘anxiety’ etc is in majority of cases caused by issues in our social/physical/spiritual/whateveryouhaveit environment. (check out a comprehensive take on depression as an adaptation that assists us in complex-social problem situations. An adaptation that might often backfire in environments where problems are so complex they are unsolvable by any one person.)

Beyond this, equating most mental illness to some individual pathology that should be managed on an individual level is akin to (if we’re going with the physical health metaphor) proposing individual-level solutions to health problems emerging out of environmental pollution, diabetes type-II etc. Saying ‘I have depression’ takes away power from our fight for a better world. It says ‘there’s something wrong with me and I am working on helping myself’. But I say NO: there is nothing wrong with you—you are reacting like a normal human being would react in the abnormal environment you’re in (read: environment very different from the one that we’ve evolved in which keeps exploiting our evolved mechanisms and propensities to our detriment).

If medication and therapy help you, good for you. But if they don’t 9and even if they do!), know that it’s likely not you who’s suffering from ‘treatment-resistant’ illness, it’s the world. ADHD, dyslexia, social anxiety, know that these categories exist only because of social regulations regarding what’s ‘normal’ an what’s ‘abnormal’ and ‘normal’ is becoming increasingly narrow.

You might say ‘yes, but my anxiety is so crippling I cannot do XYZ every day and that is real’—if feel you! But take a moment to really look at the world, the world which warps our bodies and our minds with its expectations. 

A lot of mental illness, I believe, is a lot like bunions and nearsightedness and malocclusion: yes, genetics can predispose you to developing these, but ultimately it’s the way you’re forced to live that drives their development. And this really aligns with radfem position on being transgender— it’s not that people are trans, they are made to feel such by the environment they’re in. If we take down gender, feeling ‘wrong’ in your body will stop being a thing.

I have pretty much every symptom of severe depression and have had them for years. No amount of therapy and no combination of medications helped. But what is my problem? I spend all but a few hours of every day on my own, I live thousands of miles from family, I get maybe one quick hug a week. As a homo sapiens, I am a social creature and for years I’ve been living in near isolation because of my work and my friend’s work. And on top of that, I feel powerless in this world with all of its problems, and I don’t think there is much of a future, let alone one that I could dream about. This is not illness. This is not mental disorder.  This is human suffering telling me this world has to change.

[recalibr8]

The mEtOHd in my madness

I’d been out with my teen lads on a Friday. We got off the train and there was a young, crumpled woman sat on the platform, fat tears splashing into a puddle of sick on her trench coated lap. I offered her some tissues; I’m a mum, it come with the membership card. After a few sorries she asked “where did you stop?”. It took us a while to realise she meant, ‘where are we?’ She was out by 2 stations which on the face of it wasn’t bad. We pointed her onto the next train, gave her a mint (gold membership benefits) and my youngest shouted “take care of yourself” as we trudged up the platform. We agreed it was probably work drinks getting out of bounds and she’d be ok now she had tissues. But I kept thinking, “where did you stop?”. Where did I stop? Because I’m now AF af.

AF af. That’s alcohol free and doing pretty darn ruddy brilliant. Three months ago I upgraded my BrewDog to NannyState, went Becks Blue and am thinking in an offhand way about brewing Kombucha. I’ve teamed this up with going plasticlite, veganish and kimchi curious. So far, so middle class virtual signalling. But where did I stop?

I’ve been drinking since I was 5. I’d adorably finish up the beer in my parents’ guests glasses and well, kept going. Not in a Drew, Carrie or Liza rehab by 13 sense but I think I’ve probably had my fair share. I’m well aware that I knew, know and don’t know but suspect people who I love who have significant alcohol use problems and this is blog is in no way trying to say my needs are greater than theirs. I know a lot of highly creative endeavours and friendships were found in a gin bottle but also unforgivable abuses. And I know friends whose acts are based around the camaraderie of drinking. And I’d never tell anyone what they *should* do. But like all ex anybodies, I’m annoying about my sobriety journey right now. Bear with me.

But it’s not just me though. I see booze everywhere. For a dose related lethal toxin that’s very effective marketing. There’s a giant ad on Toots Broadway station entreating me to Go Bottomless and every other Facebook ad is for a spirit that promises to make evenings round the back of Catford Lidl magical. And many of these are aimed at women. A recent industry survey found ‘only’ 17% of women drank beer and this needed sorting out. Look out for more lady drinking adverts, they’re coming.

But I wasn’t alcoholic. Was I? Are you? You’re only an alcoholic if you have one more drink than you doctor. I’m

a doctor ... so let’s take a look.

*I’m really low on the alcoholic check list*

I’ve never drank alcohol in the morning, blacked out, been told by others I have a problem, had to apologise...

Ah, I have had to apologise once or twice. Nothing major, just ‘sorry, I was a bit wobbly/silly/rude/loud/insulting/gave you my shoes as a gift’. I once lost my credit and oyster card at the bar of a immersive theatre event though. I don’t know how I got home. I had to find the site manager the next day and he definitely had other things to do. Not long after my bag was stolen in SoHo because I was distracted. Not sure how I got home then either. Friends put me in an Uber after my MA showcase because I wasn’t walking very straight. Or being very nice. So I definitely remember getting home then.

These were all Thursdays or weekends. I’ve always been careful not to have any chance of affecting my work. But yeah, how clear headed was I for my family, myself? And much of this was stress drinking after a week of being a clever doctor. Just loosened up the joints a bit. Particularly if your slightly socially awkward. But I wasn’t a drunk, no. Maybe just a binge drinker. And that’s ok, isn’t it?

*Hangovers are just a thing*.

With only drinking at the end of the week, I was careful not to be hungover at work. But I had a Friday at home hangover where I didn’t get out of bed for the day. I claimed I’d been poisoned. I’d just had one too many Jaegerbombs. I vomited in the taxi. I’ve vomited in several taxis. That’s not a good look at any age. Hangovers are a funny meme, a cartoon of a dog in sunglasses, office banter. It’s your liver crying and your brain folding it’s arms in judgment. It’s not bad wine, it’s bad choices.

*Get kids used to drinking. Like the French. Then they won’t binge*.

My 13 year old buys old vodka bottles from charity shops. Wearing a furry hat, his comedy drunk Russian is not bad I used to have the deepest voice of my friends at 14 so it was my job to buy the booze for house parties. My mother always told me drink a pint of milk before you go out to soak up the booze. At 14. I had a few sexual assaults along the way but if I blame myself that’s victim blaming and I don’t want to be a bad feminist on top of everything. Med school in the 80’s/90’s was all over the drink. Freshers’ week was a booze insurance test. The circle line pub crawl, the Clint Eastwood Appreciation Society, the Med School pub crawl...end at Barts because Smithfield’s liscence meant you’d keep going all night.

*Booze always cheers you up*.

I’ve got to confess, my life has got a lot quieter. I’m going out much less, I leave early, I’m not champagne Charlie any more. I’m always, well, me. My dad was a depressed alcoholic, so was his dad (he ran a tobacconist and offie so that didn’t help) and his dad before him. And I have depression and PTSD. My moods are now not so high, but they are also not so low. This is very strange. I’m hoping this is a good thing. I’ve heard it is. This, this is the mEtOHd in my madness. The mood stabilisation. That’s the plan.

*Being a doctor is just one of those boozey jobs*

Fun quiz! Who do you think drinks the most? Enough to have a problem. Oooh, were good at guessing this in ED. Writers must be bad, farmers, journalists! yes, they’re always drunk, private invsestigators (?), airline pilots (like my dad, I saw what those guys put away). Ok...it’s.

Lawyers - reporting 33% with problematic drinking

Construction workers- 16.5%

Miners -17.5%

Then it’s Healthcare workers, especially doctors (oh no). A. 2012 study of American surgeons published in JAMA Surgery found 15.4 percent had an alcohol use disorder. Female surgeons (25.6 percent) were more likely than male surgeons (13.9 percent) to exhibit symptoms of alcohol addiction. Healthcare professionals in general it’s 10%

https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/common-professions/

Performing artists and writers - 11.5%

Catering/hospitality -11%

So no pilots then? I think there’s something they’re not telling us or things are much better since the 80’s. 


 A 1998 study of junior doctors in Newcastle-upon-Tyne reported that:

* 60% exceeded the recommended safe limits for alcohol consumption

* 36% of males and 20% of females used cannabis 

The Sick Doctors Trust says “Since our working lives are spent helping others, it is easy to push aside our own problems, in addition to which, denial is quite common in medical staff. This is not deliberate, but a part of the whole illness of addiction. That addiction is a chronic illness which therefore requires treatment as for any other condition, is now well-established but there is still a tendency to feel that it is a sign of weakness, and that maybe things aren't 'that bad'.’

That some individuals are more prone to developing addiction is generally agreed. There is no single determining factor, but usually a combination of biological, psychosocial and environmental factors - a mixture of nature and nurture. There is now much evidence implicating dysfunction in the Dopamine transmitter system & it’s involvement in craving. There is also evidence to suggest that the effect alcohol has on an individual’s brain is genetically determined. A family history is present in many alcoholics- those having direct family affected being more at risk...

*Its a family affair*

I went to Adult Children of Alcoholics once. It wasn’t for me but what they said made total sense. I take responsibility for everyone, I’m primed for betrayal and disaster and I totally thrive in emotional drama. My dad wasn’t a nice drunk. He made my mum drink when pregnant ‘to keep him company’. She in turn gave babies a tot of brandy to keep them quiet as a stewardess and I can’t imagine my permanently shouting parents wouldn’t have liked us to be quiet babies too. So I’ve got pre and postnatal form. But I don’t have to fix them now. Particularly dad. It’s quite hard to fix dead people.

https://adultchildren.org/

*Booze: the solution AND cause of all of life’s difficulties*

Sick Doctors again “ Alcohol is the commonest substance of abuse in all doctors. Drinking will surprisingly continue despite negative consequences such as job difficulties, relationship breakdowns, financial problems, loss of driving licence; the alcoholic is driven by an irrational compulsion to continue, and frequently results in despair to the point of suicide. Fortunately, the depression associated with active alcoholism often abates when sober.”

http://sick-doctors-trust.co.uk/page/addiction

*I’m not an alcoholic*

and you probably aren’t either. But you might have problematic drinking. I did a survey as part of an UCLH research project. You can too. I lied a bit on it and still came out drinking more than 97% of women my age. Now an icon opens up on my phone every day to that says ‘DRINK LESS’. I stopped leaving my phone on meetings tables.

Drink Less. by Robert West

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/drink-less/id1020579244

If you are thinking about getting help for problematic drinking or any other addictions including workaholism or have any burnout symptoms for more than 3 weeks, you can of course get staff support and occupational health. But/And there is the amazing NHS Practitioner Health Programme where doctors with any addictions are supported https://php.nhs.uk/ DocHealth is another equally good programme https://www.dochealth.org.uk/. I used the latter when it was MedNet.

So, do I feel amazing? Had I got amazing skin, lost weight, feel energised and hopeful. Urg, not really. I feel a bit scared actually. I’ve lost my social crutch and I’ve stopped going out. I’m worried I’m boring and people will think I’m weird. But....I can get up earlier to walk the dog, I’m moderately less tired and although I’m not skipping down the road happy, the depressive moment I had in spring could have been a lot worse. I think that’s actually amazing. And that’s why I’m doing this. I want to face the world honestly and openly. I want to enjoy my kids before they leave home which is frighteningly soon and weirdly, I want to know my liver replaced itself in a year so I’m literally a new person (don’t google Theseus’ Boat Paradox, life is complicated enough). Oddly compelling, that. So where did I stop? I stopped here. In a weird waiting room in my head. But with the promise of a new adventure through the next door.

But don’t stop doing you, babes. Keep telling me your booze bantz. They are hilarious. Any story that starts or ends with Baileys is only going one way. This clearly isn’t a lecture. Most people can do moderation. And do could I, mostly. And it’s the mostly that’s not good enough. Not for me. Not any more.

Online support - https://www.facebook.com/groups/joinclubsoda/?ref=share

Samaritans- https://www.samaritans.org/

BMA wellbeing including 24 hour support - https://www.bma.org.uk/advice/work-life-support/your-wellbeing

Tea and Empathy for doctors’ online support - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1215686978446877/?ref=share

Al Anon for children of alcoholics https://adultchildren.org/

https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/

Dedicated to my husband who gave up the wine w*nker 6 years ago without any of this mid life crisis fuss. But I gave up meat and caffeine first so I still win.

[excellentabraham]

People operating within the field of psychological state tell the United States of America concerning. The books that affected a chord with them.

Several consultants from the psychological state field can tell you awareness. And data is essential to learning concerning psychological state be it your own or to assist somebody else. Typically notwithstanding we all know the factual details, the key lies in learning the nuances. And what alternative approach than to scan a lot of books.

Books area units usually the most effective approach. Within which we have a tendency to learn a lot of concerning ourselves. And also the world around United States of America. Thus this World psychological state Day.

We have a tendency to reached intent on consultants to crowdsource. An inventory of books to assist the United States of America to learn a lot of, and acquire. A peek into alternative people’s experiences and journeys.

As a result of typically, reading concerning alternative people’s experiences is cathartic. These books affect the spread of topics just like the therapeutic area. A person’s relationship to their diagnosing of cancer, people’s emotional struggle, and far a lot of.

More than something, these books speak of vulnerability may be a key to our journey towards healing.

Here’s what they suggested:

1. The Examined Life: How We Have a Tendency to Lose and Notice Ourselves By Author Polish Monetary Unit

The depth of labor we have a tendency to do as therapists are elucidated fantastically. By the author in his narratives of the therapeutic area. He touches his own quality still as his clients and opens a window.

Into what psychotherapy extremely is and what it involves showing. The United States of America what profound, humane, and safe expertise it extremely is.

— Rhea Gandhi, clinical {psychologist, therapist, healer} and counselor

2. It’s Not Okay to Feel Blue Sacred Folks Open Up Concerning Their Psychological State By Scarlett Botanist

There is one thing thus powerful concerning seeing yourself mirrored back. On the pages, you’re reading, and once that reflection is of pain, sadness, discomfort. It’s even a lot of this once reading this book late last year.

The things and also the contexts of the authors were terribly totally different from mine. But the pain, the overwhelming emotions, the struggles, the journey to healing were all reflective. Of my very own journey back to Pine Tree State.

I favorite this assortment of stories such a lot I needed. To share my expertise of pain being seen that I talented this book, not once, but thrice.

— Bhairavi Prakash, scientist

3. Lost Connections By Johann Hari

This book speaks of the 9 social group and environmental causes that result in depression and anxiety. Since we have a tendency to area unit getting down to discuss psychological state. In our country a lot of seriously, it’s necessary to speak concerning the general causes of a similar.

Inequality, instability (political/economic), and economic condition area unit huge reasons for psychological state problems. And that they are available in the approach of obtaining care still. Hari himself takes medication and says that it’s useful.

However, the image is incomplete. While not talking of alternative factors like abuse, job loss, lack of that means then on. I believe the straight forward language extremely helps. After you get diagnosed, you’re feeling one thing is wrong with you if you’ll not cope.

This book helps you to challenge that concept. It causes you to feel that you just exist during a sure context, and not during a vacuum. Which things happening around you, and to you, area unit imagined having an effect on you. The less blaming stance of this approach makes individual and collective solutions potential.

— Sadaf Vidha, therapist

4. When Breath Becomes Air By Paul Kalanithi

Paul, an operating surgeon, when having finished hard coaching and residency, reached. At the top of his medical career at the age of thirty-five, is diagnosed.

With stage-4 carcinoma, It’s within the face of death. That we actually learn to measure. This book takes the United States of America through the life journey of a rare individual.

I love this book for 2 reasons, on top of several others. It’s one of all the foremost rare and humane writings that we’ve got received. It’s raw, real, human, moving, and grievous all at a similar time. It extremely causes you to replicate in your life.

And still, what will it mean to measure within the face of death. It holds and contains the readers and conjointly challenges them to deeply investigate. However, we elect to pay for our living days.

The second reason why this book is thus near to my heart is that it’s a bit of someone’s life. It’s their story, their journey, and also the folks they meet thereon journey. It’s a narrative that actually attracts on the humanity of each the Doctors and also the patients.

The book humanizes a relationship that’s bedded, complex, and especially supported.

Love, trust, respect, temperament, and readiness to figure with one another. As a therapist that holds a nice price to Pine Tree State.

When there’s no place for the surgical knife. The words area unit the surgeon’s sole tool want. We’d like words to survive and that we need words to measure through and live by. This narrative, provides the United States of America with these words, words that keep the United States of America moving.

— Shaina Vasundhara Bhatia, clinical {psychologist, therapist, healer} and subject matter psychologist

In the times of uncertainty, we’re living in. Wherever we’re faced with the truth of death all around. The United States of America, reading Paul Kalanithi will solely be thought. About a present. after I scan this book back in 2016, not solely. Did I notice his writing poetic and virtually lyrical, I found myself puzzling over what it meant to be alive.

— Bhairavi Prakash, scientist

5. Dark Circles By Udhyan Mukherjee

As a psychological state skilled, this book. To me was one of the foremost honest and raw portrayals of the psychological state in an Indian context. The author doesn’t retreat from unpacking difficult family dynamics and genetic trauma.

Each of that area unit key parts for a psychological state. This will be a dark narrative with unfussy prose that allows the plot and thus the characters to shine. Enjoy, the protagonist, is complicated and really relatable. His voice stays with you long once you’ve finished the book. The author faucets into a psychological state.

While not creating it focus however maintains its connection and doesn’t over-simplify or complicate it. Therefore creating it a practical portrayal. This book might be a pleasant browse to browse once you area unit. Within the mood for one thing dark and raw.

See More: Terry Goodkind, Blockbuster Dream Creator Behind ‘The arm Of Truth, Dead At 72

6. Perhaps You Need to Seek advice From Somebody By Lori Gottlieb

The book parades concerning the lifetime of a consultant and her journey seeking psychological state help. The book tackles the stigma encompassing psychological state and normalizes. The narrative that even psychological state professionals will invite psychological state support.

Thus, creating this book not solely a superb browse however a choice to act. The book is full of humor, knowledge, and honesty. It’s superb because of gain a much better understanding of the psychological state and what speak medical care seems like.

The author keeps the prose easy and thus the numerous characters keep the reader engaged and invested until the tip. This book is AN “every mood” reasonably browse that’s why I extremely suggest it.

— Tanya Vasunia, scientist

7. Daring Greatly: However, The Spirit to Be Vulnerable Transforms By Brené Brown

Imagine an area full of young budding psychologists sitting during a very circle. And discussing their most vulnerable life moments. That’s however I want to be 1st introduced to Daring Greatly. A book that aimed to seem at vulnerability and spirit. To be seen because of an equivalent aspect of the coin.

Brown uses twelve years of study and personal life anecdotes to introduce. The reader to ideas of shame, vulnerability, and thus the insufficiency mind-set. She challenges the notion of vulnerability as a ‘dirty’ feeling and takes a troublesome check out. What makes the US afraid to be vulnerable in our lives as folks, teachers, colleagues, and partners.

Vulnerability is a risk, emotional exposure, and uncertainty. It’s conjointly sincere gaga and authentic living. per Brown, vulnerability seems like truth and seems like spirit. Truth and spirit aren’t continuously snug, however, they’re ne’er weakness.

Whenever unsure or afraid, I cue myself of her mantra. That spirit means to contact and permitting myself to be seen. And this temperament to point up makes the US ever braver whenever.

Brown’s quick-witted humor, a healthy dose of harry potter references, John Gottman and Rubin’s happiness project- This book extremely has it all!

— Ila Kulshrestha, authority psychotherapist

[allenmendezsr]

The Natural Pcos Diet

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The Natural Pcos Diet

 Buy Now    

Would life be better if you didn’t suffer from PCOS?

If you answered ‘YES’ then you will definitely want to find out more about the The Natural PCOS Diet!

The Natural PCOS Diet book reveals tip to help deal with PCOS naturally and effectively.

If you’ve been searching for the answers for your PCOS symptoms, then look no further.  Here’s why.

I have been treating patients with PCOS successfully for over 26 years and have a wealth of experience and an expertise in dealing with PCOS.

Are you suffering from any of these symptoms?

Infertility

Weight gain

Hirsutism (excess hair growth)

Acne

Ovarian cysts

An irregular menstrual cycle

Sugar cravings

Bloating

Feeling tired all or most of the time

 If you answered YES, could you have PCOS?

The ‘Natural PCOS DIET book’ and bonus cookbook will give you the confidence to naturally and effectively manage your PCOS by learning how to…

Balance your hormones

Boost your fertility

Lose weight and feel good

Achieve regular periods and ovulation

Reduce your cravings for sugary food

Improve your problem skin

Live a happier healthier, hormonally balanced life!

The book explains in detail

What is happening to your body and how to balance your hormones

The link between PCOS and insulin resistance. Does every PCOS sufferer have this?

What to do if there is a genetic link

How to control inflammation and manage leptin resistance

What is the most suitable diet to follow – is it Paleo?  Gluten-free?  Low GI? What is the best PCOS diet plan?

That it works!  I have had countless women overcome their PCOS symptoms naturally!

Overcoming PCOS is not just about following a suitable PCOS diet plan.  There are other essential factors to address including:

Detoxification and digestive health

Environmental toxic exposure

Exercise and lifestyle habits

Nutritional status

Inflammation, leptin and other hormones

These factors and more are covered in detail.

“I was struggling with PCOS, energy levels and day to day living, keeping up with work commitments and two young kids. My doctor was unable to help me so I turned to the internet. I came across Jenny’s web site and bought The Natural PCOS Diet with the bonus cook book. She also helped me through a Skype consultation and after a chat about my medical condition, Jenny prescribed me certain supplements that have changed my life. My symptoms have subsided and my head is clear again and the best thing is I have the energy to exercise and my fitness has improved dramatically. Through Jenny’s book I have learnt what triggers my symptoms and have made small changes to my diet which is not only making me feel great on the inside but also on the outside with my skin glowing and weight improving. With all of these positive changes to my life my depression is also diminishing which makes home life so much happier for everyone. Thanks Jenny!”

Mrs. P, Sydney, Australia

“I wanted to thank you for writing your 2 books, The Natural PCOS Diet and its Cookbook. I was trying to conceive for a few years, but nothing happened. Finally, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with PCOS. The doctor did some tests on my hormones cycle and decided that I needed some hormone therapy. Long story short, I decided not to do a hormone therapy but to try to change my diet. It was when I found your books. I followed them to the dot. I got pregnant two months after starting the diet and changing my lifestyle. My doctor was speechless…and I was very happy. After having my first baby, I never went back to taking any prescribed med for PCOS, and I was able to conceive again about a year and a half later. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!”

Tessy Cabrera

Want to Know More?

Grab your copy of ‘The Natural PCOS Diet’ and the bonus ‘The Natural PCOS Diet Cookbook’ – packed full of practical, healthy recipes to help navigate you on your journey back to optimal health.

Take a look through this website for more information on relevant topics for your PCOS issues.  Discover how you can overcome and conquer your PCOS naturally – when provided with the right guidance!

Ready to get started?

Only US$20

Download e-book immediately after purchase. 

Secure payment. All major credit cards accepted. 

My Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee

I am confident that once you purchase the book you have everything you need get started that I offer you my personal 60 day satisfaction guarantee. This means you can take a full days to try The Natural PCOS Diet for yourself. If you are not delighted by the results or 100% happy, I will give you a prompt and courteous refund.

Why am I an expert in hormone health?

I am a registered naturopath, nutritionist, homoeopath and medical herbalist, and a fertility expert. I am also the author of the popular fertility book  Making Babies – The Holistic IVF Diet Guide.

With 26 years experience in clinical practice, I am passionate about restoring hormone balance to women of all ages experiencing hormonal problems ranging from PMS, PCOS, infertilty to menopause.

I take a proactive and realistic approach to improving your hormone health and wellbeing. Many of my patients compliment me on my understanding and compassionate nature.

I hope the information in this book will help you overcome PCOS naturally as it has for many hundreds of other women.

“PCOS is often described as something that happens to you rather than a health condition which you can regulate. With Jenny’s helpful and practical advice, I was able to manage the worst symptoms and even more importantly I felt like I was back in control of my health. Jenny is a realist – she didn’t recommend any changes to my lifestyle that I couldn’t achieve.”

Ms. L, Sydney, Australia

“Ever since getting my periods when I was twelve I have suffered from severe cystic acne on my face. I also had irregular periods, where I sometimes could go for six months without bleeding. On top of this I was particularly hairier than other girls my age and would often experience huge slumps in energy. This went on for years without me knowing or getting to the bottom of “why?” I was finally diagnosed with PCOS last year and have since been following Jenny’s PCOS plan, The Natural PCOS Diet. My acne has significantly improved – I have gone three months now without breaking out, my period cycle is a lot more regular and I now know how to control my low blood sugar episodes. Jenny’s book, The Natural PCOS Diet, has all the essential information you need to know about PCOS and provides you with a multitude of treatment options.”

Ms. H, Redland Bay, Australia

“My battle with PCOS began 6 years ago; when I decided that at 15 years of age, I should definitely be in the stream of womanhood with a regular period. Something that never arrived. I went to see my GP who decided that the appropriate solution to the problem was being on the OCP – typical therapy for orthodox medicine, treat the symptoms without concern for the cause. I didn’t quite agree and was soon sent for an ultrasound, where I was properly diagnosed with PCOS. Since being diagnosed with PCOS I have been seen by many gynaecologists and doctors whom “Specialise in Women’s Health” – All to no avail. “It is imperative to be on the pill”, “being on the pill is worsening your condition”, “you are well over your ideal BMI, lose weight, problem solved”. These are common phrases that I have become accustom to hearing by “Qualified Doctors”. By this stage, after 6 years of “costly treatment” in which I have found absolutely NO success with, I had decided to take the matter into my own hands. I have always felt that Naturopathy is the way to go, and by chance – or fate, whichever, I have stumbled across Jenny Blondel. I have purchased and read her e-book “The Natural PCOS Diet” which I have found very enlightening. This book has very quickly become my bible. I regularly refer to The Natural PCOS Diet in order to stay focused and motivated with my new found lifestyle. I have now been following her recommended diet plan from The Natural PCOS Diet for 2 weeks, and can see and feel the dramatic changes occurring in my body. I look forward to getting back to a healthy weight, and being mentally balanced again as my hormones go back to normal, also (unlike many other woman) I will rejoice at the opportunity and blessing that a natural period cycle will have in my life. Something that I have been made to believe would never evolve naturally without forcing my body to act in this manner – through use of the OCP.

My biggest praise and thanks goes out to Jenny Blondel for the light she has bought to my life, and the re-newed direction she has been capable of giving me. It has been the biggest blessing.”

Ms. G, Brisbane, Australia

“I went to Jenny after I had been diagnosed with PCOS when I came off the pill to try and have a baby. I was overweight, depressed and not ovulating. I did not want to go down the western medical route which was just to offer me Metformin and Clomid; instead I wanted to go for a more holistic approach as I thought this would be healthier and longer lasting. I was very glad I found Jenny. She gave me good dietary advice as well as giving me herbal medicine and exercise advice.

After six months of sticking to The Natural PCOS Diet and a strict treatment programme, I had lost enough weight, my hormones were much more balanced and I got pregnant! Now I have a lovely three and a half year old and I really feel I owe this to Jenny and her treatment. I still have occasional issues with my PCOS but I have a much healthier diet than I had previously and feel I manage it better. Until I tried to get pregnant I had no idea I had PCOS though I have always had blood sugar problems. Having Jenny as my Naturopath is one of the best decisions I have made.”

Ms. W, Yorkshire, England

“I contacted Jenny Blondel after becoming convinced that traditional medicine didn’t hold all of the answers for me and my hormone issues. After six months of breastfeeding my twin sons (who were conceived after a diagnosis of PCOS with the help of a traditional fertility doctor using Clomid -I was not ovulating on my own and hadn’t gotten my period for nearly eight months after stopping the Pill), I got my period. It was outrageously heavy and had lasted for six weeks by the time I contacted Jenny. The medical practice I went to simply kept giving me birth control pills and told me to take them in increasing quantities; they said that was the only thing that would stop the bleeding. I did not want to go back on birth control pills, but I took them anyway because I had become anaemic and wanted something to stop the bleeding. They didn’t work. Luckily, when they prescribed yet another round and gave me another medication to control the nausea (and told me to hire a babysitter for my boys because I would likely be too sick to care for them on the first day after beginning this even stronger round of hormones), I had already contacted Jenny. I didn’t follow through with the last round; I knew there had to be a better way.

After a one-hour consultation with her, I felt more heard than I ever had been before by traditional doctors. She asked the right questions (that I had been wondering why other doctors weren’t asking me!) that made me feel like she really had a holistic understanding of the issues I was currently facing and those that had plagued me in the past. Instead of prescribing something to address one symptom, she set up a plan for me to straighten out my hormones that she believed would address the underlying problems that resulted in several different symptoms. Within three days of being on the herbs she prescribed for my bleeding, it stopped. That, in and of itself, was astounding. Then, by following her advice, a regular menstrual cycle again became a part of my life, which hadn’t been the case without the Pill in at least 10 years. Three weeks ago, less than a year and a half after first seeking her out, I gave birth to our third child, Caroline. I paid attention to my cycle to prevent pregnancy, and once we were ready, we conceived our daughter completely naturally, with no assistance and no trouble (or delay!) at all. I am so grateful to Jenny for her help and for her attention; I trust her, her book – The Natural PCOS Diet, and have recommended her to many friends.”

Mrs W, Italy

Ready to get started?

Only US$20

Download e-book immediately after purchase. 

Secure payment. All major credit cards accepted. 

[naturecpw]

Can a Cat Have an Existential Crisis?

Treating my cat for depression caused me to question the state of anxiety in animals and us. Nautilus - Britt Peterson

When I first adopted Lucas nine years ago from a cat rescue organization in Washington, D.C., his name was Puck. “Because he’s mischievous,” his foster mother said. Although we changed the name, her analysis proved correct. Unlike his brother Tip, whom I also adopted, a gray cat with white paws and an Eeyore-ish dour doofy sweetness, Lucas was from the start a fierce black fireball, a menace to stray toes or blanket fringes or loose items on tabletops. He was my alarm clock in the morning with his habit of knocking my hairbrush, deodorant, and earrings box off my bureau until I got up to feed him.            

Then, almost four years ago, my husband and I had a child. Lucas, no longer the most important small creature in the apartment, retreated to the top shelf of his cat tree, where he would lie all day, staring morosely over the edge. When he did want attention, his solicitations became aggressive. Instead of waiting until 7 a.m. to start knocking things off of the bureau, he started hopping up there at 4 a.m. We closed the bedroom door and were still woken up at 4 every day by Lucas rattling the doorknob or hurling the weight of his 13-pound body against it. At mealtimes he would gobble down his food and then shove Tip out of the way to eat Tip’s food. He started marking the carpets in our living room and my son’s room, and his play with Tip turned more violent too.            

Cat’s Meow: Lucas did well on antidepressants. But he started avoiding his food that contained them. His aggression, though, declined with play and human attention. Photo courtesy of the author.

I made an appointment, first, with a pet behavior specialist and, five months later, when her initially helpful suggestions didn’t change Lucas’s behavior, with a vet. The vet described Lucas’s condition as “anxiety” and prescribed fluoxetine, a generic for Prozac that’s often prescribed for animals. While I had felt a mixture of frustration and pity toward Lucas, in that moment I experienced a surprising stir of recognition. Over a decade ago, during six months in college, I had panic attacks every other day. I was given a similar diagnosis—panic disorder being a major anxiety disorder—and was prescribed a similar medication. 

More than 50 years ago, behaviorist B.F. Skinner wrote, “The ‘emotions’ are excellent examples of the fictional causes to which we commonly attribute behavior.” For animals, who can’t describe their own emotions in words, this sentiment has proved more enduring than it has for humans. My panic attacks were an anxiety ouroboros: Am I having an attack now, on the subway? How about now, in front of my English class? Oh shit! It’s hard to imagine a rat or a mouse—or even my brilliant cat—ruminating on that obsessive meta-level. As Kierkegaard wrote in The Concept of Anxiety, “anxiety is not found in the beast, precisely because by nature the beast is not qualified as spirit.”  

  In fact, the concept of animal anxiety is something science has been wrestling with for a long time. And while our definition of anxiety, when it comes to animals, may still be fuzzy, it is growing ever sharper with time. That process has taught us much about our own emotions, and continues to teach us more about animal cognition. In the end, it also taught me a lot about my relationship with Lucas.            

***

With all or almost all animals, even with birds, Terror causes the body to tremble,” Darwin wrote in his 1872 book, The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man. Today, with a greater understanding of the subcortical basis of fear, we know how closely brain systems resemble each other across mammals.

When a threat occurs, the flight-or-flight response is triggered by the amygdala, then moves to the hypothalamus, which in turn sends a signal to the glands, releasing adrenaline. The same happens in most mammal brains: Mice have tiny hypothalami and amygdalae that react to stress just as ours do. And as any dog- or cat-owner knows, the manifestations of fight or flight in animals are plentiful, complex, sometimes patterned (a dog that always sucks its paws and yowls during thunderstorms), sometimes based on temperament or genetics, sometimes coming out of the blue—very much like human anxiety. 

Giving human drugs to animals isn’t just species narcissism. We know these drugs work for animals because they were originally tested on animals.              

Veterinary behaviorists don’t worry much about whether anxiety is a valid term for what animals experience, or how to diagnosis it. “It’s not terribly difficult,” says Katherine A. Houpt, an emeritus professor of behavioral medicine at Cornell University. Vets look at external display: Does an animal startle quickly, snap, suffer from sleeplessness? Is a cat in a fearful posture like something New Jersey behaviorist Emily Levine called “the meatloaf position” (all four legs under and hunched)? By these observable measures, anxiety exists in great quantities in the animal kingdom, both among pets and far beyond.            

In her book, Animal Madness, science historian Laurel Braitman cites a study by the pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly and Company, that states that 17 percent of American dogs suffer from separation anxiety. Braitman also describes anxious zoo gorillas and a bonobo who wouldn’t eat a meal until he went through a series of obsessive compulsive disorder-like rituals, anxious chickens given Prozac to calm down so their flesh will be more delicious, and the “stereotypic” (repeated self-harming) and aggressive behavior of walruses and sea lions at amusement parks like SeaWorld.            

Separation Anxiety: Sea mammals penned into aquariums suffer stress in biologically similar ways as humans. As a result they are given the same kind of antidepressants as us. Photo by Keren Su/Getty Images.

To ease their symptoms, we’ve been giving animals our meds for decades. Starting in the 1970s, captive animals were increasingly medicated, ranging from Gus the bipolar polar bear to penguins bummed out by British weather to the sea mammals at SeaWorld, caught in a scandal in 2014 after court documents obtained by Buzzfeed showed that doctors were dosing aggressive orcas with benzodiazepines, the family of anti-anxiety medication that includes Xanax and Valium. Some of the mine-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan diagnosed with PTSD were given Xanax, as well as other treatments, like desensitization. So many dogs, cats, and other pets are on antidepressants and antianxiety medication today that the industry has swelled to a multibillion-dollar business.            

Giving human drugs to animals isn’t just species narcissism. We know these drugs work for animals because they were originally tested on animals. The underlying similarity between mammalian brains and patterns of anxious and depressive behavior has allowed monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, and mice to stand in for humans in psychoactive drug testing starting with the early barbiturates in the 1900s and continuing through tranquilizers in the ’60s to today’s SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), drugs that, it’s believed, improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety by increasing levels of a neurotransmitter called serotonin.            

  Methods of provoking or measuring stress in laboratory animals to study these drugs are endless, creative, and should come with a trigger warning, if you’re at all an anxious person yourself. In the “forced swim test” (my summer-camp nightmare) mice are forced to swim in cylindrical pools to test their resilience in the face of certain defeat. Some “animal models of anxiety” try to create situations that are especially stressful for animals, like open spaces (the “elevated plus maze”) or being out in the open on a balance-beam like structure (the “Suok ‘ropewalking’ test”).            

Methods of provoking stress in laboratory animals should come with a trigger warning, if you’re at all an anxious person yourself.                    

 In one chronic stress experiment, mice were restrained, shaken, isolated, held under a hot hairdryer, kept under bright lights overnight, or had their cages tilted at a 45 degree angle. In the end—and just like humans who live under chronic stress—the mice became severely anxious and lost any appetite for “exploratory behavior,” like depressed teenagers hiding out in bed.    

There’s plenty of debate over whether the stress tests and other “animal models of anxiety” match up closely enough to human anxiety to make all the animal research on psychoactive medications credible. Even the more subtle tests seem closer to repeatedly punching a human in the face until that human collapses into a shivering puddle, rather than replicating the complex patchwork of genetic and environmental factors that end up producing a human anxiety disorder.            

Researchers rarely use the word anxiety to describe what the animals experience. Studies usually describe “anxiety-like symptoms,” focusing on the behavioral rather than the emotional, the expression of the feeling rather than the feeling itself. The fact that anti-anxiety medication soothes these symptoms in animals suggests they have something in common with the symptoms we call anxiety in humans. But are they a conditioned fear or something else entirely? And can we humans ever really know?            

***

Joseph LeDoux, a professor of neural science and psychology at New York University, and author of The Emotional Brain, has performed some of the most important research on anxiety disorders. “Do animals have mental states? We don’t know, and we can never know for sure,” he said in an interview with BrainWorld magazine in 2012. For LeDoux, observations of behavior aren’t enough to give it a label like “anxiety” when we can’t enter into the animal’s subjective experience. It might be emotion, it might also just be an automatic response to danger, and without any way of entering into the animal’s brain—the way language allows us to, at least to a certain mediated degree, with other humans—we can’t assess that.            

But Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University, disagrees. Most famous for his studies demonstrating that tickled rats “laugh” in high-pitched chirps inaudible to the human ear, Panksepp researches underlying, unconditioned emotional systems. When it comes to fear, this means instinctual, native fears, not fears created in the laboratory by repeated foot-shocks. Using deep-brain stimulation on an animal’s amygdala, hypothalamus, and midbrain periaqueductal gray—the center of the fear system in humans—Panksepp is able to trigger these instinctive fears, and then watch how the animals react. He’s discovered that activating the fear response causes animals not only to go into typical fight or flight mode, but also to try to stop the experience—to turn off the terror in their brain. Humans exposed to deep-brain stimulation in these regions experience existential fear, describing their emotions (according to studies quoted in Panksepp’s 2012 book The Archeology of Mind) in terms like “I’m scared to death” and “an abrupt feeling of uncertainty just like entering into a long, dark tunnel.” Rats and mice, says Panksepp, likely experience something just as unpleasant. 

Of course, fear is not the same thing as anxiety. While fear is a primary-process emotion, anxiety is more complex. “It’s something you’re reflecting upon, your confrontations in the world, who’s treating you poorly,” Panksepp says. “We cannot look at the thoughts of an animal—no one has a methodology for that.” However, Panksepp says, he suspects animals experience their own kind of “thoughtful worries.” “I personally believe they do because they’ve got plenty of upper-brain material in areas that we know control human thinking and worry about basic survival ideas.”            

Some might argue that I am anthropomorphizing, but the result has been positive for everyone.

Other scientists agree, both with the difficulty of defining animal anxiety and with the possibility that it could exist. Lori Marino was a neuroscientist at Emory University and is now the executive director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy. Anxiety among animals “is more debatable because it has a component that fear doesn’t have and the component is time,” she says. A sense of one’s self existing in time is fundamental to anxiety. You worry about your future self—where will I be tomorrow, in three weeks, in a month? You mull over past regrets.

For a long time, most scientists have believed humans are unique in having a concept of ongoing time. But recent studies of Western scrub-jays and Eurasian jays (two corvid, or crow, species) have shown the birds anticipate later feeding needs even when those needs are different from what they want in the present. A 2013 study suggested that chimpanzees and orangutans in zoos may have human-like autobiographical memories—that a single cue can activate a series of remembered events, just the way it does for humans.

It’s still a leap to assume that a more complex relationship with time implies a set of emotions around those remembered or planned for events—although one recent study found that pigs engage in “avoidance behavior,” balking and oinking, when anticipating a negative task in the future. But it does raise some intriguing possibilities.  

  “I think you can say that many animals have some sense of time,” Marino says. “It may not be exactly as sophisticated as that in humans, but I think they are able to anticipate something, they know that something is going to happen in the future, even if it is just a few minutes or a few hours or a few days. It’s just not possible to survive with just being fearful, without also feeling some anxiety about what might happen or anticipate it, even in the simplest sense.”    

For me, labeling Lucas as anxious changed everything in how I thought of his behavior. I had seen him as an adversary: robbing my sleep, peeing on my kid’s rug, bullying me and my family and my other cat. Now he was a fellow sufferer. Some might argue that I am anthropomorphizing, but the result has been positive for everyone. As I became more sensitive to Lucas’s neuroses, I began to notice my role in them. 

Animal anxiety, to say the least, is frequently caused by humans—from our destruction of their habitats to our hunger for their flesh to our imprisonment of them in zoos. But we often cause anxiety in the animals that have evolved to live beside us, that we love most intensely and view as our companions, by imposing our needs on them and ignoring theirs. Dogs and cats alike need lots of stimulation and exercise; we like to live in cities and work all day. Cats like to be stroked on the cheeks and chin; we hug and cuddle them like stuffed animals, even when they are obviously upset by it.

When I thought about Lucas as anxious, I also began to think about his needs more than I had before. I played with him more often and gave him more, smaller meals. He responded as well to the meals and play as he had to the antidepressants, which he had not been taking as much because he rejected the food I put them in. He stopped waking us up in the middle of the night and marking in my son’s room. Science may be only partway to understanding whether Lucas is anxious, in the Kierkegaardian sense, or just acting like he is. In the end, it became more useful to be generous about the definition of anxiety—to recognize a connection, and also my own responsibility, in whatever anxious might mean for Lucas.

Britt Peterson is a contributing editor at Washingtonian magazine and a writer on ideas and culture for Smithsonian, the Boston Globe, Slate, and Elle.com.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/can-a-cat-have-an-existential-crisis

[bentonpena]

Mental Illness – No Shame – Lots of Hope via @alanbleiweiss

Mental Illness – No Shame – Lots of Hope via @alanbleiweiss http://bit.ly/34pfQKV

Clinical depression (diagnosed by a professional). Panic attacks. Blackouts.

Suicidal thoughts and planning. Destructive societal behavior.

PTSD. OCD. Drug addiction (including alcohol).

Nine years of recovery. Nine-year relapse.

Second round of recovery.

Now approaching 15 years clean and free of “drugs.”

The list of psychological challenges and illnesses I have lived through in my life is long.

Trigger Warning: This post briefly describes severe abuse as a child, and goes on through to suicidal thoughts. If you are not prepared to read even brief content about a little child being severely abused, or how that eventually led to considering suicide, please skip this section and go on to “From Surviving to Thriving“!

Early Environmental Influence

While at least some of my issues may, in fact, have genetic origins to varying degrees, I have come to learn that we can be shaped and molded based on our environment. And for me, that all started as a result of having been severely abused – physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually throughout my childhood by my parents.

I was physically beaten routinely. Belts. Wooden hangers. Hands. Whatever was convenient. And crying, yeah that cliché “This hurts me more than it hurts you” was said often. As was “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.”

I was also told at various times growing up:

“You’re not good enough.”

“You don’t deserve ____.”

“Look what you did to your mother – why do you get her so upset?”

“You’ll never have anything in life.”

“It’s my house, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.”

One of the worst, from my mother: “Don’t argue with your father – he’s right even when he’s wrong…”

The chaos and abuse at home were only reinforced by being bullied from elementary school until my teen years.

I was taught “turn the other cheek,” “don’t cause trouble at school,” and concepts along those lines.

I was never taught how to stand up for myself early on, as a human being. Never taught at that age any concept of self-worth or self-esteem.

So it was almost guaranteed that I’d seek to escape from that hell.

The Early Years of Insanity

My earliest escape was daytime, waking life blackouts. As a very small child, I would literally be doing one thing somewhere in the house, and next thing I knew, I was outside, doing something completely different.

When my parents would have friends over, I would hide behind the couch, in fear.

I had nightmares that some evil being would come through the window to attack me.

Sugar became a drug. The adrenaline rush in pouring sugar onto sugar-infused cereal was an addiction.

Daydreaming about a better life became a constant outlet.

Escalated Escape

Eventually, escape for me transitioned into schoolwork. I found that if I did really well in class, my teachers would praise me, show me appreciation. So that became a drug.

Seeking approval actually got results somewhere. I craved it. Obsessed over obtaining it.

Except as the years passed, and the abuse got worse, none of those escapes were enough anymore. And that led to drugs. I fit in. Got acceptance. And at the same time, could numb my emotions and thoughts.

Any drug I was exposed to. Could get access to. For me, one drug didn’t lead to another. It was a free-for-all of access and impact. Its use grew though – in volume and frequency.

I almost didn’t graduate from high school because at that point I was “tuned out” – from a straight-A student to failing because of not even showing up at class.

From there, I ended up creating a path of chaos wherever I went with jobs, friendships, everything, and anything.

I got arrested for “minor” infractions more than once. That happens when you are “tuned out” all the time, and when you end up in places you don’t belong, with people you aren’t going to win societal participation awards among.

Life eventually hit bottom (my first of multiple bottoms). Nothing worked anymore. None of my escape mechanisms could numb the pain or internal turmoil.

So I thought suicide was my only way out. Tried planning it out. Yet never did come up with a method I could guarantee would work.

That was 1986. I was 27, and it was the darkest period of my life.

From Surviving to Thriving

Yet I stand here today, writing this post, to say that with a lot of help, support and effort, I’ve overcome so much over so many years.

No, my life is not “perfect” these days.

All of those mental health challenges still, even now, have a residual impact on who I am and how I face the world.

And I can, in the blink of an eye, end up falling into the chaos and insanity at any time for the rest of my life because some of it became so ingrained in me over so many years, that there’s a residual set of beliefs right there.

Just beneath the surface. That close to wanting to take control again.

That’s how it is with addiction, and that’s how it is with the psychological parameters that allow addiction to awaken even when we “know better.”

It’s why, after my first nine years clean from drugs, I relapsed. And spent nine more years out there, fighting the demons.

And while I am approaching 15 years clean this time around (if I can make it, one day at a time until October 27), recovery is still not guaranteed to last forever.

There is no cure when the damage is so deep. There is only mitigation, alleviation, and remission.

In spite of that, I’ve learned to build a pretty amazing, miraculous and spectacular life for myself overall.

I’ve gotten to travel much of the world – consciously chose to live a nomadic life, moving from city to city, state to state every couple years until I went and bought a house at Lake Tahoe this year, where I now reside.

I’ve built a reputation as one of the industry’s top site auditors, gotten to do that work on hundreds of small, medium, and global enterprise sites.

I’ve established lifelong friendships with industry peers and been able to give back in countless ways to the search community and to people in need out in the world.

I often have very good days.

Productive. Happy. Serene.

Even when I have bad days, they are not anywhere near as bad as they used to be because I have tools and resources and an entire support network.

And I have been practicing their use for so long at this point, that most of the time, the noise doesn’t get very loud, if it shows up at all.

When it shows up, I know what to do about it.

That doesn’t mean I instantly take positive action all the time.

Some days, it is a struggle.

Yet I know better now. I have practiced and done the work enough, and gotten the positive results. So there’s much more balance in my life.

Overcoming Mental Illness, Addiction & My Past Demons

How have I done that? How have I been able to overcome such crazy obstacles and challenges on so many levels?

Caveat: What I share here is what has worked for me, what continues to work for me. I cannot possibly say, with absolute certainty, that any of this will guarantee to work for you. And I don’t go into the details here as there’s too much of it.

What I do know though is this – there are many ways to achieve success in SEO. So too, there are many ways to overcome challenges arising from mental illness, addiction, and other outward signs of internal chaos.

So please understand that if these things help you, that’s a blessing. And if they don’t, it does not mean there is no hope. You just may need to find something else that works for you.

And as my brother told me many years ago when I was at a psychological bottom – as long as you have a breath left in your body, there is hope.

First Rule: No Shame

First, I’ve done so by not accepting that any of these issues are something to be ashamed of.

There is no such thing as perfect except in that every human has challenges. Every person suffers from the broader “human condition” called life.

Anybody who ridicules, stigmatizes, or disrespects mental illness, for example, or physical limitations others have, is themselves, suffering from a form of mental defect.

Maybe it’s “only” a lack of empathy. Maybe it’s something more insidious.

Regardless of the cause, people who fail to respect others who are not like them physically, intellectually, or emotionally, are no different than those who fail to respect others due to color of skin, sexuality, or any other major life framework.

That does not mean I am free from embarrassment, fear, guilt or shame all the time.

Heck, even writing this post, fear kicked in.

What if I allow this to be posted on a top industry site? Will people still want to hire me for audit work?

Will they think I am unstable, or incapable of helping them given how messed up my life has been at times?

Yet when that does come up, I understand and recognize that the need to share my truth with others is more important to me than some unrealized fear.

I cannot keep my path in darkness. It needs to be brought into the light.

One of the most important things that have helped me countless times over the years has been learning that others have gone through the fires and come out on the other side.

So I believe I have a moral, human responsibility to write this. And guess what?

Anybody who reads this and ends up running away from me, well, that’s on them. They’re not wrong or bad or evil for doing so if anyone does that. They too are only human.

And the world is big enough that I will be okay. My entire identity is not, these days, wrapped in having to get approval from every single person I encounter.

In fact, I’m also writing this because others in the industry have, themselves, been vocal about mental illness and other life challenges. So they themselves, have given me inspiration, and courage and hope that writing this is OK.

Second Rule: We Need Others & We Need to Take Responsibility

Second, I’ve learned that “I can’t, we can.”

One of the biggest character defects I developed growing up was the belief that I had to be the one to resolve all of my own problems in life.

That I couldn’t ask for others to help me, let alone accept it.

I had to figure out what to do in everything – which, in my case, was made better and worse at the same time because I happen to be highly intelligent, and I also suffered from “the great I Am” syndrome (thinking I was the center of the universe).

So I used to think “if only this outside situation or circumstance will change, everything will be better.” And then I’d go and find a way to make that change quite often.

Except I never, back then, looked inside, to see what my role in any of it was.

I never stopped to consider that I had a broken picker.

Broken relationship picker. Broken job picker. Broken societal participation picker.

I also had deeply a flawed understanding of how to participate in society and didn’t understand humility can coexist with confidence.

As a result, while things would appear better on the surface, for a while, I inevitably ended up having it blow up in my face.

Relationships fell apart. I’d quit or get fired from job after job.

I’d end up in dangerous situations and circumstances within society. Ended up on death’s doorstep many times.

I call it “hell on earth.”

So I eventually learned “wherever you go, there you are,” and “when one finger is pointing outward, three more are pointing inward.”

Yet I also needed to learn that I am not “The great I Am.”

I am not God. Or a god. I am not the center of the universe. I don’t have all the answers.

This means I need to learn to seek out those who have been where I was, or I am, and who themselves, have overcome some aspect of what I have yet to overcome. And, or, for different needs, I need to turn to professionals.

Sometimes, you really do need search science when your blogging friend can’t even identify with why you aren’t ranking organically, right?

So too, sometimes we need medical professionals or clinicians regarding our mental health needs.

Even a recovering addict needs pain medications sometimes, like after major surgery.

I need to reach out to potential support and help resources, when appropriate.

And if they are willing, and able to offer any support, guidance or help, I need to be honest, open-minded, and willing myself.

Honest about what’s really going on. And about what I don’t know or understand.

Open-minded to a better way to live. And to the possibility that they may have answers I seek.

Willing to change. Willing to take responsibility for my actions. Willing to learn.

Third Rule: It’s Simple, Not Easy

Third – when it comes to mental illness, addiction, behavioral patterns that need to be overcome, the process is almost always simple.

Whether it’s taking certain steps physically, mentally, psychologically or spiritually, they’re just steps.

Footwork. Effort. Sequential change in how we think, what we think, how we feel, what we feel. Or behavior modification.

Yet the deeper the wounds, the more complex the layers of issues, the heavier the load – which means that even simple steps can feel monumental.

And the more years we’ve lived with these challenges, the more ingrained our behavior has become based on raw survival learning. How to survive while suffering internally. Which means we have established, maybe even carved into proverbial stone, rules we live by. Entire belief systems on how to exist.

And that in turn, has led, for many of us, into creating, then maintaining our entire life identity around what just may turn out to be a complete misunderstanding of how we need to live this life.

So it’s possible that at the mere thought of needing to change any of that, our fight-or-flight survival mechanisms may kick into high gear.

We may think we want to change something, on the surface. We may feel there must be a better way to live. We may say we are willing to change.

Yet we may not be ready. Or willing.

Fourth Rule: Accepting Reality, Resisting Change

When push comes to shove, subconsciously, we may panic, else need to accept that everything we came to believe about our selves and our world, needs reevaluation.

That, quite often, can be the scariest concept we face in our lifetimes. The notion that “what worked for me all these years may have been completely invalid,” is heavy.

Yet for someone like me, whose life was constant chaos, turmoil, and insanity, none of it was truly “working.” I was barely surviving.

Heck – even with several years of growth and awakening to a new way of life, and yes, even sometimes, to this very day, while the chaos has been lowered, the insanity “mostly” eliminated, those old beliefs still sit there, on the sidelines, waiting to jump up and take charge again.

The more I resist acceptance about the truth of my situation, the more likely I’ll tell myself “hey, don’t change – you got this far without that abracadabra or woo woo nonsense.”

When that happens, I’ve come to learn to listen inside. Where is that coming from? Is that from my past? Quite often, when I need answers to that, I go to my intuition.

Some people refer to intuition as “a gut feeling.” Others call it God, or Holy Spirit. Others still, refer to it as wisdom. I even turn to “God” sometimes. Which is not a religious god for me.

God, to me, is its own complex notion of endless wisdom, love, positive direction. None of the condemnation stuff. Whatever label you put on any of it, that is where to turn.

Yet we also need to avoid becoming trapped in self-convincing con artist level internal dialogue. Because the more years we have in “just surviving,” the more power we’ve given to the voice of insanity in our own being.

Whether it’s ego, the devil, fear, or whatever other “source” of the “self-deception,” we need to be vigilant for that as well.

Healthy Support from Others

I could spend hours and hours going further into the psychology and the process of what I’ve been through, what I’ve learned, and how I’ve overcome personal challenges to the degree I have – except this is “just” a blog post meant not to be a life story or a book.

(In fact, I’m in the final stages of actually writing a book on how we can change our life stars. It’s currently in the hands of my editor.)

However, that’s another subject altogether.

What I will say now, in moving toward a conclusion of this blog post, has to do with the fact I mentioned earlier that we need others in our life to help us.

When I say that, I need to emphasize how important it is to also realize that we almost certainly cannot seek help from just one other person, or just one book, or one medication, or just one course in wellness.

Our lives, like SEO, are so complicated, multi-faceted and unique to us that we almost certainly need help from multiple people, books, courses, or medications.

We’ve built a lifetime of circumstances and issues and needs. Some directly relate to others, while others still are ultimately not related. Involve different causes, require different solutions.

So thinking only one person or one answer is needed, is potentially not true.

And if we look to rely on just one source for help, that may lead to other problems.

Take people, for example. It is probably not possible that any one person is going to have enough direct experience, themselves, to align with all of the facets of your unique situation.

When you need SEO, you may, hopefully, seek out an SEO professional.

Yet when you need accounting restructuring, or Human Resources changes in your business, or a business loan, or legal advice, it’s almost never advisable to expect your SEO professional to have the depth of experience in your unique path’s history, let alone the experience in how to win with all of those things.

Unless you need a veterinarian. And your SEO is Marie Haynes.

Yet even then, if you hire Marie or her company for SEO, and at 3 a.m. on a Saturday night, your dog needs medical help, is it really appropriate to call Marie?

So too, is it true that when we have mental illness challenges, they are likely to have manifest in ways that not everyone we meet who themselves has overcome mental illness challenges, can help with.

Or where a given individual counselor or psychologist has expertise in one area, they may not have expertise in another.

We may need a food or gambling addiction support solution, a medical doctor, a psychologist, a drug addiction support solution, a marriage counselor, a physical therapist, a spiritual advisor, or any number of other “specialists.”

And even if/when we find any one of those, that one person may not be able to be available for us every time we are in crisis.

We can not allow ourselves to think they “should” be either. We can not, ourselves, be all things to others, 24/7/365. Not even to those we love the most.

Trying to do that will eventually cause us to lose our own sanity. So why would we think that isn’t true for someone we turn to for help?

Which means we need to find multiple resources sometimes even regarding one aspect of our growth needs.

Take What Works – Leave The Rest Behind

Even when we find someone or several people or support groups, or practitioners, it’s just as important to realize going into it that what they offer may apply to us, and it may not. Because they’re as unique as we are. They too, are only human.

And what works for them or worked for them, may not work for us, even if, going into it, we think they know our situation, or we think their story is our story.

So we need to be OK with situations where something they offer, whether out of love or compassion or empathy or training, may not be ideal for us. Or may not fit out truth.

And that’s OK.

If we rely on honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness, we also need to rely on that intuitive awareness I also talked about.

And if there is something in their background, or story that tells us they’re not perfect (that illusion of reality), or is radically different than our story, we also need to allow ourselves to be wise enough to accept what does align, without allowing what does not align, to prevent us from receiving value.

As long as it’s a healthy relationship scenario with that person, that practitioner, or that support group, it’s healthy to have the courage and capacity to see and accept what works and aligns, in spite of differences.

Like me and Jeremy Knauff. As brilliant as he is, he’s a jarhead, and I’m an Army rat. So how can a crayon eater possibly help me?

Well when it comes to WordPress code, I turned to Jeremy to get my site lightning fast. And now it is. In spite of his poor choice of military service.

I use that as a joking way to say “Look, not everything about our two paths is the same. Yet for this thing, he has what I need.”

That same silly concept, when taken seriously regarding mental health support, applies as well.

If there is enough alignment with someone else, in an area I need help with, and I am able to focus on that thing from them, that’s what matters.

Codependency

On a final note regarding seeking help from others:

Codependency is another major barrier to growth as individuals. If we are or become codependent with people we turn to for help, that’s self-sabotage. Self-destructive behavior.

We need to learn about codependency, enough to learn its patterns and warning signs, no matter what type of help we are seeking for ourselves. So I encourage people to, at the very least, get a good book on the topic and read it.

Warning – you may discover all or many of your relationships are codependent. It’s not uncommon for people with mental illness, or addictions, to suffer from that.

And it’s not uncommon for people in relationship with or in a family where someone has mental illness or addictions, to also be codependent.

And if that’s true, it’s OK. It just may mean there’s something else that needs to be addressed on your path in life. Which means there’s still hope.

The Bottom Line

No matter what you have been through, no matter what you are going through, you are not so unique that nobody else has gone through it.

No matter what.

Why? Because if there are words to describe it, that means someone else has been there, experienced that.

And because of that, given the age of humanity, there is almost certainly somebody who has gone through it and overcome that thing. Probably exponential numbers of others, in fact.

Maybe not in the exact combination you have lived, yet to enough degree that together, we as a society, can provide answers. And help each other.

So if you are seeking help, in whatever way, please know that as long as you have a breath left in your being, there is hope.

More Resources:

Image Credits

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita

Seo via Search Engine Journal http://bit.ly/2ZRRdDd September 6, 2019 at 09:09AM

[lifealert1blog-blog]

Get Trendy

In society, we see trends everywhere; fashion, cars, movies and believe it or not, even food too! 2019 has brought to light some huge food trends that are gaining followers and steam. Want to know what one’s are worthy of your time ? Keep reading below!

There are a few things in life that are forever trendy and one of those things is safety. If you are an aging senior looking to maintain your independence, Life Alert Protection has been the trendiest medical alert device for over 30 years; just ask any of the hundreds of thousands of customers! So, why is Life Alert all the hype? Well, while wearing their lightweight, waterproof emergency pendant, you can summon an help fast with just one touch of a button. No matter what life threatening emergency you may face, Life Alert’s dispatch team can send you the proper authorities fast, 24/7.  Safety is always trendy; stay cool, even in the face of danger by getting Life Alert Protection today!

Everyday Health[1] has gathered several registered dietitian nutritionists to help share the biggest food trends of 2019. Find out what you’ll be seeing in the grocery store aisles and in the magazines next week!

1.       Eats With Prebiotic and Probiotic Perks for Better Gut Health: When it comes to getting your fill of gut-healthy probiotics, you now have many options beyond yogurt. Lifeway Kefir spreadable Farmer Cheese is strained from kefir and contains a dozen strains of probiotics. And then there’s Farmhouse Culture’s Kraut Krisps, made from, well, sauerkraut, and oatmeal with heat-resistant probiotics from ThinkThin. Standard probiotic foods include kombucha, kvass, kimchi, and plain kefir itself. Don’t forget about prebiotics, which feed that friendly gut bacteria. Kellogg’s Happy Inside cereal provides both pre- and probiotics, plus fiber to additionally boost gut health. “We are learning more and more about the benefits of a healthy microbiome, so there’s a lot of interest about ways to feed the trillions of bacteria in our guts,” says Samantha Cassetty, RD. The microbiome is the community of bacteria in the gut that may play a role in the development of health conditions such as diabetes, eczema, cancer, and depression, according to the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah.

2.       Foods With Sustainable Benefits So You Can Benefit the Planet, Not Just Your Body: “Do good” is a mantra many companies, small and big alike, are standing by these days. General Mills, for instance, set a goal to sustainably source 10 of its top ingredients by the year 2020. It’s currently meeting 76 percent of that goal, with all of its palm oil, 99 percent of its fiber packaging, 81 percent of its U.S. sugar beets, and 67 percent of its U.S. dry milled corn sustainably sourced. This notably impacts its Cheerios and Nature Valley lines. Also, the bottled beverage company Rebbl ethically employs workers and donates 2.5 percent of its net sales to reduce the risk of exploitation and human trafficking. And don’t forget about sustainably sourced eggs. “Vital Farms’ hens are allowed to forage freely, and this keeps the pastures healthy and means harmful chemicals aren’t necessary,” says Cassetty. “It’s a win for the animals, a win for the environment, and a win for egg lovers because pasture-raised eggs have more vitamins and minerals than eggs produced in other ways.”

3.       Convenience Superfoods for When You’re On the Go: It’s now easier than ever to eat healthy when you’re in a hurry. Don’t have time to prepare sweet potato toast from scratch? Caulipower just launched frozen slices that you just pop into the toaster oven. You also have no excuses to skip the whole grains, since you can buy single-serving bowls of microwave quinoa from Minute Rice. And if you're looking for a little extra nutritional oomph from your nut butter, Probar offers single-serve packets of almond butter with berry powder (think acai and more) for extra antioxidants. “We are seeing a trend toward more plant-based eating and people wanting whole-food ingredients, but consumers are still busy and need convenience,” says Bannan. “I’m happy to see new products that make it easier for consumers to embrace healthy eating on the go.”

4.       New Plant-Based Milks From Surprising Sources: Looking for a plant-based milk? Your options now include much more than almond and soy milk. From banana to walnut to hemp, hazelnut, oat, and flaxseed milk, products now exist to suit almost any dietary preference and need. "People always love a trend, and plant-based is the hottest trend right now, fueling the desire for multiple plant-based milk sources,” says Kyle. “Certain plant-based milks, like banana milk or oat milk, are appealing to consumers because they are generally free of many of the top eight allergens that are typically present in more traditional milks like almond or soy. Look for oat milk from Oatly, walnut and hazelnut milks from Elmhurst 1925, pecan milk from MALK, flax milk from Manitoba Milling Co., and banana milk from Mooala. Wondering why your alternative milk’s label says “milked nuts” or “malk”? It’s because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the process of likely banning all nondairy milks from using “milk” in their names. Note that while banana milk is delicious and provides nutrients like blood-pressure-helping potassium, you’ll typically get more satiating protein from a nut- or seed-based milk. For an easily accessible source of protein, opt for calcium-rich dairy milk. Check the nutrition facts label to choose a milk that meets your nutritional needs.

5.       Innovative Lactose-Free Dairy Products That Go Beyond Milk: Food for people with specific dietary needs is plentiful right now. That includes lactose-free dairy — and we’re not talking just milk. You can now find lactose-free cottage cheese, kefir, and yogurt from Green Valley Creamery. And Cabot Cheese boasts a “lactose-free” label on several of its cheeses, including aged Cheddar and Colby Jack. “Certain health conditions may prevent [some people] from enjoying traditional forms of food, like certain bovine dairy-based milk, and they are increasingly interested in the alternative options coming to the marketplace,” says Kyle.

6.       More Keto-, Paleo- and Low-FODMAP-Friendly Foods: Many people are either interested in specific eating styles or increasingly aware of their own dietary sensitivities. That’s why you’ll find many convenience foods tailored to low-FODMAP eating patterns — meaning these foods avoid ingredients that tend to trigger IBS symptoms, such as onion, garlic, and even gluten. Fody offers low-FODMAP salsa, ketchup, salad dressings, and more, while Rachel Pauls sells low-FODMAP bars, jerky, and spices. Even Prego offers a Sensitive Recipe pasta sauce sans onions and garlic. “I think we’re finally moving away from [only] calories and numbers,” says Cynthia Sass, RD, MPH. “My clients want to know more about the functional benefits of foods, including how they impact digestive health, immunity, sleep, energy, and mental focus. More consumers are now connecting food choices with everyday quality-of-life outcomes, and labels that offer more information can help make that easier.” You’ll also find food labels promoting specific dietary patterns, such as paleo and keto. Think grain-free paleo snack puffs from Lesser Evil and multiple brands offering keto-specific products. Of course, be sure to talk to your doctor before trying any restrictive diet plan, including keto and paleo!

7.       Protein-Powered Foods to Help You Crush Your Next Gym Sesh: Protein is all the rage, and here’s why: It helps keep you fuller for longer, helping to fight the urge to snack all day long and also providing fuel for your workouts. You’ll find YQ by Yoplait plain yogurt made with ultra-filtered milk, offering 17 grams of protein per 5.3-ounce single-serve container; collagen-based coffee creamer from Vital Proteins; and ready-to-drink soups with collagen protein from Zupa Noma.

8.       More Classic, Go-to Snacks in Healthier Whole-Grain Varieties: You won’t find only the typical whole grains in your bread, pasta, and snack food nowadays. Think of lentils, rice, and pea protein blended in a gluten-free pasta from Modern Table, sorghum-based gluten-free pretzels from Quinn Snacks, and soup featuring whole-grain pasta from Campbell’s.  “People recognize that whole grains are much more nutritious than refined grains, so they’re prioritizing these when shopping for packaged products,” says Cassetty. “One brand I love is Quinn Snacks. Since they’re made with whole grains, I feel good about giving them to my son and recommending them to clients looking for a healthier snack, in moderation. I also like their microwave popcorn because unlike other brands, the toppings are added after it’s popped.”

9.       Packaged Foods That Make It Easier to Eat More Plants: The plant-based packaged-food category is more expansive than ever. “The plant-based movement ties into a number of trending consumer priorities, including health protection, environmental stewardship, and ethically driven eating,” Sass says. “My clients constantly tell me they feel better physically and feel good about how they are spending their food dollars when they eat more plant-based foods.” When it comes to new finds, think pumpkin seed butter from 88 Acres, algae oil from Thrive, chia seed oil from Lekithos, and even dark-chocolate-covered chickpeas from Biena.

10.   Almost-Ready-to-Eat Healthy Breakfasts: Frozen and other quick-cooking lunches and dinners have been on offer for years. But convenient, almost ready-to-eat balanced breakfasts haven’t been as plentiful in the supermarket aisles — that is, until now. Many of these are in bowl and mug form. You can pick up a Dr. Praeger’s bowl with egg whites and or an Amy’s Kitchen bowl with tofu, quinoa, meatless sausage, and vegetables. And Kodiak Cakes now sells whole-grain flapjack microwave mug cups. “Health-conscious consumers don’t want to eat bagels, pastries, or sugary cereals for breakfast,” says Sass. “I think we’ll see more products that marry nutrition and convenience, and fit a category I refer to as ‘homemade for you,’ meaning simple ingredients you could have combined yourself but didn’t have to because someone prepared them for you.”

All those new health trends are food for thought! But while you work hard to stay trendy and put the good stuff on the inside; do you have anything to protect you on the outside? If you are an aging senior who is currently looking for a way to maintain your independence, it is time to check out Life Alert Protection. While wearing their emergency pendant you can summon an help fast with just one touch of a button. No matter if you encounter a home invasion, a home fire or even a serious fall, Life Alert’s dispatch team can send you the proper authorities fast. Plus, with 24/7 service, you can feel secure that your personal protection is in place no matter when danger may strike. Safety will always be trendy; get the best by getting Life Alert Protection today! Call 1-800-513-2934 for a free brochure.

Works Cited:

1.       Gorin, Amy. “The Top 10 Healthy-Food Trends to Expect in 2019.” Everyday Health. 18 December 2018. <https://www.everydayhealth.com/pictures/top-healthy-food-trends/#foods-with-sustainable-benefits-so-you-can-benefit-the-planet-not-just-your-body >.

[1]

[doyouknowhowmuchyoumatter-blog]

MY reason.

I created this blog as a coping mechanism of my own, and to also help others who have and currently are struggling with any sort of mental illness. depression is no joke. mood disorders, bipolar, schizophrenia, adhd, anxiety, what have you, its all NO JOKE. and whoever tells you; “get over it” or my ABSOLUTE favorite “it’s not that bad”.. tell them to go screw themselves, I mean it. do it. because these are the kind of people that end up pushing people like you and me over the edge in the most literal way possible.. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried talking to someone about what goes on in my head, and they make the ‘issue’ into a joke, or just shove it under the rug. I'm over it. I'm over the hush hush stigma mental illness has. I'm so incredibly over it.. so here I am writing to --at the moment ZERO followers, but still having a shred of hope that I can still help someone, anyone. I can help someone look in the mirror and tell themselves “I matter, and I will survive” and actually mean it. I hope one day, all of this will matter to at least one more person other than myself because that’s all that I really want is to save at least one person besides myself from this stupid illness, that I wish never existed, an illness that so many people like to think is --all in your head, all made up, all drama, all whatever they think it is besides what it ACTUALLY is.--

which let’s talk about it. let’s honestly, talk about it. bring in the raw nitty gritty truth of the matter.

Mental illness is REAL

some facts for you pulled from various psychiatry sites, & books proven by psychologist, doctors, psychiatrists.

“Mental illness is any disease or disorder that influences the way a person thinks, feels, behaves, and/or relates to others and to his or her surroundings. Although the symptoms of mental illness can range from mild to severe and are different depending on the type of mental illness, a person with an untreated mental illness often is unable to cope with life's daily routines and demands.

What Causes Mental Illness?

Although the exact cause of most mental illnesses is not known, it is becoming clear through research that many of these conditions are caused by a combination of genetic, biological, psychological, and environmental factors -- not personal weakness or a character defect -- and recovery from a mental illness is not simply a matter of will and self-discipline.”

read that again over and over until you get it... that last line now. read it again. please. one more time. IS NOT SIMPLY A MATTER OF WILL AND SELF-DISCIPLINE.

what does that mean exactly?

it means mental illness is not something that can just be ignored, it means that no matter what you do to try and ignore it, or try to discipline yourself, it will not just go away.

it can be caused by a number of things:

hereditary/genetics: A lot of mental illnesses do run in families, they may be passed through genes from parent to child... but just because your mom or dad may have a mental illness does NOT mean you WILL have one too, but it is possible. Experts believe that many mental illnesses are linked with more than one gene.

Biology: an abnormal balance of neurotransmitters can cause symptoms of mental illness

psychological trama: can be triggered by psychological trauma suffered as a child such as severe emotional, physical, sexual abuse. or a loss of a loved one, or even neglect.

Environmental stressors: death, divorce, dysfunctional family, changing jobs/school, or even substance abuse can trigger mental illness.

All of the above can trigger/cause a mental illness to appear.

NOW, can it be prevented?

unfortunately, a combo of factors come into play and most mental illnesses have really no way of BEING prevented due to the circumstances life brings you, or the genes you may or may not have been given.

mental illness is very common even more common than cancer, diabetes and even heart disease.

“Mental illnesses are very common. In fact, they are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 25% of American adults (those ages 18 and older) and about 13% of American children (those ages 8 to 15) are diagnosed with a mental disorder during a given year.”---medicinenet.com

“Major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are among the U.S.'s top 10 leading causes of disability. Mental illness does not discriminate. It can affect people of any age, income or educational level, and cultural background. Although mental illness affects both males and females, certain conditions -- such as eating disorders -- tend to occur more often in females, and other disorders -- such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- more commonly occur in children.” --medicinenet.com

CAN IT BE TREATED???

YES! it can. but do you know what that entails? you. it entails you being reliable to yourself, or even your family to care enough to help YOU do something about it. it entails, ongoing treatment, weather that be psychotherapy, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a treatment facility, group therapies, water therapy, musical therapy,  or simply a person you can talk to and trust enough to open up to, medications can help, but the biggest thing that can help you is yourself! 

PLEASE don’t give up on yourself because I fully believe life will get better for all of those who are struggling.. scary part is I never believed this until recently. I never believed my sadness would go away. I never believed I could love myself, or even look at myself and say “you are beautiful”, I never believed I could become stronger than I ever was.. is it a struggle? HELL YES it is. it’s so damn hard do I still wake up wanting to sleep all day because that is so much better than facing my reality? YES, do I get up anyway YES. loving life & loving yourself can be SOOOOO hard... but it is damn possible. and it is so close to your reach... giving up is NOT an option. keep telling yourself that until you believe it.. drop those who are bringing you down if you have to.  YOUR life is worth living and YOU are worth loving.

I know you can get there.

YOU can never be replaced. there is only ONE you.

so are you going to be so scared and say fuck everything and run. or are you going to face your FEAR and face everything and recover?

#selflove #ENDTHESTIGMA #suicideispermanent #yourproblemsaretemporary

#youreallydomatter

[dominguezjordan94]

Increase Font Height Css Top Unique Ideas

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How To Increase Height After 25 By Meditation

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[aliceviceroy]

“I am 30 years old and I am struggling to find sanity. Between the Christian schools, homeschooling, the Christian group home (indoctrinating work camp) and different churches in different cities, I am a psychological, emotional and spiritual mess.”   –A former Evangelical

If a former believer says that Christianity made her depressed, obsessive, or post-traumatic, she is likely to be dismissed as an exaggerator. She might describe panic attacks about the rapture; moods that swung from ecstasy about God’s overwhelming love to suicidal self-loathing about repeated sins; or an obsession with sexual purity.

A symptom like one of these clearly has a religious component, yet many people instinctively blame the victim. They will say that the wounded former believer was prone to anxiety or depression or obsession in the first place—that his Christianity somehow got corrupted by his predisposition to psychological problems. Or they will say that he wasn’t a real Christian. If only he had prayed in faith believing or loved God with all his heart, soul and mind, if only he had really been saved—then he would have experienced the peace that passes all understanding.

But the reality is far more complex. It is true that symptoms like depression or panic attacks most often strike those of us who are vulnerable, perhaps because of genetics or perhaps because situational stressors have worn us down. But certain aspects of Christian beliefs and Christian living also can create those stressors, even setting up multigenerational patterns of abuse, trauma, and self-abuse. Also, over time some religious beliefs can create habitual thought patterns that actually alter brain function, making it difficult for people to heal or grow.

The purveyors of religion insist that their product is so powerful it can transform a life, but somehow, magically, it has no risks. In reality, when a medicine is powerful, it usually has the potential to be toxic, especially in the wrong combination or at the wrong dose. And religion is powerful medicine!

In this discussion, we focus on the variants of Christianity that are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible. These include Evangelical and fundamentalist churches, the Church of Latter Day Saints, and other conservative sects. These groups share the characteristics of requiring conformity for membership, a view that humans need salvation, and a focus on the spiritual world as superior to the natural world. These views are in contrast to liberal, progressive Christian churches with a humanistic viewpoint, a focus on the present, and social justice.

Religion Exploits Normal Human Mental Processes.

To understand the power of religion, it is helpful to understand a bit about the structure of the human mind. Much of our mental activity has little to do with rationality and is utterly inaccessible to the conscious mind. The preferences, intentions and decisions that shape our lives are in turn shaped by memories and associations that can get laid down before we even develop the capacity for rational analysis.

Aspects of cognition like these determine how we go through life, what causes us distress, which goals we pursue and which we abandon, how we respond to failure, how we respond when other people hurt us—and how we respond when we hurt them. Religion derives its power in large part because it shapes these unconscious processes: the frames, metaphors, intuitions and emotions that operate before we even have a chance at conscious thought.

Some Religious Beliefs and Practices are More Harmful Than Others.

When it comes to psychological damage, certain religious beliefs and practices are reliably more toxic than others.

Janet Heimlich is an investigative journalist who has explored religious child maltreatment, which describes abuse and neglect in the service of religious belief. In her book, Breaking their Will, Heimlich identifies three characteristics of religious groups that are particularly prone to harming children. Clinical work with reclaimers, that is, people who are reclaiming their lives and in recovery from toxic religion, suggests that these same qualities put adults at risk, along with a particular set of manipulations found in fundamentalist Christian churches and biblical literalism.

1) Authoritarianism, creates a rigid power hierarchy and demands unquestioning obedience. In major theistic religions, this hierarchy has a god or gods at the top, represented by powerful church leaders who have power over male believers, who in turn have power over females and children. Authoritarian Christian sects often teach that “male headship” is God’s will. Parents may go so far as beating or starving their children on the authority of godly leaders. A book titled, To Train Up a Child, by minister Michael Pearl and his wife Debi, has been found in the homes of three Christian adoptive families who have punished their children to death.

2) Isolation or separatism, is promoted as a means of maintaining spiritual purity. Evangelical Christians warn against being “unequally yoked” with nonbelievers in marriages and even friendships. New converts often are encouraged to pull away from extended family members and old friends, except when there may be opportunities to convert them. Some churches encourage older members to take in young single adults and house them within a godly context until they find spiritually compatible partners, a process known by cult analysts as “shepherding.” Home schoolers and the Christian equivalent of madrassas cut off children from outside sources of information, often teaching rote learning and unquestioning obedience rather than broad curiosity.

3) Fear of sin, hell, a looming “end-times” apocalypse, or amoral heathens binds people to the group, which then provides the only safe escape from the horrifying dangers on the outside. In Evangelical Hell Houses, Halloween is used as an occasion to terrify children and teens about the tortures that await the damned. In the Left Behind book series and movie, the world degenerates into a bloodbath without the stabilizing presence of believers. Since the religious group is the only alternative to these horrors, anything that threatens the group itself—like criticism, taxation, scientific findings, or civil rights regulations—also becomes a target of fear.

Bible Belief Creates an Authoritarian, Isolative, Threat-based Model of Reality

In Bible-believing Christianity, psychological mind-control mechanisms are coupled with beliefs from the Iron Age, including the belief that women and children are possessions of men, that children who are not hit become spoiled, that each of us is born “utterly depraved”, and that a supernatural being demands unquestioning obedience. In this view, the salvation and righteousness of believers is constantly under threat from outsiders and dark spiritual forces. Consequently, Christians need to separate themselves emotionally, spiritually, and socially from the world.These beliefs are fundamental to their overarching mental framework or “deep frame” as linguist George Lakoff would call it. Small wonder then, that many Christians emerge wounded.

It is important to remember that this mindset permeates to a deep subconscious level. This is a realm of imagery, symbols, metaphor, emotion, instinct, and primary needs. Nature and nurture merge into a template for viewing the world which then filters every experience. The template selectively allows only the information that confirms their model of reality, creating a subjective sense of its veracity.

On the societal scale, humanity has been going through a massive shift for centuries, transitioning from a supernatural view of a world dominated by forces of good and evil to a natural understanding of the universe. The Bible-based Christian population however, might be considered a subset of the general population that is still within the old framework, that is, supernaturalism.

Children are Targeted for Indoctrination Because the Child Mind is Uniquely Vulnerable.

“Here I am, a fifty-one year old college professor, still smarting from the wounds inflicted by the righteous when I was a child. It is a slow, festering wound, one that smarts every day—in some way or another…. I thought I would leave all of that “God loves… God hates…” stuff behind, but not so. Such deep and confusing fear is not easily forgotten. It pops up in my perfectionism, my melancholy mood, the years of being obsessed with finding the assurance of personal salvation.”

Nowhere is the contrast of viewpoints more stark than in the secular and religious understandings of childhood. In the biblical view, a child is not a being that is born with amazing capabilities that will emerge with the right conditions like a beautiful flower in a well-attended garden. Rather, a child is born in sin, weak, ignorant, and rebellious, needing discipline to learn obedience. Independent thinking is seen as dangerous pride.

Because the child’s mind is uniquely susceptible to religious ideas, religious indoctrination particularly targets vulnerable young children. Cognitive development before age seven lacks abstract reasoning. Thinking is magical and primitive, black and white. Also, young humans are wired to obey authority because they are dependent on their caregivers just for survival. Much of their brain growth and development has to happen after birth, which means that children are extremely vulnerable to environmental influences in the first few years when neuronal pathways are formed.

By age five a child’s brain can understand primitive cause-and-effect logic and picture situations that are not present. Children at this have a tenuous grip on reality. They often have imaginary friends; dreams are quite real; and fantasy blurs with the mundane. To a child this age, it is eminently possible that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and delivers presents if you are good and that 2000 years ago a man died a horrible death because you are naughty. Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark, the Rapture, and hell, all can be quite real. The problem is that many of these teachings are terrifying.

For many years, one conversion technique targeting children and adolescents has been the use of movies about the “End Times.” This means a “Rapture” event, when real Christians are taken up to heaven leaving the earth to “Tribulation,” a terrifying time when an evil Antichrist will reign and the world will descend into anarchy.

When assaulted with such images and ideas at a young age, a child has no chance of emotional self-defense. Christian teachings that sound true when they are embedded in the child’s mind at this tender age can feel true for a lifetime. Even decades later former believers who intellectually reject these ideas can feel intense fear or shame when their unconscious mind is triggered.

Harms Range From Mild to Catastrophic.

One requirement for success as a sincere Christian is to find a way to believe that which would be unbelievable under normal rules of evidence and inquiry. Christianity contains concepts that help to safeguard belief, such as limiting outside information, practicing thought control, and self-denigration; but for some people the emotional numbing and intellectual suicide just isn’t enough. In other words, for a significant number of children in Christian families, the religion just doesn’t “take.” This can trigger guilt, conflict, and ultimately rejection or abandonment.

Others experience the threats and fear too keenly. For them, childhood can be torturous, and they may carry injuries into adulthood.

Still others are able to sincerely devote themselves to the faith as children but confront problems when they mature. They wrestle with factual and moral contradictions in the Bible and the church, or discover surprising alternatives. This can feel confusing and terrifying – like the whole world is falling apart.

Delayed Development and Life Skills. Many Christian parents seek to insulate their children from “worldly” influences. In the extreme, this can mean not only home schooling, but cutting off media, not allowing non-Christian friends, avoiding secular activities like plays or clubs, and spending time at church instead. Children miss out on crucial information– science, culture, history, reproductive health and more. When they grow older and leave such a sheltered environment, adjusting to the secular world can be like immigrating to a new culture. One of the biggest areas of challenge is delayed social development.

Religious Trauma Syndrome.  Today, in the field of mental health, the only religious diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is “Religious or Spiritual Problem.” This is merely a supplemental code (V Code) to assist in describing an underlying pathology. Unofficially, “scrupulosity,” is the term for obsessive-compulsive symptoms centered around religious themes such as blasphemy, unforgivable sin, and damnation. While each of these diagnoses has a place, neither covers the wide range of harms induced by religion.

Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) is a new term, coined by Marlene Winell to name a recognizable set of symptoms experienced as a result of prolonged exposure to a toxic religious environment and/or the trauma of leaving the religion. It is akin to Complex PTSD, which is defined as ‘a psychological injury that results from protracted exposure to prolonged social and/or interpersonal trauma with lack or loss of control, disempowerment, and in the context of either captivity or entrapment, i.e. the lack of a viable escape route for the victim’.

Though related to other kinds of chronic trauma, religious trauma is uniquely mind-twisting. The logic of the religion is circular and blames the victim for problems; the system demands deference to spiritual authorities no matter what they do; and the larger society may not identify a problem or intervene as in cases of physical or sexual abuse, even though the same symptoms of depression and anxiety and panic attacks can occur.

RTS, as a diagnosis, is in early stages of investigation, but appears to be a useful descriptor beyond the labels used for various symptoms – depression, anxiety, grief, anger, relationship issues, and others. It is our hope that it will lead to more knowledge, training, and treatment. Like the naming of other disorders such as anorexia or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), the RTS label can help sufferers feel less alone, confused, and self-blaming.

Leaving the Fold. Breaking out of a restrictive, mind-controlling religion can be liberating: Certain problems end(!), such as trying to twist one’s thinking to believe irrational doctrines, and conforming to repressive codes of behavior. However, for many reclaimers making the break is the most disruptive, difficult upheaval they have ever experienced. Individuals who were most sincere, devout, and dedicated often are the ones most traumatized when their religious world crumbles.

Rejecting a religious model of reality that has been passed on through generations is a major cognitive and emotional disruption. For many reclaimers, it is like a death or divorce. Their ‘relationship’ with God was a central assumption of their lives, and giving it up feels like an enormous loss to be grieved. It can be like losing a lover, a parent, or best friend.

On top of shattered assumptions comes the loss of family and friends. Churches vary with official doctrine about rejection. The Mormon Church, for all the intense focus on “family forever,” is devastating to leave, and the Jehovah Witnesses require families to shun members who are “disfellowshiped.”

The rupture can destroy homes, splitting spouses and alienating parents from children.

For Women, Psychological Costs of Belief Include Subjugation and Self-loathing.

Christianity poses a special set of psychological risks for people who, according to the Iron Age hierarchy found in the Bible are unclean or property, including women. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the combination of denigration and subservience takes a psychological toll on women in Christianity as it does in Islam. Not only do women submit to marital abuse and undesired sexual contact, some tolerate the same toward their children, and men of God sometimes exploit this vulnerability, as in the case of Catholic and Protestant child sexual abuse. But most of the damage is far more subtle: lower self-esteem, less independence and confidence; abandoned dreams and goals.

Why Harm Goes Unrecognized.  What is the sum cost of having millions of people holding to a misogynist, authoritarian, fear-based supernatural view of the universe? The consequences far-reaching, even global, but many are hidden, for two reasons.

One is the nature of the trauma itself. Unlike other harm, such as physical beating or sexual abuse, the injury is far from obvious to the victim, who has been taught to self-blame. It’s as if a person black and blue from a caning were to think it was self-inflicted.

The second reason that religious harm goes unrecognized is that Christianity is still the cultural backdrop for the indoctrination. While the larger society may not be fundamentalist, references to God and faith abound. The Bible gets used to swear in witnesses and even the U.S. president. Common phrases are “God willing,” “God bless,” “God helps those that help themselves,” “In God we trust,” and so forth. These lend credence to theistic authority.

Religious trauma is difficult to see because it is camouflaged by the respectability of religion in culture. To date, parents are afforded the right to teach their own children whatever doctrines they like, no matter how heinous, degrading, or mentally unhealthy. Even helping professionals largely perceive Christianity as benign. This will need to change for treatment methods to be developed and people to get help that allows them to truly reclaim their lives.

This article was adapted from “The Crazy Making in Christianity” Chapter 19 in Christianity is Not Great: How Faith Fails, edited by John Loftus, Prometheus Books, October 2014.

______________________________________________________________________

Dr. Marlene Winell is a human development consultant in the San Francisco Area. Winell is the author of Leaving the Fold – A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion.

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light and Deas and Other Imaginings, and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org. Subscribe at ValerieTarico.com.

[vileart]

Valerie Dramaturgy: Robin Kelly @ Edfringe 2018

Valerie - To All The Women Who Hold On For The Ones They Love

Valerie reaches deep into the guts of families and their mythologies and also honours all the women, down the generations, who have been strong for those they love.

It is a work of inter-generational cabaret theatre created by writer, composer and performer Robin Kelly that is inspired by his own grandmother’s battle to support a troubled family.

This was a family where the seemingly joyous quirkiness of a grandfather who kept live canaries in his beard slid into despair and dislocation through the nearly overwhelming impact of severe mental illness. Kelly’s grandmother Valerie was their bulwark.

The title role is taken by actor, guitarist and singer Cherie Moore who appears alongside Kelly and drummer Tom Broome. Together they intersperse the compelling narrative with a series of powerful blues-style songs.

First of all, how do you define mental health? What does the term mean to you - do you have a social model of sanity, for example, or is it concerned with neural atypical conditions?

Our show ‘Valerie’ deals quite directly with the conflict between conceiving ‘mental health’ as either a social or medical/neurological condition. That conflict really percolates through the whole work. As the writer of the work I have a background in molecular and neuro biology, and so my first port of call for understanding mental disturbance is a scientific one.

Through the process of dealing with my own mental disquiet and creating this show I have directly confronted that scientific reductionist approach and forced myself to accept that whilst causation might be at the molecular level, the experience and our understanding

of mental health needs to be face to face at the social level.

What areas of mental health are you looking at in the performance?

We’re looking at the intergeneration ramifications of mental health issues. So this necessarily touches on both the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to an individual’s overall health. The catalyst for the work was my grandfather’s severe schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and the spectre of genetic susceptibility that haunts my generation. It’s a show almost more about that threat than anything else – it addresses my grandfather’s condition and my own chronic depression, but overall it’s trying to relieve the panic of the unknown – the fear of the dark – about what we can and can’t control about our mental health destinies.

In what ways do you hope that  your play can help the audience to move forward in their understanding and actions towards a greater sense of mental good health?

Mental health issues are scary. Even though mental illness is much less stigmatized these days, it can still be an extremely confronting phenomenon to experience yourself, and there are plenty of barriers to openly acknowledging that struggle. ‘Valerie’ is, for me, an extremely personal platform to uncompromisingly stare that fear in the face. I expect (and have experienced) that being an audience member for this show is challenging, but it’s a constructive challenge.

A challenge to openly acknowledge your own fear, your own grief, your own struggles. To not compartmentalize or shut off. To be vulnerable and open to what scares you. We all have rationalisations that prevent us from dealing directly with some of our biggest flaws. ‘Valerie’ encourages audiences to slough off those rationalisations and just start to feel. I reckon that’s a vital first step to constructive coping with mental health challenges.

And given the high pressure nature of the Fringe, do you have any ideas about positive self-care during August in Edinburgh.

Positive self-care in the fringe has been a lynchpin of our strategy as a company for coming to Edinburgh. We’re coming from the other side of the world (little ol’ New Zealand), which means not only facing a huge financial burden, but leaving all our support structures behind. So as a company we’re looking inward to support each other with some super practical steps. The most important of these is that we have scheduled time across August to check back in with families/therapists/partners/friends at home, and we all understand that that is a priority which supersedes anything else – flyering, socialising, seeing other shows, whatever. Personally, I’ve got my running shoes and I’m going to start an intimate relationship with Arthur’s Seat.

Kelly says: “The show goes to some dark places. But it’s an exercise in not being afraid of those dark places too. I’ve written songs that explore the connection between experiences across generations. I’ve written some pretty brutal truths. But ultimately I think the show is about love. It’s a way of saying thank you to my grandmother and all those other women across the world who have struggled to keep their loved ones safe.”

The Fringe offers the first chance for audiences outside New Zealand to see Valerie which is directed by Benjamin Henson and presented by Last Tapes Theatre Company. The company has a long, successful track record The Last Five Years, Verbatim, Earnest, Fallout: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Love and Information) and sums up its ethos as “theatre that gives a shit”.

·     Venue: Summerhall, Cairns Lecture Theatre

·     Dates: 3-26 August, preview 1 August

·     Time: 21:15

·     Duration: 65 mins

·     Ticket prices: Full price £12, concessions £10, preview £5

from the vileblog https://ift.tt/2OpnexW

[athertonjc]

Time to “Rethink Pretty” in the Garden by Allen Bush

Benjamin Vogt and I began an email exchange last March after I read his very interesting A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future.

A few weeks ago, Benjamin had a sign posted on his property in Lincoln, Nebraska that warned him about the public nuisance he had created. He won the fight to keep his front and back yard prairie, but this got me thinking.

It seemed like a good time to share our exchange. Portions have been edited and expanded.

Onward Benjamin.

I wrote my book to make folks as uncomfortable as I felt. I wrote it to question horticulture, landscape design, and all environmental movements. I wrote it to invigorate the discussion and get us to grapple with humanity in ways we avoid in order to protect ourselves from the reality of our lost love. I wrote it in order to unearth aspects of environmentalism I thought weren’t explored enough. I wrote my book out of depression, fear, and anger in order to discover a strength we all possess — the ability to go against the force of history and culture and risk some aspect of ourselves we assumed was better for us. Gardens are places of activism in a time of mass extinction and we need to start using them as such. And if gardens are art, if that’s the primary viewpoint about them that we’re stuck with, then remember the long tradition of art based in activism and making folks uncomfortable for a purpose.

  March 2018

Hi Benjamin,

I apologize for being slow to read your book, but I’m glad I brought it to the top of my book pile.

I thoroughly enjoyed A New Garden Ethic.

I worried at the outset that it might be full of redundancies, but when there were similar claims, “We proclaim ourselves right in a wrong world…” (p.56), each new argument augmented your case. Rarely did I feel like you were talking down to me. On occasion, there were annoying passages, such as, “Native plants are a threat to an entire Western culture…(p 59).

But here’s what I got out of your book.

A garden isn’t nature

Our values screw us up

A new garden ethic is needed

Surprisingly, I enjoyed your bits about “pretty” and “beauty.” It reminded me of an undergraduate course in Philosophy of the Mind. Your subject is complex but well written. However, I still like “pretty” and don’t agree that “pretty,” as a premise, need be “arrogant.”  I don’t think I’ve ever gardened for “human supremacy.” I was heartened, when you briefly backed off and said, “Of course a garden must be pretty.”

“Pretty” concerns me because that’s how we primarily judge the worth of a garden or landscape — I just want us to redefine gardens, especially in the context of mass extinction. What is pretty to the silent majority on this planet, to wildlife? I don’t think many of us garden for human supremacy in a conscious way, but when we go outside and say “I want this maple tree right here” we are practicing a form of supremacy since we are placing our desires over or onto the landscape, whether we’ve researched the tree and ecosystem or not. Now, I’m not explicitly saying such actions are good or bad, per se. I’m saying we must think more critically about our actions, and that if we don’t we are propagating an arrogance that has led us to the assumption we are at the top of the pecking order and can do no harm. This is what’s created a 6thmass extinction — privileging ourselves over other species and landscapes. We do it every day in small, subtle ways and in massively overt ways.

I was glad to read the chapter: More than Native Plants. Your sentence on p. 52 is magnificent: “Every place we touch is a garden, no matter its size, and the economic, aesthetic, and emotional lessons we learn in one landscape are practiced in others.”

Good stuff on feelings: denial, grief and loss.

And, more good stuff: wisdom is evolutionary (p.66); “ethical amnesia” (p. 78) and “compassion fade” and “psychological numbing” (p.81)

This was my favorite chapter to write and research, chapter three; it’s the heart of the book, and I think out environmental crisis (and other crises, like race, gender, guns, etc). There’s a lot of psychology at play in how we view ourselves, one another, and the world around us. There’s a lot of guilt and shame. There’s a lot of self-defense that’s totally genetic and human and natural that we have to understand, identify, and process more thoughtfully. For example, when someone proposes native plants instead of hosta, it’s easy to feel defensive because we’re being exposed to new concepts that both feel constrictive and carry greater ramifications for the environment, and those ramifications influence how we perceive ourselves as acting or thinking ethically. Change is hard — learning new ideas is hard (especially when they go against the cultural / social default). Emotionally and psychologically evolving as fast or faster than the changes we are forcing on the plant is really hard, if not nearly impossible.

I wish you’d go easy on red cedars (p.79). I love red cedars!

But your red cedars aren’t aggressive thugs, right? I like them, too, but boy do they destroy our prairies. It’s all about regional context, and in the U.S. there’s lots of nuance. We burn trees in Nebraska, we don’t hug them.

And there are the useless plants… I don’t agree with your statement: “Gardens composed of both native and exotic plants constitute a precarious balance.” (p. 83) I am NOT grief stricken, although you might argue I’m in denial.

Yes, I would argue that. Denial is one of the five stages of grief, and processing grief is both an exercise in preserving the self and accepting the new self that is forming. It’s a conundrum we carry into our landscapes — our emotions dictate a lot of what we do behind our fences.

I love daffodils and peonies, among many other non-beneficial plants. I get your point and respect your radical approach. I know you don’t think there’s a perfect world as long as humankind is here on earth.

Oh I wouldn’t go that far. I firmly believe humans can be part of a thriving, balanced, biodiverse global ecosystem. But as is — given our extraction-based cultures that privilege humans — it’s not working. And the argument that nature will find a way is sort of bogus — I don’t want to live, and I don’t want my kids to live — in a world where nature is in the process of finding its way. Drought, famine, disease,  dirty water, no fish, plastic in every bite we take… We could still be in a relative Goldilocks era if we woke to the world right now.  

I’m glad you threw a bone to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)for promoting a planting spectrum that includes a large % of native plants.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to plant challenging exotics and natives that I am curious to grow. I will endeavor to try and be more attentive to what’s under foot and around me.

You’ve inspired me.

I’ve got tons of natives, even a faux prairie, but I’m a one-trick pony. I’m a plantsman, far from a naturalist. You’ve encouraged me to dig deeper. Microbes are in my future.

Go go go Allen! We’re all taking steps even if I wish (and other species wish) they were much larger and were at more of a brisk jog’s space, if not a hard sprint.

My favorite chapter was Urban Wildness and Social Justice.  You made me think of Thoreau leaving Walden Pond to take his laundry to his mom.

“(If we expect to be selfless”… p.120). Louisville needs to work harder (p. 125). My friend, Louisville tree activist, Mike Hayman is planting trees as fast as he can. Mike is the role model I suggested for you. Talk about selfless!

I hope you’ll keep pushing harder, even when you hit headwinds.

It is very hard because it seems that all I hit are headwinds; such is the role I’ve apparently chosen for myself.

I know you’re working your way toward your dream of your own prairie compound.

Paradise?

But don’t turn your back on the people, and the soulless suburban gardens, you might leave behind.

On the other hand, an ascetic life has some appeal.

 I still design urban and suburban meadow gardens for clients, some of whom are removing their front lawns. I am desperate to live on a prairie away from mowers, to create an oasis among the corn and soybeans. I don’t think I’d live ascetically, only as a way to restore and revive my soul so I could have the energy and focus to ramp up to get back into the fray. I am a massive, massive, massive introvert, and it’s still going take me a lifetime to discover how that’s a strength and not a liability.

While I was reading your book, I was also reading a book of essays by Wes Jackson, whom I admire tremendously. Your earnestness reminds me of Jackson.

As I have argued, I think your most convenient prey (prairie novitiates?) might be your neighbors. They can’t be more intransigent than the rest of built America. You could do prairie grass roots door-to-door?

Have you seen my yard? https://www.houzz.com/projects/1968383/front-yard-makeover 

I know you’re working your way, eventually, toward your own prairie farm. If you do, I worry you will be turning your back on the people and the wretched suburban gardens you leave behind. However, I understand. Life as an ascetic has always had some appeal for me.

Can you become both a missionary—hunker down and save souls in the suburbs—and escape, as Thomas Merton did, to a cloistered outpost and write down, as it was said about Merton, every thought you have. (You’re a very good writer!)

Merton could be as petulant as he was gifted. He remained a constant pain in the ass to his abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani.

Maybe you will become the artist, activist, pain in the ass and save souls.

I hope so!  We all need to be bigger pains in the ass. Especially if those asses are the right ones (you know who I’m talking about).

You’ve got options and a bright future.

You’ve written an absorbing and provocative book that reminded me of the cultural unraveling that Wendell Berry described in Unsettling of America.

That’s high praise indeed! You know I’m a Berry Fan. Thank you, Allen, for an insightful and warm conversation. Let’s have more of these in the garden world.

  Photos courtesy of Benjamin Vogt and Monarch Gardens. A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Futuremay be purchased at Monarch Gardens.

    Time to “Rethink Pretty” in the Garden originally appeared on Garden Rant on June 13, 2018.

from Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2018/06/time-to-rethink-pretty-in-the-garden.html

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The Natural Pcos Diet

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The Natural Pcos Diet

 Buy Now    

Would life be better if you didn’t suffer from PCOS?

If you answered ‘YES’ then you will definitely want to find out more about the The Natural PCOS Diet!

The Natural PCOS Diet book reveals tip to help deal with PCOS naturally and effectively.

If you’ve been searching for the answers for your PCOS symptoms, then look no further.  Here’s why.

I have been treating patients with PCOS successfully for over 26 years and have a wealth of experience and an expertise in dealing with PCOS.

Are you suffering from any of these symptoms?

Infertility

Weight gain

Hirsutism (excess hair growth)

Acne

Ovarian cysts

An irregular menstrual cycle

Sugar cravings

Bloating

Feeling tired all or most of the time

 If you answered YES, could you have PCOS?

The ‘Natural PCOS DIET book’ and bonus cookbook will give you the confidence to naturally and effectively manage your PCOS by learning how to…

Balance your hormones

Boost your fertility

Lose weight and feel good

Achieve regular periods and ovulation

Reduce your cravings for sugary food

Improve your problem skin

Live a happier healthier, hormonally balanced life!

The book explains in detail

What is happening to your body and how to balance your hormones

The link between PCOS and insulin resistance. Does every PCOS sufferer have this?

What to do if there is a genetic link

How to control inflammation and manage leptin resistance

What is the most suitable diet to follow – is it Paleo?  Gluten-free?  Low GI? What is the best PCOS diet plan?

That it works!  I have had countless women overcome their PCOS symptoms naturally!

Overcoming PCOS is not just about following a suitable PCOS diet plan.  There are other essential factors to address including:

Detoxification and digestive health

Environmental toxic exposure

Exercise and lifestyle habits

Nutritional status

Inflammation, leptin and other hormones

These factors and more are covered in detail.

“I was struggling with PCOS, energy levels and day to day living, keeping up with work commitments and two young kids. My doctor was unable to help me so I turned to the internet. I came across Jenny’s web site and bought The Natural PCOS Diet with the bonus cook book. She also helped me through a Skype consultation and after a chat about my medical condition, Jenny prescribed me certain supplements that have changed my life. My symptoms have subsided and my head is clear again and the best thing is I have the energy to exercise and my fitness has improved dramatically. Through Jenny’s book I have learnt what triggers my symptoms and have made small changes to my diet which is not only making me feel great on the inside but also on the outside with my skin glowing and weight improving. With all of these positive changes to my life my depression is also diminishing which makes home life so much happier for everyone. Thanks Jenny!”

Mrs. P, Sydney, Australia

“I wanted to thank you for writing your 2 books, The Natural PCOS Diet and its Cookbook. I was trying to conceive for a few years, but nothing happened. Finally, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with PCOS. The doctor did some tests on my hormones cycle and decided that I needed some hormone therapy. Long story short, I decided not to do a hormone therapy but to try to change my diet. It was when I found your books. I followed them to the dot. I got pregnant two months after starting the diet and changing my lifestyle. My doctor was speechless…and I was very happy. After having my first baby, I never went back to taking any prescribed med for PCOS, and I was able to conceive again about a year and a half later. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!”

Tessy Cabrera

Want to Know More?

Grab your copy of ‘The Natural PCOS Diet’ and the bonus ‘The Natural PCOS Diet Cookbook’ – packed full of practical, healthy recipes to help navigate you on your journey back to optimal health.

Take a look through this website for more information on relevant topics for your PCOS issues.  Discover how you can overcome and conquer your PCOS naturally – when provided with the right guidance!

Ready to get started?

Only US$20

Download e-book immediately after purchase. 

Secure payment. All major credit cards accepted. 

My Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee

I am confident that once you purchase the book you have everything you need get started that I offer you my personal 60 day satisfaction guarantee. This means you can take a full days to try The Natural PCOS Diet for yourself. If you are not delighted by the results or 100% happy, I will give you a prompt and courteous refund.

Why am I an expert in hormone health?

I am a registered naturopath, nutritionist, homoeopath and medical herbalist, and a fertility expert. I am also the author of the popular fertility book  Making Babies – The Holistic IVF Diet Guide.

With 26 years experience in clinical practice, I am passionate about restoring hormone balance to women of all ages experiencing hormonal problems ranging from PMS, PCOS, infertilty to menopause.

I take a proactive and realistic approach to improving your hormone health and wellbeing. Many of my patients compliment me on my understanding and compassionate nature.

I hope the information in this book will help you overcome PCOS naturally as it has for many hundreds of other women.

“PCOS is often described as something that happens to you rather than a health condition which you can regulate. With Jenny’s helpful and practical advice, I was able to manage the worst symptoms and even more importantly I felt like I was back in control of my health. Jenny is a realist – she didn’t recommend any changes to my lifestyle that I couldn’t achieve.”

Ms. L, Sydney, Australia

“Ever since getting my periods when I was twelve I have suffered from severe cystic acne on my face. I also had irregular periods, where I sometimes could go for six months without bleeding. On top of this I was particularly hairier than other girls my age and would often experience huge slumps in energy. This went on for years without me knowing or getting to the bottom of “why?” I was finally diagnosed with PCOS last year and have since been following Jenny’s PCOS plan, The Natural PCOS Diet. My acne has significantly improved – I have gone three months now without breaking out, my period cycle is a lot more regular and I now know how to control my low blood sugar episodes. Jenny’s book, The Natural PCOS Diet, has all the essential information you need to know about PCOS and provides you with a multitude of treatment options.”

Ms. H, Redland Bay, Australia

“My battle with PCOS began 6 years ago; when I decided that at 15 years of age, I should definitely be in the stream of womanhood with a regular period. Something that never arrived. I went to see my GP who decided that the appropriate solution to the problem was being on the OCP – typical therapy for orthodox medicine, treat the symptoms without concern for the cause. I didn’t quite agree and was soon sent for an ultrasound, where I was properly diagnosed with PCOS. Since being diagnosed with PCOS I have been seen by many gynaecologists and doctors whom “Specialise in Women’s Health” – All to no avail. “It is imperative to be on the pill”, “being on the pill is worsening your condition”, “you are well over your ideal BMI, lose weight, problem solved”. These are common phrases that I have become accustom to hearing by “Qualified Doctors”. By this stage, after 6 years of “costly treatment” in which I have found absolutely NO success with, I had decided to take the matter into my own hands. I have always felt that Naturopathy is the way to go, and by chance – or fate, whichever, I have stumbled across Jenny Blondel. I have purchased and read her e-book “The Natural PCOS Diet” which I have found very enlightening. This book has very quickly become my bible. I regularly refer to The Natural PCOS Diet in order to stay focused and motivated with my new found lifestyle. I have now been following her recommended diet plan from The Natural PCOS Diet for 2 weeks, and can see and feel the dramatic changes occurring in my body. I look forward to getting back to a healthy weight, and being mentally balanced again as my hormones go back to normal, also (unlike many other woman) I will rejoice at the opportunity and blessing that a natural period cycle will have in my life. Something that I have been made to believe would never evolve naturally without forcing my body to act in this manner – through use of the OCP.

My biggest praise and thanks goes out to Jenny Blondel for the light she has bought to my life, and the re-newed direction she has been capable of giving me. It has been the biggest blessing.”

Ms. G, Brisbane, Australia

“I went to Jenny after I had been diagnosed with PCOS when I came off the pill to try and have a baby. I was overweight, depressed and not ovulating. I did not want to go down the western medical route which was just to offer me Metformin and Clomid; instead I wanted to go for a more holistic approach as I thought this would be healthier and longer lasting. I was very glad I found Jenny. She gave me good dietary advice as well as giving me herbal medicine and exercise advice.

After six months of sticking to The Natural PCOS Diet and a strict treatment programme, I had lost enough weight, my hormones were much more balanced and I got pregnant! Now I have a lovely three and a half year old and I really feel I owe this to Jenny and her treatment. I still have occasional issues with my PCOS but I have a much healthier diet than I had previously and feel I manage it better. Until I tried to get pregnant I had no idea I had PCOS though I have always had blood sugar problems. Having Jenny as my Naturopath is one of the best decisions I have made.”

Ms. W, Yorkshire, England

“I contacted Jenny Blondel after becoming convinced that traditional medicine didn’t hold all of the answers for me and my hormone issues. After six months of breastfeeding my twin sons (who were conceived after a diagnosis of PCOS with the help of a traditional fertility doctor using Clomid -I was not ovulating on my own and hadn’t gotten my period for nearly eight months after stopping the Pill), I got my period. It was outrageously heavy and had lasted for six weeks by the time I contacted Jenny. The medical practice I went to simply kept giving me birth control pills and told me to take them in increasing quantities; they said that was the only thing that would stop the bleeding. I did not want to go back on birth control pills, but I took them anyway because I had become anaemic and wanted something to stop the bleeding. They didn’t work. Luckily, when they prescribed yet another round and gave me another medication to control the nausea (and told me to hire a babysitter for my boys because I would likely be too sick to care for them on the first day after beginning this even stronger round of hormones), I had already contacted Jenny. I didn’t follow through with the last round; I knew there had to be a better way.

After a one-hour consultation with her, I felt more heard than I ever had been before by traditional doctors. She asked the right questions (that I had been wondering why other doctors weren’t asking me!) that made me feel like she really had a holistic understanding of the issues I was currently facing and those that had plagued me in the past. Instead of prescribing something to address one symptom, she set up a plan for me to straighten out my hormones that she believed would address the underlying problems that resulted in several different symptoms. Within three days of being on the herbs she prescribed for my bleeding, it stopped. That, in and of itself, was astounding. Then, by following her advice, a regular menstrual cycle again became a part of my life, which hadn’t been the case without the Pill in at least 10 years. Three weeks ago, less than a year and a half after first seeking her out, I gave birth to our third child, Caroline. I paid attention to my cycle to prevent pregnancy, and once we were ready, we conceived our daughter completely naturally, with no assistance and no trouble (or delay!) at all. I am so grateful to Jenny for her help and for her attention; I trust her, her book – The Natural PCOS Diet, and have recommended her to many friends.”

Mrs W, Italy

Ready to get started?

Only US$20

Download e-book immediately after purchase. 

Secure payment. All major credit cards accepted.