Mad in America

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

She earned a PhD in English literature at the University of Maryland, College Park. She now teaches a course on U.S. history at Mount St. Mary’s University. It was named a New York Times Editors’ Pick and will be the focus of our conversation today. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Trauma and the brain 140

Trauma and the brain Genetics and mental health Aging and mental health Technology 140

Mad in America

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

Perhaps if I took a different prescription or combination of prescriptions, my brain would magically adjust and rid me of my alleged ‘chemical imbalance’. My brain sat in my skull like a dead goldfish. I had been diagnosed with numerous ‘disorders’ because I had a traumatic childhood. I was severely unwell. I was disgusted.

Trauma and the brain 144

Trauma and the brain Poverty and mental health Autism spectrum Anxiety disorders 144

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

At present, the foundation for international law is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD , 2006), of which Australia is a signatory. At present, the foundation for international law is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD , 2006), of which Australia is a signatory.

Genetics and mental health 145

Genetics and mental health Biopsychosocial model Legal Trauma and the brain 145

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

She’s the author of The Anatomy of Anxiety and takes a functional medicine approach to mental health. She considers the whole person and addresses imbalance at the root. Dr. Vora received her BA from Yale University and her MD from Columbia University. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Genetics and mental health 97

Genetics and mental health Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health Nutrition and mood 97

Mad in America

JULY 29, 2024

Mad in America and Mad in the UK are jointly publishing this four-part series on neurodiversity. This third part of this series on Neurodiversity consists of an essay by a therapist who has asked to remain anonymous for fear of the consequences for their job. The series is being archived here. In Part 1 and Part 2 , we—e.g.

Trauma and the brain 144

Trauma and the brain Construction Education Eating disorders 144

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

I had headaches, brain fog, and fatigue. Being a brain doctor, he focused on the headaches. “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that really isn’t you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”

Trauma and the brain 141

Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health Genetics and mental health Aging and mental health 141

Mad in America

JUNE 17, 2024

I was grappling with the pressures of balancing the needs of my teenagers, who were struggling in different ways, and my two preschoolers with developmental delays that no professional could explain — all while attempting to manage and overcome my own trauma from military service. Two police officers stood inside my entryway, watching us.

Trauma and the brain 126

Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health Aging and mental health Self-awareness 126

Mad in America

AUGUST 28, 2024

Her work is deeply informed by her lived experiences surviving complex trauma, psychosis, and an autoimmune disease. Her work is deeply informed by her lived experiences surviving complex trauma, psychosis, and an autoimmune disease. This has led her to bridge critical neuroscience communities with the mad movement.

Trauma and the brain 119

Trauma and the brain Mind-body connection Nonprofits Education 119

Mad in America

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

In 2018, he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to research PTSD treatment in military veterans and continues to teach workshops for people with trauma-affected sleep. O n the Mad in America podcast today, we hear about the potential of lucid dreaming therapy to aid those struggling with post-traumatic stress.

Trauma and the brain 97

Trauma and the brain Childhood trauma Self-awareness Mindfulness practices 97

The Art of Healing Trauma

JUNE 25, 2020

When we remember and then begin to do a writing practice about the memory, we are turning on many parts of our brains and awareness to interact with the memory, such as new knowledge, new experiences, and other frames of reference that did not exist when the experience happened.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness 52

The Art of Healing Trauma

DECEMBER 21, 2018

Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing, A Sensorimotor Art Therapy Approach to Bilateral Body Mapping, by Cornelia Elbrecht, is an in-depth instructional textbook for the somatic therapeutic approach Guided Drawing. Based on leading edge understandings about trauma healing and the body (sensorimotor psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, etc.),

Art therapy 52

Art therapy Trauma and the brain Self-awareness 52

Mad in America

JUNE 13, 2024

Medical students were tasked with presenting written cases on a variety of patients, finding examples to illustrate the most common psychiatric diagnoses. I was still only 17 years old but it was a great relief after the horrendous years I had spent at an all-girls boarding school. I was not looking forward to my psychiatry rotation.

Trauma and the brain 145

Trauma and the brain Pharmaceuticals Hospitality Sleep and mental health 145

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

P sychiatry’s serotonin-imbalance theory of depression, long discarded by researchers, was finally flushed down the toilet by psychiatry and the mainstream media in 2022. And psychiatrists’ primary treatments for depression—their so-called “antidepressants”—are now circling the drain. 2) What approach to depression makes sense? Genes and depression?

Poverty and mental health 145

Poverty and mental health Childhood trauma Neurotransmitters and mental health Trauma and the brain 145

Mad in America

JULY 25, 2024

I saw that I was innocently bringing the distress of the past into the present and this was what dysregulating my nervous system now. I was never given an official diagnosis. Back in the early 1980s in the UK no one would have thought to ask what their doctor was writing in our file. They beat me so hard I ‘knew’ I was going to die.

Resilience and coping 141

Resilience and coping Genetics and mental health Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain 141

Mad in America

APRIL 12, 2024

A nutrition geek and nature fanatic who loved learning about the healing power of food, I could not wrap my mind around how I needed prescriptions to balance my brain. I arrived at my 18 th birthday 20 pounds overweight, insecure, and foggy, thanks to Depakote and Zyprexa. It was the perfect way to start my senior year of high school.

Sleep and mental health 122

Sleep and mental health Nutrition and mood Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain 122

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

In my last piece , I wrote about various neuro-rehab therapies I engaged in with Dr. J, the functional brain injury specialist, and that there came a point when my husband and I knew we’d reached the end of what medical science could offer me. I sat down to write this article with the experience of severe akathisia fresh in my mind.

Nutrition and mood 114

Nutrition and mood Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health Bipolar disorder 114

Mad in America

OCTOBER 22, 2024

The real question is whether the “brighter future” is always so distant. When mundane events increasingly take on the character of the surreal or the apocalyptic, what does it mean to be normal or sane? I believe these kinds of questions will shape our understanding of the future of mental health. Yet these things are not acts of God.

Trauma and the brain 120

Trauma and the brain Legal Self-awareness Technology 120

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Editor’s Note: This blog is also being published on our affiliate site, Mad in the UK. T he one-size-fits-all autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, as configured in the Revised Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM- 5-TR), is a clinical catastrophe. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Autism spectrum 128

Autism spectrum Trauma and the brain Education Hospitality 128

Mad in America

JANUARY 6, 2024

Below are excerpts from a talk given by Dina Tyler — a psych survivor, family counselor, and cofounder of Bay Area Hearing Voices, among others — at UCSF Grand Rounds last month. “I was and still would be non-compliant. I would never ever want to seek help in a psychiatric hospital ever again. Or did it come true?

Sleep and mental health 112

Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Legal 112

The Art of Healing Trauma

NOVEMBER 17, 2019

This is the earliest somewhat coherent journal entry I can find that I wrote after the traumas as I was too ill and in too much chaos to write anything down for a couple years. This short story about a train trip shows how the many symptoms of PTSD combine to have a devastating impact to one’s Sense of Self.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Hospitality 52

The Anxiety Guy

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Your brain becomes overactive, producing an endless loop of thoughts that often revolve around worry, fear, or worst-case scenarios. Your brain continuously searches for solutions, even when they arent needed. Enjoy today’s podcast friends! Reminder : This podcast episode is brought to you by the Inner Circle Program.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Technology 52

Mad in America

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Scuffling whispers echoing in the hall and in my brain halted, followed by a brief but sacred silence. Nevertheless, like USS Arizona and Utah, I lay immobile from what felt like a sneak attack. In the dim quiet of the calculatingly sterile room I was alone, awash with discouragement and sunken in the icy depths of depression.

Aging and mental health 114

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Construction 114

Mad in America

AUGUST 10, 2024

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Mad in the UK. The author, Catherine Heseltine, is a psychiatric survivor, a mum to three wonderful children and a political activist in London. I want to start my story at the end. This holiday has been amazing. How heaven could possibly be more beautiful than this island I can’t imagine!

Sleep and mental health 110

Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain Social Services Aging and mental health 110

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Can we identify them before they start an antidepressant? With so much debate and discussion about “how many” (including the previous two essays in this series), it’s surprising that so little has been written about “why some and not others?” Yes, being on an antidepressant for a long time increases the risk of severe withdrawal when stopping.

Bipolar disorder 100

Bipolar disorder Trauma and the brain 100

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Apart from seeing and experiencing very unusual things, they also healed me from terrible stomach pain and trauma from my adolescence. S omeone asked me the other day: but what has changed in terms of psychiatric treatment in twenty years? I can reflect on this question because I have been dealing with the psychiatric system for a long time.

Trauma and the brain 115

Trauma and the brain Hospitality 115

Roland Bal - Resolving Trauma and PTSD

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Self-defeat is a common symptom of Complex Trauma or PTSD. Unfortunately, these shutdown states and self-defeating thoughts are all too common with PTSD and Complex Trauma. A 15-30-minute mandatory daily walk, no matter what, can help clear a lot of brain fog. The Next Step Is Action! That gets your energy moving again.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness 52

Mad in America

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The following is the second excerpt adapted from Healing Companions , a book by the MIA author Sam Ruck (his pen name) that describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her “alters.” His earlier installment addressed the problems with “psychosis.” I’ve repeatedly seen this with my wife. For instance, what are “delusions”?

Trauma and the brain 76

Trauma and the brain Childhood trauma Self-awareness 76

Mad in America

JANUARY 8, 2025

But my lived experience goes back to childhoodIve dealt with trauma, major depression, suicide attempts, some addiction problems, and night terrors. B ecky Brasfield has emerged as a formidable advocate for change in the complex landscape of mental health care.A The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Poverty and mental health 123

Poverty and mental health Trauma and the brain Global mental health Hospitality 123

ADDitude

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

Epigenetic tags allow each of these cells to “read” only the parts of the DNA sequence that are relevant to them, in order to become skin cells, liver cells, brain cells, muscle cells, and other unique cells with the right structure and functions for their specific role. Yet, genetic influences are less fixed than one might think.

Genetics and mental health 68

Genetics and mental health Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health 68

Now Psych

MAY 20, 2024

While the exact cause is still not clear, most experts point to a combination of genetics, brain chemistry and structure, and environment. Stressful events like trauma and substance abuse can trigger onset of or make symptoms worse in people who might be vulnerable. How Common is Schizoaffective Disorder?

Bipolar disorder 52

Bipolar disorder Genetics and mental health Trauma and the brain Aging and mental health 52

Mad in America

DECEMBER 10, 2024

Waking dreamsallowus to dream while awake, significantly enhancing self-awareness, creative problem-solving, andthe ability to findmeaning in life experiences. Indigenous culturesaround the worldrecognize and intentionally cultivate waking dreams for both personal and communitywell-being.

Sleep and mental health 99

Sleep and mental health Self-awareness Trauma and the brain Aging and mental health 99

Solara Mental Health

MARCH 20, 2024

The intensity and frequency of combat situations and other traumas experienced during war can lead to the development of PTSD and subsequent war flashbacks. War flashbacks are a distressing symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that can have a significant impact on the lives of those who experience them.

Resilience and coping 52

Resilience and coping Sleep and mental health Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Self-care strategies 52

Child Mind Intitute

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

During the summer, YMHA students participated in five weeks of academic enrichment activities and project-based learning, culminating in the presentation of group capstone projects on a chosen mental health focus.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain 52

Lightwork

DECEMBER 26, 2024

This combination of diagnoses presents specific difficulties in both identifying and treating these conditions. Introduction Research consistently shows that women experience anxiety disorders at nearly twice the rate of men. Studies indicate that 60-70% of women with anxiety disorders also qualify for major depressive disorder.

Anxiety disorders 52

Anxiety disorders Resilience and coping Aging and mental health Sleep and mental health 52

Dr. Christianheim Preventative Mental Health

NOVEMBER 30, 2021

When I first presented this Morning Mental Fitness Program, somebody asked what about my amygdala? Anatomy: The Amygdala The Amygdala are two almond-shaped centers, one in each of the left and right Temporal Lobes of the brain. But what if people hurt you? People can hurt. The Amygdala generates our pain. But there is more we can do.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain 52

Bullet Psych

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Alcohol is reinforcing because it increases dopamine release in the brain's reward system, particularly in the mesolimbic pathway, leading to feelings of pleasure, relaxation, and euphoria. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most common substance use disorder , affecting millions worldwide. Highest rates in ages 1829.

Genetics and mental health 52

Genetics and mental health Neurotransmitters and mental health Trauma and the brain Aging and mental health 52

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

W hen I had my first schizophrenic hallucination 61 years ago, I told myself that I was in the privileged position of having the terrifying knowledge of what such a hallucination actually is. I had seen the Light and it was divine. I told myself that this was surely a Beatific Vision. I told myself that this was surely a Beatific Vision.

Hospitality 115

Hospitality Trauma and the brain Bipolar disorder Education 115