Tag: mental wellness

Mary Maddock , Mind Freedom , Ireland -Recovery

Our stories are similar , I did not have electroshock

Even Mary’s wedding picture looks like mine .

Much admiration and gratitude for Mary’s every effort to educate and earn others .

Hindsight as Evidence

I write this on the eve of my 48th wedding anniversary

This year on November 8th I hopefully will be 75 years strong. I met Jim in 1973. I have known him for almost 5O years..When we published our book in 2006 I did not have my medical records. Sixteen years later I am much wiser about my personal history and the history of the corrupt relationship between psychiatry, allopathic medicine, the state and other professions, especially the law.

Since becoming prescription drug-free at the turn of the Millenium I did everything humanly possible to find out the truth about what really happened to me when I was electroshocked and drugged by medical professionals. It was only then that I could look back at my terrible, traumatic experience which was and still is the living torture of survivors of psychiatry.

When we wrote our book ‘ Soul Survivor – A Personal Encounter With Psychiatry’ I was so damaged by bio/coercive/deceptive psychiatry that I thought I would not live to see it published. However, as the years went by I became stronger in mind, body and spirit. We could have written many more books since but those who know me and have found out more true facts themselves are aware that I have always been actively involved in speaking out and doing groundwork ever since. I have been privileged to get to know so many, outstanding, kind human beings. A big Thank You to every single person who crossed my path. Indeed if we were able to include our work together we would have much more evidence than the six week, deceptive, experimental trials that are passed as evidence by Irish psychiatrist Patricia Casey and her companions.

As Patricia said it is indeed her bread and butter. She has a vested interest in believing that contrived drug trials funded by Big, Corrupt Corrupt Companies will produce real evidence. Her christanity would have taught her what 30 pieces of silver can do and how angry Jesus Christ was about people collecting money outside a temple but she thinks that it is okay to accept bribes from co operations with clearly vested interests. When she was the main speaker, I and other members of MindFreedom Ireland heard her speak strongly in favour of the chemical imbalance theory many years ago. It was funded by Big Pharma. We challenged her then and we still challenge her today but were kept silent then and we are still kept silent today. The established media bow to so-called professionals who read biassed books and medical journals and are more interested in protecting themselves than those they feign to ‘help’.

We on the other hand are labelled with fictional, non-scientific ‘diagnoses’ ( ironically diagnose means to understand!) with no medical biomarkers to establish their labels exist. We are legally treated as sub/non-human and told that this is not discrimination. The law protects psychiatry and psychiatry protects the law. The state protects psychiatry and psychiatry protects the state. Then the established media protects all three. Is it any wonder we are kept silent? Is it any wonder that we feel distressed? Is it any wonder we find it difficult to be employed? Is it any wonder we are so easily drugged/electroshocked? Is it any wonder the marginalised who comprise most of the population are victims?

It can seem like there is no way out but we know the truth. We know it and many others, fortunate enough not to be labelled and drugged by psychiatry can find our way to be our own media. Everyone can do this the old-fashioned, real way by word of mouth. It was because of word of mouth that I had music pupils!! Thankfully psychiatry did not deprive me of my ability to teach also. It made it much more difficult. It was a miracle. It gave me some appreciation of my own ability.

To survive hardship we need to be strong. Psychiatry labels us weak while many who define us are very weak themselves. We need to be strong to know we are fragile. We need to be strong to say we are sorry. Everyone makes mistakes. It is by our mistakes we learn. If we continue to make the same mistakes many times it is difficult to learn. The history of psychiatry is a litany of mistakes. Yesterday’s errors become tomorrow’s and tomorrow’s while the litany of victims becomes longer and longer.

To break this cycle the public needs to wake up. I know it is difficult when most people can be very stressed finding their basic needs. Evolution requires constant change. We have got the ability to make choices. As Vandana Shiva reminds us so wisely we start with the soil. In order to protect ourselves first let us start at the beginning. We came from mother earth and we go back to it! We are honoured to play our part. Mary Maddock

Meeting of Two Persons by Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D

From.MEETING OF TWO PERSONS

| Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

What is termed “madness” or “mental illness” is for some the only means for expression of their being lost and confused in a world which has caused them deep hurt and pain. Such is not disease but behavior with metaphorical meaning. There has been received through life mixed messages and placement into situations where regardless of the option they chose they felt damned. They seek to break out from the reality which has only caused them distress. The development of hallucinations and delusions are all metaphors for the very real demons they have encountered in a disordered society. tweet

The inner mind, the voice within us, becomes amplified and becomes “possessed” with the demons coming forward from the trauma and distress which has been encountered. Rebellion against the system of things becomes self-destructive as the person seeks to send a message to the world of their distress, but it remains unheard. Each coping mechanism that has been employed has often led to failure and not brought them out of the unlivable situation that is their life. However, the catharsis of this pain and grief can go in two directions – it can be misery and existential death, or it can be transformative.
Through the pain and struggle, through the breaking out of the “typical reality” one can journey through various modes of altered consciousness. Many deemed “mad” speak of the supernatural. They have sought every attempt to reach out and create meaning. If they can be helped by a loving, supportive network to navigate through this state of confusion and the various realms of altered consciousness towards rebuilding and reconstructing a life of meaning, then they can come forward to a recovery that gives them valuable insight about human nature, who they really are, and the reality of the impermanence of this life and the world around us. They will find that suffering is inevitable, and in that suffering is the state of the world that is mired in greed and attachment. The ones deemed “mad” have accomplished a rare task – they have completely detached. But this detachment is only from the typical standards of the world. They remain haunted by the visions of their previous life.
They cannot escape it, and thus they become anxious and paranoid that something or someone will pull them back to that painful existence. At times, rage comes forward as the reaction to challenges, but who would not be outraged if their voice was suppressed and they became the scapegoat for the problems of their families or those around them? Those deemed “mad”, feeling always alone, depart to a world where they remain alone from people, yet may create for themselves beings who give them comfort and solace. This is really the end of their search, to simply be accepted and loved. But here too lies a problem, for when their lives have been devoid of love and they receive unconditional love, it becomes like an overwhelming fire that consumes them. They have never been loved, so how can they respond to an outpouring of love?
When all they knew was that oppression and coercion was said to be because “we love you”, when “love” really was only about control, how can the person then understand genuine love? Once again, the confusion sets in. To reach the person who has been deemed “mad”, we cannot overwhelm. Our sincerity will not be enough, for their trust has been shattered time and time again. It is only through entering their world for what it is, by joining in, and learning to speak the language of madness, that we ourselves can begin to understand the experience of these individuals. It is only by this joining in that the person may have the chance for the journey known as “madness” to reach a transformative movement towards recovery.

Releasing Prayer

I release my parents from the feeling that they have failed with me.

I release my children from the need to make me proud, so that they can write their own ways, according to their hearts.

I release my partner from the obligation to make me feel complete. I lack nothing in myself.

I learn with all the beings that surround me through all time.

I thank my grandparents and ancestors who met so that today I breathe life. And I release them from the faults of the past and from the wishes they did not fulfill, aware that they did the best they could to resolve their situations, within the consciousness they had at that moment.

I honor them, I love them, and I recognize their innocence.

I bare my soul before their eyes and that is why they know that I do not hide or owe anything, more than being faithful to myself and my own existence walking with the wisdom of the heart.

I am aware that I am fulfilling my life project, free of visible and invisible family loyalties that may disturb my peace and my happiness, which are my greatest responsibilities.

I renounce the role of savior, of being the one who unites or who fulfills the expectations of others. And learning through LOVE, I bless my essence and my way of expressing, although there may be someone who cannot understand me.

I understand myself, because only I lived and experienced my story; because I know myself, I know who I am, what I feel, what I do and why I do it.

I respect and approve.

I honor the Divinity in me and in you.

We are free.

A Traditional Náhuatl Prayer

Artist: Melina Del Mar

BabyCries

The education I received , perhaps through Dr Spock was to allow baby cry up to 15 minutes . I am not sure if I allowed 15 minutes but I disregarded my gut too much with regard to our sons. If I asked , the Dr etc he trusted my intuition and he was misinformed through his education which has been lacking in authentic knowledge . And allowing for new information, growth and change that are fact .

Another news flash for me was the universal cry sounds of babies that are specific .

I felt I had way too much to do ,being responsible and pleasing others to sit with my infant in my arms but I talked to them , acknowledged them as our family grew . I had few outlets ; walking was therapeutic but waxed and waned .

I am sure I was not held for my Mom was never demonstrative , tender or nurturing in my memories . I have knowledge of whys she may have been with holding and marriage to that same energy within a sacred union with children involved was devastating.

Their love was so healing and highlighted the lacks of love by others especially their Dad .

And he weaponized that love to advantage himself .

I enjoy sacred hugs but am touched by many in my life without physical contact .

I feel held

I feel supported

I feel loved 🥰

youtu.be/ctlZyc_k28U

Leave the Dishes

“Leave the dishes.

Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator

and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.

Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.

Throw the cracked bowl out and don’t patch the cup.

Don’t patch anything. Don’t mend. Buy safety pins.

Don’t even sew on a button.

Let the wind have its way, then the earth

that invades as dust and then the dead

foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.

Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.

Don’t keep all the pieces of the puzzles

or the doll’s tiny shoes in pairs, don’t worry

who uses whose toothbrush or if anything

matches, at all.

Except one word to another. Or a thought.

Pursue the authentic-decide first

what is authentic,

then go after it with all your heart.

Your heart, that place

you don’t even think of cleaning out.

That closet stuffed with savage mementos.

Don’t sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teeth

or worry if we’re all eating cereal for dinner

again. Don’t answer the telephone, ever,

or weep over anything at all that breaks.

Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons

in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life

and talk to the dead

who drift in though the screened windows, who collect

patiently on the tops of food jars and books.

Recycle the mail, don’t read it, don’t read anything

except what destroys

the insulation between yourself and your experience

or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters

this ruse you call necessity.”

Louise Erdrich – Advice to Myself.

Andrea Kowch

No settling

Last night someone said to me out loud, “oh! You scare people because… you’re YOU.”

Ken and I laughed out loud.

Um, yeah. I come across as scary and aggressive to some. Mostly I am straightforward, confident and assertive, but in a world where so many women are accustomed to communicating in passive, placating, manipulative, complaining ways, my assertiveness reads as threatening or aggressive.

And also sometimes I AM just plain old aggressive and threatening.

Yep. I am a full fledged, flesh and blood PERSON.

Which can also be threatening because for women, assertiveness, aggressiveness, ambitiousness, and confidence – in fact all the feelings – are generally frowned upon, tone policed, shamed and not really allowed. Women are supposed to be “happy,” “sweet,” and not be a “bitch.” We’re supposed to somehow suppress who we are and also be the de facto manager of OTHER people’s feelings.

I am so done with pretzeling myself to make other people more comfortable with who I am.

I am so done with judging myself through the eyes of some external lens that makes me more tolerable to others, but less alive and at war with myself.

Truly, I’d rather be unapologetically myself and clean it up as I go along. I’d rather be true to who I am rather than a lie for someone else.

Because the thing is, assertive behavior is about respecting and standing up for oneself. And that’s a necessity in a world that is constantly communicating how we as women need to be less ourselves.

Nah. I won’t be less myself for anyone. I will not ignore inconvenient truths for some temporary, bs “happiness,” comfort, or relationship. Because the truth is, the moment I betray myself there is no longer any hope for happiness, comfort or relationship with someone else.

So yeah. I AM me. And being fully oneself can come across as aggressive and scary to people.

Oh well. Get over it bitches. We’re all swimming in waters that are constantly trying to shape us.

Best to start the revolution. I’ll dare to be fully me. Maybe it’ll inspire others to do the same for themselves.

Body

I wonder if you know,

the work your body has done today.

And every day.

How much disease it has fought off.

How many times it could have failed but battled on,

how many ways it could have broken but did not.

I wonder if you know,

the work your body has done today.

And every day.

And each day it has done this amazing job,

without your help,

without your approval,

your acceptance,

your kindness.

Each day it has soldiered on,

regardless of the constant stream of negativity,

pulsing its way from your brain to your cells.

Not good enough.

Not attractive enough.

Not the right shape.

Perhaps it’s time to see your body for what is truly is,

An amazing and mind-blowingly competent machine.

To get your soul to where it needs to be in this life.

To let you live.

I wonder if you know,

how much better you would be as a team.

I wonder.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I wish I Knew’: https://amzn.to/3JVMJlZ

Art by The Ronald West Gallery

#bodypositive #art #poetry #bodyimage #selflove #selfcare #wordsofwisdom

Shove Ins ( body snatchers )

I was evaluated by a woman in 07 by phone appointment , as being a 1st Wave Indigo . She explained that while I was in the hospital , after birthing our 3rd son , ” Jessica” was brought to my hospital after a suicidal act . She shoved her soul which was in a state of addiction with me .

She had lost her precious daughter and felt she could not go on .

I became more aware with our 3rd son how distorted our world really was . I became a shell of myself , realizing I was not valued as a partner , as a wife and there was little I could do but hang in and try hard for normalcy for our sons . It wasn’t ; I simply could not ignore the facts … it only got worse .

I conquered Jessica’s implants and her addictions which were by force by a doctor , compliant by a husband and accepted by every hint of support I had .

Jessica soul retrieval allowed her spiritual reunification with her precious daughters spirit and they walked in fields of gold for eternity.

I am better informed , trust my ancestors , angels and spirit guides of benevolent intent and accept my blessings for my the trust and faith and guidance that has allowed healing and clearing of ancient bloodlines .

As such it is a brand new world , co creating with honor and respect for all that got me here as New Earth births ; I am aware of the totality of losses and I grieve .

All is well with my soul

#Acceptance

youtube.com/shorts/KCk2KuyzowI