Category Archives: Mental Health
Beyond the Mental Illness Industry: Healing Trauma with NARM and Interpersonal Neurobiology
After the psychiatric abuse of a “standard treatment” nearly killed me 8 years ago, I found the tools that made survival possible. This was at the intersection of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and Interpersonal Neurobiology. Unlike the mental illness … Continue reading
Signs of Recovery, an IPNB Perspective
The mainstream mental illness industry offers a symptom–management and pathology-reduction framework that reflects the incomplete biomedical model of mental health. That narrow framework treats progress as a set of isolated symptom-based milestones, focusing on controlling or managing parts of experience … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged Behavioral Health, IPNB, Mental Health, PTSD recovery, recovery, Relational Neuroscience, symptoms
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Profiteers of Human Misery: the Corporate Greed Behind Unchecked Psychiatric Abuse
In 2016, BuzzFeed published an investigative report that exposed widespread abuse within the psychiatric industry, specifically revealing Universal Health Services (UHS), one of the largest operators of behavioral health facilities in the U.S. The report uncovered disturbing practices, particularly the … Continue reading
Why the Treatment Doesn’t Hold: The Truth About SGB for Complex PTSD
I’ve had 28 Stellate Ganglion Blocks (SGBs) for Complex PTSD, hypervigilance, quadrilateral Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and other sympathetically driven conditions. These are symptoms of extreme central sensitization from a lifetime of environments adverse to my well-being, especially repeated sexualized … Continue reading
Posted in SGB for PTSD
Tagged Nerve Block, Nervous System, SGB, SGB4PTSD, Stellate Ganglion Block, tools
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Seeing the Pattern Changes Your Options: Contempt, Power, and the Environment
Contempt is not just a tone or a facial expression. It is a way of organizing a relationship around power. It places one person above and the other below, and it does it in a way that shuts down curiosity, … Continue reading
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Complex PTSD as Sensitization to Cues of Danger
People sometimes wonder why I react so easily. Why a tone shift, pause, or subtle power move can instantly affect my body. They want to know why I notice things others miss and why my system seems to live so … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
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Why I Quit Therapy
Over 6.5 years, I was traumatized by 13 therapists. Even the intake, first session, and attempt to explain my history put my nervous system back into the same defensive state. In session, I frequently encountered misattunement that prompted their disbelief, … Continue reading
Science Over Slogans: What Daniel Amen Gets Wrong About Anxiety
In a video clip, Daniel G. Amen, M.D., shares what he calls “One of my favorite strategies to combat anxiousness” and refers to “killing” what he calls “ANTS,” his acronym for “Automatic Negative Thoughts that steal your happiness.” Amen advises … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged anxiety, change, Daniel Amen, IPNB, science, thinking, thoughts
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The IPNB of Masking: How the Nervous System Prioritizes Belonging Over Authenticity
Masking behavior, or social camouflaging,, is the conscious or subconscious suppression of one’s natural personality, emotions, or neurodivergent traits to conform to social norms, fit in, or avoid judgment. It is commonly used by autistic individuals, those with ADHD, or … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged authenticity, IPNB, masking, performing, protection, safety, social camouflaging, survival adaptations
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The DSM Update: New Bells and Whistles on the Same Old Bunk
The American Psychiatric Association’s plan to revise its holy book, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), shoves a bunch of cosmetic and structural bells and whistles onto the same old diagnostic framework. They’re going to reorganize criteria into domains, talk … Continue reading