Tag Archives: Mental Health
From Trigger to Transformation: How Creative Acts Can Shift the Nervous System’s Response
This spring, a patch of red sprouts emerged in my garden. To someone else, they might have looked intriguing or even beautiful. But for me, their appearance instantly triggered an unwanted body memory from childhood trauma. At that moment, my … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged art, Behavioral Health, creativity, expressive arts, flashback, liberation, Mental Health, mental illness, painting, PTSD, Solomon's seal, trigger
Leave a comment
When Things Fall Apart, Recommit
Recently, I drove 90 minutes round-trip to see a specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Neuroscience Center at Radnor. That was a lot for me. My arms aren’t used to driving that long. It caused burning and muscle pain. The … Continue reading
Posted in Healthcare
Tagged CRPS, health, Medicine, Mental Health, Nerve Block, pain specialist, pRFA, PTSD, pulsed Radio Frequency Ablation, SGB, Stellate Ganglion Block, U Penn
Leave a comment
Dear Doctor: I Have Lots of Therapists. Including You.
Your Presence Is the Treatment. Or the Harm. It is striking how many doctors, especially pain specialists, have doubly verified that I have a good therapist. Or a therapist. That I’m “in mental health care.” I understand why they ask. … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged Behavioral Health, doctors, IPNB, Medicine, Mental Health, neurobiology, pain specialists, Psychology, therapist, therapy
Leave a comment
The “Mental Illness” Frame Is the Problem. Interpersonal Neurobiology Changes Everything
The mental illness industry frames mental health in terms of individual pathology, diagnosis, and personal responsibility. It focuses on what’s wrong with a person: what disorder they might have, what cognitive distortions they carry, what behaviors need changing. It tends … Continue reading
Hugs in the Treatment Plan: This Is What Care Feels Like
Six years ago, a gynecologist at ChristianaCare cut away healthy tissue without my consent. That egregious violation of informed consent fractured my sense of safety in a medical environment, my relationship with my body, and my ability to trust that … Continue reading
The Most Predatory Systems in America
In America today, several systems are notoriously predatory because they extract resources–money, labor, health, or dignity–from people without providing safety, care, or fairness in return. These systems often target the most vulnerable while shielding those with wealth and power. Here … Continue reading
Posted in Predators, Systems
Tagged abuse, Behavioral Health, big pharma, Black, child welfare, children, criminal, disabled, employment, healthcare, housing, immigration, indigenous, labor, legal, Mental Health, migrants, poor, predators, predatory, predatory systems, real estate, surveillance, tech, welfare, workforce
Leave a comment
The Most Dangerous Doctors Are the Safest
A system reveals its values by how it responds to vulnerability versus harm. In healthcare, when a doctor admits to struggling with substance use or emotional distress, the response is often punitive or shaming. Instead of being met with support … Continue reading
Posted in Predators
Tagged abuse, accountability, brand, cover-up, hospitals, image, justice, Mental Health, physician health, power, predators, substance abuse, systems
Leave a comment
How SEIU F***** Over Trauma Survivors
Several years ago, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) put up a website saying that they were looking for stories from people who had been gaslit, threatened, and otherwise abused by Universal Health Services (UHS), America’s largest psychiatric hospital chain. … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse
Tagged Behavioral Health, delaware, DOJ, exploitation, fraudulent billing, lawsuit, Mental Health, psychiatric hospital, SEIU, UHS, Universal Health Services
Leave a comment
Can Trauma Survivors Recover Without Access to Professional Help?
According to a 2021 study, “most states have fewer than 40% of the mental health professionals needed” and “more than half (51%) of counties in the United States have no practicing psychiatrists.” Even where mental illness industry practitioners exist, many … Continue reading
Posted in PTSD, Trauma
Tagged Complex PTSD, CPTSD, Medicine, Mental Health, Nervous System, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychology, PTSD, Regulation, Trauma
Leave a comment
Standard Treatment Is Abuse: What ChristianaCare Taught Me About Mental Health “Care”
It’s been seven years since a ChristianaCare physician lied, gaslit, and coerced me into agreeing to psychiatric hospitalization. Here, I share the grievance I filed with ChristianaCare’s Patient and Family Relations department two years later. As the system continued to … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Psychiatry
Tagged abuse, Behavioral Health, black box medication, ChristianaCare, disabled, Emergency, Emergency Room, exploitation, Lexapro, Mental Health, neglect, patient safety, pharmacogenomic testing, psych medications, psych meds, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric hospital, Rockford Center for Behavioral Health, safety fail, SSRIs
Leave a comment