Paroxetine (Paxil) is Addictive

My doctor told me that this medication was non-addictive. Even when I described the physical and mental effects I was experiencing from withdrawl, she insisted that this was due only to the bodies struggle to rid itself of a chemical. If this is not addiction then what is? It soon became obvious to me that, after taking the pills for a month, the patient knows far more about them that the doctor and they are, in effect, on their own.

Two weeks ago I took my last half-tablet after gradually reducing the amount I was taking. The side-effects I have experienced are as follows:

1. Panic attacks far worse than I experienced before going onto the drug.
2. disorientation and trouble keeping my balance.
3. Involuntary crying and the feeling that I cannot cope with the slightest problem.
4. Depression and sleeplessness.
5. Stomach cramps and sickness.
6. Dizziness when standing up.
7. Tiredness and mood swings.

I am posting this message because the withdrawl of this so-called non-addictive drug makes you feel as though this is the 'normal' state the patient is returning to. As though this disorientation, that makes you feel 'crazy' and out-of-touch with the world is how you are going to feel forever. But this is not the case as i am realising as the time since taking my last tablet increases. My father took Vallium in the sixties and was told at the time it was a non-addictive drug. This is now obviously not the case and I wonder if, in time, the same might be true of paroxetine. The withdrawl effects are severe enough to warrant further tests I'm sure.

SSRI discontinuance syndrome is real. Another patient reports mood instability was worsened by paxil. That patient became stable on 10 mg of Lexapro.

Thus, Breggin's recommendation stands: Don't use anti-depressants when depressed. Use talk therapy. This means that friends of depressed patients should maintain contact with thir depressed friends.

Have you talked with your negative and majorly depressed friend today?

Breggin Says "The best approach to antidepressants: Don't start taking them.

It’s time to say again what I’ve been saying for too many years on end. The antidepressants aren’t antidepressants. They are more likely to make a person worse than better. More tragically, these toxic agents push may people over the brink into suicide and violence.

It’s astonishing as I approach my 70th birthday that the FDA is beginning to catch up with what I’ve been saying for decades in regard to the limits of drugging children and adults to control their emotions and behavior. It’s gratifying but also a little frustrating. No, I don’t have a biochemical imbalance, I am outraged that my profession has consistently tried to foist off self-serving mythology as science and that so many people have been damaged or killed by the effects of the false biochemical diagnoses and toxic medications.

Meanwhile, the antidepressants are very difficult to stop taking. Withdrawal from antidepressants can lead to “crashing,” with agitation, violence and suicide. Withdrawal from these noxious drugs should be done slowly with experienced clinical supervision. These drugs are not only unsafe to start—they are dangerous to stop.

The best approach to antidepressants: Don’t start taking them.

Research into anti-depressants will show that 67% of people on them will show positive improvement compared to previous medication.

However, the 33% who don't like the new meds tend to under-report suicidal ideation either during treatment or when they discontinue medication.

The bottom line is, ADs are not recommended to substitute for proper treatment of depression, which should always be cognitive behavior therapy with temporary use of medication, as needed (mainly anxiolytics and sometimes sedatives).

To prevent any suicide attempts, medication should be doled out in 3-week allotments unless the patient can demonstrate lack of suicidal ideation.

Even a layman such as myself can figure this out on his own. Why can't shrinks?

Why Marijuana is Still Criminalized In Canada

According to Canadian mass media, it may appear that the only reason marijuana is kept illegal is so that grow-ops can pop up in suburban neighbourhoods for concerned citizens to find and report to the police, all to justify the "war on Drugs" mentality.

For the Canadian national drug policy criminalizes marijuana manufacture and limits the amount a person can possess before possession charges may be applied.

By making illegal the possession of marijuana and by criminalizing its manufacture, Canada can justify a war-on-drugs mentality with stronger laws regarding marijuana.

In essence, the law makes marijuana valuable to criminals who then can create demand.

Grow-ops flourish specifically because marijuana is illegal. If it were legal and regulated by government, illegal grow-ops would case to exist.

Consequently, if marijuana were legal, then the danger associated with manufacture would be eliminated.

Between 1999 and 2003, the decriminalization of marijuana was debated in Ottawa.

Because of strong pressure by the US, much of the recommendations made by Canadian senators were quietly ignored by Ottawa.

Additionally, the national Green Team was too lucrative for the RCMP to agree to changes in the law that would impact their public service.

Thus, criminalizing marijuana profits both the criminals and the police.

And that's what makes marijuana dangerous, not the plant itself.

Genius Swears Off Seroquel

The following Seroquel experience shows what a highly intelligent and functional teenager experienced on one 25 mg dose of Seroquel. What is noteable is the reaction of the doctor when the teenager tells her off.


I have been incorrectly diagnosed with different mental illnesses throughout my life, ranging from ADD to Bipolar Disorder. After a great deal of research of the symptoms of various mental conditions I have concluded that there is nothing 'wrong' with me. I have a hard time dealing with people I do not know closely, even extended family. I avoid eye contact at almost all costs. I don't like to talk much, and I'm usually very quiet and introverted. When I get excited I unconsciously flap my hands around like you may have seen an Autistic kid do.

I have an IQ of 140+ and anger teachers when I raise my hand during class only to correct their mistakes. (What am I supposed to do, let it go? She was responsible for teaching the students of TWO school districts English and she can't even SPELL properly? I could spell better than that in 1st grade, and I'm not exaggerating.) I was born with a 'good' case of Asperger's Syndrome. And apparently I'm the only person qualified to give that diagnosis, seeing as the countless medical 'professionals' I've seen were completely ignorant. Especially my last doctor. My mom brought me to yet another one of these supposedly highly educated individuals for my 'abnormal' behavior. After several whole minutes of interviewing me and asking about my 'symptoms', (mostly being answered by my mom,) She returned with around 1.2 starter packs of Seroquel.

I don't remember the exact dosage schedule she prescribed for me, only that by the seventh day I was supposed to have worked up to a staggering 1200mg a day. In retrospect, this dosage is far beyond the amount any 'sane' doctor would prescribe, (the truth being that NO sane doctor would ever prescribe this horrible substance to anyone other than a violent insomniac psychopath,) and this woman should probably have her medical license revoked.

I won't even go in to how she made my mom suffer by denying her adequate pain medication. Anyway, the next morning I took the first dose, 25mg before school. I had been in class no more than 15 minutes when I suddenly became EXTREMELY tired and generally just 'down' and was unable to remain awake. Unfortunately for me, we had a substitute teacher for that class that day, and besides the fact that he made us do all our assignments seperately, (normally we do them in our designated groups and print them off en masse to save time and work, as this is a dual-enrollment class and it's not the teacher's problem if people want to be uneducated morons who fail his class,) he WOULD NOT allow me to sleep.

My normal teacher was very easygoing and would let me sleep on the floor as long as I completed the homework and satisfactorily and didn't blatantly disregard the rules. This was quite a dilemma, although I was not too aware of it at the time due to the quetiapine robbing me of my consciousness and my soul. Eventually the inhumane asshole of a sub got pissed at my being incapacitated and moved me to some desk by myself. I don't remember clearly, but I think I attempted to muster up enough strength and sheer willpower to feign an attempt at conscious activity. I didn't receive any disciplinary action for my 'insubordination' (involuntary incapacitation) although I'm sure he left a note to my teacher, probably not detailing the situation truthfully. Either way, I eventually got the ridiculous assignment done and turned in the following day. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, as I thankfully had only one sub, and the quetiapine simply forced me to do what I was already likely to do, sleep.

However I fell into a deep sleep during my fourth hour class, and awoke half way through his fifth hour Wester Civ class, to great humorous effect to all but me. I hurried to my correct fifth hour classroom and had no problems. As I implied earlier, I have no trouble with schoolwork other than complete monotony, and because of this teachers either love me or consider me the bane of their very existence. Thankfully most of my teachers, including my fifth hour teacher, like me, because I am quiet, intelligent, and obedient (when it behooves me.) Needless to say, I never took the next dose. When I returned to the doctor and told her I refuse to take it because of it's terrible sedation, she actually yelled at me. She was on a major power trip and was saying things like 'I'm the doctor, I'm the one who went to medical school.

I get to choose what medications you take, NOT you.' This is how dangerous the idea of an authoritarian medical system really is. These ignorant fools are given a book and a little hands-on training and told to memorize some facts, and suddenly they are handed a piece of paper and become infallible gods. The truth is, that these people only know the very little that they see, they are not necessarily more intelligent than any other human, and that I and only I decide what substances enter my body, as per my First Amendment rights. I never saw that doctor again for obvious reasons. Not only did I come to that psycho for mental help, she completely berated and trivialized me based on an obviously worthless piece of paper and her ego. That is insanity. To summarize, this drug is concentrated coma in a pill. It was designed, and primarily functions, as an antipsychotic.


Conclusion: the irrational behavior of the shrink in this report shows a complete lack of professionalism. Her attempt at control of the patient shows that MAYBE SOME OF THOSE DOCS SHOULD SCREEN THEIR PATIENTS since obviously a teenager of lower IQ would be more compliant after weeks of brainwashing.

I should point out that on Erowid I have read reports from other users of seroquel who have had hallucinations while zonked on this medical. Another user even had vivid dreams. Let me repeat: seroquel causes visual hallucinations in large doses; that is, if you are awake.

It'd be really good if you suffer insomnia, and probably better than Ambien though not as pleasant.

Pure Land Sects bring salvation to the masses

The Jodo-shu and Jodo-Shinshu sects (Pure Land Sects) were founded by Honen Shonin (1133 - 1212) and his disciple Shinran (1173 - 1262), respectfully. Both taught that anyone, whether noble or peasant, could attain salvation by faithfully reciting the name of Amida Buddha -- chanting the invocation "Namu Amida Butsu" with devotion would lead to rebirth in the Pure Land Paradise. The rapid spread in popularity of the Pure Land sects was a serious challenge to the institutionalized Buddhist monestaries of that day, who responded by condemning Honen and his followers to exile.

Shinran, Honen's disciple, continued to challenge the existing Buddhist authorities by declaring that meat-eating and matrimony were not contrary to the teachings of the Buddha (at the time, neither acts were allowed by the reigning Buddhist powers).

By stressing pure and simple faith over complicated rites and doctrines, and by allowing believers to enjoy worldly benefits with the promise of salvation in the afterlife, the Pure Land gained widespread popularity among the peasantry. Today, the Jodo-Shinshu sect, along with the Nichiren Sect (also founded in Kamakura Period), are the two leading sects of Japanese Buddhism.

The Legend of the Humming of the Sai-no-Kawara

Not of this world is the story of sorrow.
The story of the Sai-no-Kawara,
At the roots of the Mountain of Shide;
Not of this world is the tale; yet 'tis most pitiful to hear.
For together in the Sai-no-Kawara are assembled
Children of tender age in multitude,
Infants but two or three years old,
Infants of four or five, infants of less than ten:

In the Sai-no-Kawara are they gathered together.
And the voice of their longing for their parents,
The voice of their crying for their mothers and their fathers
-- "Chichi koishi! Haha koishi!" --
Is never as the voice of the crying of children in this world,
But a crying so pitiful to hear
That the sound of it would pierce through flesh and bone.
And sorrowful indeed the task which they perform.
Gathering the stones of the bed of the river,
Therewith to heap the tower of prayers.
Saying prayers for the happiness of father, they heap the first tower;
Saying prayers for the happiness of mother, they heap the second tower;
Saying prayers for their brothers, their sisters, and all whom they
loved at home, they heap the third tower.
Such, by day, are their pitiful diversions.
But ever as the sun begins to sink below the horizon,
Then do the Oni, the demons of the hells, appear,
And say to them:

What is this that you do here?
Lo! your parents still living in the Shaba-world
Take no thought of pious offering or holy work
They do nought but mourn for you from the morning unto the evening.
Oh, how pitiful! alas! how unmerciful!
Verily the cause of the pains that you suffer
Is only the mourning, the lamentation of your parents.
And saying also, "Blame never us!"
The demons cast down the heaped-up towers,
They dash the stones down with their clubs of iron.
But lo! the teacher Jizo appears.
All gently he comes, and says to the weeping infants:

Be not afraid, dears! be never fearful!
Poor little souls, your lives were brief indeed!
Too soon you were forced to make the weary journey to the Meido,
The long journey to the region of the dead!
Trust to me! I am your father and mother in the Meido,
Father of all children in the region of the dead.

And he folds the skirt of his shining robe about them;
So graciously takes he pity on the infants.
To those who cannot walk he stretches forth his strong shakujo;
And he pets the little ones, caresses them, takes them to his loving bosom
So graciously he takes pity on the infants.

Namu Amida Butsu!

Of Shame Applied Where Outside Everyone Hides While Inside I Exist Not

According to Y. Sakamoto in his “Study of the Attitude of Japanese Families of Schizophrenics Toward their Ill Members,” a Japanese family’s communication is typified by great emphasis on group-interaction and less focus on individual assertiveness (Sakamoto 370).

For a Japanese to bring shame to his family is the ultimate failure, far greater than simply bringing shame to himself. As Sakamoto points out, this cultural custom was well demonstrated by Kamikaze fighters during World War II: “The Kamikaze fighter could kill himself, not for himself, but for the society and the family, which could not tolerate the shame if he failed” (Sakamoto 372). A mentally ill member of the familial structure is a cause for disgrace, disturbing balance of this inner group.

For this reason, the psychologically disturbed try to conceal or ignore their problems.

For Japanese men especially, who may suffer from alcoholism or family/occupational pressures, admitting “weakness” and seeking treatment is unimaginable. In other cases, it can be difficult to persuade parents of the need for mental treatment for their disturbed children (Grimes 4). Or, if patients actually receive counseling, they may withhold the fact from their families.

Thus, even with successful treatments, patients’ progress may be hindered by a return to an unsympathetic and uninformed community. They may not only face prejudice from members of the outside society (referred to as soto), but also from members within their family group (referred to as uchi), who cannot bear the dishonor and humiliation reflected upon them (Hendry 43). This double discrimination from both outsiders and insiders makes coping and management only more problematic for patients. A positive public attitude towards the mentally ill is a necessary condition for satisfactory care and treatment of these patients.


Sadly though, judging from my parents' behavior, evidence of a positive public attitude towards the mentally ill is not yet prevalent in Japanese-Canadian culture.

In fact, the ignorance and lack of compassion showed towards mentally ill people shows that tradition is partly to blame for their social isolation.

It's not just the mentally ill; it's the group mentality that insists on what smells should be covered.

IMHO that smell is the smell of fear coming from Japanese society itself.

Religious Fanaticism: Insanity or Truly Devoted

With the authorization of the American Journal of Psychiatry we are republishing the Case Study of "Brother David" [not his real name]. We believe that Brother David's story, most of which was never published by any of the nation's key newspapers, will give the serious reader a better understanding of the fragile and fine line separating sanity with insanity in matters of faith.

We have written of the errors of fanaticism and of radical asceticism. In this fine study by Dr. Laura Weiss Roberts, et al, the reader will achieve a better grasp of the dangers of faith-related extremisms.

Brother David's story may initially bring memories of the ancient ascetic of Biblical times, until the reader realizes that he was a member of the Heaven's Gate cult who committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, in March 1997.

But what if the faith-related extremism is expressed in the form of believing that the group one is a part of will save, say, the Roman Catholic Church from its arch-enemies? Or another that instead believes that the Roman Catholic Church is evil? Or yet another group bent on the destruction of the "infidels". To what extent will they go to achieve what they believe is their well justified mission?

In any case, this fine Case Study may be considered as a home-study crash-course on the radical faith-related mentality and logic that we must avoid at all times, regardless of the faith we may profess.


And so begins a case history of a certain member of the Heaven's Gate cult, whose leadership's anti-sex repressions lead one man to request castration.

This is a must-read in order to help one understand the mind of a religious fanatic.

War and Violence Neither Muslim nor Christian

War and violence of any kind is a great disrespect to Allah and God.

Any person who represents a religion whose members preach violence do not know of Allah and God. Any Muslim faith that uses violence to promote their religion dishonors Allah. Any Christian or Jewish faith that uses violence and condones war dishonors God.

Thus any Muslim leader who wishes violent death upon anyone offends Allah. And any Christian political leader who starts a war offends God.

Even Buddhists know better than to promote discord, and always value harmony and peace. Small wonder people are discovering Buddhism.

May all Christians, Jews and Muslims come together in peace.

Meditation key to healing

"If one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering."

—Lama Tashi Namgyal

universal declaration of mental rights and freedoms

We hold this truth

That all human beings are created different.That every human being has the right to be mentally free and independent.

That every human being has the right to feel, see, hear, sense, imagine, believe or experience anything at all, in any way, at any time.

That every human being has the right to behave in any way that does not harm others or break fair and just laws.

That no human being shall be subjected without consent to incarceration, restraint, punishment, or psychological or medical intervention in an attempt to control, repress or alter the individual's thoughts, feelings or experiences.

American Recruiting Foreigners to Fight Their 'War on Terror'

Back in 2007, the Bush administration was recruiting non-citizens of America to help in his "War on Terrorism." The catch is, when they've served a day fighting for the US, their US citizenship will be
expedited.

So, this means if a visible minority, whether from Mexico, Jamaica, or the Middle East, serves in the US military even one day, then he will be rewarded with citizenship in the US.

I foresee a growing army of visible minorities willing to fight terrorism, just to be become an foreign-born American. Though, I agree with the article regarding conscription of illegal immigrants who can hack the often rigourous training of would-be soldiers.

Does Obama's adminstration still recruit visible minorities from friendly Western countries and Eastern allies?

The reality of the power of visible minorities is hitting white racists even south of the border where the world's most respected news magazine - The Economist of London - reported in its February 3 issue that a desperate U.S. Army is bending over backwards to recruit foreigners.

And we are not talking about white guys here - but about non-white guys. As the magazine reported: "Today, according to the most recent statistics, there are roughly 30,000 non-citizens on active duty and another 11,000 in the reserves. They come from more than 200 countries, with notable contingents from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and El Salvador. Several thousand are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The article spoke of the clear benefits of recruiting non-citizens, noting, among other things: "Some non-citizens come equipped with useful languages. It takes over a year to teach a soldier Arabic, Pashto, or Dari from scratch. Native speakers can be deployed much more quickly."

To lure these foreigners into the army, President George Bush issued an executive order that made them eligible to apply for expedited citizenship after serving ONE DAY on active duty.

Here's another interesting fact the magazine brought out: "The armed forces have tried to bridge the language and culture gaps that can thwart recruitment. During last year's World Cup, for example, the army advertised on Arab Radio and Television."

In fact, the Americans are so desperate that Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations has proposed that they recruit illegal immigrants and foreign citizens overseas.

The Shame of South Asia in Canada

This post is for Manjit Panghalia and Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, brave martyrs of traditionalism and its misogyny of South Asian women.

Let not a day go by that their murderers feel guilt and shame for their horrible deeds.

Let not a day go by that the oppressors of wives and daughters are reminded that their actions bring guilt and shame to the South Asian community.

Even Baba Nanak hangs his head in shame.


When the whole mankind takes birth
from the woman and there is need
for woman to perpetuate
the life cycle asked,
then why is woman villified?
-- Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Why Men Fear Women Leaders

Men fear women leaders in power today because women are capable of doing a better job than them.

Women have managed to raise children, fly combat aircraft, and perform duties on Shuttle missions.

At the same time, men have never been pregnant, suffered PMS or even menopause.

Indeed, no man has been a doula.

In today's post-modern world, the people best qualified to change world history are woman, not men.

Indeed, men are pretty obsolete as far as pregnancy goes.

Why, Rosie O-Donnelll's partner is pregnant by artificial insemination.

So, women, are you ready to lead us out of the darkness?

Alcohol consumption preceded rape-murder in Iraq

A soldier cited in U.S. court documents as the first witness told investigators that Green and three others drank alcohol and discussed rape. They then told the soldier to keep watch on the radio as they set off for the house, some in civilian clothes.

This once again shows that alcohol aided in the reduction of inhibition to commit rape and murder.

However, this does not excuse any of the five participants in this crime.

Nor does Green's "personality disorder" excuse him by reason of insanity.

Yet his antipathy towards Iraqis showed that with enough "courage" he might incite such a crime.

Men such as Green are not only a threat to families in foreign lands, but also to one third of all female troops.

Maybe it's time to water down the hooch.

Nothing to Hide

One day, he was sitting on the floor of his State House office, crying, when his chief of staff walked in. Other times, he'd stay at home, unable to face the day. When he finally sought treatment, after his brother committed suicide, he wanted to pay his psychiatrist in cash, to avoid a paper trail of checks and insurance forms.

For nearly a decade, state Senator Robert A. Antonioni was willing to do almost anything to hide the fact that he was depressed. Now, he is speaking out about it, to residents in his Central Massachusetts district, to television reporters, and next week on the airwaves, in a public service announcement in which he declares, "I have a mental illness."

And once he started to do that, Antonioni got public support, so much that he was astounded.

So maybe one day, there might be a formerly depressed President of the United States in the White House.

Hopefully he'll tell us how bad antidepressants really are.

Should Governments Legalize and Tax Marijuana?

The war on drugs is an expensive battle, as a great deal of resources go into catching those who buy or sell illegal drugs on the black market, prosecuting them in court, and housing them in jail. These costs seem particularly exorbitant when dealing with the drug marijuana, as it is widely used, and is likely no more harmful than currently legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. There's another cost to the war on drugs, however, which is the revenue lost by governments who cannot collect taxes on illegal drugs. In a recent study for the Fraser Institute, Economist Stephen T. Easton attempted to calculate how much tax revenue the Canadian government could gain by legalizing marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana would bring tax dollars of $2 billion to Canada. The only benefit of marijuana criminalization would be to the underground economy, of which Canada is contributing to.

Yes, the Canadian government is responsible for crime gangs deriving profits from illegal grow-op across Canada by keeping cannabis criminalized.

After all, the government keeps the herb illegal.

Thus, it is because of the law that marijuana is a dangerous drug, not because of the drug itself.

Early use of SSRIs may worsen emotional disturbance

Mice treated with the antidepressant Prozac early in life grow into adults with emotional problems, a new report concludes.

Whether the drug has the same effect on people is unknown. But the result will add to the growing debate over what risks Prozac (fluoxetine) and similar SSRI drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) pose for young children and unborn babies.

'If they really need these drugs, people should take them. They can be life savers,' says Jay Gingrich, a psychiatrist at Columbia University in New York City, US, who led the research. 'But it is a little bit alarming to find they might carry risks that aren't apparent until later in life.'

Researchers began injecting mice with fluoxetine four days after birth until they were 21 days old. Nine weeks after their last injection, the adult animals were given a series of behavioural tests designed to assess their level of anxiety and depression.

The team found that rodents who received drug as newborns were more intimidated by new surroundings and moved more slowly to avoid painful shocks compared to controls. 'They are more inhibited in novel situations,' says Gingrich. 'Extrapolating to people, we'd say the mice are showing symptoms of anxiety and depression or emotional problems.'

With more and more children being given SSRIs to treat socially inappropriate behaviors, the risks associated with emotional disturbances amongst young adults is increasing at alarming rates.

Although children on SSRIs may no more likely to experience a brief psychotic episode than children with a substance abuse disorder, the increased risk of self-harm and/or harm to others does not justify increased use of SSRIs to moderate socially inappropriate behaviors.

Rather, it appears that the use of SSRIs is merely another method of regulating children's behavior, and is not unlike the use of TV and video games in that the parents may choose the relative peace to actual pro-activeparticipation in their children's lives.

Indeed, studies have shown that parents who actively participate in their children's lives also aid in moderating their children's behavior such that socially inappropriate syndromes are easily moderated.

So yes, getting involved in their children's lives is more effective than Paxil and Ritalin.

CTV.ca | One in six reports diagnosis of depression: survey

A new survey on depression in the workforce indicates that one in six North American adults have been diagnosed with the illness.

Fourteen per cent of Canadians and 20 per cent of Americans told an Ipsos Reid survey they'd been diagnosed by a doctor.

Overall, 22 per cent in Canada and 21 per cent in the United States think they suffer from depression but never had it properly diagnosed.

More women than men suffer from it, and the illness is more prevalent among those with lower income and less education.

Depression thus is more connected with poverty and lower education than neurotransmitter imbalance.

Even though rich people who are well educated are as likely to suffer depression, the poor and the high school grads are likely to be diagnosed with depression.

As well, they are more likely to be in therapy and be prescribed anti-depressants than richer people who may be in therapy but usually not on anti-depressants.

This can be confirmed with reports that people involved in mass killings tend to be from lower income backgrounds, or recently unemployed, and have recently been put on anti-depressants.

Only rarely are depressed rich people in the news, and usually their depression is comorbid with another behavior disorder.

Yet more and more people are being placed on anti-depressants and complaining of side effects of those ADs, including abreactions to anxiety (insomnia, manic episodes, hypomania and psychotic episodes).

Neurosis as a Normative Process of Mental Health

Neurosis, also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a 'catch all' term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or some personality disorders, does not prevent rational thought or an individual's ability to function in daily life.

Thus if a paranoid thought or even a psychosis is transient, and the person reverts to what is predominantly neurotic behavior predromal to the psychosis, then that person is mainly neurotic with possibly rare incidents of psychosis, mainly due to psychic distress.

Indeed, the psychosis could be maladaptation to stress due to ignorance about how to cope with it. This condition is known in the layman's vernacular as "just fucking nuts" as opposed to being "temporarily insane", the layman's term for psychosis.

"Psycho" actually means "psychopathic", and implies that the person is a mean, rotten person who feels no guilt for all the harm he causes other people, be it psychic pain or actual physical harm.

Within the context of neurosis, the term psychopathic is usually mutually exclusive as most people who are neurotic really aren't "psycho", even if they are creepy and scarey to a lot of ignorant people.

My reason for calling people ignorant who are paranoid of neurotics is that ignorance usually is what motivates the average person to be afraid of the term "neurotic" which to them means "nuts."

This indicates to me that just maybe, these poor ignorant fools may have neurotic fears about "being nuts."

This only proves to me that maybe some people are just fuckin nuts.

The Latest Mania: Selling Bipolar Disorder

One of the most famous direct-to-consumer television adverts for a drug begins with a vibrant woman dancing late into the night. A background voice says, “Your doctor probably never sees you when you feel like this.” The advert cuts to a shrunken and glum figure, and the voiceover now says, “This is who your doctor usually sees.” Cutting again to the woman, in active shopping mode, clutching bags with the latest brand names, we hear: “That's why so many people with bipolar disorder are being treated for depression and not getting any better—because depression is only half the story.” We see the woman again depressed, looking at bills that have arrived in the post before switching to seeing her again energetically painting her apartment. “That fast- talking, energetic, quick tempered, overdoing it, up-all-night you,” says the voiceover, “probably never shows up at the doctor's office, right?”

Indeed, the antidepressant Wellbutrin (bupropion) is derived from the amphetamine precursor cathinone, which is itself originally derived from the African plant, khat.

Yet when people wrongly prescribed this strong psychostimulant as antidepressant become hypersexual, develop insomnia, and other hypomanic symptoms, their doctor blames the behavior disorder bipolar disorder.

What is usually not told to bipolar disorder patients is that Wellbutrin is usually prescribed off-label to counteract sexual dysfunction by antidepressants.

That is one of the side effects of amphetamines, to which Wellbutrin belongs.

And for people who may have had a substance abuse disorder, Wellbutrin is usually not prescribed, unless of course, they have neglected to tell their psychiatrist.

For bupropion is known to increase agitation, anxiety, hostility, nervousness, and other symptoms of depression.

Furthermore, it is unknown if depression is actually harmful to a patient, since it is the cyclothymic symptoms which indicate an underlying emotional disturbance which can result in suicidal ideation, sometimes with paranoia and possibly psychotic symptoms.

It is during these times that a person may commit suicide, not when they are so depessed that they can't even get out of bed.

Prozac scandal 'besmirches' Canadian university | World dispatch | Guardian Unlimited

In 2007, Canada's largest and most prestigious university and has come under fire from two Nobel laureates and 25 other internationally respected scientists for withdrawing a job offer to a UK researcher after he questioned the safety of antidepressants like Prozac.

In a letter, the 27 scientists say the decision to send Dr David Healy packing violated the principles of academic freedom, 'besmirched' the name of the University of Toronto
and 'poisoned the reputation' of the centre for addiction and mental heath (CAMH), an affiliated teaching hospital.

Dr Healy, who works at the University of Wales, had been courted by the centre for more than a year to direct its mood and anxiety disorders program. But the job offer was hastily withdrawn last November after he gave a speech in which he said Prozac and similar antidepressants may trigger suicide or violent behaviour in some patients. He also said that Eli Lilly, the drug company who has sold the product to 40m people, has known about the problem for years.

Thus a mental health consumer in Ontario should really be careful lest her mental health may be compromised by the threat of loss of sponsorship by BigPharma at CAMH.

While BigPharma may deny they influence their government sponsees in the mental health and addiction industry, such government institutions such as CAMH and even BC's Mental Heath and Addiction services are sensitive about offending their major sponsors.

This may explain why government-run mental health clinics treat heroin addicts and clients whose behavior is acute and/or chronic enough to treat while advising people with mental health issues less severe to seek help from psychotherapists and/or psychiatrists on their own.

That the government funds mainly emergency care (first psychotic episode at the nearest hospital psychiatric ward, and at a community hospice thereafter) should remind the wary mental health consumer that his mental health issues are minor compared to the majority of the 10% of all Canadians in psychiatric care today.

This minimization of neurosis only contributes to the delusion of a few of the highly functional mental health consumers to falsely assume they are well, and to continue building the castles they will eventually dwell in when and if the stress of life finally precipitates a brief psychotic episode.

Hopefully, they continue to remain highly functional, because the lower functioning clients end up being treated just like methadone clients.

Margaret Trudeau says quitting marijuana helped mental health

Quitting cannabis has been an important part of her recovery from mental illness, Margaret Trudeau said Monday at a press conference in Vancouver for the Canadian Mental Health Association's upcoming Bottom Line Conference.

Trudeau, who suffers from bipolar disorder, spoke openly with reporters about her experience with depression and the effect of her long-term marijuana use.

Margaret Trudeau went on to claim that marijuna can trigger psychosis. However, this is inaccurate. What THC, the psychoactive drug in marijuana, may do is trigger anxiety. It is the user's reaction to that anxiety which leads to psychosis, not marijuana itself.

While paranoid thought may be a result of such anxiety, the fear of being caught intoxicated is more of the reason for paranoia than THC itself.

Therefore marijuana does not cause psychosis. Maladaptation to anxiety about one's substance abuse is more directly causal to possible psychosis than taking 200 micrograms of THC.

Compare this to a man being found out about his online time spent exclusively surfing for porn. If he knows it to be wrong to spend so much time online, and discovers he is being shamed by looking at porn, he may exhibit anxiety which may result in agitation, anger, and sometimes irrational behaviors associated with guilt. Thus he will act guilty and get upset, perhaps even exhibiting rage and possible brief psychosis.

So in Margaret Trudeay's case, she may have gotten high on pot, been caught by paparazzi and discovered her pictures in national tabloid with guilt-inducing headlines.

I would attribute her crises to public censure more than to occasional use of marijuana.

However, quitting pot did help Ms. Trudeau manage her bipolar disorder by reducing risk of anxiety. Thus, being drug free does improve mental health.

Grrls gang up on woman

Boston police arrested a 10-year-old girl yesterday and charged her with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - her shod foot - after she and friends were accused of brutally attacking a customer at the South Bay Target department store in Dorchester after the victim bumped her.

Witnesses told police the gang of girls knocked the 22-year-old victim to the floor “where she was being hit, her hair was being ripped out, and her pants were taken off,” by her attackers, said BPD spokesman Officer Eddy Chrispin.

But witnesses told police the 10-year-old was allegedly particularly brutal. They told police the child kicked the woman repeatedly in the head and stomach as the victim’s clothes were being ripped off and she was punched in the face by the other girls, police said.

She was the only child arrested at the scene. Chrispin refused to reveal the ages of the three others involved in the assault because they were not arrested, but a source said a second 10-year-old was involved along with two teens. Boston police will seek criminal complaints against them from a court clerk. The name of the girl arrested was not released because she is a juvenile.

The fight broke out in an aisle just before 4 p.m. at the department store after the victim “bumped into the youngest girl and refused to apologize,” Chrispin said. The injured victim was treated at an area hospital and told police “she was jumped for no reason.”

A 10-year-old girl beat up a 22-year-old woman. That woman's only mistake was to not apologize for bumping into another 10-year-old girl.

However, this gives the girl who savagely assaulted her no right to do so. But it does show that more and more often, young girls are developing conduct disorders at a younger age than their parents' generation.

And yes, girls who run wild can be much more violent than their male counterparts. Some of them have even murdered their male peers over drug debts.

It is quite obvious that unsupervised children will dance for the Lord of the Pigs.

These girls certainly cannot be considered cute anymore.

Psychotherapy is not for the weak or "crazy"

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that going to therapy is a sign of weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Learning what the real reasons for repeating destructive patterns, acknowledging fears that you might have kept “safely” hidden from yourself in your unconscious, where they could control and limit you, is not easy. Ultimately, understanding that you can create much of your life takes guts not cowardice.

Another common misconception about psychotherapy is that it is for “crazy” people. This is just not true. Anybody can get stuck using coping mechanisms that might have been very effective at some point in their pasts, but are no longer adaptive or effective. Since a person is on “auto-pilot” she or he doesn’t even realize that these limiting patterns are being repeated.

Getting one’s unconscious out of the driver’s seat is the key to putting a stop to crashing into the same brick walls over and over again. These hidden patterns may make it difficult to have rewarding intimate relationships, sustain physical health, cope with rejection (not that that is ever fun), have a satisfying career or even be able to identify one’s true feelings. These patterns often are not obvious and they limit a person’s ability to live a creative authentic life.

Since even the celebrities have consulted therapists, the labels of "weak" and "crazy" are merely projections of fear about our myths about madness. They are the tools of the "psychosiphobic", people finding themselves to be sane yet still fearful of mental health consumers.

It is in one's best interest to consult a therapist to transform one's life, rather than to remain locked in the "madhouse" of dysfunctional existence.

And you shall know it by how much dust is under your bed, and by how often you bathe.

How EFT works

EFT is based on a new discovery that has provided thousands with relief from pain, diseases and emotional issues. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips. The process is easy to memorize and is portable so you can do it anywhere. It launches off the EFT Discovery Statement which says...
'The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system.'
And because our physical pains and diseases are so obviously connected with our emotions the following statement has also proven to be true...
'Our unresolved negative emotions are major contributors to most physical pains and diseases.'
This common sense approach draws its power from (1) time-honored Eastern discoveries that have been around for over 5,000 years and (2) Albert Einstein, who told us back in the 1920's that everything (including our bodies) is composed of energy. These ideas have been largely ignored by Western Healing Practices and that is why EFT often works where nothing else will. As you will clearly see, conventional healing methods have overlooked the obvious.

This technique uses acupressure and is based on the premise that most medical complaints have an origin in impairment of energy flow of Qi.

While Qi is not detectable by physical methods used for electromagnetic testing, the techniques Gary Craig devised do work.

Regardless of whether this is placebo or real, EFT does work.

Reference:
http://www.eftuniverse.com/

Napa State Hospital - An American Nightmare

The horrors in the field of psychiatry never stop shocking me. I have researched psychiatry since the 1980's, and for years and years the truth about this pseudo-science has been suppressed by the Media. Fortunately, when the Internet users increased rapidly in the 90's, people could start reading about the misfortunate patients in the mental hospitals around the world. Only recently, mostly because of inmates and researchers who have pushed the issue over and over, even the main stream media have started exposing some of it. &mdash, Napa State Hospital - An American Nightmare

In BC it is hard to get into a psychiatric facility as a potential mental health consumer, unless you are suicidal or have a conduct disorder which has resulted in violation of local laws.

If your mental health consists of being a highly functional person with hypochondria and neuroses, then you may be denied any counseling.

Besides, counseling is for the worst cases, not for people with neurotic-like symptoms more controllable through expensive therapy at a psychiatrist's office.

It's all for the best, because a lot of abuse and victimization of mental health consumers does go on behind closed doors like Napa State Hospital in California.

Compassionate Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

At an early age, most of us were taught to speak and think Jackal. This language is from the head. It is a way of mentally classifying people into varying shades of good and bad, right and wrong. Ultimately it provokes defensiveness, resistance and counterattack. Giraffe bids us to speak from the heart, to talk about what is going on for us - without judging others. In this idiom, you give people an opportunity to say yes, although you respect no for an answer. Giraffe is a language of requests; Jackal is a language of demands.

During non-violent confrontations, Jackal comes to us in the form of denial, distractive strategies, and dismissive behaviors. Usually the confrontations do nothing to remedy a situation slowly going awry.

In a sense, it's like Jackal controls the tongue even though Giraffe controls the mind. However, he always gives you a second chance, repeatedly.

Resolution of this form of applying non-violent confrontation is to speak Giraffe. If one's heart is embraced by Giraffe, then one's tongue should speak from the heart with patience and love.

---

Original post: February 21, 2007 2119H
Update posted: March 8, 2013 1907H

References:

Giraffe and Jackal Ears Exercise: http://seedofpeace.org/?p=815
Jackal and Giraffe: http://giraffeincblog.com/2011/02/25/jackal-and-giraffe-language/
Jackal Dictionary: http://www.wiseheartpdx.org/jackal-dictionary.html

Noble Eightfold Path

'And what, monks, is the Noble Truth of the Way of Practice Leading to the Cessation of Suffering?
It is just this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Thought; Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood; Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.' — Mahasatipatthana Sutta: The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, in Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha, trans. by Maurice Walshe
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

By right, it is meant "balanced and wholesome, conducive to living in harmony with one's community and in society at large, pure."

Thus the view, the thought, the speech, the action, the livelihood, the effort, the mindfulness and the concentration preached by the Buddha are all conducive to spiritual awakening and practice for the benefit of one's own self and especially, one's community.

In short, the Noble Eightfold Path is a means of spiritual empowerment to benefit the world.

Do not let the monks and nuns try to tell you meditation in social isolation brings enlightenment.

For most of the Buddha's awakening begain after he first achieved Nirvana.

The Vatican Controls Islam? Protestant Sheep Turns Fanatic

Mohammad &: " The Church's relationship with the Muslims. 'The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.' From Latest Catechism - Includes the corrections by Pope John Paul II on 8 September 1997"

While this quote may be real, this long article preaches hate against Roman Catholicism, Islam, Judaism and even Protestant Christianity.

By ignoring other forms of faith it preaches ignorance about them.

It is but thinly veiled religious fanaticism.

West Nile Virus & New Yorkers and Risk Novelty

"Most people are more afraid of risks that are new than those they've lived with for a while. In the summer of 1999, New Yorkers were extremely afraid of West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne infection that had never been seen in the United States. By the summer of 2001, though the virus continued to show up and make a few people sick, the fear had abated. The risk was still there, but New Yorkers had lived with it for a while. Their familiarity with it helped them see it differently. Most people are more afraid of risks that are new than those they've lived with for a while. In the summer of 1999, New Yorkers were extremely afraid of West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne infection that had never been seen in the United States. By the summer of 2001, though the virus continued to show up and make a few people sick, the fear had abated. The risk was still there, but New Yorkers had lived with it for a while. Their familiarity with it helped them see it differently. " - The Psychology of Security

In short, the novelty of risk posed by West Nile Virus was high in 1999. Within two years, NY people were education about WNV and realized that the risks were higher with small children and the elderly, whose immune system are compromised by age.

Likewise, when a criminal might pose a risk of threat to a community on immediate release of jail, it will take time to determine how large that risk is to vulnerable members of a community. As the years pass on, and the criminal still hasn't struck, then the community's fear will abate. If that criminal only victimizes only a few people, then there will not be as much fear and apprehension displayed 10 years after release when his rate of predation does not accelerate.

While the risk is there for a criminal to reoffend, if his rate of predation is low then most people in the community, having lived with it for 10 years, would realize how much of a threat he really is. Thus it serves the ex-criminal to become familiar with the community into which he is released to help members of that community see him differently (from a stranger to a friend).

This is why people are so shocked when an ex-convict strikes again after a lomg time without going back to his old ways, because it is assumed he was released because he was rehabilitated.

LSD use never leads to suicide, but may be "one straw too many."

I was musing about a question posted by a certain Psychfo contributer, one of many members of Craigslist. She asked about a friend who died after taking LSD. I denied that LSD contributed to that kid committing suicide.

However LSD could have indirectly led to him accidentally killing himself by being a dumbass. LSD appears to open one up to the concept of non-self i.e. that we're not narcissistic individuals trying to look out for number one, ME. This appears to cause an LSD user to question his or her meaning of existence. As a result of indiscriminate drug use, this existential challenge may lead to one straw too many on the camel's back for the user, regardless of her age.

Sometimes, the ravages of teenage hormones might end up with the kid psychotic, but LSD is not the cause of the ensuing diagnosis, be it schizophrenia or a mood disorder. Rather, LSD, like other recreational drugs, are tools put into the wrong hands. Such drugs are neither harmful nor deadly except to an ignorant kid who has no clue about the pharmacology and toxicology of illegal substance use.

How the Tibetan Book of the Dead fits into this is that prior to DEA's demonization of entheogens such as LSD and MDMA, they were used therapeutically by shrinks and therapists. The near-death experience provided by LSD, peyote, MDMA and even GHB is a powerful therapeutic tool. By making such entheogens illegal, the DEA has turned such tools into another way to uncover probable mental illness in children.

Then they are given potentially dangerous psychoactive drugs such as Prozac, which might result in a neuroleptic malignacy(sp?) syndrome and might even cause a worsening of symptoms including the rise of another disorder such as OCD. In truth, illegal drugs do not make kids crazy.

IMHO They'd be crazy soon enough from working crazy hours full-time once they turn 18. :p

What might make kids crazy is being given powerful psychoactive meds in an attempt to manufacture another schizophrenic, another MDD case, another OCD hand-wringer, another ODD-CD delinquent.

IMHO Meds and kids don't mix. YMMV

Broadband Internet in Lebanon a major disappointment | Ya Libnan | Lebanon News Live from Beirut

Beirut, Lebanon - Whether it is the phone company or the cellular companies, users continually complain about being overcharged and of lackluster service. When it comes to Broadband Internet in Lebanon, it's the same old story.

Lebanon scams the wireless service on hopefully technically illiterate Lebanese, offering slower speeds than dial-up.

Lebanon's excuse for such service? They're afraid of VoIP providers ruining telephone profits.

Oh Lebanon! Hello? Ever wonder why your more wealthier citizens leave your country forever and immigrate to Canada? Hello? Hello?

Palestinian teens attack Canadian tour bus : Top Stories : News : Sympatico / MSN

Palestinian teenagers attacked a bus carrying a small group of Canadians and threw rocks at police.

The bus was carrying vacationing Canadians on a tour of the Mount of Olives holy site in east Jerusalem.

"We were just driving and all of a sudden a bunch of kids started picking up rocks and whatever they could get their hands on and started throwing it at the bus,'' said tourist Dave Wood.

"This is our first day in the Holy City and it was quite disturbing to say the least.''


Well then, Mr. Wood, did you apply Canadian diplomacy to the situation and offer peace to those kids in Arabic.

Obviously not, because you are a tourist who can't afford Hebrew and Arabic lessons, but can afford to invade Palestinian territory on your "Tour the Holy Land" trip c/o of your church.

I expect better of you, Mr. Wood.

Your comments in this newsbite makes me ashamed to be Canadian!

Hacker drops a bomb on nuclear watchdog's website : News & Opinions : Tech & Gadgets : Sympatico / MSN

Hacker drops a bomb on nuclear watchdog's website : News & Opinions : Tech & Gadgets : Sympatico / MSN: "Someone cracked one part of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's website and inserted a photograph of a nuclear explosion - spurring the agency to call in the RCMP."

Canada's most dangerous way of producing electricity, while secretly making bomb materials, has declared war on vandalism by a teenager.

This act, despite the fact that the cracker - not hacker - didn't have the password to the internal part of the site, shows how stupid they are.

This is not a hack; this is a lucky crack!

The CBC are mystified and pretend a hacker did this.

Dumbass journalism at its worst.

Translations - Ever-present Good's Prayer of Intention

Translations - Ever-present Good's Prayer of Intention:
Ever-present Good's Prayer of Intention

Ho
All experience, potential or actual, patterned or free,
Has one ground, two paths and two results.

It is the play of awareness and ignorance.

Through this prayer of Ever-present Good
May everyone come to full and complete awakening
In the palace of the realm of totality.

The ground of everything is not made of anything.
In this indescribable naturally present expanse
There are not even the concepts of patterned or free.

Know this and you are awake.
Do not know this and you are a sentient being wandering in samsara.
May all beings in the three realms
Know the indescribable ground.

I, Ever-present Good,
Am the ground, without genesis or conditioning.
I am ground natural awareness — what is.
Internal and external distortions do not touch me.
The stupor of mindlessness does not conceal me.
Projections do not contaminate me.

As awareness itself is resting naturally,
I experience no fear, even if the three worlds are destroyed.
I experience no longing for the five sensory pleasures.

In natural non-conceptual awareness
Neither solid form nor the five poisons are present.
The five aspects of pristine awareness
Are all present in the unceasing clarity that is awareness.

From the ripening of the five aspects of pristine awareness
The five families of original buddhas arise.
Through the further expansion of pristine awareness
The forty-two buddhas arise.

Through the dynamism of the five aspects of pristine awareness
The sixty blood-drinkers arise.
Ground awareness is never confused.

Because I am the original buddha,
Through my intention
Beings in samsara's three realms
Recognize natural awareness.
Thus, may great pristine awareness be complete.

My expressions arise continuously,
Radiating in inconceivable trillions of forms,
Teaching in different ways all who are to be trained.

Through my compassionate prayer of intention
May all beings in samsara's three realms
Rise out of existence as the six kinds of beings.

First, for confused beings
Ground awareness does not arise.
That blankness, in which there is no idea of anything,
Is the genesis of confusion and ignorance.

Suddenly, from that unconsciousness
A terrified and unclear knowing stirs.
From that, I and then other, the enemy, arise.

Through the momentum of patterned propensities
Samsara unfolds in its usual way.
The five poisons, the reactive emotions, spread.
Reactions based on the five poisons just go on and on.

Therefore, since the basis of confusion in beings
Is mindless ignorance,
Through my awakened intention
May they all recognize awareness itself.

Naturally inherent ignorance
Is a distracted mindless knowing.
Ignorance that conceptualizes everything
Is a holding of self and other as two.
The two ignorances, inherent and conceptual,
Are the ground of confusion in all beings.

Through my awakened intention
May all beings in samsara
Wake up from their thick mindless stupor.
May their dualistic fixation become transparent.
May they recognize the nature of awareness.

Dualistic thinking is doubt.
When the slightest attraction forms,
Habituated tendencies grow increasingly stronger.

Food, wealth, clothing, places, companions,
The five sensory pleasures and loving families —
Attraction to the pleasant torments beings:
This is the confusion of the world.

Dualistic actions have no end.
When attraction's fruit ripens,
They become hungry ghosts, tormented by craving —
Wretched in their hunger and thirst.

Through my awakened intention
May all beings who yearn and want
Neither avoid the discomfort of desire
Nor act on the yearning or want.

When they let knowing relax in its natural place
Awareness also finds its natural place.
May they attain distinguishing pristine awareness.

When an object appears externally,
A subtle fear-ridden knowing arises.
Habituated tendencies of aversion grow
And hatred, violence, and murder arise.
When aversion's fruit ripens,
Oh, the scalding burning pain of hell!

Through my awakened intention
When strong aversion arises
In any being in the six states,
May they let it be, without doing anything with it.
As awareness finds its own place,
May they attain the pristine awareness of clarity.

When they are all puffed up with pride
They become competitive and critical of others
And aggressively arrogant.
Disputes with others cause them to suffer.
When the fruit of those actions ripens
They become gods and experience death and downfall.

Through my awakened intention
May beings inflated with self-importance
Let knowing relax in its own place.
As awareness finds its own place,
May they know the meaning of balance directly.

The habituated tendencies that reinforce dualism
Lead to the pain of self-praise and criticism of others.
They become increasingly quarrelsome and cutthroat,
Titans, slashing and killing,
And as a result, fall into the hell realms.

Through my awakened intention
May all who are quarrelsome and competitive
Stop their hostility and relax where they are.
As knowing finds its own place,
May they attain the pristine awareness of effective action.

Distracted by mindless indifference
They are dull, depressed and forgetful.
Oblivious, lazy and confused,
They wander like animals without a home.

Through my awakened intention
May the light of clear attention shine
In the darkness of dull confusion.
May they attain non-conceptual pristine awareness.

In all beings of the three realms
The basis of everything is the same as in me and all buddhas.
It became the ground of mindless confusion.
Now, they engage in meaningless actions.

The six actions are like the confusion of dreams.
I am the original Buddha.
I give rise to this intention of Ever-present Good,
So that I take form and teach the six kinds of beings.
May all beings wake up
To the totality of experience.

Ah ho
From now on, whenever a contemplative
Forms this powerful intention
From the natural clarity of unconfused awareness,
All beings who hear it
Will be fully awake within three lives.

When the sun or moon is seized by Rahu2,
When the earth rumbles or shakes,
At the solstices or the change of the year,
If he or she generates the sense of being Ever-present Good
And recites this prayer for all to hear,

Through the intention of that contemplative
All beings in the three realms
Will be freed from suffering step by step
And, in the end, will attain complete awakening.


This prayer is taken from the ninth chapter of The Tantra that Teaches Transparently the Vision of the Great Completion Ever-present Good, which says that when this intention is sincerely formed, all beings have no choice but to become fully awake. This translation was made by Ken McLeod.


Sanskrit:
Samantabhadra; Tibetan: kun.tu.bzang.po (pronounced Kuntu-zangpo). Ever-present Good is the original buddha in the dzogchen tradition. Good, in this context, is the good beyond such concepts of good and evil. The text is written in the first person, so that you read this prayer feeling that you are Ever-present Good (which you are but may not know so right now).

Rahu is the mythical planet or monster that causes eclipses by swallowing the sun and the moon.

Dongfang Shuo: A Witty Man

While entertaining himself in Shanglin Garden, Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty pointed at a tree and asked Dongfang Shuo, 'What is that called?'

'It's called Goodness.' replied Dongfang Shuo carelessly. Wu Di had it written down.
Several years later, playing in the garden again, Wu Di saw the tree and turned to Dongfang Shuo to ask its name. 'it's named Jusuo (Overlooking all).' said Dongfang Shuo again carelessly.

Wu Di's expression changed, 'You have been cheating me over the years. How can the same tree have different names?'

Dongfang Shuo defended himself with fervor and assurance 'A horse is called horse only when it grows up; it is a foal when young; chicken is the name for a chick when it becomes older; and a cow is called a calf when born. So it is with human beings: They are called infants when born and old men when aged. The tree was Goodness several years ago and is now Overlooking-All. All the objects in the universe change. Don't you think that is the truth?'

Satisfied with Dongfang Shuo's reply, Wu Di laughed heartily.

Importantly this quote shows that each object may have different names.

In addition to his real name, a person may have a nickname. On the Internet, a person may opt to use a pseudonym to protect his anonymity.

In Buddhism, Buddha Nature is also known as Self Nature, and Buddha Recitation is called Buddha Remembrance.

As for Taoism, the Tao is also known as the Way.

The Good Drug Guide : new mood-brighteners and antidepressants

THE RESPONSIBLE PARENT'S GUIDE TO HEALTHY MOOD-BOOSTERS FOR ALL THE FAMILY

INTRODUCTION
Could we live happily ever after? Perhaps. One's interest in the genetically pre-programmed states of sublimity sketched in The Hedonistic Imperative is tempered by the knowledge that one is unlikely to be around to enjoy them. It's all very well being told our descendants will experience every moment of their lives as a magical epiphany. For emotional primitives and our loved ones at present, most of life's moments bring nothing of the sort. In centuries to come, our baseline of emotional well-being may indeed surpass anything that human legacy wetware can even contemplate. Right now, however, any future Post-Darwinian Era of paradise-engineering can seem an awfully long way off. Mainstream society today has a desperately underdeveloped conception of mental health.

There's clearly a strong causal link between the raw biological capacity to experience happiness and the extent to which one's life is felt to be worthwhile. High-minded philosophy treatises should complicate but not confuse the primacy of the pleasure-pain axis. So one very practical method of life-enrichment consists in chemically engineering happier brains for all in the here-and-now. Yet how can this best be done?


Through natural method validated by effective use for over 2000 years, it is possible to enrich one's life.

To declare that only neuropsychopharmacology is the answer, one would have to study an area of pharmacology that treats the sick brain.

As well, the wise person has to detach from the delusion that one's life history made her this way.

In reality, a sick brain is not manufactured by sick thoughts. For such thoughts are the symptom of a sick brain.

While it appears reasonable to assume that a society's embrace of the culture of a sick soul may contribute to a sick mind, it cannot be concluded that such artificial constructs are manufactured by a sick brain.

Rather, it appears that quite possibly, the sick mind is a symptom of the sick brain.

Thus the negativity and pessimism of a depressed person with attendant anxiety and paranoia are all but symptoms of a very ill brain.

The Hacker in Me Arises

As of Thursday Feb 7, 2007, I've decided to be the white hat hacker I was born to be.

The reason: SFU Surrey Campus' Library has the most insecure computer network as far as physical access goes. Believe me that I've seen worse.

Their mentality at the security end is to let crackers do their nasty, and then entrap them. In short, they wait for hacker deviants to break laws before they'd ban them, and then call police (maybe).

They'd let deviants walk in off the street and hack into the GigaPOP network and attack other computers using the Man-in-The-Middle strategy to bust into thir Radius servers to steal password.

How do I know this? I was given access to the Internet by a Library Assistant!

Within 2 minutes, I could surf anywhere. Within 30 seconds of rebooting the workstation I was assigned, I determined that I had access to floppy disk, CD ROM and HD, plus USB 2 ports.

I could boot off a floppy with trinux on it, a CD ROM disc with Linux LiveCD and even a USB ram drive with Puppy Linux on it!

If I wanted to, but being the professional, I told the assistant that I could do so. What did she do? She trusted me and gave me access!!

I even notified the head computer technician via the frontdesk assistant of the library. What did he say? "Oh, well. We'll monitor the situation."

How dumb is that? It appears that in Canada, all you need to do to get access is to buy a semester library card and crash the library catalog!!!!!

Ok, I didn't do that either. Rather, it was actually down. I didn't crash it; some student noobie did. Honest!

I like the UBC system better where they use Citrix and Internet terminals without computers to access the Internet.

The SFU system is easy to get "accidentally" infested with malware by just surfing to a website with trojan scripts to throw malware on their computers accidentally.

My rating on SFU Surrey's security: 7/10.

They get 1 point off for allowing me access to the Internet; 1 point for not securing all their workstations; and 1 point for using monitoring as a security precaution.

Anna Nicole Smith dies after collapsing at hotel: lawyer

Anna Nicole Smith dies after collapsing at hotel: lawyer: "Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, February 08, 2007 Article tools
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Font: * * * * HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Anna Nicole Smith died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel and being rushed to the hospital, one of her lawyers said.

Her son Daniel died of a drug overdose last September just three days after Smith gave birth to a baby girl, Dannielynn

Smith was embroiled in a bitter paternity case with former boyfriend Larry Birkhead.

Born Vickie Lynn Hogan, she was married to Billy Smith for two years in the mid-'80s and then to billionnaire J. Howard Marshall II for just over a year before he passed away in 1995. Following the death of her son Daniel, Smith married her longtime lawyer Howard K. Stern."

The Astronuts | Xomba

The Astronuts | Xomba: "That’s the problem when someone smart starts to crack, though, I think. This is especially true when it comes to love. Love sucks. Plus, you just know this guy they were fighting over was playing with both of these women. I think he was an astronaut too, or something, so you know he thought he was hot stuff because two smart women were all over him. He probably would have loved to see the two of them fight in that way we men always get worked up over two women fighting.

We all think that the fight will just lead to hot lesbian sex or something, I guess.
The authorities are saying this female astronaut was going to Houston to kidnap the other woman. I have no idea what she was allegedly planning next. Do you shoot her with the pellet gun? Do you cover her with welts? Do you torture her with the pepper spray? Do you talk about diapers?

Of course the kind of pain this woman must have been in really isn’t something to make fun of. Love does that to you. I have felt it myself. I had a bad break up a few years back and the first thing I thought of to bring the person back to me was to take out ads in her local paper and on billboards asking her to take me back. Yeah, sure, that would have worked. I was just some rubber tubing and diapers away from my own psychotic episode.

Love just sucks and it sucks in general and people get blinded by it. You get blinded about the person you love and then, when you do move on, you get blinded to all of the pain involved in love and you think it’s all great again. I think it’s the same thing that happens with women and giving birth.

So, I don’t know what will happen to this woman. She did get to go into space before she went nutso and started putting on diapers. So, regardless of where she ends up she certainly went further than most before jumping off the deep end."

Not guilty due to temporary "space sickness" worsened by an inability to communicate being one with the Universe for 10 days.

I am a f@##?t Canadian (apologies to Green Day) - NWSF (parody)

Are you a real bad American idiot?
Are you a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of paranoia?
The schizophrenic mindfucked American.

Welcome to a new medication
Worsening the alienation.
Where everything tells not gonna be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.

Well maybe I'm the faggot Canadian.
But you're a part of a redneck agenda.
Now I am here to do the propaganda.
And sing along to the age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new medication
Worsening the alienation.
Where everything tells not gonna be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue:

Are you a real bad American idiot?
Are you a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of paranoia?
The schizophrenic idiot American.

Welcome to a new medication
Worsening the alienation.
Where everything tells not gonna be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.

I am a habahobi wasabi! I am sizzling!

February 8, 2007:
Haba - from hapa, Hawaiian for half-breed, a Pidgin English word used by half-blooded Hawaiians who are increasingly multiracial.
Hobi - from Hopi, the only tribe in America which might be of mixed Japanese and native American blood.
wasabi - a bitter root which is vey spicy and used to ward off food poisoning while eating wasabi. It goes well with sliced ginger and soy sauce.

A habahobi is a person who is of native and Japanese extraction or a Japanese who loves native culture.

A wasabi is an Asian male who knows he's hot and spicey.

Thus am I proud to be a habahobi wasabi!

---

February 1, 2013: Sometimes I come up with these zingers out of left field.

If I were to define myself right now, then it'll be the wasabi flower.

A Time Line of Recent Worldwide School Shootings — Infoplease.com

A Time Line of Recent Worldwide School Shootings — Infoplease.com

Before 9/11/2001

Feb. 2, 1996
Moses Lake, Wash. Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.
March 13, 1996
Dunblane, Scotland 16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.
Feb. 19, 1997
Bethel, Alaska Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.
March 1997
Sanaa, Yemen Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.
Oct. 1, 1997
Pearl, Miss. Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
Dec. 1, 1997
West Paducah, Ky. Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.
Dec. 15, 1997
Stamps, Ark. Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.
March 24, 1998
Jonesboro, Ark. Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
April 24, 1998
Edinboro, Pa. One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.
May 19, 1998
Fayetteville, Tenn. One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.
May 21, 1998
Springfield, Ore. Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
June 15, 1998
Richmond, Va. One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.
April 20, 1999
Littleton, Colo. 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.
April 28, 1999
Taber, Alberta, Canada One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.
May 20, 1999
Conyers, Ga. Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.
Nov. 19, 1999
Deming, N.M. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.
Dec. 6, 1999
Fort Gibson, Okla. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.
Dec. 7, 1999
Veghel, Netherlands One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student.
Feb. 29, 2000
Mount Morris Township, Mich. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.
March 2000
Branneburg, Germany One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.
March 10, 2000
Savannah, Ga. Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.
May 26, 2000
Lake Worth, Fla. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.
Sept. 26, 2000
New Orleans, La. Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.
Jan. 17, 2001
Baltimore, Md. One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.
Jan. 18, 2001
Jan, Sweden One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.
March 5, 2001
Santee, Calif. Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.
March 7, 2001
Williamsport, Pa. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.
March 22, 2001
Granite Hills, Calif. One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.
March 30, 2001
Gary, Ind.


After 9/11/2001

In first comment

Recent shootings include April 16 2007, in Virginia at Virginia Tech, when Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people and turned the gun on himself when the police broke the locks he put on doors to the building he was in..

Then in 2012, a gunman shot people in a mall in Oregen. finally in December 2012, Adam Lanza shot his mother for trying to get him hospitalized. Then he went to his elementary school and shot dead 23 foirst graders before killing himself just as the police pulled up.

We ARE the Web

Participate or remain a nobody.

Minds like water seeping from a leaking jug

And those who have no mental vigilance,
Though they may hear the teachings, ponder them or meditate,
With minds like water seeping from a leaking jug,
Their learning will not settle in their memories.

-Sântideva, "Bodhicaryâvatâra"

Sadly, people without any spiritual awareness have no such mental vigilance.

When they hear the teachings, ponder them or meditate, what they hear goes in one ear and out the other!

The best that they can do any student of yoga can do.

Please Help Me

I am originally from Belize and currently my 'hood is gonna be underwater due to a dam. Also my 'hood is gonna be privatized for a cruise ship company.

This means that stupid people are gonna come tramp through my 'hood and disturb my bros.

It's true that I am tame and live in stupid people's home where I get fed good and sometime live longer than I do in the wild.

These people are so stupid they even try to give me ESL lessons, but don't realize that I am smart enough to try to talk with them.

Check out my Armenian bro for a good idea of how smart I am.



I mean, if stupid people stopped trying to teach me to do tricks and really helped me learn how to communicate with them, I'd tell them that I want a one-way ticket back to Belize, for fuck's sake.

"Awk! Send me home to Belize."

Living Simply

When visiting the Sioux, I was led to the wigwam of the chief. It was like the others in external appearance, and even within the difference was trifling between it and those of the poorest of his braves. The contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer with us to-day measures the change which has come with civilization. -- Andre Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth

Likewise, with the upper middle class, the signs of material change such as luxury cars and mansions only demonstrate wealth but not always a corresponding richness of life.

For a person of rising status as measured by his wealth should deserve to have a bigger house, many servants, and a larger car. Yet if he is still vain, egoistical, and self-centered, then how rich is his life?

Such obvious signs of wealth do not always guarantee a corresponding richness of life. Indeed, sometimes they only serve as status symbols.

While I do not want to urge the wealthy to give up their symbols of wealth such as their homes and their cars, I do want them to realize that great men and women do not have to flaunt their wealth openly in order to enrich their lives.

Thus, it is with great pleasure that I see that Bill Gates has joined forced with Warren Buffett to create an empire of charity.

Better Societies Through Psychiatric Profiling?

Diagnostic labels define what limits of difference society can tolerate. Whenever a culture decides that it will define a set of behaviors as "sick" rather than "immoral" or unwitting, it is enacting a social value that favors illness over the view that such destructive or unusual behavior is volitional. Armed with this view of behavior as illness, we can justify forced hospitalization, prison, or "protective care."

...

The identification of psychiatric disorders always involves a social judgment and often implies a political agenda as well. The definition that behavior constitutes a "problem" for clinical purposes hinges both on what society desires -- a social judgment -- and what is disruptive of the political order and values -- the political agenda. It is less concerned with what is true than with what values it supports and maintains...
-- pp.84-5, L.E. Beutler, B. Bongar & J.N. Shulkin in Am I Crazy, Or Is It My Shrink? How to Get The Help You Need

In short, psychiatric diagnoses address the social mores and political agenda of a society. Their purpose is to label socially inappropriate behaviors in a person as "illness" rather than as "sin".

Indeed, this is but "thought control" where the diagnosis of certain unacceptable behaviors are viewed by the mental health industry as "sick" and in need of medication rather than as merely "immoral" and unwitting, and in need of salvation.

By defining such behaviors as "sick" rather than "immoral" and unwitting, the political agenda of that society is maintained. By maintaining this "status quo", the people in power are thus able to stay in power through social control.

Thus, through clever means of social control, the mentally ill are denied access to political power through the use of forced hospitalization, prison, and "protective care".

But that's all changing today. One-by-one, through education and activism, global fear of psychosis is being eradicated.

Slowly, one by one they are being politically empowered through social activism on the grassroots level.

For a depressed world leader is able to see the world realistically. Her judgment may be tempered by another world leader in a wheelchair, but together they can change the world.

And so too can you.

88-Year-Old Finn is One of the Smartest People

I got the following off an IQ email list:

Even though he is quite an odd and stubborn character my father-in-law is one of the smartest people I know.

Still at 88 he solves the hardest cross-word puzzles every day and keeps himself informed (he comes from Finland so he clogs our mailbox with clips about Linus Thorwalds, Linux and Nokia).

I am quite convinced that he laid the foundation long ago by putting his brain through tough challenges.

At age 50 he learned Japanese so he could translate Japanese patents in materials science for his employer. He even held a presentation in Japanese at a scientific conference in Japan.

Quite a challenge!

I wish I will be as alert if I ever make it to 88!

What are you doing to keep your brain in shape?

Henrik, Sollentuna, SWEDEN

I am not my psychiatric disorder

Rather the psychiatric diagnosis describes my mildly abnormal reaction to severe stress.

I do not know if it is borderline personality disorder with symptoms consistent with bipolar disorder, but the first only describes my personality when I am under stress while the latter refers to my mood in reaction to that stress.

The social behavior I exhibit when under stress only indicates maladaptation. It's similar to the misuse of tools for other tasks normally not associated with them.

Therefore I am not my psychiatric disorder. I only have both a personality disorder, BPD and a mood disorder, bipolar.

On another note, I had this sex dream last night

Ok, I lied.

The dream has very little sexual content in it.

From what I remember of the dream, I was with this women who was blonde.

While we are standing in each other's arm, we hug and I step back and grab her right boob. I ask her if this is appropriate behavior on my part.

She replies, "No, I don't mind you doing that. It kinda turns me on."

Then the dream changes, and I see her with her best friend discussing this incident.

They are walking towards doors, and it looks like the kitcen of a fancy restaurant.

My memory of the dream was quite vivid regarding those two moments in it.

Everything else that might have happened in the dream is a blur.

Tokyo Ice (poem)

ice ice baby, here in Tokyo...
all awake and wired until crash.
wandering into the morning,
afraid of people,
but finding a network of friends.
afraid of love,
all alone in the middle of a crowd.
then i see you,
and we share the ice and chill.
all awake and wired until crash.
afraid of thinking
and of the bad people in the crowd
afraid of trusting
anyone who's mean to me.
that's what Tokyo ice does to you.

frozen in time,
ice ice baby, here in Tokyo...
awake and wired until crash.
wandering into the morning,
afraid of people,
but finding a network of friends.
acting like a five year old
when things don't go my way.
all awake and wired until crash.
wondering why that guy is following me...
all awake and wired until crash.
i wouldn't wish this on anyone else.

ice ice baby, here in Tokyo...
awake and wired until crash.
my heart is pounding.
afraid of people,
am I going to die?
afraid of people,
maybe it's time to give up the fast life.
all awake and wired until crash.

no more, waiting quietly
in the hospital, did all the stupid things
the doctor said to do,
I even apologized to my parents,
but none of my friends came by.
it's time to wait for my meds,
and forget about that old life.
i wouldn't wish this on anyone else.
who needs ice when i've discovered
how much my family loves me?
for i've found how warm
people can be when they care.