Is this your American family portrait? According to research, it is.
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Due to a culture that lacks means of resilience, financial inability to have children, and massive school loans that last an eternity, many Americans struggle to find meaning in life.
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Economic reasons force many Americans to wait until they are 40 to afford having kids choose to not have them at all.
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More reasons Americans are suffering from an epidemic of addiction and death: Expensive health insurance driven by overpriced healthcare and prescription drugs, high cost of college that is laughed at
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LEGO art based on the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was doomed to push a boulder up a hill for eternity, never to reach the top.
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by the rest of the world, religion that shoots itself in the foot, society that self-medicates with alcohol and psychoactive prescription drugs (benzos, opioids, etc) while stigma exists against research of non-addictive hallucinogens, few means of resilience, and scarce, expensive, and culturally incompetent mental health and substance abuse care.
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Below are 5 major issues that we need to change in America and how you can harass your favorite elected official.
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5. Meditation • Chemical Connection to Nature • Awe
With proper set and setting, the mystical experience occasioned by classic hallucinogens may give patients insight into the self, create persisting increases in the personality domain of openness, and elicit feelings of interconnectedness with:
With proper set and setting, the mystical experience occasioned by classic hallucinogens may give patients insight into the self, create persisting increases in the personality domain of openness, and elicit feelings of interconnectedness with:
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NATURE
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EACH OTHER
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Stanford researchers find mental health prescription in nature:
A Stanford study found that walking in nature yields measurable mental benefits and may reduce risk of depression.
Nature is now available in prescription strength!
A Stanford study found that walking in nature yields measurable mental benefits and may reduce risk of depression.
Nature is now available in prescription strength!
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Researcher Paul Piff's study, Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior, found that awe may promote altruistic behavior and that nature can inspire awe.
From the study:
Moderation is key.
Trouble with Nature:
An awe-inspiring discovery "Awe is such a powerful emotion because it signifies wonder and amazement in the world, and you don’t have to travel abroad or pursue a daring adventure to find it. “In fact, participants report feeling awe about twice a week on average, making it a more common emotion than we might expect,” she said, noting that everyday experiences— glancing up at the stars or watching athletes achieve a seemingly impossible physical feat—can inspire awe. The survey measured seven key emotions: amusement, awe, contentment, compassion, pride, love and joy. Stellar found that four specific emotions—joy, pride, contentment and awe—predicted lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. Interestingly, awe had the strongest negative relationship to IL-6, even when researchers controlled for the other six positive emotions, personality measures and a third method of measuring emotions. While researchers don’t entirely know why awe topped the list of emotions as a positive predictor of health, Stellar said she’s certain that her own studies have changed her way of thinking about awe in the world." Make a Difference Find your congressman or woman's number here and tell them we need leadership in mental health, pain, and substance abuse care, not more of the same bureaucratic bickering. |
2015. Hendricks. Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population. J Psychopharmacology.
2014 Hendricks Hallucinogen use predicts reduced recidivism among substance-involved offenders under community corrections supervision Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Griffiths. Press. 2008. 2011. Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. MacLean. J Psychopharmacology. |
Illegal Drugs Laws: Clearing a 50-Year-Old Obstacle to Research
We need smarter drug policy. The longstanding U.S. drug war and drug policy has little effect on substance use, yet kills hundreds of thousands and prevents valuable research of cannabis and hallucinogens.
Decriminalize or create a special legal class for these minimally addictive substances so they can be properly researched. Current Schedule I DEA classification has prevented significant advances in mental health and substance abuse treatment for over 40 years.
There needs to be a single government payer for everything related to mental health and pain. It would result in better research of all types of therapies and limit the patient stress that comes with not knowing if certain therapies will be covered or even work in the first place. This type of single payer system already exists for the VA System. What about the rest of the country?
We need smarter drug policy. The longstanding U.S. drug war and drug policy has little effect on substance use, yet kills hundreds of thousands and prevents valuable research of cannabis and hallucinogens.
Decriminalize or create a special legal class for these minimally addictive substances so they can be properly researched. Current Schedule I DEA classification has prevented significant advances in mental health and substance abuse treatment for over 40 years.
There needs to be a single government payer for everything related to mental health and pain. It would result in better research of all types of therapies and limit the patient stress that comes with not knowing if certain therapies will be covered or even work in the first place. This type of single payer system already exists for the VA System. What about the rest of the country?
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The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System is arguably the best we have in the United States, yet even it cannot provide adequate mental health care to patients. We must do better in the United States and it must start with large-scale, culturally competent, government-sponsored research of classic hallucinogens and mindfulness. Both are archaic means of resilience that will not bankrupt the nation.
Stars & Stripes: Vets, report: VA care hard to get for mental health
Stars & Stripes: Vets, report: VA care hard to get for mental health
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Recent pain and opioid management fighting among doctors/government agencies is equivalent to our embarrassingly poor history of helping those with mental illness in our country. There is lack of leadership from the practitioner level to the top tiers of government. It's bureaucratic failure at its finest.
Psychiatry vs. psychology vs. anti-psychiatry vs. FDA vs. severe mental illness vs. non-severe mental illness. Psychiatry and psychology are left to fight over the relatively paltry funding that is allotted to our mental well-being. Those with severe mental illness are put in prison or left homeless. There is a complete lack of leadership and vision for the future of mental health, substance abuse, and pain care in America.
Psychiatry vs. psychology vs. anti-psychiatry vs. FDA vs. severe mental illness vs. non-severe mental illness. Psychiatry and psychology are left to fight over the relatively paltry funding that is allotted to our mental well-being. Those with severe mental illness are put in prison or left homeless. There is a complete lack of leadership and vision for the future of mental health, substance abuse, and pain care in America.
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Moreover, GOP presidential candidates treat drug policy reform as if were a pot joke while thousands of families have been ruined by draconian laws that are not based on science. Cannabis is effective in treating pain, but it's been illegal for the past 50 years. Instead, the FDA condoned the use of Oxycontin in the 1990s to mistreat centralized pain.
Read Carly Fiorina's story about her daughter’s struggles with alcohol, prescription pills and bulimia that led to her death at age 35: “Lori’s potential was never fulfilled but death is not the only thing that crushes potential… What I also know is that Americans are failing to achieve their potential today.”
We will fail to reach our potential until Presidential candidates make drug policy, pain, mental health and substance abuse care topics of discussion in the 2016 election.
Read Carly Fiorina's story about her daughter’s struggles with alcohol, prescription pills and bulimia that led to her death at age 35: “Lori’s potential was never fulfilled but death is not the only thing that crushes potential… What I also know is that Americans are failing to achieve their potential today.”
We will fail to reach our potential until Presidential candidates make drug policy, pain, mental health and substance abuse care topics of discussion in the 2016 election.
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Link: Despite Surrounding Nature, Rocky Top Tennessee
Is A Terrible Place to Experience Mental Illness, Addiction
Learn more about the slew of pharmacy robberies in Northeast Tennessee and the paltry mental health and opioid treatment options in the Tri-Cities region of Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol.
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Mental illness, suicide, and drug addiction do not spare trusted healthcare professionals like doctors and pharmacists. Soma isn't just a city in Turkey.
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