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Blue Mind Rx is a campaign to change the conversation about the true value of healthy, wild waters for good, and for all people. Read all about it on Google Docs

Meditation is not good for people who have trauma or anxiety disorders as their symptoms are exacerbated by this practice. Every day, articles surface on its benefits, but for many, as pointed out in this article by The Atlantic , meditation can give rise to anxiety and dissociation, particularly in people who have past trauma. The article notes: “Meditation is considered to be safe for healthy people. There have been rare reports that meditation could cause or worsen symptoms in…

A NYT article entitled Silence Is the Enemy for Doctors Who Have Depression published Thursday January 14, 2016 by Aaron E. Carroll articulates the common occurrence of depression in doctors and they believe there is a stigma so they seldom speak out. Dr. Carroll tells us “I plan to go to a therapist for the rest of my life.” Depression is often situational but very curable without medication when using effective techniques like EMDR and Brainspotting therapy. EMDR alone is…

As a practicing psychotherapist, I am deeply concerned about Barrett’s postulation that psychological science does not need to be replicated or empirically validated. This idea that science can exist for the sake of science, right or wrong, is dubious at best. If science does not need replication and empiric validation, anyone could theoretically say anything, call it science and apply it in any way they choose. That is dangerous. Feldman Barrett is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University. Do…

Dissociation, alienation from the body and loss of libido are among the myriad emotions and experiences that are present while living with cancer. While in treatment or remission it is difficult for most, and impossible for some, to maintain healthy sexual relationships. The New York Times sheds light into what these experiences are like for some in their 2013 article, Living With Cancer: Seeking Intimacy. Cancer, along with its treatments, struggles and impact on interpersonal relationships, is itself a trauma….

The mental effects of cancer and cancer treatments last well beyond remission. A fascinating study by the Unviersity of British Columbia was published last week that details how chemotherapy affects the brain’s ability to stay engaged. A normal human brain will engage in a task for awhile before wandering; it splits time between active engagement and wandering. In this study however, researchers found that breast cancer survivors who had undergone chemotherapy tend to stay in the wandering state, and are…

There was a terrific article in yesterday’s New York Times called Medicating Women’s Feelings by Julie Holland, a NY psychiatrist. She wrote the book Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, The Sleep You’re Missing, The Sex You’re Not Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy. This is a topic we’ve already discussed here on this blog. Taking psychotropic drugs to medicate emotions is not only ineffective, it is harmful. And treatment is much slower and a longer…

The “right” kind of touch is critical to the emotional, psychological and physical health of every individual…but why? In this interview, David Linden discusses why touch matters, how it helps and hurts, and why some people don’t feel pain at all. If a child is born into a situation where social touch is deprived because there are not enough caregivers around, then that child will develop terrible psychiatric problems, attachment disorders, mood disorders, and also physical problems — problems with…

After PTSD More Trauma A terrific article appeared in the New York Times this week on PTSD, called “After PTSD, More Trauma.” It’s about a veteran who came home traumatized and saw a new graduate therapist at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The therapist decided to apply Exposure Therapy to cure him and predictably, it made him much worse. When I regained consciousness, I was pacing the lobby of the theater, looking at people’s hands to make sure they weren’t…

Yesterday’s Washington Post featured a poorly written article on The Parity Act of 2008 that painted an inaccurate and unhelpful view on mental health reimbursement policies. The truth is, people need to be savvy in knowing how to get reimbursed for their mental health care. They need to know that a large percentage of out-of-network fees they pay to psychotherapists must, by law, be reimbursed by the consumer’s health insurance company. While some states legislate a specific time period health…

As we know, there is sexual assault in the military. And it isn’t just women who are assaulted, it’s men too. So, what can we do about it? What we do about sexual assault is process it as trauma. Sexual assault is a traumatic event that has to be processed and brought out into the open. And more and more people need to talk about it— we have to advocate for better education and advocacy around it not happening in…

Several brilliant articles have recently brought some true light to what the national epidemic of depression really means, two of which I’d like to discuss. In Dr. Kevin Passero, N.D’s article Depression-A National Epidemic? and Overcoming Depression Without Meds by Rich Simon at Psychotherapy Networker, we learn about the over-diagnosis of depression in the U.S., and are reminded of the inefficacy of anti-depressants—despite how quick many physicians are to prescribe them. Listen here as I discuss my experience in working with clients who have…

The New York Times published an article entitled “A Natural Fix for A.D.H.D.” in Sunday’s paper that is incredibly compelling and spot-on in terms of what the A.D.H.D./A.D.D. epidemic in this country is really about. The problem isn’t A.D.D.: The problem is boredom, stagnation, lack of any creative or physical outlet. In schools, they’ve cut art, they’ve truncated recess and the gym schedule—gym isn’t even mandatory anymore. They’ve cut all of the healthy outlets for children. The other thing that’s…