Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jen Gaita Siciliano
Mental Health is attainable for anyone--especially those labeled with mental illness. Join artist, memoir writer, and bipolar psychiatric survivor, Jen Gaita Siciliano each Wednesday at 6pm, as she challenges our world's current limited understanding of mental illness in interviews with artists, healers, educators and shamans, who offer fresh perspectives on mental health and creativity. Episodes also include Jen's personal writing on living as a bipolar creative, as well as news commentary that exposes psychiatry as an incompatible paradigm with the true landscape of the human mind. If you are ready for a new narrative on the mental realm in a place that celebrates crazy and cool without penalty, then Not As Crazy As You Think is for you!
In the episode, “A Conversation with British Psychiatrist Dr. Sami Timimi on His New Book: Searching For Normal: A New Approach to Understanding Mental Health, Distress, and Neurodiversity”(S6, E14), Dr. Timimi delivers a deeply humane and fiercely argued wake-up call: most of what we’ve been told about mental health simply isn’t true—and believing it is harming our children, our culture, and ourselves.
From the point of view of a child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Dr. Timimi shares how early on he was not comfortable with the status quo of his field. In his work, he highlights how what the public is being told about the nature of mental health is misleading and may be harming our collective sense of well-being. Dr. Timimi explains how labels like ADHD and Autism have exploded over the years, especially among children and teens. He puts forth that psychiatric labels are good examples of “scientism,” or science as faith rather than fact. He shares what the evidence-based medicine approach actually tells us and explains why the number of children getting diagnosed with such labels has skyrocketed over the years in relation to broadening definitions. Sami speaks about the Mental Health Industrial Complex and how the label and diagnosis phenomenon of Western Psychiatry has taken away other meaning making frameworks regarding suffering in Western society, but also as a global approach to mental health.
Dr. Timimi shares about “psychiatric brands” and concept creep, and how in both America and in the UK, early intervention in mental health initiatives in schools also play a factor in the increase of diagnoses. Dr. Timimi calls for a radical shift starting with letting go of psych labels, a decrease in psych meds, and promotion of a public narrative that normalizes emotions.
If you’d like to purchase Dr. Sami Timimi’s book, Searching for Normal: A New Approach to Understanding Mental Health, Distress, and Neurodiversity, click: https://www.amazon.ca/Searching-Normal-Approach-Understanding-Neurodiversity/dp/0771013108.
BIO
Dr. Sami Timimi is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has published more than 150 academic papers and authored or edited over a dozen books, including Naughty Boys, Liberatory Psychiatry, and The Myth of Autism. He lives in Lincoln, UK, and lectures internationally on culture, psychiatry, and child development. You can visit his website at: Home | Sami Timimi Child Adolescent Psychiatrist Psychotherapy
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In the episode, "Exploring Relational Dynamics in the Family: A Talk with Family Therapist Amy Begel (S6 E13)," Amy Begel, reviews the history of family therapy in psychology and emphasizes how many problems, or symptoms, treated as individual issues are in fact embedded in interpersonal dynamics. This interactive and engaging type of therapy is often eclipsed by the focus on brain chemistry, which reduces the focus of human suffering to a person's "wiring." The biomedical framework offers a name diagnosis for the distress, but family therapy looks at the problem as the family’s problem in a relational, holistic way.
In the episode, Amy reviews ways families can develop dynamic strategies to move through times when their relationships get stuck. Amy mentions that often families that appear healthy and normal exhibit interpersonal symptoms that are hidden but lead to poor mental health. Frequently, the family member identified by the family as the problem is often the healthiest one. Amy also brings her talent of music into the therapeutic session, sharing a unique approach called “jazz consultations.” A refreshing take on getting to the bottom of mental distress, Amy practices a form of humane therapeutic intervention that has a much more empathic people-centered focus.
To learn more about Amy, got to: Mosthuman.net or Amybegel.com.
BIO:
Amy Begel is the coauthor of the book Diagnosis Human: How Unlocking Hidden Relationship Patterns Can Transform and Heal Our Partners, Our Children, Ourselves, which is a book of family therapy case stories. She is a family therapist who trained with one of the creators of family therapy, Dr. Salvador Minuchin. Amy is on the teaching faculty of the Department of Family Practice, the Institute for Family Health at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She maintains a private practice in New York and New Jersey and specializes in family systems medicine, which refers to the interplay between relational dynamics, health and illness.
As Senior Faculty at the Minuchin Center for over fifteen years, she developed and conducted family therapy training for The Brooklyn Bureau of Community Services, a non-profit organization serving marginalized families in New York. She has also conducted extensive training with various Child Guidance and mental health agencies nationally and internationally. She has contributed numerous articles to HuffPost.com and Madinamerica.com.
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In the episode, "A Chat with Psychiatrist Dr. John Calvin Chatlos: Introducing the SOUL, or Science of Unitive Love (S6 E12)," Dr. Chatlos joins the show and discusses a framework of spirituality and how spiritual experience is organized in our human experience through every developmental stage of our lives. He shares recent psychological and psychedelic research that has provided new insights into the nature of spiritual experience. Not only is it real, but it is a fundamental core of human nature that has been subjugated out of awareness during human evolution. Dr. Chatlos describes a cosmological foundation worldview, which emphasizes interconnected, wholeness, and unity of all in alignment with modern physics, all from the Big Bang/Big Breath.
Dr. Chatlos introduces the Soul (Science of Unitive Love) and how self-worth and dignity are key to opening a spiritual core with mystical signs. By connecting to these "gifts of the universe" we can usher in true healing and tap into our creative forces and thrive. Dr. Chatlos' vision of hope will inspire anyone that is troubled by the many crises for survival and happiness that are present in our world today.
Bio
Dr John Calvin Chatlos MD is an addiction and child and adolescent psychiatrist affiliated with the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. He is the founder of the Human Faith Project, a non-profit organization that sponsors NJ A.W.A.R.E. (Are We Aware of Religious/spiritual Experience?) to promote awareness, understanding and community applications of spirituality and the SOUL (Science of Unitive Love). He is opening a Center for Spiritual Awakening in New Jersey for anyone in the state dealing with spiritual issues that often get caught in the mental health, addiction and criminal justice systems. He has made public a bold vision to “Promote a Spiritual Awakening for New Jersey.”
To learn more about Dr. Chatlos, visit these websites:
The Human Faith Project – Elicit the BEST in others
NJ AWARE – The Human Faith Project
Study Referred to:
Pilot study of a CBT-based intervention for promoting spiritual experience among men in residential addiction treatment
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
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In the episode, “An Interview with Social Media Influencer Kellie Snider: Waking Up White People from The Spell of Racism (S6 E11),” TikTok and Instagram sensation, Kellie Snider joins the show and shares how white supremacy became so woven throughout American culture. She starts with sharing her personal turning point when she realized she needed to do the work of helping people, especially white people, understand what systemic racism actually is.
She explains how although Jim Crow laws ended on paper in the 1960s, its impact never did. Laws that were implemented to “keep black people down” are a real thing and influenced racial outcomes today. She mentions how Christianity in the south was used to justify who got enslaved, and then later used to keep black people in a racial hierarchy. White churches did not just go along with white supremacy, but helped promote it. We discuss how White Christian Nationalism is on the road to replace Democracy, and now with Trump saying the quiet part out loud, what the consequences are regarding our Civil Rights. Kellie describes the “psychological wage of whiteness” and how we are on the path of continuing to engineer systems that will help racism thrive in our country for generations to come.
In the end, Kellie’s social media message offers hope to our country as she courageously calls for white people to “do better.” She reminds us that compassionate whites can use their privilege to make a difference right now in the fight for American civil and human rights at this very unique time in our American history.
Bio:
Kellie Snider is an artist, author, behavior analyst, and accidental influencer known for her social media series Learning While White. She believes White people have been cheated out of our own history by a racist system that protects White Denial rather than fostering compassionate empowerment. Drawing from her background in behavior analysis, she helps audiences understand how social conditioning shapes defensiveness, how history informs privilege, and how facing the truth can lead to collective healing.
To follow Kellie:
https://Instagram.com/KellieSnider.art
https://tiktok.com/KellieSnider.art
https://Facebook.com/Kelliesnider
https://ko-fi.com/KellieSnider
Kellie Snider Anti-Racism Sources:
Cold War Civil Rights – Mary Dudziak
America Divided – Isserman & Kazin
Storming Caesars Palace – Annelise Orleck
Before the Storm – Rick Perlstein
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America - Emerson & Smith
White Evangelical Racism - Anthea Butler
Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right - Randall Balmer
White Too Long - Robert P. Jones
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America -Rothstein
Slavery by Another Name - Blackmon
Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy -Elizabeth Gillespie McRae
My Life After Hate - Arno Michaelis
Breaking Hate - Christian Picciolini
White Like Me - Tim Wise
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism - Robin DiAngelo
How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
How Fascism Works — Jason Stanley
White Rage — Carol Anderson
The Sum of Us — Heather McGhee
Selma 1965: Marching for the Right to Vote - Jeff Parker
White Allies in the Struggle for Racial Justice - Catherine Fosl
Slavery by Another Name — Douglas A. Blackmon
The Half Has Never Been Told — Edward E. Baptist
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – DeGruy
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In the episode, "On Trump, His Shadow Archetypes & the Symbolic Pulse of the Nation with Jungian Dream Analyst, Warren Falcon (S6 E10)," dream expert, Warren Falcon, illuminates the many shadow archetypes of Donald Trump as America currently deals with its cultural complex of a lost dream. The conversation opens up with reference to a podcast interviewing Thomas Lavin, the now deceased Jungian analyst, who served as the chief clinical psychologist for the US army from 1977-1981. Lavin speaks about the dictators of the last century, those of Europe in both World Wars, and presents Jung's takes on Trump and Hitler. (link below)
Warren further speaks on America’s cultural complexes and our loss of the symbolic life. He highlights the active archetypal expressions of Trump-- from the trickster, to the god of war, to the king. Warren tackles the symbolic chaos we are currently wading through and reminds us about the American dream that is linked to the overriding complex we have as a nation, as we both run away from and embrace the king archetype collectively. Warren also speaks about Pete Hegseth’s rant to the military generals, the event during which Trump chimed in with his declaration of "the enemy within", which is namely his own shadow projected outward onto anyone but himself. In the midst of Trump’s last-ditch effort to be the voice to prevent the Great Replacement in America—the idea that black & brown people will replace the white race—will Americans finally wake up to the demise of our multi-cultural American immigrant story?
Warren encourages the listener to do their own study and research regarding the topics approached, especially the work of C. G. Jung, which are "loosely" sketched in this "free range" conversation. Folks can email Warren if they want to quibble or offer differing views at: falconwarren@gmail.com. In subject line put: “Jen’s podcast- dreamwork”
Listen to his previous podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/episodes/7167385
References:
Thomas Lavin, Ph.D. | The Trump Phenomena | Speaking of Jung #17
Opinion | Trump’s Il Duce Routine - The New York Times
Opinion | Trump’s Last Stand for White America - The New York Times
Trump AI video posted after No Kings 2:
https://youtu.be/nWHDKDwnJZs?si=3Lcygb4kCVjYSe3G
Ginsberg's famous poem HOWL...the Molloch portion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/zulzd4/poem_allen_ginsberg_moloch/
Books mentioned on podcast:
Jungs Collected Works online free: https://jungiancenter.org/books/
The Anatomy of the Psyche, Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy by Edward F. Edinger
A Little Course On Dreams by Robert Boznak
Jung's autobiography of his inner life: Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Modern Man In Search Of A Soul by C. G. Jung
Boundaries of the Soul by June Singer
Jung For Dummies or Jung for Beginners
The New Penguin History of the World by J. M. Roberts
Suggested media:
On Jung and his Psychology: Matter of Heart: The Best Documentary on CG Jung (1986)
Thomas Kuhn: Paradigm Shift
The Century Of The Self Part 1 of 4 Happiness Machines
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In the episode, "Through the Lens of Psychophobia with Dr. Michael Montgomery: Exploring the Modern Medicalization of Mental Health (S6 E9)," Dr. Montgomery shares with us in the podcast the phenomenon of psychophobia and how it manifests in today’s medicalization of mental health. Society’s fear of extreme states influences the model the system uses, and outcomes are negative due to the model itself. Dr. Montgomery believes it is time to return to a more humane interaction with those who suffer from extreme states that looks more deeply at the humanity of the patient and respects the interiority of the mind.
Michael R. Montgomery, PhD, MSW, MA, MSc, LCSW, is an existential psychoanalyst with international expertise in complex trauma, extreme states (psychosis and mania), addiction, and conflict resolution. He trained at Regent’s University London, The Tavistock and Portman, and the Anna Freud Centre. In addition to his private practice, he leads Perform23, collaborating with specialists in movement, dance, and music to create alternative access points to healing and community, most notably supporting 5th Element and Plan B in post-conflict Belfast. He is also the founder of Peacefire.us, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering dialogue and understanding between individuals from diverse and often opposing backgrounds. He is a regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA) annual conference, the R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US. His clinical work is primarily community-based, focused on individuals typically excluded from quality care. With over 26 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters, he is currently developing a new book and podcast on psychophobia—the fear of the mind.
To learn more about Dr. Montgomery’s theories, check out his paper: Psychophobia and its Cure: an Existential Phenomenological Perspective. Journal of Existential Analysis, 2025, 36(1): 51-66.
Follow his website at: https://drmontgomery.com/
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And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
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LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
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In the episode, "Relinquishing the Label, Embracing the Voices, and Healing in an Alternative Paradigm with author Mary Clista Dahl" (S6, E8), Mary shares her story about letting go of the label, embracing an alternative paradigm, and learning to listen to the voices. Mary sees breakdowns not as a symptom of a disordered mind, but as the response to a crazy culture. She puts forth an approach to healing through many modalities, and offers a sacred space in which her Twelve Angels programs and gatherings can flourish.
Mary Clista Dahl has lived experience of “psychosis” and is well known in the national and international mental health communities for promoting hopeful recovery solutions for what is clinically described as serious mental illness, encouraging others to understand their labels as attributes. She enjoys speaking, writing and introducing others to compassionate care options.
Mary is an author who is also passionate about holistic health, interested in integrative healing practices and is a certified aromatherapist and Reiki Master. She earned her Masters Degree in Integrative Health and Healing and recognizes the role that nature plays in our well being.
To learn more about Mary Clista Dahl, connect to her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capturelifewriting/
or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcdahl/
Check out her website: https://www.twelveangels.org
email: MaryClistalaughs@gmail.com
To read her memoir: Reconciliation of the Heart: Memoir of Mary Clista Dahl: A Healing Journey to Joy, Love and Compassion
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
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In the episode, “A Lived Experience Dialogue: Facing Our Pasts, Reinventing Our Futures with Tom Woodrow and Mike Panasitti (S6, E7),” I sit with two success stories of people who have suffered with forms of mental illness who have come out on the other side.
Part 1:
When Tom Woodrow was 17, his life took a sharp turn. During a road trip with friends, Tom experienced his first manic episode, and subsequently ended up in a psychiatric hospital-misdiagnosed with depression and subjected to electroshock therapy. After years of struggling, and after nearly losing his life in India during a volunteer trip, he met two counselors from a mental health charity, who taught him to manage moods, avoid triggers, and stay well with skills that have kept him stable for 20 years. Today he helps others who also live with bipolar disorder, understanding how overwhelming it can be. He offers support programs that help people manage their symptoms and lead fulfilling lives.
To learn more about Tom, follow him at:
Instagram: @bipolarwithyou
Part 2:
Mike Panasitti was born in East Los Angeles in 1969 and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and a former patient of California's Department of State Hospitals. From 2015 to 2018 he was a prisoner at New Folsom, a maximum security prison near Sacramento. Mike is now an exhibiting artist, as well as a poet and prose writer whose publishing credits include poems in Matter, creative non-fiction in WALL Literary Journal, and over 40 short stories posted on Reedsy Prompts. He currently lives in the city of Santa Ana and is enrolled as a student of creative writing at Saddleback College. Mike shares how he become acquainted with the mental health industrial complex and bravely reveals what he’s learned from prolonged institutionalization. Envisioning a new path, Mike is committe3d to making his dreams come true as a professional artist and writer.
To learn more about Mike, follow him at:
Instagram: @mikepanasitti
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In the episode, "Spotlight on Psychotherapy Beyond Traditional Boundaries with Al Galves: Finding Well-being by Targeting the Underlying Causes of Mental Distress, (S6, E6)" psychoanalyst Galves joins the show to share his own personal lived experience and his insight on the problems with the traditional treatment model in psychiatry. Author of "Harness Your Dark Side: Mastering Jealousy, Rage, Frustration and Other Negative Emotions," Al shares compelling stories that reveal the importance of addressing unmet emotional needs to combat depression and dissatisfaction.
Galves challenges the medical model of mental illness arguing that mental health issues are not just biological disorders to be masked with medication but are tied to our emotions and life experiences. He emphasizes taking personal responsibility and explores the profound benefits of psychotherapy and other alternative approaches like support groups and exercise. Discover why confronting your emotions—even the negative ones—can lead to authentic personal growth as Al underscores the significance of connection, self-expression, and capability in fostering mental health and happiness.
Al dives into the complex nature of diagnoses like psychosis, highlighting the importance of understanding these conditions as responses to overwhelming experiences rather than mere pathologies. Through therapeutic approaches like the Soteria House model and the work of psychologist John Weir Perry, we explore how psychosis and other mental health issues can be seen as survival strategies. Al’s compassionate insights challenge the limitations of the medical model, offering listeners a glimpse into a more humanistic and empowering approach to mental well-being.
Don't miss Al’s generous offer of his book and insights for those eager to explore these ideas further. If you'd like a copy of his book, email him and let him know: agalves2003@comcast.net
Follow Al Galves at:
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-galves-b9b26752/
YouTube: @algalves3512
website: www.algalves.com
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In the episode, "Finding the Support and Mindset to Be Bold, Invite in Change, and Regain Play with Mr. D (S6, E5)", I invite back my former Social Studies grammar school teacher, Don DiBenedetto, or Mr. D, to share his anecdotes and enthusiasm for how to bring in change into your life through learning how to align with the right mindset. Now a teacher of spirituality, Mr. D shows us through a variety of techniques how we all can co-create with the universe to bring into our lives our greatest wishes and dreams.
bipolarartist #manic #depression #joyfulness #changefromwithin #wordsofwisdom #notascrazyasyouthink #mentalillness #mentalhealth #manifestingchange
Follow Mr. D on:
TikTok: @intro2spirituality
IG: @dondibenedetto1946
Facebook: @dondibenedetto
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Twitter: @ jsiciliano
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In the episode, "The Start-Up Story of a Theater Company: An Interview with Alan Lutwin, President of Westchester Collaborative Theater (S6, E4)," Alan shares the journey of Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT), located in Ossining, NY, a new play development company that incubates new works for the stage. By drawing in actors, writers and directors, WCT combines creative resources to bring original plays to fruition. Members participate in a lab process where, several times a month, new plays are read and critiqued. As the first time the work has been seen, plays workshopped in labs help forge the link between artists and the audience and community. Alan explains that as a public medium, a play needs to be tested and read in front of an audience to know what you have. After 14 years, WCT has become much more than a space to develop new theater pieces, but labs are still the core of the company.
Alan shares the journey of the startup, how it began, what keeps it going, and how it has grown. Today WCT has branched into holding space for all sorts of creative performances and happenings, such as jazz nights, comedy nights and theater classes. Alan offers advice on how to start-up a creative space in other communities, especially those suburbs already surrounding metro areas where theater is thriving only miles away, but is sometimes lacking in the nearby surrounding suburban communities.
To purchase tickets for upcoming events or to find out more about Westchester Collaborative Theater go to: https://www.wctheater.org/
Follow WTC on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/wctheater914/
theatercompany #startup #culture #playwrights #communityarts #mentalhealth
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In the episode, "Exploring Subconscious Architecture with Manex Ibar, Shaman, Mystic and Founder of Sphinx Code" (S6, E2), Manex shares his personal journey in discovering his shamanic path and how others can too. Manex points out that many who are tribal shamans, were initiated by those already on the path, unlike many in Western cultures, who are often considered psychotic.
Manex speaks about his channeled system of the Sphinx Code and how it can help others find their unique path and also shares about the science and spiritual perspective of the psychedelic revolution and what plant medicine can teach us.
Manex shares stories of others who have come into their own states of illumination through taking the shamanic path and brings to light how these ancient practices have a deeper technology that many of the modern world overlooks. Manex has an amazing gift with channeling wisdom from the other side and has astute clarity on this intriguing topic that he feels is his life purpose to share.
Bio:
Shaman Manex Ibar, a Mystic renowned for his transformative work as a spiritual guide, healer, and teacher. With a deep focus on reconnecting with nature's wisdom and unlocking our innate consciousness, Manex offers psychic clarity and practical techniques to illuminate individual paths toward realizing one's highest potential. From everyday individuals to prominent figures like doctors, CEOs, and celebrities, Manex has empowered a diverse range of clients, drawing upon his initiation into the Lakota medicine tradition at the age of 16 and wisdom gleaned from 12 master teachers across various lineages, including Tibetan Bon, Shoshone, and Algonquin traditions.
Through channeling and personal encounters with nature's elements, such as surviving lightning strikes, Manex simplifies complex spiritual concepts, facilitating transformative experiences with spirit consciousness. As the visionary founder of Sphinx Code, he leads the charge in pioneering the science of subconscious architecture, revolutionizing approaches to personal growth and enlightenment for seekers worldwide.
Learn more about Manex on his website:
https://manexibar.com/
Discover your Sphinx Code: https://sphinxcode.com/
Follow Manex at:
https://www.facebook.com/manechibar
https://x.com/manexibar/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/manex-ibar-778217/
https://www.instagram.com/theshamansays/
mentalhealth #plantmedicine #shamanicjourney #sweatlodge #sphinxcode
Please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
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In the episode, "An Interview with Delicia Niami, Author of Kissing Asphalt: On Trauma, Healing, and Resilience (S6 E1)," Delicia joins the show sharing her 3 part memoir series, Resilient AF. The first book in the series, Kissing Asphalt: The Courageous True Story of One Child's Unbreakable Spirit—From Kidnapping & Abuse to Self-Love, tells the story of her early years within a traumatic set of experiences many might not have bounced back from. At the early age of 7, Delicia experienced being kidnapped by her own dad and brought to Bagdad Iraq.
Through all the trauma, Delicia shines light on the energy of growing up as a member of Generation X-- the culture of no phones and limited check up by parents--highlighting her deep interest in the GoGos and her adventures in weed culture. Her courage in sharing her ongoing dealings with molestation and how that colored her relationship with intimacy and relationships provides hope for anyone who experiences such violation.
Delicia’s second book, Not My Circus, chronicles the goings-on inside the courtroom dealing with her mother’s murder, while Book 3, The Queen of Silver Linings, shares Delicia’s healing journey using a variety of alternative modalities. Delicia uncovers a resilience within and offers a restorative view of how to keep moving forward in the face of such obstacles.
For anyone who has struggled with childhood trauma, Delicia’s unflinching journey through darkness and back to light will resonate. She has decided to share her story publicly in hopes that it will serve as a guide to the many who have suffered in silence and continue to struggle against the daunting weight imposed by childhood trauma.
Buy Delicia's book on Amazon or choose her Audiobook
Learn more about Delicia on her website: https://kissingasphalt.com/
mentalhealth #trauma #recovery #resilientAF #livedexperience #kidnapping #plantmedicine #kissingasphalt #notmycircus #generationx #molestation
Please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
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In the episode, "Journeys Beyond the Frontier: On Treating and Interacting with Psychosis, A Conversation with Psychiatrist Mark Ragins (S5, E17)" I connect with Mark at the ISPS Conference at the University of Delaware where he was giving a talk, on the subject of psychosis and how those who suffer with it are treated by the medical field. Mark has a humanistic and compassionate approach when dealing with those who are sometimes the most feared and avoided characters in the area of mental illness, those with severe mental illness (SMI), and particularly psychosis. He invites in a new paradigm of relating to these patients, and views them as people, not diagnoses. In his embracing of using personal narrative to tell one's own story, he unveils a certain path to get to the healing: making meaning of own's own life in their own words.
Learn more about Mark at: markragins.com
Mark Ragins, MD was the Medical Director for 27 years at the Mental Health America Village in Long Beach, California, an award-winning model of recovery based mental health services, before leaving in 2017 to become the only campus psychiatrist at CSULB and in 2022 joined the Department of Health Services mobile clinics and street medicine teams working with homeless people on the streets throughout LA county.
His recent book, Journeys Beyond the Frontier: A Rebellious Guide to Psychosis and Other Extraordinary Experiences, is based on the true stories of more than 30 years of clinical work with some of the most underserved and difficult to engage people in our community. A true pioneer and leader of person-centered, recovery-based psychiatry, Mark has also won a number of awards in his field, including the American Psychiatric Association’s Arnold Van Amerigan Award in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association’s John Beard award for his outstanding lifetime contribution to psychiatric rehabilitation, and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) California’s recovery practitioner of the year.
mentalhealth #mentalillness #psychosis #livedexperience #psychsurvivor #unhoused #homelessness #substanceabuse
Please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
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LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "The New Language of Neurodiversity, Decolonization, Depathologization: On Location at the ISPS Conference with Six Voices on a Mission (S5, E16)," I go on location to connect with The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS), which is a pioneering organization with almost 70 years of advocating for transformative psychosocial understandings and approaches to psychosis that restore personhood, dignity, and well-being. The weekend-long conference held at the University of Delaware from October 27th-29th gathered clinicians, researchers, advocates, and people with lived experience, who are deeply invested in advancing psychological and social approaches to “psychosis,” while moving beyond frameworks of deficit and disease.
Connecting with a community of likeminded individuals, who recognize that the mental health system needs transformation beyond the biomedical paradigm was a riveting experience. In the following interview, I speak with six speakers at the event who give a message of hope and hold a more humane vision for an alternative mental health paradigm.
Vesper Moore is an indigenous political activist, leader, organizer, public speaker and educator in the psychiatric survivor and Disability Rights Movements. Vesper has brought the perspectives of mad, labeled "mentally ill," neurodivergent, disabled people and survivors to national and international spaces. Vesper works with both the US government and the United Nations in shaping strategies around trauma, intersectionality, and disability rights.
Dr. Calvin Chatlos is professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, with certification in adult, child and adolescent, and addiction psychiatry. Dr. Chatlos has presented at national and international conferences and is a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Since 2007, Sean Blackwell has been researching and teaching about the spiritual dimension and healing potential of bipolar disorder. His book, "Am I Bipolar, or Waking Up?," published in 2011, describes his own bipolar awakening, subsequent hospitalization, and complete recovery in 1996. Follow Sean on YouTube or at his website: bipolarawakenings.com.
Oryx Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Empowerment Center. He serves as president of the board for the Massachusetts Transformation Center and We R H. O. P. E., and is a master Emotional CPR trainer. Oryx co-produced and is a subject in the award-winning social action documentary Healing Voices, which was released in April 2016. You can follow his message on Instagram and on Tik Tok @ NECempowers.
South African Joshua Roberts combines his lived experience, with his Bachelors of Psychology and Masters in Theology to create a synergy between the inner / outer worlds. He's the COO of Inspired Mind Mental Health and works with NAMI and the National Empowerment Center. Josh's website is: InspiredMindMentalHealth.com Follow Josh on: Instagram, LinkedIn or YouTube.
Mija Bradford is a clinical therapist working in private practice since she graduated from Northwestern University Counseling Program in 2021. At six, Mija was introduced to the subtler energies in life and answered the healer's calling. Mija comes from a lineage of African diaspora healers that have suffered from collective generational trauma.
In the episode, "An Interview with Tanya Frank, Author of Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood (S5, E15)," Tanya lends her powerful voice to the show, sharing her insight and experience with the mental health industry. Tanya’s association with the mental health system began in 2009 when Zach, Tanya’s son, was diagnosed in 2009 after his first episode with hearing voices. Both Zach and Tanya were not happy with the treatment offered, and Tanya opens up about his forced drugging and coercive hospitalization, as well as the alternative treatments that lent hope and relief.
Tanya also shares differences and similarities in mental health approaches to treatment between the US, the UK, and other nations that are moving onto a more compassionate path, who utilize programs such as Open Dialogue and the Soteria Network. Tanya acts as an advocate for families with experience of psychosis and stresses the importance of such support. While she acknowledges the power of the institution, she sees a new revolution emerging, consisting of a growing movement of critics of the status quo, as more people come forward to share their own stories and challenge the current paradigm. Tanya’s compassionate perspective and courageous heart gives hope to all who have lost faith in a system, that for so many survivors, not only proved unhelpful but aggressively harmful. Tanya’s book is so beautifully written with honesty, rawness, and openness, and her presence on the podcast is equally moving and enlightening.
To buy Tanya's book, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/Zig-Zag-Boy-Memoir-Madness-Motherhood/dp/0393531880
Bio:
Tanya Frank gained her MFA in Creative NonFiction at the University of California, Riverside. Her debut book, ZIG ZAG BOY: MOTHERHOOD, MADNESS & LETTING GO (Spring 2023) was an editors pick in the New York Times Review of Books. Tanya currently lives in London where she teaches and mentors writers with lived experience of psychosis. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post and in various literary journals. She is the recipient of a 2022 Develop Your Creative Practice Award from the Arts Council England.
To learn more about Tanya, go to her website at: https://www.tanyafrank.com/
or follow her on Twitter: @TanFrankUK
mentalhealth #mentalillness #psychosis #bigpharma #forceddrugging #livedexperience #psychsurvivor #forcedhospitalization #schizoaffective #DSM #ZigzagBoy
Please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "The Vision and Voice of Janet Werner: The Documentary, the Movie, the Movement (S5, E14)," Janet joins the show to share her message on spiritual emergencies shedding light on the spiritual side of mental health, and specifically, the spiritually transformative experiences that often get misdiagnosed as mental illness.
Forty-four years ago while in her master’s degree program Janet had an astonishing mystical experience which turned into a spiritual emergency and resulted in being misdiagnosed as Bipolar, involuntarily hospitalized and required to take Lithium against her will. Twenty-five years later in 2005, Janet had another spiritual awakening, which was immediately pathologized given the prejudice from her former misdiagnosis. She was again involuntarily hospitalized, misdiagnosed as Bipolar and coerced into medication against her will. She is now speaking out to raise awareness of the spiritual side of mental health and specifically the DSM V code entitled "Religious or Spiritual Problem": V62.89.
Janet shares her personal journey with spiritual emergency, and how that has brought her to where she is today-- the leader of a global team of mental health experts, who are developing a docuseries (Breaking Open, Breaking Down, Breaking Through) and a mainstream feature movie (Calling God to the Witness Stand).
Bio:
Janet Werner is an independent entrepreneur and the President of U Have My Word LLC (www.UHaveMyWord.com) since 1988, which is a corporate consulting firm specializing in large scale system change. She is also the founder of a Meaningful Media that Matters in Mental Health project and Her mission is to ease the journey through change, transition and on to transformation, within and around the mental health system.
Along with her team she is leading an initiative to include spiritual competency in the 988 first responder training. Janet is also partnering with her team to establish a coalition of religious & spiritual leaders in New Jersey for the purpose of including these resources in mental health crisis support and patient care when hospitalized.
bigpharma #spiritualemergency #mentalhealth #mentalillness #forcedhospitalization
To learn more about Janet and her projects, go to:
Calling God to the Witness Stand™ -
Video sample of Calling God to the Witness Stand (2) Calling God to the Witness Stand PR Media - YouTube
Rethinking Mental Health Facebook
Media that Matters Facebook
Janet’s story recorded at Rutgers University Assessing for Spiritual Emergency | Spiritual Emergency
Janet's book: N.O. Spells No. Y.E.S. Spells Yes.: Maybe So? It's Got to Go!: Werner, Janet: 9781945853098: Amazon.com: Books
Spoken word art:
07 Resume Track 7 Call Me Crazy Maybe...Just Don't Drive Me To Mental Hill - YouTube
YouTube live on 988:
https://youtu.be/zNt277TYcnQ?si=4DsBGGCpHTev3lDr
YouTube live on Psych Rights:
https://youtu.be/ADyn31uUPno?si=IoIzxLj4-32Rn29H
Please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
In the episode, "On Location in NYC: Believing in Yourself with Ballet Dancer and Podcaster Michelle Williams (S5, E12)," Michelle and I reconnect to do another podcast on location in NYC. Born and bred in California, Michelle hits the streets of NYC to reclaim her original dream of living as a professional dancer. She shares what kept her believing in herself and how she stayed the course toward manifesting her dream.
Michelle and I also share our stories of lived experience with the mental health industry--from being forced on debilitating meds to having our closest friends and family lose faith in our abilities.
After suffering from an eating disorder and seeing how the psychiatric institution dismissed her concerns around the psych meds’ side effects, she turned to alternative modalities of natural healing in everything from energy medicine to healing through food. Michelle is also the podcast host and creator of "MacroMagic With Michelle," where she helps her listeners achieve greater personal freedom, health, happiness and peace through her MACRObiotic perspective.
To listen to our podcast recorded last year titled, "Natural Medicine: Holistic Healer Michelle Williams Shares a Journey of Alternative Healing (S4 E9)," go to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/11131458
Follow Michelle on IG @the_freedom_fairy
website: https://thefreedomfairy.com/
YouTube: @The Freedom Fairy
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Exploring the Healing Power of Laughter with Barry Taylor, Founder of Laugh Therapy (S5, E11)," Gelotologist and accredited Laughter Therapist, Barry Taylor joins the show and shares the beneficial healing benefits laughter can produce. Using techniques in the area of laughter therapy, Barry pulls from his background as a former English and drama teacher to bring play into programs and workshops that facilitate an uplifting change in our state of mind, which can ultimately aid us in our mental health. When we laugh, activation of positive chemicals that make us feel safe, lift our mood, and make us relax, creates within us an altered perspective allowing us to manage our difficulties a little better. Barry reminds us that we can use these techniques as a complementary therapy and that we have this infinite access within us, which can be part of our toolchest of healing coping skills. Barry's mirthfulness and sense of humor is contagious, and his extensive research in this area shows how important such a simple tool like laughter can be.
Founder of a UK based organization called ‘Laugh Therapy’, Barry designs bespoke programs (both live and virtually) for business teams, health and social care, charities and support groups, education, and individuals who want to achieve greater wellbeing and success by exploring the therapeutic effects of humor, play and laughter.
If you would like to learn more about the therapeutic benefits of laughter or are interested in a virtual workshop for your workplace, group or just personally, visit www.LaughTherapy.LOL - or you can email direct at info@LaughTherapy.LOL where Barry will respond personally and provide a discount for anyone using the phrase ‘Not As Crazy As You Think’ in their enquiry.
Follow Barry on social media at:
https://www.facebook.com/LaughTherapyUK
https://twitter.com/LaughTherapyUK
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-taylor-laugh-therapy/
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode "A.I. News: Open Letter To Pause, Existential Risks to Humanity, Its Supporters & Deniers (S5, E8)," I discuss the recent Open Letter to Pause Giant AI Experiments recently composed by the Future of Life Institute, and present the arguments for taking the risk analysis more seriously. With signers of the letter including Elon Musk, Emad Mostaque, Steve Wozniak, Max Tegmark, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, I share some of their positions including some recent articles, podcasts and videos discussing the dilemma.
deeplearning #AIrevolution #humanextinction #generativeAI #blackbox #dontlookup #LivBoeree #Danielschmachtenberger #tristanharris #azaraskin #maxtegmark #eliezeryudkowsky #centerforhumanetechnology #lexfridman #Moloch #machinelearning #AGI
References:
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/
The A.I. Dilemma - March 9, 2023 by Center for Humane Technology
https://youtu.be/xoVJKj8lcNQ
Meditations On Moloch By Scott Alexander
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
Misalignment, AI & Moloch | Daniel Schmachtenberger and Liv Boeree https://youtu.be/KCSsKV5F4xc
Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down
https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/
Live: Eliezer Yudkowsky - Is Artificial General Intelligence too Dangerous to Build?
https://www.youtube.com/live/3_YX6AgxxYw?feature=share
The 'Don't Look Up' Thinking That Could Doom Us With AI
https://time.com/6273743/thinking-that-could-doom-us-with-ai/
Max Tegmark: The Case for Halting AI Development | Lex Fridman Podcast #371
https://youtu.be/VcVfceTsD0A
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "An Interview with Author Rob Wipond on His Book, 'Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships'" (S5, E7), I have the chance to explore my most esteemed topics of psychiatric coercion and forced treatment with one of the major players right now in the field, journalist Rob Wipond.
Rob Wipond is a freelance journalist and creative nonfiction writer who writes frequently at the interfaces between psychiatry, civil rights, community issues, policing, surveillance and privacy, and social change. His articles have been nominated for seventeen magazine and journalism awards, and he’s the author of the book Your Consent is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships (BenBella, 2023).
His insightful book brings to light the broad increase in people being psychiatrically incarcerated, particularly in the US, Canada, and UK. But why are so many detained and what were the treatment outcomes? The data is limited, but Rob manages to do extensive research in his book compiling the available data in a comprehensive analysis of what is really going on in the mental health system. His research has shown how the numbers stack up-- that we have many more beds in mental health facilities than ever before (despite the overriding assumption to the contrary), and that more and more people are being incarcerated for a widening array of reasons: from
whistleblowers and political dissidents, creatives and out of the box thinkers, disruptive children in class, elderly people suffering dementia, and workplace mental health cases.
What Rob has found is that most people do not improve after these treatments, but rather deteriorate further. Victims of the system become regularly institutionalized or “revolving door mental patients,” and as medicalization, manipulative coercion and forced drugging become the gold standard, our society accepts the status quo of social control, easy fix solutions, and defining things as mental health problems instead of looking at social constructs such as affordable housing and peer-support respites. And once a person is labeled a mental patient, very little they say is taken seriously.
As people are losing hope in the system, the mental health industry becomes even more aggressive as they continue to try to rope people in, but Rob gives a voice to the voiceless through the power of his incredible research and his understanding of human suffering. Rob encourages people after entering a non-ordinary mental state to examine their own mental distress and find their own path to self-understanding. Rob openly tackles this controversial topic with character and strength, and his support and compassion regarding those harmed is courageous and empowering to all those who feel betrayed by the system.
To learn more about Rob, visit his website at: https://robwipond.com/
Or follow him on:
Twitter: @robwipond
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobWipondAuthor
YouTube: @RobWipond/featured
Your Consent Is Not Required (BenBella, 2023) is now available wherever books are sold in hardcover, ePub, Kindle, and audiobook.
mentalillness #mentalhealth #chemicalimbalancetheory #psychiatricincarceration #BigPharma #involuntaryhospitalization #forcedtreatment #wildfloweralliance #suicidehotlines
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "The A.I. Future is NOW: Job Loss, Adaptation, Immersion, & Reorganizing Human Society (S5, E6)," I share how the AI Future is upon us and there is no stopping it. I cover a spectrum of material from Vernor Vinge's essay "Technological Singularity" to the inaccuracies of Chat GPT 4, to machine learning failing to identify depression based on neurobiology. As lead researcher Nils R. Winter stated, "The fact that we cannot find meaningful (univariate or multivariate) neurobiological differences on the level of the individual for one of the most prevalent mental disorders should give us pause.”
I also review some of the hot podcasts right now reviewing AI advancements with the most prominent people in the field, and refer to what the new power systems may look like in a new AI-centric society. As our dependence increases on Generative AI, a lack of critical thinking may grow out of our laziness as addictive behaviors may increase to getting our dopamine fixes. Even totalitarian structures may rise up, while we create a world of the future where less people can pursue their ideal lives. Having been thrown into this timeline as a "natural" willing to champion human purism, as everyone in tech embraces AI without question, I call out to the rest of the people, who will not be transitioning in this transhuman era, to answer the following question: What do we want our society to look like as we brace for the AI impact?
References:
The AI in Business Podcast: "Generative AI and Future Rewards Systems" Series https://open.spotify.com/show/4gD9xiYU9iC24vnjUx1PTg?si=f2cc61da1cea479c
Interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast with CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman: https://youtu.be/L_Guz73e6fw
Article: "Machine Learning Fails to Identify Depression Based on Neurobiology" by Peter Simons -March 13, 2023: https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/03/machine-learning-fails-to-identify-depression-based-on-neurobiology/
machinelearning #GenerativeAI #singularity #depression #neuroscience #samaltman #lexfridman #madinamerica #mentalillness #OpenAI #ChatGPT
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Normalizing the Conversation on Mental Health with Kateryn Ferreira, host of Geminme Podcast (S5, E5)," Kateryn joins the show with the message that the power is within each one of us. She gives advice on how to become our best selves, and delivers her encouraging point of view with good sense and a compassionate edge. Having overcome personal lived experience with mental distress, she believes that mental wellness is maintained through a process we work on everyday. She believes that through awareness and being intentional, we can receive clarity in our lives as we allow our personal traumas to fuel our purpose in life. With the belief that we don't have to do it alone, she shares that perhaps believing in something bigger than ourselves holds part of the answer.
Kateryn opens with sharing her own personal story, how intergenerational trauma in her Latino family affected her, and having growing up in a single-mom household, she felt isolated and prematurely independent. As a first-generation Dominican American born and raised in Washington Heights, Kateryn has always carried a spirit of perseverance within her, and led by her desire to overcome challenges, she has been able to reach her goals and accomplish several incredible challenges at a young age. We discussed empowering and freeing strategic ideas such as letting go of guilt, surrendering and letting God, and not taking things personally. Over the years, Kateryn has found strength in mentors like Anthony Robbins, Joel Osteen, Les Brown and Eric Thomas, and now she empowers others as well.
Kateryn's Bio:
Kateryn Ferreira is the CEO of Geminme, offering services as a life coach and creating communities to empower women to become the best version of themselves. She also serves as director of an international youth group called Jovenes Empower, which is focused on helping young people to grow and take control of their future.
With experience working in public health, she had the chance to work as a community supervisor on the front lines of Covid 19 in New York City. Kateryn earned a BS in Health Administration from the City University of New York (CUNY) and a Master's in Public Health, also from CUNY. Kateryn is also the host of Geminme The Podcast, to promote mental health, self-development and growth. She is also the co-author of Today's Inspire Young Latina Vol. 2 and Hispanic Star Rising: The New Face of Power Vol 1.
To learn more about Kateryn go to:
https://linktr.ee/geminme
Or check out her website at:
https://www.geminme.com/
Or follow her on social media at:
IG: @kateryn_ferreira or @geminme_lifecoach
LinkedIn: @katerynferreira
YouTube: @geminmeempowers
letgoletGod #mentalhealth #mentalillness #anxiety #depression #Geminme #mentaldistress #thepowerwithin #intergenerationaltrauma
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Tapering Off Antipsychotics: Avoiding Withdrawal, Practicing Self-Care(S5, E4)," I share my journey I started 2 years ago when I decided to officially remove psychiatry from my life and get off their forced meds for good. Most psychiatrists have no interest in helping a bipolar get off their meds, so I went out on my own, assembled a support group around me, did the research, and invested in my healing. Now after putting my goal front and center for the last 2 years, I have committed to a long and slow taper from Seroquel and Lamictal, and luckily, I've suffered no withdrawal symptoms yet. So check in to see if any of my advice can help anyone taking on the process. Those mentioned in this podcast:
Dr. Mark Horowitz
https://markhorowitz.org
Dr. Lynn Parodneck, MD
Medical Marijuana Practictioner
https://www.drlynnparodneck.com
Robin Queen, psychosocial spiritual counselor
https://slowmedicine.org/about-robin
Warren Falcon, dream therapist
https://falconwarren.blogspot.com
Chaya Grossberg, holistic healer
https://chayagrossberg.com
Lyle Murphy
www.alternativetomeds.com
psychmedswithdrawal #bipolardisorder #antipsychotics #bigpharma #forceddrugging #chayagrossberg #mania #depression #psychiatryisnotscience #markhorowitz #medicalmarijuana
Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode "A.I. Art & Its Implications Part 2: A Chat with NYC Artist G. Romero On the Coming Disruption (S5, E3)," I had the pleasure of interviewing NYC Brooklyn artist G. Romero about all coming changes regarding A.I. --especially the A.I. art revolution and the possible ensuing human art renaissance. After reviewing what these A.I. generative art systems are accomplishing, we take a deeper look at the role of the artist in society, and what we as artists are being called upon to currently do in the face of being the first industry disrupted by A.I.'s mighty takeover. Artists have traditionally throughout time in all societies been the free thinkers and have defined what art is. Can we still hold onto that role?
Bio:
G.Romero is an indigenous multidisciplinary creator, educator, underground curator and storyteller. His work ranges from painting, illustration, comix, motion, performance, installation and sound. Central to his work are figuration, storytelling and narrative.
Check out his website at: www.gromerooo.com
Insta: @graphik.magik
@cesar2morro
aiart #humansoverrobots #openai #generativeai #startrek #DaveMcKean #renaissance #conceptart #stabilityai #Stablediffusion #dalle2 #midjourney
The following GoFundMe campaign by the Concept Art Association Artist Protection is referred to in the show--consider donating to the fundraiser: https://gofund.me/2df3dc07
Read about the class action here: https://stablediffusionlitigation.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
A.I. Art & Its Implications Part 1: Lost Narratives, the Time Element & Process (S5, E2)
With the explosive popularity and beauty of the newest AI art entering the scene under Stable Diffusion, I decided to share the A.I. controversy so that others can join in the conversation. I talk about my own personal experience to making art and what it means to me. After attending a Native American Historical Landscape exhibition this weekend in the infamous Woodstock, NY, I realize that in the name of progress, we will be leaving the creative class behind as we move forward in the A.I. movement. The following are videos I refer to:
The War between Artists and AI:
@KnowsBestNever
https://youtu.be/S9zhDY6bf_o
Interviews with Emad Mostaque, CEO, Stability AI:
https://youtu.be/jgTv2W0mUP0
https://youtu.be/YaRdZ7d6o2Y
https://youtu.be/aNYPCQBqnTY
AI Art - Biggest advance, or the greatest theft that artists will ever see?:
@Basement Picasso
https://youtu.be/uuTlcApanHY
The End of Art: An Argument Against Image AIs
@StevenZapataArt
https://youtu.be/tjSxFAGP9Ss
aiart #humansoverrobots #openai #generativeai #evanpritchard #algonquin #micmac #zapata #Emadmostaque #stabilityai #Stablediffusion #dalle2 #midjourney
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Psychosis Outside the Box & Chapter 7: Back in New York"-- A Reading from My Memoir" (S5, E1), in opening up about my own first episode psychosis, I start with a description of the project "Psychosis Outside the Box" under the authors Shannon Pagdon and Nev Jones, which can be reviewed here: https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.20220488.
I point to how other traditions worldwide approach states of "psychosis" differently, with more respect and community support. I refer to an article written by Mad in America writer and counselor Jonathan Keyes which can be read here: https://www.madinamerica.com/2014/02/traditional-healing-psychosis/
I then read Chapter 7 of my Memoir, Not As Crazy As You Think.
The following is a book description of Chapter 7 "Back in New York":
The airline attendants act as my nurse team as I lay sick for hours into the 24-hour plane ride. My exhausted body then suddenly falls limp, and I enter a blissful dimension that bestows to me wisdom into the meaning of the entire universe. The angelic whispers assure me I am “coming home,” but that I must go back. And when I return with a thump to my body, miraculously, my illness has vanished.
On my first night back in New York, my angels are still within reach, and they lead me to a disturbing mistake in the matrix code on cable television, which they call the Hitler Glitch. They tell me I must prove with my one life everything, and that I must eliminate the Dead White Man Virus. When my parents become worried about my preoccupied state of mind, they admit me to St. Vincent’s Hospital, a mental institution in Harrison, NY.
psychosis #mentalillness #mentalhealth #hearingvoices #timetravel #wormholes #distortionofspacetime #wakefuldreamstate #neardeathexperience #spiritualemergency #psychosisoutsidethebox #madinamerica #indigenousknowledge #spiritualentities #shamanism
To listen to the chapters you missed, here are the podcast links to
Chapters 1-6 of Not As Crazy As You Think:
How Psychiatric Labeling Leads to "The St. Patty's Day Lockdown":
Reading of Chapter 1 from My Memoir (S1, E5)
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/6987607
Traveling in 1994, and a Reading of Chapter 2: "The Scientific Library" (S1, E6):https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/7069720
A Reading From My Memoir: Chapter 3, "The Brahman Class" (S2, E5):https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/8115654
A Reading From My Memoir: Chapter 4, "The Taj Mahal" (S2, E7):https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/8204867
The Imperialist Global Mental Health Movement
and A Reading of Chapter 5: "A Sentence to Bear" (S2, E10):https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/8339023
A Reading From My Memoir: Chapter 6, "Mahander" (S2, E23):https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/9164026Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "A Review of PBS's Mysteries of Mental Illness & a Second Anniversary Recap (S4, E17)," I recall much of what led me to doing Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast and share my current status in my tapering journey from psych meds. I also review the 4-part 2021 series broadcasted by PBS titled, "Mysteries of Mental Illness." Offering a summary of each episode, I also give my point of view through the eyes of a psychiatric survivor.
endthestigma #fakeDSM #psychmedsharm #mentalhealth #mentalillness #psychiatricsurvivor #prescribedharm #chemicalimbalance #psychiatryisnotscience #neuroscience #brainwash #psychmedstapering #PBS ##MentalHealthPBS
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "The Untold Perspective: Writer Lynn Rogoff Discusses Bird Woman, Her Audio Drama Creation On Sacajawea (S4, E16)," Lynn joins the show to share her latest project. Lynn Rogoff works as a writer, director, producer, and an Adjunct Professor at the NY Institute of Technology. She is currently producing a shape-shifting Bird Woman®, audio drama multi-episode series based on the Lewis and Clark Native American guide, Sacajawea. Bird Woman®, a magical realism drama, discovers her supernatural shape-shifting powers as part woman and part eagle fighting alongside the expeditioners. In 2019, Rogoff's company wrote and produced Bird Woman, with the intent of telling the story left untold to many who had accepted the white man’s narrative as true—that Sacajawea died of a sickness at 22. But the Shoshone people recorded her dying at 96 in 1884, living through the smallpox epidemic, where most of her tribe died. With the podcast, Bird Woman, Lynn sets out to tell the Shoshone story and asks: Which version do you believe?
Listen while Lynn shares about the development of the series and its unique production during lockdown in 2020, as they each recorded the audio-drama remotely in different locations around the world. Lynn also discusses how she became inspired to work on Bird Woman and what led her through her research in creating the story. Lynn also speaks about her entry into game design, sharing her Pony Express Rider Game and her latest game creation, Endanger, which is a series involving saving endangered animals and capturing the poachers. Lynn Rogoff’s work spans history, social causes, and culture, and she makes a concerted effort to infuse human values into the entertainment market.
Sacajawea #birdwoman #shamanism #magicalrealism #gaming #shoshone #ponyexpressrider #nycpodcasters #firstnations #indigenousstories
To follow Lynn on YouTube, go to: https://www.youtube.com/c/LynnRogoffGreenKids
Listen to Bird Woman at any podcast location, or go to: https://linktr.ee/bird.woman
Check out Lynn Rogoff’s website at: https://www.amerikids.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
traumainformedapproach #schizophrenia #westernpsychiatry #alternativehealing #mentalillness #mentalhealth #sexualabuse
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Getting Real with Jessica Schiller Silverman, Podcaster & Spiritual Wellness Expert: On Trauma, Self-Love, and Purpose (S4, E12)," Jessica opens up about her work in consulting, her personal path of mental health, and the state of the Western medical approach to mental illness. Jessica Schiller Silverman is a spiritual wellness expert to help heal past trauma + inner child wounds. Through a trauma-informed approach, she enables women to come ALIVE in her creative passion without sacrificing money, time, or energy. Jessica stepped away from a six-figure career in venture capital in San Francisco to start her own venture, all inspired initially from a podcast, and now is the host of the A.L.I.V.E. podcast with Jessica Silverman. Jessica also runs her Live Vibrant program and steers women in a sisterhood to access their true selves and discover what's deep inside their souls.
In the show, Jessica explores the landscape behind all forms of trauma, including collective and ancestral, and how working through these issues are part of the the beginning steps to finding purpose through the pain. During the interview, Jessica shares self-care strategies and self-love rituals, as well as offers astute advice for those who are trying to find a better path to healing but find it difficult to even get out of bed. Jessica honors getting to the root cause of mental distress rather than throwing away the individual through the treatment of getting labeled and medicated through traditional psychiatry and shares her own special purpose in helping others on this healing journey.
Follow her at:
Facebook:
A.L.I.V.E. with Jessica Silverman: Bit.ly/mozenwarriors
Instagram: @Mozen_Wellness
Free gift: Bit.ly/ikigaimagic
Website: https://www.mozenwellness.com/
traumainformedapproach #depression #anxiety #westernpsychiatry #alternativehealing #ikigai #spiritualwellness #podcasting #mentalillness #mentalhealth #mozenwellness
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "How to Heal Through Nutrition, Mindfulness and Lifestyle with Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Emilie Jordao (S4, E10)," Emilie joins the show to share her own personal wellness journey through natural means. After struggling for 15 years with psychiatric symptoms, before learning how inflammation plays a role in these conditions, she reclaimed her life, and now offers nutrition and yoga based tools for holistic mental health.
As psychiatry told Emilie she would need her meds forever due to a chemical imbalance, Emilie battled anti-depressant dependency for 7 years. After having difficulty getting off them, she discovered the slow approach. Emilie followed a different course of treatment in areas of an anti-inflammatory diet and an altered lifestyle, and is now passionate about helping people heal their lives with diet, mindfulness, and lifestyle. Her focus centers on helping those with anxiety and depression heal naturally. Emilie holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Central Michigan University and is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). She’s also in the process of acquiring her Yoga Teacher certification through the Bhodi Yoga Center.
Emilie offers a variety of essential information on health tips, explaining how mood conditions are often whole body conditions. Emilie reviews some root causes of sleep problems and offers supplements to consider, as well as how to stay supported on the tapering journey. Emilie offers a Psych Meds Taper Online Support Group, one-on-one health coaching, and a Yoga Series for Anxiety and Depression. To learn more, follow Emilie on IG: @health.with.emilie, or go to her website at: https://www.healthwithemilie.com/
psychmeds #psychmedtaper #psychiatricmedication #medicationtapering #mentalhealth #anxiety #anxietysupport #depression #depressionhelp #ssriwithdrawal #lexaprowithdrawal #benzo #benzowithdrawal #benzotaper #ssritaper #integrativepsychiatry #antidepressants #antidepressantwithdrawal #antidepressantsideeffects #holisticmentalhealth #discontinuationsyndrome
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Natural Medicine: Holistic Healer Michelle Williams Shares a Journey of Alternative Healing (S4 E9)," women’s holistic healer, Michelle Williams opens up about her personal path towards mental health wellness. After being on psych meds for 10 years, Michelle found an alternative route for her struggles through studying and practicing different food philosophies, including intuitive eating and veganism, and for the past 6 years has promoted the macrobiotic lifestyle. After suffering from an eating disorder and seeing how the psychiatric institution dismissed her concerns around the psych meds’ side effects, she felt compelled to research alternative modalities of natural healing in everything from energy medicine to healing through food.
Michelle is also the podcast host and creator of "MacroMagic With Michelle," where she helps her listeners achieve greater personal freedom, health, happiness and peace through her MACRObiotic perspective. She teaches cooking classes online and in-person, gives lifestyle consultations and meal plans, provides crystal and palm energy healing in the pursuit of helping sensitive women achieve ultimate health and happiness through the power of nature.
Michelle questions the Western concept of treating the disease through removing pain through meds, and proves that healing is a personal journey and can be achieved by anyone if you believe it is possible.
alternativemedicine #naturalhealing #energymedicine #psychmedsharm #psychiatricsurvivor #macromagicwithmichelle #veganism #psychiatryisnotscience
Follow Michelle on IG @the_freedom_fairy
website: https://thefreedomfairy.com/
YouTube: @The Freedom Fairy
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "The Provocative Vision of Artist Andy Golub: His Process and Message in a Literal World (S4, E8)," New York City artist Andy Golub, bodypainter, and founder of the non-profit foundation Human Connection Arts, shares his artistic process and how his art has developed. Starting out as an artist looking to make his mark, Andy eventually discovered bodypainting and took it to a higher level, bringing hundreds of people together at once through efforts like his Bodypainting Days across the country and internationally.
His non-profit, Human Connection Arts, encapsulates Andy's message--spreading love of art through human connection. In holding many "art happenings" throughout New York City from his Protest of Divisiveness to Chalk Art Day to his latest venture in Naked Theater, for years, Andy has created his art with the drive to start an authentic conversation. In following both inspiration and frustration into creating art, he allows both his heart and head to lead him to continue expressing himself into new realms.
humanconnectionarts #arthappenings #artevents #artisticprocess #mentalhealth #bipolarpersonality #artisticpersonality #bodypaintingday #nakedtheater #bodypositivity #bodypainter
If you are interested in applying for Bodypainting Day, go to: https://humanconnectionarts.org/2022-nycbd/
To follow Andy and his work, go to:https://humanconnectionarts.org/ or www.andygolub.com
IG: @connectionarts; @andy.golub
FB: #humanconnectionarts; @andy.golub.artist
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "A Discussion on Mental Distress in the Family: Life and Fitness Model David Pumo Opens Up (S4, E7)," David, who is also a lawyer and writer, shares his personal family background and reveals a history of mental distress, or what the psychiatric establishment calls "mental illness." In opening up about his lineage as far back as his great uncle's suicide and his grandmother's nervous breakdowns, which resulted in multiple ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) procedures, David shares a personal relationship with what many of us go through--mental distress in the family. But are these genetic certainties? Or is this commonly found in many families?
David goes on to share how an extreme depression of his younger brother, John, led to his suicide, which was difficult for his family, but in a moment of dire crisis, his parents turned their energy towards a positive momentum. In his memory, David's parents dedicated years of their lives after John's suicide to changing the landscape of gay rights through their involvement in PFLAG, or the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc.
David's mother also experienced being prescribed psych meds by her GP in her late years, which possibly led to her body's decline within only months after taking them. The question remains: why put an elderly person on a psych med when they are already so weak and might have trouble processing it? David Pumo is honest, raw, and tells his story with a sense of humor and acceptance reminding each of us how compassion might be the best medicine for "mental illness" in the family.
genetics #suicide #mentalillness #mentalhealth #fitness #psychmeds #ECTharms #depression #PFLAG #gayrights #
To see some work of my bodypainting on David, check out:
(Warning: mature content)
https://youtu.be/eq9VKdBujiQ
https://youtu.be/CJVJm_6rpko
Follow David at:
Twitter and Insta: @DavidJerome629
and YouTube: @DavidPumo
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Making Space for Magic with author Patty Lennon: Letting Go of Resistance & Learning to Receive (S4, E5)," Patty Lennon joins the conversation and offers her insight and wisdom on the intuitive journey for the curious seeker. Author of the book, Make Space for Magic, Patty shares her personal spiritual journey and how it has inspired her to help others find their own paths. She shares how she began to communicate with “the other side of the veil” and how we can too through paying attention to signs and personal metaphysical directives.
A best-selling author, keynote speaker, and founder of The Receiving School®, Patty Lennon calls herself a former type-A corporate banker that discovered there was more to living than making money. She left banking to help others do the same. She is a certified coach with a masters in psychology and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Daily Worth. She blends brain science and metaphysics to help her fellow humans find clarity, focus, and inspiration so they can easily manifest their dreams into reality.
In out podcast, Patty addresses how ultra positivity can be toxic if you don’t feel the hard emotions because that paves the way to receive. By letting go of super independence and not being afraid to ask for help, we can grow ever further in attracting true abundance into our lives. Patty speaks about the Law of Attraction in her work but that we need to get deeper in that process by letting go of resistance. Patty’s passion is to help others learn how much the divine loves us and that we are always enough. She acknowledges that destructive psychological and emotional effects can occur when we try to suppress natural negative emotions, and offers the solution. Receiving ourselves is key by reintegrating our rejected shadow selves.
Check out her book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Space-Magic-Abundance-Universe/dp/195480119X
Follow Patty on:
FB: @PattyALennon
IG: @PattyLennon
YT: /PattyLennonYT
Website: www.PattyLennon.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "An Interview with Psychologist Dr. Roger McFillin, host of Radically Genuine Podcast, on Psych Meds, Drug Trials, Resilience & Recovery (S4, E4)," Licensed Psychologist Dr. Roger K. McFillin, who is the Executive Director of the Center for Integrated Behavioral Health in Bethlehem PA, joins the show. Also host of the podcast “Radically Genuine”, Roger is strongly committed to the use of evidence-based treatments and specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for the treatment of post-traumatic stress, eating disorders & mood/anxiety related concerns.
McFillin is extremely vocal about the fact that psych meds do not improve long-term outcomes and openly challenges the scientific basis to support their efficacy. He reveals how contrived the drug trials are explaining what data is actually published. Conducted by the pharmaceutical industry, these studies test efficacy for up to only 8 weeks, while patients are often prescribed them for life. In contrast he offers ample insight as to what proper mental health treatment looks like. With his belief in resilience and recovery, his message is that healing is possible in a variety of ways and that the human spirit has imbedded in it the potential to rise above obstacles in life.
Criticizing the overriding reductionist materialist view in today’s Western medicine, Dr. Roger McFillin shares how many of these historical cultural norms and narratives no longer serve us in our modern age. Although he has experienced some backlash in the mental health field for his openly critical assertions, particularly on his active Twitter platform (@DrMcFillin), Dr. McFillin is opening the conversation for those in the prescribed harm community and the psychiatric survivor movement, as he invites the ethical and open-minded players in the mental health professional arena to debate the problems openly on his Radically Genuine Podcast to discuss new change for the better.
prescribedharm #radicallygenuinepodcast #bigpharmaharms #ethicalscience #mentalhealth #therapy #mentalillness #westernpsychiatry #evidencebasedtreatment #psychiatricsurvivor #resilience #recovery #bipolarartist #PTSD #depression #anxiety #DSMlabels #mentalhealthpodcast #materialism #biomedicalmodel #humanexperience
Follow Dr. Roger McFillin on:
Twitter: @DrMcFillin
IG and TikTok: @radgenpod
Email thoughts and questions to: radgenpod@gmail.com
Check out his website at: https://www.centerforibh.com/
Listen to his Radically Genuine Podcast at any podcast location
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry #healthsovereignty
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "In the Wake of Uvalde: Stopping Gun Violence Is Not a Mental Health Issue But a Moral One (S4, E2)" I review the mass gun shooting incident in Uvalde, Texas that occurred on May 24, 2022 and tackle the question: is more gun control needed or mental health reform? While mental health reform is always needed, when Republican lawmakers state it's a mental health issue, they are speaking of punishment before a crime to those already getting help over dealing with the core problem: looking at not why the shooter did it, but how.
Instead of stigmatizing the mentally ill, looking at the facts at how easy access to guns in our nation has contributed to gun violence in America is key in creating a solution to the problem, if that's what we care about as a nation. When 80-89% of the American population, including gun-owners, agree that common sense laws can make a difference, by kowtowing to the NRA, people in Washington are not representing the majority of Americans where safety is concerned. Compiled research suggests that our assumptions that it's all about mental illness are grossly inaccurate and that violence is not always predictable. But what is predictable is that the more guns that are available with easy access, the more likelihood a person can make a deadly mistake reacting to an emotionally-charged rage with a destructive weapon.
Study citation:
Jonathan M. Metzl, Kenneth T. MacLeish, “Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms”, American Journal of Public Health 105, no. 2 (February 1, 2015): pp. 240-249. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302242
YouTube video of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's press conference taken from American Federation of Teachers' channel: "Gun Violence Prevention Press Conference":
https://youtu.be/iME0Z1jSMUM
mentalillness #uvalde #gunviolence #commonsensegunlaws #redflaglaws #mentalhealth #bipolarartist #safety #massshootings
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "An Update with Emma Hames on Cassette Monkeys and Her Message of Prescribed Harm (S4, E1)," Emma returns to offer an update on her journey with sharing her story of prescribed harm into the metaverse and beyond. Artist, songwriter, musician, and filmmaker, Emma currently lives in the UK, where the problems with psychiatric harm is equal to that of the US. In 2012 she was prescribed Bromazepam abroad after going a year with undiagnosed asthma and reduced lung capacity, which led to anxiety, following doctors' orders as prescribed for 4 years, and without knowing the risks she cold-turkey-ed the drug which caused Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal. She decided to challenge herself with writing the soundtrack for the film as part of her recovery, and explore the role of creativity in healing.
Emma shares in this episode how her NFT collection, Cassette Monkeys, is growing a community of online creatives and angels looking to support the message behind her film. On her personal road to recovery, she is creating connections within Web3 technology, a highly immersive virtual world where people gather to socialize, play, and work all around the concept of "Creativity is the new medicine." In her efforts to promote health sovereignty, informed consent and creative therapy healing, she has gathered talented creatives and allies behind her vision, as she continues to find the strength to move forward and share the hard truth about a difficult story to tell.
Check out Emma's website at: https://www.emmahames.com/ or follow her on Twitter: @emjadehames or IG: @emjadehames.
Follow the film at: https://www.thesoundtrackfilm.com/.
biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry #cassettemonkeys #healthsovereignty
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode "Covid Nation & Beyond Art Show at Sun River Health Foundation (S3, E16)", I wrap up Season 3 by first sharing why I've been absent from podcasting for a month, telling of some successes and changes in my life, and then I share the talk I gave at my latest art show at Sun River Health Foundation in Peekskill, NY. The following is my artist statement for my exhibit "Covid Nation & Beyond:"
I’ve always been a painter, but for over the last decade I centered my work on my face and bodypainting, making my main art medium bodypaint, which is actually colored makeup. Because the very therapeutic nature of how I created art brought me in close contact with people, when the Covid-19 crisis hit, this avenue of expression was annihilated due to social distancing. At the time, I was profoundly saddened by my loss, and I felt as though I was losing a special identity that I worked so hard at creating. But my art still needed to be expressed and the nation’s story recorded. I needed to switch gears and apply paint to something other than skin. So I rekindled my interest in painting on 2D surfaces, and since I had plenty of bodypaint hanging around, I started the series with gessoing some sign boards I had used for my face painting tent and slapped on the bodypaint. The medium is beautifully fluid and helps me keep my painterly and illustrative style sharp and drawing-like, very unlike acrylic paint. The result is a liquid makeup paint, which dries like sturdy pastel chalk.
This art exhibit titled “Covid Nation & Beyond” is a pop-art, heavily textured and stylized commentary about our world during the Covid pandemic covering various subjects inspired by 2020-2021, such as NY’s death numbers on the rise in April and May, the nation’s inability to work during lockdown, the mental health concerns related to quarantining and social distancing, the tension of opposites politically in response to the public health crisis, the PPE shortage, the airline industry bailout, and the attempted insurrection on the US Capitol, and the legalization of marijuana in NY.
bipolarartist #manic #depression #covidnation #lockdown #quarantine2020 #ageofcovid #covidart #notascrazyasyouthink #mentalillness #mentalhealth #storytelling #PPE #insurrection2021 #frontlineworkers
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Manifesting Your Desires & Creating Flow in Your Life with Mr. D (S3, E15)", I invite back my former Social Studies grammar school teacher, Don DiBenedetto, or Mr. D, to share his anecdotes and enthusiasm for how to create flow in your life through learning how to manifest. Now a teacher of spirituality, Mr. D shows us through a variety of techniques how we all can co-create with the universe to bring into our lives our greatest wishes and dreams.
bipolarartist #manic #depression #joyfulness #changefromwithin #wordsofwisdom #notascrazyasyouthink #psychiatryisnotscience #mentalillness #mentalhealth #manifestingchange #creatingflow
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "Are Psychopaths Favored by Natural Selection? Definitions of Mental Illness and the Roots of Suffering (S3, E14)," a team of Canadian researchers explored the possibility that psychopathy lacks certain hallmarks of a mental disorder, and thus may be more of an adaptation associated with fitness. The study was published in Evolutionary Psychology at the end of 2021, entitled
Is Psychopathy a Mental Disorder or an Adaptation? Evidence From a Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Psychopathy and Handedness.
Psychopathy is a condition characterized by callousness, detachment, and a lack of empathy. Psychopaths can be highly manipulative, and their antisocial nature inclines them often to criminality, while their traits can be delineated in the clinical label of antisocial personality disorder. But if being a psychopath isn't mentally ill, what is? How is a mental disorder different from an “adaptive life history perspective” ? No agreed on and adequate analysis of the concept of a "mental disorder" currently exists. It is often seen as harmful dysfunction, where dysfunction refers to the failure of an internal mechanism to perform a function for which it has been designed through natural selection to perform, while “harmful” refers to the consequences of this mechanism’s failure that are deemed undesirable by social and cultural standards. Under this conceptualization, a syndrome of cognition and behavior would have to satisfy both criteria—that it is dysfunctional and harmful— to qualify as a mental disorder.
Yet although the causes of mental disorders are not fully understood, the factor this study looked at narrowly was neurodevelopmental perturbations, which have been linked to other mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. According to the study, nonright-handedness is a sign of such perturbations. So the goal of the study is to show a positive association between psychopathy and nonright-handedness, which would support the mental disorder model, whereas a negative association would support the adaptive life history model.
The study was statistically weak, and isolating such specific variables in metanalysis is difficult to do. But in the search for the answers, the negative correlation with nonright-handedness reflects outdated science from the early days of criminal psychology. And if a psychopath's callous and perhaps violent tendencies are simply part of evolution, who is definitively mentally ill? Can't we say that of many "disorders" in the DSM?
Essentially, over the course of 3 decades, there has been no major progress in finding out biological causes that can help in treatment. But if instead of looking at things as pathology, can’t we utilize ideas of functional medicine? Lifestyle choices can affect our biology such as diet and exercise. Dr Rani Bora and Dr Suraj Gogoi are both holistic psychiatrists and innate health coaches, who don't subscribe to temporary fixes to address the human condition. They disregard the core underlying causes of psychological suffering and feel that the conventional models of managing mental and emotional issues do not help us discover our true wellbeing. Visit Drs. Rani and Suraj at: https://www.drsranisuraj.com/
functionalmedicine #mentalillness #wellbeing #mentalhealth #lefthandedness #criminal psychology #DSMLabels #evolutionarypsychology #naturalselection #bipolardisorder
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "A Heart-to-Heart with Actress Susie K. Taylor: Creating a Kinder Story Out of the Madness (S3, E13)," Miami-based actor, creator, teacher, performance artist, and mentor, Susie K. Taylor joins the show and shares stories of her career in acting, producing and teaching. She also talks about her SURF method, a compassionate program to help actors get out of character. Susie sheds light on how traditional techniques of getting into character for the actor, can often lead to “psychological concussions” and compound traumas, as actors often access pain from their pasts to create their roles. But in using Susie’s techniques, other versions of truth stories that are kinder and less ego-based can help creatives detach from their pain and come through the other end of this process.
By retelling the past repeatedly with the same ending, Susie explains how the body stores past pains and injuries even when they are over, until we reset the story and release the charge. Susie puts forth the idea that in healing these personal areas of super-charged emotion, we can then more effectively heal the world through new art and stories. These techniques can also be used for anyone who wants to experience a release of past super-charged emotion, and bring healing into one's life from past traumas.
Bio:
Susie holds a Post Graduate degree in Classical Acting and a BA in Theater. She attended New World High School for the Performing Arts and has been performing for over 30 years. Her passion is to find kinder and more efficient ways of doing things. This led her to inventing The Ultimate baby bib, Bibbitec, which appeared on Shark Tank and her De-Roling method called SURF, which stands for Story Understand Recast and Flow. Her one-woman show Jewbana was just accepted in the NYC United Solo Festival.
Website: www.Susiektaylor.com
Insta: Susie_k_Taylor
Twitter: Jewbana305
mentalhealth #goals #honored #UCME #creatives #surfacting #femalegaze #jewbana #bibbitec #surfacting #process #method #mentalhealth #alternative #sharktank #nedragallegos #markburnett #meta #art #healer #visionary #grace #ptsd #traumainformedtherapy #movementtherapy
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, “A Discussion On Psychosis, Lived Experience, and Creativity with Artist John F. Gerrard, Author of "We Make Clocks, Not Time" (S3, E12), John opens the conversation about this largely misunderstood headspace by sharing his personal story and what he learned coming out on the other side of psychosis. We discuss John’s book, We Make Clocks, Not Time: My Lived Experience with Psychosis, Creativity, and the Ideas That Have Helped Me, opening up the conversation on an array of philosophical questions regarding psychosis and mental illness, from self-determination and free will, to the romanticization of the tortured artist, to the essential self, to the language of labels, to rethinking God.
With the message that there is no shame in psychosis, that lived experience matters, and that creativity can be an integral part of our mental health, John also discusses some strategies that have worked for him in his own recovery. Describing psychosis as connecting to something larger than life, John harnesses elusive topics like what is the nature of delusion, the mystery of dreams, and the subtle differences found in psychotic experiences compared to those that are spiritual in nature. John brings philosophy into the conversation about extreme mental states and stresses that just because something is not commonly experienced among the norm, doesn’t make it pathological.
Bio:
John is a multidisciplinary artist, with a focus on visual art. In his teens and 20s he was active creatively as a musician, touring across North America and playing locally. He also did graphic design work for bands and small businesses. John was trained by the Canadian Mental Health Association as a peer support worker. Since then, he’s been developing his art practice with mental health advocacy work. He has also worked with Branch Out Neurological Foundation, making images based on interactions with neuroscientists, and taking part in their charity events for three years now. In 2019 he had my first international show in Chicago as a part of the Some People Everybody exhibition. This multidisciplinary project examines the ethics, people, processes, and systems that constitute the maintenance of, and barriers to, health for human beings.
You can follow John on:
Insta: @john_f_gerrard
Twitter: @clocksnottime
or on his website at: https://www.johnfgerrard.com/
Buy the Book, We Make Clocks, Not Time: My Lived Experience with Psychosis, Creativity, and the Ideas That Have Helped Me:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1778050107
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1778050107
depression #mentalhospitals #mentalhealth #psychosis #dsmlabels #mentalillness #philosophyofpsychiatry #creativity #wemakeclocksnottime #peersupport
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "A Point of View from a Man in Blue with Jeff Gironda: Crisis Intervention Training and a Broken Mental Healthcare System (S3, E11)," former New York City police officer, Jeff Gironda, who worked 10 years of patrol in Midtown and has experience as a detective specialist, shares his insight on the broken mental healthcare system, as well as present and future actions towards change within training for the police department.
Jeff became an instructor at the Police Academy for training recruits in an EDP workshop (emotionally disturbed people) in concert with John Jay, and then went on to lead a 4-day immersive course in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), which incorporates scenario-based training with clinicians, the NYPD, and professional actors. Emphasizing a much more humanizing approach, the CIT program went national and is still helping today’s police properly interact with those in emotionally disturbed states. Jeff also shares how this positive growth within the police department can be an example to how other institutions can promote a more compassionate perspective when dealing with people in states of mental distress, especially the medical establishments who claim expertise in this area.
PTSD #mentalillness #CIT #crisisinterventiontraining #NYPD #anxiety #depression #mentalhospitals #mentalhealth
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, "A Chat with Emma Hames and Rev Heather Elizabeth on Benzo Withdrawal and Recovery in the Film 'Playing with Life: The Soundtrack' (S3, E10)," Emma and Heather share how they both were affected by the same benzodiazepine psychiatric drug prescriptions, and both turned to sound healing, nature and creativity to rebuild their lives. The two formed a strong bond and came together to co-produce the film “Playing with Life: The Soundtrack.” In tandem with the film, they are producing an NFT collection called Cassette Monkeys in order to create community and funding for the production.
In America alone, 120 million people are currently on the class of medication known as benzodiazepines, which is highlighted in the film, along with how holistic healing can be achieved without drugs and with better alternatives. As the Western biomedical paradigm regarding mental illnesses is a global problem, Emma and Heather believe in supporting health sovereignty while we prepare for change.
Bios:
Emma Hames is an artist, songwriter, musician, and filmmaker currently living in the UK. At University she studied Environmental Science, later taught English and Art in a Cambodian orphanage, studied climate change in Malaysian rainforests, and even lived on her own 23' sailing boat for a year, which connected her to the natural world and gave her the freedom to explore her creativity. She later went onto Tour as a saxophonist and musician in several bands throughout Europe.
In 2012 she was prescribed Bromazepam abroad after going a year with undiagnosed asthma and reduced lung capacity, which led to anxiety, following doctors' orders as prescribed for 4 years, and without knowing the risks she cold-turkey-ed the drug which caused Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal. She decided to challenge herself with writing the soundtrack for the film as part of her recovery, and explore the role of creativity in healing. Check out Emma's website at: https://www.emmahames.com/ or follow her on Twitter: @emjadehames or IG: @emjadehames.
Rev Heather Elizabeth is an artist, healer, and savant, and considers herself an interdimensional woman of faith. She was diagnosed with several psychiatric disorders as a teen while dealing with anorexia nervosa and childhood sexual trauma, and was prescribed the highest doses of pharmaceutical meds well into her 20s. She is still micro tapering off diazepam after well over 5 years of dedicated tapering.
She devotes her professional pursuits to mental health and overall wellness through the use of functional wellness and health coaching, using breathwork and nature as a main modality of transformative healing. She also believes the use of psychedelics--specifically magic mushrooms--can help in a transformative and therapeutic way towards more compassionate healing. She is currently writing her second book related to her own mental health journey. Follow Heather on Twitter: @RevHeatherEli or IG: @revheatherelizabeth.
And follow the film at: https://www.thesoundtrackfilm.com/.
biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry #cassettemonkeys #healthsovereignty
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "The MAD Twitter Showdown Regarding the #ChemicalImbalance Theory: A Pharmaceutical Lie Upheld By Psychiatry" (S3, E9) I share all the fuss taking place on the Twitter feeds of the psychiatric survivor movement--from patients and therapists alike--within and around this myth and what it means for today's consumers and prescribers, yesterday's psych survivors, and the future of the disease-based model of psychiatry.
chemicalimbalance #neurotransmitter #evidencebasedpsychiatry #psychiatricsurvivor #Petergotzsche #Prozac #ArthurSackler #PatrickRaddenKeefe #Valium #librium #JimFolk #lexapro #paxil #zoloft #effexor #Joannemontcrieff #PeterBreggin #GaryGreenberg #mentalillness #JamesDavies #AwaisAftab #PhilHickey #clinpsychlucy #AshleyBobak #MadinAmerica #MadinUK #psychrecovery #AnneCooke14 #MedicatingNormal #TraumaInformed #biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "The Cannabis Update with Dr. Lynn Parodneck: Moving Forward in Making MJ Medicine Mainstream (S3, E8)," Dr. Lynn returns with more medical information and further anecdotes. With her experience in helping others taper off opioids and psych meds, Lynn believes there's another way regarding harm reduction. But hospitals aren't honoring medical marijuana as legitimate for medication and will still only push opioids for pain management. Lynn talks about the ethics in allowing patients to choose their own treatments; however, with MJ still federally scheduled as a class 1 substance- meaning, there is no efficacy in using the substance for medicinal purposes- we are still only in the beginning of a new movement in normalizing cannabis treatment. But with minimal research, patients have little support as doctors are waiting for lab testing to know the truth of cannabis' safety profile. Nevertheless, with a dying capitalist view of big pharma business controlling supply and demand of medicines, the counterculture's choice of treatment is steadily moving forward.
Visit Dr. Lynn Parodneck's website at: https://www.drlynnparodneck.com/
bipolarartist #psychiatryisnotscience #psychmedswithdrawal #marijuanalegalization #depression #anxiety #PTSD #opioidcrisis #healing
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, “Straight Talk on Big Pharma, Psychiatry, & the Film ‘Medicating Normal’ with Angie Peacock (S3, E7),” former U.S. Army Sergeant and subject of the film, “Medicating Normal," Angela Peacock, MSW, was diagnosed with PTSD after one deployment to Iraq in 2003 and was overmedicated for it for over a decade and a half. She is a mental health advocate, writer, and YouTube creator who travels in her campervan across the United States with her service dog Raider in an effort to improve the mental health care system for veterans and civilians alike.
Angie’s a major player on the film’s outreach team, facilitating more than 180 post-screening panel discussions with communities worldwide with audiences that include both consumers and mental health professionals alike. Angie’s story proves how broken the system is, in which patients, families and doctors are all victims, but Angie also bravely brings to light the unbalanced approach to healing psychiatry takes—namely, through outdated theories in the biomedical model. But psychiatrists’ stubborn adherence to the psychopharmacological treatments they were taught in med school is what perpetuates the problem. Angie discusses how instead of blaming the individual, normalizing emotions and looking at faulty systems is needed instead, and she shares alternative narratives on mental health that are developing. Angie feels the best way to change the system, though, is through finding real deep healing through your own magic potion—figuring out what’s uniquely right for you.
MedicatingNormal #TraumaInformed #biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry
Visit the film's website: https://medicatingnormal.com/
And Angie can be found on social media @BeingHumanRV and on the Medicating Normal YouTube channel.
To watch 'Medicating Normal' visit: www.medicatingnormal.com/watch
Medicating Normal Synopsis:Millions of people worldwide are physically dependent not on illicit drugs, but on commonly prescribed psychiatric medications. Medicating Normal follows the stories of a newly married couple, a female combat veteran, a waitress and a teenager who are harmed by the very medications they believed would help them. Medicating Normal unveils a corrupted evidence base and a mental health paradigm in which uninformed patients are too often overdiagnosed and overmedicated. It is the untold story of the disastrous consequences that can occur when profit-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress. This story is rarely reported in the mainstream, and it is an epidemic of harm done.
Awards:
- Best Documentary - People's Film Festival
- Audience Award - People's Film Festival
- Best Documentary Jury Award - Woods Hole Film Festival
- Best of the Fest - Woods Hole Film Festival
- Virtual Audience Award - The Magnolia Independent Film Festival
- Impact Award - Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "Stop, Listen and Breathe into Mental Wellness with Senda Baccar (S3, E6)," spiritual healer and intuitive coach from Tunisia in North Africa, Senda Bacaar, visits the show to discuss her lived experience with Western psychiatry, which has pushed its philosophy into now global influence. As a biologist, Senda was disillusioned with the mental health system when she saw their conviction was only in the biomedical theory, suggesting we are nothing more than cells and tissue with no spirit. When she was seeking treatment for her own state of mental distress, she discovered breathwork, reiki, shamanism, plant medicine, gardening, intuitive dance, and a number of other healing modalities that changed her life and her understanding of what creates true mental health. After going through the “dark night of the soul” Senda advocates that we can all get on the other side of that, if we learn to balance our energy and take a minute to stop and listen to why we are feeling distressing emotions. Through alternative options, Senda discovered sources that were far more healing than simply getting a prescription medication for “mental illness.”
breathwork #reiki #energyhealing #biomedicalmodel #westernpsychiatry #bigpharmaharms #mentalhealth #alternativehealing #plantmedicine #bipolarshaman #bipolarartist #psychiatryisnotscience #abolishpsychiatry #shamanism #mentalwellness
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "An Interview with Vesper Moore, Pt. 2: The Validation of Mad Identities and Sustaining the Movement (S3, E5)," Vesper returns to delve deeper into the conversation on emotional states of distress and society's commercialization of these states. From crisis alternatives in peer respite to the overdiagnosing of the human experience to the lack of informed consent in psychiatric treatments, Vesper discusses the hard questions regarding psychiatry and offers alternative answers. Vesper brings up how mad states of consciousness can be spiritual in nature, and that we can alter how we perceive such states like hearing voices and seeing visions, as something natural not pathological, as many shamanistic cultures do. They point to this open window in history as a time when we can reclaim the term madness as we reclaim our non-traditional ways of connecting to our worlds.
Mad liberation activist, trainer, writer, and psychiatric survivor, Vesper Moore is COO of Kiva Centers, a Peer Support community network serving as a crisis alternative and is also the Executive Director of Madness Network News, a communication network dedicated to the interchange of energy and support of psychiatric survivors, mad, disabled, and neurodivergent people. They have worked as a consultant for both the United States government and the United Nations in shaping strategies around trauma and mad and disability rights.
KivaCenters #madliberation #madrights #madnessnetworknews #psychiatricsurvivor #abolishpsychiatry #psychiatryisnotscience #indigenousrights #disabilityjustice #humanrights #socialjustice #dismantlecapitalism #hearingvoices #bipolarartist
Follow Vesper: www.vespermoore.com
IG: @vesper_j_moore
Twitter: @MooreVesper
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "Mad Liberation, Disability Justice, and Indigenous Reclamation: An Interview with Vesper Moore: Part 1 (S3, E4), " Vesper dives into the discussion on the mental health industrial complex and the social justice movements that are currently fighting it. Mad liberation activist, trainer, writer, and psychiatric survivor, Vesper Moore is COO of Kiva Centers, a Peer Support community network serving as a crisis alternative, and has worked as a consultant for both the United States government and the United Nations in shaping strategies around trauma and mad and disability rights. In the episode, Vesper shares how oppressed people historically have been considered the "mad" to be contained, and how the very structure of capitalism only respects those in society who are able to work. Vesper is also the restorer of the historical archives of Madness Network News and shares how in 1984, the anti-psychiatry journal was thrown into the ocean. Vesper also discusses the arrival of plant medicine onto the market of psychiatric therapy, and how its sacred essence may be maintained if indigenous involvement in the infrastructure were central.
KivaCenters #madliberation ##madrights #madnessnetworknews #psychiatricsurvivor #abolishpsychiatry #psychiatryisnotscience #indigenousrights #disabilityjustice #humanrights #socialjustice #dismantlecapitalism #plantmedicine #bipolarartist #psychedelics
Follow Vesper: www.vespermoore.com @vesper_j_moore
Suggested videos in interview on: Psychedelics, Madness & Awakening Conference 2021
https://youtu.be/IxG5H3DLo5A
https://youtu.be/LRmvcO8V_Hk
https://youtu.be/DFDQgPskw10
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode "Behind-the-Scenes at Podfest Origins 2021: Mental Health and Podcasting, Hosting Hard Conversations (S3, E3)," while attending Podfest Origins, an annual conference where podcasters connect with their peers about their work, their strategies and their passions, a handful of podcasters and I attended a meetup group hosted by Jessica Silverman and Michael Herst, in which we gathered to have a behind-the-scenes deep discussion on mental health and podcasting. Each one of us has a distinct connection to this topic in our work in podcasting, and through our passion we were united in vision and intention: we all wish to make a difference in getting the discussion started on mental health.
Coming from all walks of life, from Tanzania to Malaysia to America, we podcasters all agreed upon the same thing ---that the topic of mental health is never talked about enough, which prevents people who are suffering from getting help. The continued issues worldwide of shame and stigma drive people to silence others and avoid the conversation altogether themselves. The collective power of open dialogue can change things however, and we discuss how a podcast can potentially have the influence to heal the growing global mental health crises.
Connect with the Panel:
Jessica Silverman, Host of A.L.I.V.E. podcast @ A.L.I.V.E. with Jessica Silverman - @mozen_wellness
Jessica Schiller Silverman is a mentor + wellness expert for spiritual women seeking freedom to live in complete alignment in Mind, Body, Emotions, Spirit + Purpose for mental wellness + anxiety therapy in whole body healing. Jessica stepped away from a six-figure career in venture capital in San Francisco to start her own venture, all inspired initially from a podcast, and now is the host of the A.L.I.V.E. podcast with Jessica Silverman.
https://www.podpage.com/alive-with-jessica-silverman/
Michael Herst, Host of "One More Thing Before You Go" podcast - @michaelherst
Michael Herst is the Host and Producer of “One More Thing Before You Go Podcast,” Author, and Retired Police Sergeant. Forced to re-invent his life after developing a life-changing disease. He a Graduate of Arizona State University- with an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Digital Media, Art and Performance, and holds a B.S. in Business Management. He is a husband, a father, and a vegan with a passion for the beauty of nature, art, creative arts in healing, writing, movies, and TV.
Sarah Davis, Host of the "Breathing Wind" podcast - @breathingwindpodcast
Sarah Davis is a podcast producer and learning experience designer with a passion for co-creating content that uplifts others and spreads compassion. Her first podcast, Breathing Wind, was created for people who were the first of their peers experiencing grief around parental loss, in response to her father's death and in honor of his legacy. She splits her time between the Bay Area and Iowa, where she is caring for her aging mom. In addition to creative projects, she loves being in nature, biking, hiking or sitting.
Paula Sima Mulamula, Host of the "Talk Shit with P" podcast - @talkshitwithp
Paula Mulamula Host & Owner of Talkshitwithp a podcast platform where its safe space for people to talk whatever shit they want share… Turning conversations into relationships. Event Planner & Interior Designer by Day… Big Mental Health Advocate & Queen of Self-Care.
Peter Ong, Podcast Host & Producer, Japanese Coach and Whiteboard Animation Video Creator - @peterongkl
livelife #entrepreneurlife #womenentrepreneur #alivepodcast #podcaster #dailyencouragement #soulhealing #entrepreneurlife #podcastlove #podcastersofinstagram #womenpodcasters #womenpodcast #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthrecovery
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
In the episode, "A Talk with Brian Bogert on Embracing Pain to Avoid Suffering (S3, E2)," human behavior and performance coach, Brian considers himself a husband and father first, but his high-impact inspirational vision is infectious to the many thousands he coaches. Brian shares his truth about radical authenticity and embracing pain to avoid suffering.
After overcoming the trauma of an arm detachment as a child after being run over by a truck, Brian's story is an amazing one. Through opening up about his own healing journey, Brian shares how our healed pain is actually what allows us to find purpose through it. Brian tells with honest compassion how there's always an emotional trigger, a behavioral pattern or an environmental conditioning that's keeping us stuck in the same repeating patterns. He asserts it is vulnerability and authenticity that bind human connection, and that if we are intentional with where we align our actions and efforts, embracing our pain today will help us to avoid suffering tomorrow.
Visit Brian at: https://brianbogert.com or Iamnolimits.com
beyou #authenticity #humanbehavior #keynotespeaker #humanconnection #embracingpain #notascrazyasyouthinkpodcast #mentalhealth #mentalilllness #madpride #radicalselfacceptance #findingonesvoice #psychiatricsurvivor
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode: "News On Cannabis with Dr. Lynn Parodneck: NYS Regulations, Dispensaries, Licenses and Medical Cards", which was recorded on September 9th 2021, Dr. Lynn offers information on New York State regulations for all things cannabis-related from licensing recreational dispensaries to how the medical dispensary expansions are moving forward. Lynn also goes over how to get a doctor to write you a script, and why there is such a delay in support from Western medicine. As the new industry is developing, some goals for urban areas of New York include consumption lounges for the public. Lynn's anecdotes on successful patients run the full spectrum, and her ongoing commitment to her clients is remarkable.
Visit Dr. Lynn Parodneck's website at: https://www.drlynnparodneck.com/
bipolarartist #psychiatryisnotscience #psychmedswithdrawal #marijuanalegalization #depression #anxiety #PTSD #racism #healing
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "Special Edition On Location: SannaOhana's Cannabis Wellness Day: Yoga, Education, and Community (S2, E25)", I take it on location to South Hackensack, New Jersey, where the power duo Estefania Valencia and Salam Diri hold their unique Cannabis Wellness Day, an event with the mission to educate people about the incredible health benefits the cannabis plant and yoga have to offer. Bringing together so many areas of interest in the Cannabis plant, the event showcases independent business owners, artists, healers, and those with a transformative story the plant has provided them. Guest co-host Todd D. Goldfinger and I interview three business owners who share their views and stories, which brought them to the transformative event.
bipolarartist #psychmedswithdrawal #marijuanalegalization #depression #anxiety #PTSD #medicalmarijuana #healing #cannabiswellness #hightimes #sannaohana #homegrownmeds
Learn more about SannaOhana and Cannabis Wellness Day at: https://www.sannaohana.com/
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
Sphinx Creations
Instagram: sphinx_creations
Angela Colandrea
https://linktr.ee/Herbanlive
Instagram: herbanlive
Alexis Krayniak
https://www.yourlocalfairy.com/
Instagram: ethereal_fairylady
Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast (S2, E24), Special Edition On Location: 2021 Essential Music and Art Show in Bushwick with Jen Gaita Siciliano and Todd D. Goldfinger (S2, E24)
In the first "On Location" episode of Not as Crazy As You Think Podcast, Jen Gaita Siciliano and guest co-host Todd D. Goldfinger head down to Wyckoff Ave in Bushwick, Brooklyn to the yearly Essential Music and Art Show. Three artists join the conversation and share their stories about their artistic journeys, how they landed in Bushwick doing art, and where they plan to continue taking it:
G. Romero
https://www.gromerooo.com/
Insta: graphik.magik
Ian Cinco
https://www.iancinco.com/
Insta: ian_cinco
Kosuke James
https://www.kosukejames.com/
Insta: kosukejames
NYCartscene #nycbodypainting #bushwickarts #bushwickopenstudios #essentialmusicandartshow #podcasting #onlocation #creativityandwellness
Check out Todd's website at: www.toddgoldfinger.com and the Todd Goldfinger YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ToddGoldfinger
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com, and don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano
In the episode, A Reading From My Memoir: Chapter 6, "Mahander" (S2, E23), with my physical illness worsening, my new cabbie, Mahander rushes me to the Delta airline agency so I can purchase an emergency flight ticket home, then ushers me back to the Grand Western Regionale Hotel, where in fear and overwhelm I make deals with God on my knees in broken-hearted cries. Just as I’m about to lose all hope, I hear the whisper of God and his angels who say, “If we send you home, will you do God’s will?” The tender voices then give me instructions on how to get home through symbols in my environment. As Mahander drives me to the airport he encourages me: “You will make it home my friend…it is nothing what I do. I am doing my duty. You are an American.” He then delivers me into the hands of safety on time for my flight back to New York.
Book description of Not As Crazy As You Think:
In the style of magical realism, Not As Crazy As You Think is a memoir about a free-spirited dreamer, who in 1994 travels to India to see the Taj Mahal. Instead of receiving spiritual enlightenment, Jennifer contacts a life-threatening illness, and by the grace of a compassionate auto rickshaw driver, she arrives to her emergency flight to New York on time. But in a sudden Near-Death-Experience on the airplane home, she realizes the mental realm is quantum and non-local. After falling into the hands of the psychiatric institution, however, who take over her life through forced drugging and involuntary hospitalizations, she realizes the only way to prove she is more than an unevolved genetic defect is to kill the Dead White Man Virus. With the help of her guides inside her shamanic journeys —an auditory Star-Trekkian angel squad in an alternate universe—she attacks psychiatry’s racist underpinnings with passion and satire, breaking the PC code of political correctness. But when she accidentally discovers a buried leap of faith involving the Theory of Natural Selection, the scientific error not only proves her sanity, but also reveals the most ignored missing link to systemic racism in America today. A book for social justice warriors, advocates of alternative health, geek culture, and people of color, Not As Crazy As You Think asks the hard questions and delivers the raw answers during a time when mental health, mental illness, and racism are topics in the spotlight.
psychiatryisnotscience #mentalhealth #trauma #PTSD #angels #hearingvoicescommunity #India #memoir
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, A Candid Interview with Todd D. Goldfinger on Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Psychedelic Medicine (S2, E22), musician, podcaster, and talk show host on mental health, Todd Goldfinger, openly shares his own personal journey with mental illness, suicide, and psychosis, as well as his road to recovery. An advocate of psychedelic medicine in the field of psychiatry, Todd's story makes a compelling case for DMT in aiding recovery. A whirlwind of energy, Todd shares his travel stories with humor, and his unique insight on mental health can inspire anyone, who feels recovery is daunting or unattainable.
Take a look at Todd's website: https://toddgoldfinger.com
bipolarartist #psychiatryisnotscience #psychmedswithdrawal #medicalmarijuana #depression #anxiety #PTSD #psychedelicmedicine #plantmedicine #psychosis #DMT #magicmushrooms
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @jengaita
LinkedIn: @jensiciliano
Twitter: @jsiciliano
In the episode, "The Medicine of Cannabis: An Overview for Medical Professionals and Policymakers, with Dr. Lynn Parodneck (S2, E21)," Dr. Lynn shares the whitepaper she and her colleagues worked on that was presented to Washington and published by the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) and the NCIA Policy Council. She reviews the history behind criminalization, which has racist roots, and how things are changing. With the possible future development of marijuana receiving a descheduled status as a class one substance on the federal level, a new conversation about the medicinal properties of the plant can finally arise without stigma. Most of all, it will allow proper research to take place, which will be able to answer many more of the public's questions. To read the whitepaper, go to: The Medicine of Cannabis: An Overview for Medical Professionals and Policymakers
Check out the YouTube video mentioned in the podcast: https://youtu.be/LPVODw9oGvQ
And visit Dr. Lynn Parodneck's website at: https://www.drlynnparodneck.com/
bipolarartist #psychiatryisnotscience #psychmedswithdrawal #marijuanalegalization #depression #anxiety #PTSD #racism #healing
Please visit my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
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In the episode, "#FreeBritney Means Freedom From Psychiatry, The Uncredited Conservator" (S2, E20), I review the deepest problem about Britney Spears' abusive conservatorship, which is how the psychiatric institution has set-up a system where this kind of exploitation can thrive. In its ability to convince others, and even the court, that they are the medical experts on human behavior, psychiatry has the last word on who should be free in this country. And with Britney having proven her "capacity" for over 13 years of successful albums and tours, her reveal in her testimony is a beacon of light for all others who have suffered under the system, and with her words as a celebrity holding more weight than ours, the psychiatric survivor movement has hope that we may be on the brink of change.
mentalhealth #mentalillness #depression #bipolardisorder #creativity #FreeBritney #psychmedswithdrawal #MadinAmerica #psychiatricsurvivor #nonconformist #conservatorabuse #freedomfrompsychiatricdrugs #eugenics #BritneySpears #innercompassinitiative #psychiatricabuse #psychiatryisnotscience
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In the episode, Alternatives to Psychiatry: Healing from Mental Distress with Chaya Grossberg (S2, E19), intuitive healer, author, and psych meds withdrawal counselor, Chaya Grossberg joins the conversation and shares her personal story of dropping out of the psychiatric system and choosing a new way. Driven by her own disabling experience as a young person forced to take psych meds, she made it her life mission to help others. Unconvinced of psychiatry's biomedical paradigm, she stopped taking the meds and became an impactful and well-known activist in the psychiatric survivor movement.
Gaining experience through organizations like the Freedom Center, which used alternative methods to treating mental distress such as peer support, she began consulting others searching for an alternative way. Her book, Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs, is an invaluable resource that offers a wealth of support from nutritional and herbal remedies to creative strategies, as well as a workbook companion for journal writing through the process.
Visit her website at: https://chayagrossberg.com/ or follow her on Twitter @ChayaGrossberg or Instagram @chayagrossberg.
mentalhealth #mentalillness #depression #bipolardisorder #creativewriting #psychmedswithdrawal #MadinAmerica #psychiatricsurvivor #nonconformist #herbalism #nutritionalhealth #spiritualjourney #freedomfrompsychiatricdrugs #freedomcenter
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In the episode, "American Eugenics, the Immigrant Degenerate, and Systemic Racism (S2, E18)," I share more of the ideology of Eugenics, or the practice of selectively breeding humans to achieve a better race, which has been taught in America since the early 20th century. Is it superior genes that excludes poverty from someone’s experience? Or the ability to afford an education? In the belief that defective genes run in families, which supports that mental illness is hereditary, the status of the immigrant continues to be seen as degenerative as Trump proved in his anti-immigrant rhetoric rousing half the nation.
Claiming only sterilization can eliminate our social problems, The Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant, led to sterilization of 60,000 immigrants in America, and also inspired Hitler and German Eugenics in WWII. Today people are still being influenced by the history of racism, colonialism and Nazism in scientific publishing—particularly in psychiatric journals, which continues to contribute greatly to the deep-rooted systemic racism in America.
mentalhealth #mentalillness #bipolardisorder #depression #systemicracism #eugenics #madisongrant #mexicanamericans #italianamericans #NaziGermany #defectivegene #heredity #wrongtheory #whitesupremacy
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In the episode "Creating a Fit Lifestyle: Exercise and Nutrition for Maintaining Mental Health with Eric Krawetz (S2, E17)," Eric and I discuss how exercise is not only beneficial for physical strength and flexibility, but also mental health, especially in dealing with depression. Steadfastly committed to his workout regimen and nutritional choices, Eric offers keen insight on how to get started with making a lasting lifestyle change by creating good habits with an exercise routine and healthy diet.
We discuss how to get what your body needs nutritionally, especially for moods and brain health. Proper food and exercise can stave off mental illness, especially depression, and committing to the process can be life-changing. Eric shares his personal experience on nutritional choices, such as prioritizing a large amount of protein, and advises how to get naturally energized with a personalized system that works for each individual. By listening to your body and responding with self-care, a new road towards renewed health opens up.
mentalhealth #mentalillness #bipolardisorder #depression #healthyliving #nutrition #exerciseroutine #stayingfit #brainfood
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In the episode "Dogmas of Science Part 2: Gene-centered Inheritance or Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance? (S2, E16)" I share Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS) that are analyzing genomes of the bipolars and the "genetically depressed." I ask the question, where is this science taking us if one doesn't subscribe to the materialist worldview? This research only supports the theory that the mind is inside the brain. Their evolutionary material transference through genes does not reflect our larger reality or our free will, and only believes in predetermination.
Scientist Rupert Sheldrake in his book The Science Delusion, presents an argument of how inheritance is transferred in another way beyond that of just genes. His hypothesis of morphic resonance proposes that nature forms habits that evolve, and since this is not material and instead non-local, this allows for another type of inheritance. If we look beyond that of the materialist worldview, remembering concepts in quantum theory, many other theories are possible.
bipolardisorder #mentalillness #gene-centeredevolution #mentalhealth #madinamerica #madness #mania #depression #psychiatryisnotscience #biomedicalmodel #rupertsheldrake #morphicresonance
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In the episode "Dogmas of Science Part 1: Rupert Sheldrake, Consciousness and the Mechanistic Biomedical Model (S2, E15)," I share what materialist scientists believe is true about human consciousness, and how it relates to the biomedical model in psychiatry. Scientist Rupert Sheldrake in his book The Science Delusion, presents an alternative perspective about the human mind and consciousness as he shares how the scientific establishment refuses to acknowledge these things are real and that the mind extends beyond the confines of the brain. As they cling to the materialist worldview, they promote only mechanistic medicine, which has caused a great deal of harm through psychiatry.
bipolardisorder #mentalillness #consciousness #mentalhealth #madinamerica #madness #mania #depression #psychiatryisnotscience #biomedicalmodel #rupertsheldrake
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In the episode, "The Shamanic Journey: Making Meaning and Breaking into Reality Through Psychosis (S2, E14)" I share the process of madness inside the shamanic journey that so many bipolars and schizophrenics enter with ease but never learn how to navigate. In shamanic cultures, the dreamwalker is not viewed as mentally ill but as healer, the gifted one who can access information from the other side to help those afflicted with mental distress. Traditional Western psychiatry disregards the validity of these alternative views, which discounts the sanity of many indigenous cultures worldwide that honor the shamanic journey.
shamanicjourney #bipolardisorder #mentalillness #psychosis #dreamwalker #mentalhealth #madinamerica #madness #mania #depression #psychiatryisnotscience
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In the episode "Retrieving the Beautiful Brain I Was Born With: My Psych Meds Withdrawal Journey Begins (S2, E13)," I share the start of my withdrawal journey from psychiatric drugs. After being on forced brain meds for 27 years, I take on the challenge and face the dangerous path of removing my psych meds for good. After reviewing the experience of what the institution took away from my life through changing my brain, I show the invalidity of their claim that they are acting in the name of mental health.
With increased anecdotal information on the web on how this withdrawal process unfolds, as well as a newly published study on how doctors should withdraw patients from antipsychotics, the path is now more clearly defined so that I can succeed in my journey.
psychmedswithdrawal #bipolardisorder #antipsychotics #bigpharma #forceddrugging #chayagrossberg #willhall #madinamerica #madnessradio #mania #depression #psychiatryisnotscience
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In the episode, "The Creative Learner: Expressing Mood Through Music and Art with Musician Tom Bitondo (S2, E12)," musician and piano teacher Tom Bitondo shares his insight on what it means to live with purpose through a creative mind. Whether it be in his own music or connecting with his students, Tom's depth of knowledge and passion for music tell a lyrical story that inspires. We chat about how kids are learning the arts in schools, and how it can be better. To contact Tom on lessons or song production, call (914) 772-3587 or email tombitondo@gmail.com.
bipolardisorder #mentalillness #mentalwellness #notascrazyasyouthinkpodcast #musictherapy #artseducation #emotional #creativelearner
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In the episode "Cannabis Talk with Dr. Lynn Parodneck: New York Recreation and What's Next for the Plant That Heals (S2, E11)," I interview expert in the field Dr. Lynn Parodneck, a medical doctor with over 20 years of experience. Lynn branched out into community based medicine and now offers her skills in helping patients with medical marijuana treatment. We chat about the healing cannabis plant, as Lynn shares New York’s new laws, which now includes legality for both medical and recreational use. We discuss what’s going on in New York’s revised program, including home grown regulations and what the state is trying to do to compensate for the racist roots of cannabis criminalization.
A straight talk in everything from cannabinoids and terpenes to social stigmas and outdated cultural misconceptions, Lynn is an inspiration to anyone looking into an alternative treatment for chronic pain, depression or anxiety in the next era in natural medicine.
You can find Lynn on her website at: https://www.drlynnparodneck.com/
medicalmarijuana #cannabis #recreationalweed #psychmedwithdrawal #bipolardisorder #mentalillness #mentalwellness #notascrazyasyouthinkpodcast #naturalhealing #plantmedicine
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In the episode, "The Imperialist Global Mental Health Movement and a Reading of Chapter 5: A Sentence to Bear (S2, E10)," I share how the global mental health movement gained some traction in 2018 with the release of a report published by The Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development, which was presented at a lavish summit hosted by the UK. Jhilmil Breckinridge from the Bohr Foundation in India, as well as many mental health advocates, were concerned pointing to its similar Imperialist agenda to make everyone abide by the same philosophy--this time in mental health with only one approved treatment issued by the "experts" in psychiatry, which is the biomedical model. Many worldwide feel that experiential factors weigh more heavily than biological influences regarding mental illness.
My personal experience in being completely hammered by an environmental stressor is proven in my memoir, Not As Crazy As You Think. In "Chapter 5: A Sentence to Bear," I reveal how it began.
Chapter description:
My new eyes sharpen focus on the wretched horror of the city’s poverty-stricken streets as my abdominal pains worsen. When I find Aneesa and share with her my story, before departing for Johannesburg later that afternoon, she sets me up with her trustworthy cab driver, who takes me to a dilapidated motel outside the skirt of New Delhi hours away where I can spill up my guts as a parasite rips me from the inside out.
After threat of sexual aggression from the motel staff, I suffer violent vomiting and excretion of massive fluids into the long hours of the night. On time at 6am, my next assigned cabbie Mahander shows up, coming to my rescue. With his kind eyes of compassion, I gain hope that I have a chance at surviving.
India #notascrazyasyouthink #badkarma #mentalillness #mentalhealth #bipolardisorder #Bohrfoundation #globalmentalhealthmovement
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In the episode, Transhumanism is the Future--Whether We Like It Or Not: Are You Terran or Cosmist? (S2, E9), I give an introduction to the beginnings of transhumanism philosophy, which will shed light on our current race towards the singularity, as the biotech explosion is affecting every area of our future. The Transhumanism agenda is growing steadily and reaching a charging momentum. Are we ready? The conversation needs to begin even if it may be too late. At least we will know what we're in for.
Highlighting transhumanists Nick Bostrom's and Hugo de Garis' early millennial theses on the subject, I ponder the question: are we heading towards an irreversible dystopia as we merge with machines? We need to choose. Are you going Cyborg or staying Terran?
eugenics #bipolarblood #defectiveDNA #DNAshredder #eliminatebipolars #bipolargene #2020nobelprize #mentalhealth #Mentalillness #ADHD #bipolardisorder #psychiatryisnotscience #transhumanism #cyborg #nickbostrom #hugodegaris #singularity #artilectwar
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In the episode, "CRISPR, Germline Editing, and Market-based Eugenics: A Glance at Modern-day Science Ethics (S2, E8)," I share the history, non-ethics, and worldwide scandal of the troublemaking CRISPR along with its off-target philosophy.
With the 2020 Nobel Prize honoring two women in Chemistry last year for their co-discovery of the gene-editing technology CRISPR, the world of medicine is set on the brink of change. But are we ready? The world science community is still in debate on whether a binding moratorium should be instated to prevent germline editing, but researchers forge ahead on private funding, all with the intention of annihilating "defective genes" from the future, including the mentally ill.
Tune in to hear my rant as I challenge these decisions in their "prudent path forward" as I affirm how I am not as crazy as you think. With the sword of truth, I stand by my declaration that mental illness is NOT genetic.
eugenics #bipolarblood #defectiveDNA #DNAshredder #eliminatebipolars #germlineediting #geneediting #CRISPR #crisprcas9 #sliceanddice #bipolargene #2020nobelprize #mentalhealth #Mentalillness #ADHD #bipolardisorder #JenniferDoudna #FrancisCollins
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Show Notes:
A reading from my memoir, Not As Crazy As You Think
Chapter 4: The Taj Mahal
Along the 7-hour bus ride to the Taj Mahal, Aneesa from South Africa becomes my traveling companion, while a Bollywood-wannabe tour guide shares every detail about the most beautiful monument of love yet to stand on the face of this earth. The triumphant Taj Mahal reveals to me the kind of breathtaking beauty I never knew existed.
But after our too-short tour, when I arrive back to the Nayars’ address, I discover I am locked out of the house. Sumit’s sister, Ayida, hears my knock and lets me in. I am shocked out of the Taj’s mystical spell by morning when Sumit’s mother, who had enough of my “arrogance,” aggressively accosts me, demanding I leave their home. With the morning’s arrival, awful abdominal pains had begun to emerge. I wearily gather my things and venture back to the Grand Western Regionale Hotel to find Aneesa for guidance.
podcast #travelmemoir #tajmahal #india #bipolardisorder #mentalillness #mentalhealth #psychiatryisnotscience #bipolarartist
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In the episode, "On TikTok and Mental Health: A Non-Professional Conversation from the Heart with Kailey Bartholomew (S2, E6)," Kailey and I analyze a commentary in an article highlighting the mental health creators on TikTok and discuss why the informal conversation on mental health needs to take place even more now than ever before. Opening up about her own personal experience on therapy, labels, meds, and alternative healing, Kailey bravely shares how mental health is attainable for anyone.
#mentalhealth #Mentalillness #ADHD #bipolardisorder #tiktok
cancelculture
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Show Notes:
In this episode I read the third chapter "The Brahman Class," from my memoir, Not As Crazy As You Think. In 1994, I arrive in New Delhi, India to visit an old college friend, who was born into the royal Brahman Class. After meeting Sumit's parents, I learn how this highest class believes they’ve earned their lucky place in the caste system at the top of the evolutionary pyramid through the principle of Karma. And all other Indians deserve their lot as well; particularly the Untouchables—the plagued sect of society that swarms the New Delhi streets.
Regretfully, during a discussion at supper with the family, as a naive American female, I unintentionally cross a mighty cultural line with my comment, and probing Mrs. Nayar then becomes suspicious of my trip. After hobnobbing at a party for a night with Sumit’s friends at a neighborhood mansion attended by secular aristocrats, I realize with an anxious stirring I do not belong.
India #notascrazyasyouthink #badkarma #mentalillness #mentalhealth
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Show Notes:
With the combination of Covid Zoom classrooms and distracted kids, ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder, experienced a nationwide "most popular" diagnosis last year. What are the symptoms, treatment and prognosis of this phenomenon, and does it last forever? In psychiatry, medication is always the main form of treatment, but are there others? My friend Katie, a high school student who was labeled with ADD, joins us for part II and shares the course of action her parents chose in the effort to be less invasive. An open-minded approach to a new treatment brings great success.
neurofeedbacktherapy #ADHD #mentalillness #mentalhealth #Covid2020
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In the episode, “Reclaiming the Authentic Self through Exploring the Divine Inner Child with Robin Queen Finkelstein" (S2 E3), Jen Gaita Siciliano interviews psychospiritual counselor Robin Queen Finkelstein, who shares her unique style of non-traditional counseling rooted in compassion and an integrative holistic treatment of mind, body, and spirit. Robin shares her recipe for real therapeutic healing, which includes treating the soul, honoring personal desire, and showing up with willingness and courage to find your authentic self. From facing the shadow to reaching self acceptance, Robin offers her nurturing expertise on how to integrate our deepest selves.
Find Robin at slowmedicine.org
#bipolarartist #manic #depression #realtherapy #divinechildwithin #wordsofwisdom #slowmedicine #notascrazyasyouthink #psychiatryisnotscience #jengaitasiciliano #freshhope #mentalillness #mentalhealth
holistichealing
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In the episode, “Changing the World From Within: Cooperation and the Process with Mr. D,” Jen Gaita Siciliano interviews once again spiritual teacher and former Social Studies instructor, Mr. D , or Don DiBenedetto. Don offers insight on tapping into acceptance and understanding of others in our nation's trying time, along with thankfulness, enjoying the process, and how joyfulness is always within reach.
#bipolarartist #manic #depression #cooperation #joyfulness #changefromwithin #wordsofwisdom #capitolriots #notascrazyasyouthink #psychiatryisnotscience #jengaitasiciliano #freshhope #mentalillness #mentalhealth
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In the episode, "Deleting Facebook and an Artist's Electronic Health Records," I share the experience of deleting my account on Facebook in response to its violation of privacy laws, this time affecting bipolars directly. In Part 2, I reveal notes from my Psych hospital reports that show the false interpretations and inaccuracies of what the institution records about me for their electronic health records.
OwnYourData #DeletingFacebook #DeepLearning #MentalIllness #MentalHealth #BipolarArtist #psychiatryisnotscience
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In Episode 8 of Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast, "A Call to Techies with a Conscience! Facebook AI, The Social Dilemma, and a Visit from Nancy."
Part 1 shares a letter I wrote to a handful of techies from the movies The Social Dilemma and The Great Hack demanding a call to action to help us prevent a civil war.
In part 2, I read an excerpt from a true short story I wrote, The Rise of AI and The Humans Left Behind, followed by a chat with Nancy Meza, who was a witness.
OwnYourData #TheGreatHack #TheSocialDilemma @HumaneTech_ @tristanharris #BrittanyKaiser @OwnYourDataNow @rosenstein @OneProject @Moonalice @shoshanazuboff @NotJaronLanier @profcarroll #apetheoryisracist #notascrazyasyouthinkpodcast #whitesupremacypsychiatry
bipolarartist #manic #depression #AMNH #apetheoryisracist #ancestorsoverpondscum #notascrazyasyouthink #psychiatryisnotscience #jengaitasiciliano #ScientificRacism
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In Episode 7 of Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast: "Exploring the Dream Realm with Warren Falcon: Jung, the Unconscious and the Breakthrough," Jungian-oriented counselor and dream expert, Warren Falcon, illuminates a deeper mental reality through his knowledge and insight on the collective unconscious and the immaterial world of dreams.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
jungian #mentalhealth #mentalillness #collectiveunconscious #shamanichealing #psychiatryisnotscience #psyche #dreamwork #wakefuldreamstate #psychosis #symbols #sacredsymbols
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In Episode 6, I discuss the reality of what it meant to travel across the world in 1994. In my reading of Chapter 2 from my book, Not As Crazy As You Think, entitled "The Scientific Library," while working as a periodicals clerk in the American Museum of Natural History library in 1994, my wise supervisor Roscoe, once a world traveler and 1960s black civil rights activist, inspires me to seek enlightenment. He leads me to Darwin’s Origin of the Species among other books in the stacks on scientific racism by white colonialists of the late 1800s convinced of the white man’s burden. Eager to spread my wings, when an old college friend extends to me an invitation to visit his homeland of India, I eagerly accept.
bipolarartist #manic #depression #AMNH #apetheoryisracist #ancestorsoverpondscum #notascrazyasyouthink #psychiatryisnotscience #jengaitasiciliano #creativity #lockdown #artist #podcasting #memoir #ScientificRacism
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In Episode 5, "How Psychiatric Labeling Leads to a St. Patty's Day Lockdown; Reading of Chapter 1 from My Memoir (S1, E5)," I give a commentary on the concurrence of COVID-19 and a rise in psychiatric labels, followed by a reading of Chapter One of my book, Not As Crazy As You Think; where I find myself in the emergency room of Northern Westchester Hospital suffering human rights and civil rights violations followed by an unlawful detainment based on my bipolar label alone.
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bipolarartist #manic #depression #notascrazyasyouthink #jengaitasiciliano #creativity #lockdown #artist #podcasting #memoir #lancetpsychiatry
In Part I of Episode 4, a reading of the short story "Cheerios and Bananas" highlights my years at The Carmel Diner--the people, the flavors, and the local psychiatric hospital. Former colleague and friend, Shannon Peterson, joins the conversation in Part II, sharing her personal views about the unsound practices of the psychiatric institution.
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#bipolarartist #manic #depression #bipolardisorder #psychiatryisnotscience #notascrazyasyouthink #jengaitasiciliano #creativity #lockdown #artist #podcasting #memoir #carmeldiner #mentalhealthtools #Covidquarantine #psychmeds #fakeDSM #abandonedmentalhospital
In Ep. 3 of Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast: "Adapting Creatively with Entrepreneur Tina Klideris," founder of Artemix shares her story in adapting to change when the entertainment industry went on hold during Covid. She discovered that even in such a difficult time, positives popped up through unexpected creative outlets.
Find the podcast on Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher and more.
Check out my website at: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com/
Connect:
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Stay Tuned on information for my upcoming book, Not As Crazy As You Think.
bipolarartist #manic #depression #bipolardisorder #psychiatryisnotscience #notascrazyasyouthink #jengaitasiciliano #creativity #lockdown #artist #podcasting #memoir #facepainting #bodypainting #mentalhealthtools #Covidquarantine #Artemix #startingover
In Episode 2, Jen Gaita Siciliano interviews author Lyn Liao Butler, whose work offers a fresh perspective on the Taiwanese narrative infused with honesty and humor. Lyn shares how she taps into her well of creativity, as she keeps the characters in her stories alive in her mind in everyday life. Along the road to success in becoming an author, she struggled with depression but learned to overcome mental distress through finding balance with exercise, mindfulness, and using writing as a form of therapy.
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Subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel.
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Stay Tuned for information on my upcoming book, Not As Crazy As You Think.
In Episode 1, Jen Gaita Siciliano talks mental health strategies in an interview with Mr. D, or Don DiBenedetto, her Social Studies teacher from 5th-8th grade, whose personal spiritual insight offers valuable tools for sustaining long-term mental health. On everything from visualizing, letter writing, affirming, and living life like a 3 year old in a Superman cape, Mr. D shares engaging stories with golden nuggets of wisdom that offer ways to shift focus and manifest change in your life.
Connect:
Subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel.
Join the Not As Crazy As You Think Facebook Page.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter.
Find me on LinkedIn.
Stay Tuned on information for my upcoming book, Not As Crazy As You Think.