Explaining Intergenerational Trauma #health #holistic

Consider your family tree. Can you see places where it is bent or broken? Perhaps you can see where the scars on the tree have changed the direction that the limb grew.The tree analogy is apt when we consider the ways that trauma can be passed from generation to generation. Trauma is the result of an overwhelming undigested experience, according to Sunshine Coast Health Centre, a non 12-step rehab program in British Columbia. In much the same way that trauma can manifest for an individual, it can be passed from one generation to the next.Both addiction and mental illness have a genetic component, but they also run through families due to intergenerational traumas, which can increase the risk for substance misuse or mental health disorders. Understanding the real role of intergenerational trauma can help you heal yourself, and break the cycle, creating healthier patterns for future generations.What is intergenerational trauma?Intergenerational trauma is inherited trauma. The theory specifically focuses on the way that trauma can be passed through genes. Some research indicates that living through a trauma can change the way that genes are expressed in future generations. Trauma can’t change your DNA, but it can change the way that the genes you have are expressed. This is known as epigenetics, or the way that the environment changes the way your genes manifest.Some of the first research on intergenerational trauma was done on the families of Holocaust survivors. Researchers found that the children of survivors had increased risk for a variety of behaviors, including anxiety and nightmares.Since then, researchers have studied other groups and found that the effects of trauma are present in their children and even grandchildren. Researchers have seen physical characteristics, like differences in the brain, that show that these behaviors have — at least in part — a biological cause, and aren’t just the result of being raised by a parent who has experienced trauma.Individual events like abuse, or widespread societal events like famine, racism and war can all spur intergenerational trauma.ACEs and traumaOf course, biology alone can’t explain the way that addiction and substance use disorder are passed through families. In addition to any epigenetic and biological approach, researchers also consider the environment in which subsequent generations are raised. For example, people raised in poverty are more likely to raise their own children in poverty; those who have been abused are more likely to abuse children. Just like a trauma history can affect our epigenetics, it can affect our learned behavior and how we parent.It can be helpful to think about exposure to Adverse Childhood Experience, or ACEs. ACEs are traumatic events that occur before the age of 18. ACEs include:Living with someone with mental illnessEconomic hardshipBeing abused or witnessing abuse, of oneself or someone elseHaving a parent with substance use disorderParents that divorceHaving a parent in jailPeople who have four or more ACEs are more likely to have substance use disorder, drinking problems, and other physical and mental health conditions. This risk may compound existing risk that a person has due to genetics and epigenetics, making it more likely that trauma will be passed through generations.Breaking the cycleTrauma is powerful — but not all-powerful. It is possible to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. One of the most critical steps is getting treatment for your own substance use or mental health conditions.Building resilience in yourself and in the next generation can offer protection against the effects of ACEs and help break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Researchers have identified seven ways to build resilience in children, by focusing on:Competence: Building their skillsConfidence: Teaching them to believe in themselvesConnection: Growing strong, nurturing relationshipsCharacter: Teaching them right versus wrongContribution: Helping them be of serviceCoping: Teaching healthy skills for responding to stressControl: Giving children autonomyMany of these mirror the skill set that a quality treatment center provides. Part of overcoming substance use disorder involves building resilience in yourself. Not only will that help you, but it can help you children and even grandchildren.Sunshine Coast Health Centre is a non 12-step drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in British Columbia. Learn more here.

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First Responders Need Help, Too #health #holistic

The tumultuous events of the last year – political unrest, the coronavirus, and even the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 – have put our first responders and public health workers in sharp focus. Federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as firefighters, and emergency medical services (EMS) face extraordinary challenges on a daily basis: they are regularly the first on the scene during or after a crisis, and the first to offer support and protection to the injured, survivors, and onlookers. Though first responders are trained to work efficiently under the most challenging conditions, the constant exposure to life-threatening or traumatizing events will eventually take its toll.A 2018 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) noted that an estimate 30 percent of first responders develop mental health conditions, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For civilians, the rate is 20 percent. The report cited another study that found that the suicide rate among law enforcement is an estimated 125 to 300 police officers per year. The suicide rate among firefighter and EMS is equally troubling: a study of more than 1,000 current and retired fire personnel found that 15.5 percent attempted suicide (the civilian rate is 4.6), while another report found that 6.6 percent of EMS professionals reported attempting suicide (the report's civilian rate was 0.5 percent).Substance abuse, including alcohol and narcotics use, can also be high among career first responders. Fifty percent of male firefighters and 39.5 percent of female firefighters reported heavy or binge alcohol drinking in a single month. A study looking into alcohol use among police officers following the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 found a "significant association" between relief efforts for that natural disaster and hazardous alcohol drinking. Another study of police officers after Katrina found that their average number of drinks per day after the hurricane increased from two to seven per day.First responders also face a host of factors that impact them in ways that differ from how the general population experiences traumatic events. Additionally, they face collateral behavioral health damage before, during, and after disasters. First responders may have their hands full with mental or physical issues before they arrive at a traumatic scene; according to the SAMHSA report, these may include on-the-job problems, such as inadequate training, excessive expectations from superiors, issues of favoritism, fatigue, and lack of time off. When combined with issues outside of the workplace – depression, anxiety, physical health problems, family problems, personal loss – and those particular to their line of work, such as regular exposure to death and severe injuries, all contributed to increases in PTSD, substance issue problems, anxiety, and depression.So how can first responders gain the support they need in the face of such challenges? The SAMHSA report had a number of suggestions: leaders can assist by developing clear strategies for dealing with disasters that include all team members and foster cooperation within the organization. They can also inform team members that the situation they are facing has the potential to generate stress, and encourage them to speak candidly about their ability to perform under such conditions. They can also take notice of team members that appear to be fatigued or suffering from psychological issues, and make plans for all team members to take part in self-care during the actual disaster situation.Unfortunately, many first responders feel that asking for help is not part of their emotional makeup. In an interview with the Reno, Nevada-based television station KOLO, James Brumfield, president of the Truckee Meadows Firefighter Foundation, underscored the reluctance that many first responders feel in regard to their emotions. "By nature, we want to be there to help people," he noted. "And we're going to be the last to speak up when something is bothering us."For clinician Steve Nicholas, who is embedded with Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, that belief is not only outdated, but also dangerous. "The [idea] of the warrior never hurts, well, that's silly," he said. Problems arise for many first responders when they leave the disaster situation. "It's when they go home," said Nicholas. "And they're not necessarily in that mindset – the stack of three cereal bowls in the sink will be the tip-over moment."Brumfield agreed. "It's the quiet, self-reflection time where it seems like some of the darkest moments get re-lived again."When those darkest moments prove too overwhelming for first responders, there are mental health options that are available to them that specifically focus on their needs. Wish Recovery – luxury rehab & detox, a private dual diagnosis residential detox and alcohol/drug treatment center located in Northridge, California, has addiction treatments and therapies tailored specifically to first responders, who recover alongside members of their peer group.The facility's team includes both current and former first responders with extensive, first-hand experience with and clinical knowledge of the mental, emotional and physical stressors faced by first responders on the job. Through group, family, and individual therapies, clients learn new, healthy ways to cope with depression, anxiety, grief, fear and work-related trauma. They also have access to an array of modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), experiential therapy, EMDR and trauma-based therapy, and relapse-prevention therapy.

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When Places Are Tainted by Memories #health #holistic

"When I walked in there my eyes went straight to that table in the corner where they were sitting. I remembered that stupid candle and the way they were looking at each other so intently--it was like they were eye fucking.”Passenger Melody* was referring to a once beloved Silverlake bar at which she'd seen her ex on a date with another girl two years prior (after two of them had only been broken up for a week).Since then, every time she entered her body would tense up and she’d go into shut-down mode. She remembers how alone she felt afterwards--unable to make conversation, disconnected from the group she was with."The laughs and shouts of everyone around me felt maniacal, and the bro spilling beer on my shirt as he passed by felt intentional. I tried going back to the bar again after that but my body just steeled itself. I can’t for now.”Talking to Melody reminded me of the powerful associations that certain places can carry. Memories get stored inside our unconscious, sometimes forgotten by our conscious minds. Years later, the slightest smell, sound, or touch can convoke them.I’m reminded of this each time I climb Magnolia Avenue, the curvy street I used to ascend to get to school as a teen. All of a sudden fuzzy headphones are covering my ears, my disc-man jostles around in my gym bag (the track sometimes skipping), Megan Frock’s* cat shimmies around overturned cleats on the front porch of her tangerine colored house. I'm back in my high school body.These conjured memories aren’t always so welcome or benign. As you could tell from the opening quote, Melody’s were more negative and prevented her from wanting to re-enter the place. I definitely related, as for a while I too had to avoid certain places in my college town that carried too many painful associations.Driving past a freeway exit that bore the same name as my college ex’s new “friends with benefits” on the way back to Davis from my parents’ house in Oakland, for example, always evoked the same visceral reaction that overtakes me when my cars' tires pass over a dead animal.For a while I also didn't want to go back to the brewery where another ex girlfriend and I had our first heated conflict.Bad things don’t even need to have happened inside the triggering place. Even having been merely thinking of something negative, or going through a rough time when you were last there, can be enough to resurrect those same feelings the next time you step foot into the place.When I walked in to certain spaces, I’d instantly feel depressed. I always tried to CBT my way out of it, but these undeniable black drapes hung from every wall. Negative emotional energy left by memories still circulated the air.A former client of mine once said: “I studied in a specific cafe—usually my happy place, filled with plants and murals and LA sun streaming through— every day when my mom was fighting cancer. I tried to take in information about organic compounds and hydrogen bonds, but instead what filled my mind were images of her in bed, the pain on my dad’s and sister’s faces, thoughts of life without her. I can’t go back there anymore. The place is tainted. It will always be filled with memories of memories that are just too painful to revisit.”It’s not even necessary to have spent time with a person who triggers painful emotions while inside the place in question. Even just thinking about them the last time you were there is enough to summon memories and unlock old painful feelings."Your memory of a thought is married to the place in which it first occurred to you," writes Jennifer Ackerman, author of The Bird Way.~~What I’ve found helps is that if I’ve been experiencing a hard time at the same time that I’ve been going to a certain store, or taking a particular road, I will sometimes avoid that place--not for forever, but at least until the wounds are less fresh. Or until enough time has passed for the negative associations to clear out.Passenger Trey* stayed away from a Hollywood Hills hiking trail that he used to run at often when his dad was dying. If he were to keep going back to it before he had healed, the negative feelings and associations would just continue to compound upon one another. His mind might permanently categorize it as a negative place—“and I don’t want that to happen because it’s a kickass place and I love it; the hills are rad and I can get a really amazing workout, am always sweating by the time I’m done.”In Melody’s case, after she stayed out of the bar for a year, when she finally did go back, it no longer had power over her. You might think of it as temporary avoidance— a strategic and proactive (rather than reactive) move. I want this place to go back to doing what it once did for me, so I’m gonna give it some space. What's more, putting yourself in new surroundings gives your mind novel details to pay attention to, which is great for preventing rumination.There’s catharsis in breaking free from negative past associations. And once we take that temporary break, we can watch as positive associations repopulate once fraught places, breathing new life into them. *Names changed to protect confidentiality

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Trick Or Treat? Stop Making Alcohol So Special #health #holistic

We often describe alcohol as a treat. 

“It’s been a long day… I’m going to treat myself to some nice wine.”
“Let’s get another bottle, we deserve a treat.”

The language that we use around alcohol is really important. 

When you’re describing booze as a treat, you’re making it very special and irresistible.

Let’s get clear on what alcohol really is.

Key points:

What is a treat?

In other areas of life, a treat tends to refer to a high quality experience. E.g. going to fancy restaurants or the luxury of having some time to yourself. Alcohol can’t be a true treat – it’s a cheap, mass market drug that’s linked to cancer, depression, anxiety, diabetes and death. 

 

“I’m going to trick myself tonight…”

Replace the word treat with the word trick because that’s exactly what alcohol is. Just think of all the different things we expect alcohol to do: make us happier, more sociable, help us relax, rev up, calm down, be more assertive, creative, braver, sleepier. No drug can do all those things.

 

Look after yourself properly

Treat yourself to a night off from alcohol and its games. Treat yourself to a new book, a long bath, or date night at your favourite restaurant. Maybe a treat for you is half an hour reading a magazine in peace. Proper treats won’t make you feel like crap afterwards. 

 

So… trick or treat?

What choice will you make this Halloween? For help and support to quit drinking, check out my online course here.

 

Stay sober tonight - listen to my free pep talk!

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How Dangerous Is One Day Detox? #health #holistic

For individuals struggling with opiate dependence, detox and, subsequently, withdrawal symptoms can be the first step in gaining freedom. Successful opioid detoxification can help accomplish this goal. Rapid detox allows for a complete detoxification from opiates while the patient is under sedation. The process is also beneficial because it enables the patient to immediately start Naltrexone or Vivitrol therapy, both non-addictive drugs that significantly help reduce physical cravings after detox. Controlled studies have found that this form of detoxification is both practical and cost-effective.However, it's important to note that not all forms of detoxification under sedation are the same. Since anesthesia detox was developed in 1988, centers have adopted various protocols; some might even promise complete treatment after one day. While the idea of immediate relief from opioid dependency and the withdrawals accompanying detoxification efforts may appeal to those in the grip of addiction, such promises are not fair, accurate, and sadly enough, often not safe.The continued use of opioid drugs causes the body to become dependent. Opioid dependence leads to withdrawal symptoms, which makes it difficult to discontinue use. Once a user stops using opioids, the body goes through tremendous physical and emotional distress associated with withdrawal. Symptoms can include muscle pain and spasms, gastrointestinal distress like nausea or vomiting, depression and anxiety, fatigue, and sleeplessness. Dependence is often followed by addiction. Addiction occurs when opioid dependence interferes with daily life. Symptoms of addiction include uncontrollable cravings and the inability to control drug use regardless of the adverse effects on every aspect of one's life. Although rapid detox, sedation-assisted detox, or any other form of detoxification under anesthesia might be extremely appealing, it is not a cure for addiction and should not be described as one. Withdrawal symptoms may be too challenging and physically unsafe for a person already physically and emotionally in a fragile state, making medically supervised detoxification a more viable option. Instead, when performed responsibly, at a proper facility, by an experienced anesthesiologist, sedation-assisted detox is an excellent option for complete opioid detoxification and for reducing physical cravings. That's why Waismann Method® Opioid Treatment Specialists and Rapid Detox Center do not support one-day detox protocols. The Waismann Method team believes that patients deserve comprehensive and responsible medical care. Furthermore, opioid use leads to significant physiological changes that affect the individual on many levels. Having enough inpatient time before detox for stabilization, evaluation, and tailoring of an individualized protocol is as essential for the safety and comfort of the patient as providing inpatient recovery care for a few days after detox.In 1998, Clare Waismann RAS/SUDCC founded Waismann Method, located in Southern California. After a few years, Mrs. Waismann understood that patients deserved more. Sending them to a hotel room or home immediately after detoxification under sedation was no longer an option. In 2005, Domus Retreat was created: a safe environment where patients can start adapting to this new opioid-free state while receiving professional assistance, care, and guidance around the clock.For the last 23 years, patients have traveled from all over the world to California, where they receive treatment from a quadruple-board certified medical doctor in their private room of a full-service accredited hospital.Although most patients come for detoxification under sedation, there are several medically assisted detox options. From a clinical standpoint, opioid withdrawal is one of the most influential factors driving opioid dependence and addictive behaviors. Waismann Detox™ tailors every treatment based on the understanding of each individual's specific health needs. However, not all opioid detox treatment facilities follow the same stringent protocols as Waismann Method. To that end, Waismann and her associates suggest the following criteria when considering a rapid detox or treatment center that offers detoxification under sedation:The treating physician should be a board-certified doctor with a degree from a reputable educational institution. Board certifications are rigorous programs that require doctors to continually assess and enhance medical knowledge, professional judgment, and clinical techniques.Detox should occur at a full-service accredited hospital. A hospital allows access to medical specialists and immediate medical support with no time constraints for inpatients. This requirement is one of the most frequently overlooked by potential patients, especially those seeking lower-cost options.Patients should receive their own private ICU hospital room and individual attention from medical professionals. These are common oversights for patients, and while shared rooms and medical attention may reduce costs, they also carry the potential for greater risk during the procedure and personal discomfort.One-day and overnight detox centers can be dangerous for several reasons. Though the potential for instant cures can be appealing, it is usually not the safest option. Doctors must have the time to give patients a comprehensive inpatient evaluation and stabilization care for at least a day before the sedation-assisted detox. Before the procedure, they must also have enough information on the patient's intake – food, medication, and other substances – to avoid adverse reactions when the detox drugs are introduced to the patient's system.Post-detox patients should have access to FDA-approved medication like naltrexone and Vivitrol. They should also stay in a specialized recovery center for a few days where their mental and physical stabilization can be observed and attended to. The additional few days of care allows the patient to become more stable while reducing the risks of immediate relapse.Waismann advises that individuals considering any form of rapid detoxification conduct comprehensive research into a facility's protocols, promises, and, more importantly, physician’s credentials, experience, and affiliation with reputable organizations. It is important to know that although medically assisted detoxification can be a life-saving procedure, there are no overnight miracles; nor is there one exclusive treatment that fits every patient's unique health needs.Opioid use disorder is a multifaceted condition that needs to be treated by a team of specialists with a tailored protocol for each person. No single approach to opioid detoxification is guaranteed to work well for all patients. Therefore, detox centers should offer several options, so no patient is pushed into a procedure that does not meet their specific health needs. 

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Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria: What You Should Know About ‘Emotional Sunburn’ #health #holistic

Almost everyone is familiar with the sensation of sunburn. After a day of splashing and fun at the beach, you’re overexposed. Your skin is red and any tiny touch can feel overwhelming.Now, let’s consider the idea of emotional sunburn. This is how some professionals characterize Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), a condition that often appears in people with ADD and ADHD. After years of being criticized and critiqued for their behaviors, people with these conditions often feel raw and vulnerable. Because of that, they can react strongly to any real or perceived criticism, critique or failure.What is RSD?Usually, RSD is characterized as an outsized reaction to an incident, says Mandy Schneider, alumni coordinator at Sunshine Coast Health Centre, a non 12-step drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in British Columbia. Someone with RSD might show emotional outbursts, which are sometimes confused with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder or other mental health conditions.RSD can manifest in two ways. Some people become angry. These people are prone to outbursts, and may become aggressive to themselves or others. In other cases, RSD manifests as anxiety. People with this form of RSD are likely to become withdrawn and isolated. They may become perfectionists in hopes of avoiding failure.RSD might present as aggression toward others, but the condition is even more dangerous when it is internalized. In the most severe form, this can lead to suicidal ideation.ADD/ADHD and RSD: The ConnectionUnderstanding the connection between ADD, ADHD and RSD can help people get the treatment that they need. Some estimates say that children with ADD or ADHD receive 20,000 more negative interactions during their school years than their neuro-typical peers. Constantly being told to sit down, calm down, and work differently can grate on people, particularly if they have not been diagnosed and thus don’t have a clear understanding of the root cause of their behaviors.Overtime, these people can become particularly vulnerable to having outside emotional reactions when they experience criticism. This compounds the emotional dysregulation that is a feature of ADD and ADHD in children and adults. Up to 70% of adults with ADD or ADHD have trouble controlling their emotions. RSD is an even more pronounced and severe form of this.Treatment of RSDRSD is not a well-known condition, so it can be difficult to get a diagnosis. Still, many people feel relief when they are diagnosed, in part because they learn that there is an explanation for their behaviors.Once RSD is diagnosed, providers can use medication to help alleviate the symptoms. A class of medications known as alpha agonists can provide relief to about one-third of people with RSD. MAOI inhibitors can also help control the symptoms of ADD/ADHD and RSD. Some people find that controlling the symptoms of their ADD or ADHD can make them less prone to mistakes. That might reduce the frequency of criticism that can lead to outbursts.Medications alone can’t fully control the condition, however. Cognitive behavioral therapy might allow people to better understand their triggers, and equip them with healthier coping mechanisms when they feel an RSD episode coming on. However, CBT and other therapies are considered less effective for RSD than they are for other mental health conditions, in part because of how quickly an episode of RSD can be triggered. Although therapy may be helpful, mindfulness can also help people with RSD control their emotional reactions.Spotting and Treating ADD/ADHD and RSD in AdultsIn order to get treatment for RSD, you’ll need to identify the condition as the cause of your emotional dysregulation. Getting a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD can be an important first step. Although ADD and ADHD are more common in children, an estimated 2-5% of American adults also have the conditions. Although diagnosis of ADD/ADHD in adults is on the rise, it remains relatively rare. Oftentimes, a patient must raise the issue with their provider in order to get a diagnosis.In adults, the symptoms of ADD/ADHD can include:ImpulsivenessForgetfulnessRestlessnessExtreme emotionsAdults who have RSD might:Become “people pleasers” to reduce the risk of criticismFocus on perfection to lessen the chances of failureExperience emotional reactions as physical symptomsHave intense emotional reactionsBe their own worst criticIf the symptoms above look familiar to you, you should talk with your doctor about whether you might have ADD, ADHD or RSD. It’s never too late to get a diagnosis for these conditions, and start on the path to better mental, emotional and physical health.Sunshine Coast Health Centre is a non 12-step drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in British Columbia. Learn more here.

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A Letter to Friends in Recovery #health #holistic

I am writing in the dark, by hand, hoping my words make sense tomorrow morning. The light of the screen hurts my head because I have a concussion.Two weeks ago, I was hit by a drunk driver while heading out to pick up my CSA box on a Thursday morning. I saw him coming toward me on the wrong side of the road at about 50 mph on my neighborhood street. I screamed “Nooo!” and waved in a desperate jazz-hands gesture just before impact, hoping he’d see me and swerve away at the last moment. He didn’t. In a split second, our cars were connected in a sickening crunch. I didn’t hit my head. No glass was broken. I was just shaken—hard. He stared into me, wild eyed, threw his car into reverse, then drove away.I exited the vehicle in an adrenaline-fueled rage, yelling expletives as I tried memorizing his license plate. A Good Samaritan came to my side and asked if I was ok. Just as she did, we heard a crash from around the corner. He had hit someone else.By the time I turned my car around and drove the block to where he was, his vehicle sat wedged into the side of a gigantic hauling & demo truck. I saw several men holding a man of about 60 who was bleeding from his head, belly distended from the bottom of his white tank top. He fought them in slow-motion until first responders arrived. “He threw a tequila bottle from the car” one neighbor told me. “He smells like alcohol” another said as he was taken away in an ambulance. I kept my distance, took my police report and drove my leaking car home, thanking the Universe the crash wasn’t any worse.After a trip to urgent care, I found the seatbelt left a bruise and I had a pinched nerve causing a tingling arm. A few days later when the right side of my head felt strange, I saw a neurologist who performed some tests. One was the Romberg test, where I was asked to stand with my feet apart, arms out and eyes closed. I found myself frustrated, normally a yogi still doing handstands into my 50s, yet here I was swaying to the right, unable to balance on my own two feet in a doctor’s office, right side up. Later research revealed that the Romberg used to diagnose my concussion is the same one sometimes used by law enforcement to determine DUI.I have my issues but have never been addicted to anything, nor had a problem with alcohol. It just never agreed with me. I am one of those annoying people who could drink occasionally in college, then not do it again for months or years. I also grew up in Washington, DC, very involved in the punk scene and heavily influenced by the idea of “straight edge.” My partner doesn’t drink and by my 30s I eventually just quit altogether, no big deal.But I have loved many addicts. Some who have left this earthly plane in the most cliche of ways. Some of whom I’ve had to let go. Some who have turned their lives around. I have benefitted from Al-Anon.This accident brought all of that to the surface. Why did this happen to me? Why was I repeatedly the one on the other end of the “making amends” step, dammit? As my anger with the driver subsided, I recognized that his drunken state at 11:30 on a Thursday morning was evidence of his own pain. I thought about all of my friends who have worked so hard in recovery to become better versions of themselves.To anyone who has done or is doing the work, I want to say thank you. Please know that the sharing of your stories over the years helps me to have compassion for this man who has wreaked havoc on my life, his own, and undoubtedly others.Maybe you have been the drunk driver, but most likely now you are the woman who came to my aid after I was hit, the neighbor who held onto his fellow man in the name of justice, the EMS who treated the offender, the nurse who later took my vitals, the friend who sent me flowers in the aftermath, the client who sent me groceries, the yoga teacher who offered healing words of support.Whether this will be this man’s rock bottom before getting help is not for me to say. I don’t believe in silver linings—you get what you get and deal with it. I am getting better every day. Yes, this incident sucks… and I am lucky to be alive and to know you. I wrote this thinking maybe someone reading it might recognize themselves and decide who they want to be in their own narrative.

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Chapter 6: The Thrush’s Song #health #holistic

After a man in my small Vermont town who had a heroin addiction committed suicide, I began asking questions about addiction. Numerous people shared their experiences with me — from medical workers to the local police to people in recovery. Shauna Shepard, who works as a receptionist in the local health clinic, visited with me on my back porch. She shared why she drifted into substance abuse, and how she struggled to get — and remain — sober.“Drugs,” Shauna finally said after a long silence, tapping her cigarette on the ashtray. “Drugs are really good. That’s the problem. When you’re using, it’s hard to imagine a life without them. For a long time, I didn’t know how to deal with my feelings any other way. It’s still hard for me to understand that getting high isn’t an option anymore.”I nodded; I knew all too well how using could be a carapace, a place to tuck in and hide, where you could pretend your life wasn’t unraveling.“You can go weeks, months, even years without using, and then you smell something or hear a certain song on the radio, or you see somebody, and — bam! — the cravings come right back. If you don’t keep your eye on that shit, it’ll get you.”“It? You mean cravings for drugs? Or your past?”“Both,” she said emphatically. “I mean, fuck. Emotions don’t go away. If you bury them, everything comes crashing out when someone asks you for a fucking pen, and they get the last six months of shit because they walked in at the wrong time.”I laughed. “So much shit can happen in six months.”She nodded, but she wasn’t smiling.I rubbed a fingertip around the edge of the saucer, staring at the ashes sprinkled over its center. “What’s it like for you to be sober?”“It’s harder. But it’s better. My job is good, and I want to keep it. I have money the day after I get paid. I’ve got my therapist and my doctor on speed dial. I have Vivitrol. But I still crave drugs. I don’t talk to anyone who uses. It’s easy for that shit to happen. You gotta be on your game.”“At least to me, you seem impressively aware of your game.”With one hand, she waved away my words. “I have terrible days, too. Just awful days. But if my mom can bury two kids and not have a drug issue, I should be able to do it. When my brother shot himself, his girlfriend was right there. She’s now married and has two kids. That’s just freaking amazing. If she can stay clean, then I should be able to stay sober, too.”“Can I reiterate my admiration again? So many people are just talk.”Shauna laughed. “Sometimes I downplay my trauma, but it made me who I am. I change my own oil, take out the garbage. I run the Weedwacker and stack firewood. I’ve repaired both mufflers on my car, just because I could.” Her jaw tightened. “But I don’t want to be taken advantage of.” She told me how one night, she left her house key in the outside lock. “When I woke up next morning and realized what I had done, I was so relieved to have survived. I told myself, See, you’re not going to fucking die.”“You’re afraid here? In small town Vermont?”“I always lock up at night. Always have, always will.” Cupping her hands around the lighter to shield the flame from the wind, she bent her head sideways and lit another cigarette.“I lock up, too. I have a restraining order against my ex.”She tapped her lighter on the table. “So you know.”“I do. I get it.”*As the dusk drifted in and the warm afternoon gave way to a crisp fall evening, our conversation wound down.Shauna continued, “I still feel like I have a long way to go. But I feel lucky. I mean, in my addiction I never had sex for money or drugs. I never had to pick out of the dumpster. My rock bottom wasn’t as low as others. I’m thankful for that.”I thought of my own gratitude for how well things had worked out for me, despite my drinking problem; I had my daughters and house, my work and my health.Our tabby cat Acer pushed his small pink nose against the window screen and meowed for his dinner. My daughter Gabriela usually fed him and his brother around this time.“It’s getting cold,” Shauna said, zipping up her jacket.“Just one more question. What advice would you give someone struggling with addiction?”Shauna stared up at the porch ceiling painted the pale blue of forget-me-not blossoms, a New England tradition. She paused for so long that I was about to thank her and cut off our talk when she looked back at me.“Recovery,” she offered, “is possible. That’s all.”“Oh . . .” I shivered. “It’s warm in the house. Come in, please. I’ll make tea.”She shook her head. “Thanks, but I should go. I’ve got to feed the dogs.” She glanced at Acer sitting on the windowsill. “Looks like your cat is hungry, too.”“Thank you again.”We walked to the edge of the driveway. Then, after an awkward pause, we stepped forward and embraced. She was so much taller than me that I barely reached her shoulders.When Shauna left, I gathered my two balls of yarn and my half-knit sweater and went inside the kitchen. I fed the cats who rubbed against my ankles, mewling with hunger. From the refrigerator, I pulled out the red enamel pan of leftover lentil and carrot soup I’d made earlier that week and set it on the stove to warm.Then I stepped out on the front steps to watch for my daughters to return home. Last summer, I had painted these steps dandelion yellow, a hardware store deal for a can of paint mistakenly mixed. Standing there, my bare feet pressed together, I wrapped my cardigan around my torso. Shauna and I had much more in common than locking doors at night. Why had I revealed nothing about my own struggle with addiction?*I wandered into the garden and snapped a few cucumbers from the prickly vines. Finally, I saw my daughters running on the other side of the cemetery, racing each other home, ponytails bobbing. As they rushed up the path, I unlatched the garden gate and held up the cucumbers.“Cukes. Yum. Did you put the soup on?” Molly asked, panting.“Ten minutes ago.” Together we walked up the steps. The girls untied their shoes on the back porch.“We saw the bald eagles by the reservoir again,” Gabriela said.“What luck. I wonder if they’re nesting there.”Molly opened the kitchen door, and the girls walked into our house. Before I headed in, too, I lined up my family’s shoes beneath the overhang. Through the glass door, I saw Molly cradling Acer against her chest, his hind paws in Gabriela’s hands as the two of them cooed over their beloved cat.Hidden in the thicket behind our house, the hermit thrush — a plain brown bird, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand — trilled its rippling melody, those unseen pearls of sound.In the center of the table where Shauna and I had sat that afternoon, the saucer was empty, save for crumbles of common garden dirt and a scattering of ashes. When I wasn’t looking, Shauna must have gathered her crushed cigarette butts. I grasped the saucer to dump the ashes and dirt over the railing then abruptly paused, wondering: If I had lived Shauna’s life, would I have had the strength to get sober? And if I had, would I have risked that sobriety for a stranger?In the kitchen, my daughters joked with each other, setting the table, the bowls and spoons clattering. The refrigerator opened and closed; the faucet ran. I stood in the dusk, my breath stirring that dusty ash.Excerpted from Unstitched: My Journey to Understand Opioid Addiction and How People and Communities Can Heal, available at Amazon and elsewhere.

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Havana syndrome fits the pattern of psychosomatic illness – but that doesn’t mean the symptoms aren’t real #health #holistic

In early September 2021, a CIA agent was evacuated from Serbia in the latest case of what the world now knows as “Havana syndrome.”Like most people, I first heard about Havana syndrome in the summer of 2017. Cuba was allegedly attacking employees of the U.S. Embassy in Havana in their homes and hotel rooms using a mysterious weapon. The victims reported a variety of symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, hearing loss, fatigue, mental fog and difficulty concentrating after hearing an eerie sound.Over the next year and a half, many theories were put forward regarding the symptoms and how a weapon may have caused them. Despite the lack of hard evidence, many experts suggested that a weapon of some sort was causing the symptoms.I am an emeritus professor of neurology who studies the inner ear, and my clinical focus is on dizziness and hearing loss. When news of these events broke, I was baffled. But after reading descriptions of the patients’ symptoms and test results, I began to doubt that some mysterious weapon was the cause.I have seen patients with the same symptoms as the embassy employees on a regular basis in my Dizziness Clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles. Most have psychosomatic symptoms – meaning the symptoms are real but arise from stress or emotional causes, not external ones. With a little reassurance and some treatments to lessen their symptoms, they get better.The available data on Havana syndrome matches closely with mass psychogenic illness – more commonly known as mass hysteria. So what is really happening with so–called Havana syndrome?A mysterious illnessIn late December 2016, an otherwise healthy undercover agent in his 30s arrived at the clinic of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba complaining of headaches, difficulty hearing and acute pain in his ear. The symptoms themselves were not alarming, but the agent reported that they developed after he heard “a beam of sound” that “seemed to have been directed at his home”.As word of the presumed attack spread, other people in the embassy community reported similar experiences. A former CIA officer who was in Cuba at the time later noted that the first patient “was lobbying, if not coercing, people to report symptoms and to connect the dots.”Patients from the U.S. Embassy were first sent to ear, nose and throat doctors at the University of Miami and then to brain specialists in Philadelphia. Physicians examined the embassy patients using a range of tests to measure hearing, balance and cognition. They also took MRIs of the patients’ brains. In the 21 patients examined, 15 to 18 experienced sleep disturbances and headaches as well as cognitive, auditory, balance and visual dysfunction. Despite these symptoms, brain MRIs and hearing tests were normal.A flurry of articles appeared in the media, many accepting the notion of an attack.From Cuba, Havana syndrome began to spread around the globe to embassies in China, Russia, Germany and Austria, and even to the streets of Washington.The Associated Press released a recording of the sound in Cuba, and biologists identified it as the call of a species of Cuban cricket.A sonic or microwave weapon?Initially, many experts and some of the physicians suggested that some sort of sonic weapon was to blame. The Miami team’s study in 2018 reported that 19 patients had dizziness caused by damage to the inner ear from some type of sonic weapon.This hypothesis has for the most part been discredited due to flaws in the studies, the fact there is no evidence that any sonic weapon could selectively damage the brain and nothing else, and because biologists identified the sounds in recordings of the supposed weapon to be a Cuban species of cricket.Some people have also proposed an alternative idea: a microwave radiation weapon.This hypothesis gained credibility when in December 2020, the National Academy of Science released a report concluding that “pulsed radiofrequency energy” was a likely cause for symptoms in at least some of the patients.If someone is exposed to high energy microwaves, they may sometimes briefly hear sounds. There is no actual sound, but in what is called the Frey effect, neurons in a person’s ear or brain are directly stimulated by microwaves and the person may “hear” a noise. These effects, though, are nothing like the sounds the victims described, and the simple fact that the sounds were recorded by several victims eliminates microwaves as the source. While directed energy weapons do exist, none that I know of could explain the symptoms or sounds reported by the embassy patients.Despite all these stories and theories, there is a problem: No physician has found a medical cause for the symptoms. And after five years of extensive searching, no evidence of a weapon has been found.Mass psychogenic illness – more commonly known as mass hysteria – is a well-documented phenomenon throughout history, as seen in this painting of an outbreak of dancing mania in the Middle Ages. Pieter Brueghel the Younger/WikimediaCommonsMass psychogenic illnessMass psychogenic illness is a condition whereby people in a group feel sick because they think they have been exposed to something dangerous – even though there has been no actual exposure. For example, as telephones became widely available at the turn of the 20th century, numerous telephone operators became sick with concussion-like symptoms attributed to “acoustic shock.” But despite decades of reports, no research has ever confirmed the existence of acoustic shock.I believe it is much more likely that mass psychogenic illness – not an energy weapon – is behind Havana syndrome.Mass psychogenic illness typically begins in a stressful environment. Sometimes it starts when an individual with an unrelated illness believes something mysterious caused their symptoms. This person then spreads the idea to the people around them and even to other groups, and it is often amplified by overzealous health workers and the mass media. Well-documented cases of mass psychogenic illness – like the dancing plagues of the Middle Ages – have occurred for centuries and continue to occur on a regular basis around the world. The symptoms are real, the result of changes in brain connections and chemistry. They can also last for years.The story of Havana syndrome looks to me like a textbook case of mass psychogenic illness. It started from a single undercover agent in Cuba – a person in what I imagine is a very stressful situation. This person had real symptoms, but blamed them on something mysterious – the strange sound he heard. He then told his colleagues at the embassy, and the idea spread. With the help of the media and medical community, the idea solidified and spread around the world. It checks all the boxes.Interestingly, the December 2020 National Academy of Science report concluded that mass psychogenic illness was a reasonable explanation for the patients’ symptoms, particularly the chronic symptoms, but that it lacked “patient-level data” to make such a diagnosis.The Cuban government itself has been investigating the supposed attacks over the years as well. The most detailed report, released on Sept. 13, 2021, concludes that there is no evidence of directed energy weapons and says that psychological causes are the only ones that cannot be dismissed.While not as sensational as the idea of a new secret weapon, mass psychogenic illness has historical precedents and can explain the wide variety of symptoms, lack of brain or ear damage and the subsequent spread around the world.[Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter.]Robert Baloh, Professor of Neurology, University of California, Los AngelesThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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