Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Working to Recover, or Adjusting to Illness? Existing research is pessimistic about the value of our currently dominant biomedical paradigm for treating mental illness. Long-term antipsychotic use appears to make people worse rather than better. While the research continues to accumulate, practice does not change. Doctors continue to practice as if psychosis comes from lack of medication. People recover without medications. How do we reconcile these two models? 1 

Helen Gibbons: The 6 Hour Solution to Work stress Helen Gibbons, Chief Psychologist and pioneer of Autogenic Training in Australia,discusses the benefits of Autogenic Training in combating work stress, particularly in the Mining and other high risk industries. Developed by German Neuroscientist Dr Schultz, AT is backed by over 3,000 clinical studies worldwide and is used by NASA astronauts to help them adapt to the physical and psycholocial stressors of space travel. 1 

Frank J. Granett R.ph.: A Mother's Auto-antibodies: Indicator for autism and ADHD Link between auto-antibodies in mothers and cases of autism and ADHD in children.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Chronic Pain and Opiates I describe my struggle with prescribing opiates for people in chronic pain. My observation has been that my patients on opiates don't seem to be in any less pain than my patients not on opiates, and sometimes they are more grumpy. I explore the literature and learn that prolonged opiate use sensitizes people to feel more pain and that it can also act as a neurotoxin producing neuropathic-like pain, so perhaps not a good idea

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: The Inflammatory Theory of Depression In this article, I describe a way of thinking about depression that makes sense of how we collapse from too much stress and from unremitting anxiety and misery. In this theory, eventually life overwhelms our capacity to resist inflammation and it runs away. From August 16th through the 19th, catch me in Hartford, Connecticut, to further discuss these ideas. For details, see

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: The High Cost of Medically Unexplained Symptoms I write about how the search for the diagnosis for medically unexplained symptoms is an important aspect of what is bankrupting our health care system. We have to solve this problem for manage costs no matter what health care system we have. I acknowledge that some diseases are missed and that some diseases are yet to be found, but suggest that we are much better at findings serious and life threatening illnesses than before.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Narrative and Science: Day 13 of the Australian Journey Today was our last full day in Australia and the occasion for a lecture and series of discussions at the University of Melbourne's Center for International Mental Health and School of Population Health. We explored the bridges between science and the indigenous world view of narrative. Particularly we were impressed with how neuroscience is completely supporting indigenous knowledge about narrative and its importance!

Judith Acosta: Clingy Children: Signals for Verbal First Aid Our ability to deal with fear as children is the foundation for the way we deal with fear as adults--both for ourselves and with our kids. Most of us were not raised with these ideas and some of them may feel awkward or even seem unnecessary, especially if we ourselves were dismissed when we were afraid or hurt.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Beyond Narrative Therapy: Day 11 of the Australian Journey On Day 11, we engaged in dialogue about the narrative therapy of Michael White, which is what most people in Australia and the United States index, when we say narrative practices, and the narrative practices of indigenous people. While we deeply respect Michael White's contributions to psychology and humanity, we present him as one branch on a tree of narrative in which indigenous people live in the trunk and the roots. 1 

Hyla Cass: Are Cell Phones and Wi-Fi Hazardous to Your Health? The latest form of environmental pollution -- and one that industry, government and wireless consumers don't like to acknowledge -- may be the most devastating threat to health yet: electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: NICABM and MInd-Body Medicine I reflect upon the contributions of the National Institute for the Clinical Advancement of Mind-Body Medicine toward furthering the field. At their upcoming conference this December, prominent are newer ideas of neuroplasticity and chronic pain. Through the understanding that pain circuitry in the brain are remodeled by the experience of pain so as to make people feel more pain, we can refute old ideas of pain. 1 

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Walking with Dementia Unexpectedly I find myself visiting a friend for the weekend who is helping his mother place his father into a long-term care facility. My friend's father has vascular dementia, the result of a series of strokes, each one of which rendering him progressively less capable. Nevertheless, we have a marvelous walk in which he demonstrates the unassailable curiousity of human beings for describing the motivations of others. 1 

Grant Lawrence: Parapsychology and the Paranormal: The Conspiracy To Deny The Real Parapsychology only seems extraordinary to those that hold a completely outdated view of reality which happens to be most of science. That view of reality is found in 17th century Newtonian Physics and the mechanistic view of matter and the universe. 1 

Tom Collura: FLEXIBILITY AND APPROPRIATENESS -AN UNDERPINNING WE CAN ALL AGREE UPON Flexibility and appropriateness of brain function are put into context, and show up at the core of many applications of neurofeedback. It is not so much an issue of "too much" or "too little" as it is one of the brain having the ability to be flexible and appropriate, to access brain states that are suited to the task or situation.

Mariella Fischer-Williams, MD, FRCP: The Neurology of Biofeedback; A Neuro-anatomical and Physiological Review People commonly ask the questions : "Why?", "How does a thing work?" and "How can I fix it?". I do not attempt to answer "Why?" because it is a metaphysical question. Much of this article answers the question of "How can I fix it?". I shall mainly describe "How does the brain work?" which I freely acknowledge is an immodest goal. The nervous system is built upon a living network of feedback, constantly adapting