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| #1 | 9/7/2015 | The difficulty of practicing narrative medicine
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) I look at the stories that people hold about their lives that sometimes work against them. I tell the story of a driven man whom I warned 25 years earlier that he might drop dead if he didn't take a break, and discover that he did, in his fifties. I discuss the problems we face in medicine, how to help people change their stories that are leading them toward illness. This is one of the hallmarks of narrative medicine.1  |
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| #2 | 10/10/2014 | Waking from the Trance of Unworthiness (Catherine Al-Meten) Article about using meditation as a way to deal with unworthiness and self hatred. | |||
| #3 | 3/11/2013 | Day 4 of Australia 2013: Indigenous Energy Medicine 2
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) During the fourth day of our Australian cross-cultural journey we continued to present our form of indigenous (Cherokee) bodywork/osteopathy and energy medicine ("doctoring"). The second day focused on how anyone can feel energy differences in other people and within those areas of energy differences, can find points that need rubbing or holding. We showed how these intuitively discoverable points are the same as TCM.1 |
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| #4 | 3/9/2013 | Day 2 of Australia 2013: Story is Healing
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Today we considered how story can save people's lives. When people are filled with negative stories about being inferior and worthy of humiliation and contempt, they respond accordingly often with substance misuse and violence. The traditional cultural stories of all of our peoples are antidotes to this negativity. By immersing ourselves in our cultural stories, we can turn victimization into recovery and transformation.1 |
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| #5 | 12/10/2012 | Pain, Part 2 (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) I continue to reflect upon chronic pain, beginning with some comments from my colleague, Peter Blum, who is a hypnotherapist and all around healer-guy in Woodstock, NY, and then leading into some brain science that shows that our brains are changed by the experience of pain and begin to link all kinds of unrelated experiences to that pain so that pain becomes multiply determined by more than just the sensations. | |||
| #6 | 12/3/2012 | Chronic Pain and Opiates (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) 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 | |||
| #7 | 8/11/2012 | Healing Camp Day 1: Introduction to the Concept (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) In this article, I write about our invention -- Healing Camp. For the next seven days, I am going to describe what we do and how we do it so that others can (hopefully) replicate it. The concept is simple, that people from all levels of training and walks of life can come together and be healing for each other. We will be doing a similar but shorter event in Hartford, CT, the weekend of August 17th. Check Sukhasala website. | |||
| #8 | 8/1/2012 | The Inflammatory Theory of Depression (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) 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 | #9 | 7/23/2012 | The High Cost of Medically Unexplained Symptoms (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) 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. |
| #10 | 4/9/2012 | The Debate Over Obamacare (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) I offer my views on health care financing. I suggest that we have reached a point as a society in which we are not willing to let people die in hospital waiting rooms who do not have insurance. We even have laws that require hospitals to care for whoever appears regardless of ability to pay even if we do not have any means to remunerate those hospitals. It's time to wake up to the reality that this kind of reality costs. | |||
| #11 | 3/4/2012 | Day 12 of the Australian Journey (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Day 12 of the Australian cross cultural exchange journey consisted in our leading an inipi ceremony (sweat lodge) for people associated with Mission Australia. We also learned much about some very exciting projects being conducted by Mission Australia, including the Michael Project, which is an intensive effort to assist homeless people in Sydney, and the Catalyst-Clemente Project, which provides education for disadvantaged. | |||
| #12 | 3/4/2012 | Day 11 of the Australian Journey 2012 (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Today is Day 11 of the Australian cultural exchange adventure for 2012. We interacted with Mission Australia in Sydney and were deeply impressed with their services for young people and for homeless adults. They have managed to integrate shelter with education and skills training so that homeless people become able to transition into the work force. One person told us, "I came here a prostitute, and I left an artist." | |||
| #13 | 2/29/2012 | Day 8 of the Australian Journey 2012 (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) This is Day 8 of the Australian cross cultural adventure. Today we went to the heart of the community where the elders from the Northern Territories demonstrated some of their ceremonies and procedures to the community. That included the burning ceremony for healing pain, the smoking ceremony for purification, and spear throwing. On the way back to the island, I interviewed a patient advocate from Western Australia. | |||
| #14 | 2/29/2012 | Day 7 of the Australian Journey 2012 (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Today is Day 7 of the Australian journey 2012. We are on Boole Poole in the Lake District of Gippsland. Our sweat lodge ceremony had been rained out the day before, so we prepared to do the ceremony as soon as the rain stopped which happened around 8am. I've written about sweat lodge before, as have others, most notably Bucko, author of The Lakota Sweat Lodge. It was a wonderful experience and then we hear crocodile tales. | |||
| #15 | 2/28/2012 | Day 6 of the Australian Journey 2012 (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Today is Day 6 of the 2012 Cultural Exchange Adventure in Australia. It was also the first day of culture camp at Boole Poole with the aboriginal coop. The driving rain prevented our crew from Northern Australia from doing much outside. We had planned a sweat lodge ceremony but that was cancelled also due to the rain. So instead, while we tried to stay dry, I interviewed the new doctor at the Coop. | |||
| #16 | 9/4/2011 | "Sport Injuries: Effectively Treated with Acupuncture" (Dr. Kathleen Albertson, L. Ac., PhD) Acupuncture is clinically proven to accelerate the healing of sports injuries. Integrating Western and Eastern treatment makes the most sense and can fully restore chronic and acute injuries in many cases. You often heal quickly, fully, and with improved performance. Acupuncture is commonly used for a wide variety of injuries. Read how it works and what it treats. | |||
| #17 | 7/5/2011 | Thoughts after Sundance 2011
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) I reflect upon Sundance 2011 and what I have learned. I realize that Sundance is about love and compassion and following this red road that leads to these directions. Sundance gives us an opportunity to rise to become spiritual warriors, to find all the benefits and none of the detriments of battle, to create a community of fellow warriors within which we can feel strong, and to transcend our natural limits to become more.1 |
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| #18 | 4/24/2011 | Sweat Lodge, Prayer, and Community (Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Prayer and community have been stripped away from contemporary health care. Both are sorely needed. I talk about the sweat lodge ceremony as being a laboratory for exposing mainstream healthcare practitioners to the perspective on health and the world of Native American people and show how it produces the kind of connectedness and sense of belonging that we desperately need and which is associated with greater health. | |||
| #19 | 3/21/2011 | Beyond Narrative Therapy: Day 11 of the Australian Journey
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) 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 |
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| #20 | 3/16/2011 | Still More Similar Than Different -- Day 7 of the Australian Journey
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Today finds us in Day 7 of our Australian Cross-Cultural Mental Health Journey. They lessons of these week have been very consistent -- indigenous from anywhere in the world is more similar than different. An elder proposed an answer for this. He said, "When you listen to the spirits and to nature and show respect, you get the same guidance 'cause spirits talk to each other. They know how the world should go!"1 |
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| #21 | 3/15/2011 | More Indigenous Similarities Despite Differences -- Day 6 of the Australian Journey
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) This is Day 6 of the Australian cross-cultural mental health exchange journey. Today we all experienced a form of healing used in the Northern Territories called "burning". They correct usage appears to be, "I burned her and she got well." One doesn't actually get burned, but palm bark is ceremonially placed in the area of an injury or sickness after having been made warm in a fire, accompanied by touch therapy and prayer.1 |
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| #22 | 11/7/2010 | What health treatment system treats multiple symptoms simultaneously?
(Dr. Kathleen Albertson, L. Ac., PhD) Acupuncture and herbal medicine holds secrets to returning you to your optimum vitality.
Do you want to feel dramatically physically and emotionally better? Then Acupuncture and herbal medicine is for you.
Here's 4 Reasons Why:1 |
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| #23 | 11/7/2010 | Narrative Interviewing and Behavioral Change
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) In this article, I talk about the importance of finding the stories behind behaviors that are adverse to health. Health behavior is not rational, but is guided by stories that people have about how life should be lived. Many times they do not realize what these stories are, since they are from their earlier years and are so ingrained as to be outside awareness. I show how changing story allows people to change diet.1 |
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| #24 | 9/4/2010 | The four Stages of Fatigue: Which one are you in? How can TCM combat it? (Dr. Kathleen Albertson, L. Ac., PhD) Did you know that fatigue slowly expresses itself in four stages in your body? Did you know that it crawls deeper and deeper deteriorating all of your key organ systems? Fatigue has an uncanny way of starting out as an occasional situation that we assume will go away. Often, it doesn't. We do not slow down and get the rest we need---we merely push ourselves harder. At what expense? TCM helps. | |||
| #25 | 8/15/2010 | Have You Been Told that Your Pain is All in Your Head? (Dr. Clare Albright) This article discusses how the brain can store the message of pain after an injury has already healed in the body. | |||
| #26 | 8/9/2010 | NICABM and MInd-Body Medicine
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) 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 |
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| #27 | 7/12/2010 | The First and Second Dart (Rick Hanson PH.D.) To borrow an expression from the Buddha, inescapable physical or mental discomfort is the "first dart" of existence. As long as you live and love, some of those darts will come your way. First darts are unpleasant to be sure. But then we add our reactions to them. These reactions are "second darts"--the ones we throw ourselves. Most of our suffering comes from second darts. | |||
| #28 | 7/2/2010 | Army looking at Biofeedback, Yoga, Acupuncture to Treat Pain
(Press Release) The task force visited 28 military, Veterans Affairs and civilian medical centers between October and January to observe treatment capabilities and best practices.
Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen Eric Schoomaker said his goal is to form a pain-management strategy that is holistic, multidisciplinary and puts Soldiers' quality of life first.2 |
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| #29 | 6/30/2010 | More on the Politics of Indian Identity
(Lewis Mehl-Madrona) Based upon comment on last weeks, "More Indian than Thou" essay, I continue my musings about the politics of Indian identity. I explore the fundamentalist response which argues that pure bloods are more Indian than mixed bloods and that non-status Indians have no business reading about, participating in, or even being interested in aboriginal culture. I argue that this would, in fact, allow the U.S. government to succeed.1 |
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| #30 | 6/10/2010 | The Self-Transforming Brain; Excerpt from Buddha's Brain; The practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom (Rob Kall) What flows through your mind sculpts your brain. Thus, you can use your mind to change your brain for the better--which will benefit your whole being, and every other person whose life you touch. This book aims to show you how. You'll learn what the brain is doing when the mind is happy, loving, and wise. |
