Archive for the ‘Radio Show’ Category

Video games are everywhere. Maybe you think video games are just x-box, nintendo type games, but what about all of the online video games as well as social media games such as Farmville and others on Facebook as well? Are people really addicted to video games? What does that mean? How does it affect people’s lives? Is video game addiction different from other froms of addicton? Ryan G. Van Cleave is the author of the book, “Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction”. A.J. Mahari interviewed Ryan about his experiences with video games and video game addiction along with digital addictions and his book on the on Wednesday August 18, 2010 at 7pm EST.

About Ryan:

Ryan G. Van Cleave was the 2007-2008 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-in-Washington at George Washington University. He has taught creative writing and literature at Clemson University, Eckerd College, Florida State University, the Ringling College of Art & Design, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as at prisons, community centers, and urban at-risk youth facilities.

He lives in Sarasota, FL where he works as a freelance writer, editor, ghostwriter, script doctor, and an addiction & recovery consultant. He also serves as Executive Director of C&R Press, a non-profit literary organization based in Chattanooga, TN. 

 The author (or co-author) of sixteen books, his poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have appeared in such publications as The Boston Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Clean Eating, Forbes.com, Harvard Review, National Geographic Adventures, The New York Times Review of Books, People, Ploughshares, The Progressive, Psychology Today, TriQuarterly, and Writers’ Digest.

Ryan’s work has also been featured in such books as Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry (Prentice Hall, 2000), The 15th Annual Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror (St. Martin’s 2002), Never Before: Poems About First Experiences (Four Way Books, 2005), and In a Fine Frenzy: Poetry Inspired by Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press, 2005).

Ryan’s Websites:

ryangvancleave.com 

unpluggedthebook.com 

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From amazon.com:

WARNING: THIS VIDEO GAME MAY IMPAIR YOUR JUDGMENT. IT MAY CAUSE SLEEP DEPRIVATION, ALIENATION OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WEIGHT LOSS OR GAIN, NEGLECT OF YOUR BASIC NEEDS AS WELL AS THE NEEDS OF LOVED ONES AND/OR DEPENDENTS, AND DECREASED PERFORMANCE ON THE JOB. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FANTASY AND REALITY MAY BECOME BLURRED. PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SUICIDE ATTEMPTS.

No such warning was included on the latest and greatest release from the Warcraft series of massive multiplayer online role-playing games—World of Warcraft (WoW). So when Ryan Van Cleave—a college professor, husband, father, and one of the 11.5 million Warcraft subscribers worldwide—found himself teetering on the edge of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, he had no one to blame but himself. He had neglected his wife and children and had jeopardized his livelihood, all for the rush of living a life of high adventure in a virtual world.

A fabulously written and gripping tale, Unplugged takes you on a journey through the author’s semireclusive life with video games at the center of his experiences. Even when he was sexually molested by a young school teacher at age eleven, it was the promise of a new video game that had lured him to her house. As Ryan’s life progresses, we witness the evolution of video games—from simple two-button consoles to today’s multikey technology, brilliantly designed to keep the user actively participating. For Ryan, the virtual world was a siren-song he couldn’t ignore, no matter the cost.

As is the case with most recovering addicts, Ryan eventually hit rock bottom and shares with you his ongoing battle to control his impulses to play, providing prescriptive advice and resources for those caught in the grip of this very real addiction.

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Are you normal? Do the concepts of Mental Health and Mental Illness serve any purpose other than to divide people arbitrarily and cause people shame that alienates them from themselves? Does psychiatry today, and more specifically biopsychiatry even believe that anyone is or can be normal? What is normal? Many argue that biopsychiatry – the direction the psychiatric profession is taking in defining mental illlness as “brain disorder” or “brain disease” and then seeking to treat it with all kinds of medications, many that do way more harm than good, is predicated on labeling almost everyone with something which calls into question just what disordered means. Dr. John Breeding Ph.D. was my guest on The Psyche Whisperer Radio Show, Wednesday August 4th, live at 3pm EST. You can now listen to the archived interview here. Dr. Breeding talked about, among other things, psychiatric oppression and what mental health consumers really do need to know and think more about when it comes to what mental illness is and how it can be most effectively treated and coped with if it even is what it is thought by so many people to be.

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John Breeding PhD is a counselling psychologist from Austin, Texas USA. John is director of ‘Texans For Safe Education’, a citizen’s group dedicated to challenging the ever-increasing role of psychiatry, especially psychiatric drugs, in schools. He is also active on other challenges of psychiatric oppression, and is a steering committee member of the Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST), whose website is endofshock.com . His personal website, wildestcolts.com, is a great resource on parenting, psychology and psychiatry. Dr. Breeding obtained his doctorate in School Psychology from the University of Texas.

Dr. Breeding believes in empowering natural human development, especially in children and he disagrees with biopsychiatry and its over-diagnosing and over-medicating, people generally, but even moreso children, specifically.

He is the author of three Chipmunka books which can be purchased on their site or also from amazon.com

He has written several other books on a variety of subjects. John is the father of two teenagers, Eric and Vanessa. Dr. Breeding does Public Speaking and Educational Workshops. He is available to speak or lead trainings and workshops on a variety of issues related to psychology and psychiatry. My fees are negotiable. Topics include but are not limited to: ¦Parenting and working with challenging young people -The Labeling and Psychiatric Drugging of Children – Human Growth and Transformation Psychological Distress and Natural Recovery, Psychiatric Oppression, including issues of coercion, psychiatric drugs and electroshock. You can find more information about psychiatric oppression on Dr. Breeding’s website at: Psychiatric Oppression

On Tuesday August 3, 2010, at 7pm EST, on the Psyche Whisperer Radio Show Life and Mental Health Coach, A.J. Mahari, interviewed Letricia Hendrix who is the author of  “Behind our Faces: Thoughts and Reasonings of Suicide”. In her book,  Letricia Hendrix writes about her own experience with clinical depression and being suicidal. She writes about how no one is really alone with these feelings – how you don’t have to be alone with these feelings. She also writes about hope and also focuses on how the ways that we treat each other can often have a profoundly negative impact on people and for some, to the point where they feel so bad about themselves, they just want to die. The author also stresses that many people with clinical depression who may not understand what they are feeling and why often think that the “problem” is everyone else and aren’t aware of how they feel or why they feel what they do.

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“Behind our Faces: Thoughts and Reasonings of Suicide” is a book that offers personal insight and understanding into what it’s like to just want to die, and why. Depression, mental illness, and the growing stress in life, for so many, continues to create an increase in a crisis of faith and/or hope. Letricia believes that “there are so many personal forms of hell that people impose upon each other and the personal hell within ourselves.” Too many people are stressed out and often feeling disconnected. Too many people who feel depressed and/or suicidal often fail to ask for help or to reach out for support.

Letricia Hendrix is a professional actor and graduate of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Washington, DC. She has appeared in several productions, such as HBO’s The Wire, The Vagina Monologues, and Death and the Kings Horseman at Washington Shakespeare Company. She has done industrials for companies such as A&E Television, Discovery Channel and Discovery Classroom, The History Channel, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Federal Judicial Center. Other projects include Print work, Indie films, and medical student training. Letricia believes that thoughts and feelings of suicide are on the rise. Her book offers insight into her own experience and her insightful message for others when it comes to clinical depression and feeling suicidal. Find out that you yourself are not alone with these feelings. The fast-pace of life, increasing demands, increasing stress, less time to just connect with others, often leave people feeling more isolated. Many people experience overwhelming emotions they aren’t sure how to cope with or have a mental illness. Suicide has many causes. It is on the rise. There needs to be more understood about feeling suicidal and how you can feel that way without acting upon it – feelings often do pass in time.

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Have you heard that mental illness, according to some in the profession of psychiatry (mainly in the United States) is “brain disease”? What do you think? Is it a coincidence that many studies aiding in these theories of what is known as biopsychiatry are being made on the basis of the outcomes of studies that are largely funded by pharmaceutical companies in the United States? Do you think that all psychiatrists or even all psychologists agree with this un-proven conclusion? Many do  not agree. One very well known opponent of his own profession’s all-too-common practice in recent years is Australian psychiatrist, Dr. Niall (Jock) McLaren. I interviewed Dr. McLaren on Friday July 23, 2010, at 7pm EST on The Psyche Whisperer Radio Show on blogtalkradio.com

Niall (Jock) McLaren, MD, is an Australian psychiatrist, author and theoretician. His work opposes the mainstream view in psychiatry to the extent that he argues modern psychiatry has no scientific basis whatsoever. However, he insists that he is not “anti-psychiatry,” but a committed scientist following his duty of criticizing the prevailing models in his field in order to improve it. He is the author of the two books, Humanizing Madness: Psychiatry and the Cognitive Neurosciences. 2007; and Humanizing Psychiatry: The Biocognitive Model. 2009. He is working on another book due out later this year.

“McLaren has never held an academic post and has had practically no involvement in teaching, either medical students or post-graduate trainees in psychiatry. At the beginning of his training in psychiatry, he was interested in the biology of mental disorders but soon realized that many of the claims being made by biological psychiatrists were simply not supported by the state of neurosciences. At the same time, he developed an interest in psychotherapy and delved into psychoanalysis but soon reached the same conclusion, that analysts were making claims which went beyond the available evidence. In particular, he noted the way they quoted from Freud, analysed the quote and determined it was correct.  This led him directly to the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind, as well as studies in history and epistemology. When he was accepted as a PhD candidate, he had no training or qualifications in philosophy but was required to complete several philosophy units before proceeding. His books are the culmination of a long and, he says, lonely journey. The response of mainstream psychiatry in Australia to his work ranges from indifference to hostility.  The author does not claim to be “anti-psychiatry.” As a psychiatrist with 35 years diverse experience in difficult and remote areas (including extensive work with veterans and aboriginals), he insists his interest lies in building the foundations for a better psychiatry: “A critical analysis of the logical status of modern psychiatry shows that psychiatry has no rational basis to its practice, its teaching and its research. At best, it is a protoscience.” In his view modern psychiatry is currently operating within the Kuhnian realm of “normal science.” He regards psychoanalysis and behaviorism as historical aberrations, eighty-year deviations which could have been averted if psychiatrists had looked critically at what was being offered.”

“Similarly, he argues that biological psychiatry is “mere scientism,” the inappropriate application of scientific methods and procedures to questions with no empirical content. The claim that mental disorder can be reduced to a matter of brain disorder is, he insists, a metaphysical claim which cannot be resolved by brain scans or blood tests: “The claim that all mental disorder is due to a chemical imbalance of the brain is an ideological claim, where ideology preconceives reality.” He emphasizes that the major problem with modern psychiatry is that it lacks a unified model of the mind and has become entrapped in a biological reductionist paradigm. The reasons for this biological shift are intuitive as reductionism has been very effective in other fields of science and medicine. However, despite reductionism’s efficacy in explaining the smallest parts of the brain this does not explain the mind, which is where he contends the majority of psychopathology stems from. An example would be that every aspect of a computer can be understood scientifically down to the very last atom, however this does not reveal the program that drives this hardware.” (Source – Wikipedia)

Personality Disorder – (From Wikipedia – by Paige Lovitt )

[In his book Humanizing Psychiatry] “He begins with defining personality as “the distinguishing, habitual forms of interaction between the individual and her environment in the stable, adult modes of behavior…personality just is a set of rules” and argues that previous methods of defining personality are but mere typologies (i.e., personality as described by behaviorism). Typologies do not describe or determine the roots of personality but merely put personality into groupings which can then predict future actions based on previous actions. From a psychiatry perspective this falls short because the therapist’s goal is to modify behavior by reconciling the personality and guiding it.

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However, the output of personality is not static and can vary depending upon the situation and the largely unconscious rules which guide it. An example in the book reveals “consider Mr. James Smith, a man of normal intellect and no compelling idiosyncrasies, who is sitting quietly on a park bench somewhere. He brings to his bench a personal background, a huge, rich history of events dating almost from the day he was born. His head is full of rules derived from his myriad life experiences, some of which he could tell you but most of which he couldn’t. These rules amount to his personality (note I didn’t say rules are identical with personality,; a generative mechanism is not the same as its output, of which more later). When something happens near him, his reaction is determined by a high-speed and unreportable interaction between what he sees and his unique set of rules. some of his rules are more or less fixed and won’t vary much from one year to the next, but some are more fluid, even a little unpredictable. If, today, a man comes past and asks him for money, Mr. Smith may be inclined to smile indulgently and hand over a few coins. However, another day, he may have had an argument with his wife or his boss and not be feeling so chipper; this time, the same wheedling request may elicit only a snarl to get a haircut and a job. His personality hasn’t changed, and the inconsistency doesn’t mean he has a personality disorder, he’s just being normal. Normality is a huge, multidimensional range and behavior is only disordered at the extremes.” Additionally, since personality is guided by rules coded in memory “therefore, anything that interferes with memory can affect the rules we call personality, and anything that affects current computational capacity will affect the application of those rules.”

Personality disorder is then defined, “if the rules governing a person’s life are internally inconsistent, or there are so many of them that he can’t reach a decision, or they generate disabling emotions or cause repeated conflict with his neighbors, then we say he has a personality disorder.” However, the major problem with personality disorders is that the “distorted rules give rise to the disordered behavior and generates an output state which serves to reinforce the rules. That is, either directly or indirectly, the individual’s behavior or emotions are such as to convince him that his beliefs or rules are correct (therefore creating a positive feedback loop of psychopathology, ie a vicious cycle). Of course, he doesn’t refer to them as rules; he simply knows what is right.” The author lists several examples but one of widespread significance is “I’m stupid, ugly and worthless. I hate myself.” which leads to “if my girlfriend looks at another man, she’s probably thinking of leaving me.”"

The author argues that the path of mental wellness should involve replacing destructive rules with more adaptive standards. He contends that in general religion, the Freudian model, relaxation therapy, and many other therapies fall short because they seek to “suppress the output without changing the pathological factors generating the output.”

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On The Psyche Whisperer Radio Show A.J. Mahari interviewed guest, Dr. Mark William Cochran, author of Oby’s Widsom! An Caveman’s Simple Guide to Health and Well-being. An inspirational, insightful, empowering, energetic, and enlightening must-read book.

Oby’s Wisdom!  A Caveman’s Simple Guide to Health and Well-being

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I’ll share my story of transformation with you in a just a minute…

First, let’s find out if Oby’s Wisdom is right for you. I wrote this book for two types of people. Both have one thing in common:

They care—really care—about their health and the health of those they love.

Do you fit one of the descriptions below? If so, this book is a must read for you.

1. Are you (or is someone you care about) currently dealing with a health challenge? Your particular challenge may be serious—even life threatening—or it may be a mere annoyance. Either way, you want to take care of it. Your challenge may be new to you, or you may have been fighting it for years. Maybe you’re discouraged, even feeling helpless and hopeless. Perhaps you keep hearing what I heard so many times: “You’ve just gotta learn to live with it.” (I know; that one always drove me crazy too. I never accepted it and you don’t have to either.) Maybe you’re a fighter and aren’t willing to throw in the towel just yet. Or maybe you’re tired, even exhausted, and you feel like giving up. That’s the journey I traveled; that’s where this book comes from. I learned a lot, I grew, I evolved, and today I’m thriving! If it can happen for me, it can happen for you!

 2. Are you in great health? If so, congratulations! This book is especially important for you. The lessons I learned—and that I share with you in this book—aren’t just about turning poor health around. They’re about allowing vibrant health to blossom in your life. My starting point was chronic, debilitating pain. And one of my milestones—so far—has been to run a marathon! And my health just keeps getting better. If your starting point is robust health and if you begin applying these lessons now, imagine the possibilities that will emerge in your life. Just imagine…

Empower your potential, not your problems!

(What are you focusing on in your life…?)

Empowering your potential is what Oby’s Wisdom is all about. Take another look at the title of the book. Pay special attention to the fact that it’s a “Simple Guide to Health and Well-being.” This isn’t just about curing, managing or even preventing pain or disease. You are much more than a collection of problems. You are a whole, vibrant, living human being with unfathomable potential in all areas of life, including your health. This is a book about finding and revealing the vibrant health that you already possess. You and I, and everybody we know, are designed to be healthy. I spent years believing that I would never enjoy good health again, until I shifted how I thought, spoke, acted and approached life. Rather than wallow in woe, I learned to turn on life! I traveled a long, winding, bumpy road before I finally figured that out. When I finally did, I realized that the lessons are really very simple and timeless. I’m offering you years worth of “learning the hard way,” in this one book.

 Are you making the big mistake that almost everybody else is making?

Conventional medicine is making this mistake, but they don’t have a monopoly on it. Not even close. The alternative healthcare world, as a whole, is making the same mistake. So is the government, our society and probably you, too.

Until we correct this mistake, our healthcare system will continue to be ineffective.

Until we correct this mistake, healthcare reform won’t work.

And, until you correct this mistake, you’ll never reach your peak health potential.

So, what’s the big mistake I’m talking about?

Simply put:

We’re imprisoned by IT.

In other words, we devote so much of our time, energy and resources to fighting, curing, fixing and preventing problems, that we lose sight of our potential. And the more we focus on IT, the more we trap ourselves in IT.

In my case, IT was arthritis. For you, IT may be anything from a cold to cancer, from heartburn to a heart attack, or from pounds to pimples. Our exclusive focus on IT has given rise to some unpleasant side effects:

Complexity. We have made health too hard. There are so many drugs, surgical procedures, supplements, machines, natural healing modalities, diets and exercise programs that we don’t know where to turn. There is a ton of research that proves that all of them work…and…there’s a ton of research to prove that all of them don’t work. The result is overwhelming confusion!

Helplessness. We’re faced with so many choices and conflicting theories that it is hard to figure out what to do. Wise doctors, convincing authors and slick advertisements keep us bouncing from one miracle cure to the next, always seeking that elusive silver bullet that will finally “work.” We keep running like a gerbil in an exercise wheel because we don’t know where else to go. Or worse yet, we give up.

Expense. None of these complex competing healthcare choices are free. I’m guessing that you have already spent hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars—not to mention the countless hours of your precious time—spinning in the wheel.

I am not suggesting that we never pay any attention to IT. Sometimes that’s appropriate. But remember: The most powerful and effective approach to health and well-being is to empower your potential, not your problems!

Oby’s Wisdom provides you simple, sensible guidelines to help you to stop worrying so much about IT and start taking care of you!

So, why a caveman?

(And where does the name, “Oby” come from, anyway…?)

Oby is the nickname of Obsidian J. Stone, my lighthearted fictitious depiction of a wise man from a simpler time. In this entertaining book, you will also get to know Oby’s wife, Fern, their toddler son, Scooter and their happy little dog, Proto. Their lives serve as the perfect illustration of the incredible power of Nature that allows all of us—including you—to heal. Oby and his contemporaries didn’t have a healthcare “system.” All they had were the gifts of Nature. Despite the enormous challenges of their time (and ours), the simple wisdom of Nature has allowed humanity to survive and thrive from the days of stone tools to the space age. Today, the solution to many of our modern challenges lies in reconnecting with the wisdom of Nature.

“By following this simple wisdom, I transformed myself from a nearly crippled arthritic to a triathlete and marathon runner.”

Author Dr. Mark Cochran

My story…

“I’ve lived a miracle. You can, too!”

I’ve walked the healing path myself! Mine was a long and winding journey. All along the way, IT was an unwelcome travel companion that I just couldn’t seem to get rid of, no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, IT was a real pain! I tried every trick I could think of but IT just kept hanging around. Sometimes I would shake IT for a little while, but IT always found me again. Along the way, I missed out on more than I care to think about. Recreation, play time with my growing son, sleep, happiness—all were overshadowed by IT. IT even ended a successful a career that I loved.

At age 23, I developed severe inflammatory arthritis. At the time, I was in the Marines so I had to keep myself in top physical condition. I was an athlete and I enjoyed spending time in the great outdoors. Needless to say, arthritis did not fit in with my active lifestyle. IT had to go.

At first I ignored IT, but IT just kept getting worse. So I fought IT. After all, I was a Marine. Victory was the only acceptable outcome for me. The battle raged for years. Along the way I learned Nature’s secret to health and well-being. Even after it was revealed to me, for a long time this secret remained hidden behind the dark veil of my pain. When I finally embraced and embodied the secret, my health and life finally started to take a positive turn. Since then, my health has continued to improve beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

“There’s nothing special about me.”

(Well, OK, maybe there is…)

Many people have told me that my story is inspiring but I’m always quick to point out that there’s nothing special about me. Well, actually there is something special about me. Very special. And that is true of you, too! We have all heard inspiring stories about people who have overcome terrible adversity and gone on to do great things. Accident victims who have been told they would never walk again have won Olympic medals. Cancer patients given only months to live have gone on to not only survive, but to enjoy long, productive and fulfilling lives. Other people have lost limbs or shed huge amounts of weight and then competed in Ironman triathlons. The breadth and depth of human potential is breathtaking!

And you—yes, you—have that same potential!

My journey back to health was a long and challenging one. If I had known then what I know now, it would have been a lot shorter and smoother. That’s why I wrote this book: to share Nature’s powerful secret with you so that you can unleash your potential.

In addition to true stories, Oby’s Wisdom includes many entertaining, original parables that present fresh, thought-provoking concepts in an entertaining light.

• First, of course, Oby, Fern and Scooter appear throughout the book to show how following Nature’s simple but brilliant plan is the most effective path to robust health and well-being.
   
• Winifred and Tanicus (Win and Tank to their friends) are two new business professionals whose contrasting perspectives in their quest for success—and their opposite results—serve as a metaphor to show you something that very few people know: “prevention” and “wellness” are two very different approaches to health and well-being.
   
• The Gym and the Trout Stream is a humorous story that shows how to choose the right exercise program for you—one that will lead to improved health and well-being in your life. Choosing wrong will only stress you out and lead to failure. (If you are like many others—including me—you already know this from personal experience.)
   

Oby’s Wisdom will introduce you to some new, thought-provoking ideas that will open your eyes to new possibilities in your life and stretch your thinking about health and healing. I call them new, but really, they’re timeless. Oby knew all of this stuff. Not many people understand this wisdom anymore.

Among these illuminating concepts are:

• The Basic Truth. Has anyone has ever shared “The Basic Truth” with you? I know your doctor hasn’t. It is the single most important thing you need to know for designing the healthy lifestyle you want. This will become your foundation. I’m not going to tell it to you here; you’ll have to read the book. (But it is in the free excerpt that I’m offering below.)
   
• Turn on life! What is your primary approach to health? If you’re like most people, it is intervention. Maybe you throw in some prevention, too. They’re not too different from each other—they both use “problems” as their starting point. Neither intervention nor prevention are focused on life! We have been doing everything backwards for too long now. It’s time to turn things around! The entire second half of the book teaches how we can turn on life—as individuals and as a collective.
   
• The True Nature of Healing. What does “healing” mean to you? For most people, it means “getting better.” In truth, healing is much more than correcting problems. Oby’s Wisdom teaches you how to go beyond getting better, and embrace healing as a lifelong process of change, growth and personal evolution.
   
• What Wellness Really is. Wellness is a popular buzzword these days, but what does it really mean? Not many people know. Conventional doctors don’t. Not many alternative healers know, either. Now you can learn!
   
• And (of course) others…!

All of it is fun, lighthearted and easy to read and understand!

For much more information on this wonderful book please visit Oby’s Wisdom!

From amazon.com

Five Star Reviews for Oby’s Wisdom! A Caveman’s Simple Guide to Health and Well-being (Paperback)

This is an awesome book. So simple and fun to read yet packed to the brim with profound wisdom for living on this earth. Everyone should read it at least once. Scooters Wisdom contains wonderful advice for parents of babies and young children and I am planning to give this gift to every new mother. I had many ah-hah moments and couldn’t put it down. Thank you, Mark!  — By  Ruth 

Oby’s Wisdom was a really simple read filled with basic truths on health. Reading this powerful book reminded me to trust in the power of my own being to heal and function as I am capable of doing. Based on chiropractic principle and knowledge, I would recommend this to my practice members, family and friends. Oby’s Wisdom combines all of the vitalistic philosophies, and captures the “good stuff” in a way that most anyone will be able to relate to. –  By  April E. Warhola 

I love the book and plan on purchasing several copies to give to friends. What an incredibly simple, yet powerful message. This is a must-read for anyone who truly wants to experience the most out of life. At a time when “healthcare” has become so convoluted and manipulated, Oby’s message is easy to understand, beautiful, and crystal clear. Amazing how profound he is. I mean if even a caveman can do it … (!) — By  Enjoy Life! (Hartford, CT)

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We live in stressful times. Each one of us has our own struggles in life. Everyone, at some point or other, in their lives, is looking for ways to increase their happiness, sense of peace, and to create as balanced a life as is possible. Spirituality, for most people, plays some role in their understanding of their journey in this  life. Key on this journey of life is learning to forgive – to forgive yourself and to forgive others. What is forgiveness? What makes forgiveness so important? Life Coach, A.J. Mahari, interviewed David S. Wilde to mine his wisdom and experience on this topic. A central ingredient in all healing and well-being. 

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David S. Wilde, CSW, JD, CEAP is a Life, Relationship and Spiritual Coach, a Psychotherapist, an Attorney (inactive), as well as a Published Writer, Speaker, Radio Relationship Expert

Guest and Inspirational Speaker.  Practicing law as  a New York trial lawyer and litigator for ten years was a spiritual springboard for David from a paradigm based on the very western emphasis on competition, judgment, and scarcity to one based on forgiveness, compassion, and abundance. 

David’s passion is in utilizing his clients’ sense of their “Spirituality” where and whenever possible, in helping them heal their relationships, their careers, and their lives.   David has over 18 years of experience in Coaching, Counseling and Psychotherapy and has specialized in working with the gamut of relationship challenges: couples counseling, parenting, family issues including blended families, separation and divorce, dealing with in-laws, job and career challenges, and workplace/organizational issues. As a Psychotherapist, he has also employed alternative methods (such as EMDR, EFT, hypnotherapy, etc.) in successfully helping many suffering from mental health issues and addictions including  sexual addiction.   David was the featured writer of an interactive relationship advice column in a holistic magazine reaching over 70,000 readers in Central NJ and Southeastern PA.  He ran A Course In Miracles study group, leads a weekly support group for separating or divorcing individuals, and has given talks and led workshops on Spirituality and Relationships.  David’s website (david@davidswilde.com) offers published articles on a myriad of relationship and spiritual topics as well as a link to his blog on relationships and creating positive change in our lives.

As a Spiritual Coach, David helps individuals understand the metaphysical (i.e. energetic) power behind the largely misunderstood concept of “forgiveness” as the most critical tool for healing relationships, purifying minds, and thus allowing the manifestation of “miracles” (another highly misunderstood term).  He is currently writing a book on the power of forgiveness.  His practice, teachings, and writings are informed and inspired by the principles of A Course In Miracles, the (not-so-secret) Law of Attraction, and that of other spiritual paths.   

David is also a Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP).  As such he has been a Consultant for Managers and Line Staff of Fortune 500 Corporations, has led Supervisory and Staff Trainings and Workshops on various topics including Stress Reduction and Communication Skills, and performed Critical Incident Stress Debriefings for the survivors of traumas ranging from bank robberies to September 11th.  He worked for two of the largest behavioral health care companies in the world, and was a milieu therapist on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

David holds an MSW from Hunter College in New York, a JD from Brooklyn Law School, and a BA in Psychology from Clark University in Massachusetts.  He provides Life, Relationship, Career and Spiritual Coaching by phone and has offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

David’s website can visited at: david@davidswilde.com

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On Tuesday June 29, 2010 I had the pleasure of interviewing Merri Lisa Johnson. In this interview available to be listened to now in our show archives on our  Blogtalkradio Show Page  you will also hear the author read a few excerpts from her book and talk about her experience and thoughts about Borderline Personality Disorder.

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Girl in Need
of A Tourniquet

Memoir of A Borderline Personality

An honest and compelling memoir, Girl in Need of A Tourniquet is Merri Lisa Johnson’s account of her borderline personality disorder and how it has affected her life and relationships. Johnson describes the feeling of “bleeding out” — unable to tell where she stopped and where her partner began. A self-confessed “psycho girlfriend,” she was influenced by many emotional factors from her past. She recalls her path through a dysfunctional, destructive relationship, while recounting the experiences that brought her to her breaking point.

In recognizing her struggle with borderline personality disorder, Johnson is ultimately able to seek help, embarking on a soul-searching healing process. It’s a path that is painful, difficult, and at times heart-wrenching, but ultimately makes her more able to love and coexist in healthy relationships.

About the Author

Merri Lisa Johnson believes in bold lines, strange truths, off rhymes, and the art of the glimpse. After pursuing various graduate degrees in colder climates, Johnson returned to the southeastern US, where she performs a curious balancing act as author, professor, and Women’s and Gender Studies program administrator. A newlywed lesbian-after-­marriage, Johnson currently resides in South Carolina with her part­ner Stace and their two loyal shih tzus.

Johnson’s previous publications include three anthologies in feminist cultural studies — Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire, Flesh for Fantasy: Producing and Con­suming Exotic Dance (with R. Danielle Egan and Katherine Frank), and Third Wave Feminism and Television: Jane Puts It in a Box — as well as essays published in Sex and Single Girls: Women Write on Sexuality, Her-space: Women, Writing, and Solitude, Homewrecker: An Adultery Reader,and Fucking Daphne: Mostly True Stories and Fictions. 

 Johnson blogs at borderlinephd.blogspot.com

Praise for Girl in Need of A Tourniquet

“Merri Lisa Johnson takes you, at breakneck speed, through a brilliant young writer’s chaotic life and a remarkable mélange of important psychological theory. The result is vivid, heartbreaking, and deeply feminist.” —Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Look Both Ways, Abortion & Life, and co-author of Manifesta and Grassroots

“Girl in Need of A Tourniquet is an artful, brave memoir that invites compassion from those on the outside of borderline personality disorder and inspires hope for those on the inside.” —Randi Kreger, author of Stop Walking on Eggshells and The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder

“With the eye of a detective, the hand of a surgeon, and the heart of a postmodern fabulist, Merri Lisa Johnson relentlessly pieces together the truths of her borderline behavior, diagnosis, and recovery. Unflinching, ruthless, and always compelling, Girl in Need of A Tourniquet shows us the furiously beating, all-too-human heart under all the blood.” —Daphne Gottlieb, author of Kissing Dead Girls

“Lisa Johnson may have written the first truly lyrical book-length memoir. Girl in Need of A Tourniquet is a fiercely intelligent, formally inventive, emotionally searing account of borderline personality disorder.” —Susannah Mintz, author of Unruly Bodies

“This book delves with intelligence and insight into the chaos of a disordered mind, leaving the reader at once astonished, sometimes baffled, and englightened.” —Nancy Mairs, author of Waist-High in the World

From: merrilisajohnson.com

From amazon.com:

“An honest and compelling memoir, Girl in Need of a Tourniquet is Merri Lisa Johnson’s account of her borderline personality disorder and how it has affected her life and relationships. Johnson describes the feeling of “bleeding out” — unable to tell where she stopped and where her partner began. A self-confessed “psycho girlfriend,” she was influenced by many emotional factors from her past. She recalls her path through a dysfunctional, destructive relationship, while recounting the experiences that brought her to her breaking point. In recognizing her struggle with borderline personality disorder, Johnson is ultimately able to seek help, embarking on a soul-searching healing process. It’s a path that is painful, difficult, and at times heart-wrenching, but ultimately makes her more able to love and coexist in healthy relationships.”

kaylakavanagh.com where you can purchase the song used in our guest’s intro, “On the Borderline” and other music by the very talented Kayla Kavanagh.

© The Psyche Whisperer Radio Show, June 21, 2010

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Psyche refers to soul, mind, breath, and life. Within each individual psyche their is an un-tapped gold-mine of awareness that can and will teach each one of us. Truth lives deeply within the psyche. A spiritual truth. In mythology, psyche means or refers to butterfly. Butterfly is symbolic of transformation. For years in my life now, I continue to be surrounded by butterflies. The butterflies seem to come to me in times when I am in aware process of transformation in my life. It is spiritual. It is an awe-inspiring experience for me. I believe that these butterflies don’t just happen to start flying around me in some coincidental way. I think this is an experience calling me to a deeper awareness of purpose and meaning in a spiritual way.

How can we recognize spiritual messages? How can we open to being willing to engage the spirit as it comes to us – as the psyche unfolds more about what it is that we need to know? Are you aware of your journey? Are you living your life in a personally aware and enlightened way or are you living more in the chaos of an every day life that is going on all around this deeper level of life – this spiritual reality that we are all connected to through the universal archetypal psyche of humankind.

Do you trust this inner-wisdom? Are you embracing it? Are you engaging it or are you avoiding it, denying it, running from it. Are you not willing to be open to the purpose and meaning that in its profound spiritual nature comes to us to teach you? Are you living a life of protecting yourself or are you open to learning. We can’t do both at the same time.

Do you know who you are? Do you want to know  more about who you really are? Do you realize that the degree to which you are connected to your authentic self inside is the degree to which you can truly connect to others?

Life has so much more meaning and purpose than 9-5, money, and material possessions. Life is about more than the physical. It is about more than the narrow things we can sometimes be focused on that keep us stuck block our paths of further transformation and cause us to be out of balance.

Are you living your life a human-doing or a human being? Are you actively aware and engaged with your beingness or are you soley invested in all that you want to do, need to do, “should” do?

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Do you realize how empowered you really can choose to be? Listen to A.J. Mahari in this episode of the Psyche Whisperer Radio Show in the blogtalkradio player in the left hand menu or by going to The Psyche Whisperer on Blogtalkradio.com

A.J. Mahari is an Author, Life Coach and Mental Health Coach.

© Touchstone Coaching and The Psyche Whisperer, June 16, 2010 – All rights reserved.

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A Man and His Experience with and Message about Mental Illness

Ronald Paul Corbin is a 33 year old man who was diagnosed in 2008 with Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. Ronald lives in Indiana, U.S.A. He wants to share his experience with mental illness. He has been able to find a group for support for his bipolar disorder but hadn’t yet been able to find therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder.

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In Ron’s Own Words:

“My name is Ronald Paul Corbin. I am 33 years old, and was diagnosed with B.P.D and Bi-Polar in 2008. I am a father of 4 boys, 2 of which have autism. Much of the last 8 years of my life has been that of raising awareness in one form or another. Most of it being for people with Autism, and now for those with mental illness as well. Eliminating the stigmas and gaining public support are at the forefront of the fight for reform and health care concerns.

I am also a musician, artist, writer, and video producer. These hobbies have been a great outlet for me in coping and recovering. My hopes are to reach out to all peoples with mental illness or disorders, and let them know they are not alone. Millions suffer in silence, I choose to put myself out there in order to send a message of hope. Even though I feel like giving up on some days, I make it to the next to fight the good fight.”

In his video below Ronald’s purpose is to convey and express to others how he experiences daily life with mental illness.

Ronald’s message to people with mental illness, at the end of this video is an important one. It is one that needs to be remembered when you are having a rough time or feeling depressed. It is a message that most people with mental illness reinforce often for each other. It is a message that those with average mental health need to embrace in the letting go of the stigma that leaves so many with mental illness alienated, isolated, and feeling as if they are all alone in the world. To not be all alone each and every person with mental illness needs to know and feel that they are valued, respected, and not judged as being the sum-total of whatever they happen to have been diagnosed with.

© The Psyche Whisperer – A.J. Mahari 2010 – All rights reseved. (Except Video Content)