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Sigmund Freud said something about how, "as 'civilization' spreads, so will neuroses." The levels of mental dis-ease in this modern world are quite high. As other parts of the world adopt our hyper-consumerist, consumptive, competitive and various unsustainable ways, they also are seeing rises in depression, anxiety, alienation, isolation and so forth.
While the corporate drugs like Prozac and others have provided relief for some people, others have experienced negative side-effects. There is also a growing concern over the massive marketing effort behind the popularity of these drugs, and the supplantation of other approaches to therapy.
Right-wingers like Sean Hannity, and left-wingers like Thom Hartmann have both spoken on their radio shows about the problems with these pills.
Hartmann has written about alternatives, as have many others.
Here are a few resources for people who aren't comfortable with being on Prozac for life, or are seeking other approaches to dealing with children who may need help.
Healing ADD : Simple Exercises That Will Change Your Daily Life Thom Hartmann is a sort of Renaissance figure. His daily radio show is helping people retain both their mental and political sanity.
Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being Walking has long been prescribed for putting one's mind at ease.
The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child Hartmann suggests that ADD type behavior, if appropriately directed, can be a gift.
ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to Fulfillment in the Business World Hartmann, himself an entrepreneur, feels that ADHD can lead to business success.
The Anti-Depressant Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox Dr. Peter Breggin is regularly attacked by Big Pharma. He represents a threat to their market growth.
Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry" Breggin has testified before Congress on some of the threats from taking corporate psychoactives.
Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications If someone does decide to stop taking corporate drugs, a person needs to be careful about how they do it. Here he provides some advice.
Talking Back To Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug This was the breakthrough book for Breggin. Oprah recommended it on her show.
The War Against Children of Color: Psychiatry Targets Inner City Youth Breggin feels poor children from ethnic communities are being prescribed psychoactives at particularly alarming rates.
Reclaiming Our Children: A Healing Plan For A Nation In Crisis Breggin understands the problems with many of today's youth. He offers a radical alternative to healing.
The Heart of Being Helpful: Empathy and the Creation of a Healing Presence Breggin feels our society oftentimes impairs our sense of empathy. Here he talks about how and why we could get it back.
Plato, Not Prozac!: Applying Eternal Wisdom to Everyday Problems The wisdom of philosophy has long been used to deal with our psychic conundrums.
Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives Dr. Glenmullen is one of many PhD's who have joined with Dr. Breggin to critique Big Pharma psychiatry.
A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac An interesting overview of the field.
Natural Prozac: Learning to Release Your Body's Own Anti-Depressants Other approaches to release chemicals that lift one's spirits.
Nature's Prozac: Natural Therapies and Techniques to Rid Yourself of Anxiety, Depression, Panic Attacks, & Stress Nature often provides relief for our problems.
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder Being in nature can provide a cure for many.
Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind This is an exciting and growing field of therapy.
Potatoes Not Prozac, A Natural Seven-Step Dietary Plan to Stabilize the Level of Sugar in Your Blood, Control Your Cravings and Lose Weight, and Recognize How Foods Affect the Way You Feel Some studies show a connection between our diets and our moods.
Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship Between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression (Medicine, Culture, and History) The effort to sell psychoactives to U.S. citizens and, increasingly, the rest the world has been massive and very sophisticated.
Prozac-Free: Homeopathic Medicine for Depression, Anxiety, and Other Mental and Emotional Problems Homeopathy is an interesting field of study.
Alternativas para el Prozac: Remedios naturales para la depresion Un libro para nuestra amigos que hablan espanol.
101 Reasons to Avoid Ritalin Like the Plague Several dozen reasons why Ritalin is problematic.
Teaching the Restless: One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed This author has done a lot of good work on innovative schooling around the country.
Ritalin Is Not The Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD It's a shame Dr.'s like Stein don't have the funds to reach kids and their parents like the makers of Ritalin do. Concerned people need to share this information themselves.
Speed, Ecstasy, Ritalin: The Science of Amphetamines As this author points out, Ritalin is very much like speed.
Nature's Ritalin for the Marathon Mind: Nurturing Your ADHD Child With Exercise We need to bring back recess and play; for kids and adults.
The Road Back: How to Get Off Drugs Safely How to get off these powerful psychoactives.
Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas Shamans have been healers for millenia, and are experiencing a resurgence in popularity today.
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman (Compass) I heard Some interviewed on "New Dimensions" radio. She's a wonderful therapist.
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest Interestingly, many pharmaceuticals have their roots in herbs. It seems the corporate world simply wants a patented version of drugs so they can make money off of what is otherwise freely available.
Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power, and Healing among Chilean Mapuche I just heard a story on NPR about the Mapuche people. There's a big, amazing world out there. Getting to know it better would probably be very healing.
Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism This book inspired my own trip to Peru, to take part in an ayahuasca tea ceremony. I'm not sure I'd recommend that for everybody, but I found it to be an amazing experience.
Instant Healing: From Cutting-Edge Scientific Research to Ancient Rituals and Holistic Medicine, Powerful, Drug-Free Methods to Help You Heal Your Body and Stop Pain NOW! Other alternative approaches. These are drug free.
Grass For those who feel drugs may be useful, marijuana is the medicine of choice for millions of people around the world.
Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence
The Benefits of Marijuana : Physical, Psychological & Spiritual
Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine Grinspoon is a Harvard PhD, so, these sorts of books are not being written by Cheech and Chong caricatures.
Marijuana Medicine: A World Tour of the Healing and Visionary Powers of Cannabis A fascinating global overview of cannabis use.
Mom's Marijuana: Life, Love, and Beating the Odds
Waiting to Inhale It's so unjust that Eli Lilly and other drug companies can sell tons of drugs, while drugs that companies don't have patents on are demonized (through endless anti-cannabis ONDCP ads) and criminalized.
The Corporation We should make ourselves aware of the harm that unrestrained corporate power can cause.
Frontline: The Merchants of Cool Our kids, and ourselves, are being manipulated in a thousand and one ways.
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Here is a wonderful magazine for "girls and their dreams."
Teen Voices I think media resources like this can be very healing. Maybe we need more subscriptions, and fewer prescriptions.
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This magazine helps people to protect their "mental environmnet" from the depredations of Big Business.
Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood Pollack is brilliant.
The Sun A very thoughtful journal.
Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life Another thoughtful person that I learned of through New Dimensions Broadcasting.
Yes! I think "Yes!" magazine can remind us of our power to effect positive change in the world, and thus help us overcome despair.
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