Feels right to me Dave. So why? and How? From an anthropological standpoint I have to think it is all about our loss of connection to land/earth.
I feel as though I could speak (write) for hours about my personal experience of this, I have always felt connected to my “ancient brain” for survival on the savannah.
I wonder if anyone else also feels this connection here and has felt as though participation in “modern” society is fake, filled with stuff and nonsense?
Our brains are not supposed to work at such a rapid pace, unless we are under extreme stress (like a lion hunting our tribe- BTW this is how I feel ATM about the state of the world and protecting my family).
Our bodies are meant to wake with the sun and sleep when it is dark. We do respond to natural fire, natural sunlight, working outdoors and eating real food. There is a deep biological/chemistry to these things.
We are meant to learn from watching our elders, experimenting and taking risks and from respecting our elders, the traditions and practices of the tribe. Activities and customs focused around the seasons exist for learning and survival, we learn when it is fun and memorable. The Aboriginal people of Australia have taught their children this way for thousands of years.
Aboriginal men and women pass through rituals as part of learning to hunt and learning about survival on the land. Hunting does release important chemicals in the brain, just the same as being thankful for food reduces hunger and helps with creating the feeling of a full belly.
This is the stuff that makes sense to me.
I have to think it is all about our loss of connection to land/earth.
Word.
I agree with Dave. Being treated as objects to be manipulated as part of a world wide profit machine is dehumanizing.
It just doesn’t matter! Whether the murderer is still shooting people or has barricaded himself doesn’t matter at all. Because the point is, there are still living victims slowly dying, and delay will kill them. The human body is resilient, and will fight desperately to maintain homeostasis as long as possible and preserve blood flow to the brain. There is a limited time window for this. Any decision to delay confrontation with the murderer is also a decision to let victims die.
Medicating Young People/ The Real Reasons Driving The Violence
Chris, please read anything by Dr Peter Breggin, an old school psychiatrist who has been beating this drum for decades. his book Medication Madness (2009) is a classic. also Talking Back to Prozac, The Anti-Depressant Fact Book, Guilt, Shame & Anxiety, Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, Talking Back to Ritalin, and most recently Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey.
if you aren’t familiar with Dr Breggin, you should be!
Spelling Of The Town
Chris,
Minor nitpick: as a native Texan, I cringed hard when I heard you actually attempt to pronounce the incorrect spelling “Ulvade” which came from some random person’s tweet/meme (1h9m23s). The correct spelling is “Uvalde” which I’m a little surprised you didn’t remember given how much of the news about it I think you read.
Sad
It is very sad to hear about domestic violence. Very often women agree to tolerate this for money reasons. They are afraid that they won’t survive without a job. But I would rather accept a smaller-paid job and read https://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2020/10/psychology-of-open-relationships-who-benefits/ about dating a guy on a budget, rather than stay with a monster.
Coffee is definitely well known to affect ADHD. Somehow the stimulant effect acts on the brain and gives a calming/focus effect, neurotransmitter release etc… There’s lots of information available on the internet. My son will sometimes have coffee before bed - it works. We also have melatonin some nights, and herbal teas other nights. I personally will use chocolate for the caffeine kick if I want to get something done efficiently in the mornings as I don’t like coffee.
The Complicated Subject Of Adhd Medicine
I have an (almost) 10 year old son, diagnosed with ADHD and atypical autism. School brought out the absolute worst in him, and it ended with him refusing to go, having total meltdowns and in the end throwing furniture around him and get held down by the teachers on the floor (super dangerous). I live in Sweden where homeschooling is actually illegal and parents risk heavy fines and/or having social services being involved and potentially loss of custody.
We warned the school when he started that he needed some additional help and resources, breaks to move around, and extra support to focus, but they didn’t take us seriously until he started throwing furniture. He’s too “high functioning” for special schools in smaller settings so we where pretty much stuck.
Our last resort was ADHD medicine. The first medicine he tried was a medicine that isn’t an amphetamine derivate, we figured that would be better. We did get warned about potential side effects, and I read the pamphlet that came with the meds as well. The experience was never the less horrifying. My poor seven year old became suicidal - he would open drawers and take out knifes and threaten to kill himself. I’ve never seen anything like it and it was heartbreaking and scary as hell. We immediately took him off those meds, and he was given something else.
Today, he takes a very low dose of an amphetamine derivate. It really does work for us. He’s now old enough to explain how he feels so we do know they help. He can focus and does well in school. He can sit down at home and read a book. He can pay attention to what someone else is saying and hold a conversation (which isn’t really possible without the meds). We periodically take him off the meds - during longer school breaks, but that usually means chaos. He gets very angry, very quickly about things that we can’t realistically control. He explains that his brain goes into overdrive without the low dose of medication, and he can’t focus on anything.
In a culture where he would be out running in the woods all the time some of this would potentially not be a huge problem. But in a culture where he’s expected to sit quietly and listen to others there’s no other way out than medication. So it’s complicated. We don’t see any negative side effects of the medication right now. He’s a much happier boy, and he can maintain friends without getting constantly angry and burning all his bridges. Again, in more forgiving society that accepts differences in personalities, this could’ve maybe worked out on its own, but that’s not the reality we live in.
Medicating my child was a very hard choice. I really don’t see another option - we tried everything else we could think of, within the legal boundaries in the country I live in. We even homeschooled for most of first grade because the child refused to go to school and we where put in a position where the school threatened us with social services and fines. Homeschooling was fine by the way - he was writing and reading better than the other kids his age, despite his challenges. At this point, he feels better on the medication than off it. I do believe that we’re being too generous with diagnosing kids, and medicating them. But I also believe that there are cases where it really helps the child. A kid with these types of issues that my son has, grows up feeling like a failure alot of times. Gets yelled it by a world that doesn’t understand his reasoning. I wish we could get to that without drugging the kid - but opting out isn’t an option right now.
Re: Texas Teen Shooter
No info on whether he was under psychiatric treatment with antidepressants, stimulants??
Re: “the Real Reasons……violence”
Appreciated the presentation and dissection of impact of pharmaceutical abuse. I wish Chris, you would do a similar presentation of common sense, safe gun ownership and gun rights rewrite- since you voiced your own. Are you concerned of upsetting the cart of your followers who may disagree with you?
Psych Meds And Violence
Chris, I enjoyed listening to the podcast- "The real reasons driving violence. " You’re quite correct, in many cases violence is driven by medication itself rather than due to any underlying emotional or mental disturbance. The prescribing information supplied by the manufacturers and approved by the FDA is quite clear that anti-anxiety antidepression and antipsychotic medications and some of the medicines for ADHD may cause anger agitation irritability aggression and violence including homicidal and suicidal acts. Further as you point out in the podcast, it is acknowledged and certainly I have seen in my patients, that it can be very difficult to discontinue these medications, with symptoms from attempted discontinuation making the very symptoms that were meant to be treated. I have seen this in a number of my own patients. Every time I hear of a young person committing mass murderer, the first thing I think about is whether he was on psych meds. As you point on your podcast, physicians are supposed to warn patients and families if they are in danger of the potential for these adverse events so that meds can be discontinued rather than continued or doses increased. Also as you point out, the most dangerous times can be when changing blood levels of the medicine, including instituting increasing or tapering doses or discontinuation. I am glad you’re getting this important message out to your members. https://bit.ly/2Vbria4
This Is Not New
America’s love affair with guns and violence is not new and not linked to ADHD drugs, Satan worship or commies in the White House. America has had more mass shootings and serial killers than any other developed country for many, many years. It all seems so much worse now because of media coverage.
Instead of whining about doctors overprescribing, try banning guns and putting most males on thorazine from the ages of 12 to 30. Or put them in the military and let them all loose on brown and tan people…oh, wait, they do that already.