so what do YOU link?

Today is World Mental Health Day; I don’t actually have any (mental stealth perhaps), but to all the people who do – mazel tov, you fine and fortunate fucks! My other announcement is that I have given myself a surname and it is haasbroek. It means rabbit trousers (rabbitpants!) and it really is a surname. When Napoleon’s army occupied the Netherlands, Dutch people only had informal surnames with their roots in things like their occupations, much like Cooper, which means barrel maker and so on. Some of the Dutch thumbed their noses as Napoleon by adopting ridiculous surnames and haasbroek is one of them. My neighbour’s middle name, by the way, is Fokkerot – Fuck a rat. I kid ye not. So Diane said this thing the other day in my comments and cracked me up on a day I didn’t think I could laugh at all. Oh btw I cobbled together all the images in this post and as ever, feel free to grab any if you want to.

tribal wisdom

Before I start lobbing links at you, I want to thank you Dyane and roughghosts for the very, very cool links you mailed me. I’d be really delighted if anyone wanted to share the good stuff they find; if you have my email address (not the one starting with n, that one turned into a spamcatcher), use that, otherwise my contact form will work fine too. I’m featuring the fuck right out of the first link; I got so fascinated by it. I’ve decided to make my comments AS BOLD AS GOLD, MOTHERTRUCKERS, because I’m tired of putting them in italics. I don’t like italics, my profession forces me to use them. Brace yourself, there will be some bold thingies that have to be both bold and italic. Ye gods and little fishes, I may as well install comic sans. Sidenote: all words in caps lock on my blog are the fault and responsibility of Sassafrassasasscasmic, the Queen of Caps lock.

If you only click one link, make it this one, simply because it’s radically different from all the other links I’ve ever dumped. I’m not even slightly convinced that he’ll find a cure for mental illness, but I’m also not questioning the physical stuff. Indian yogis have been doing that sort of thing for many, many years after all. His motive for wanting to cure mental illness is good and the reason behind it is tragic.

The fecking link I’m urging you to click keeps going in circles right back to this post, though I’ve checked it numerous times. So here, completely naked without an html to its name, thoroughly tried and tested, is the fucking link: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/meet-wim-iceman-hof-the-guy-who-endures-freezing-temperatures-in-shorts/story-fnlsv2b8-1227475414427 – “Wim “Iceman” Hof, the guy who endures freezing temperatures in shorts. “Wim wants to use his body as a laboratory and hopes his techniques will lead to a cure for mental illness and trauma.”

I read some science on the matter and an interview, but then the rabbit hole beckoned (damn that red pill). He did an AMA, which was, er, fascinating.

Q: Are you able to prevent yourself from getting a boner at will?
A: Yes, of course. Somebody tried to seduce me whilst I was naked outside and she was touching me. When I do my yoga, no one can distract me. I am completely in control.

And on a more relevant note…

Q: I am very interested in learning your method of meditation but it seemed pretty expensive online. Is there anywhere I can find a reliable introduction to it, like a beginners guide intro type deal? Also I was very interested in what you said in the video about your meditation being more effect then conventional mental health therapy with a therapist because I want to become a therapist and if there is a better way to treat mental illness I would rather learn that. Could you expand on how your method of meditation could help treat mental illness
A: The amount of money is relatively cheap. We also have a free online mini video course. We do research on mental illness, we have a full professional team for that. I have many therapists who are learning my method who come to see what I do. This method is revolutionary. People should take it up.

Then I got bored.

this is how i amuse myself.

I absolutely love the next one up, I urge you to take a listen even if you feel intimidated by classical music. Srsly. Btw there’s a time limit on its availability.

Live from Wellcome Collection’s Henry Wellcome Auditorium, psychiatrist and concert pianist Dr Richard Kogan demonstrates how some composers’ mental illness influenced and shaped their music. In his first public appearance in the UK, Kogan’s main clients on the couch are Robert Schumann – perhaps the most troubled of all – and Sergey Rachmaninov, whose composing career was saved by medical intervention.

Thanks for that one, Fryane, and for the following one too, which will give you a good explanation for the previous one.

Music, Madness and Medicine: A Visit With Richard Kogan, M.D

And the man I call rough “why did I ever marry that bastard” ghosts, sent this one. Just the title made me salivate.

Cracking the skull open: Most of our organs can be treated as repairable machines. Why can’t we treat mental illness by simply fixing the brain?

“The mysterious, unfathomable gap between psychology and neuroscience bedevils not only psychiatry, but all attempts to understand the meaning of humanity.”

I was very pleased to read the next item, because I’d begun to feel as though I was the only emo on earth who wasn’t baying for Ted Hughes’ blood. The article contains evidence, not proof, but my opinion has never wavered. No matter how shitty a husband Hughes may have been, I reckon Plath was hard work too, and this quote says it all for me.

“Hughes did not kill Plath. Nor did the other man. Mental illness killed her.”

Sylvia Plath’s suicide note – did it name a final lover?
The received wisdom is that Sylvia Plath killed herself after Ted Hughes left her for another woman. But, as Jonathan Bate reveals, the story of her last letter changes everything.

It doesn’t have Demi Lovato in it and it’s muggle-free too. Something worthwhile for mental health day.

People With Mental Health Issues Explain Why You Should Treat Them With Dignity: As most people with mental illness will know, dignity is something they receive in far too short a supply, whether that’s people making decisions for them or assumptions made about their mental faculties.

No dignity, no doubt baby.

I can’t even read the word ‘dubstep’ without thinking of that Stephen Fry clip where he says in his oh so plummy accent, “dubstep is my life”.

Benga: ‘Nobody wants to come clean, let alone an artist’ Last year, the pioneering dubstep DJ and producer was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia. Now, he’s speaking out on mental health issues in clubland.

Rebecca needs to acknowledge the bipolar skills of beautiful empathy and amazing talents in bed…

“It’s hard because people don’t understand what it’s like to have this illness,” says Rebecca. “There’s no pattern to it and you can never predict how you will feel in a week’s time.
“Friends don’t understand when you bail on them and loved ones feel helpless. Oh and did I mention the guilt you feel with having to bail on your friends and making your loved ones feel helpless?!”
Woman With Bipolar Disorder On Why She ‘Feels Sorry’ For Potential Boyfriends.

Mhm the next quote sounds veeery familiar.

Nature or nurture – how about both? With my blue eyes bloodshot and wide, I read down the list of symptoms one by one. Tears wouldn’t stop streaming down my face. I had been awake for almost 48 hours, obsessively researching my freshly diagnosed bipolar disorder.

Here’s my take on research into bipolar disorder:
Yay we found another biomarker.
Huzzah we might have found something in the brain structure, but not really.
We have high hopes for a new drug that will give you a whole new and exciting array of side effects.
This topic requires more research.
Yay moar grants, suckers!

Scientists discover biological markers for bipolar disorder. According to the Siberian scientists, a change in blood protein levels may indicate a mental illness.
Israeli Hope For People With Bipolar Depression. The small Israeli pharma company NeuroRx is testing a novel compound of two existing drugs to quash suicidal feelings.
Deciding Which Bipolar Patients Need Antidepressants Remains Challenging.

Jeanne Goosen, South African poet.

Fuckwit of the Week

Klitschko: “Fury is a bipolar psychopath”. Dr. Steelhammer diagnoses Tyson Fury as being an insecure bipolar mess, but says he has the perfect treatment plan for him – which includes punching his face on Oct. 24th.

Bipolar and psychopath cannot exist together, surely? Illogical, because, you know, emotions. Thanks for encouraging stigma etc etc arsehole etc here we fucking go again. Not that I give a toss about boxing, but I hope Klitoris-chko loses that fight. Knobhead. According to other “news” items, both Romania and Malaysia are bipolar nations.

tribal wisdom