Holistic Recovery from Schizophrenia

One of the Most Mysterious Solfeggio Frequencies 528Hz

Today’s post is taken verbatim from Meditative Mind https://meditativemind.org/528hz-miraculous-healing-frequency/

528Hz frequency is believed to have profound effects on the body and mind. It is one of the most mysterious solfeggio frequencies which research has found to reduce stress and promote relaxation. Lets deep dive into it.

Since the early 1990s, a curious thing has been happening in the world of alternative health and healing. A new “frequency” has been gaining popularity as a potential cure-all for a wide range of conditions and ailments. This frequency is known as the “528Hz frequency”, and it is said to be part of a larger set of frequencies known as “Solfeggio frequencies”. These frequencies are said to have special healing properties, and the 528Hz frequency is said to be particularly effective for improving sleep quality and reducing stress. But what is the 528Hz frequency, really? And what is the evidence that it can actually help heal the body? In this article, we’ll take a look at what we know (and don’t know) about this curious phenomenon and this mysterious frequency.

What is the 528 Hz frequency?

The 528Hz frequency is one of the “Solfeggio frequencies”. These frequencies are a series of tones that were supposedly used in ancient Gregorian chants. These tones were said to have special healing properties, and the 528Hz frequency is said to be particularly effective and has been gaining popularity in recent years as a potential alternative therapy for a wide range of conditions.

What note is 528 Hz?

You can not play 528Hz frequency in the standard or concert tuning where A is tuned to 440Hz. To play 528Hz, you will first need to tune your instrument to A = 444Hz. Many DAWs and tuners give you ability to tune to a different reference frequency. Once you have tuned your instrument to 444Hz, playing note C will give you 528Hz frequency. If you are looking to compose music with this frequency, make C as the root note of your melody. Here are some of the popular music composed in 528Hz.

  1. John Lennon : Imagine
  2. Dreamscape for Positive Transformation

Benefits of the 528Hz frequency

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the 528Hz frequency can offer a wide range of benefits which include:

– improved sleep quality

– reduced stress and anxiety

– increased energy levels

– improved concentration and focus

– improved digestion

– reduced pain and inflammation

Does 528Hz really work?

In 2017, researchers from Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics in University of Tehran, did a research on the effects of 528Hz frequency on human cells and found that frequency of 528 Hz increased cells viability about 20% and the level of ROS production was reduced up to 100%, and noted that 528Hz sound wave has shown some strange effects such as increasing the ability of repairing human DNA.

Another research carried out by Center for Advanced Kampo Medicine and Clinical Research in Tokyo, Japan, measured the effects of this frequency on the endocrine system and found that  Tension-anxiety and Total Mood Disturbance scores were significantly reduced after exposure to 528 Hz music, while there was no significant difference following 440 Hz music.

Yet another research in 2018 found that sound waves with 528 Hz frequency in 100 dB intensity induce testosterone production in brain by enhancing StAR and SF-1 and reducing P450 aromatase gene expression. Furthermore, it also reduces total concentration of reactive oxidative species in brain tissue. Prolonged exposure to this sound wave showed reduction of anxiety related behaviours in animals

Links to the full research publications cited here are listed below

What do we still not know about the 528Hz frequency?

Despite its growing popularity, there is still a lot we don’t know about the 528Hz frequency. Furthermore, more scientific research is needed in this area to really establish that 528Hz and for that matter other solfeggio frequencies are able to achieve DNA and cell regeneration in humans. So we would say this is an area which requires further research.

528Hz Music

When it comes to music and sound healing, you should always trust your ears and intuition. If you listen to something, and you find it healing, relaxing, soothing to ears and mind, then that’s the one for you.

Don’t let frequencies decide what feels good and uplifting for you. This suggestion may be counter-intuitive to what we do, creating music based on sound healing frequencies everyday. But at the end of the day it is not the frequencies that matter, but the impact the music has on you.

And as a musician, we very well know that if the music is not coming from the heart, it does not matter which frequency we are using. The vibrations with which we make and play music are passed onto our listeners.

Here is 528Hz Sleep Music track from Meditative Mind’s YT Channel, we hope this will help you. And we hope this article was worth your time.

Research Links

  1. Effect of 528 Hz Music on the Endocrine System and Autonomic Nervous System
  2. The Effects of 528 Hz Sound Wave to Reduce Cell Death in Human Astrocyte Primary Cell Culture Treated with Ethanol
  3. Influence of various intensities of 528 Hz sound-wave in production of testosterone in rat’s brain and analysis of behavioral changes

Missed diagnoses led to misdiagnoses

I’ve been corresponding with “Joyce” on and off for five years. In my opinion, she’s one of the world’s most devoted mothers, in her case because of the impressive amount of medically complex information she has been forced to teach herself  in order to unravel the mystery of what was causing her son’s physical and psychiatric symptoms.

This is her story, told in her own words, about her son Thomas.

Sky-high

My son Thomas was a high-achieving, responsible, active young man who possessed grit, focus, and determination. Since the age of eight, neighbors requested his help pet sitting or maintaining their lawns which allowed him to learn the importance of work and how to manage money. He started flying power planes at the age of ten, earned his BSA Eagle Scout rank at the unbelievable age of twelve, completed his glider training hours and tests in order to gain his glider pilot license at age sixteen. He has served as Governor’s Page and Senate Page, volunteered for local political campaigns, attended conferences in Washington, DC where he met prominent people, and traveled overseas for a missions’ trip. He apprenticed with a graphic designer, and received classical training as an artist. His career goal was to go into the Marines as an officer to fly. 

Today, at age 36, Thomas lives at home with his family, unable to complete his college studies, unable to participate in meaningful work or volunteer, and he is unable to engage in mutual relationships or have a social life. As you will discover by reading this post, he has recently started on a treatment plan that appropriately targets his symptoms.

Diminishing Dreams

Beginning when he was in his early twenties and by degrees throughout the years Thomas’s symptoms slowly presented themselves. There were small comments about headaches that he thought came from not wearing his glasses to observable symptoms of him dragging and struggling when he practiced his runs for Civil Air Patrol advancements, after summer basketball training camps, and after his gliding training. He required an increased amount of sleep to function. As time passed, Thomas would communicate that when questioned, he had the answer, but he could not get it out quickly enough. 

I realize now that it was during the winter of 2010  that two things happened that were indicative of where his life was soon headed. He was in his second year, second semester of the Great Books class for western civilization college credits and he had trouble signing in one day. After he finally signed in he crashed with fatigue and fell asleep in the classroom. At another time during that same winter, in the early hours of the morning while talking with me, Thomas displayed what I observed as disorganization as he tried to communicate. The topics were true, they were just not connecting. I was so concerned as this was out of the ordinary and very unusual that I thought it best to get him to a doctor, who told me to take Thomas straight to the emergency room. That’s where the worst nightmare of our family’s life started. A superficial physical and the most general blood test showed nothing significant, Thomas was whirled off to the psychiatric hospital for what was supposed to be a further evaluation; however, it turned into forced injections and forced medication; if he didn’t comply, the hospital would not discharge him.

What ensued were mandatory physician and psychologist visits. Both clinicians disagreed with the schizophrenia diagnosis and encouraged Thomas to stop the medication. He did. However, he was not aware of nor was he informed about withdrawal symptoms and the need to get off the medication gradually. Thomas made it through that initial struggle and remained home and unmedicated for two more years, unable to carry on with his life except for occasional social activity. Gradually he abandoned everything: Classes, goals, and friends. There would be no phone calls, no cards, no visits. One day, a new nightmare began. Thomas had posted on social media and what ensued was a note retrieved from the mailbox with directions for him to follow. He was intentionally set up, entrapped, and then falsely accused of a crime. By court order, Thomas had to participate for one year in mandatory treatment before the charge would terminate. I later managed to have the charge expunged from the public record. 

Psychiatric Diagnoses

Psychiatric diagnoses are not based on objective, scientific evidence. They are labels placed upon a person from subjective observation alone. There are no laboratory tests, period. The diagnoses are social constructs designed to benefit the various entities that service this population. What this means is that the diagnoses given to Thomas over the years: Bipolar, Psychosis NOS (Not Otherwise Specified), Schizophrenia, and Schizophrenia-disorganized; and the mandatory “treatment,” would provide no clue to the underlying reason for his deterioration, which remained unanswered and unexplored.

Despite all of these diagnoses, Thomas was left with a fatigue that worsened, his communication difficulties left him struggling to interact with others because he was no longer being understood, his mental clarity receded into confusion, and he began having recurring hospitalizations with neuroleptics being the only solution forced upon such a highly fragile person. I continued to tell the doctors that the medications were exacerbating his symptoms, but to no avail.

The Journey Begins in Earnest 

Having seen zero progress from the standard and conventional medicine,I began to explore alternatives, making it clear to each new doctor that neuroleptics were not an option in Thomas’s case. They were more than willing to comply with my request.  I consulted: Chiropractors; a doctor of osteopath; an integrative doctor who focused primarily on intravenous (IV) therapy and glutathione pushes, along with loads of supplements and homeopathic remedies; several naturopathic doctors; a hematologist; specialist MDs, many of them using a set nutrient program given to all of their patients. When I occasionally voiced  my concerns or had questions about their treatments, these practitioners either screamed at me, ignored me, judged me as an unsuitable healthcare power of attorney (because I was against the medication), and I was told on two occasions that Thomas could no longer be seen by them. When they could see that the proposed solutions did not prove helpful in Thomas’s case, the practitioners reverted to the standard, conventional solution—prescription medicine. The underlying reason for Thomas’ initial and continuing symptoms had still not been determined.

Leave it to me

It eventually dawned on me that no other person was going to give the time and effort required to find the reason for my son’s health issues unless it was me. Consequently, I committed myself to meticulously reading and researching everything I could. The internet was an invaluable source and ally: blogs, research studies, diagrams and pathways, recovery testimonials, social media groups—any material that would give plausible clues for why a vibrant young man with a promising future had it slowly slip away from him. 

Learning how to gather, organize, and interpret reliable information bit-by-bit from conventional test results—such as, the Complete Blood Count with Differential; functional tests like the Organic Acids Test (OAT), and the NutrEval; and from the 23andMe genetics test results interpreted by a Strategene report (which is not only a beautiful work of art, but it offered a boatload of information about my son’s genetic predispositions)—all this I used to carve out a more scientifically tailored path for Thomas.

Additionally, steps were taken to increase an awareness of the damage created by and from prescribed medications through resources like: Your Drug May Be Your Problem by Peter Breggin and David Cohen; and Drug Muggers by Suzy Cohen, and the 2013 blog post from the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) entitled  “Antipsychotics: Taking the Long View,” which included statements like the following:

“…Antipsychotic medication, which seemed so important in the early phase of psychosis, appeared to worsen prospects for recovery over the long-term… remaining on medication long-term might impede a full return to wellness.”

Reading the NIMH Director’s blog post shocked and angered me. I thought, after all these doctors have jammed this “treatment” down the throats and jabbed it into the arms of our loved ones, wrecked the balance of their neurotransmitters with no scientific proof for any of their hypotheses, NOW you tell us that the prospects for full recovery are slim to none? The anger and betrayal I felt intensified my determination to find a better way. 

Clues to Likely Causes

My big “Aha!” moment came in March, 2022 after The Guardian| UK News, informed its readers that Bruce Willis was retiring from his acting career due to a diagnosis of aphasia, with Trudy Scott, a certified nutritionist, commenting:

“I wonder if anyone has spoken to Bruce about vitamin B12 deficiency which also causes aphasia?”

My suspicion, recorded long ago in hospital records, that Thomas’s struggle to retrieve nouns and verbs when speaking was similar to aphasia anomia (and which was later one of Thomas’s official diagnoses), made me hurriedly retrieve the detailed notes that I had collected over the years. What became apparent was that Thomas’s aphasia symptoms were associated with both a B12 deficiency and inadequate intake of choline stemming from the vegan diet that he has followed since childhood as a way of eliminating his chronic ear infections due to a milk allergy.

The vegan diet is devoid of animal derived foods that would normally supply adequate levels of B12 (red meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, seafood). At the time that Thomas started on the vegan diet, I was not aware of the need for added B12. Plant based foods simply do not include enough B12. As the vegan diet gained in popularity beginning in the 2010s, this information became more widely known.

The B12 deficiency that comes about through adherence to the vegan diet is not detectable through laboratory testing, moreover, a person can be asymptomatic. One of the markers used to determine a vitamin B12 deficiency is elevated levels of homocysteine, a toxin. Vitamin B12 is vital for methylation, a process of adding a methyl group (CH3)  to molecules like toxins that you want to eliminate, and to molecules needed in the body.

Reviewing previous laboratory tests, I discovered that Thomas did, in fact, have an elevated homocysteine level. Unfortunately, the practitioner at the time did not mention the elevated homocysteine and what that meant, nor did he discuss a B12 deficiency. Thus, my son’s symptoms persisted. 

Another problem with the vegan diet is is an inadequate intake of choline, (a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine). Acetylcholine is crucial for learning, memory, sleep, and overall brain health. Low levels of acetylcholine lead to an over-active sympathetic nervous activity, which means adrenaline/noradrenalin excess –this helps to explain the neurosis, mania and other bizarre behaviors that occur when acetylcholine levels become deficient.

Absolutely the Wrong Treatment in Thomas’s Case

Furthermore, to complicate the matter, anticholinergic drugs which include neuroleptics, are substances that block the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine at synapses in the central, peripheral, and parasympathetic nervous systems. More specifically, anticholinergic substances block the cholinergic muscarinic receptors canceling the regulating function of the parasympathetic nervous system. The result is an unopposed sympathetic nervous system that can function normally, but the non-functioning parasympathetic nervous system that would normally regulate it is unable to perform. This leads to an over-active sympathetic nervous activity. 

Manifestations of an over-active sympathetic nervous system can be associated with: Risky or reckless behavior (because the person tends to think ‘less’ or to not think their actions all the way through); cognitive impairment; general disorganized thinking; slow or confused thinking; memory impairment; impaired concentration; information processing difficulties; fatigue that worsens with physical and/or mental exertion; impulsivity; social isolation; easily angered; low threshold for criticism, to name a few.

Hiding in Plain Sight

I’ve never hidden from the treating practitioners the fact that Thomas had been following a vegan diet. It was always front and center, right in plain sight for them to consider. I’ve constantly pointed out to them that the neuroleptics given to Thomas only worsened his condition and we needed to look outside the box here. “He cannot hold his marbles together, even when he’s on these drugs,” I often remarked. Why didn’t the practitioners begin with the vegan diet as a red flag alert?

Missed Diagnoses Lead to Misdiagnoses 

Because the vitamin B12 and choline were not part of his diet, Thomas’ genetic weaknesses, dependent on those nutrients, further impaired his functioning. But more importantly and consequentially, by overlooking the pitfalls of a vegan diet it’s clear that a medical diagnosis was missed; an avenue that if it had been explored, acknowledged, and addressed initially, would have provided a simple solution.  All the neuroleptics, and all the damage and disruption they caused to Thomas’s well-being, would not have been used or even needed. Moreover, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is, in theory (but not in practice), supposed to be arrived at after determining that the symptoms are not due to other factors such as substance abuse, medication (the neuroleptics themselves), or a medical condition (in Thomas’s case a B12 deficiency and aphasia anomia) 

Would this be a legitimate reason to consider the diagnoses—misdiagnosed?

The Road to Recovery

My years of medical sleuthing has resulted in more favorable outlook for Thomas and hope for his recovery is cautiously growing. He has slowly tapered off the neuroleptic, with the practitioner’s approval, and has reached stability. He’s undertaken the necessary dietary changes, added the correct amounts of vitamin B12 and supporting nutrients for restoring acetylcholine and is becoming aware of, and addressing, his genetic weaknesses. I hope that he is finally on a path that will enable him to slowly re-enter life’s journey in a way that can be productive and fulfilling for him. 

Can the Wim Hof Breathing Technique help schizophrenia?

Short answer: Who knows? No one appears to be investigating this resilience boosting and acid lowering technique for people with schizophrenia.

Long answer: Worth a shot.

Why am I interested? Our family’s functional medicine doctor recommended it to Chris as just one tool in set of tools (supplements, homeopathy, and targeted exercise) to reduce his anxiety and fatigue, help him become more active, and help him into a person who avoids talking about oranges when the subject is apples.

Our whole family is into the Wim Hof method, which can also involve taking cold showers to boost resilience (stress response) and increase neurological function.

For more information about how The Iceman’s practices can help you, click here

Can PAN/PANDAS occur in adults?

Apparently, it can. It could be called “schizophrenia”.

UPDATE ON CHRIS

My son Chris, who is 37, recently learned that he has Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS). He was 20 when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is typically diagnosed in males between the ages of 15 and 25 and in females between 25 and 35, with the incidence seemingly higher in men. It is diagnosed by observation only (a doctor’s opinion), not through blood tests. Its prevalence has remained stubbornly steady over the years and in all countries around the world at around 1 in 100 people.

As publisher of this blog, Holistic Recovery from Schizophrenia: A Mother and Son Journey, trust me when I say that many of the other mothers who have corresponded with me over the years said that their sons had roughly the same experience as my son. They were “normal” until late high school or part way through university. Most had healthy, uneventful childhoods –occasionally a mother thought she could pin down the start of the problem to a headache or a flu when her “child” was in his late teens or early twenties. My son’s last year of high school was marked by deteriorating school grades and increasingly odd behavior. Through recent experience and in hindsight, I recognize how closely his symptoms resemble PANDAS.

PANDAS was not on my radar in 2003, the year Chris dropped out of university, and, to be honest, what little I read later about PANDAS I dismissed because he didn’t appear to be its poster child, emphasis on CHILD. He didn’t have problems in school as a youngster, there was no overnight onset of anything, he didn’t exhibit OCD-like behavior, and to the best of my knowledge, he never had a strep infection. Although he was indeed an adolescent when his problems started, his days of seeing a pediatrician pretty much ended with his series of early childhood vaccinations. I simply did not identify my six foot tall teenager with a neurological illness popularly associated with elementary school age children. 

My son’s motor tics (a symptom of PANDAS) are a relatively recent addition to his colorful palette of symptoms; they didn’t begin until he was 30. I learned about three years ago that motor tics are associated with OCD. I had never considered that possibility. Now I see it.

I was convinced that the long term use of medications caused this distressing new development. The tics would wax and wane; the antidepressant introduced to defeat them seemed to work only in the beginning. Here’s the thing about the medications used to treat the symptoms: They soon become the great confounder —is the weird behavior due to the underlying condition or the drugs?

I kept up with the latest theories, becoming quite the informal expert on schizophrenia without being able to find the key that would unlock its mysteries and heal my son. News of the growing research on the link between schizophrenia and the autoimmune system occasionally found its way into my blog in its final years. I guarantee you, during that time you would not have found PANDAS in the blog’s search engine.

In 2018 I retired this blog, having run out of “good ideas”; nothing in the medical world was pointing to anything that would change my son’s life for the better, let alone quickly.  The relatively recent focus on the autoimmune system was too much of a far off promise to result in immediate help for him. We both retired to Florida.

Shortly before moving to Florida, I published The Scenic Route: A Way through Madness. In my memoir  I detailed every little thing about my son’s pediatric health that I thought might be a clue as to how he ended up being diagnosed with schizophrenia. I began to think that recent research into a possible link between autoimmune disorders and schizophrenia had some merit, so to help publicize the book, I approached Susanna Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire: My Year of Madness, to write a blurb. She graciously accepted. Ms Cahalan, you may recall, was twenty something when she was diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis, discovered by Dr. Joseph Dalmau in 2007. Apart from the dramatic seizures that landed her in the hospital, the symptoms she describes in her book sound an awful lot like schizophrenia, She had the immense good fortune that her parents insisted to her doctors that she did not have schizophrenia, she had something else!  She was in the right place, at the right time, with the right parents.

I didn’t stop with Susanna Cahalan. After the book was published I sent copies of The Scenic Route to a well-known British expert in autoimmune and psychiatric conditions and to a well known integrative doctor in the United States, asking them if any symptom described in my book rang a bell with them as being autoimmune related. None did, apparently. I find that strange given the fact that a possible link between schizophrenia and the autoimmune system was already creating a bit of stir. The reason for their lack of interest, I believe, is that doctors and researchers work in silos. None talk to each other, and memoirs written by mothers like me are not on their bedside reading table. (More of these books should be. In my opinion it is parents’ banding together who are forcing the experts to climb out of their silos and talk to each other.) 

How, then, at the advanced age of 37, did my son end up being told by a functional medicine doctor, via a Zoom call, “you’re on fire, man!” What changed? 

Despite my being wary of theories and therapies that purported to help (to be clear, many interventions did, just not enough), I decided to give it one more try. The functional medicine doctor prescribed a battery of blood, urine, and saliva tests because he strongly suspected that my son has PANDAS. One of the test results revealed ASO antibodies at the very high end (220) of the optimal range (= 200 or below), indicating an active streptococcal infection that has neurological features. The doctor commented that normal test results are closer to zero even if a person has had a previous strep infection in their life. A second test revealed elevated blood brain barrier proteins (HHV-6)  at ten times the normal level which demonstrated the presence of an opportunistic infection that can creep in when there is already a bacterial infection affecting the neurology of the brain.  As the doctor explained, HHV-6 is a type of virus only seen because a brain has been weakened.

I can say with the confidence born of lived experience that arguably, my son meets all of the 23 symptoms on the PANS/PANDAS rating scale. I’ve no idea if the course of treatment that the doctor prescribes will dramatically help my son.

If, in fact, the functional medicine doctor in correct and that there is relief for his symptoms and the chance that he can eventually resume a normal life, why does mainstream medicine still resist doing blood testing when presented with a case of “schizophrenia”?

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PANDAS

Journeying Back to Self

Chris and I wish you and your family a wonderful New Year.

It’s been fifteen years since Chris was first hospitalized and more than that since he began to show symptoms of psychosis.

Today’s is my last post.

Thank you friends and readers for joining this blog and sticking with us. I started this blog in 2009, and recently welcomed my 150th follower. Thank you for your comments, thank you for personally getting in touch with me and sharing your own stories.

Chris is much older than when we started out and I’ve said and done all that can be said and done. The blog will still be here for reference and entertainment purposes only. My New Year’s project is to improve the categorization of my posts to make the blog more accessible. Pick a post, any post, and you may find something informative or just fun to read. If you would like a condensed version of the journey, do consider purchasing my book. I can guarantee, you’ll love it.

Just when I thought Chris had plateaued, something surprising happened. Chris’s motor tics have greatly diminished. I’ve noticed, too, that he is taking more initiative, such as going regularly to the gym and by speaking up for himself. The newfound initiative is a welcome sign because the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (motivation/initiative) are the hardest to treat and are what keeps most people with serious mental illness from working or studying.

This sudden shift appears to have been caused by his being prescribed an antidepressant back in August for his OCD symptoms (in addition to the Abilify he has been taking on and off at low doses for years). We learned that an antidepressant could reduce the tics. I’m now wondering if his problem all along has been some form of OCD and underlying depression that got labelled schizophrenia. These labels (and the drugs that are prescribed to treat the symptoms) are increasingly interchangeable (but not always effective).

Here’s what I know after fifteen years, and it’s not much. The treatment for what is called serious mental illness is woefully hit and miss. Nobody “gets” it. Psychiatrists haven’t much of a clue about what to do, and, despite years of trying, neither have I. We are at the mercy of the latest research results that may or may not help our relative. I had understood for many years that antidepressants were not recommended for schizophrenia, as it was thought that they could drive the person into mania. My husband was all in favor of trying one, Dr. Stern and I were not. Nobody even raised the possibility of OCD in Chris’s case.

I had no idea that motor tics were a sign of OCD and I’m guessing that this nugget of information is something that has come out only within the past decade. I recently stumbled across a page from the Mayo Clinic linking motor tics to an underlying symptom of schizophrenia. (Never heard that one before. Have you?)

I don’t know if these promising changes will last. Who knows what Chris’s future holds? I’m optimistic. He’s has a lot to give.

Parting thoughts

  • Trying anything is usually better than trying nothing. (In my experience, all interventions, coming from a place of love, lead to small improvements).
  • Learning good communication skills is essential.
  • Be an advocate for your relative. When it comes down to it, you’re on his side, not the doctor’s. Leave no doubt that you want what your relative wants and you will try your best to make it happen.
  • Holidays bring added stress.
  • Drugs have their place, but keep them as low as possible and never stop searching for a drugless alternative.
  • Not all doctors are automatically wrong. Be open to what they have to say.
  • Take an interest in this most intriguing condition. Enjoy the mystery.
  • Lighten up. The journey has its moments.
  • Look after your own health.
  • Live in the moment.

Someone who did have a clue about what is called mental illness was author Hermann Hesse, my go-to person for his reflections about journeys and discovery. Chris and I leave you with this:

“One must find the source within one’s own Self, one must possess it . Everything else was seeking — a detour, an error.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

On book reviews and book clubs

Dear readers,

I’m asking a favor of you that will help inspire a more positive view of schizophrenia and get this healing message into the hands of a wider audience. My target audience is mothers of adult children who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. How do I attract their attention? Mainly through book promotion on my part and book reviews and recommendations on your part.

The Scenic Route: A Way through Madness has been stuck at five reviews for over a year now and sales are slowing. Mind you, the five so far are great reviews –just not enough of them to attract the attention of more readers who will contribute to the virtuous cycle of greater awareness through more reviews generating greater awareness.

Here’s what reviews of my book will do for potential readers:

Lessens their time and risk: A review of my book saves the buyer time and money by decreasing the risk that my book is not their cup of tea. The more informative a review is (what you liked, what message you took away, etc. ), the more confident the reader will be in knowing whether it’s right for them. Maybe in the end they will decide not to read the book, but they will at least know about it and perhaps even recommend it to readers who are “right” for the book.

Greater chance of finding what they want through visibility and buzz: Book reviews give books greater visibility and a greater chance of getting found by more readers. More book reviews will also help amplify my book’s reach among book clubs, bookstores, blogging communities, etc.

You may protest that you are not a writer, but I disagree. I know most of you are decent writers because I’ve corresponded with you over the years and your eloquence when putting “pen to paper” (figuratively speaking) is humbling. You write well because you are experts in how schizophrenia has impacted your own life story .

Thinking abut writing a review but stuck on what to say? How about a paragraph or two on a particular treatment approach that appealed to you, or on some random event in the book that struck your funnybone, or on how your experience compares with mine.

Speaking of book clubs: I would love to see my book on your book club’s list for 2020. Contact me for information about group discounts.

Thank you,

… Rossa

Let go, let go, let go

I’ve been busy of late in places other than the blogosphere. Like going to my 50th high school reunion, visiting friends and family in Ontario, taking on the role of chair of the communications committee in my gated community here in Florida.

I’ll start with the reunion, spread out like an Indian wedding over a wonderful three days in rural northern New York State. In a small town small school, everyone knows everyone, the years didn’t matter. We picked up with each other almost where we left off fifty years ago. At the banquet on Saturday night in the Catholic Church Hall I was honored to receive the Alumnae of the Year award for my writing efforts to promote a more holistic approach to the treatment of schizophrenia.

What was not so amazing was the number of people in the room who came up to me later to share how they have been personally touched by schizophrenia. One man told me that my speech evoked a flood of memories of a favorite cousin who disappeared years ago. Another woman approached me to tell me that her daughter is doing graduate work in psychology, focusing on schizophrenia. Someone else wanted to order my book for the local library. Schizophrenia touches many lives.

The community newsletter that I’m putting out once a month has given me a chance to get to know my neighbors more. In theory, it should be easy. I just work off a template and wait for board members and others to send me their news. In reality, there are always small problems that need fixing. It’s vying for time with this blog.

A few weeks ago, Chris and I began attending a metaphysical church where the emphasis is on awakening to the inspiration and guidance of spirit, focusing on healings, mediumship, and embracing the teachings of all Master Teachers.

The church also offers courses based on A Course in Miracles, the words of Jesus transcribed over many months by Helen Schucman, a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University. The book was published in 1975 by The Inner Peace Foundation. It’s essentially an instructional device in how to love (become whole), by letting go of the fear and delusional thoughts to which our ego clings. “It teaches that the way to universal love and peace—or remembering God—is by undoing guilt through forgiving others. The Course thus focuses on the healing of relationships and making them holy.”

only the mind can be sick, only the mind can be healed. Only the mind is in need of healing; we must change our mind about the “reality” of illusions; there is no such thing as “sin” (there are only errors (in thought) that we must correct; Illness of any kind may be defined as the result of the view of the self as weak, vulnerable, evil and endangered, and thus in need of constant defense; while truth is simple, it must stil be taught to those who have already lost their way in endless mazes of complexity. This is the great ill.

And what then is my error in thought in this journey of healing? That I did not put full trust in the healing power of the Universe (God, if you will) to let go of my fear that the result would be inferior to the result that I wanted. My ego knew this was a error that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to correct one day. I carried on nonetheless, endlessly trying new therapies that got closer to God in many respects (music and vibration) without callng on him by Name, in the hope that I almost singlehandedly could lead Chris to taking responsiblity to heal himelf. I was giving an intellectual nod to God that he obviously was important, except I wasn’t treating Him like he was. Where was the mysterious hand of God in all of this?

Recalling Level 5 of Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt’s healing pyramid, where I started off years ago:

Level 5:
The 5th level is the plane of self-healing. I call this level
the “spirit body”. The only relationship that exists here is the
relationship between the individual and god. The fifth level
is this part of God that reaches into us and wants to learn and
experience the physical word through this individual with all
his or her flaws, strengths and idiosyncrasies. A physician,
psychologist, or guru who claims that he can be helpful on
the 5th level is being arrogant, misleading, dangerous and
simply wrong. Anyone who truly has experienced this level
will have an attitude of deep respect and understands that it
cannot be explained using language. People that talk often
about “god”, “angels” and other spiritual experiences are suspicious to me. People too deeply involved in the “New Age”
often have significant unresolved family issues or guilt (that
is either taken on from another family member or “earned”
through one’s own mistakes). The pain and necessary healing work is often avoided by involving oneself in extensive
spiritual practices that never seem to resolve the real issues.
Treatment:
Any exploration of this level is left to the patient.
As practitioners we have no right to intrude on this plane.
An attitude of great respect and humbleness is appropriate. Interfering would be saying: “the part of God that
works through me ( the practitioner) is more important or
healed then the part of God you (the client) represent”.

I’m still around, I’m still interested in helping Chris where I can, it’s just that I can’t do it all, have never wanted to do it all, and I’m more and more interested in finding my own peace by turning this over to Chris and his Father.

Let go and let God.

Today’s obituary

Daniel Johnston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a 2005 documentary film about American musician Daniel Johnston. It chronicles Johnston’s life from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his experiences with bipolar disorder, and how it manifested itself in demonicself-obsession. The film was directed by Jeff Feuerzeig and produced by Henry S. Rosenthal

Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 10, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its “pure” and “childlike” qualities.

Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald’s in Austin, Texas.His cult status was propelled when READ MORE

Psychosis and psychic powers

Schizophrenia and the Supernatural

By Esmé Weijun Wang January 30, 2019

To say this prayer—burn this candle—perform this ritual—create this salt or honey jar—is to have something to do when it seems that nothing can be done.”

One winter morning I shuffled a deck of oracle cards with my eyes closed, and I realized that despite the blackness, I could still see what was happening in front of me. Here were the details of my hands, with the movements of each finger, every twitch of every narrow knuckle, made plain; I could see the cards, which were not clear enough to distinguish completely, but showed their blurry, colorful faces in broad strokes. I decided to further test this ability by holding colored pens, randomly chosen from a pouch, before my shut eyes. The pen test indicated that I could also “see” the colors behind my lids—imperfectly, yes, but well enough to grasp whether I was looking at a light color or a dark one, and I called out the hot-pink one immediately.

Journaling and drawing divinatory cards had both become routine parts of my life earlier that year, when I was fighting psychosis and struggling to make the world cohere; I’d found that tarot and oracle cards offered a decent framework for structuring a fractured existence. read more here