the chemistry of emotions part 2

Neurotransmitters play a critical role in modulating emotions in the brain and serious problems can result if neurotransmitter levels are not optimally balanced. Depression, anxiety or mood swings can all be caused by a lack of a balance in neurotransmitters. Drug therapies given to individuals suffering from these disorders aim to restore that balance. For …

call to awakening: reframing mental distress as a potential catalyst for positive change

These films are about our individual and collective awakening and how we can use crisis to awaken and find our calling in order to make the world a better place. The series of short films were inspired by and made during the COVID-19 pandemic, about our times and how to navigate a changing world. They …

is meditation the reason this monk’s brain is eight years younger than his body?

While there's no fountain of youth, a Tibetian Buddhist monk may have tapped into the next best thing, according to an analysis showing that his 41-year-old brain actually resembles that of a 33-year-old.  The monk, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (YMR), a renowned meditation practitioner and teacher, began meditating at age 9. The "extraordinary number of hours" …

wisdom of trauma

“Every human has a true authentic self. Trauma is the disconnection from it and healing is the reconnection to it.” Dr. Gabor Maté Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root …

dysregulation, disconnection, self-defeating behaviours: the heart of CPTSD

Why do SO few people make real progress recovering from the long term effects of childhood trauma? If you ask me, it’s because of the misguided belief that telling the story of what happened in the past — if we just probe the memories enough and generate enough emotions around those memories — will somehow …

seeking therapy for complex PTSD? here’s how to look

So many people who went through trauma when they were kids are still waiting to find real help for the trauma-related problems that continue to affect their lives. This is a tragedy.   Are you one of those people? I was. I didn’t know any other way to DO something about the intense struggles I was …

post traumatic stress disorder

There was a time when the diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma disorders would fly under the radar. It is not helpful to place the fault on mental health practitioners for PTSD’s misdiagnoses as different mood disorders or dissociative disorders. Over the past decade, those working in the mental health field have …