The Patch Adams Film with Robin Williams was a huge success in 1998 and documented the work of the health care revolutionary Dr Hunter “Patch” Adams who actually ran a free hospital about 40 years ago and his since been sharing insight on the type of radical shift needed in today’s medical practice.

I recently had the honor to see and capture on video a talk by the *real* Patch Adams here in Oregon where I live. Here it is – let me know what you think about this with a quick comment here or on youtube:

Robert Whitaker is one of the most articulate scientific authors which I’ve had the pleasure to read recently. His recent book Anatomy of An Epidemic definitively supports the notion that pharmaceutical drugs prescribed for anti-depression and other conditions have fueled the epidemic of bipolar disorder we face today.

Only decades ago, in the pre-pharmaceutical era the outcomes of Psychiatric therapies were statistically better than they have been with the introduction of “breakthrough” pharmaceutical drugs for treatment of Schizophrenia and other mental illness. Whitaker breaks down the pseudo-science at the heart of so called “Biological Psychiatry” and the notion that a chemical imbalance is the cause of mental illness and a pill is used to restore homeostasis.

Here is a video I created from Robert Whitaker’s presentation in Eugene, Oregon:

 


The paperback of his book “Anatomy of an Epidemic” will be out shortly on August 2nd but don’t wait; the beautifully published hardcover is so cheap on Amazon and linked here on the right it’s hard to imagine wanting to save $4 on the softcover – this is a title you’ll want to share in your library!

And once you get the Whitaker book and you are ready for natural solutions which really work instead of pharmaceutical drugs (I know – you’re probably already with me there already check out this Encyclopedia of Medical Breakthroughs – click here. (this link opens in a new window so you can keep watching/listening to the video)

Just noticed that they extended this until the end of the day – midnite specifically tonite. This film is very much worth your time to watch. It puts the whole cancer industry into perspective as to how far they will go to prevent legitimate alternative therapies from your access. This doctor reminds me of Dr Emanuel Revici although I’m not convinced his work is quite as revolutionary as Dr Revici’s work was.

What do you think?

This stuff has been going on for decades, quite a shame that it’s usually snuffed off as some conspiracy…

Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious Business from BurzynskiMovie on Vimeo.

Dr Burzynski’s work is very important to be accepted as real medicine. We must make sure he doesn’t turn into the next Dr Revici, his work being massively suppressed and reputation compromised through repeated assaults on his work. He has made some amazing discoveries that can help a lot of cancer patients right now. His work is being kept from people who need it only to keep the cancer machine going. Quite a sad truth.

I’d sure like to see a full length film about Dr Emanuel Revici’s work also, hint hint

Let me know what you think of this documentary…

More info…

Effectiveness of transcranial magnetic therapy in the complex treatment of alcohol abstinent syndrome

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2008;108(9):57-61

Authors:

Fifty-four abstinent alcohol-dependent patients have been studied. Twenty-nine patients (a main group) received, along with basic therapy, a physiotherapeutic treatment (transcranial dynamic magnetic therapy) and 25 patients (a control group) received only basic therapy. The comparison of the efficacy of treatment in patients of the main and control groups revealed the benefits of transcranial dynamic magnetic therapy in CNS function, performance on memory and attention tests, state of autonomic nervous system and psychoemotional state of patients (the reduction of anxiety and depression).

PMID: 18833174 PubMed – in process

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holistic healing

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Diurnal variation of depressive symptoms.

Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2008;10(3):337-43

Authors: Wirz-Justice A

Diurnal variation of depressive symptoms appears to be part of the core of depression. Yet, longitudinal investigation of an individual’s pattern, regularity, relation to clinical state, and clinical improvement reveals little homogeneity. Morning lows, afternoon slump, evening worsening-all can occur during a single depressive episode. Mood variability, or the propensity to produce mood swings, appears to be the characteristic that most predicts capacity to respond to treatment. Laboratory studies have revealed that mood, like physiological variables such as core body temperature, is regulated by a circadian clock interacting with the sleep homeostat. Many depressed patients, particularly bipolar patients, show delayed sleep phase (late chronotype). Even small shifts in the timing and duration of sleep affect mood state (sleep deprivation and sleep phase advance have an antidepressant effect). The implications for treatment are to stabilize mood state by enhancing synchronization of the sleep-wake cycle with the biological clock (eg, with light therapy).

PMID: 18979947 PubMed – in process

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Related Articles

Who is willing to use complementary and alternative medicine?

Explore (NY). 2008 Nov-Dec;4(6):359-67

Authors: Smith BW, Dalen J, Wiggins KT, Christopher PJ, Bernard JF, Shelley BM

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify individual differences associated with the willingness to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). DESIGN: A questionnaire was administered and the relationship between individual differences and the willingness to use CAM was examined using correlation and multiple regression analyses. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 276 undergraduate students (64% female) of diverse ethnicity (43% white, 33% Hispanic, 8% Native American, 16% other) and a wide range of incomes. MEASURES: The willingness to use 16 types of CAM was assessed for six categories: whole medical systems, mind-body medicine, biologically based practices, manipulative and body-based practices, energy medicine, and spiritually based practices. The individual differences assessed included age, gender, income, ethnicity, the Big Five personality characteristics, optimism, spirituality, religiosity, and three aspects of emotional intelligence: mood attention, mood clarity, and mood repair. RESULTS: The individual differences accounted for approximately one fifth of the variance in overall willingness to use CAM. Openness to experience, spirituality, and mood attention were the strongest predictors of overall willingness to use CAM and were related to the willingness to use most of the individual types of CAM. Older age or female gender was related to greater willingness to use most of the mind-body medicines. Hispanic ethnicity was related to greater willingness to use curanderismo, and Native American ethnicity was related to greater willingness to use Native American medicine and a spiritual/faith healer.

PMID: 18984547 PubMed – in process

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reiki healing

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Magnetic resonance acoustic radiation force imaging.

Med Phys. 2008 Aug;35(8):3748-58

Authors: McDannold N, Maier SE

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging is an elastography method developed for ultrasound imaging that maps displacements produced by focused ultrasound pulses systematically applied to different locations. The resulting images are “stiffness weighted” and yield information about local mechanical tissue properties. Here, the feasibility of magnetic resonance acoustic radiation force imaging (MR-ARFI) was tested. Quasistatic MR elastography was used to measure focal displacements using a one-dimensional MRI pulse sequence. A 1.63 or 1.5 MHz transducer supplied ultrasound pulses which were triggered by the magnetic resonance imaging hardware to occur before a displacement-encoding gradient. Displacements in and around the focus were mapped in a tissue-mimicking phantom and in an ex vivo bovine kidney. They were readily observed and increased linearly with acoustic power in the phantom (R2=0.99). At higher acoustic power levels, the displacement substantially increased and was associated with irreversible changes in the phantom. At these levels, transverse displacement components could also be detected. Displacements in the kidney were also observed and increased after thermal ablation. While the measurements need validation, the authors have demonstrated the feasibility of detecting small displacements induced by low-power ultrasound pulses using an efficient magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence that is compatible with tracking of a dynamically steered ultrasound focal spot, and that the displacement increases with acoustic power. MR-ARFI has potential for elastography or to guide ultrasound therapies that use low-power pulsed ultrasound exposures, such as drug delivery.

PMID: 18777934 PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE

Energy Medicine

Alternative Healthwellness medicine

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Related Articles

Who is willing to use complementary and alternative medicine?

Explore (NY). 2008 Nov-Dec;4(6):359-67

Authors: Smith BW, Dalen J, Wiggins KT, Christopher PJ, Bernard JF, Shelley BM

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify individual differences associated with the willingness to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). DESIGN: A questionnaire was administered and the relationship between individual differences and the willingness to use CAM was examined using correlation and multiple regression analyses. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 276 undergraduate students (64% female) of diverse ethnicity (43% white, 33% Hispanic, 8% Native American, 16% other) and a wide range of incomes. MEASURES: The willingness to use 16 types of CAM was assessed for six categories: whole medical systems, mind-body medicine, biologically based practices, manipulative and body-based practices, energy medicine, and spiritually based practices. The individual differences assessed included age, gender, income, ethnicity, the Big Five personality characteristics, optimism, spirituality, religiosity, and three aspects of emotional intelligence: mood attention, mood clarity, and mood repair. RESULTS: The individual differences accounted for approximately one fifth of the variance in overall willingness to use CAM. Openness to experience, spirituality, and mood attention were the strongest predictors of overall willingness to use CAM and were related to the willingness to use most of the individual types of CAM. Older age or female gender was related to greater willingness to use most of the mind-body medicines. Hispanic ethnicity was related to greater willingness to use curanderismo, and Native American ethnicity was related to greater willingness to use Native American medicine and a spiritual/faith healer.

PMID: 18984547 PubMed – in process

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eft

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Role of nitric oxide in the visible light-induced rapid increase of human skin microcirculation at the local and systemic levels: II. healthy volunteers.

Photomed Laser Surg. 2008 Oct;26(5):443-9

Authors: Samoilova KA, Zhevago NA, Petrishchev NN, Zimin AA

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the skin microcirculation increase seen in healthy volunteers after a single exposure to polychromatic visible (pVIS) light, and to prove the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the development of this effect. BACKGROUND DATA: Improvement of microcirculation is one of the most important effects of laser and pVIS light therapy; however, its mechanism of action remains unknown. A main role in the regulation of vascular tone is known to be played by NO. It is produced by NO-synthase (NOS) located in membranes of many cells, including endothelial and blood cells. NOS, a biopteroflavohemoprotein, absorbs pVIS light, resulting in its activation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The central area of the dorsal side of the right hand (24 cm2) of 42 volunteers was irradiated for 5 min with pVIS light from a Q-light (385-750 nm, 95% polarization, 40 mW/cm2, 12 J/cm2). Then for 90 min, the blood flow rate (Qas) was measured eight times, both in the area of the irradiation (local effect) and in the non-irradiated left hand (systemic effect) by using a high-frequency ultrasound Doppler device, recording Qas in human skin to a depth up to 5 mm. In the central area of the right hand of 14 volunteers an NOS inhibitor, N-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, 0.1% solution), was iontophoretically administered prior to exposure, whereas in 10 other subjects it was administered to the left hand with subsequent exposure of the right hand. RESULTS: As soon as 2 min after exposure, Qas in the irradiated area rose on average by 32%, and in 20 min by 45%; it then decreased and in 90 min returned to the initial level. A statistically significant Qas increase in the non-irradiated hand was recorded in 5 min (+9%), and in 20 min it reached a maximum level (+39%), and 90 min later it decreased to the initial values. The presence of L-NMMA in the light-exposed area completely blocked the photoinduced rise of microcirculation, both in the irradiated and in non-irradiated hand; however, its administration to the non-irradiated hand did not prevent these effects. CONCLUSION: The increase in skin microcirculation produced by pVIS light at the local and systemic levels is due to activation of NO synthesis in the irradiated area.

PMID: 18922087 PubMed – in process

Energy Medicine

spiritual healing

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Related Articles

Role of nitric oxide in the visible light-induced rapid increase of human skin microcirculation at the local and systemic levels: II. healthy volunteers.

Photomed Laser Surg. 2008 Oct;26(5):443-9

Authors: Samoilova KA, Zhevago NA, Petrishchev NN, Zimin AA

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the skin microcirculation increase seen in healthy volunteers after a single exposure to polychromatic visible (pVIS) light, and to prove the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the development of this effect. BACKGROUND DATA: Improvement of microcirculation is one of the most important effects of laser and pVIS light therapy; however, its mechanism of action remains unknown. A main role in the regulation of vascular tone is known to be played by NO. It is produced by NO-synthase (NOS) located in membranes of many cells, including endothelial and blood cells. NOS, a biopteroflavohemoprotein, absorbs pVIS light, resulting in its activation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The central area of the dorsal side of the right hand (24 cm2) of 42 volunteers was irradiated for 5 min with pVIS light from a Q-light (385-750 nm, 95% polarization, 40 mW/cm2, 12 J/cm2). Then for 90 min, the blood flow rate (Qas) was measured eight times, both in the area of the irradiation (local effect) and in the non-irradiated left hand (systemic effect) by using a high-frequency ultrasound Doppler device, recording Qas in human skin to a depth up to 5 mm. In the central area of the right hand of 14 volunteers an NOS inhibitor, N-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, 0.1% solution), was iontophoretically administered prior to exposure, whereas in 10 other subjects it was administered to the left hand with subsequent exposure of the right hand. RESULTS: As soon as 2 min after exposure, Qas in the irradiated area rose on average by 32%, and in 20 min by 45%; it then decreased and in 90 min returned to the initial level. A statistically significant Qas increase in the non-irradiated hand was recorded in 5 min (+9%), and in 20 min it reached a maximum level (+39%), and 90 min later it decreased to the initial values. The presence of L-NMMA in the light-exposed area completely blocked the photoinduced rise of microcirculation, both in the irradiated and in non-irradiated hand; however, its administration to the non-irradiated hand did not prevent these effects. CONCLUSION: The increase in skin microcirculation produced by pVIS light at the local and systemic levels is due to activation of NO synthesis in the irradiated area.

PMID: 18922087 PubMed – in process

Energy Medicine

chinese medicine