Prozac Monologues

Is Recovery Possible? - Kayla Harrison Continued

A few weeks ago I published a video interview with Kayla Harrison, USA's first gold medalist in judo. The story was dated before her win, and showed her determination: if not London, then Rio... (The source is the Boston Globe. Kayla didn't make NBC's radar screen until after she won.)

Lots of shots in the gym. A young lady you wouldn't want to mess with.

Except, her former judo coach did, starting when she was twelve years old and for three years.

Today, her former coach is in jail, and she has her gold.

Well, of course we love this story. It follows the USA's favorite narrative arc: misery, struggle, justice, triumph. We will listen to this story, read this book, watch this movie every night of the week.

Some of us will ponder it a little longer than others. I expect Kayla is one.

Get Over It, Already

It's just too easy [in Iowa] to avoid the weirdos in our life.

First, the TED talk from one of those people who, whenever they have something to say, you want to pay attention to it. I am pleased to call Mike Wagner a friend, so I get regular doses. Here he doesn't use the language, but he's talking about the power of my favorite brain part, the anterior cingulate cortex.

Mike's shingle hangs at White Rabbit Group. The name itself tells you something. He calls it a brand altering experience.

Next, the Prozac Monologues take on the matter, a rerun from September 23, 2011

Differently Abled - More, Please

It's like he is in a world of his own. The first grade teacher, old school, same worksheets for the last thirty years, did not mean it as a complement.

Curiosity on Mars

And now for something completely different, the true origin of Curiosity's name?

Marvin the Martian looks at us, and observes, There is a growing tendency to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd. There is simply no evidence of any intelligence on the Earth.

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, NASA has landed a rover named Curiosity on Mars. If you did miss it, then you might be curious about what called Marvin to my mind. Curiosity has yet to meet Marvin. It is, however, meeting a lot of rocks. It doesn't seem to be enjoying the rocks.

Follow the twitter feed from the Martian Rover here. (Keep scrolling to the bottom to find the beginning.) I think Curiosity works better on Prozac Monologues than Bugs -- different chapters from the DSM, you know. Three days, and it's already into isolation and suicidal ideation...

But if you must, here is NASA's version of events. Obviously not yet hearing its pain.

Kayla Harrison Survives Her Way to Gold

She's calling me out of sabbatical. Damn! She's calling for a series. I'll have more next week.

Note added on 01/02/13 -- Links to other posts in this series are below:

Is Recovery Possible? - Kayla Harrison Continued August 25, 2012 -- The judo champ's story introduces the concept of recovery.
Seventeen Keys to Recovery August 30, 2012 -- Guest blogger Margalea Warner describes her journey in recovery in schizophrenia.
Recovery - The Medical Model September 7, 2012 -- Introduces the doctor's agenda, covers the first half of the story.
Recovery - The Medical Model Continued September 14, 2012 -- It was a great idea. If only it worked.
Recovery Redefined September 21, 2012 -- People with a mental illness have our own definition of recovery.
Recovery - From What? October 1, 2012 -- You have to know where you are going if you want to get there.
Stages of Recovery - AKA Hope October 5, 2012 -- We recover in stages, and need different tools for each stage.
Neuroscience of Meaningful Work October 10, 2012 -- Oh goodie! Here come the dendrites!
Hope for a Cure? Or Not? October 18, 2012 -- We finish the series with questions left unanswered, like, What is a cure worth?

The Garden of Your Mind

Mr. Rogers does with the mind what last week's post with Carl Sagan, Jill Bolte Taylor, et al did with the brain...

Ode to the Brain

Something about this seems sacred to me.

Purple Heart for PTSD

I am pleased to have scooped NAMI and Fox News on this one by two years.

Some people say we have dumbed down PTSD, and that we dishonor the suffering of soldiers when we give the diagnosis of PTSD to people who have the same symptoms and same brain dysfunction of PTSD, but whose traumas were of a lesser severity. In other medical departments, a broken leg is a broken leg, whether the person fell three feet or thirty.

Back in May, 2010 I proposed that the way to honor soldiers whose PTSD is the result of war injury is the way we honor any soldier wounded in war -- the Purple Heart.

Better yet, let's honor their sacrifice by preventing their trauma in the first place. No more!

Meanwhile, check out Guitars for Vets.