A pentagon assessment that Vladimir Putin might have a form of Asperger syndrome was all over the news this week. Asperger’s is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by difficulties with social interaction and nonverbal communication. It often involves restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. The Austrian pediatrician, Hans Asperger, who first wrote about the condition in...
As we work on our film about the relationship between our emotions - both conscious and unconscious - and health, I've been thinking a great deal about the idea of how information reaches our awareness. One of the most difficult things for people to wrap their minds around is how to become aware of the shaky frames that define our...
Sick of Heaven from rumur on Vimeo. - a video for the sleepyhead song sick of heaven- which involves releasing my father's ashes into the ocean It's 5 am on the 9th anniversary of my father's death, and as I lay here thinking about writing about my father - and myself - I struggle with the balance between nakedness and exhibitionism;...
[caption id="attachment_17833" align="aligncenter" width="681"] "Yellow Glove with Shank" -Lavar Munroe- from Area 919 show at the Nasher Museum of Art[/caption] I know both from memory, and reminders by mother, that I could be a real brat when my I was a kid. This knowledge give me a great deal of empathy for my parents, my kids, and myself. When my daughters...
The word responsibility comes up a lot when you have a 12-year-old daughter. It also comes up a lot when you're working on a movie about issues related to healthcare and emotions. The other day I wrote something about the relationship between poverty and asthma, which raises several questions about responsibility. These questions have both cultural and political implications. From...
Today there was an article in the Washington Post that discussed a surprising new study which found that it's not asthma and urban poverty that are linked, but instead, poverty in general. While the author of the article was able to surmise that living in poverty might possibly be a causative factor in regards to asthma, it completely missed the...
[caption id="attachment_17785" align="aligncenter" width="711"] a note card found on the floor at the airport[/caption] There are times that I read something that's of interest to me that don't really seem to connect until much later. Other times, I'll read just a sentence and it will hit me like lightning, connecting back to something that I have read, sparking a new understanding...
This morning, like some other mornings, I listened to the news while taking my youngest daughter to school. My parents didn’t drive me to school, but they did run the news in the car at other times. I remember how overwhelming it could be to hear about this murder, and that war. They would also watch the local and national...
Often times when power structures are challenged, there is a direct and disproportionate response. Two cops were murdered by a crazy man in Brooklyn yesterday, and the head of the police union, Patrick Lynch, put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the mayor because he had dared to recognize that the people protesting had legitimate concerns. Other former elected...
“All the Rage” is not meant to be an attack on medicine, though those who are deeply embedded, and invested, in current practice might feel that it is. Instead, it’s an attempt to re-illuminate the connection between our minds and bodies that is too often stuck in the blind spot of the current medical system. The mechanistic model that holds sway...
What pushed you to help others out of their suffering from emotional repression related symptoms? My involvement with TMS activism came out of my 18 year experience with TMS. My symptoms started when I was 16 and was diagnosed with Repetitive Strain Injuries in my hands and forearms. Within the next four years, the symptoms spread to other areas in ways that...
What interested you in mind body related medicine? I became a patient of Dr. Sarno when I was just 18 years old. I was a senior in high school, but felt I was trapped in the body of an 80 year old. I had excruciating and debilitating back pain- it was consuming my life and making me feel hopeless for my...