Health and Psychology – The Book Blog

Zika- a rushed response?

Doctors Name Monsanto’s Larvicide As Cause of Brazilian Microcephaly Outbreak

Could it be that the very organizations set to make money from developing insecticides against mosquitoes blamed for spreading the Zika virus, helped create the problem in the first place?

Silvia Leandra de Jesus Pinheiro with baby

A report from the Argentine doctors’ organisation, Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Villages regarding Dengue-Zika, challenges the theory that the Zika virus epidemic in Brazil is the cause of the increase in the birth defect microcephaly among newborns. Continue reading Zika- a rushed response?

Trust- Given or Earned?

How easily do you trust other people? What is it that determines your ability or inability to trust certain individuals around you? Do you feel people need to earn your trust? Or are you willing to extend trust ‘unearned’?

An Edmonton, Canada, restaurant is gaining international attention for its efforts to help feed those in need. Indian Fusion is a small, family-run restaurant with fewer than ten tables, but it’s making a big difference for the homeless. This is no publicity stunt. They trust people understand their motives.

“It’s giving back to the community, it’s part of community spirit. We need to all look after each other,” said Greg Pyra. “It’s not just about profit and making money.” Continue reading Trust- Given or Earned?

Recovery from Colon Cancer – Diet, Herbs, Detoxification and Cellular Regeneration

This article by Teresa Tsalaky, first published in August 2003, can be accessed at Positive Health online. It is important not simply because of the implications for overcoming cancer, but the extraordinary lengths that interested parties go to with the apparent attempt to silence him. I am publishing his story here without promoting his or any particular course of treatment, that is a personal matter best made with the advice of a professional healthcare practitioner and your own research.

David Walker wanted to live long enough to see his children graduate from high school. He asked his oncologist if he’d make it that long. The doctor hung his head and said Walker had no more than three to five years before the colon cancer would take his life.

Nearly a decade later, Walker is cancer free. Thanks to his training as a biophysicist, he was able to decipher a biochemical riddle that enabled him to cure himself. He created a treatment protocol that consists of herbs, enzymes, phytonutrients, detoxification and a bio-resonance therapy that recharges depleted energy in cells. He then shared his knowledge, helping hundreds of other cancer patients successfully treat the disease.

Continue reading Recovery from Colon Cancer – Diet, Herbs, Detoxification and Cellular Regeneration

Helplessness: On Depression, Development and Death

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Helplessness: On Depression, Development and Death (1992)

This book has consistently influenced me for many years. It highlights the importance of our need for control, real and perceived, over our environment. I first read it in connection with my work, but have found the theory of great personal benefit also. It may appear daunting if you are used to self-help books of a lighter tone, but deserves to be better known in the UK. I think this quote might explain its purpose. ” Learned helplessness refers to three things: First, an environment in which some important outcome is beyond control, second, the response of giving up, and third, the expectation that no voluntary action can control the outcome“. The book gives many of the famous studies of behavioral psychologists who worked with animals, with analysis of how they may shed light on human behaviour. Below, I quote from pages 174 to 183.

Continue reading Helplessness: On Depression, Development and Death

Hoarding and Possessions

Budapest, Hungary, Oct 1944: Jews being deported by German troops

Early in the Second World War, a young man in a small Hungarian town, along with a number of other Jews, started to prepare against a German invasion. It eventually happened on 19 March 1944. They survived, because they faced the challenge by loosening ties to their jobs, possessions and a normal life; moving in anonymity from city to city. The man was unable to persuade other members of his family to go with him. At some risk to himself, he returned at least three times to plead with his relatives, pointing out to them the growing persecution of the Jews, and later, transportation to the concentration camps had already begun. He could not convince these Jews to take action.

Continue reading Hoarding and Possessions

How Trans-Fat Harms Your Memory

Dr. Mercola is the founder of the world’s most visited natural health web site,www.Mercola.com. You can learn the hazardous side effects of ‘over the counter’ remedies by getting a FREE copy of his latest special report The Dangers of Over the Counter Remedies by going to his Report Page.

There are a number of dietary links between dementia and heart disease. Excessive sugars, grains, and trans-fat consumption are three factors that promote both.

Not surprisingly, recent research has pointed out that heart disease also increases your odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a serious and deadly form of dementia.

According to the authors, vascular damage may predispose your brain to increased amyloid plaque build-up, which is a hallmark of this degenerative brain disease. Plaque build-up worsens with stiffer arteries, so preventing arterial plaque formation may be a critical factor in the prevention of dementia.

For decades, saturated fats have been the prime suspect as the cause of heart disease. The food industry, responding to such health concerns, replaced saturated fats with trans-fats, and a whole new market of low-fat (but high-sugar) foods was born.

Americas’ health has plummeted ever since, and there’s no telling how many may have prematurely died by this decision… Making matters worse, genetically engineered soy oil, which is a major source of tran-fats, can oxidize inside your body, thereby causing damage to both your heart, brain and your immune system.

Continue reading How Trans-Fat Harms Your Memory

Emotional Abuse – The signs and what to do

Does your partner degrade or belittle you? Publish details about you or your relationship online? If you think that just because you aren’t being physically abused then nothing is wrong, think again. Ever since the April 2010 article You Carry the Cure In Your Own Heart, I have been interested in how emotional abuse can have devastating consequences on both physical and mental health. This subject has created more feedback than just about anything on the site. Where do you start to look for help?

While emotional or psychological abuse may be difficult to pinpoint, examples abound. Here are some characteristics:

Using money as a lever to control you
Making you afraid of consequences by using looks, gestures or actions
Distorted self-image, they can fool themselves too
Controlling by minimizing, denying and blaming
Making light of their behaviour and not taking your concerns about it seriously
Regularly criticizing you, calling you names, shouting at you, using sarcasm
Unpredictable, putting you down or humiliating you in private, but acting charming in public, or fluctuating between the two
Cultivating a caring persona with others important to them, in other words, two-faced.
Withholding approval, appreciation or affection as punishment.

Continue reading Emotional Abuse – The signs and what to do

Rudolf Diesel 1858- 1913

The first production passenger car equipped with a diesel engine was the Mercedes 260 D (1936), widely used as a taxi due to its efficiency and reliability. Until that time, diesel engines had been considered too slow and heavy compared to the automobile petrol engine. In industry and in trucks, trains and buses, the diesel engine was well established. However, it was many years until the gradual disuse of steam engines. At the time they were seen as inefficient, heavy, and complicated in operation. Diesel engines, named after inventor Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, found their way into every sector of the transport industry.

Continue reading Rudolf Diesel 1858- 1913

Thomas Quick: The Making of a Serial Killer (2013)

Thomas Quick: The Making of a Serial Killer by Hannes Råstam

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Råstam had one question for Sweden’s most abominable serial killer. And the answer turned out to be far more terrifying than the man himself . . .

Walter Mitty Syndrome is a phrase occasionally used by psychiatrists and others in describing a person who prefers a fantasy world to reality, particularly if others consider him a failure, but when the potential for real harm results from his behaviour, it becomes a whole lot more sinister than the fictional stories.

“The desire to want to be somebody important without expending any effort, or making up stories to get attention is actually fairly common,” says Dr Colin Gill, a psychologist and expert on the nature of identity. “Of course, we only hear of high-profile cases such as these, when people get caught out. I suspect there may well be thousands of people telling these kinds of lies or leading double lives.”

Continue reading Thomas Quick: The Making of a Serial Killer (2013)

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) linked to gluten disorders

In recent years, GM companies, trade bodies and associated scientists have issued a deluge of propaganda suggesting biotech crops are the key to feeding the Third World.
Now evidence is building that genetically modified foods such as soy and corn may be responsible for a number of gluten-related maladies such as the intestinal disorders now plaguing 18 million Americans, according to a new report released on 25th November.

The report, “Genetically Modified Foods Proposed as Trigger for Gluten Sensitivity” was released by the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), and cites authoritative data from the US Department of Agriculture, US Environmental Protection Agency records, medical journal reviews as well as international research.

“Gluten sensitivity can range in severity from mild discomfort, such as gas and bloating, to coeliac disease, a serious autoimmune condition that can, if undiagnosed, result in a 4-fold (likelihood of) death,” said Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of IRT in a statement released on their website (www.responsibletechnology.org/).

Continue reading Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) linked to gluten disorders