new realizations, found terrific blog

This past week I continued affirmations and meditation and added a gratitude list before I go to bed. I simply note 5-6 things I am thankful for in that day. I say affirmations out loud in the mornings now. I meditated for 14 minutes twice a day. I also worked on forgiveness, forgiving others I am angry with and, also, myself. I realized that I have issues with anger and safety, that these are main causes of my difficulties.
I found 2 great blogs with loads of resources. I will pass along one here. It is from Gianna Kali, who is currently reducing medications. She writes: This blog is documentation of my journey off psych meds as well as an introduction to alternative forms of care for mental health regardless of whether one is on meds, off meds, or coming off meds.
(quoted with permission of Gianna Kali)
On this page there are some great resources regarding withdrawal from medicines.
The blog is: Beyond Meds
From this blog I found two support groups at yahoo!: "Withdrawal and Recovery" and "SafeHarbor", which I joined this week.

This past week's progress --

• medication: continued taking 10 mg Abilify in the morning
  
• sleep: slept an average of 10.5 hrs. a night, one nightmare, dreams less confusing
  
• exercise: had an ankle injury, walked 3 days, lifted weights one day
  
• diet: ate 4 meals a day, except for 3 days, ate 3
  
• weight: 160 lbs.
  
• mood: ok all week
  

whether 'schizophrenia' exists and medication hazards

Vids detailed below NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Previously, I showed 3 videos which note that chemical imbalances have not been proven to exist in schizophrenia. These are often given as the cause of 'mental illnesses' by psychiatry. These videos also question the very existence of an 'illness' called schizophrenia, pointing out that the 'disease' has only been called schizophrenia since 1908. In the late 1800's it was called dementia praecox. Those suffering from dementia praecox actually had a virus. So, 'schizophrenia' was really a physical medical problem originally, wrongfully diagnosed. To call the problems associated with schizophrenia an 'illness' or 'disease' is wrong. The drugs used to treat schizophrenia damage the nerve fibers and cause irreversible brain damage. These videos detailed the many problems associated with the psychotropic drugs. There is no scientific proof that schizophrenia exists as an 'illness'. There is no physical cause of schizophrenia.

The Selling of Schizophrenia Part I, The Selling of Schizophrenia Part II, and The Selling of Schizophrenia Part III have been removed. The three vids are no longer available @YouTube.

This article argues that "schizophrenia" does not exist:

Schizophrenia A Nonexistent Disease

this week's progress

I have been doing affirmations from Louise Hay's book Heal Your Body. You cood find it online, but no more... I found all of the ailments that apply to me and read them 2-3 times a day. There are affirmations for anxiety, depression, insanity, and nervous breakdown, along with all sorts of other things. You can refer to it if you wish. Someone told me this week that the affirmations are supposed to be 100% more effective if read out loud, but I've yet to try that. I also have been meditating. I began at 5 minutes, morning and late afternoon, and have added 3 minutes each week, so that last week I meditated for 11 minutes at a time. I read the affirmations after meditating, then sometimes once more at noon.

• medication: continued taking 10 mg Abilify mornings, daily
• sleep: averaged 11 hours a night, with one night at 9 hours; most dreams confusing, had 2 nightmares.
  
• exercise: began running last week but my ankle hurt too much on the second day, so I am going to be staying off of it for awhile, probably a week. Weight lifting 3 days a week, 2 dumbbells 11 lbs ea.
• diet: ate 4 meals a day, except Sunday
  
• weight: 160 lbs.
• mood: generally okay, one day anxious, one day depressed