Hey All,
I had a really fun interview with Jim Flannery, which got posted yesterday as part of the #protestAPA2018 movement. In that interview, I talk about a wide range of important issues which never make it into my videos, because the subject matter is too specific or complex. Among the topics Jim and I cover are:
· My own spiritual experience that got me hospitalized and how my bipolarORwakingUP work got started (if you know my work you may want to skip this part)
· My experience using the Soteria approach to healing acute psychosis, and why I think that model needs a serious upgrade.
· The value of atheism for spiritual experiences
· Spiritual experience as part of the DSM Psychiatric Manual, and the pioneering work of Dr. David Lukoff
· The different types of experiences people have in Spiritual Emergency / Acute Psychosis
· Marijuana, psychedelics and acute psychosis
· The concept of “Recovery” and why I have a problem with it as it’s being used today.
· My experience with shamanic ritual practices, and the pros and cons of shamanic healing approaches.
· The Chemical Imbalance Myth and how it’s a ‘good fit’ for the modern world (even if it’s a lie).
· The relationship between kundalini awakening and bipolar disorder.
· Holotropic Breathwork vs. Bipolar Breathwork as a way to heal.
· Why I work with people while they are medicated or unmedicated.
· The type of people that reach out to me for healing.
· Why I’ve been doing my Bipolar Awakenings Healing Retreats mostly in Europe
· My current plans for a retreat center in Brazil.
· Whether or not bipolar disorder holds a special gift or power.
· The two elephants in the room that both the pro and anti-psychiatry movements ignore.
· My personal beef with psychiatry.
· The difference between religion and an inherent spirituality.
· Why so many people think they are Jesus during an ‘acute’ psychosis.
· Working with Demonic energies
· Why I switched from the name bipolarORwakingUP to Bipolar Awakenings for my website.
· And, finally, the thing I really shouldn’t be talking about (but I do anyways!)
Thanks so much to Jim Flannery for asking me some really terrific questions! It was a lot of fun!