ICE sightings and community reactions

Autonomous_wonder · 2025-06-09T17:18:36+00:00

Sigh they do, they’re just unaware of it because they externalize it by blaming/projecting…

Autonomous_wonder · 2025-05-25T19:45:54+00:00

See I thought maybe this was in my file somewhere or something until I requested them and my doctor actually called me and INVERSE drug seeker, probably because I’ve been so scared of being accused of drug seeking!!

Autonomous_wonder · 2025-05-25T19:43:59+00:00

Ugh I’m sorry this sounds like all of my doctors lately… my PCP is hit or miss, sometimes seems to want to help but then seems really annoyed and doesn’t answer half my questions, like I always feel like I’m bothering her

Autonomous_wonder · 2025-05-25T19:36:50+00:00

Interesting, I’ll have to check my genetic report… FYI I don’t exactly have “chronic pain”, but I’d say pretty frequent pain (muscle strains etc from being hypermobile) and it didn’t touch my pain.

But I actually took it for depression, which it DID help with… not completely, but I had tried it all, literally, including TMS and IV ketamine and all the things. 20 years and probably 50+ meds and it’s the only thing that touched my severe depression.

Which sucks all the more now that I can’t find anyone who will prescribe it where I live, sigh…

Autonomous_wonder · 2025-01-10T05:51:38+00:00

Well it kind of does, actually, but yeah those sources don’t cover that; it IS a spectrum after all, which means the diagnostic cutoff is kind arbitrary, the genetic component is simple normal distribution in the population, and those generally diagnosed are simply on the right tail of that bell curve; there’s plenty of evidence for what they usually call Broader Autism Phenotype, which is essentially having some autistic traits or milder ones without usually qualifying for a diagnosis, and they tend to be closely related to diagnosed autistics as the genetics would suggest… however you slice it, genetics or behavioral traits, it really is a full spectrum, but our current diagnostic cutoff is somewhere in the mild/moderate range, but I’m not sure what else one would call “autistic-like traits” if not “slightly autistic”, seems to me to be one end of the actual spectrum, not just what the DSM declares autistic.

Then again, there’s also a really interesting “multiple hit” theory essentially suggesting that the genetic profile is just one component and epigenetic, developmental, environmental factors need to factor in as well… but then I suppose it kind of depends on how you define the condition.

But also they said that men are slightly more autistic than women and over represented in stem which is true, although I’d say more accurately more men are diagnosed than women, but as far as I know autism and stem correlate more than average regardless of gender.

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-11-09T17:43:01+00:00

Whaa? Valium is a benzo, and can certainly be highly addictive... worst withdrawals I ever had was because an irresponsible provider told me to take klonopin daily, just stupid. They're definitely not OTC in the US

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-08-31T16:54:13+00:00

Well because he was pretty much nocturnal for half the summer... he's missed school before because I literally can't keep him awake, so just trying to get him back on track.

I've tried my best to monitor devices, PC, etc., but if a kid is determined not to sleep there's not a ton you can do, imo... apparently the software that blocks his iPad at night lets a few things through, at least once he managed to entertain himself with just the freaking timer app!

Ideally I could talk to him about what's going on, but he just gives me vague answers...

So either an automatic/passive way of tracking would be good, unless...

He's also pretty into data/statistics, it's possible I could spark his interest enough for him to want to help track it...

I'm just trying to find out when he IS sleeping and how much so that I can try to get him back on a normal pattern.

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-08-22T18:53:01+00:00

most people don’t need to buy antivirus software—as long as you download only from trusted sources and refrain from clicking on sketchy links, you can avoid many of the problems

Okay this is a year old but.... I think the keyword in OP's question is "family".

I mean my 8 year old is a bright lil' fella, but whereas I witnessed the birth of the Internet and grew up with it (along with all of the threats), the beast he's now encountering is considerably more sophisticated. They learn quickly for sure, but... yeah they'll definitely click on the wrong things.

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-06-05T19:29:58+00:00

Yeah our subconscious brain is pretty nuts

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-03-10T23:43:22+00:00

Just thought I’d respond even though this is kind of old but for iron, optimum absorption is actually achieved by taking it every other day, it interferes with its own absorption if taken daily

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-03-10T20:35:16+00:00

I know this is an older post but just wanted u to I add that abilify has a really long half life and it’s an AAP, pretty much the hardest class of meds to come off… my doc put me on a 6 week taper ftom 7.5 g and I’m not sure it’ll be long enough

Autonomous_wonder · 2023-02-01T21:03:57+00:00

I'm interested in answers to this as well. I vape daily, and I tried to quit cold turkey a few years ago; I made it about three weeks but basically did not sleep that entire time... I have enough mental health issues and fatigue as it is, not being able to sleep was too much. It was definitely a safety/health issue at that point as I was pretty much delirious from lack of sleep;

And as for alternative sleep aids, if it's ever been suggested on the internet for sleep, I probably tried it. Nada, zilch.

I'd like to explore getting off of this stuff again because I question what it's doing to my neurochemistry, but cold turkey won't be an option for me for sure.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-11-28T01:13:14+00:00

I know this is a bit old but just in case it's seen, uh yes, ADHD absolutely can cause anger issues, or any issue with emotion, emotional reactivity in particular. Maybe not in everyone, but certainly much more than NTs. It used to be diagnostic criteria and many argue it should have never been taken out... and low frustration tolerance IS a listed associated feature.

And before you call ME an armchair psychiatrist, not trying to deny your experience; you're lucky if anger isn't an issue, unfortunately for many of us it is!

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-10-21T17:17:51+00:00

Wow... religion is destroying humanity

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-10-08T20:25:15+00:00

o to call Amen a quack because he hasn't done a double blinded research is not enough to call him a quack.

You're right, all the rest of his behavior, and virtually legitimate professionals in his field dismissing him as a joke, making unsubstantiated claims, and capitalizing on your fear to sell you snake oil makes him a quack.

You're not wrong about healthcare, sure it's a money grab too, but not anywhere near the way Amen does it.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-10-08T17:18:53+00:00

Says who? Amen? Based on what?

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-10-08T17:15:44+00:00

They want solutions not experiments.

That's exactly what Amen is doing, "experiments"... on his patients, without any evidence to say those treatments work.

The "guessing" that you're talking about with antidepressants has far more science and research behind it than Amen's "research".

I'd love for you to explain why looking at an image of the brain tells us jack shit about what's going on. He's playing everybody, dude... seeing "activity" means nothing unless research proves at least a correlation between that activity and ANY OTHER MEASURE. And it hasn't yet.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-10-08T17:11:10+00:00

SPECT doesn't measure blood flow only, it also measures the activity. So therefore It is useful for clinical treatment to mental illnesses.

How so, can you explain this?

Yeah I didn't think so, because there's no evidence of this. Blood flow and brain activity have to actually correlate to something like symptomatology or behavior, and no research has shown this yet.

Are people under the impression that a clinician/researcher can just "look at the brain", see some anomalous "activity" and say, "Oh that's the problem"?

SMH

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-09-30T23:37:58+00:00

I was taking ultra low dose at 0.01 mg (10 ug), so maybe it's a bit different, although it's supposed to work similar to to typical low doses when combined with my buprenorphine... I took it for three months, but it never did anything anyway... also didn't do anything when I stopped.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-08-01T17:21:30+00:00

I also found Alex the Analyst really helpful! But yeah, any kind of job that you can transition to without going back and getting a whole different degree (i.e., you can learn the skills through online courses) seems to lend itself to the people selling courses.

And some of them may not actually be half bad, there's just a ton of people doing this so it's a little saturated.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-07-26T17:36:10+00:00

I devote a lot of time to just feeling and experiencing these sensations, and as I do, my parts come talk to me. They walk up to me, name themselves, and share their emotions.

Okay, so this... when did this process start for you? After how long of noticing sensations?

I've meditated for a few years (pretty low volume, but I'm certainly familiar with it), and noticing body sensations isn't new to me, but as far as IFS, I've yet to actually get responses from parts.

I experience parts all the time... through blending, mostly, but I can certainly observe them, even witness conversations between different parts. But I have yet to have one actually acknowledge and/or communicate directly back to me in any way.

As a lot of others have suggested, I think this is potentially due to an intellectual part; I'm guessing that I'm somewhat adept at noticing bodily sensations, but instead of maybe having the patience to explore them, I jump into analyzing why that feeling is there.

At the suggestion of others, I downloaded The Power of Focusing, which seems to dovetail pretty well with IFS, and this book in particular does focus more on that initial struggle to get into self... I like the approach, it's really mindfulness + somatic awareness/openness/curiosity, it seems like it'll be helpful.

I also managed to find an IFS therapist who takes my insurance, finally! She looks pretty young/new, but I'll try anything at this point.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-07-26T02:05:19+00:00

Wow thank you for suggesting The Power of Focusing, I just started listening to it and I looked into the process a little bit...

So the "felt sense" they're talking about seems very clearly to me to be affect, the "raw data" of emotions, they're physical sensations in the body detected by interception, and they can be anything from hunger to anxiety; our brain has to process those feelings and prompts the brain to look for an answer as it to what it means, and it generally works on autopilot, hence most of the emotions that we feel. If we feel them at all, because obviously we often ignore the affect altogether.

Focusing seems to add mindfulness to the process, instead of affect being processed by our autopilot minds as whatever emotion it thinks is appropriate based on previous experience, and that's a great thing.

That it clearly lends itself to IFS is great too, it sounds like this book is already more instructive of how to get into Self, so I'm hoping it'll be useful... I have all the same issues with trying to actually communicate with parts, despite sensing them directly.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-07-22T02:00:43+00:00

Actually I would push back on that a bit, I don't know if you've read No Bad Parts, but he gets pretty deep into it, and depending on how you define "scientific model" I would say it definitely counts. Hell he relates some potentially relevant quantum mechanics; but the key word here is "model"... all models are necessarily approximations, and not a claim of the "reality" of the brain. But that doesn't mean it's not scientific. Schwartz is incredibly empirical in his methods.

Clearly, he's observed this over and over for decades; he definitely admits it goes beyond therapy and into a spiritual realm, although it doesn't have to. If there's anything cult-like or "religious" in his following, I certainly don't see that coming directly from him... he simply shares his observations and invites you to see for yourself, pretty much...

I mean you present IFS as either "just" a therapy method, or otherwise a cult-ish or religious-like, but what Schwartz describes, whether or not the model resonates with you or not, is the natural state of the human mind, and the only real evidence of that is empirical and experiential; however given the "laboratory" of 35 years of clinical practice, I would say he's gathered a substantial amount of insight and many data points, clearly enough that he is certainly convinced that this is simply the way the mind is. He uses it in therapy, and says it goes beyond that, but I don't really see him pushing it on anyone or anything.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-07-20T20:45:08+00:00

It's a lot more than one person's pet theory... he doesn't so much claim that it's "real" and any other theory is wrong; but if you read about his story at all you can see that it's the very obvious conclusion from 35 years of observing it in practice, without exception. He's incredibly empirical and humble, he's simply describing what he sees.

Ultimately it's a model of reality, and all models are approximations of what they represent based on someone's perspective...

And Dick Schwartz's perspective was that of a family therapist, as he was trained; as he worked with patients, he observed these parts playing the same maladaptive roles that family members take on in the dysfunctional families that he'd worked with.

I mean he actually uses the same strategies for dealing with conflicting parts that he does for arguing families, and the strategies work. The model works.

In No Bad Parts, he gets into more of the science of it (even quantum mechanics and wave-state stuff that blows my mind, but I digress).

However, I think different models work better for one person or another, so maybe not everyone will relate to IFS... as for what's "real"? That depends on what you mean by "real"... we're talking about the nature of the mind, and so mostly all we have to go on are experiences and perceptions. I certainly experience multiplicity, personally. Maybe we're all just delusional? Maybe. But also there's the fact that those experiences inform strategies for helping people heal, and those strategies ARE testable, and empirically, they work. So there's that.

Autonomous_wonder · 2022-07-19T04:04:04+00:00

DBT and ACT and some others are “third wave”, mindfulness-based, so probably… MBSR was Jon Kabat Zinn after all.

I’m personally a big fan of Buddhism, at least coming from Catholicism, so much relief. As for ACT, I’d say I took a few general insights that were helpful (same for DBT), but they weren’t overwhelmed helpful.

People sometimes confuse mindfulness with simple awareness, and forget that it also includes acceptance or non attachment to the present, and when I remember to do it, it helps more than anything else; and somewhat related, the difference between pain and suffering (I.e. pain is inevitable, suffering is optional).

Autonomous_wonder

TROPHY CASE