Highest Five

At 33-years-old, I still feel like a child.  I live in a tiny one-roomed apartment (not a one -bedroom apartment, my apartment is literally one room), I drink myself into oblivion on weekends, and the only food in my fridge right now is rotting lettuce and an empty mustard bottle.  I sleep on a mattress on the floor. The only tools I own are a hammer and a wine opener.  My bank account is empty, my merchant accounts are stagnant.  I own a cat whom I say things to like “who’s my cute little kitty?” and “meow”.  I do not own a car, I do not even own a bicycle, yet I somehow consider myself superior to the “losers” surrounding me on the bus.

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I recently took on the daunting task of cleaning out my attic. The reason that I put myself through this torturous job was because the accumulation of many years worth of junk had my wife worried sick that our bedroom roof might collapse. One box that I found brought back many happy childhood memories for me. This box was the one with all of my boyscout material; books, badges, Swiss army knife, used ammunition etc.  I used to really enjoy being a part of a club with a bunch of other kids who liked to go camping and do other fun activities. This led me to wonder about the types of adult clubs that were out there; and because I am a little twisted I started thinking about some of the strangest ones that I have heard about. It has been four days since that incident and now that I have finally finished clearing out the attic I have a new job to do. I want to find some of the strangest cult followings that humans have joined.

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The self-help market is a multibillion dollar industry and I must admit, I’m often skeptical about how much these books really provide breakthrough insights or are just stating the obvious, with ideas that are easy to claim but complicated to put into practice. However, once in a while, books do come along which can genuinely assist with developing leadership skills, increasing self-esteem, spiritual growth and self-improvement. Here are my top 6 picks:

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Flying over the cuckoo’s nest can vary radically from culture to culture and after reading a very interesting NY Times article: The Americanization of Mental Illness, I wanted to find out more about some very particular culture-bound syndromes mentioned, most of which were unbeknownst to me. Killing rampages, fear that genitals are retracting, spirits taking over the body… here are some notable cultural illnesses that step outside the Western medical box and can only be understood, “understanding the ideas, habits and predispositions of the mind that is its host”.

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Depression is a word people often use quite loosely in our society to describe feeling down, sad and unhappy. Though these are certainly accurate symptoms of depression, when speaking of depression in a clinical sense, it actually goes much deeper. Depression is a serious medical illness, and studies show that by the year 2020 depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease. Pretty alarming statistics for thinking that depression is no more than an old case of the blues.

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I’ve often wondered if some element of cuckoo was necessary to create astonishing works of art, staggering pieces of writing or masterful musical compositions. This is why I’ve decided to delve a little deeper into hallucinations that have impacted a creators’ work. Hallucinations can be caused by many things aside from dropping acid or drinking mushroom tea. If you asked Freud, he’d tell you that hallucinations are the projection of our unconscious desires, wishes and thoughts. Hallucinations can also be the product of particular mental disorders, sleep deprivation as well as psychosis. This is no small topic so I’m writing this as a start-off point to a subject I am deeply fascinated by and would like to know more about. Any additional information on other famous hallucinations are encouraged, as well as discussion on whether or not you believe that “being out of one’s mind” has any influence (good or bad) on an artist’s work.

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Project MK-ULTRA: The CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioural Modification

From 1953 until the early 1970’s, Project MK-ULTRA was the CIA’s code name for a mind-control research program run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Their purpose was to study mind-control, interrogation methods and behaviour modification. In order to manipulate mental states and alter brain function, doctors administered various types of drugs such as LSD, mescaline, heroin

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They’ve got the info. You want the info. How does one get a person to give up the info, when said person simply doesn’t wanna? The following is a short guide on how to properly interrogate someone, without the use of car battery clamps or soul shattering water drips.

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When Olympic athletes get busted for taking drugs to enhance their physical performance they are penalized, stripped of their accomplishments and publicly shamed. So the big question facing doctors, teachers, parents, policy makers, and the media these days is whether or not drugs should be allowed for people to use in order to enhance their cognitive performance.

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Do you find yourself worn-out and tired throughout most of your day? So exhausted, tunnel vision seems normal, yet by the time you get into bed, you’re tossing and turning till the wee hours of the morning? All you want is a good night’s sleep, but it seems the second your head hits the pillow, your mind races with stressful thoughts, contemplations and reflections, even anxiety about not being able to fall asleep.

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