Blog

Mental health care is meant to prioritize well‑being—but growing concerns are emerging that some agencies in Buffalo, NY, might be incentivizing the behavior they’re treating. Critics argue that pushing formal diagnoses can result in greater billing and revenue, sometimes risking patient care. Let’s take a deeper look. 💊 Why diagnoses can mean dollars Billing structure: In New York, Medicaid and OMH‑approved mental health clinics services provided—with significant variation

Let's not pretend anymore that the mental health system is one of healing. It isn't. It is one of profit. And if you ever do start feeling really well, really free — they lose a customer. The mental health community doesn't need you to be healthy enough to let you go. It requires you to be stable enough to stay — compliant, quiet, medicated, and billable. Because every "follow-up," every refill, every session, every label is a line item. You are not a person. You are a cash s

We've been told for decades a straight-up lie: depression is caused by a "chemical imbalance" in the brain—a low level of serotonin. That idea has justified the mass dispensing of antidepressants like SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) to millions. It's memorable, comforting, and has no basis in fact. The Reality: There Is No Consistent Evidence That Low Serotonin Causes Depression In 2022, a trailblazing systematic umbrella review in Molecular Psychiatry by Joa

(Based on Michael Alexiuk’s book - Power Therapy) In the last post, I said it like it is: If you want strong mental health, stop coping. Start doing hard things that matter. Michael Alexiuk’s Power Therapy lays out the core formula: Difficult + Relevant + Achievable = Personal Power. But how do you actually find and build those kinds of goals? Here’s your guide. 🔥 Step 1: Choose Something That Scares You a Little Let’s be clear: this is not about self-torture. It’s about fri

(Based on Michael Alexiuk’s Power Therapy) I discovered this book almost 30 years ago and it completely changed my life. It also indirectly presents what's wrong with the entire mental health system. We’ve been told a lie about our mental health—that it’s about “managing symptoms,” “practicing self-care,” and “being kind to yourself.” That’s not strength. That’s survival. And survival is not the same thing as healing. Michael Alexiuk’s Power Therapy cuts through the noise wit

Does mental health medication work? For most people, the answer is NO! Certainly not in the way we have been told they do. Let’s get one thing straight: we’ve been sold a story — a story that says mental health issues are “chemical imbalances,” and if you just take your magical serotonin pill, everything will get better. But guess what? That story is falling apart, and the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want you to notice. 🧠 “Antidepressants Work” – Do They Really? For deca

We all have a "shadow"—the desires, feelings, and memories we'd rather cram in a back closet than admit to ourselves. First described by Carl Jung, the shadow is not "bad"; it's just the unloved aspect of you. If you don't address it, it will run your life from behind the scenes (think unexplained anger, jealousy, or self-sabotage). I know this has been something we here at ETS have all dealt with! But when you approach it with curiosity, you regain energy, creativity, and co

The vagus nerve is the body’s long, wandering superhighway from the brainstem to the gut. When it’s fir ing well (“high vagal tone”), your heart rate steadies, cortisol drops, and the mind shifts from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest. Good news: you can nudge that switch yourself! Five Fast Ways to Flip the Switch 4-6 Breath Reset - Breathe so the exhale is longer than the inhale—for example, 4-second inhale / 6-second exhale- for five minutes. The longer out-breath tells t

Anxiety is something most of us feel at some point in our lives. It’s that racing heart before a big meeting, the tight chest when overwhelmed, or the restless thoughts that keep you up at night. What many people don’t realize is that anxiety is a completely normal and even necessary part of the human experience . From an evolutionary perspective, anxiety helped our ancestors survive. It’s a built-in alarm system that keeps us alert and prepared for danger. But in modern life

Depression Isn’t Just in Your Head — It’s in Your Life: What Johann Hari Gets Right We’re often told that depression is a chemical imbalance, a brain disorder, a glitch in our biology. But what if that’s only part of the truth—or even the wrong starting point entirely? If you’ve ever felt your depression lift when you left a toxic job, ended an abusive relationship, found a sense of purpose, or reconnected with people who truly see you, then you know: depression isn’t just ab

Let’s stop pretending. Let’s stop nodding along with the lie that antidepressants are the magic bullet for depression. Because they’re not. And the fact that millions of people are still being sold this story — by pharmaceutical companies, by doctors who should know better, by a system that profits off our pain — is infuriating. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the people who’ve done the digging — like Johann Hari , who exposed the rotten core of the chemical imbalance th

Please don’t beat the shit out of yourself for being anxious sometimes. It’s perfectly normal. Life is goddamned scary as f*ck. Just turn on the news. If you don’t have some anxiety, you are a sociopath. And, FYI, we are the only creatures on Earth that know something is coming in our future. Not dolphins, or dogs, or chimpanzees. Do you know what we are singularly aware of that is coming? Yup – death. We know that someday, our friends, our family, and ourselves are going to

As long as I can remember I go through periods – daily, weekly – where I feel horribly “ off ”. I’m bored, irritable, anxious, sad, empty, obsessed and about a hundred other negative adjectives I could use to describe how I feel. Over the years I have been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety disorder, ADHD, depression, OCD, and “ mild ” bipolar disorder. LOL, all the " Ds ." I recently decided to stop trying to figure out the “ why ” and even the “ what ” of my problems and figure o