Produced in collaboration by Peter R. Breggin, MD
and Pam Popper’s Wellness Forum Health

To talk directly to a human being about the courses at Wellness Form Health,

Call 614-841-7700 

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

(1) Why and How to Withdraw from Psychiatric Drugs: The Intensive Course

A comprehensive course via virtual classroom with live and interactive conference calling with instructors including psychiatrist Pinar Miski and myself.

Intended for healthcare providers as well as anyone interested in an in-depth study of the harms of psychiatric drugs and how to withdraw from them.

Research does not support the idea that “chemical imbalances in the brain” are the cause of mental illness. The medical model for personal emotional suffering has no scientific basis. Yet today, 25% of Americans, including millions of children, are taking psychiatric drugs for conditions ranging from ADHD to schizophrenia.

Research shows that psychiatric drugs are not effective, even in the short-term. Instead, the drugs have significant side effects that are often disabling and sometimes life-threatening. Worse yet, studies show increasing harms longer-term with no demonstrable positive effects, while the neurotoxicity of the drugs blinds people to how poorly they are doing.

Furthermore, the drugs do not address the underlying causes of the individual’s suffering and impairment such as childhood or adult losses and trauma, emotional conflicts in the family, poor self-discipline, difficulties focusing and persisting, real life crises, and self-defeating attitudes.

The majority of today’s practicing psychiatrists are trained to prescribe drugs, and not to provide therapy. Some psychiatrists are interested in assisting patients with medication withdrawal, and returning to a practice model that centers on empathic therapy. Others, however, are hostile to the idea, which means that in order to help the tens of millions of people currently taking drugs and who need help in regaining their physical and mental health, family practice and other general practice health providers, along with psychologists and other types of therapists will need to be trained to assist. While many of these health professionals have maintained for many years that psychiatric drugs were more harmful than helpful, few are trained specifically in what to expect when patients begin the withdrawal process, how to differentiate between medication withdrawal symptoms and underlying psychological issues, and how to effectively engage families and friends to help those affected.

This unique program was developed by Wellness Forum Institute and psychiatrist Peter Breggin, M.D., a leading promoter of empathic therapy and a pioneering researcher in the toxic effects of psychiatric drugs and how to withdraw from them. Participants will learn guidelines for prescribers, therapists, patients and their families involved in psychiatric drug withdrawal, with emphasis on a collaborative effort that is empowering to the patient and family..

This course is offered via virtual classroom (live and interactive conference call).

See Course Description. 

Enrollment deadline in January 2019. To enroll, visit Wellness Forum Health Registration page.

For more information call 614 841-7700 or email [email protected]

(2) Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: The Consumer Course

For people taking psychiatric drugs, their families and their social networks.

This online course will empower patients to help themselves! Through a combination of videos, slide sets, and handouts, patients and their families will learn:

• • about the effects of psychiatric drugs on physical and mental health
  • the specific challenges patients face regarding withdrawal
  • how to prepare the body for drug withdrawal through diet and lifestyle improvement
  • how to develop a team for support

• tips for how to find a competent therapist
• tips for how to find a helpful prescriber
• what to expect during the withdrawal process

See Course Description. 

To enroll at any time visit Wellness Forum Health Registration page. .

For more information call 614 841-7700 or email [email protected]

(3) The Heart of Being Helpful: For Everyone

For anyone seeking to be more empathic and helpful to friends, family members, coworkers and clients.

The Heart of Being Helpful is not a coaching program, a therapy program, a certification program, or a licensing program. It can help the most highly credentialed people but its planned for every well-meaning person, which means most of us. It is about having helpful conversations and building good relationships, including friends and family who are suffering through emotional distress and turmoil. It can also be helpful to professionals working as attorneys, emergency first responders, or therapists.

You do not need permission from us, from a certifying agency, a licensure board, a university or anyone else to build good relationships and to help other people. We humans have been helping each other grow emotionally and overcome crises for the ions that humanity has existed—or we would not have existed at all.

Sometimes just “being there” is enough to bring comfort to someone in distress. Yet even “being there” seems like the hardest thing to do when you’re in a stressful situation with someone else, especially if they really matter to you.

Other times, you may have wished you could do more than simply be there—when you’ve wished you had the information to say meaningful things to someone in despair. This course will help you not only to be there for others, it will help you talk in a useful manner to people who are in emotional crises.

This course is presented in two parts.

Part I of The Heart of Being Helpful starts with you becoming the “best you” that you can be. The more centered and happy you are, the more pleased with your life that you are—the more you will be able to help others.

You’ll learn how to constructively look at your past and your present circumstances, your successes and failures, your relationships with others, and how to transform yourself to live your best life. Ultimately you will learn how to identify your self-defeating reactions to life and to replace them with positive, rational and caring approaches. Insight into your own experience, and continually fine-tuning yourself to live and to relate better, provides the basis for helping others with their lives.

Part II continues with your learning how to apply what you’ve learned to helping others – not by delivering therapy, but by helping people through the same self-transformation experience you’ve undergone for yourself. Helping ourselves and those we touch to live fuller and more satisfying lives is an ongoing process that all people can share with one other, sometimes through a lifetime together.

See Course Description. 

To enroll at any time, visit Wellness Forum Health Registration page.

For more information call 614 841-7700 or email [email protected]