My psychotic breakdown: Cage the Elephant

Cage the Elephant, Neon Pill album (2024)

(CBS Morning) Cage the Elephant's Kentucky boy Matt Shultz opens up about his psychosis, ADHD medication gone wrong (thanks, $Big Pharma$), and healing through rock music and guns:

Between 2020–2024, Shultz had a paranoid "mental health crisis" for the making of Neon Pill (2024).

He experienced a severe adverse reaction to prescribed ADHD medication, which led to paranoid delusions and a break from reality. His condition culminated in a high-profile arrest in January 2023 in NY, where he was found with two loaded firearms.

Double crossed by pharmaceuticals

Cage the Elephant singer on arrest: “It saved my life”

Cage the Elephant was once double crossed by a "Neon Pill"

Shultz later avoided jail time through a plea deal and underwent extensive treatment, which he has credited with saving his life [12]. This turbulent period deeply influenced Cage the Elephant's sixth studio album, Neon Pill.

Have the pills done too much?

Big Pharma sold me the drugs: Em Beihold "Numb Little Bug"

The album features lyrics reflecting Shultz's psychological descent and recovery, blending confessional songwriting with the band's evolving, genre-fluid sound. Songs like "Neon Pill" and "Rainbow" trace his personal trauma, including a temporary divorce from his wife Kentucky-based actress, dancer, and musician Eva Ross [13].

We're not into psychedelics...or are we?

Cage the Elephant "Come a Little Closer" (official psychedelic video)

In interviews, Shultz has spoken candidly about the dangers of blurring performance personas with personal identity and has since adopted a more grounded public presence.

Cage the Elephant: Hey, Man, at least you're on the radio "Social Cues"

I remarried the woman I divorced.

The band's return to touring in 2024 was met with critical acclaim, and Shultz has described the experience as a profound reset, offering new perspective on fame and artistic identity [12].

On Oct. 10, 2024, CBS Mornings aired a segment featuring Shultz and his brother Brad. In it Matt opened up about his psychosis [14]. More

"Beaches in Tennessee"

Cage the Elephant "Beaches in Tennessee" (visualizer)

• PHOTOS: Singer Matt Shultz of Cage the Elephant (Alamy)
• CBS Morning; Cage the Elephant; Em Beihold; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Right's pre-modern 'Masculinist' fantasy

(The Ezra Klein Show) Helen Lewis on the Right's pre-modern 'Masculinist' fantasy

Jesus was a magi (Myth Vision)

"Good Christians" vs. all the others

Crying in the Bathroom (Poet E. L. Sanchez)

Andrea Gutierrez (It's Been a Minute, NPR); Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I feel a bit cuckoo, too! (Erika Buenaflor)

Mexican-American author Erika L. Sánchez was making her dreams come true in 2017, her young adult novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter earning critical acclaim.

But even as she rose to fame, Sánchez found herself struggling with her mental health. Her new memoir, Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir, captures the tension between her public success and her private suffering — and more.

Erika should meditate. Right, Dick? - Yeah, Lisa

Princeton University Professor Sánchez talks with guest host Anna Sale about sharing some of her darkest moments with readers (like being a bipolar poet), caring for her mental health, and what she's learned from her personal cartoon role model — Lisa Simpson.

If considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1(800) 273-8255 (En Español: 1(888) 628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1(800) 799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

POEM: Kingdom of Debt

ERIKA L. SÁNCHEZ | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)

According to a report from the University of San Diego’s Justice in Mexico project, 138,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since 2006.

They call it the corner of heaven:

a laboratory, a foot at the throat

of an empire. Before the holy

dirt, the woman with the feline gait

waits with tangled hair, mouth

agape — the letter X marked

on what’s left of her breasts

and face. Nuestra Belleza

Mexicana. A roped mule

watches a man place a crown

on her severed head. Tomorrow

the queen will be picked clean

by the kindness of the sea.

Shuttered shops and empty

restaurants. Stray dogs couple

in a courtyard. Under a swaying

palm tree, a cluster of men

finger golden pistols, whisper,

aquí ni se paran las moscas.

Two boys, transfixed, watch

a pixelated video: a family fed

to a swarm of insatiable pigs.

A butcher sweeps blood

from an empty street. Death

is my godmother, he repeats.

Death is a burnt mirror.

When the crackling stereo

dithers between stations — amor

de mis amores, sangre de mi alma — 

a gaggle of silent children

gather before a sputtering

trash bin. Together they watch

the terror hover like flies.

Source: Poetry (December 2015)

This episode was produced by Andrea Gutierrez. It was edited by Jessica Mendoza. Engineering help came from Stuart Rushfield. Executive producer was Veralyn Williams. Follow on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email at IBAM@npr.org.

7 dimensions of depression explained (video)

Various speakers, Big Think, 2/14/21; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

7 dimensions of depression, explained: Dr. Daniel Goleman, Johann Hari, Pete Holmes, more

(Big Think) According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), more than 264 million people suffer from depression. It is the leading cause of disability and, at its worst, can lead to suicide. Unfortunately, depression is often misunderstood or ignored until it is too late.

• Psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman
• Researcher Johann Hari
• Dr. Julie Holland, MD
• Comedian Pete Holmes
• Neuroscientist Dr. Emeran Mayer
• Psychiatrist Dr. Drew Ramsey, and more

outline several of the social, chemical, and neurological factors that may contribute to the complex disorder and explain why there is not a singular solution or universal "cure" that can alleviate the symptoms.

From gaining insight into how the brain-gut connection [where most neurons reside] works and adopting something closer to the Mediterranean Diet, to seeking help from medical or spiritual practitioners, depression is a personal battle that requires a personalized strategy to keep it at bay, as well as more research and understanding.

Check Drew Ramsey's book Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks

TRANSCRIPT

JOHANN HARI: When I feel depressed, like loads of people, I say I feel down, right? And as I was learning about the causes of depression and anxiety for my book, "Lost Connections," I started to realize, I don't think that's a metaphor. There is this amazing professor at Stanford called Robert Sapolsky who in his early 20s went to live with a troop baboons in Kenya. And it was his job to figure out when are baboons most stressed out. So his job was to hit them with little tranquilizer darts and then take a blood test and measure something called cortisol, which is a hormone that baboons and us release when we're stressed. And baboons live in this hierarchy, so the females don't interestingly but the men live in a very strict hierarchy. So if there's 30 men, number one knows he's above number two, number two knows he's above number three, number 12 knows he's above number 13. And that really determines a lot. It determines who you get to have sex with, it determines what you get to eat, it determines whether you get to sit in the shade or you're pushed out into the heat. Yeah, it's a really, really significant where you are in the hierarchy. And what Professor Sapolsky found is baboons are most stressed in two situations. One is when their status is insecure. So if you're the top guy and someone's circling which comes for you, you will be massively stressed. And the other situation is when you feel you're at the bottom of a hierarchy, you've been kind of humiliated. And what Professor Sapolsky found is when you feel you've been pushed to the bottom, what you do is you show something called submission gesture. Baboon will put its body down physically or put its head down, it will put its bottom in the air and it will cover its head. So it clearly seems to be communicating, "Just leave me alone, you've beaten me. Okay, you've beaten me." And what lots of scientists, people like Professor Paul Gilbert in Britain and Professor Kate Pickett and Professor Richard Wilkinson also in Britain have really developed is this idea that actually what human depression is in part, not entirely, but in part, is a form of a submission gesture. It's a way of saying, I can't cope with this anymore, right? Particularly people who feel they've been pushed to the bottom of hierarchies or who feel remember the other stressful situations when you feel your status is insecure it's a way of just going, "Okay, can I retreat?" "I don't want this fight anymore." "You've beaten me." It's a kind of very strong evolutionary impulse where you feel you're under attack to just submit in the hope that the stress and anxiety will then go away. The sources of the stress and anxiety will then go away. And one thing that is so important, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson really developed this, is they've shown so as inequality grows, depression and anxiety grow. They've shown, this is very robust effect, right? This helps us to explain it. One in five Americans will take a psychiatric drug, one in four middle-aged women in the United States is taking a chemical antidepressant in any given year. And I began to think, could it really be that just so many people are just mysteriously lacking a specific chemical in their brain? Why does it seem to be rising so much if that's the cause? If you live in Norway, your status is relatively secure, right? No one's that high, no one's that low, movement between where you are is not so extreme. If you live in the United States, especially today which is...

• Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/neuropsych/depression...

Watch the newest video from Big Think: bigth.ink/NewVideo. Learn skills from the world's top minds at Big Think+: bigthink.com/plus.

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How science made me immune to "hot" girls

Wisdom Quarterly; AnimalNewYork.com; Philly.BarstoolSports.com; AsianPlayboy.com

(Faith Rae Alternative) WARNING: Faith explains process she went through to look more fake through surgery with before and after photos and a description of the aftermath. One sees more boobs at Raisins in South Park.

 

Immunity and clear skin! (grrlprobs.com)

THE STORY: After centuries of deceit, innocent men finally have a defense against the guile of seductive “she-devils.”

 

Not only can the solution potentially end the “evil” regime of the attractive female -- it also clears acne and breakouts.

 

This “miracle” elixir is the pharmaceutical Minocycline, an antibiotic commonly found in acne medication. 

 

According to a study published in Scientific Reports, a group of Japanese researchers found that Minocycline can “facilitate sober decision-making in healthy human subjects.” 

"Freaks and Geeks"

“Human” meaning male, and “sober” meaning unimpeded by a woman’s conniving. The male subjects were told to play a “trust game” where they could either keep their 1,300 yen compensation or take a gamble by sharing it with a woman (after seeing her photo).

 

This choice would triple the money, but the woman could decide how it would be split between them. Little did the men know that every woman was told to keep all the money for herself -- making every woman a “honey trap.”

 

The group given placebos tended to trust the “attractive” females more than the “unattractive” ones, while those who’d taken the Minocycline were equally mistrusting of all the women.

 

Acne-riddled nerd "makes it rain" on strippers (philly.barstoolsports.com)

.

Science: Acne medication makes one less susceptible to being seduced by hot females

REACTION: Is this why guys recovering from a treatable acne condition nevertheless do not get [relations] as often as they would like? No.

  

But it does have implications for those times when it is necessary for a male to keep his wits about him and not give in to carnal temptation.

 

It may not be something one needs everyday, but when one is on retreat, or signed up as a temporary monastic, perhaps visiting strip clubs and not wanting to lose ones and fives (such as at a friend’s bachelor party) it would be nice to have a reliable means of resisting temptation and regret until restraint builds to reliable levels.

Protection against one's own wandering mind and (following) eye, which again and again is drawn to leer at breasts and backsides, is a powerful step forward in one's practice.

Guarding the mind/heart as well as the wallet against what draws them astray is sometimes vital and always helpful. The bar graph above illustrates the potential losses and savings. Many male when faced with temptation -- a 9 or 10, the offer of a lap dance, push up bras, thongs, struts, strips, poles, and a come hither motions -- sound financial decisions will now be easier to make.

 

Thanks to Japanese scientists for finally getting to the bottom of something that actually matters. They have succeeded in potentially saving us thousands of dollars over a lifetime at clubs, bars, and Nevada brothels. Slap on some Proactiv like Jessica Simpson recommends, and judgment will remain sound.

The Tail that Wags the Dog: DSM-5 (cartoon)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly (REVIEW); BarnesandNoble.com

Better living through poison and pricey pharmaceutical-grade chemicals (weheartit.com)

DSM-5 is the most comprehensive and current resource for rich mental health clinicians.

 

BAD: Yohimbe, cannabis, rock 'n roll...

There is a new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). It is used by clinicians and researchers to diagnose and classify mental disorders.

But its main function has become a means of getting insurance companies to pay for outlandish pharmaceutical treatments for ALL kinds of things.

You're CRAZY if we vote and say that behavior is an official "disorder" included in the APA Bible, the manual used to diagnose who is and isn't bonkers. Homer Simpson found out when he asked, found out how it is decided just who is "INSANE" and who is not. The diagnosis was actually quite elegant.

(FOX TV) Homer and Michael Jackson institutionalized for being different

GOOD: Viagra, Valium, and harp Musak...

This new revision, fifth in the bestselling series, is the product of more than 10 years of effort by hundreds of international "experts" in all aspects of mental health -- not least of which is getting paid, and making a maximum profit with the help of drug peddlers (Big Pharma agents, not the grimy kind in suburban schools and flashy clubs). 

 

Their dedication and hard work have yielded an "authoritative" volume you can take to your school official (any counselor, nurse, occupational or rehabilitation therapists, social workers, forensic, and legal specialists) and demand Ritalin or other pharmaceutical-grade forms of speed and horse, super-addictive amphetamines and narcotics of all kinds.

DSM-5 defines and classifies "mental disorders" in order to [maximize and] improve diagnoses, treatment (never profit-stifling "cures," only "ongoing treatments"), and research.

 

This manual, which itself is an excellent sedative for those suffering from insomnia, makes not only for a  good snooze read, but also creates a common language for clinicians involved in the diagnosis of mental disorders.

It includes concise and specific criteria intended to facilitate an objective assessment of symptom presentations in a variety of clinical settings -- inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, consultation-liaison, clinical, private practice, and primary care. So what could be wrong with that?

The problem, at least one of them, is that it implies that these are naturally-occurring illnesses existing in nature, merely being defined by science. The book is the tail that wags the dog. The dog is the pharmaceutical industry, which uses the DSM as a justification for medicating every and any "aberrant," disruptive, or simply inconvenient behavior.

Mmm, Prozac-flavored icing (fluoride)

Any? Yes, any, because there are many "off label" uses for drugs that make them particularly good moneymakers for corporation that manufacture them. Unless, that is, they actually work. One old patented drug was discovered to cure cancer. No one wants to cure cancer; cancer treatments make too much money for everyone involved -- poison makers (look up pharmakos), radiation promoters, wig makers, hospices, hospitals, surgeons, chemotherapists who attempt to poison parts of the body to death without killing the whole body in the process, fast food makers, and so on.

 
The information contained in the manual is valuable to right-thinking physicians and health professionals, not just psychologists.
 
At $149.00 plus tax, DSM-5 is the most profitable and definitive resource for the diagnosis and classification of mental disorders. Oh, and remember to renew your American Psychiatric Association membership dues; we take them and make more money for you until we're all happy. And keep this review under your hat, NOT for release to the general public. Buy your copy today! (No refunds).

• "Dumbass" (Ai Weiwei's heavy metal protest video)

The King of (Pop) Pills

Was Michael Jackson (shown here with his famoulsly abusive father, Joe) a Buddhist?

• "Criminal aspects" investigated in Jackson memorial cost
• Report: DEA raids Michael Jackson doctor's clinic

Many are undoubtedly tired of hearing about Jackson, but his life and death bring up many other important topics. The following is actually on the subject of prescription drug abuse: The King [of popping pills] is dead, long live the king....Everyone is anxiously waiting to pounce on the doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who gave Jackson seemingly unlimited access to whatever pill or drip he needed, wanted, or craved....But I'm sure no one forced Jackson...

In fact, the real culprit in this tragedy is less a negligent doctor or well-paid enabler than the cultural milieu we live in: let's pop a pill and make all our problems go away!

Whether it's Junior raiding mom's medicine cabinet for those leftover Vicodans from her gall bladder surgery, or sis abusing oxycontin, or mom filling extra prescriptions for her own use of the ADHD medication meant for her kid because it helps her lose weight, or dad popping that little blue pill that makes him feel more like a man, we're all reaching for the pill bottle way too often rather than going through the hard work of examining and working on our issues and life changes.

Approximately a third of all U.S. drug abuse is prescription drug abuse. The latest statistics indicate that an estimated 5.2 million Americans, age 12 or older, used prescription pain relievers for non-medical purposes! And talk about enablers...did you realize that there are approximately 800,000 web sites that sell prescription drugs and ship them right to your home with few questions asked? There are obviously a lot of people reaching for mother's little helper.

Are we surprised, then, that Michael Jackson is being linked to such a wide array of pain killers (Demerol, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Vicodan), anti-anxiety (Xanax) and anti-depressant meds (Zoloft), and even anesthetizing himself with the "milk of amnesia" (Deprivan, used to knock out patients in hospitals prior to surgery) so he could sleep? A police report prepared for Jackson's 2004 child-abuse trial alleges he was taking up to 40 Xanax pills a night. After his death, bottles of Deprivan were found in his home, along with the IV equipment needed to administer the powerful anesthetic. More>>

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