Strength of mind is improvable; hence fortitude of the cerebral cortex differs more than endurance of body. The aggregate of mind is one thing and a distinguished brain another. Half a million children in the United States of America currently take antipsychotic drugs. Children from low-income families are four times as likely as privately insured children to receive antipsychotic medicines. These medications are often used to make abused and neglected children more tractable. Justin, the seventeen-year-old college student used to spend a great deal of his time alone and is terrified by his own hunger for connection. One morning while we were walking in the woods behind my house, he described his fear of engulfing other. He told me that somethings he thinks he could just gulp down any person he started to like. Just like gobble ‘em up, you know? It was a beautiful day, but Justin did not seem to notice the brilliant colors of the leaves on the path as he scuffed along beside me.  #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

I glanced at my unhappy young companion. He was lovely. His face was soft and vulnerable, like a runaway bunny, and he was oddly graceful. Justin grew up in a family where there was good reason to be afraid of swallowing someone whole. His mother suffered from severe depression. Justin had become increasingly horrified by the idea that he could be just like his mother, a woman whose terrible needs threatened to devour others. Justin was afraid he would never escape his mother’s hunger. He told me that he never invited other kids over to his house, he never knew if his mother would be friendly of if she would start crying in front of them and tell them to go outside so she could go back to sleep. The kids knew there was something wrong with her, so they did not really want to come to his house anyway. Over time, the shame Justin felt about his mother took her over so completely that she developed a pervasive sense of shame about herself. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

Justin practiced in the self-sabotaging patterns of distancing even though he was only seventeen years old. Although his behavior was not yet at the extreme end of the spectrum, he was driven to keep himself at an impenetrable distance from others. He was quick to tell me that it is safer to run away from others rather than face his own hungry ghosts. He hides from anyone who might become a potential partner. She told me that sometimes people tell him he is weird. Some of the kids in his building even call him “The Mystery Boy.” Justin illustrates the disappearing distance who suffers from fear, shame, and self-loathing, feelings that have propelled him into hiding. Spending a great deal of your tie alone becomes self-sabotaging when it keeps one from recognizing, deepening, and enjoying human connection. The habit of being alone, when generated by negative feelings towards others, can become a chronic condition of isolation. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

Cheerfulness depends as much on the state of things within, as without. The heart loves repose and the soul contemplation, but the mind requires action. In 2008, 19,045 children age five and under were prescribed antipsychotics through Medicaid. One study, based on Medicaid data in thirteen state, found that 12.4 percent of children in foster care received antipsychotics, compared with 1.4 percent of Medicaid-eligible children in general. These medications make children more manageable and less aggressive, but they also interfere with motivation, play, and curiosity, which are indispensable for maturing into a well-functioning and contributing member of society. Children who take them are also at risk of becoming morbidly obese and developing diabetes. Meanwhile, drug overdoses involving a combination of psychiatric and pain medications continue to rise. Isolation, in and of itself, is a by-product of distancing that creates its own problems. People in isolation lose confidence in their rightful place in human society. Feeling perpetually outside of life can cause you to feel rejected and defective. Over time, you may become increasingly fearful, resentful, anxious, depressed, or angry. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

Isolation is self-perpetuating. It is potentially lethal when it leads to extremes of depression and hopelessness and can take someone to the point of suicide. Someone like Justin, who never seems to initiate contact with others, is perceived as aloof, arrogant, or unfriendly. This in turn creates feelings of loneliness and defensiveness because there are two lives to each of us, gliding on at the same time, scarcely connected with each other—the life of our actions, the life of our minds. Because drugs have become so profitable, major medical journals rarely publish studies on nondrug treatments of mental health problems. Mainstream medicine is firmly committed to a better life through chemistry, and the fact that we can actually change our own physiology and inner equilibrium by means other than drugs is rarely considered. I am happy and complete, today and forever. Within me is that which is perfect and complete. It is the spirit of all life, truth, and action. I am happy in the certain knowledge of this inner light. I cannot be sad nor sorry, but must radiate joy and life for life is within me now. I am happy and complete. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5