Published Writing
Find full-length articles and publications written by Dr. Brad below, for free download and/or purchase.
-
Published Fall of 2016 in
Biofeedback, Volume 44, Issue 3, pp. 121–125Mindfulness is everywhere, from the cover of TIME magazine to segments on every major news network. With such popularity in mainstream culture for mindfulness, it is only a matter of time before psychology embraced the approach by offering a burst of mindfulness based therapies, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and mindfulness-based eating awareness therapy. These approaches claim mindfulness as a central theme, yet debate has grown over the role of mindfulness in psychotherapy and biofeedback, and there is growing concern about the secularizing a philosophy originating in Asia over 2000 years ago. This paper will define mindfulness from both traditional and modern perspectives, review skills and practices of mindfulness, examine the connection of mindfulness and health and show how, as a process, mindfulness is incorporated in virtually most forms of psychotherapy and biofeedback training.
-
June 2016 in Naturopathic Doctor News & Review
A month before his death, both my sister and I, together and on separate occasions, directly asked my father, “What are your wishes? What do you want to happen? What do we need to know?” His common retort was something to the effect of, “If I can’t take care of your mother, then I don’t want to go on.” Were he fully cognizant at the time as to just how incapable he was for caring for my mother, I wonder if his response would have changed?
-
June 3rd, 20I4 in Naturopathic Doctor News & Review
I believe the fundamental goal for all care, regardless of discipline and modality, is the same – to help people identify how they orient to life, and discover novel ways to move through their days. Rather than the emphasis being on the elimination of disease, what would happen in the clinical encounter if we spent an equivalent amount of time asking patients to identify how they are orienting to life?
-
June 15th 2012 in Naturopathic Dotor News & Review
Said the patient: “I meditate daily, but I’m not doing it great. My diet is pretty good, but not great. I take my supplements, but I’m not doing it great.” With these words, Sally was off and running.
This sentiment—that only if “I try hard enough and perform perfectly” will I get better—has been echoed repeatedly by patients over the years, and we as healthcare providers perpetuate it, I believe. Such thinking encourages the “bargaining stage” as described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, in her seminal work On Death and Dying.1 When faced with a terminal illness or catastrophic event, Kübler-Ross observed that one moves through several stages of grief, although not necessarily in a linear fashion. She outlined these stages as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
-
Fall 2009 in the Unifed Health Journal
Charles was an outgoing, gregarious fellow who sported an eternal smile and infectious laugh. I had been working with him for three sessions before I learned he suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disorder that affects the peripheral nervous system and can result in weakness, numbness, tingling and potentially paralysis and death. After watching me teach a group of 8th graders meditation at the private school where he worked, Charles called to schedule an appointment, not knowing exactly what he was seeking, or even what I did, yet he added, anyone who can get those kids to sit quietly for 15 minutes is someone I want to work with.
-
Summer 2009 in Unified Health Journal
What are myths but stories that help us make sense of the world? We turn to the Classics for guidance, inspiration and solace, recognizing that we are not alone in our plight, that the struggles we endure now are the struggles of men and women throughout the ages. The mythic arc is universal – the separation, the search and the return. An event happens, a defining moment; we find ourselves instantly disconnected from all we know, and our daily routines and habitual ways of living become outmoded and obsolete. Forced into uncharted territory, like Persephone abducted by Hades, we come to recognize how little we know ourselves, how to live or what road to choose. With time, deep reflection, contemplation, and completion of many harrowing tasks placed in our way by the gods and goddesses, maybe we find our way home again. Yet while this home may look like the one from which we departed, at least on the exterior, it is new; on some fundamental level, the odyssey changes us for good.
-
Spring 2009 in Unified Health Journal
Ever since Bill had bent over to pick up a dumbbell at the gym four months ago, searing pain gripped his back and shot down his legs with every move. Only total stillness brought temporary relief to his otherwise implacable pain. Convinced its origin was physical in nature, Bill sought help from a chiropractor, acupuncturist, naturopath, Rolfer, and orthopedic surgeon. He swallowed anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, pain medications, and tried four acute homeopathic remedies. Sitting before me now in a rather contorted posture, I could see the weariness in his eyes. Breathing shallowly to keep pain at bay, his life force was shrinking by the moment.
-
Winter 2008 in Unified Health Journal
Self-disclosure and communication have never been issues for me. One of my earliest memories finds my four- or five-year-old self standing in my tiny bedroom, praying to God that I be struck mute (probably not the word I used) so no one (probably Mom) would ever be upset with me again. What I find so surprising is that I recall my childhood to be idyllic and carefree, and am hard-pressed to bring forth a time when my mother scolded or punished me. Still, feelings of hurt, sadness and grief pierce my heart when that image unexpectedly enters into my consciousness.
-
Fall 2008 in United Health Journal
Before focusing on her issues, Christy took a moment to tell me about the rash her 10-year old son developed three days ago after a routine tetanus shot. Within a few hours, small, red, raised, hot bumps began popping up two inches below the injection site. The next day, these bumps became confluent, and the itching grew incessant. Three days later, now, his symptoms continued to intensify.
During Christy’s appointment, another patient left a message about her son, also developing a rash, but of a different nature. While playing in the backyard, this 12-year old boy rolled onto a rusty nail. He, however, had received a tetanus booster six months earlier. His trauma site was neither itchy nor swollen, but cold and surrounded by red streaks.
-
Summer 2008 in United Health Journal
Attend to your spirit, attend to your soul. In order to be healed, the shaman spoke, you need to reconnect with your spirituality. That said, I was then set free to determine the precise steps to fulfill that prescription. Back in my car, I asked myself, who wouldn’t expect such advice from a shaman? Were her words unusual or unique, or the counsel a therapist or well-intentioned naturopath could have provid- ed (and be covered by my insurance)? I considered her words and wondered what she meant, exactly, by tending to my spirit and soul? Have I not been tending to my life? Was there a difference? Was I not here, seeking her guidance in an attempt to do just that: tend to my soul?
-
Fall 2007 in United Health Journal
When his hospice worker mentioned a study providing biweekly meditation or massage, Frank eagerly enrolled, willing to help hospice and research in any way he could. Randomized to the meditation arm of the study, I began working with Frank a few weeks before he passed away. Like most of the patients I met during this study, Frank had no experience with meditation. I found Frank lying in a hospital bed in his bedroom, with a nasal oxygen tube. Due to intractable fatigue and exhaustion, difficulty breathing and anxiety, he spoke little, yet was affable and amiable. Our first session was rather typical as far as study standards are concerned. After collecting some basic data, I explained the protocol and fundamentals of meditation, and then we settled down to meditate. Although variations occur depending upon the issues and needs of the patient, the protocol remains fairly constant, and consists of a three-part guided meditation totaling about thirty minutes.
-
Spring 2007 in United Health Journal
The world of complementary and alternative medicine, and naturopathic medicine particularly, owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Mitchell, ND. Along with Les Griffith, ND, Joe Pizzorno, ND and Shelia Quinn, Bill was one of the co-founders of Bastyr University, or John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine, as it was called at its inception in 1978. If not for Bill and his participation as one of the midwives of this institution, naturopathic medicine would probably not enjoy its acceptance and licensure in 14 states, the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and several of the newer schools of naturopathic medicine would most likely not exist today.