What is wrong with our mental health today? I find it distressing to see how many people are on psychotropic drugs, and how easily they are placed on them. Why? “Why” is my favorite word. If the person is not coping, why? If they have anxiety, why? If they are obsessive/compulsive or bi-polar, why? If they are depressed, why? The brain doesn’t normally operate in a contra-survival way, so if it is, why?
What is depression anyway?
Depression in itself is not a true emotion. It is an amalgamation of many different emotions. When we label something “depression” it takes away the individual’s power. It leaves that person at the effect of rather than having power to change it. If a person instead of saying
“I’m depressed” says “I’m sad” or “I’m lonely or angry or overwhelmed or discouraged; they now have the power to do something about it. Saying you’re depressed takes away the ability to find what’s underlying it. It becomes a statement of fact, rather than something you can do something about.
As you deconstruct the word depression, you may find you’re sad. What are you sad about? Can you do anything about it? Many times, we run into a true emotion and feel there is nothing that can be done about it. But spending time evaluating the possibilities or seeing a counselor or even talking to a friend about it can enable you to come up with solutions. But if you don’t take the time to evaluate how you actually feel, you don’t have the power to do anything about it!
Why are we no longer allowed to feel?
Why, when we feel an emotion, are we so quick to take a medication to soften or “eliminate” it? Taking responsibility for it is one reason. It’s much easier to bury the emotion than have to deal with it. It takes guts to deal with your emotions; to take an honest look at yourself. It takes even more guts to take action to change something you may not like. Burying your emotions, or masking them with drugs only complicates and compounds things. As you become more and more distressed, here come the pharmaceutical companies to the rescue! They have newer, better, more “designer drugs” to help you cope with the ever worsening mental state. Where does it end?
I remember a couple of years ago after a friend of mine died, his wife went to see her medical doctor for a routine check. He asked how she was and when she informed him that her husband had just died and she was grieving, but otherwise okay, he offered her medication. She refused saying she was okay, that grieving was a natural part of a loss and she’d be okay. He again offered her medication saying she didn’t have to feel anything! She again restated her desire to go through the natural process of grieving, at which time he became more forceful, almost angrily, about the drugs. She finally had to get forceful about her desire not to take the drugs to the point of getting in a heated argument about it!
Human emotions are meant to be felt. That’s why we have them. They are a normal, and healthy way of dealing with an imperfect life. Life is not meant to be monotone. It is not meant to be perfect. We (cont. on back)
will always have a tangle of problems, with their associated emotions, to go through. It’s what strengthens us and defines us. So what is happening when emotions go longer than expected or become extreme?
Our lifestyles have set the stage for out-of-control emotions.
We eat foods that are devoid of the nutrients necessary for proper brain chemistry. We eat foods full of chemicals that interfere with is proper brain chemistry. Although we don’t know what good brain chemistry looks like, we know what’s missing when certain emotions go out of control. But since the brain normally makes these chemicals, and would prefer that these chemicals stay in balance, we should be asking why would it stop? What’s interfering? What’s missing?
Taking a drug to replace the missing chemicals has helped millions of people. But given the choice, most people if they knew there were things they could do to encourage the brain or body to produce their own would prefer the later. This is where you need the help of a natural health care provider that knows how to assist this process. By restoring health to the individual, we restore healthy brains chemistry. The same things needed to rid the body of disease, helps the brain too. Things like proper nutrition, exercise, quality sleep and much more.
A word of caution.
I know of many, many individuals who take psychotropic drugs but don’t want to. So at some point they decide they can just go off them. So they do. The result is, they end up right back on them again, with the opinion they’re on them for life. However, they failed to do something absolutely critical. They failed to handle the underlying cause of the problem in the first place. If you pull the rug out from under yourself without providing another means of support, you will crash. If you don’t take care of the reason – either brain chemistry or the deconstructed reason for your emotion, you will crash because nothing has changed. This is where professional guidance is essential! The people dispensing the drugs have only a small handful of tools at their disposal for this. Try someone with a different approach if you want a better way of handling your emotional distress. We are all out for your good. Those people truly interested in your well-being don’t care how you handle your emotions – they don’t care if you take drugs or take responsibility for handling the problem. As long as you take action and get well.
So, if you want to get well, it’s up to you to take the action.