Mind yourself
A RECENT survey of general practitioners found psychological problems were the most common cause of patient visits.
More people are visiting their GP to discuss, and be medicated for, their mental anguish over any other medical problems, including colds and flu.
Despite this harrowing statistic no one is taking to the streets to protest the declining state of our collective mental health.
Politicians are not feeling the full force of outrage at the everdwindling mental health care plan visits and rebates.
Hell, no one is even asking why you would need to visit a specially trained psychiatrist to dispense mind-altering drugs when you can pop in to your GP for a bulk-billed session and get your fix from someone whose speciality is the human body, NOT the human mind.
There is no campaign to stem the tide of human suffering as we traverse this increasingly shallow and materialistic world, isolated from our families and in a constantly competitive state with our friends and colleagues.
Everyone is too busy worrying about the world without — Iran, climate, jobs, economy — to spend even the smallest bit of time worrying about the world within.
Yet we have a crisis on our hands and all the RU OK? days in the world aren’t going to save us.
Even the new age wellness industry is cashing in on our misery by offering everything from camomile to colonics in a bid to heal our personal malaise.
That said, there is a silver lining. And if you haven’t realised it already, we hold the magic bullet.
Only WE can improve our mental health and the time to do that is now.
Holding space for ourselves and taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions might sound too simplistic, but it’s the starting point for the lifelong journey into selfhood.
Instead of getting to the root of why we are anxious or depressed, we’re told by doctors that it’s simply our brain chemistry gone wrong. “Here, take these meds all your life and you will be fine.”
Sure, some people have crippling — and life threatening — mental illness, and those medications are stabilising and work wonders, giving them freedom to go about their lives.
But what about the rest? Medicated to the eyeballs for legitimate neuroses borne out of a profoundly sick society.
Of course it’s easy to simply take a nice tidy diagnosis from the Diagnostics Statistics Manual, throw in a dash of medication and live under that label all your life, enjoying the idea that the disease model is negating the need to add a human aspect to your healing.
The DSM now has grief listed as a mental condition. Legitimate pain caused by legitimate suffering. But here, take your pill.
Perhaps I sound glib. But as someone who has experienced depressive episodes since I was seven years old, I’m coming from an informed place. Anxiety took up residence for me as an adult but luckily I’ve never experienced panic attacks.
Just the thought that an attack can strike at any time must be enough to ramp up generalised anxiety for those poor sufferers. I can understand how popping a pill is seen as the best, and sometimes only, solution.
Sadly though, for many people antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs mask aspects of our inner pain that are simply existential and part of the human condition. Are we not allowed to be sad any more?
Life is challenging. In order to grow we need to explore the darkest depths of our psyches. We need to figure out where we’ve gone wrong. Our failings. Our fears. Our insecurities. Only we can make our experience right in our mind by looking at it in the first place.
When you look at how we live our lives in virtual reality, it’s a big ask to expect people to love themselves truly.
Change comes when you change your attitude towards yourself. Once you realise that all the drugs and therapy in the world aren’t going to help you until you are willing to take responsibility for yourself and your happiness, you will start to get to the crux of your problems.
Look at yourself. Does your own behaviour match your values? How much care and self-love do you give yourself? Or do you simply look for validation from other people?
Look around you. Do the values of the people you spend time with match your own values?
Depression and anxiety are often legitimate responses to this world. Not that we ever get told that. We are told we are sick. Broken.
Eating well, exercising regularly, observing thoughts, meditating and speaking to a counsellor who does more than hand holding may sound too easy, but they come as part of the package on the road to psychological wellness.
Self-love is hard. Discovering your self-worth is work. It takes commitment and dedication, especially in a society that pits us against others every single day.
Knowing your own worth is the very first step. Getting there takes time.
Just know you’re worth way more than the 20 minutes it takes to get a bunch of drugs from a professional who is not trained to give you the attention you need but is trained to peddle a “cure” that the medication will never actually provide. If you or someone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36.