Mental (Un)Health Action

Be advised, this episode was recorded in an office setting where I couldn't be loud & clear, so the second chapter is a little distorted but still audible, while the first & third are too clear, enough for listeners to hear my nose hairs swaying in the wind as I speak.  Keep in mind I recorded the first few batches to come a year before I even considered being a podcaster, let alone an audio editor.  Audio editing is a complete succubus bitch, so you all better enjoy this shit. Transcriptions are available because I care.

Emotions have a molecular effect on our bodies.  People who internalize more or have issues with maintaining lighter moods have a higher likelihood of health problems that can range from migraines to cancer.  This, also, goes the other way for people who are always happy.  They usually do not have as many health concerns, if any at all.  People who have a hereditary disease or high predisposition to certain diseases will benefit most from maintaining happier moods as some of the chemicals that are released have a positive effect on bitch cells, like cancer.  At every level, we are affected by our moods.

The brain does its part in the body as the power center but how we think, how/what we feel emotionally/physically, etc. is different across every person.  What works for one person may/will not work for the next when it comes to doctors/therapists, medications, etc.  It’s so important that we be an actual functioning part of our own mental health treatment and wellness, and stop leaving it completely up to others to fix. Why should anyone be tasked with fixing your bullshit while you remain fucked up because you aren’t/don’t want to be active in your own damn process?  Looking at oneself is difficult but we cannot allow someone else’s biased eyes lead our soul’s way.  We must be accountable to/for our own soul’s evolution and progression.  Nothing external will ever be able to help you heal internally.  We must always refer to our own capabilities, strengths, & even finding closure, forgiveness, and solace in our traumas & weaknesses – all, to help us heal. 

If you’re on meds now that aren’t helping, talk to your doctor about changing them or tapering down/off to see how u do with switching up to more CBT/PT and less/no meds.  If they don’t want to help you work through balancing your moods in a more natural way, find another doc that’s willing to do what’s best for you. That’s absolutely your right.  You're not married to the first one you see. Albeit, good ones are hard to find and this is the reason most depressed people stay where they are in the downward spiral of the vortex.

Fear is something we have manufactured as a race of beings.  It isn’t a real, psychologically (emotional or mental) tangible thing.  We cannot fear what we discover in our closets or our face(s) behind our face.  We must make those discoveries so that we can evolve into our best selves. If we don’t, the face we hide will become our true face.  I ask again, will we be happy with what we see? I put this here as a reminder to love yourself enough to not fear you.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: b

Chapters

• 10:35:00 Talking is the Best Therapy
• 16:26:30 Congrats on Taking Your Steps to Heal

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hola. Today, we're going to talk about something that's been coming up a lot lately and that's, drumroll, mental health. I'm noticing a lot of commercials that are focused on giving people alternative avenues of seeking mental health treatment. A lot of online access and so forth. Just your typical situations but with different approaches. It's good these things are coming about. So hopefully people will feel more comfortable with coming out of their shells or their paradigms on what mental health therapy should look like or that it even should be a thing. Moving past that. Mental health, it's one of those taboo things. For example, black people for the longest time have not sought mental health treatment because it wasn't something that we really discussed. We worked out our problems on our own or within our social circles, what have you. And that was it. You don't air your dirty laundry to a complete stranger and pay them$300 an hour to do it. Other than the fact that of course most black people don't have that kind of money just laying around for something that they would probably need to do on a frequent basis. So we just worked it out however we could. It's way too many people that need help, that need different ways of being treated and also may not have insurance that covers it or the financial means to be able to do it, to get the help that they need. We do have an increase of people who are suffering from some type of mental illness, such as anxiety, depression, things of that nature. And some people just have it because of a situation that may have happened and it's a short stint of anxiety or depression. But the thing is, even those individuals still need CBT. They still need skills to be able to not resort to that when situations arise. Some people are okay, but for example, something at work, may trigger them and they need an outlet. They may go out to drink after work or something like that. That's all fine. But when it becomes the method of fixing or eliminating any kind of anxiety or stress from the day, we need to evaluate the kind of impact that it has. Because when more traumatic events, things of that nature come along, will this be our way of coping? Will this be the way that this individual will always cope? Will it be them running to a bar every time they're stressed or rolling a blunt every time they're stressed? We don't always have to go to external things when we're stressed or going through traumatic events. Even if it's a short situation, something that's transitory or won't matter in the morning, we still need to have a control on that. We still have to recognize on the inside what we have, the skills and tools that are within us that will help us through those situations. Let me be clear, like, there's no judgment or anything like that coming from this way. People wanna do stuff like that. We all do it. We all have our advices. It's quicker than learning a brand new life skill or psychological skill in a quick situation like someone getting on our nerves at work. We just wanna take a quick drink and forget about the day, go to bed and do everything all over again and be fine. You know? But like I said, it could end up becoming habit. That's how habits begin. So on the other side of that, not only is it about us learning better ways to cope and to get through stressful anxiety-inducing situations, we need to make sure that we are surrounding ourselves with people that help us through those situations as well as giving us the support that we need through those situations. Having a support system is always important in life, but we wanna make sure we're surrounding ourselves with individuals that will make sure that we're not running to the bar every time something happens or going to our corner dealer man to find something as a quick escape from our realities. We need to make sure we're doing all of these things our own. We don't need to go to any corner pharmacy or which includes bars, actually, if you think about it. They all supply us with medications, just different types. We wanna make sure we have those support systems in place and we wanna be their supports as well. So we can't be doing these things and then want to offer that same support to another person. Suppose that friend of yours happens to be someone that's 5, 10, 1 year clean. You don't wanna say, Hey, let's go to a bar. I had a bad day, too. Like that's just, obviously that's something you can do with that particular friend. Create a support system with that person. Just you two and every time each one of you go through something, have something that you two agree to do each time. Maybe it's you're having a bad day and that person will always be there for you to call'em at that moment and then they can talk to you and talk you down so that you don't have to run to the bar when you get off or whatever it is that you do. And the same for that person. Offer that to that person. Or even if neither one of you can talk at work or take the time to have lengthy conversations, make it a point to clear out your schedules and hook up with that person after work. And then maybe it's something where you both meet at one or the other's home and cook a dinner and then talk about your problems of that day over that dinner you cook together. One person can be the sous chef, the other one handles the heat. It could be any cute little thing like that that you can do with anyone- friend, family member, whatever. It's just an example of what we can do as opposed to running to those vices that can then turn into habit as life gets harder. Cause it usually does, especially if we've never been through anything very traumatic. We'll always have little situations that will drive us mad and we need ways of being able to cope with and through those situations and not having behavior that will put us on a path of decline. So I'm glad that everyone is recognizing that mental health is, health. It's very important that we maintain health just like we maintain physical health. It's very important that we maintain our mental health. It's just as important, if not more important than physical health because our bodies and our brain are very strong, our bodies can heal itself. It has ways of healing itself after injuries or what have you. Of course, nothing like breaking the leg. It's not gonna heal on its own, but you know, have it cast and it'll heal itself. It'll go through its own healing process. The same with the mind, as long as it's already in good shape. So we don't have to look at mental health diagnoses as the end of life or the end of a high quality of life. It's not. It's just like anything else. We have to fix it and it goes away. Mental health is really a very special thing because it can essentially end up affecting our physical health. So that's why I say it could be more important than physical health. But just for the sake of conversation, we need to pay extreme attention to both. We have to keep both in working order. Our bodies really are our temples. It houses our souls and our souls, of course, we know, are irreplaceable. We only get one and we're stuck with it because it's ours. So we need to make sure we take care of it. And the apparatus that holds it. It will help us through life. It's a domino effect. And we have stellar mental health, our physical health follows suit, our external lives follows suit. Everything that we do with and for other individuals follows suit. Who we are and what legacy we leave follows suit. So it's extremely important to have mental health that's in order, mental wellness that is always running as highly and optimally as possible. Of course in a world that's falling apart it's going to be hard to maintain it. So we just have to work that much harder to do so. There are ways of doing that. There are mental techniques, there's a lot of things out there. You just have to find what works for you. Sometimes it doesn't call for us to always have to pay$300 an hour to talk to someone for them to tell us that. Sometimes we could just do our own research and find out what it is that works for us. It can be meditation, it can be doing some type of extracurricular activity. Anything. Just find it. That's all it takes. We just have to put the time and effort into it. And that's what a lot of us try to say that we don't have. We have plenty of time when we're shopping for something that we probably don't need. We could be doing that then. Doing our research or even meditating to reach that point. Just finding time and making that time stick. Making it a habit, holding ourselves to that and accountable when we don't is the hardest part for most people. Focusing things like that. I've heard millions of times from people that meditation works"when". It's always a reason why: when the house is quiet or there's no one around or when they can focus. There are people who can meditate while sitting next to you at a ball game and it's nothing for them. And you won't even know. You can meditate for 30 seconds, a minute, if you have the focus. So it's not that it's impossible. It's just turning our minds off in that moment when we need it to be turned off. If we just refocus, recreate our thought patterns and integrate a schedule, something like that, to help us with that. Whatever that is for each individual, make it stick. Hold yourself accountable the night that you don't get to meditate, then hold yourself accountable that next day. You know, I didn't do it last night. Let me add another 10 minutes this morning before I start my day. Because I know I went to bed with that same energy that I was trying to fight my way through and away from throughout that day. And I really needed to meditate last night, but I just passed out. Whatever it is that happened. Time gets away from us. It happens. But again, we can't keep giving it excuses. We have to make that time. If we feel ourselves getting sleepy,"okay, you know what, let me stop now and go ahead and meditate." Now, it's just finding a rhythm, finding that groove. That's all it takes. But people seek your own mental wellness. We can't always rely on our support systems. We can't always rely on those therapists and clinicians out there whose main purpose is to be able to build someone for their time. A lot of good ones out there, but a lot of the ones I've encountered, they're not really interested. The clinicians, they're mostly scientists first. You do have some therapists out there who are more about helping people, but a lot of them are inaccessible. So we have to find our own ways of healing and achieving complete mental wellness and maintaining that wellness. We want it to be as high as possible. It takes a lot of work. It's not impossible. It just takes a lot of work in a busy, noisy world. So once you reach that point, that's what Nirvana is: being at that 100% mental wellness. Reaching that highest level of enlightenment, it's very tough to get to that. Recognize that mental health is a thing, a real thing. Before it was like homosexuality, people didn't know that that was a thing. It was just something that was a disease or made up everything, all of these negative things but what it really is. And things that people don't understand is always these negative things. Oh my god, homosexuality. Oh my god, mental health. Okay, well anything that we don't understand, we automatically shut out. It's different across every person. We have organs that works the same in every human being. Intestines, liver, that's the same thing in every living thing that has these organs. The only body part that's different is the mind. It's different across every single human being. It operates differently. It works differently in the body nerve wise, with your receptors, neurotransmitters, all of those things operate differently in every single human being. So the same with mental health. There is no one cure all. You suffer from depression, take this one pill. No, that's gonna cure the next person, or the person after that and then 20 people from there and the 17th millionth person. It doesn't work that way. So of course when you try to make something that something's not, for example, psychology, trying to make it into a science when it's not a science. That's why there are so many mentally unhealthy people on this planet. There are more people that suffer from substance abuse in this country than are noted depressive people. So we have a 20 million person statistic for substance abuse and a 17 million statistic for depression that that's real. That is absolutely real. More people are high on drugs than people that are depressed. Why? Because more than likely it's stigma that comes with getting mental health treatment. People would rather go on drugs, drink their sorrows away, talk to a bartender than actually get psychotherapy, learning skills to help them live through their traumas as they work through them and so forth and so on. As it pertains to anxiety and all of the other mental health imbalances that are out there. They're really all the same. Like honestly, they're all different types of depression. Mood is depressed, There's a mood disorder. Your moods are out of order. That's all that is. It's because of whatever unresolved issues that we all have, it's all the same. We just react differently. Like some people may not be depressed, but they may have anxiety if they were, let's say maybe raped and now they can't walk by certain buildings or things like that, but they can otherwise live a happy life. But that specific area, they're traumatized all over again. If there are people who've been in car accidents, live a normal life, but will not get on a car or any kind of moving transportation, or won't take the street that they had the accident on but are fine. So everyone reacts differently to their own trauma, whatever those events were for them. So you can't give a person a medication and say, Hey, it works for a hundred thousand other people, Whoa. Well, a hundred thousand other people, did they all have the same accent on same street at the same time of day? No, because even the time of day affects the person. Was it morning? Was it afternoon? Was the sun out, was it raining? Was it snowing? Was it the summer? Was it spring, fall? What was going on? There are too many different factors that can also affect the actual event and the person's perception of that. So there's a lot of different things that take place and they're all different for each person. Every single person. There is no one fix for everyone except talking. Talking with people that can help you make sense of those things. Talking with people that can help you gain skills and make them habits so that you can work through that trauma and hopefully eliminate it from your life. And remember that it was only an experience to teach it whatever it was supposed to teach you. Not to make you into a specific type of person or like those traumatized individuals. It's for you to grow from. Talking to a person. Getting psychotherapy is the best treatment. And then if it's something where you absolutely need to get onto medication management, then so be it. You're prerogative. But even in those instances, you still have to be cognizant of what these doctors are pushing on you. Because they sometimes they most times exacerbate the actual problem. You're depressed? These are gonna catapult you to major depression, possibly suicidal thoughts. They're actual side effects of these drugs, but they're still saying, hey take these drugs and people are doing it. I know people personally under medication management care and do not look into the drugs that they prescribed. They just take them. They don't question anything. They just take the shit. And then when these side effects happen, it's like, oh shit. Like this person is about to kill themselves, or jump off a bridge. Why? Because pills that they're taking, or whatever drugs they're on, are pushing them there. It's supposed to help bring them away from that bridge. So is what I mean by talking is the best medication because it's an experiment. These damn clinicians out here are essentially scientists. So they're experimenting with your trauma, with all of your anxiety, with your depression, experimenting with that shit. See what works. How the fuck do you think they've figured out these medications, trying them out on psychotic people. People who are sick? No, these medications are made for truly psychotic people. Even anti-anxiety medications. What the hell do you think thorazine was. It was used back in the day in sanitariums when they were using electroshock therapy. The first thing they shoot you up with was some damn thorazine, if you came in all distraught. First thing they do and then they ask questions. Like, no! That's not what you do. That's not okay. You don't drug everyone up and put them in zombieland, just because they're upset about something. You do not heal people that way. I want to congratulate everyone who's made the first steps to achieving their mental wellness? I really am proud of you because it is the very first step in you taking control of everything that goes on in your life, and your happiness and finding that happiness and maintaining i t and keeping that happiness right with you. Not giving it away, not allowing someone to alter it negatively, you know, with their actions o r thoughts like our mental wellness is very sacred. So I applaud everyone who has taken that step to even inquire about what it is that will work for them. That is a very big step to take. As always, if anyone, out there has any questions, feel free to send us a message. We'll answer as fast as we can, especially when it comes to mental health because a lot of us do need the help in this world. So a lot of things that's dragging us through the mud and taking away from us, I know it's difficult. And, that's why we try to be there as best as we can. So if there's ever a question or anything, we're always here. And feel free to also send us messages about subject matters that you would like us to uh, bring up. We're definitely always open for those. We can't be everywhere all the time. There may be things that are going on locally where you are that haven't made it to national news that would be helpful for others to know about. A trend that could be starting near you that we all could benefit from; whatever it is. We're always open and if we feel that it will be helpful to the rest of our audience, of course we'll bring it up. And, hopefully sometime in the not so distant future, we'll start having others on as well and sharing their life and experiences or anything that they may have to offer to us by way of information and/or resources or what have you. We love it when people take control of their own lives and happiness and want to help others. So, of course, we are going to be here for you.