Need those Medications to handle Anxiety and Depression…or do you?
This article may be just a touch polarizing, but I believe that it’s worth discussing in more detail for sure. In life we as human’s living in such a high pace world with information coming at us at higher speeds and with more frequency than ever before in history, we can often find ourselves feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or even depressed. As I began writing this article, I did a little searching to get a feel for the revenue that is generated from drug companies that have products to offer that address these “problems” and found that approximately $8.5Billion was generated in 2019 and that is projected to climb to $13+Billion by 2027? Now do I believe that these drug companies are 100% in it for the profit? for the most part….YES. As publicly traded companies, they have a responsibility to the shareholder to increase the value and therefore are primarily driven by profit. Assuming this is true, that still doesn’t necessarily mean that some portion of that revenue and those prescriptions are not absolutely necessary as therapy for an individual that has been dealing with severe anxiety or depression. What I’m suggesting in this article is that it might be wise for people seeking assistance to at least consider the bias that may exist for those companies to push prescriptions and for the Doctors who are overworked and trying to see more patients than ever perhaps writing these prescriptions like they are giving away candy so they can be on to the next? Just like every area that has human beings working in it, there are some good doctors, and there are some bad doctors…..and to be candid, Oxycodone didn’t prescribe itself to the point that it is estimated that the total cost of opioid use an disorders and overdoses in the US was $78 Billion in 2013.
Ok, so I think you are beginning to get my perspective on the over prescribing of certain medications in the US that in my opinion is being driven by drug companies making it lucrative and easy, but also combine that with Doctors that are overworked and just don’t have the time to monitor other healthier approaches. As a business owner and father of 3 that has been married for over 20 years, I have had many instances over the years where I’ve felt anxious and these feelings exist for a specific reason and it is typically telling me something and it’s my job to explore and find out why they are coming up. In many cases it is telling me that I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, perhaps a conversation that I should be having with an employee or a client or a family member that I know should take place but keep pushing it off because of how uncomfortable it may be. Or I’ve gone through periods of depression when I don’t keep commitments to myself and keep eating things or doing things that I know are unhealthy for me but continue to do them anyway….then the voice in my head begins to beat me up for making poor choices. Or when I’m isolating myself from social interactions because I’m feeling shitty about myself and having a pity party… I’m simply saying that we are supposed to have emotions in many cases these emotions, when analyzed can provide us with the tools and fire necessary to make the changes we know we need to make in our lives. Are they comfortable feelings? NO. Would I rather feel calm and loving and happy? YES. But that would be a fictitious world. It won’t be long until we just live in this META world space pretending that we are fit and have a great relationship with our wife and kids and are jacked like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. But this isn’t reality…these things take work and effort and discipline and at times, negative emotions like anxiety and depression are telling us to make a course correction in our lives, so we need them to exist but yet so many of us believe that when we feel these negative emotions it’s better to take a pill to eliminate or suppress them. Now are there people that have chemical imbalances that in order to function and live a productive life need to have some of these drugs to function? YES, but I believe that some of the following things should be the primary prescription prior to putting someone on medications. And as a father, I find it even worse that these heavy drugs are being prescribed to children stealing them of the ability to learn how to deal with them and learn from these emotions naturally.
Here are a few of the things that have significantly helped me to manage some of these emotions;
Journaling; Journaling is something that I began doing a few years ago and this form of free writing has been very liberating and has also helped me to flush out what I’m feeling and why. It’s also been a great way to get ideas on paper and has opened up opportunities for me to identity a new life direction or something that I need to take action on just by spending 10–20 minutes writing things that are in my head on paper and for me at least, pen and paper seem to work better than typing on a computer. I’ve typically just gone to TJ Maxx or Amazon to grab myself a solid journal.
Eating Habits; The body is such a complex machine that biochemical reactions of all kinds are happening 24/7. In fact every second there are ~10 Billion reactions happening…isn’t that crazy? These reactions need ingredients and these ingredients come from the things that we consume and put into our bodies. Have you even tried to make bread without yeast? What happens if the body is trying to make certain reactions but is missing some of the ingredients? So eating healthy foods vs. quick processed foods and sugars would seem to be pretty critical to a solid running human machine don’t you think? Even though we all know this, the food industry wants more profit so they make it very EASY to eat the unhealthy shit….. in fact someone seems to always put those fucking ice cream drumsticks in the freezer and guess who just ate one….ME. We all deal with it but the key is to manage the proportion of good vs. bad. If you eat well 5 days of the week and have a few cheat meals….compared to having the habit every morning of swinging through Mcdonalds for a Bacon, Egg and cheese McMuffin and then grabbing a pepperoni pizza for supper…it’s obvious which is going to lead to poor health. I’ve recently incorporated a pre-packaged meal plan that you just throw in a pan and heat up and it’s been tasty and works well and you can find it at Trifecta Nutrition. When we KNOW certain foods are bad but yet continue to eat it, this can lead to depression because we are confirming to the negative voice in our heads that we aren’t worth being healthy, or that we aren’t worthy of having a shredded and powerful physical appearance. But guess what is TRUE…YOU are deserving!
Exercise; Last but not least, exercise is the most incredible free drug on this planet. When we exercise, the body releases endorphins which triggers positive feelings. Along with the release of these positive chemicals, we are also training our minds to follow through and do something that is difficult over and over again kicking the shit out of that voice in our heads saying we aren’t good enough. And every time we get a solid workout in and sweat, that voice loses a little bit of it’s control, until it knows that no matter how hard it trys to tell you to skip the workout and grab a beer, you just don’t listen… you tell it to “fuck off” and get your sweat on! This begins to address the anxiety and depression and then once your body begins to feel and look more like a machine, the more unstoppable you become in all areas of your life! We as humans were not built to sit in an office for 8 hours a day and grab lunch with co-workers at Applebees at lunch, and then head on vacation and sit on the beach having nachos brought over to us. (Although once in a while, this isn’t a bad gig)
The challenge with any of these suggestions is that it takes discipline, especially since it will be a new habit that you aren’t use to doing. So until it becomes a part of your daily life, here are a few suggestions that have worked well for me. For a habit you are trying to incorporate like journalling, it’s best to do that first thing in the morning, perhaps habit stacking with your morning coffee….Get your coffee and then have your journal right next to the machine and take your 10 min right then. To help avoid the poor food choices, it starts with keeping the bad shit out of the house, so whoever is doing the grocery shopping needs to stop grabbing the processed stuff and in my house it’s time to stop going to the ice cream isle. As it relates to exercise, I just have a rule that I sweat every single day! I’ve found that when we give ourselves the opening to take a couple days off weekly, it can much more easily turn into 3,4, or 5 days of no exercise but if my goal is to exercise daily, it helps to keep momentum. Also I find that doing some form of group class such as jujitsu can help you stay accountable and it really helps to get time learning and spending time with other people.
All I’m saying here is that when you feel anxious or overwhelmed or depressed, the first questions to ask yourself are… What am I eating? How much exercise am I getting? How much social interaction am I getting? And then give yourself HONEST feedback to work from and then begin to make some changes in these areas BEFORE agreeing to take medications. Love to hear comments, so don’t be shy!
