Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Do We Really Need More Drugs and Counselling?

A year ago whilst visiting Utah, USA and watching the local news on TV, they reported that in the previous year there were over 300 accidental deaths caused through prescription drugs.

Three-hundred in just one state in 12 months! I was shocked. Imagine how many there must be in the whole of the USA!

A study was done not so long ago about people who were on antidepressants long term. If my memory serves me right, the study was conducted on over 2,300 people who had been taking their drugs for 5 years or more.

74% of them were still depressed! So much for the drugs working.
more pills needed for mental illness?
Drugs are not always the answer

Big Pharma is a monster. (And if you want to read how much of a monster I highly recommend you read a book called 'Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good' by DR. James Davies)

The world doesn't - we don't - need more drugs.

A few weeks ago I read on BBC News that more and more schools are employing counsellors for our children. Some companies now employ them too.

I have also read that teenagers being diagnosed and labelled with depression has skyrocketed in the past 10 years and is now at unprecedented levels. And that is just in the UK.

And of course with this diagnosis comes - more drugs. Prescription drugs for young teens has increased by a horrifying 56% in the last 3 years in the UK. And not far behind the drugs of course comes more counselling.

Some children as young as 8 and 9 are being labelled with depression.

I blame Big Pharma and 'fancy, wishy-washy and damn right stupid thinking' for the bulk of this mental health plague we are witnessing.

We have raised a generation on thought patterns that nothing is their fault. They have no responsibility for anything. We are teaching people that nothing 'bad' should ever, ever happen to anyone.

(And the paradox is, it is not their fault)

There no winners or losers anymore. Everyone is a winner now. And that started in schools and still goes on.

Kids aren't stupid. They know they didn't win when they came last. And the winners know that the losers didn't win either. And the winners now cannot see any point in putting in extra effort because the losers are being rewarded anyway.

And the losers don't need to try harder because they will still be getting a medal.

Talk about discouragement.

And the losers won't go try and something else and perhaps find something they are good at, because they just won at the event they don't like without putting in any effort.

This way of teaching is bad for self-esteem and it ruins self-confidence. And it also doesn't teach kids or teenagers the resilience needed for life.

And guess what? When two young people go for a job interview and there is only one position to fill there will be a winner and a loser.

Hardly anyone under the age of 20 or so rarely hears the word, "No" anymore.

Everyone is now taught to be offended by what others say, like it is some kind of illness rather than personal choice. "Stick and stones will break my bones..." Ooops, somebody will be 'offended' by the mere mention of that.

And before you might think I am writing this aimed at young children please think again - I am not.

Even us adults are drinking from this pool of 'I need drugs and counselling because there is something wrong with me or someone has upset me, or I have been thrown a life lesson, or my business isn't growing fast enough"

We all need drugs is the message. Everything wrong is biological and not psychological and therefore not our fault. Don't buy into this. It gives the wrong and destructive message that you are no longer in control of your wellbeing.

We are all being sold and buying into, this thought pattern that "I am entitled for my life to go smoothly, with no obstacles, no hiccups, no stress, no life lessons to be learned. I deserve to have everything I want and with very little effort."

And of course (I have blogged about this before) society is conditioning people to think and expect, "I want it all NOW! I am entitled to it all NOW"

You will hear about people stressed out to the max about their business and they too are swallowing prescription drugs like they were smarties.

More and more people are 'appalled' and outrageously 'offended' at other people's comments and opinions that they too are running for counselling or pills due to the stress of it all.

Work related stress is causing people to be counselled or reach for the bottle - of pills too. Stress has replaced 'bad-backs' as the number 1 cause for work absenteeism in the UK.

More and more people are expecting everything to go their way and are suddenly down when it doesn't.


Nobody is responsible for anything that can and does go wrong. Everything is neatly labelled now so that it's not your fault. Example? Can't control your kids? It's not your fault. They have ADHD. And who benefits from that? Big pharma.

But the world doesn't - and you don't - need more drugs and counselling.

What is Needed is More Life (or Coping) Skills and Different Perspectives

I would just like to point out that I have two very dear friends who are excellent counsellors and do wonderful work. I am not 'anti-counselling'.

But to me both drugs and counselling are reactive. They 'help' when the problem has been caused. Whatever happened to 'prevention is better than cure' when it comes to our mental and emotional wellbeing?

It appears to have disappeared into oblivion. Or has it ever been there in the first place with regards to mental health? Probably not. Big Pharma don't make billions in prevention - yet.

When the kids (Aged over 6) lose at sport, instead of giving them a medal and avoiding the loss, help them learn from it. Loss is great feedback. Either they can do something different to improve or they might explore and find something they are brilliant at. And there will be something.

When the youngster who doesn't get the job receives and views the experience as feedback that she can learn from and then apply something new or different to her next interview, that will only build resilience and self-confidence instead of destroying it.

(Or she just may know that persistence is key here because she already knows that one no doesn't mean all will be no)

Build self-esteem and self-confidence in young people (And adults) and they won't be as offended or hurt by the comments and opinions of others (Physical and online persistent bullying requires a different coping strategy)

Show everyone, young and old, that social media is only an edited, photoshopped and highlighted version of their life and they won't feel like they are missing out on anything (I have blogged about this before too)

Teach people to not to make comparisons with others and only have their own standards to measure themselves by and they won't be feeling like a failure.

Even savvy, intelligent entrepreneurs fall into this trap frequently. They make comparisons with other entrepreneurs who are further along the journey than they are. Why isn't it happening for me? This causes unnecessary stress.

Let people know that success takes time and effort and is not instantaneous like a snapchat video. You can do this from an early age by setting young people small goals and offering the correct feedback as they hit and miss some.

Show people how to make better relationships in the real world. No, it's not an anti technology view. Maybe it will change in the future but for now, our DNA, our very being, craves and needs physical human interaction.

And lot's of it.

If I Got Called This...Should I be Calling the Police?

"Robert, you are a short-arsed, squint eyed, bald idiot and you make me sick"

Come and say that to me and I won't be offended. Why? three reasons;

1) I choose not to be offended by what anyone says; it is just an opinion that that person is entitled to

2) I have healthy, high self-esteem and self-confidence so I know that there are many more people who do like me. I also accept that I am going bald, that being short has its advantages and that my squint in my eye is a great little part of my make-up and appearance.

An idiot? Compared to who? Not in coaching, knowing the mind and knowing people I'm not (I would also list many other things).

I can't "Make you" throw up, that is your choice (See # 1 above)

3) I realise that the views of others about me or what I do is just a numbers game. No matter what I do, some people will love me; some people will like me; some will be neutral about me; some will dislike me, maybe even loathe me.

A "Bad Year" and Different Perspectives

I have not had a particularly good last 12 months - by my own standards. I could quite easily have thought that maybe I am suffering depression again and run off and got some drugs.

That way, I could say "Hey, it's not my fault".

But I also know that I have the power and ability to correct it. I have developed and learned resilience.

I work on my self-confidence all the time. I use strategies for my personal belief.

I also know that life is like that sometimes. I also know that just like the seasons we experience, it won't last forever; that this too shall pass. I am also acutely aware that I have a lot to be thankful and grateful for.

I also know that sometimes life isn't falling apart but merely rearranging itself so something better can come along. I understand and appreciate that before a room can be redecorated it must be stripped down of the old paint and wallpaper.

You can have all the dreams, focus, belief etc you want. But good self-confidence empowers you to take the action necessary to get you the results you seek.

If my business isn't growing as quickly as I like I have learned to use that as feedback and do something different until I find what will work to grow it. I know it is not going to happen overnight and patience is needed.

I understand that some stress is perhaps needed. However, I make the conscious effort to look after my mental wellbeing and reduce and manage stress.

I know that to get real meaningful connection and build strong relationships I won't do that on a friend of a friend's wall; I should meet with humans in the real world and talk to them. 

My self-worth is not fed or reliant on how many Instagram followers I have (or don't have) and neither it is found in the amount of likes I receive for a post I write on Facebook.

In Conclusion

We are all being sold (and younger people conditioned) to think that there is something mentally wrong or inadequate about us. That we don't have the power to deal with life's situations, curveballs and growing pains. Even us adults are not immune from this powerful conditioning.

Social media and media in general, are teaching minds that everyone else is living a great, happy and successful life, so why aren't you? This forces us to make awful comparisons with people who aren't even displaying their real lives.

I am not a conspiracy theorist and don't want to sound like one either. But Big Pharma is a multi-multi, BILLION dollar industry

Drugs and counselling are reactive. Even if we teach people from a young age more resilience and better self-confidence etc, there will be people who fall foul to the very real, mental illness.
For those there should be drugs in some cases and definitely counselling, to help them get through.

But it would be my guess that if we did start teaching real life skills in schools (And to adults) there would be far less people reaching for a bottle of pills.

When I suffered and was labelled with severe depression, the drugs didn't cure my depression. They just transferred my state of mind into another state of mind. Often, one worse than the depression.

I rediscovered my coping skills so that I could move forward with more faith, optimism and belief. And I worked on all the strategies I have already mentioned above. Something the drugs, strangely enough, didn't encourage me to do.

You have all the inner resources you need so you can cope with almost anything and get the life you want. You are in control of how you get out of most situations.

There is not sufficient evidence to suggest that all mental illness, including depression, is "Biological" at all. That is a lie being fed to you by Big Pharma.

Remember, we as adults are being sold and many are buying, this lie.

Get a coach to help you if you are currently struggling with life or business.

It could just change your life for the better. I know it can. But it's what you believe that matters.

Rob Hamilton is a life and performance coach who specialises in coaching people back to their best. He is a NLP Practitioner, Timeline Therapist™ and Life Enhancement Coach (Dip). You can read and discover more right here