Currently viewing the category: "mental health"

Pursuit of Happiness

By On · Add Comment · In happiness, mental health, money, psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can boost happiness more than money! Those are the astounding results from an English study to be published online Nov. 18 in the journal Health Economics, Policy and Law. But I ask you, have you ever heard anything more absurd?

According to the study, which analyzed data on thousands of people who provided information about their mental well-being, a $1,329 course of psychotherapy increased happiness to the equivalent of a $41,542 pay raise.

Uh…anyone else see the stupidity in this?

“We have shown that psychological therapy could be much more cost effective than financial compensation at alleviating psychological distress,” said study author Chris Boyce, of the University of Warwick. “This is not only important in courts of law, where huge financial rewards are the default way in which pain and suffering are compensated, but has wider implications for public health and well-being.”

The absurdity keeps growing and growing…

“Often the importance of money for improving our well-being and bringing greater happiness is vastly over-valued in our societies,” Boyce explained.

That’s certainly true, evidenced by the completely over-valued premise directing this study.

“The benefits of having good mental health, on the other hand, are often not fully appreciated and people do not realize the powerful effect that psychological therapy, such as non-directive counseling, can have on improving our well-being.”

OK, here’s my problem: First, the notion that anyone can achieve perpetual happiness is ridiculous. Any pursuit of such is foolhardiness–the quickest way to depression. Who would want perpetual happiness, anyway? No growth or development can occur in that. And how would we know what makes us happy without unhappiness or dissatisfaction as a relative marker? Everything would be taken for granted. Perhaps we would be like satisfied zombies…on a never-ending Prozac trip. Yeah, that sounds awesome…

Next, how on earth do you qualify happiness? With a monetary figure? $41,000? Heck, not in my checkbook. I’m not happy with less than $50K. Freakin’ idiotic I tell ya. And then it brings up the question of all the politically-based rhetoric revolving around socioeconomic status. Listen, I’m the first one to say that life is a hell of a lot easier when you know where the rent is coming from. Happier…no. Less freaked out? Damn straight.

Third, it’s an awfully grand assumption to think this study reflects all people and what make them tick. Since the study is looking at an increase in happiness (whatever that is), then surely these findings do not reflect those people that either refrain from qualifying life in that manner (like me), or those that already consider themselves to be happy. So…how do we really know? I mean, I’m not interested one iota in psychotherapy, especially not as a pain and suffering substitute in legal proceedings. No thank you. I’ll take the cash.

American Kids More Mentally Disturbed Than Euro Kids?

By On · Add Comment · In depression, drugs, medicated, mental health, pharmaceutical, psychotropic, stress

Are Americans more depressed and mentally disturbed than Europeans? How about our kids? Now c’mon…people are people, right? Americans don’t have more stress than Europeans, Asians, or Latin Americans. Everybody has stress. Especially other industrialized countries–we all have to deal with economic issues, crime…traffic! No, no, no…Americans aren’t more mentally disturbed than Euros.

Then why are more American kids being heavily medicated with psychotropic medications than European kids? According to a recent study, children in the U.S. are significantly more likely to be prescribed drugs for mental conditions than their European counterparts. Psychotropic drugs include stimulants (Ritalin), antidepressants (Prozac, Zoloft), and antipsychotics (Risperdal). The research showed that American kids were more than two times as likely as Dutch children and more than three times as likely as German children to be medicated with a psychotropic drugs. American children were also substantially more likely to be on multiple psychotropic drugs. So I ask the question again, are our kids more mentally disturbed?

You know the real answer: Hell no! Our kids are more medicated for one simple reason–America is a gold mine for pharmaceutical sales. The reason is three-fold:

  1. Americans believe in magic bullets
  2. Americans worship medicine and put their doctors on pedestals
  3. American doctors are given financial incentives (like trips, cruises, and other gifts) to prescribe particular meds

What else would you expect? The current mental health paradigm in this country is that the cause of mental illness (depression?) is biochemical. What a bunch of horseshot. I cover this subject extensively in my book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health; but suffice it to say there isn’t one shred of evidence making this paradigm a fact. It is all theory. And a poor one at that.

All this in light of another recent study that shows psychotherapy to be better than meds in treating complex psychiatric problems. Time to cut the crap and get your kids off the psychotropics.

Antidepressants Don’t Work

By On · Add Comment · In antidepressants, biochemical theory, depression, freedom of information, Hull University, mental health, mental illness, pharmaceutical, placebos chemical
Yes, it’s true: The mega best-selling pharmaceutical mental health panacea called antidepressants just don’t work. When speaking about antidepressant therapy I usually try to be fair and say, “antidepressants might work for some people,” but frankly, that’s a bunch of horse shot. Study after study after study comes out exposing these most over-prescribed meds for the frauds they actually are; so I just can’t bear to keep perpetuating the lie. Antidepressants don’t work! At least not for what they’re supposed to work for, that’s for sure.

Take this latest study out of Great Britain which looked at previously undisclosed data of 47 clinical trials conducted by the drug companies themselves. The data became available through the U.S. freedom of information laws. I pointed out in an earlier post that many drug companies hide relevant information to make their product appear beneficial. Lots of money is made as a result of this practice, even if the information only stays hidden for a brief time.

But what makes the antidepressant sham so shameful is that, as a treatment option for depression, it has been treated as the holy grail of the biochemical theory of mental illness. I discuss this fallacy in detail in my upcoming book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health. It is one of the most faulty scientific theories to ever be unleashed upon the public. And it has been heavily propagandized for one reason only: Antidepressant therapy brings big bucks.

Oh, don’t get me wrong: people who take antidepressants feel something. Most of these drugs simulate speed, so lots of people get high from them. But since it’s a medically prescribed substance, they wouldn’t call it high. Oh no, instead they might say evened-out; calm; or “balanced”. Yeah right, balanced. You’ve got to check out this article on parents requesting drugs to give their college kids an “edge”. Nice, Dad; hook Junior–he’s worth it.

Here’s the truth as stated by research team leader Professor Irving Kirsch of Hull University, in northern England, who conducted the study, “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.”

He goes on to say, “Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe antidepressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients unless alternative treatments have failed to provide a benefit.” And I tell you, like me before him, he’s just being nice. It’s only a matter of time before the good professor gets fed up and proclaims the truth to the world as I have: Antidepressants don’t work! Time to give them up.

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