Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hola.
Today, we're going to talk aboutsomething that's been coming up
a lot lately and that's,drumroll, mental health.
I'm noticing a lot ofcommercials that are focused on
giving people alternativeavenues of seeking mental health
treatment.
A lot of online access and soforth.
Just your typical situations butwith different approaches.
(00:30):
It's good these things arecoming about.
So hopefully people will feelmore comfortable with coming out
of their shells or theirparadigms on what mental health
therapy should look like or thatit even should be a thing.
Moving past that.
Mental health, it's one of thosetaboo things.
For example, black people forthe longest time have not sought
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mental health treatment becauseit wasn't something that we
really discussed.
We worked out our problems onour own or within our social
circles, what have you.
And that was it.
You don't air your dirty laundryto a complete stranger and pay
them$300 an hour to do it.
Other than the fact that ofcourse most black people don't
have that kind of money justlaying around for something that
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they would probably need to doon a frequent basis.
So we just worked it out howeverwe could.
It's way too many people thatneed help, that need different
ways of being treated and alsomay not have insurance that
covers it or the financial meansto be able to do it, to get the
help that they need.
We do have an increase of peoplewho are suffering from some type
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of mental illness, such asanxiety, depression, things of
that nature.
And some people just have itbecause of a situation that may
have happened and it's a shortstint of anxiety or depression.
But the thing is, even thoseindividuals still need CBT.
They still need skills to beable to not resort to that when
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situations arise.
Some people are okay, but forexample, something at work, may
trigger them and they need anoutlet.
They may go out to drink afterwork or something like that.
That's all fine.
But when it becomes the methodof fixing or eliminating any
kind of anxiety or stress fromthe day, we need to evaluate the
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kind of impact that it has.
Because when more traumaticevents, things of that nature
come along, will this be our wayof coping?
Will this be the way that thisindividual will always cope?
Will it be them running to a barevery time they're stressed or
rolling a blunt every timethey're stressed?
We don't always have to go toexternal things when we're
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stressed or going throughtraumatic events.
Even if it's a short situation,something that's transitory or
won't matter in the morning, westill need to have a control on
that.
We still have to recognize onthe inside what we have, the
skills and tools that are withinus that will help us through
those situations.
Let me be clear, like, there'sno judgment or anything like
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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 abrand new life skill or
psychological skill in a quicksituation like someone getting
on our nerves at work.
We just wanna take a quick drinkand forget about the day, go to
bed and do everything all overagain and be fine.
You know?
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But like I said, it could end upbecoming 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 getthrough stressful
anxiety-inducing situations, weneed to make sure that we are
surrounding ourselves withpeople that help us through
those situations as well asgiving us the support that we
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need through those situations.
Having a support system isalways important in life, but we
wanna make sure we'resurrounding ourselves with
individuals that will make surethat we're not running to the
bar every time something happensor going to our corner dealer
man to find something as a quickescape from our realities.
We need to make sure we're doingall of these things our own.
We don't need to go to anycorner pharmacy or which
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includes bars, actually, if youthink about it.
They all supply us withmedications, just different
types.
We wanna make sure we have thosesupport systems in place and we
wanna be their supports as well.
So we can't be doing thesethings and then want to offer
that same support to anotherperson.
Suppose that friend of yourshappens to be someone that's 5,
10, 1 year clean.
You don't wanna say, Hey, let'sgo to a bar.
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I had a bad day, too.
Like that's just, obviouslythat's something you can do with
that particular friend.
Create a support system withthat person.
Just you two and every time eachone of you go through something,
have something that you twoagree to do each time.
Maybe it's you're having a badday and that person will always
be there for you to call'em atthat moment and then they can
talk to you and talk you down sothat you don't have to run to
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the bar when you get off orwhatever it is that you do.
And the same for that person.
Offer that to that person.
Or even if neither one of youcan talk at work or take the
time to have lengthyconversations, make it a point
to clear out your schedules andhook up with that person after
work.
And then maybe it's somethingwhere you both meet at one or
the other's home and cook adinner and then talk about your
problems of that day over thatdinner you cook together.
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One person can be the sous chef,the other one handles the heat.
It could be any cute littlething like that that you can do
with anyone- friend, familymember, whatever.
It's just an example of what wecan do as opposed to running to
those vices that can then turninto habit as life gets harder.
Cause it usually does,especially if we've never been
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through anything very traumatic.
We'll always have littlesituations that will drive us
mad and we need ways of beingable to cope with and through
those situations and not havingbehavior that will put us on a
path of decline.
So I'm glad that everyone isrecognizing that mental health
is, health.
It's very important that wemaintain health just like we
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maintain physical health.
It's very important that wemaintain our mental health.
It's just as important, if notmore important than physical
health because our bodies andour brain are very strong, our
bodies can heal itself.
It has ways of healing itselfafter injuries or what have you.
Of course, nothing like breakingthe leg.
It's not gonna heal on its own,but you know, have it cast and
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it'll heal itself.
It'll go through its own healingprocess.
The same with the mind, as longas it's already in good shape.
So we don't have to look atmental health diagnoses as the
end of life or the end of a highquality of life.
It's not.
It's just like anything else.
We have to fix it and it goesaway.
Mental health is really a veryspecial thing because it can
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essentially end up affecting ourphysical health.
So that's why I say it could bemore important than physical
health.
But just for the sake ofconversation, we need to pay
extreme attention to both.
We have to keep both in workingorder.
Our bodies really are ourtemples.
It houses our souls and oursouls, of course, we know, are
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irreplaceable.
We only get one and we're stuckwith it because it's ours.
So we need to make sure we takecare of it.
And the apparatus that holds it.
It will help us through life.
It's a domino effect.
And we have stellar mentalhealth, our physical health
follows suit, our external livesfollows suit.
Everything that we do with andfor other individuals follows
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suit.
Who we are and what legacy weleave follows suit.
So it's extremely important tohave mental health that's in
order, mental wellness that isalways running as highly and
optimally as possible.
Of course in a world that'sfalling apart it's going to be
hard to maintain it.
So we just have to work thatmuch harder to do so.
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There are ways of doing that.
There are mental techniques,there's a lot of things out
there.
You just have to find what worksfor you.
Sometimes it doesn't call for usto always have to pay$300 an
hour to talk to someone for themto tell us that.
Sometimes we could just do ourown research and find out what
it is that works for us.
It can be meditation, it can bedoing some type of
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extracurricular activity.
Anything.
Just find it.
That's all it takes.
We just have to put the time andeffort into it.
And that's what a lot of us tryto say that we don't have.
We have plenty of time whenwe're shopping for something
that we probably don't need.
We could be doing that then.
Doing our research or evenmeditating to reach that point.
Just finding time and makingthat time stick.
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Making it a habit, holdingourselves to that and
accountable when we don't is thehardest part for most people.
Focusing things like that.
I've heard millions of timesfrom people that meditation
works"when".
It's always a reason why (08:38):
when
the house is quiet or there's no
one around or when they canfocus.
There are people who canmeditate while sitting next to
you at a ball game and it'snothing 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'simpossible.
It's just turning our minds offin that moment when we need it
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to be turned off.
If we just refocus, recreate ourthought patterns and integrate a
schedule, something like that,to help us with that.
Whatever that is for eachindividual, make it stick.
Hold yourself accountable thenight that you don't get to
meditate, then hold yourselfaccountable that next day.
You know, I didn't do it lastnight.
Let me add another 10 minutesthis morning before I start my
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day.
Because I know I went to bedwith that same energy that I was
trying to fight my way throughand away from throughout that
day.
And I really needed to meditatelast night, but I just passed
out.
Whatever it is that happened.
Time gets away from us.
It happens.
But again, we can't keep givingit excuses.
We have to make that time.
If we feel ourselves gettingsleepy,"okay, you know what, let
me stop now and go ahead andmeditate." Now, it's just
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finding a rhythm, finding thatgroove.
That's all it takes.
But people seek your own mentalwellness.
We can't always rely on oursupport systems.
We can't always rely on thosetherapists and clinicians out
there whose main purpose is tobe able to build someone for
their time.
A lot of good ones out there,but a lot of the ones I've
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encountered, they're not reallyinterested.
The clinicians, they're mostlyscientists first.
You do have some therapists outthere who are more about helping
people, but a lot of them areinaccessible.
So we have to find our own waysof healing and achieving
complete mental wellness andmaintaining that wellness.
We want it to be as high aspossible.
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It takes a lot of work.
It's not impossible.
It just takes a lot of work in abusy, noisy world.
So once you reach that point,that's what Nirvana is: being at
that 100% mental wellness.
Reaching that highest level ofenlightenment, it's very tough
to get to that.
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Recognize that mental health isa thing, a real thing.
Before it was likehomosexuality, people didn't
know that that was a thing.
It was just something that was adisease or made up everything,
all of these negative things butwhat it really is.
And things that people don'tunderstand is always these
negative things.
Oh my god, homosexuality.
Oh my god, mental health.
Okay, well anything that wedon't understand, we
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automatically shut out.
It's different across everyperson.
We have organs that works thesame in every human being.
Intestines, liver, that's thesame thing in every living thing
that has these organs.
The only body part that'sdifferent is the mind.
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It's different across everysingle human being.
It operates differently.
It works differently in the bodynerve wise, with your receptors,
neurotransmitters, all of thosethings operate differently in
every single human being.
So the same with mental health.
There is no one cure all.
You suffer from depression, takethis one pill.
No, that's gonna cure the nextperson, or the person after that
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and then 20 people from thereand the 17th millionth person.
It doesn't work that way.
So of course when you try tomake 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 manymentally unhealthy people on
this planet.
There are more people thatsuffer from substance abuse in
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this country than are noteddepressive people.
So we have a 20 million personstatistic for substance abuse
and a 17 million statistic fordepression that that's real.
That is absolutely real.
More people are high on drugsthan people that are depressed.
Why?
Because more than likely it'sstigma that comes with getting
mental health treatment.
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People would rather go on drugs,drink their sorrows away, talk
to a bartender than actually getpsychotherapy, learning skills
to help them live through theirtraumas as they work through
them and so forth and so on.
As it pertains to anxiety andall of the other mental health
imbalances that are out there.
They're really all the same.
Like honestly, they're alldifferent types of depression.
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Mood is depressed, There's amood disorder.
Your moods are out of order.
That's all that is.
It's because of whateverunresolved issues that we all
have, it's all the same.
We just react differently.
Like some people may not bedepressed, but they may have
anxiety if they were, let's saymaybe raped and now they can't
walk by certain buildings orthings like that, but they can
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otherwise live a happy life.
But that specific area, they'retraumatized all over again.
If there are people who've beenin car accidents, live a normal
life, but will not get on a caror any kind of moving
transportation, or won't takethe street that they had the
accident on but are fine.
So everyone reacts differentlyto their own trauma, whatever
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those events were for them.
So you can't give a person amedication and say, Hey, it
works for a hundred thousandother people, Whoa.
Well, a hundred thousand otherpeople, did they all have the
same accent on same street atthe same time of day?
No, because even the time of dayaffects the person.
Was it morning?
Was it afternoon?
Was the sun out, was it raining?
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Was it snowing?
Was it the summer?
Was it spring, fall?
What was going on?
There are too many differentfactors that can also affect the
actual event and the person'sperception of that.
So there's a lot of differentthings that take place and
they're all different for eachperson.
Every single person.
There is no one fix for everyoneexcept talking.
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Talking with people that canhelp you make sense of those
things.
Talking with people that canhelp you gain skills and make
them habits so that you can workthrough that trauma and
hopefully eliminate it from yourlife.
And remember that it was only anexperience to teach it whatever
it was supposed to teach you.
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Not to make you into a specifictype of person or like those
traumatized individuals.
It's for you to grow from.
Talking to a person.
Getting psychotherapy is thebest treatment.
And then if it's something whereyou absolutely need to get onto
medication management, then sobe it.
You're prerogative.
But even in those instances, youstill have to be cognizant of
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what these doctors are pushingon you.
Because they sometimes they mosttimes exacerbate the actual
problem.
You're depressed?
These are gonna catapult you tomajor depression, possibly
suicidal thoughts.
They're actual side effects ofthese drugs, but they're still
saying, hey take these drugs andpeople are doing it.
I know people personally undermedication management care and
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do not look into the drugs thatthey prescribed.
They just take them.
They don't question anything.
They just take the shit.
And then when these side effectshappen, it's like, oh shit.
Like this person is about tokill themselves, or jump off a
bridge.
Why?
Because pills that they'retaking, or whatever drugs
they're on, are pushing themthere.
It's supposed to help bring themaway from that bridge.
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So is what I mean by talking isthe best medication because it's
an experiment.
These damn clinicians out hereare essentially scientists.
So they're experimenting withyour trauma, with all of your
anxiety, with your depression,experimenting with that shit.
See what works.
How the fuck do you thinkthey've figured out these
medications, trying them out onpsychotic people.
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People who are sick?
No, these medications are madefor truly psychotic people.
Even anti-anxiety medications.
What the hell do you thinkthorazine was.
It was used back in the day insanitariums when they were using
electroshock therapy.
The first thing they shoot youup with was some damn thorazine,
if you came in all distraught.
First thing they do and thenthey ask questions.
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Like, no! That's not what youdo.
That's not okay.
You don't drug everyone up andput them in zombieland, just
because they're upset aboutsomething.
You do not heal people that way.
I want to congratulate everyonewho's made the first steps to
achieving their mental wellness?
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I really am proud of you becauseit is the very first step in you
taking control of everythingthat goes on in your life, and
your happiness and finding thathappiness and maintaining i t
and keeping that happiness rightwith you.
Not giving it away, not allowingsomeone to alter it negatively,
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you know, with their actions o rthoughts like our mental
wellness is very sacred.
So I applaud everyone who hastaken that step to even inquire
about what it is that will workfor them.
That is a very big step to take.
As always, if anyone, out therehas any questions, feel free to
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send us a message.
We'll answer as fast as we can,especially when it comes to
mental health because a lot ofus do need the help in this
world.
So a lot of things that'sdragging us through the mud and
taking away from us, I know it'sdifficult.
And, that's why we try to bethere as best as we can.
So if there's ever a question oranything, we're always here.
And feel free to also send usmessages about subject matters
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that you would like us to uh,bring up.
We're definitely always open forthose.
We can't be everywhere all thetime.
There may be things that aregoing on locally where you are
that haven't made it to nationalnews that would be helpful for
others to know about.
A trend that could be startingnear you that we all could
benefit from; whatever it is.
We're always open and if we feelthat it will be helpful to the
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rest of our audience, of coursewe'll bring it up.
And, hopefully sometime in thenot so distant future, we'll
start having others on as welland sharing their life and
experiences or anything thatthey may have to offer to us by
way of information and/orresources or what have you.
We love it when people takecontrol of their own lives and
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happiness and want to helpothers.
So, of course, we are going tobe here for you.