Mental illness and health advocacy; a lesson in compassion and growth

Maslow's hierarchy of needs dictates that once our basic needs are met, then we can aspire to healthy interactions with others, and ultimately self-actualization.

A side, but valuable, comment here is that this doesn't indicate that self-actualization is the inevitable crown on a harrowing climb. It simply means that self-actualization, for the sake of life span and achievement, would be the launch pad that would carry someone to their greatest achievements. In other words, self-actualization is really the beginning of what could be. 

Today we will talk about mental health, but not yours.

Many people tout that mental health issues are better left under the rug. I identify strongly with honor culture. It should come as no surprise then, that people in my culture do not discuss their weaknesses. They push through them while mocking people who admit their struggles. For the most part, honor culture is on the decline, and more importantly, honor culture seems to be evolving to acknowledge that one can have pride in one's work, while admitting the difficulties in accomplishing it. 

This is overwhelmingly present in social media. And this is a good thing! We see what it really looks like to lose 100+ pounds. We see what it looks like to struggle to conceive. However there is one huge blot on the professional spectrum that seems to be a century behind when it comes to acknowledging mental health issues: health care. 

Did you know that professions with prescriptive rights are among the most likely to suffer from mental illness [1]? While medical doctors have a high rate of depression, there's also things like bipolar disorder, anxiety, addiction, and panic attacks that aren't accounted for in the reference listed below. 

A second side note: Chiropractors are also listed on the reference, but we are the only profession on the list that says, "Category includes chiropractors (a licensed profession) along with miscellaneous unlicensed health diagnosing practitioners." (insert eye roll here). That is like saying, "This category includes medical doctors along with miscellaneous actors that play doctors on t.v."

All that withstanding, I have two points to make.

1. Healthcare providers are under a LOT of stress. They deserve our patience and our compassion for the work they do.

2. In this current situation, it is not simply a pleasant concept, it is absolutely vital that you be your own advocate.

There are brilliant minds throughout our history that have had mental illnesses. Many of the diagnoses that previously would have resulted in inhumane treatments are now easily managed with chiropractic care, medication, or supplements.. But part of this stress and anxiety that affects our medical professionals so greatly is from carrying the burden of being the "decision maker". I would also argue that some of that stress comes from algorithms and pressures within the hospitalist system, but that's not anything that you and I can influence, other than with our mighty dollars. 

Most people don't become doctors because they hate people. Most people become doctors because they want to help people. Most doctors approach each patient with the wealth of knowledge that they have, and every motion is to help the patient towards health. Most doctors don't act out of malice. Most of them are working on 4 cups of coffee, too little sleep, too much stress, and frankly, too much outside influence to be the teacher their name implies. 

If you are pressured or emotionally manipulated away from your own decisions: you need a new doctor. That doctor isn't a bad person. That doctor is simply too distracted to acknowledge that the body you have is the one you will have for the rest of your days; the actions and consequences performed upon it are literally your burden to bear. 

Things to consider about your health:

• take time to read and learn about diagnoses you've been given
• go into follow up appointments with a knowledge of what to expect
• ask questions
• take a friend with you to listen and be the objective ears in the room. 
• if you are interested in alternative therapies for your diagnosis, print some articles and take them to your doctor
• don't assume that your doctor will say, "My way or the high way." Because I bet, if your doctor is worth their salt, they will either be open to your ideas, or will explain to you why it isn't a good idea.
• ask for dialogue, not just a prescription
• take notes!

1. http://www.businessinsider.com/most-suicidal-occupations-2011-10

Chiropractic Principles

If you are part of the 85% (rough estimate) of people who do not regularly see a chiropractor, it may surprise you that there is a philosophy and accompanying principles to receiving care. Most of them are pretty straight forward, a quick Google search will give you all 33 principles, but today we will focus on my favorite:

Principle No. 6: The principle of time- There is no process that doesn't require time.

That's it...verbatim. It hurts to read doesn't it? If you are remotely concerned with grammar, your eyes are probably bleeding a little from an official statement from a profession...an ENTIRE profession... with a double negative tucked in. It hurt me. I had to do a project on the principles my first quarter of my doctorate program and I complained IN the project about the grammar. Let's consider that a speed bump and keep on trucking. If it's more of a road block, go pace for a few minutes in the sun and come back and start below:

Time. 

In the previous post we discussed weight loss as a measurement of health. Weight loss is an easy representation of our culture's inability to perceive "time in" versus "time out". Most people do not wake up 40 pounds heavier than the day before. If this happens to you I would suggest seeking medical attention because that implies a serious issue. Plenty of people are on "ask yahoo" or random weight loss forums asking, "How can I lose 30 pounds in 2 weeks?" They probably didn't gain 30 pounds in 2 weeks, yet they expect to lose it. 

However, I would argue this isn't the most alarming form of disregard for time. The worst is when a person makes poor decisions for, let's say 10 years, and after some time their body begins to show signs of neglect: inflammation, pain, dysfunction. These consequences usually surprise people, and the instant reaction is to take a pain killer. And WOW! Those pain killers really work! I should know, I took them in bulk store proportions for about 10 years. Often times we want to cut corners. We want "insta-health". 

Insta-health sounds great doesn't it? Do none of the work, none of the input and boom! You wake up one day with a 65 BPM heart rate, 110/70 blood pressure, ideal body fat percentages, and did I mention you'll look great naked! (And make a 6 digit income, and drive a drool worthy car...I mean if I'm dreaming here, let's go big!) And imagine if all of the bad habits we accumulate could be undone over night with the use of a pill. This sounds like heaven.

The reality is that we are a culmination of chemical compounds that have been assembled and disassembled trillions of times in their existence; but right here and now, you are you. Our parents made a decision to DTD (do the deed, for my non-NFP folks) and sperm meets egg, morula, zygote, fetus, infant, toddler, kidlet, tween, teen, young adult, adult, senior, and then you will one day die. So will I. But the point is that you did not begin your existence today. Maybe you did...maybe today is a new you and a new way of life. Or maybe the life you lead to day was determined by the diet your great great great grandfather ate 250 years ago. The point is that every aspect of our existence, our observations, our interactions, and our world is dependent on time. Time creates and destroys mountains. 

Often times when people start Chiropractic Care, they are surprised or upset when they find that they will need to come in for 3-6 months. The brilliant thing about Chiropractic is that if you ARE in pain (you do not have to be in pain to see a Chiropractor), you most likely won't be in pain for those 3-6 months. Most often pain resolves fairly quickly. However, much like weight gain (consider this a clumping with the pain/inflammation/dysfunction), typically you don't just wake up one day in pain. Aside from acute macro-trauma (car accident, falling, etc), most of us spend decades with poor habits that lead to that sudden onset of pain. So, if we use the idea of "Time", it makes sense that putting a decade of, let's say looking down at your lap to read a text or the morning paper, into your spine may take more than 2 weeks to rectify. You may not experience pain, but as more and more research shows, pain is sort of the last stop on the Body's "Hey Something's Wrong!" Train. So if we take into consideration that pain is NOT a marker of function, and the objective is to be healthy and functional, the goal is for you to NOT need constant Chiropractic care. The goal is for your body to properly function and adapt to it's environment. In this sense the chiropractic adjustment is re-teaching the body where it belongs in space. So while the pain goes away, the body is still accustomed to it's previous position. The care plan that a patient receives should be an estimate of how long it will take the body to re-learn proper proprioception.

Now, this discussion opens itself to a number of critiques. Because I am in the process of opening this can of worms, let's list out a few:

1. If time causes subluxation, why does a baby need to be adjusted?

2. Why would I need to see a chiropractor if I am not in pain? 

3. What can a chiropractor do for proprioceptive issues?

These are totally future blog questions. Next up though, I'm going to give you a little background on Marquette Method and NFP in general...quirky title name to come. :)