Can We Please Stop Over-Complicating Treatment?
It's easy to lose hope. It's easy to feel like you've tried everything. And maybe, to some degree, you have. Perhaps you hold all of the pieces needed for recovery, but haven't ever put them together correctly. I think we've done an unfortunate job of over-complicating mental health. We've developed a complex set of mutually exclusive theoretical orientations to explain why people become mentally ill and how we can best treat these conditions. None of these theories can be objectively examined in any real detail, and all are completely unique to the world of mental health. Getting your brain to work right and reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety is really fairly simple. First, you need to understand some basic principles of brain health. These are certain things that all people need regardless of who you are. We all need a certain amount of high-quality sleep, regular intake of good food, daily physical exertion, and careful management of substance intake. Second, you need to understand your individual needs. Certain aspects of life are more essential to some people than to other people. You have to know your mind and what it needs. Once you understand these universal and individual needs, you need to meet these needs consistently, skillfully, and frequently. Do this and your mental health WILL improve dramatically. Note: I mis-speak a couple of times in this episode and say "duration and time." These are the same thing. It should be "duration and frequency."