Is Medication Truly The Answer?

Have you ever wondered why we as a society run to medication so quickly? If there is pain - take a pill. Want to feel happy? Take a pill. Child misbehaves often? Give them a pill. Overactive? Take a pill. Take a pill. And again take a pill. Society spends billions of dollars on pharmaceuticals. Yet, where we desperately need the money is in revamping education, community programs, and family help centers. Now, this isn’t an anti-big-pharma blog. But I do want to shed light on how microwaveable, pill-pushing, and diagnosing happy our society is.

I believe we need to take a deep look at how our society operates- post the mental health awareness era that we are now in. In our current society, many people are open to therapy. However, even with all the therapist we have now and those training to be therapist in the future they can not solve todays mental health issues by themselves. This will take an holistic approach at every level (community, local government, education) to achieve.

When kids are showing symptoms of anger, depression, attention deficit, and etc many people would suggest that the child goes to therapy. Depending on the therapist, that therapist may diagnose the child and possibly prescribe medication to relieve the symptoms. Here lies the problem. Medication isn’t solving the issue. If a child goes to therapy due to an angry outburst that stems from family issues, medication doesn’t make the issue go away. It may lower the visibility of the anger but the pain is still there.

We are quick to address the symptoms without or before addressing the root. When the fruit is the only thing addressed we leave room for our triggers to flourish. Triggers are indicators that the root is still there.

After being administered an anti-depressant you can not abruptly stop taking them. You have to be weened off. I don't know about you but that fact that you have to be weened off is an indicator that this isn't natural. Some symptoms of withdrawal you can receive is mood swings, anxiety, depression, irritable, and pretty much everything you wanted to be eradicated in the first place. According to Hersh from Healthline, these medications affect how your brain uses certain chemicals called neurotransmitters.

America has a drug issue. Whether its illegal or prescription the issue remains.

Just think. If we revamp the education system to teach more about the internal things we need to live, thrive, and flourish - love, peace, joy, and forgiveness. If we revamp our local communities to include centers and nonprofit organizations that teach the core values of love, peace, joy, and forgiveness. That helps families in need. That provides mentorship for youth and adults. I truly believe we can lower the growing trend of mental wellness issues in our nation.

This may sound like an ideal to some people. But radical change requires radical thinking and somebody crazy enough to implement it. We can’t keep relying on medication that comes with side effects to “fix” us. I truly believe that no one needs fixing they just need to be giving them tools to realize that they are stronger than what they think or have been allowed to realize.

Pills