The modern medical model relative to human psychology is largely bankrupt. It treats the mind like a simple engineering system, and psychological issues are treated as pathology, like disease. But minds and humans will not fit into the tiny boxes the pharmaceutical/insurance company system wants to put them into.
Any psychological issue exists in a complex relationship to one’s habits, relationships, inner life, values, routines, general environment (social, political, economic, cultural, physical), work situation, general state of health, level of exercise, eating habits… The idea that a pill can substitute for addressing and harmonizing all these other factors with your life, is truly an oddity. But this is what much of the medical establishment wants us to believe. And it wants us to believe this since, quite simply, there is money to be made in it.
Corporate profits are enhanced when the totality of who you are is shrunk down to the size of a pill. Corporate profits shrink when you have the tools and power to create change in your life without their help.
Think of an analogy with music. Someone wants to experience music. The current medical model says, “Here, listen to these mp3s.” Voila, the “problem” is solved.
The humanistic approach instead says, “Here, listen to these mp3s, and you might also, given your interests, be interested in this, this and this. Also, here are some music lessons with a musical instrument of your choosing. Here’s a talented and caring music instructor who will help you to become a good performer. And, if you’re interested, here’s a composer who teach you how to write your own music. In not too long you’ll be making beautiful sounds that will enhance your life and those around you.”
The humanistic approach isn’t one, however, that generates huge profits for the medical industry. So, it’s not the norm, or even used at all. Plus, the medical model relies on the lie that, whatever level of bullshit society has in store for you, we can ignore that. The conditions around you don’t have to change, only you do.
Taking a pill for something may help with immediate concerns, but will likely do little for someone in the long term.
Research has found that exercise can do just as well as if not better in some cases for depression than does taking a pill. How often do you suppose though the typical psychiatrist is going to work with you on building up a physical fitness and healthy living routine, or address your ‘psycho-spiritual’ practices? He’s trained to give you a pill, not help you rise to your full potential, nor help you discover you are. He’s there to treat ‘problems’, not see you in your full reality.
There are, of course, many well meaning people in the healing professions, but many of them operate under oppressive assumptions and constraints reflective of money-making imperatives and a ‘disease’ model of the mind. Be wary.
Source: http://redshift-13.tumblr.com/
