Are We Healing Through Conventional Medicine? NO!

"You have the power to heal your life, and you need to know that. We think so often that we are helpless, but we're not. We always have the power of our minds... Claim and consciously use your power."--Louise Hay

We are unhealthy. We are sick.

Look at the top health issues facing us:

• Obesity/diabetes

• Heart disease

• Stroke

• Cancer

• Addiction/abuse

• Suicide/suicidal ideation

• Prescription drug abuse/interactions/polypharmacy

We are truly unhealthy and unhappy -- as a community and as a community of individuals. We are sick. We self-medicate. We take prescriptions. We do almost anything but actually heal.

We have a medical community that seems to do a great job in patching us up to get back out there into our careers and lives. Please take note: The medical community is much more about relieving your symptoms, NOT addressing the underlying issues -- and certainly not healing.

Don't believe me? Look at these scenarios:

• You go to the doctor feeling an overwhelming sadness -- and the doctor prescribes an antidepressant, which (in theory) will help mask some of the sadness.

• You go to the doctor feeling anxious and on edge -- and the doctor prescribes you an anxiolytic (such as Xanax, Valium) to help mask the anxiety, to "decrease abnormal excitability."

• You go to the doctor with acid reflux that you can't seem to control -- and the doctor prescribes drugs that block acid production -- so you can keep eating as you like.

• You go to the doctor for chronic pain -- and the doctor prescribes you a painkiller and an anti-inflammatory drug (and maybe even a steroid) so that you can get back to your busy day.

• You go to the doctor struggling with all the changes in your body from perimenopause -- and the doctor prescribes you a low-dose antidepressant to help you through the "tough days."

The problem is systemic. The medical community has programmed us into thinking there is (or should be) a pill for every ailment. Who hasn't seen one -- or one billion -- of the pharmaceutical ads showing us how much more life could be if we only took their drug.

Let's look at few more data points:

• Worldwide, the global antidepressant market is BIG business, valued at $15.6 billion in 2020... and is expected to reach $21 billion by 2030. In the U.S., about 1 in 5 people are on at least one antidepressant medication.

• In terms of all prescription drugs, Americans filled almost 4 billion prescriptions in 2020 -- nearly 13 prescriptions for every man, woman, and child in the United States. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), nearly two-thirds of all patient visits to physicians result in one or more prescriptions.

• Many Americans have also been suffering through the opioid epidemic, moving from oxycodone to heroin to fentanyl. In the last two decades, more than a million people have died from drug overdoses -- with the vast majority of those deaths from opioids.

• In the U.S., alcohol consumption and associated deaths are also on the rise; in fact the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. rose 30% during the years 2020 and 2021.

• Suicide rates are some of the highest they have ever been -- especially among veterans and first responders. Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the U.S., and in 2020, 45,979 people killed themselves -- an average of 130 suicides per day. During that same period, about 12.2 million people seriously thought about suicide and approximately 1.2 million people attempted suicide.

But the problem also rests with us. Yes, we have been programmed into thinking we just need to go see our doctor and get a prescription, but many of us also prefer to do the easy work of taking a pill rather than the harder work of doing something to actually address the core problem/trauma.

The issue can even be taken one further step -- and it's how we define and deal with trauma. I so respect the work of Dr. Gabor Mate and others who are looking at trauma through a new lens. First, in realizing that trauma happens in all sorts of ways (including things done to us and things withheld); and second, in promoting the theory that much of our mental AND physical health is tied to how well we have cleared the trauma that we carry with us from the moment we are born.

Speaking of birth, think about those nine beautiful months of bliss in the womb when every need is taken care of and all the fetus needs to do is chill; then, we are suddenly thrust into a new world in which nothing is automatically provided to us and we have no controls and can't communicate -- and really do not have the brain capacity to understand or contemplate our situation.

This scenario may explain why some people have birth-experiences and do inner child work while trying to heal. Of course, the birth is just the beginning of a life that can be fraught with trauma -- whether the horrible abuse that happens to us or a hundred small ones (think of paper cuts) that eventually accumulate to something much bigger.

The way to heal, then, is not through medicating (or self-medicating) our pains and ailments, but doing the work that gets us face-to-face with the real issue, the real trauma(s) -- so that we can clear them and live a more authentic, happy, and healthy life.

Trauma robs us of our health, robs us from love, robs us from living our authentic lives. We deserve to be healthy. We deserve to be loved. We deserve to live fully as ourselves (and not hiding behind masks).

Final Thoughts on Healing and Conventional Medicine

Don't get me wrong. I am not patently against pharmaceuticals -- especially in emergency situations -- but they are extremely overprescribed and overused... and few are miracle drugs.

Our conventional model is NOT healing. We are not getting healed. The system is broken. We have to reprogram ourselves from going down the conventional route.

Healing comes from doing the inner work; healing comes from uncovering and clearing past traumas; healing comes from finding a supportive community; healing comes from within -- we just need to find the tools necessary so that we can do that work of healing.

Are you needing healing? Get to work on yourself -- and see my other articles on tips for true healing.

Additional Healing Resources

• Five Ways to Heal Your Life!

• Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul

• Why Are We So Angry? You Have the Power to Change... Heal

• Embracing Healing Change: Keys to a Happy Life

• Why We All Need Healing -- and How Psychedelics Can Help