Psychiatry is a specialised and professional field and, although this bloggist is a natural therapist, I am of the belief that psychiatry does hold a valid place in our lives. The amount of negativity in our modern lives can often become overwhelming. We sometimes work too hard, spend too little time with our families, overspend on our budget, worry too much, neglect our needs physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually and then wonder why we end up sitting in a doctor’s office being told we are overstressed and need psychiatry and medication to assist us to live.
Every part of the medical profession, be it in mainstream or natural therapies, has its place and psychiatry is no different. I know a number of natural therapists who would be jumping up and down by now disagreeing with me saying that the doctor’s drugs are harmful, will kill your gut, have too many side-effects and won’t help you. In some cases, there is an element of truth to that. The drugs do harm your gut, are toxic for your liver, have numerous side-effects and are often slow to work, and you can be messed round when you can’t find the right one, but what is one to do?
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When I have a client in front of me who is stressed out to the max, who worries constantly, who is totally overwhelmed and who may be suicidal, my duty as a therapist of any kind is to refer the person to a mainstream doctor or hospital. I have been in that situation as a therapist and had to pick up the phone and ask someone to take the patient to the hospital. As therapists, our main concern is to preserve life. Psychiatry in this case is not the enemy. Short-term psychiatric drugs that assist someone to stay alive should always be considered as a viable option.
While it is true that psychiatry may not fill all the needs of the client and the person may also need to be taught skills to cope with their issues, psychiatry as the first step in this instance may assist the person on the path to healing. It may be true that the drugs numb your head and make you feel bad, but you are in a cycle where you feel bad anyway. Feeling bad is preferable to suicide although the person suffering may disagree with this at the time.
It needs to be said, and made much more public, that one in three people suffer panic attacks. It needs to be said that many people in this world of terrorism are somewhat paranoid. It needs to be said that it is normal to sometimes worry and feel unsafe and grieve. It is normal for your child to not want to sit still in a boring Maths or English class. It is normal for your child to not want to do homework and play on their iPhone. Remember when we were kids? People get too carried away sometimes categorising each other, judging each other and trying to keep up and, before they know it, they are not only angry, unhappy, anxious and depressed, they are at a loss as to how to live their lives.
Psychiatry can be useful and a good psychiatrist will work in with a group made up of doctors and other natural therapists who can teach the patient skills to overcome their issues. Skills like meditation, mindfulness and learning to relax, healthy eating, a good exercise regime, drinking enough water every day and how to let go and not go into overwhelm. You wouldn’t expect your mechanic to teach you how to sew, so why do you expect one person to sometimes answer all your health needs?
If you have been feeling down, if you are having panic attacks, if your confidence is down, if you are frustrated, angry, can’t sleep properly, worry too much, are overwhelmed etc, then go see a natural therapist who will teach you skills to live and be healthy. If all your issues are so huge that you can’t function or you have suicidal thoughts, then you may also need psychiatry to assist you for a short period of time with medication. An ideal medical system looks at everything the patient needs and allows practitioners to work with each other to make a plan to assist the patient to address their issues, handle them successfully and finally eradicate them. That becomes a win-win situation for psychiatrists, natural practitioners and the patient.
