"Mental Illness" or A Slippery Slope to Disempowerment?
THE PROBLEM WITH YOU
Modern medicine implies there’s a problem with you. The conventional model looks at our bodies as separate parts, almost machine-like, in that a series of inputs and outputs need to be manipulated and managed with synthetic chemicals to “fix” us. When applied to “mental illness,” this model distills our complexities and lived experiences into “disorders” and “diseases” with little-to-no options besides dependency on a one-pill-fits-most approach. ⠀
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The culture of this model means that we blame our pain, shame our emotions, and disregard our lifestyle. Inevitably, when discomfort arises (as the human experience will have it) we fear it—and race to find the quickest ways to silence or numb its presence. ⠀
The disempowering and problematic message it implies, especially when it comes to symptoms related to mental illness, is that the problem is YOU: your brain chemistry, your genes. ⠀
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It makes the human experience a disorder. It positions YOU as the victim of your life and leaves little room to learn from and grow through the root issues causing your pain. ⠀
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Despite well-intentioned messages to “de-stigmatize mental illness,” it unintentionally reinforces the narrative that there is nothing you can do about it. YOU (and your chemical imbalance) is the problem and drugs are the answer. This ideology dismisses other factors that are often masquerading as the “illnesses” this model is so quick to define. Thankfully, there is a paradigm shift happening...⠀
YOU ARE THE SOLUTION
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is an emerging branch of science that looks at mental health not as “disorders,” but as a multi-faceted relationship between the gut, endocrine, and the immune systems. It explores the effects of stress on the body in how it triggers these systems to react.
Similar to the study of Epigenetics, it sees “your symptoms [as] imbalances related to lifestyle exposures that are interacting with your genes—that is, your stress, food, sleep (or lack thereof), chemical exposures...” It also takes into account “your beliefs around the power you have to create your life.”
These variables and how your genes are expressed are far more in our control than the current model of “mental illness” allows us to believe.⠀
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In the new PNI model, anxiety and depression (for example) are not diseases—they are symptoms of inflammation. As there are many roads to inflammation, this new model acknowledges the deeper entanglements between the body’s physical, emotional, hormonal, and environmental responses—and how these responses are as unique as the person experiencing them.⠀
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Guess what this means? You are not the problem. YOU are the solution.⠀
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This model argues that you were not born with bad genes or have too little serotonin. It is more likely that you are experiencing an unhealthy inflammatory response, driven by cortisol dysfunction, a leaky gut, chemical exposures, nutrient deficiencies—not to mention “psychospiritual baggage” from childhood wounding and conditioning, trauma responses, toxic relationships, and more.⠀
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In order to start untangling these responses and identify the roots to our symptoms, we need to start demanding more than “a pill to match the ill.” We need to honor our lived experiences, understand our complexities, and have a desire to look beyond impersonal disease labels and into our day-to-day lives for the answers if we want to heal our minds and bodies, rather than numb them. ⠀
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This means finding holistic practitioners who value this approach while advocating that our conventional doctors do the same.⠀
Here at Empower, we also value taking a nuanced, personalized, and holistic approach to mental and emotional well-being. Our practice would be the right fit for you if:
SHARYN PEAVEY PHOTOGRAPHY
You want to work with a Doctor of Acupuncture whose clinical focus and passion is supporting those seeking care for Mental + Emotional Health and/or Pain Management (especially since Chinese Medicine understands how emotions manifest physically in the body).
You value working with an Acupuncturist who combines a traditional approach with modern biomedical evidence + wellness insights to give you an integrative style of care adapted to your needs.
You are willing to discuss and learn how chronic stress, unprocessed emotions, difficult life experiences, lifestyle, and environmental factors can be affecting your mental health.
You are open to receiving guidance, tools, resources, and support to take your mental health and overall well-being into your own hands.
You value a collaborative approach with a clinician who will help you navigate your healing process with compassion.