Blood & Ink: Friday

We’ve got everything backwards in the mental health world…

Depression and anxiety are known and classified as mood disorders. 

But what is not mentioned is that they are also behavioural disorders.

You act depressed. 

Not to imply that depression is a performance, but to remind us that moods are secondary byproducts.

When a plant is placed in a good environment, with proper nutrition, and a healthy ecosystem, it thrives. As is its nature to do so. Humans are no different.

Depression and anxiety for most people are an inevitable outcome of how they live their lives.

You spend all day inside, stagnant, under artificial light, eating toxic foods, doomscrolling — and expect yourself not to be afflicted?

The environment, the behaviours, and the nutrition are completely out of whack.

This opens a door to a brilliant opportunity: act differently.

This is why anti-depressant medications are life sentences: people are unwilling to change how they act. And thus they are always treading water, trying to fend off the inevitable symptoms of that lifestyle for the rest of their lives.

Change how you act. 

How does someone happy and thriving act? Do that now. 

The mood will follow,
Eric Brown.