Published by Bob on 22 Apr 2008 at 05:00 am
Very Unhappy People
I was doing research for some upcoming radio interviews. I found statistics that surprised me and bolsters a theory I’ve had for some time:
People in the US are unhappy and stressed-out with the reality of their day-to-day lives… and an astonishing number of them are trying to numb the pain rather than confront the cause.
I’m referring to the current users of prescription anti-depressants and the estimated number of alcoholics! There are 54 million people on prozac and 15 million on lexapro. That’s 69 million people taking anti-depressants… and that’s only two of the drugs that are currently available. Add to that the current estimate that 4% of the population qualify as alcoholics…which is another 12 million people.
That’s 81 million people medicating themselves with anti-depressants or alcohol.
I’m not even including “illegal drugs”. Who knows how many millions more that will add the the total. The point I’m making here is that virtually one out of every three adults is so unhappy and stressed out that they must have some kind of medication in order to cope with it!.
They cope instead of making changes.
I maintain that this is a ticking time bomb. You can’t just bury how you feel under layers of mood altering substances. You’re just putting off dealing with the problem… that is until it turns into some kind of chronic illness. You can’t bury stress with drugs.
Too many people deny the truth.
They are unhappy. They are stressed… and they are turning themselves into emotional zombies! A pill or drink is never going to change the day-to-day effects of your attitudes, opinions and beliefs. You can temporarily silence the feelings of panic, dismay, fear, uncertainty and doubt.
But you will never get back the time you’ve lost avoiding the real reason for your stress: How you feel about yourself and the subsequent decisions and expectations that flow from that “truth”.
Eleanor on 22 Apr 2008 at 8:21 am #
Wow! I had no idea there where so many people on anti-depressants. When you consider all the possible side effects of these drugs, it is surprising that so many are prescribed.
You really hit it on the head when you say, “you will never get back the time you’ve lost avoiding the real reason for your stress”. We can drink ourselves comatose or pop those pills, but when they wear off, there we are still looking in the mirror at the same person that needed the drugs and drink.
It is like the old saying, “No matter where you go, there you are.” If you don’t deal with the causes, you will always need to medicate the symptoms.
But, of course, this leads to the question… If the drugs and alcohol only mask our unhappiness, what can we do to become happy so we won’t need to medicate ourselves?
- Ellie
Bob on 22 Apr 2008 at 10:30 am #
First thing to do is to face reality. You’ve got to step back from the merry-go-round of your life and recognize how much of what you’re doing is covering up what you’re afraid to face. You can only do this in steps… small steps. The important thing is to take the first step. That simple change in the course of your day-to-day reality will begin to shift the direction of your life.
-Bob
Sam on 22 Apr 2008 at 2:39 pm #
Face reality! Yikes! The reason so many people in our country are medicated is because they all want a magic bullet (pill) to make everything better!
Facing reality is too scary and too much work for most. And there are some people who really do need the medications proscribed for them.
I’m glad to see that you say to take it is small steps. It seems that if I had help and some tools like you are offering, I would be able to face my reality bit by bit.
- Sam