Transcript
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the
Healthy, wealthy and Wise
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podcast with Dr William Choctaw,
MD, JD. In this episode, Dr.
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Choctaw begins his Leadership
Masterclass series by covering
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mental health matters. Dr
Choctaw will discuss mental
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health issues and challenges and
the differences between the two
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. He will also explore multiple
topics, from depression to
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anxiety and many more. Question
how can we help someone navigate
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mental health challenges or
issues? What if that person is
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ourself? Well, these and other
questions will be answered and
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addressed in this podcast
episode. So let's get started.
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Here's Dr William Choctaw, MD,
JD.
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Speaker 2: Good morning. I'm Dr
William T Choctaw and I will be
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your host today for the
Leadership Masterclass. I want
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to welcome all of you. We have a
very interesting topic, and our
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topic is mental health issues,
and we want to go over that and
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hopefully, at the end of this
session, you will have learned
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some things that maybe you did
not know. I believe life is
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about being of service. I
believe knowledge is power. I
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believe leaders can change the
world. Let me start off with an
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outline, and I always like to
give an outline whenever I'm
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going to make a presentation,
and I do the outline for two
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reasons. One reason is I want
you to know what I'm going to
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talk about, and the second
reason is I want you to know
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what I'm just about done. I've
always learned that your time is
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important, if not more
important than my time, and so I
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want to make sure that we're in
sync. We're going to start off
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by talking about brain anatomy,
and we're going to go back to
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some of your biology maybe from
high school, college or maybe
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even medical school for some of
you and talk about the anatomy
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of the brain and all the mind.
We're also going to talk about
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mental health disorders and
mental health illnesses and try
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to make a distinction between
the two to help us to avoid
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oversimplification. We're going
to talk about symptoms and
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treatments for at least one
major type of mental illness And
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how that can be a benefit to
you going forward in terms of
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taking care of different
problems and taking care of
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different issues. And, finally,
we'll conclude with me sharing
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with you some of my basic
principles that, in my 50 years
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of medical practice and at least
seven years of work as an
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executive in the hospital
environment, just share with you
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some of the things that I have
learned that you may find
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interesting and important. Well,
let's take a look at the brain.
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Let's start with the brain, and
the brain is divided into
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multiple layers and multiple
lobes. To be exact, there are
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six lobes of the brain and I'll
just go over them very quickly
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with you. There's the frontal
lobe, which, as the name implies
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, is in the front part of the
head. The frontal lobe is, like
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the CEO of the brain, if you
will, the chief executive
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officer, and it's involved with
thinking, memory, behavior,
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movement. The temporal lobe is
right under the frontal lobe.
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It's responsible for hearing,
learning and feelings And we'll
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get to that feelings a little
later. The parietal lobe is
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adjacent to the frontal lobe, on
the top, and it's responsible
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for language and touch. Next to
the parietal lobe is the
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occipital lobe, which is the
back part of the head or the
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brain, and it is responsible for
sight. Contiguous with the
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occipital lobe is the cerebrum.
It's responsible for balance and
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coordination, and contiguous to
the cerebrum is the brain stem.
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The brain stem is responsible
for breathing, heart rate and
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temperature. The brain stem is
extraordinarily important, as
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you might imagine, because what
it does is that when we are no
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longer conscious, when we're
sleeping, we continue to breathe
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, our heart continues to beat
and the temperature in our body
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is regulated. It doesn't get too
hot or too cold, and all of
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that is because of the not a
subconscious activity of our
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brain stem. As a position of 20
or 50 plus years, we still don't
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understand everything about the
brain And it still remains to
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be a fascinating part of the
body. Now, what I just went over
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was basically the hardware of
the brain. If you will Think
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about the brain as a computer,
and I just talked about the
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hardware, but there's also
inside the brain, or networks
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and neurons and connections, and
this is what we call software,
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and within that software is
something called the mind, m, i,
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n, d, the mind. Sigmund Freud,
who is felt to be by some to be
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the father of psychiatry,
divided the mind up into three
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distinct areas. One was the ID,
the ego, e, g, o And the super
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ego. The it is that part of the
mind that's only interested in
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the person, in the individual,
the it knows what it wants and
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it doesn't care what it needs to
do to get it. It's only about
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me, me, me. The ego is the
rational part of the mind, the?
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it may say I want that ice cream
in the store across the street.
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The ego may say, yes, i do want
that, but I don't have any
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money, and so I can't get that
ice cream across the street
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unless I have some money to buy
it. Then there's the third part
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of the mind, called the super
ego, and the super ego is right
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and wrong. So the? it says I
want that ice cream, i'm going
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to go take it. The ego says,
well, i'm not going to go take
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it because I don't have any
money, and if you want something
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, you have to purchase it If you
want to get it from the store.
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And the ego is rationalized and
being reasonable, and the super
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ego would say I want that ice
cream but I'm not going to take
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it because it would be wrong. It
would be wrong for me to take
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that ice cream without paying
for it. So those are the three
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parts of the mind. So think
about all of that as we think
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about the brain and the mind all
inside the skull and how that
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all helps us as this
extraordinarily complex human
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computer, as we are called. Man,
or man and woman, as one looks
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at the brain, there's an
important part, important
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structure in the brain that has
to deal with feeling, or emotion
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. I call it the emotion center
of the brain And that structure
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is called the amygdala. Amygdala
, and you spell that a, y, a, m,
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y, g, d a, l a, the amygdala.
The amygdala is a very small um,
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a P shaped structure that sits
at the base of the brain, next
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to the hippocampus, but it is
the emotion center of the brain.
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It is where our feelings are,
good feelings, bad feelings, in
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between. So the amygdala is the
very, very important structure
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of the brain Because it affects
how we feel about any particular
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situation, in a particular
person in a particular
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experience And indeed one of the
ways that that physicians are
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able to help individuals who may
be, say, extremely depressed,
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or depressed to the point of
suicide, is to do things in
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terms of hormone manipulation
that affects the amygdala
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directly. So let's pause a bit
now and let's talk about mental
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issues. Or let's talk about
mental conditions and let's
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divide mental conditions into
mile on the mountain and, being
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a mental issue, let's say in the
middle area, a mental disorder,
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and on the more serious area of
mental illness, all of us have
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mental issues, mental issues,
the basic fears and anxiety.
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Some people may be afraid of
dogs, some people may be afraid
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of, some people may be afraid of
water. Most of the times, those
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things, even though they call
some discomfort with us, they do
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not affect our functionality
significantly. Our functionality
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significantly and that's a word
I want you to become familiar
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with as you try to evaluate, or
as one evaluates, whether a
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mental issue is significant or
is not significant, does it
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affect one's functionality?
example I have a fear of heights
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. If I'm in a building, that's,
and I'm on the 30th floor, i
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don't look out the window
because it just makes me
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uncomfortable. Now, that's okay
for me, because, number one, i'm
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not in buildings on the 30th
floor a lot And even if I am, i
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don't have to look out the
window. So it does not affect
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the functionality primarily in
my life And I can do the things
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I need to do on a day by day
basis and it does not concern me
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. On the other hand, i am a
physician, not only my position,
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i'm a surgeon And let's say I
had a fear of blood. Well, that
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would be a problem, because if
I'm a surgeon and I get anxiety
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or fear every time I see blood,
i probably would not be a very
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effective surgeon, right? So it
gives you an idea about how you
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can compartmentalize or divide
the different areas of mental
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issues into a mental issue on
one hand, and say mental illness
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on another hand. So a mental
illness may be, let's say,
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schizophrenia. Let's say I go in
and out in terms of reality,
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i'm not sure what the day is,
i'm not sure where I am, who I
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am. Sometimes I'm in the real
world and sometimes I'm not.
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Well, that's the problem,
because if I have a job, i've
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got to be in the real world to
function Again, that word
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functionality to take my car, to
work or get on the bus or have
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someone take me to work. I've
got to be able to do my work,
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i've got to be able to meet my
obligations to those around me
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my co-workers or my family, and
I've got to be able to take care
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of myself. So functionality is
what I want you to remember, to
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allow you to evaluate mental
conditions Again, issues on one
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end, disorders, and then, on the
other, on the other, extreme
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illnesses, in terms of what is
needed or required. Two areas
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that particularly stress mental
health are, for one,
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relationships. If you are in a
relationship, let's say,
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girlfriend, boyfriend, husband,
wife, co-worker, a parent, child
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all of those types of
relationships that involve other
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people who are close to you or
who you need, will put a stress
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or a strain on your ability to
cope or your ability to function
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, if you will Again that word
functionality. And many times,
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when things happen that may be
of the mental nature, that may
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affect our mental health, it
will be something that may have
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been precipitated by
relationship. Example a divorce.
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Individuals have been married
for a long period of time, or
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whatever the circumstances are,
and they get a divorce. That
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clearly is a trauma And,
depending on the individual and
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depending on the reason for that
could very well send one into
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depression or into other types
of ill health. From a mental
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perspective, if you lose your
job, you've been working at a
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place for 10 years and you're a
good worker and you love your
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work, but the company decides to
downsize or to move to a
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different country And you lose
your job, that clearly would
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affect your ability to cope and
to feel good about yourself and
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may very well affect your
functionality If you don't have
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the security of work and the
feeling that that gives you to
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have something that's stable and
allows you to do those things
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that make you feel good. And the
other area that can many times
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have a strong impact on our
mental health is change. And
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again, actually the first
example is a type of change, but
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say other types of change. Any
major change Many times will
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affect us. Example many
individuals doing the, the, the
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height of the COVID virus
infection, significantly
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positions saw a spike in mental
health issues or in the number
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of individuals with mental
health issues. And that was
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because That was because,
basically, that huge change
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individuals were not able to
cope with. It was just too
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difficult, that was too much
uncertainty, a lot of the things
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that we all rely on were
removed from us The ability to
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go out to dinner, the ability to
see loved ones, friends, the
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ability to go to work or to
school or to send our kids to
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school. We had to adjust, on
minor levels and on major levels
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. These are the types of things
that affect our mental ability,
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our mental health, if you will,
because they affect our ability
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to function. Whenever you want
to evaluate a mental condition,
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look at functionality Again. On
the light end, or the
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non-serious end would be a
mental issue, afraid of
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something that's not significant
. On the more serious end would
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be mental illness, where it's an
illness, meaning that it has
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affected your ability to
function. Let's talk about
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mental illness. What is mental
illness? Mental illness is
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basically a distress or problem
in functioning in socially,
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work-wise or with family
activities Pretty much what
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we've been saying. Mental
illness is an illness that
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affects us mentally and prevents
us from being able to function
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normally socially, with work and
with family. Mental illness is
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not something to be ashamed of.
It is something that can be
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treated. It is an illness that
can be treated just like a
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physical illness. Mental illness
can be treated just like heart
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disease. Heart illness can be
treated along illness or any
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other type of illness. One of
the things that's important to
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keep in mind is that now we have
medication, because we
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understand a little more how
mental illness works and why it
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works and where it works. Again,
we talked about the brain and
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the amygdala, the emotional
center of the brain, and we now
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have medications that can affect
those areas. It's important to
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keep that in mind. If one takes
nothing more from this
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presentation, remember that
mental illness is treatable. It
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is treatable. How does this all
happen? What we believe affects
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how we think, what we think
affects how we feel, and how we
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feel affects how we act. If you
want a template to evaluate
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someone in terms of their mental
health, start with what they
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believe. Do they believe they're
seeing little green men on the
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street? Because then that's
going to make them feel a
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certain way and it's going to
make them think a certain way
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and it's going to make them act
a certain way. Many times, you
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can get an idea or an insight
into where that individual is
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coming from just by being able
to discuss their beliefs, which
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is why it is so important in
terms of all of us staying
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healthy mentally by many times
reexamining our own beliefs,
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maybe when you were growing up
and you had a bad experience in
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a certain neighborhood or in
elementary school or junior high
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school that affected your
belief about certain people or
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certain circumstances or certain
situations. Maybe those beliefs
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are not true, but maybe you
carried those beliefs all the
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way to your 40s and 50s and now
you're in a relationship, either
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by people you work with or by
individuals in your family, and
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you find those old beliefs are
now creeping into your ability
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to maintain good relationships
with those individuals. So it's
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very important that we make sure
that our beliefs all of us stay
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healthy. So one of the ways to
make sure that we stay healthy
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mentally is to constantly you
know we talk about physically
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how it's important to exercise
and eat well. I'm going to
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submit that for mental health,
it's important for us to review
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our beliefs on a regular basis.
I call it having a conversation
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with the person in the mirror
and I can tell you where they
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will show up, where the issues
will show up Whenever you start
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getting upset or angry about
something or feeling bad. Start
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examining that. Why is it? this
bothers you, what is it that
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makes you so upset? And you'll
be surprised that as you start
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peeling back that onion, you may
find those beliefs that you can
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see are no longer tenable.
There was something that you
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thought a long time ago that now
you know better, but yet that's
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still been driving you
subconsciously without you being
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aware of it. So just something
to keep in mind. Well, how
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common is mental illness? Mental
illness is common. About 19
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percent of people adults in the
United States can have it. It is
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, can be and serious mental
illness can be about 4 percent
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serious in terms of requiring
hospitalization or more serious
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types of treatment. One can
certainly in some respects place
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substance abuse as a strong
contributing factor with some
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degrees of mental illness,
depending on how severe that
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addiction is. I include in that
alcohol or severe alcohol abuse.
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These are some of the
corollaries that go along with
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that, because a lot of times
what we do is when we do get
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depressed and when we do get
down and when things do happen
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in our lives, we then try to
comfort ourselves by doing
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things that make bad situations
worse. So we have to be aware of
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that. When I'm talking about
mental illnesses, i'm primarily
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talking about adults. Children
also can have mental illness,
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but they're completely different
from adults. What I mean by
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that is children are not little
adults that we can't take what
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happened with maybe a member of
the family who was an adult and
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say, well, xyz, work for
so-and-so, so, my 15-year-old,
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i'm going to do the same thing
with her, or make or suggest the
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same thing with her. That does
not work. Children are not small
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adults. Children are unique and
they have to be addressed in a
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unique manner in terms of being
able to understand what their
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needs are. That's why they're
pediatricians or physicians or
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child psychologists who built
specifically for children. It's
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important to keep that in mind.
Another thing to keep in mind
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and some of you may remember
this is men really are from Mars
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and women really are from Venus
. My point about this is that we
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, men and women, are different.
We are completely different,
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that we have different
chromosomes. Men have more
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testosterone, women have more
estrogen, on and on, and on and
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on and on. What's important is
that there's nothing wrong with
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being different. That's okay.
That's okay. So it's not
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important for us to assume well,
if I like X, my wife should
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like X, or if I like Y, my
husband should like Y. We are
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different and we should
understand that difference and
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embrace that difference. So when
it comes to how one deals with
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the situation, how one deals
with trauma, it is not going to
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be the same. One side may cry a
lot, the other side may say
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absolutely nothing. Many times
as a physician, i've seen
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individuals who come to my
office because they feel like
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that they're supposed to react a
certain way When they get a
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certain diagnosis or this or
that. What I communicate to them
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is you are uniquely you and you
do what works for you. Whatever
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your reaction is, it's okay for
you. In many times when we try
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to help others, we don't because
we're trying to force them to
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act a certain way, because
that's way someone who we knew
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before acted, or maybe the way
we acted, but have those
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individuals talk to someone
who's a professional
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psychologist, psychologist,
therapist to guide them if they
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need that, as compared to trying
to force them to do something a
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certain way. It is important to
be aware that certainly suicide
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is a serious problem in this
country And it has probably been
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increasing, and many believe
that certainly COVID was a part
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of that process, but it may well
have been increasing in spite
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of COVID, particularly with
increased drug use etc. Etc. So
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be aware of that If you come
into a situation and certain of
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you live in LA County, there are
suicide hotlines that are free
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and confidential. In English,
it's 1-800-273-8255. In English
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it's 1-800-273-8255. In Spanish,
in LA County, it's
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1-888-628-9454. Spanish
1-888-628-9454. If you know
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someone or believe someone is in
trouble, do not hesitate to
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intervene and try to get them
some help, because you may very
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well be able to save a life.
Well, let me conclude. If you
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remember what I said on my
outline, when I get to my basic
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principles, i'm just about done.
My first principle is God is in
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charge. I believe that God has
been extremely important in my
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life in terms of leading me and
guiding me and directing me in
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the right path, and I certainly
recommend that to you if that's
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your choice, but that has
clearly been helpful for me. I
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decided many, many years ago
that I would have no more bad
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days, and so I don't have bad
days in my life. I have good
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days and I have great days. If
it rains outside, some people
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say, oh, it's a terrible day,
i'm going to get cold, i'm going
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to get sick. And others would
say, oh, what a beautiful day.
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It's going to clean all the
leaves and the trees And it's
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going to make everything so
bright and crisp. And so what
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I've learned is how my day is is
completely up to me, 100%. And
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so I said if I have 100% control
of this, then I don't want any
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more bad days, because I've had
enough of them in my life. I
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recommend that philosophy to you
. Thirdly, i don't sweat the
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small stuff, and most stuff is
small. I have learned that many
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times when I get upset or I'm
about to get upset, that
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whatever I'm upset about is
probably not that big a deal.
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And I have learned to measure
myself, take a deep breath, take
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a step back, think about it,
because most of the times it's
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not worth it. Stress management
one of the ways, one of the
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things that stresses us is
trying to do everything for
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everybody else. It's okay to
take care of yourself mentally I
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mean, i'm talking about stress
now that can lead sometimes to
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mental issues which could lead
to mental disorders, which could
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lead to mental illnesses in
some people. And finally, my
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final basic principle is
everything is a relationship,
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whether it's husband, wife, son,
daughter, parent, child,
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working relationships,
friendships, etc. Etc. And
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relationships are based on three
things mutual respect, mutual
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trust, good communication. If
you have those things, your
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relationship will thrive. It is
important to our mental health
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that we have good relationships.
Finally, let me leave you with
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this thought The only impossible
journey is the one you never
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believe that you never begin.
The only impossible journey is
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the one you never begin. Be the
change you want to see in the
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world. Have a great day.
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Speaker 1: Take the next step of
action and share it with your
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family, friends and or your
co-workers. They'll be glad you
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did So. until the next time,
live your best possible life the
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best possible way.