Is the World Making Us Sick? Why Mental Health Isn’t Just Self-Care

What if some of the anxiety, depression, and mental health issues we experience aren't simply problems inside us? What if they're actually signals telling us something about the world around us? Psychiatrist and author Dr. Joanna Cheek joins the show to challenge the way we think about mental health, diagnosis, treatment, and self-care. Her argument isn't that mental health disorders aren't real. They're real, they can be debilitating, and they deserve professional treatment. But focusing only on the individual can cause us to miss external factors that could be a contributing factor. Focusing on the world or external circumstances raises complicated questions. For example, if anxiety can be a normal response to danger, when does it become an anxiety disorder? If low mood can be a signal that something in our environment isn't working, when does it become depression? And if treatment helps us feel better, does that mean the problem is solved? Listeners Will Learn: · Why self-care alone may not be enough to improve mental health · What “collective care” means and why it matters · How small acts of kindness and connection can benefit well-being · Why anxiety and low mood aren't automatically mental health disorders This episode isn't an argument against mental health treatment. It's about asking a bigger question: What if we're treating the symptoms without paying enough attention to what's causing them? Listen now for a fascinating conversation about what we misunderstand about mental health—and what we might be able to do about it. “Self-care isn’t enough. We need to care for our collectives because this world will keep making us sick.” ~Dr. Joanna Cheek, Author of “It's Not You It's the World” Our guest, Joanna Cheek, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychotherapist trained in dozens of modalities, researcher, meditation teacher, journalist, and Clinical Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine. She co-created the national-award-winning Mind Space collective, offering publicly-funded mental health workshops to teach effective mental health strategies through connection and care to tens of thousands of community members and physicians who, like us all, experience the mental health symptoms that arise from living in a disordered world. Our host, Gabe Howard, is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author. Gabe is also the host of the "Inside Bipolar" podcast with Dr. Nicole Washington. Gabe makes his home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He lives with his supportive wife, Kendall, and a Miniature Schnauzer dog that he never wanted, but now can’t imagine life without. To book Gabe for your next event or learn more about him, please visit gabehoward.com.