Hey there!
I'd like to take this space to share with you important information about health psychology. Psychology has been largely forgotten in the health care industry as we, as a society, have gathered more and more information about how to be healthy. Through clinical research and experience we've learned massively important things like, hydrogenated fats are not so good for us, and hey, exercise helps us feel better! And that information gets increasingly detailed and specific each and every day. If you look for it, you can get minutely-detailed information in just about every health concern in the books. Health concerns go through their own fads, which may or may not help the general population. For example, gluten-free is one of the newer food trends. This may lead to those with celiac disease to learn about their condition earlier. However, for others, it also comes with the cost of people potentially wasting unnecessary money and time on medical testing and specialized foods when it is not truly necessary. All of this information can come at a cost, and I believe one of the major costs is that it places excessive importance on the IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION.
We are an information-driven society. We learn and learn and grow and grow, at an ever increasing exponential rate. However, all of that information we've gathered hasn't fixed us. Why do you think that is? There are a number of ways that people like to approach this question, from blaming the food industry, to blaming our industrialized, sedentary work habits, to blaming our "built environments," or the way we create our neighborhoods and cities to favor driving rather than more active forms of transportation. And, yes, I agree with these arguments. Each of these concerns is an important contributor to our current situation. However, these facts don't capture a hugely essential piece of the health puzzle that has sat silently in the wings for far too long.
Along with all of this information is a pure fact: WE'RE HUMAN BEINGS! Our society conditions us to favor left-brained, analytical, rule-bound, nearly robotic behavior. We see success as obtainable through hard work and difficulties often resultant from laziness and character flaws. Our media glorifies those who, through genetic and lifestyle advantages (as well as plastic surgery and photoshopping!), physically represent an ideal of being care-free, popular, valued, and abundant. We see negative emotions as things to push away, run from, and fix, rather than as signs and signals of our true experience. All of this conditioning has taken the human being out of health. I've had countless experiences with patients confused, frustrated, or both over recommendations they received from a physician about how to take care of their health. "Lose weight." "Exercise." These recommendations often pack a heavy punch and are delivered abruptly and within the span of 5 minutes.
Brian Regan, an amazing comedian, captures a standard adult doctor visit experience in one of his great jokes. If you haven't heard of him, I suggest you look him up. Laughter is wonderful for health, and while I get a kick out of crude humor, too, Brian Regan is immensely creative in that he is hilarious while also being respectful and PG-rated. Here's what he has to say about doctor visits:
"I gotta lay off the dairy. That's what my doctor threw in as I was leaving his office: 'Oh, and lay off dairy!' I'm like, 'what the?! What kind of blanket sweep is that?!' 'Lay off dairy!' He should have just said, 'And no more happiness!' I'm in the supermarket with my cart and I'm trying to avoid the dairy aisle... I can see they all have party hats over there..."
Now, this is not to blame doctors. Our health care industry is in a tight spot. The average visit with a primary care doctor (what most people consider the "regular" doctor) lasts 10.7 minutes (1). Fifty-one percent of doctor's visits involve zero health education services. The top most commonly provided health education is in diet and nutrition (14.8%) and exercise (8.5%) (2). However, only 25.6% of doctor visits involve no medication prescription. That means that instead of providing health education, we're providing meds. With little instruction. What I also know is that you want to be healthy. The number 1 reason why people visit doctors is for preventative check-ups. However 55% of people visiting the doctor have at least one chronic condition (2).
And may be a bit demoralized.
Folks like Brian Regan, who can bring our attention to our difficult current situation in terms of our health while making us laugh, are really helpful. What all of this means is that many people go in to the doctor and leave with a bunch of unanswered questions because they might not truly understand what they're experiencing and what they can do about it. Even a disease such as diabetes, which is growing steadily in our society despite it being highly preventable, is so extremely multi-faceted that it takes a highly dedicated patient a lot of time and energy to truly understand how to treat or even reverse the disease. Without the knowledge and motivation to move forward on learning these things, notwithstanding overcoming any potential fear they may have about their diagnosis and prognosis, many continue moving blindly forward alongside their health status.
However, taking care of your health doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be confusing. It doesn't have to be insurmountable! But, taking care of your health does mean that we all need to acknowledge that we're all human beings. We're not robots. I'll repeat that. You are not a robot. When someone gives you a rule like, "lay off dairy," it doesn't work instantaneously, and it very well may not work at all. Doctors are part of the information industry: they are an important piece of the health industry mission to tell people information about their health status and how to improve it. Dieticians, personal trainers, and the like all fit into this puzzle. Everyone is working together to give you more and more information. However, this information is expensive and time-consuming and, on its own, may be unhelpful. I'm here to give you a new piece of the puzzle. It's partly information, but what it is really is a reflection and acknowledgement of what it means to be human in the health care industry. Where does human nature fit into this puzzle and how can we work with human nature instead of against it?
In this blog, I will go through plenty of information, but I've designed it according to subject so that you can read through it straight, or you can use it to look into specific topics as needed. This information is meant to be decidely non-robotic. I’d like you to be sure to read the next chapter on Emotions prior to doing anything else. Emotions are the keystone to achieving optimal health and I’d like to start selling you how great your emotions are before you go onto anything else.
On board? Great. More to come!
References
1. Gottschalk A, Flocke SA. Time spent in face-to-face patient care and work outside the examination room. Annals of Family Medicine. 2005;3:488-93.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Survey: 2010 Outpatient Department Summary Tables.
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