Coping With Grief, Depression, And Stress

There’s a far better approach than rushing to mute our feelings with pills, alcohol, and narcotics

Image credit: ADDitude

My life has been extremely turbulent. From an unstable and frequently unsafe childhood to a turmoil-ridden adulthood, I’ve had more than my fair share of stress and quite a number of heartbreaking losses to contend with. On top of that, I frequently find the irredeemably stupidity of the human race risks inducing within me feelings of depression and hopelessness.

So I can speak from lifelong experience when it comes to the topics of grief, depression, and stress.

In our modern world in which we’re never supposed to have to deal with any adult emotions, it seems most people are encouraged to attempt to mute their unwanted feelings via prescription drugs, alcohol, narcotics, binge-eating, or some other way in which to attempt to avoid having to deal with life’s painful impacts.

But this is a profoundly low-qualilty way to live.

Let’s begin with what feelings are. Our bodies react to stimuli in a variety of ways, many of which involve the production and release of certain hormones and the upregulation or downregulation of neurotransmitters in the brain. The net effect of these chemical changes is that we feel what we call emotions. It’s supremely important to understand that our feelings are caused by the chemicals in our blood and in our brains. When we understand this, we can create appropriate strategies for coping with difficult feelings that otherwise could overwhelm us or, more often these days, cause us to run and hide inside a packet of pills or a bottle of gin.

There are times when medical intervention may be necessary, but in general such times are far more rare than our medicalize-everything modern world imagines. Unfortunately, like so many of our lifestyle challenges, we’ve medicalized emotions to the point where any unwelcome feeling is regarded as suitable for pharmacological intervention. It’s this kind of attitude that created the US opioid epidemic, so it’s probably better for us as individuals and as a society not to continue down this particular route.