I made a laundry list the other day. After reading my myriad of periodicals I came to the conclusion that world really sets us up for a downer. Climate change, wars, terrorism, a new contagious disease and let’s throw in financial ruin to round out these happy feelings. Yikes! No wonder people are depressed. 

All this sent me in a search for a thing called hope. I found out there is a difference between hoping and wishing. With hope you try to see a different outcome. It is a state of mind and feeling of optimism. You put on your thinking cap and try to figure how the hell you are going to subdue a daunting problem. With wishing you are really majoring in fairy tales. Long shots and winning the lottery. Don’t bet the ranch on it! 

So, what can we hope for? Aha! Psychologically speaking you analyze where you are in the spectrum. Is this thing achievable? If you are smart you set realistic goals. You take stock of yourself and your environment. What do you have control over? What can you change? 

This type of soul searching sends people amiss in one of two ways. One aims so high that some sort of failure is a no brainer. At my stage in life am I going to shoot in the 70’s at golf again? Am I going to be a billionaire? Can I really solve all the problems of the world? Of course not to all of the above. Yet if I set realistic goals I can get a whole lot of satisfaction at getting something accomplished.

That leads to the contrary false reasoning. Gloomy Gus says there is no hope. He can never succeed at even the slightest challenges. That person never tries and of course the world and everything around him sucks. He or she will also tend to be a victim wherein the world is out to get them. 

People hit roadblocks in so many ways. They can relate to health, financial problems, relationships et al. The little engine that could is either on or off the tracks. First is the motivation to get around that obstacle and the second is clear thinking and even inventiveness to create a path. Both are distinct processes and mutually interdependent. 

I am constantly struck by the effect of illness on people. What is it that drives a cancer patient to go through radiation and chemotherapy for months or even years? It has to be hope that guides and energizes them. It has been proven many times a positive outlook strengthens and hastens one’s recovery. 

I had a patient  in hospice last week who was trying to figure out if he was going to try one last time to go off our care and seek active treatment for his illness. We talked for a long while. I tried to help him parse it out. There were distinct symptoms of depression and yet there was that tiny glimmer that he could not get out of his mind. I don’t know which way he went. 

This brings on a whole new set of circumstances. The medical profession is supposed to be optimistic and promising, but do they oversell their capacity to heal? Do people go through unnecessary and costly treatments with very little if any chance for a cure? Ethicists and moralists have been debating this for years. As our ability to transform medicine  becomes more advanced the answer to this question becomes harder and not easier. 

When one deals with mental health hope is as good a medicine as SSRI’s and various other drugs. The mind is a fickle master, One can go from abject despair and hopelessness to a road to recovery with psychotherapy. A patient can see a chance and that builds on itself. Cognitive therapy shows you the error of your ways in simple terms. The sad part is not enough people  seek out that help or want to make the commitment. Many times the availability of money or even trained staff gets in the way. It is not always easy. 

The tragic outcome of so many of these situations is the reliance on addictive drugs or alcohol. That hit from opiates or hootch solves the problem for a very short period of time. Then the morass becomes deeper. Sadly many just say they can’t go on and take their own lives. The epidemic of suicide today is an indictment of a society that is so rife with negative imaging and peer pressure. 

So what do we do? First off to solving a problem is admitting we have one. Many go blissfully down life’s highway without understanding the perils that lie ahead. I believe today we don’t train our kids to surmount difficulties. We try to make the way easier by avoiding its reality. Be truthful with ourselves without beating ourselves to death. 

Secondly is to train the populace to be realistic in goals. We are all not going to be rich, fabulous athletes, or scions of industry. It is ok to be just a little north of ordinary. We figure out alternative methods. We create detours rather than impassable roads. We get creative. In our scientific AI world we have to realize how clever we can be. Do our own thinking. Take responsibility. 

Bottom line is there is hope and solutions out there. We have to go out foraging rather than waiting for someone to rescue us. Rather than bitching about society, figure out how we can change it. We accept so much as gospel. We acquiesce. We get so caught in ourselves. Here’s hoping you and I and everyone get our asses in gear. We are so much better than this. 

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

35 million Americans suffer from mental illness. Only a third seek treatment and only a quarter of those see it through. It is estimated 90% of those illnesses can be cured. 

Everyone of us has the right to dream. I think we call it the pursuit of happiness. We are all entitled…. We are in far better way that 98% of the world no matter our circumstance. 

Research has shown that hopeful people tend to have better overall health and may even have a stronger immune system.

Hope is a gift we can all give. It creates a ripple effect. It is contagious.