McTherapy: Now Self-Serving the Entire Nation!

...trying to find a little niche somewhere that I can crawl into and find peace. I'm trying to regain my focus, trying to make time go by faster, trying to battle my inner rage. And I must say, it's really exhausting. (It's probably because I haven't had caffeine in a good week and a half! DETOX!)

And I'm not sure what it is within me...I'm not sure how much I believe in "depression," or certainly not the commercialized version of it anyhow. But I do know that something, a BIG something, isn't right. And I can't help but feel like we are all just becoming jaded and too "in-touch" with ourselves that we forget its not always just about us. I saw an interesting book the other day, it was titled "One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture is Eroding Self Reliance." It struck me a little differently than it was implied.

The author isn't wrong. Therapy today is like Tickle Me Elmo of the 90's. It's marketable. (And for the record, the sheer thought of living in a country who uses thoughts of despair and suicide as an industry gives me chills.) Any little emotion and suddenly you're the perfect candidate for a session with Dr. Melfi. "Well we can't have you feeling things! Here! Take this!" Zoloft almost always ensues.

I'm beginning to see the bigger picture, here. In speaking in terms of America and our fascination with "doing the right thing" in combination with the myriad of magazines and talk shows and headlines dedicated to the importance of being self-sufficient, we are becoming a society no longer tied together through social interaction instead we just merely exist next to one another.

I firmly believe that it is okay to need someone and to love someone. In fact, I find it more healthy than shelling out $300 per visit to a creepy man who stares at you over his clipboard while you blubber over your recent breakup. I think human contact is mandatory to your sanity. And by human contact, I mean hugs and laughter and good conversation, not one sided and shallow small-talk or having to pay for a social life by going to therapy. And I'm not knocking it in anyway. I've been on the other side of the clipboard. I'd rather pay $25 for lunch with friends. And I've always found that that is the best kind of therapy there is.

Being self-sufficient and being selfish are two different things, yet the rigid line between them is beginning to diminish just as is the "giving" and "taking" aspect in respect to human relationships. Instead of going to therapy, maybe we should go back to kindergarten, where we can learn how to share and how to give a little to get a little in return.

And there has been strong emphasis on choice nowadays. Sure, we all love to have choices. Big Mac or Whopper? Survivor or American Idol? Aidan or Mr. Big? But what happens when the choice is something that actually matters, say between being with someone you love or doing something you love? Isn't there a happy medium anymore or are we all just trying to establish ourselves so much that everything else falls short of that one goal? Life is multi-dimensional. I dont know about you, but if I had only one thing to live for, I'd get a little bored. And if I were faced with the question of choosing A or B in regards to two things that make me equally happy, I would find solid ground somewhere in between. Things aren't impossible. I know, I know...you think I need therapy! I'm being so...rational. Now if only the rest of the nation would follow suit. (Though since we are an obese nation, I think they'd be following sweatsuit. !!)

It's a nice idea that pills can "fix" whatever is wrong with you. That is, it looks good on paper. Kind of like communism. I personally don't like the idea of some outside force, albeit a small blue tablet, altering the way you feel. I always felt kind of numb and zombie-ish while I took them and ultimately it didn't fix a damn thing for me. Obviously, I'm still like this.

I can't say my problems are too big for me. I don't think of them as "problems." In fact, I can't really name one thing that is to blame for this slump I can't get out of. There's no name for it. I'm beginning to feel like maybe they are just feelings...and thats okay.

I hate thinking that we are a nation of brainwashed people, devoid of any original thought and that we are on the steady decline in the giving area. If everyone keeps taking, there will be nothing left. I feel jaded and overly unenthused.

Pass the Prozac! Must have more of the new wave mood enhacing drug because, hey, my life sucks too!

But what do I know? I'm no doctor.