Obscure Reference Ep. 59

Yeah, that's crazy.

And it's, you know, it's interesting that you share all those experiences, everything that had that happen.

And while they were, you know, not necessarily to you, but in your circle and, you know, the analogy of the mud hitting you is a great analogy to put that.

Eric, you know, it's it's become less stigmatized these days that the words mental health but you know there was a time really fairly recently when people were being you know mental health isn't real it's not real it's blah blah blah blah blah and now it's becoming more and more accepted to use the words of mental health and because mental health is real people realizing that that it is real and i guess um Share more about this, you know, the holistic approach, the exercises, and specifically what you share in your book, the book you just came out with, Diagnosis, How We Defeat the Mental Health Epidemic by Labeling Less and Connecting More.

I love that you started the question that way before I even get into the holistic piece of healing because, Joel, you're a sports guy.

I'm going to ask a rhetorical question here, and I kind of know the answer already because I know it's been out in the media.

Do you know anything about Kevin Love and his battle with mental health or mental illness other than anxiety, panic attack, and ran off the basketball court in the middle of the game? Do you know anything about Michael Phelps other than ADHD and suicidal ideation? And when I say know anything, I just share with you my story of the background of the life experiences that I went through and the challenges that I faced.

And you phrased it perfectly well.

People in the sphere of influence in my world didn't necessarily happen to me directly.

We learn nothing through the lens of celebrity shares about mental health other than their name, their illness, and some form of erratic behavior.

Kanye West has bipolar, says crazy things about his family, thinks he could run for president.

Back to Simone Biles, has depression, has the twisties, can't compete in the Olympics.

We don't learn about what we go through in life, the challenges that build up over time that change that physiology.

So while there's been a normalization around using the term mental health, there's still so much misinformation out there and a disconnect.

Even when you were introducing the topic at the beginning, and I mean this in the most collaborative way, Joel, because we all struggle with this, You were trying to figure out the almost dance between, well, it's mental health, mental illness awareness week, mental health.

What is the difference between mental health and mental illness? And my theory on it is, and the way I believe we need to message it as a society is, it's not that one in five people have mental illness.

It's that five in five people have mental health, just like five in five people have physical health.

And that mental health lives across a continuum, and that continuum is constantly fluctuating based on the fact that every one of us goes through things like divorce and job loss and breakup and verbal abuse and sexual abuse and bullying and cyberbullying and the sickness of loved ones like I do with my brother and the loss of loved ones.

That is human.

That human experience is what rocks us.

That rocking us is what creates those physiological changes in our body.

That's the piece that we need to normalize because if we continue to hear about celebrity story, for example, Marshawn Nealon dies of suicide, what's the first thing that comes out when his brain gets donated to the brain bank in Boston? OCTE.

Is CTE something that's commonly understood and feels like it's being experienced by the average person? No.

So they're able to say, oh, well, that happened because CTE, that's why he died of suicide.

He's a combat sport athlete.