RELATIONSHIPS
Referring to the Harvard Grant Study on happiness, Robert Waldinger stated on TED Talks, that great minds build on great relationships. Initially people are driven by money and fame, but over the years, they figured out that positive relationships not only promote longevity, but also happiness and wellbeing. Workmates become playmates. Positive relationships heal; toxic relationships kill. The quality of a relationship is more important then having a quantity of relationships. While one can have a multitude of virtual friends, the friends whom one can have interdependence with and rely upon (who are available during trying times) are the friends that contributes most to one’s mental stability.
CONCLUSION:
We know that modern day psychiatry has taken a commercially driven path, and that the diagnosis and the treatment components are not always valid. The popular chemical imbalance theory has been challenged.
Thus, we need to have a multi-model, multi orchestrated approach to mental health conditions of our patients. Patients are very unique and multidimensional, and one size does not fit all. Therefore, we must provide education and trust our patients. We need to avoid a unidimensional thinking process and promote balance and homeostasis to our patients.
To heal our patients in the pursuit of happiness, we need to have a humanistic and holistic approach to medicine, where science meets the art of understanding the human complexity and its wholeness.