NOT BORING CHATS

stress?

KR: Monetary wealth doesn’t mean much if you dont have knowledge or motivation to create a lowstress lifestyle. Obviously, on one hand monetary wealth can make your life comfortable, yet if you have unresolved issues, such as traumas that trigger you and cause you stress, the money will not make much of a difference in the long run.

NB: How important do you feel that diet and exercise are in promoting mental wellbeing?

KR: They go hand in hand. Diet and exercise are massive factors impacting mental wellbeing. Take something as simple as hydration of the body, it makes a massive difference in how you feel, how your brain operates and how productive you are.

NB: The number of people who are stressed out and taking prescribed medications is increasing all the time, what are your personal thoughts on the prescription of pharmaceuticals to alleviate the effects of stress?

KR: Referring to the data which I have mentioned before that 8 million people in the UK are cur- rently on antidepressants, 2 million patients have been on antidepressants for 5 years and the number of prescribed antidepressants has been rising rapid-ly since 2016 (source: NHS). These numbers indicate that there is a problem related to stress, and a good percentage of society stays on antidepressants, even though they have side effects and do not always solve the problem.

Antidepressants are the go-to solution for depressive disorder, which is a complex disease and can be caused by various factors. I strongly believe that in some of the cases, particularly the mild and moderate ones, prescribed medications could be avoided if people had better awareness, better wellbeing, and willingness to eradicate stress at its source, such as dealing with their own unresolved traumas. Because we live in a culture that advocates quick solutions, instead of having a healthy lifestyle and building mental resilience with psychotherapy or hypnotherapy, people pop a pill. Personally, I believe that good percentage of cases of chronic stress and depression can be avoided, all it takes is willingness to invest in prevention.

NB: Do you think that (in some cases) prescribing (or even self-prescribing) pharmaceuticals is counter-productive in that it targets the effect and not the cause of stress?