Radically Genuine Podcast with Dr. Roger McFillin

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (00:01.056)
Welcome to the radically genuine podcast. am Dr. Roger McFillin. Imagine for a moment telling someone in the 1980s or prior that within a few decades, millions of Americans would believe emotions were caused by a chemical imbalance in their brains. One that could be corrected with a daily pill. They might have dismissed this. Well, they definitely would have dismissed it.

as science fiction or quackery. Yet here we are living in the aftermath of one of the most successful mass delusions in modern history. I'm here to tell you today about the great American mind hijacking a cultural coup d 'etat executed by the big pharma and which radically rewired our understanding of the human psyche. In a snap of a single generation, we went from seeing sadness and anxiety

as natural, albeit challenging responses to life's ups and downs, to viewing them as symptoms of a serious medical condition that only a doctor could diagnose, only a pill could fix. This isn't just a story about antidepressants. It's a cautionary tale about the power of propaganda, the malleability of public belief, and the dangers of reducing the complexities of the human mind.

to a simple chemical equation. Today, we're going to dissect how this happened, exploring the insidious techniques used to brainwash a nation and infect Western societies and the profound consequences of this shift in our collective consciousness from the ubiquitous sad blobs Olaf commercials to the mantra that only your diet, only your doctor can diagnose depression.

will uncover the linguistic traps and psychological manipulation that turned millions of Americans into unwitting participants in a grand pharmaceutical experiment. In the United States, we're only one of two countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to directly advertise to consumers.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (02:23.638)
And the industry allocates over a billion dollars a month across the globe to get us to take their products. How do they do this? It's obviously highly effective or they wouldn't be spending that money. It's an investment. I know it's highly uncomfortable to know our thoughts are this malleable and we are vulnerable to this degree of mass conditioning.

But let's choose to be uncomfortable today.

Is the word brainwashing too hyperbolic? I don't think so. I brainwashing refers to a forcible indoctrination process aimed at drastically altering a person's beliefs, attitudes, behavior, generally includes repetitive exposure to new ideas or doctrines, and the use of psychological manipulation techniques. Make no mistake about it, we're in the midst of a psychological war.

And our minds are the battleground. This billion dollar brainwashing campaign waged by Big Pharma, it's not just about selling pills. It's about reshaping our very understanding of what it means to be human. And don't believe for a second that these same techniques aren't used on us by other industries and by our own government. Their weapons are words. Their ammunition is images.

In every ad, it's a precision strike on our psyche. But here's the truth they don't want us to realize. Awareness is our armor. Every time that you recognize these tactics, maybe it's the cute cartoon characters minimizing real pain, the taglines pathologizing normal emotions, the before and after scenes,

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (04:25.004)
selling a fantasy of instant transformation, recognizing what they do in spots that are put in American movies, television. You strengthen your mental defenses. Now for all mental health professionals out there who are listening, it is really important that you stop repeating the messages. These aren't your thoughts. Now that's uncomfortable.

They've been planted. And by continuing to recommend these drugs, you are keeping the system working as designed, especially therapists. Therapists, are not in a position to be recommending the range of psychiatric drugs that you're recommending. You're pushing people into the system. And let's face it, you don't know much about these drugs outside of what has been marketed to you.

The United States, along with New Zealand, stands virtually alone on the global stage in permitting direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs. This policy has profoundly shaped the American healthcare landscape. Since the FDA relaxed regulations on direct to consumer advertising in 1997, pharmaceutical marketing has become ubiquitous in the US media, fundamentally altering

how Americans perceive health, illness, and what is treatment. This constant exposure has led many patients to self -diagnose and request specific medications from their doctor. I mean, it sounds insane right now, just saying it out loud. I mean, this undermines a traditional doctor -patient relationship.

It's contributed to the mass medicalization of the ordinary life and the perception that there is a pill for every ill. This drives up healthcare costs and pharmaceutical consumption in ways unseen in other developed nations. I mean, this is not just advertising. It is social engineering. So today's an interesting podcast. I'm by myself today and I want to be able to dissect one of the most insidious mind control operations.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (06:48.946)
invade American living rooms. It's the notorious Zoloft sad blob commercial of the early 2000s. For those of you who have listened to the first ever radically genuine podcast episode, we play this commercial. Today I'm going to play it again, but this time we're going to break down with some sophistication, the brainwashing messages, and then how they impact us today.

So without any delay, here is that infamous Zoloft commercial.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (08:45.878)
got very interesting here. The rebranding of depression as a serious medical condition was perhaps the most insidious and effective strategy in the pharmaceutical industry's marketing playbook. I know for many people out there, this seems relatively benign. But it really did alter our relationship with our own emotions and experiences. Like I'm in a unique position.

being where I am in age, I remember very clearly the time before this messaging. Remember the time before social media and cell phones. I I was a kid and a teenager growing up in the 1990s before this occurred. So it is new for a lot of us who are Generation X. You know, it's

pathologizing the human condition in ways that are both subtle and profound. by elevating depression to the status of a serious medical condition, marketers, they tapped into this potent cocktail of fear and self -doubt. Suddenly feeling down wasn't just a natural response to life's challenges. It's a potential medical emergency. Like this framing achieves several key objectives.

So as I mentioned before, it medicalized normal human emotions, sadness, grief, disappointment, loneliness, boredom. I mean, once seen as inevitable parts of life, they become symptoms, something that we have to like pay attention to and even report it to a medical expert. I mean, this drives an attention on our internal experience in ways that previously was not part of our cultural consciousness.

And this instills a sense of like urgency and fear. Like when you hear the message that this is serious, it implies danger. And it suggests that like without prompt medical treatment, like our mental state could spiral into a life -threatening situation. So this undermines, I think what we can call as self -reliance in traditional support systems. Like if depression was a serious medical condition, then

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (11:12.79)
like friends, family talking about it, clergy, like they're no longer qualified to help, only a medical professional would do this. And this legitimizes pharmaceutical intervention. You frame depression as a medical condition and it naturally leads us to the conclusion that it requires pharmaceutical solutions. It shifts the locus of control from the individual to the external experts.

And people are encouraged to doubt their own judgment about their mental state and defer to medical authorities. Now, my goodness, why on earth would you require a medical professional to have to diagnose what you're feeling? It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? But now here we are, you know, we're in this mental space. This is wrong. This is, I shouldn't feel this way.

Now think about it logically, folks. Do you think that's going to improve outcomes or decrease outcomes? Is this going to help somebody just cope with what they're dealing with and face problems? Or is it going to worsen the condition?

go on to the second piece. It was very clear that it was promoted as you shouldn't have to feel this way anymore. Right? It says that in the commercial, you shouldn't have to feel this way anymore. So on the surface, appears to offer like hope and relief. But beneath this veneer of empathy, it lies a dangerous implication that certain feelings are inherently wrong or even unnecessary.

and that we should be able to simply switch them off like a light. Like you don't have to feel this way anymore. This is ridiculous. It's not realistic. And when you say you shouldn't feel this anymore, what is this? What do you mean by this way? Listen, the average person is not very skilled at knowing what they feel, what is normal and why. I mean,

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (13:19.222)
we can only use ourselves as a reference point. We can't actually see emotions, we can only see behavior. So when we drive our attention inward with a degree of judgment to try to make sense of what we're feeling, you can see how that judgment, like we shouldn't feel this way anymore, can lead to us viewing that as wrong. Obviously kids and teens,

They're much less capable of understanding their emotions. So promoting this idea that we shouldn't have to feel this way.

Pharmaceutical marketing has effectively pathologized the normal. And so it suggests that any prolonged period of emotional difficulty is abnormal, and then it requires treatment. So this perspective strips away the context and meaning from our emotional responses. The sadness of losing a loved one or ending a relationship, the anxiety of facing a major life challenge, the frustration of navigating a difficult relationship, all these rich

complex emotional landscapes, they're flattened into a simple quote unquote symptoms that need to be eliminated. The medicalization of this emotion, I mean, it really does have profound downstream consequences. I mean, we've lost our collective language of suffering. The cultural narratives and social supports that once helped us make sense of and move through difficult feelings are kind of gone. You know, I wrote an article not too long ago.

about are you seeing a therapist? You our society's now response to somebody struggling. I mean, you see this in schools, you see this within friend groups, you see this on social media. If somebody is upset, they're experiencing natural human reactions. The request is to see a professional. And instead of like viewing emotional pain as a catalyst for growth, a signal that something in our lives needs attention, or simply just

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (15:21.794)
part of the normal ebb and flow of the human experience, we're encouraged to see it as a malfunction to be corrected, or at least that there's something wrong with us.

By constantly reinforcing the message that we shouldn't have to experience discomfort, we are teaching ourselves and future generations that we're incapable of handling life's inevitable challenges without pharmaceutical intervention. Can't you see they're creating customers for life? We are at great risk of raising a society that lacks the emotional fortitude to face adversity, always reaching for a pill at the first signs of distress.

Perhaps most insidiously, this narrative really does rob us of a transformative power of the full emotional range. Many of humanity's greatest insights, artistic achievements, and personal growth spurts, they emerge from periods of struggle and intense emotion. The whole idea of post -traumatic growth is a great example of the science base that supports this. So by rushing to numb ourselves at the first sign of discomfort,

We may be short -circuiting our own potential for depth, creativity, and personal evolution. The message that we shouldn't have to feel this way, it doesn't just sell pills, it sells a dangerously limited view of the human emotional experience. You know, one that is ultimately gonna leave us much more fragile and less fulfilled. I mean, in my opinion, it makes us much more susceptible

to tyranny, to totalitarian control. I mean, we've lost our ability then to use our own emotions as ways to stand up against injustice, anger toward tyranny and loss of freedom. So be very careful with how these messages begin to influence our own mindsets and our cultural lexicon. Here's the next one. Only your diag...

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (17:32.596)
Only your doctor can diagnose depression. Interesting. This seemingly innocuous statement, parroted in every anti -depressant commercial, may be one of the more dangerous lies ever sold to the American public. Six words. there's six innocent sounding words that have unleashed a pandemic of helplessness across the Western world.

mean, this isn't just a disclaimer on an antidepressant ad. It's a linchpin of multi billion dollar SIAP that's rewired the collective psyche of our entire nations.

Listen, you can't get a drug approved for losing your job, your wife leaving you, the setbacks in life, your insecurities, loss, loneliness, the fear and worry about our children's future. Now you only can get a drug approved if it's a medical disease. One that only your doctor can diagnose. It's now widely applied to well, you name the mental disorder, bipolar disorder, ADHD, depression, even

My autism. Think about it. And it all hinges on one insidious idea. That you, you and I, we're not qualified to understand our own mind and our own emotions. That our sadness, our grief, our anger at the world gone mad, these are symptoms that can only be diagnosed by a doctor. They're not valid human responses to be felt.

and processed. I mean, it goes right back to this is a serious medical condition. So I mean, welcome to the greatest mind fucking medical history. You now need a doctor to validate your emotional experience. And this is such a dumb idea. Listen, the doctor is only going to know what the person chooses to tell them. So one person's feeling blue might be another's crippling depression. While a bit nervous could run the gamut from

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (19:44.982)
mild jitters to full blown panic attacks. mean, the degree in which they communicate it is how it's going to be framed in the doctor's mind. So factor in varying levels of emotional intelligence, vocabulary and self -awareness and you've got a tower of babble situation where patient and doctor might as well be speaking different languages. Only a doctor can diagnose depression. I mean, so...

What does this mean? If you're really struggling, you're in a dark place in your life. If you don't see a doctor, it doesn't exist. You can't label it. I mean, but the key is you have to see your doctor in order to get the drug. So let's appreciate the absurdity of all this. And we've created a world where, you know, every quirk now is a disorder and every life challenge requires pharmaceutical intervention. mean, picture it, humans who've survived ice ages and invented space travel.

We're now paralyzed by awkward small talk without mood stabilizers. I mean, really that's how they're pushing it right now. You listen to some of these, you know, commercials from, these therapy in industrial, like apps, you know, talk space and the like, you know, it's like pathologizing the anxiety you feel about a social situation and somehow talking about it with some stranger is going to, you know, change that.

You know, it's a cosmic comedy sketch where the punchline is always like, ask your doctor about, you know. So these are serious ideas, framing it as a medical condition. And then, you know, these things can only be diagnosed by your doctor. I mean, this is what has fueled the idea of the medical authority. When you think about where we are at, you know, post COVID or during the COVID pandemic, we allowed over decades now, like,

propping up the medical authority. I mean, they have to tell us how to live, how to be healthy. Even if our emotional states are like wrong or invalid or even broken. But creating this idea of a collective consciousness where we are inherently ill and broken drives us to try to get fixed by somebody we prop up. Okay. It become a serious, serious problem. And that's why we've become such a sick care society that's based on fear.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (22:13.238)
The next one of the message, which I think is just so dangerous. Zoloft is non habit for me. Wow. This reassuring claim, which was promoted on American television, still sometimes by our doctors. It's one of the more dangerous lies fed to American public because it's not just misleading.

It's a calculated deception that's trapped millions in a chemical straight jacket. Their brains being hijacked by a drug that's as hard to quit as heroin. mean, the truth here is SSRIs, all of them like Zoloft, are insidiously habit forming. They create a dependence so profound that many users find themselves unable to stop without experiencing debilitating withdrawal effects. I mean, speak to people who have

tried so long to try to get off of these drugs or in protracted withdrawal. mean, and this is where the big pharma slight of hand became like truly diabolical. mean, they've managed to actually even rebrand these withdrawal symptoms as proof that you need the drug. I mean, this is gaslights patients into believing that the deteriorating mental state is some return of their original condition rather than the.

brutal backlash of a brain struggling to function without its chemical crutch. In other cases, they're just prescribing more drugs to deal with the side effects from the original one. And some of the worst medical professionals in our system are certainly saying, hey, this is why you need to be on this drug. I told you not to get off this drug. You you have a mental illness. The dirty secret of SSRI withdrawal.

as its potential to even unleash violence and suicidal behavior, even in individuals with no such prior history of such thoughts or actions. I this is not just a medical issue, it's a human rights catastrophe. Millions were sold a lie of easy mood management or boosting your mood only to find themselves chemically shackled to a drug that alters their very structure of their brains. I mean, they're

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (24:32.076)
hold its non -habit forming, yet find themselves unable to quit without experiencing what feels like a psychotic break.

I mean, it's It's not.

not drug dependence, the doctors are insisting it's just your illness returning. Take more pills, stay medicated. Don't ask questions. I mean, this is

This is one of the most habit forming drugs that Americans are experiencing right now. And it's not sold on street corners. I these are dispensed in pharmacies with the full blessing of the medical establishment that seems all too willing to trade patients autonomy for the illusion of stability. And it's not like people are getting informed consent on this. Even here, as we stand in 2024, you're still hearing doctors minimize.

potential harm of these drugs.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (25:34.016)
Next one. I love this one. When you know what is wrong, you can make it right. Kidding me? I mean, this seemingly inspirational tagline is the final masterful stroke in this campaign to medicalize the human condition. When you know more about what is wrong, I mean, this presupposes that something is fundamentally wrong with you. Like your sadness isn't a natural response to life challenges. It's a malfunction.

malfunction. mean, your anxiety isn't your body's way of alerting you to addressing something in your life. Like it's a glitch in your neural circuitry and only your doctor can tell us. Yeah. Forget the fact that you're lonely or you're bored or you're struggling. you have a history of, of, know, some traumatic experiences you're trying to recover from. It's difficulty trusting people, you know, the news, the media constantly pushing, you know, you need to be afraid of this. You need to be a prick.

be afraid of that, but it's none of this, right? It's nothing that's happening in our society. It's not anything happening in your personal life.

It's something that's happening within your neural circuitry, not anything you can test. I mean, you have to go to the doctor who needs to diagnose it, but there's not like a depression swab or anything. I mean, we're not putting you in an fMRI machine and saying, your brain's broken. I mean, it's ridiculous. It implies that the complex human experiences really simplified to like a binary of wrong and right, broken and fixed. It sells this seductive idea.

that the messy, complicated business of being human is something that can be made right with a pill. I mean, it's so capitalistic culture. It's so materialism, right? Like so much that's built in to our lives, like how easy we can get a meal, like how our insecurities can be easily solved by

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (27:37.974)
wearing a new fashion trend or looking just like a famous Hollywood star.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (27:47.914)
I think some of the most destructive aspects of this phrase, it's fraudulent implication. That's what's wrong is an underlying brain abnormality. I mean, it's a very linguistic sleight of hand that, know, transforms everything about our experience into this simplistic chemical equation. So you're feeling depressed? No, I mean, it's not your soul crying out for meaning. It's not your psyche processing trauma.

It's just a serotonin deficiency. Here's your pill. Make it right. I mean, this language certainly does more than just sell drugs. It eradicates the validity of any alternative approach to human struggle. And there's a myriad of approaches to our struggle. And you can look at this cross -cultural. Yes, therapy is one of them. I mean, but in a lot of ways that's talking. The social support network that has supported

You know, our small tribal communities are communities throughout the course of human existence. How about meditation, exercise, nutrition, the social connection that comes with learning from mentors or elders, family members. Are you facing real legitimate struggles? You're grieving loss, questioning your life purpose. Well, why bother?

when you can just make it right with a prescription. I think this framing creates a dangerous feedback loop. If you believe your negative emotions are just symptoms of a brain disorder, you're less likely to address the real issues in your life. The ones that are actually causing distress and it's alerting you. Do something about it. This aversive experience is, in my opinion, it's a gift.

unhappy with your job? Stuck in a toxic relationship?

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (29:51.776)
These are opportunities to solve those problems you shouldn't be happy with.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (29:58.87)
I mean, the idea about not having to face these circumstances or they don't, what you're feeling isn't valid in response to these events. I mean, this has caused mass confusion. I mean, this is the struggle I see in therapy all the time is people don't understand their emotional experience in the context of what is going on in their life. So now it limits their ability to be able to face and solve those problems.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (30:25.762)
So in the end, like making it right, it becomes like this never ending quest for a neurochemical utopia that certainly doesn't exist. It just sets an impossible standard of constant happiness and calm. And if you don't experience that, there's something wrong with you.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (30:47.712)
This isn't about health folks. It's really about, in my opinion, creating a much larger customer base. And for many lifelong customers who start to believe that every uncomfortable feeling is a problem to be solved with something external, not just a prescription. mean, it be food, other drugs, pornography, whatever.

And then we've lost our tolerance for the range of uncomfortable emotions and painful ones that exist that are there for our own growth. So this isn't just, in my opinion, it's not just about avoiding a few ads. This is about us. It's about reclaiming our collective consciousness, you know, from those who really do.

want to financially benefit or benefit with power by reducing our experience. There is a anti -human transhumanist movement that's just doing trying to do just that, right?

I think this is about defending our right to feel again, to struggle, to be gloriously, messily human without being labeled as broken. I mean, the first step in this resistance isn't just anger or action, or they're listening to this today, it might bring some anger. It's also about awareness. Open your eyes, like see the manipulation.

for what it is. Someone can say safe and effective a thousand times, it starts becoming our collective truth. I mean, these are the things that you began to experience in our culture, our own individuals, the vaccine is safe and effective. You say you repeat lies enough, it becomes your collective truth. And not that you know that it's safe and effective, it's just what you've been told. So your thoughts don't even become your own anymore.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (33:03.37)
our own idea of what depression is, is now influenced by a Western allopathic model.

It's a medical disease. It's just a constellation of symptoms. It's not anything else. No, it's not a transformational experience. No, it's not an indication that there are things you have to face in your life. It's something to get rid of. And shame on all you medical and mental health professionals, you therapists who still continue to proclaim the same idea. You don't even realize the hypocrisy that goes on in the way that you work with your clients. On one end,

You might be validating emotions and encouraging them to process and experience emotions while at the same time telling them it's too much. What do you expect is going to happen? You're going to be confused.

See the manipulation for what it is. Because once you can spot the strings of the puppet masters, you can begin to cut them.

Listen, your mind is your own. It is so important that you guard it fiercely. And these messages, they're not just communicated in pharmaceutical ads, they're gonna be communicated in public schools. They're gonna be communicated by the neighbor. They're gonna be communicated on movies, television, social media posts. When you're talking about a multi -

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (34:34.358)
billion dollar industry.

that benefits from your sickness, from your mental unwellness. Understand how invested they are in getting you to see yourself as ill. Don't think for a second, folks. Your health and your wellbeing is in their best interest. That's a customer lost.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (35:05.74)
That's the worst outcome.

The best outcome for a pharmaceutical company is to start developing customers from cradle to grave. From vaccines and unnecessary medical interventions after the first breath of life.

to your dementia being drugged in your last years.

and everywhere in between.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (35:39.851)
When they push these messages of decreasing stigma, this isn't about decreasing stigma, this is about increasing more customers. They want you to recognize and take care of your mental health because taking care of your mental health is seeing your doctor, it's seeing as a serious medical condition. Take this pill.

It's a dangerous Psy -Up. And I'm not being hyperbolic when I say...

that government officials, policymakers, billionaires have a true invested effort in maintaining these messages.

Listen, many of the you're elected officials folks are propped up by pharmaceutical money, big food money. The only reason they are elected is because of their dollars. So they are expected to carry it out with legislation. You have to be very, very mindful about what is going to be happening, especially for our younger generation. The mental health crisis is a way for government to get back involved.

in our individual rights. you listen, the last thing you want is the federal government being involved in our health care, especially our mental health care. So when you see the Biden administration and maybe future administrations, allocate money through bills to school based mental health clinics, for example, what does that actually mean? Kids aren't going to school to learn, that's science, math, reading.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (37:25.568)
things that are really important. God forbid you know they're not getting critical thinking skills, problem -solving skills, but they are going to be mass indoctrinated and they can probably walk down the hall and enter into a school -based mental health clinic. What does that mean? Another professional who's brainwashed in this system now has this ability to diagnose your child and recommend that they get quote -unquote treatment.

If your child's over the age of 14, at least in the state of Pennsylvania, they can consent that without your permission, parents.

I mean, we've seen this stories popping up. Father in Maine found out that his daughter received the SSRI prescription because she consented. Now, I don't think that this is not possible. This is possible. You're already getting the social and emotional learning indoctrination in public schools. You're getting the DEI indoctrination in public schools. Getting the gender ID...

ideology indoctrinated in public schools. The curriculum that's being taught certainly filtered to serve the needs of the American war industrial complex.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (38:53.964)
So it's up to us. I mean, we have to guide our minds. We have to critically think. We have to challenge all authority. To me, that's a human right.

but I think it's necessary to safeguard our freedoms.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (39:14.668)
these commercials.

They have a lot of deep layers to them. These messages, they become the norm. I we are creators of our own reality.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (39:31.702)
We don't know any different. think it's normal to always go into the healthcare system for everything. Screener for this vaccine for this intervention for this. mean, it's such a multi -trillion dollar industry healthcare right now. More tests, more tests. create this consciousness of fear and that there's something, you know, just completely broken within us. I mean, that has such consequences on every level of our body. Right? Some of the things that I

talk about in this podcast, when we talk about things like a placebo effect, I mean, right there, it's just to bring attention to the powers of our mind. So what is happening on every cell in our body when we're convinced that there's always something potentially wrong with us? What happens to our mental health when we drive our attention inward and we're just thinking about every thought that pops in our mind or every emotion, instead of directing our attention out into our lives to serve others, to learn, grow.

to experience, to have fun. Taking care of your mental health is now getting on an app. We've let this happen.

What a joke. We've lost our collective minds. We accept things to be true just because we're told them.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (40:52.706)
So it's, it's a podcast like this just to go back memory lane a little bit, you know, 24, 25 years ago, we just accept some of this to be true. Zoloft commercial like that just fits into our cultural narrative that drugs are healthcare. And we don't always consider the painful consequences. Where are we now? 25 % of women on a SSRI?

We're pushing more and more people to psychiatric drugs, mood and mind altering psychiatric drugs. This is our normal now, exactly what they wanted. It doesn't have to be our normal. It's only through education and it's only through awareness and communicating to our next generation. We can regain power back. We can regain our collective language of struggle and suffering and see it as necessary.

with opportunities. We can support each other. We can love each other within that idea.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (42:02.304)
Yeah, I'm a psychologist and I conduct therapy and there's way too many therapists. Way, way too many therapy.

Are there certain opportunities where that amongst many other ways of responding to somebody struggling can be effective? Sure.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (42:23.756)
But in Western culture, we've reduced it. We've reduced it to therapy and a drug.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP (42:33.6)
Your mind is your own. Guard it fiercely.