Do you get the feeling that we are collectively on the
precipice of one of those defining periods in our history? As a society, we are at a crossroads in so many
ways; necessary changes are hopefully around the corner as they relate to
health care, economics, politics, on down to the sociology of how we treat each
other as human-beings.
Change is rarely easy, though, as essential as it may
be. When we converse on the human
condition, we understand that the characteristics that define our world are
constantly shifting, but change is still often wrought with struggle. A certain way of doing things becomes the
standard and, when it comes time to reevaluate and redefine the standard, there
is a common tendency to put up a mental wall or push back in the face of
change.
Though our minds are capable of accepting that change is
a natural part of life, we live in a world that, perhaps now more than ever
before, gravitates toward an all-or-nothing attitude. We collectively seek to oversimplify that
which is far from simple and, in actuality, end up further complicating
matters. Politics offer both a prime and
timely example. A typical list of the
key issues is fairly complex and lengthy, yet the manner in which people often
choose elected officials to represent their interests on a larger scale has
been reduced to a pair of overly simplistic categories.
This year’s Presidential election is poignantly proof
positive. Given the social climate and
the aura of imminent, prominent changes on the horizon that we need to
cultivate and embrace rather than block, it would seem that, this year, it
would be extremely important to pick a leader who can help guide our country
through a potentially era-defining transition.
Please forgive anyone who views this election as a choice between the
lesser of two evils, a borderline reality TV show masquerading as a
presidential race and a hallmark instance of the need for more than two viable
options. Unfortunately, in politics as
in many areas of life right now, black and white thinking is an enemy of
progress.
In the world of psychology, there is a disorder named for
this type of thinking; it is called splitting and it is used to describe the
all-or-nothing mindset as a defense mechanism for when people are unable to
decipher the reality that there are both positive and negative aspects of various situations. One could say that it is a very childlike
state of mind. When you are young and
your mind begins to develop, one of the signs of maturity is the ability to
process information beyond fixed and finite categories. If you tell a child that he/she has to eat
food in order to live, the less mature child might assume that if they fail to
eat dinner, he/she could die; conversely, the more mature child would be able
to assimilate that skipping a meal would not necessarily be problematic, but
that skipping several meals could be dangerous.
As the ability to form more intricate personal relationships grows and
our responsibilities increase, the psychological skill of seeing the shades of
gray in life becomes more important; it also allows us to be self-aware.
It is important that we recognize that the general shift
toward black and white thinking is detrimental to our society. Another socially-relevant example would be
the hysteria created by athletes not standing for the national anthem in
protest of modern race relations. As
with politics, the vast majority of responses to the matter fall to one extreme
or the other. San Francisco 49ers
quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his contemporaries have been labeled by many
as blatantly disrespectful of the United States of America, with one prominent
voice of opposition comparing their act to flag burning.
The subject is an important one, however, and should not
be marginalized by distracting from the point of the stance being taken by
these athletes that race relations – and, by extension, equality overall – need
to continue to improve. The silent
protest has generated consistent attention that has kept race relations at the
forefront of the national conversation without rioting or any other forms of
violence. If we can snap out of the
all-or-nothing mindset, we can increase our awareness on this perplexing issue
and do something to help make positive strides as did UNC basketball coach, Roy
Williams, who was at first “very angry” at the anthem-kneeling but, after
listening to Kaepernick’s message, came around to at least supporting the
reasoning behind it.
A typically accepted thought within the health community
is that people who are not healthy are less capable of making sound
decisions. That the United States ranks
last among industrialized countries in overall health may offer insight into
our national propensity toward black and white thinking, which has permeated
health care too. Generally, we are not
well, so we do not think particularly well, and our system for getting well is
dilapidated; it has become a vicious cycle.
Health care in America is predominantly built on
diagnosing symptom sets and treating them with medication; patients
consequently either fit into this box or that box, each with its own drug
treatment protocol. This system may be
scientifically-based, but it is logically flawed and, statistically, it has not
proven to enhance our health and well-being.
A local resident recently experienced several hours of
severe foot pain. She was advised to
immediately seek a medical opinion, despite the fact that the pain had
completely gone away days prior. When
she saw the doctor, she was told that her symptoms were classic descriptors of
Gout; blood work was done and she was sent home with a prescription for a medication
specific to treating Gout before the lab results came back. Days later, they called and emphatically told
her that she should immediately cease the use of the previously prescribed
medication, as it turned out that her blood work showed no signs of Gout; she
was then given a clean bill of health.
The above example is a microcosm of the dangers of the
all-or-nothing mindset. Your health
gives you the foundation for every other aspect of your life; largely limiting
the scope of health care to diagnosing and treating symptoms therefore gives us
a fragile foundation for our lives. The
universal truth is that everybody is different and nobody should be pigeonholed
into a single classification. Our
awareness of the realities of health care is the first step to reshaping
it.
Understandably, it can be very difficult to break the
habit of the all-or-nothing thinking, but we have to be up to the challenge
because that attitude is hindering our ability to evolve as a society. We have the innate capacity to mature our
mindset to see the shades of gray and be the best possible versions of
ourselves, but we will struggle so long as we restrict our thinking to black
and white.
