I have a friend who is a Nurse Practitioner. In Canada this is pretty close to a doctor in that they can order tests, diagnose patients and prescribe treatments and medications. She was in private practice for a while.
She talks often about how the most common complaint she saw by far is gut distress with no medical cause. It is so common that the medical professionals call it SLS: Shit Life Syndrome [1]. She argues that the vast majority of the people who come in with this complaint have an undiagnosed mental problem. Our systems aren't built to handle this kind of situation. We find and treat acute problems and we don't really address holistic life-style issues. In fact, it is frowned upon. What she usually wants to say is: your life sucks, fix it and you will feel better. Go out for a walk, eat healthier food, make some supportive friends, engage in some self-care, meditate, etc.
I personally believe that a lack of purpose in people's lives is manifesting as pain in our bodies. But that is dangerously close to woo-woo New Age thinking and most people will just reject it off-hand. Instead they will try magnesium pills, apple cider vinegar, avoiding gluten, anti-inflammatory diets, micro-dosing lsd or mushrooms.
As a side note, she also mentioned that the newest fad (not quite at gut distress levels yet) is middle-aged men insisting they have ADHD, demanding diagnosis and prescriptions.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit_life_syndrome
She talks often about how the most common complaint she saw by far is gut distress with no medical cause. It is so common that the medical professionals call it SLS: Shit Life Syndrome [1]. She argues that the vast majority of the people who come in with this complaint have an undiagnosed mental problem. Our systems aren't built to handle this kind of situation. We find and treat acute problems and we don't really address holistic life-style issues. In fact, it is frowned upon. What she usually wants to say is: your life sucks, fix it and you will feel better. Go out for a walk, eat healthier food, make some supportive friends, engage in some self-care, meditate, etc.
I personally believe that a lack of purpose in people's lives is manifesting as pain in our bodies. But that is dangerously close to woo-woo New Age thinking and most people will just reject it off-hand. Instead they will try magnesium pills, apple cider vinegar, avoiding gluten, anti-inflammatory diets, micro-dosing lsd or mushrooms.
As a side note, she also mentioned that the newest fad (not quite at gut distress levels yet) is middle-aged men insisting they have ADHD, demanding diagnosis and prescriptions.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit_life_syndrome